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List Price: $49.95 | | Publisher: powerHouse Books
Salesrank: 940955
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| Media: Hardcover |
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Editorial Review:
I Am Because We Are is the companion volume to the acclaimed forthcoming documentary film directed by Nathan Rissman and written and produced by Madonna. This book of images by award-winning photojournalist Kristen Ashburn--culled from her own work in Malawi and Africa over the past seven years as well as from her specially commissioned photographs for the film--provides an intimate look at the lives of eight Malawian children featured in the film and reveals the harsh reality of the AIDS pandemic throughout southern Africa.
The title is derived from the concept of "Ubuntu," an idea in African spirituality that states that all of humanity is connected, that we cannot be ourselves without community, that an individual's well-being is dependent upon the well-being of others.
These heart-wrenching stories are a call to action. In Malawi, a country of 13 million people, over one million are orphans. Looking into the hearts and minds of children who have suffered more than one can imagine, the book provides an unflinching view of life at the center of the global AIDS crisis. This is not just a story about orphans in Malawi, but about global responsibility and human interconnectedness.
I Am Because We Are includes a foreword by Madonna, an afterword by Ashburn, excerpts from interviews with Malawian children, their biographies, and extended captions. Author proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to the charitable organization Raising Malawi for their extensive work with orphans throughout Malawi.
I Am Because We Are Reviews:
The Blight of AIDS 
2009-03-07 - Madonna (introduction). "I Am Because We Are", Kristen Ashburn, photographs, Powerhouse Books, 2009.
The Blight of AIDS
Amos Lassen
"I am because we are" comes from the African concept of "Ubuntu", an idea of spirituality which says that we are all connected and that we cannot be ourselves without community and the well being of an individual depends upon the well being of others. We can easily see how this applies to the devastating effect AIDS has had and is having on the entire world.
The book is a companion to the documentary that is forthcoming which is written and produced by Madonna. The book is a collection of photo images by photographer Kristen Ashburn that she took over the past seven years in Malawi and Africa. The images give an in-depth and intimate look at the lives of eight Malawian children and the reality of what AIDS has done to the continent.
The stories are heartbreaking as well as being a call to action. This is not just a story about orphans from the epidemic; it is about the responsibility that we all share as humans.
The book contains interviews with the children from Malawi as well as their life stories. The photographs are captioned and Madonna gives the introduction while Ashburn provides an afterword.
This is a very powerful book and some of the photos will worry you--as they should. This is the reality of a world without food, education and medicine. We know what AIDS has done in Africa but few of us have actually seen it. We also see that there are still people that do good and work hard so this situation will become better.
The money from the sale of the books will go to Raising Malawi to work with the orphans there.
AIDS Has Killed More Than 25 Million
2009-02-02 - From: [...]
www.BasilAndSpice.com
Author & Book Views On A Healthy Life!
Book Review: I Am Because We Are (PowerHouse Books, 2008) by Kristen Ashburn with a forward by Madonna
A FirstLook Feature
Recognized yearly, World AIDS Day raises global awareness of the spread of the disease. AIDS is caused by the transmission of HIV infection, and has killed more than 25 million people, approximately 2 million of them in 2007. It is estimated that 33 million are living with HIV, many of which do not have access to recently improved antiretroviral treatment and care. The worst hit region is Sub-Saharan Africa, home to 67% of the world's HIV cases. World AIDS Day is a World Summit of Ministers of Health on Programmes for AIDS Prevention initiative, first begun in 1988.
Every day in Malawi, Sub-Saharan Africa, people die of AIDS. They are mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers. Who's left? Orphans. More than 1 million of them.
I Am Because We Are is the powerful photo accompaniment to the film documentary by the same title. Photographed by the award-winning photojournalist Kristen Ashburn, the pictures portray the lives and deaths of the young left behind, in some cases to fend for themselves, and exemplifies the powerful truths of a people's demise.
"I Am Because We Are" is an African philosophy known as Ubuntu. Incorporated by Nelson Mandela as a founding principle for the new South Africa, it has been described by Desmond Tutu to mean, "as the proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that we belong to a greater whole and are diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed." In the forward, Madonna writes, "As my friend Bill Clinton defines it, Ubuntu means that what we have in common is more important than our interesting differences."
Together, Kristen Ashburn and Madonna have outlined the purpose of I Am Because We Are as a book which will raise awareness of the continuation of the AIDS epidemic in Malawi, thus helping end the vicious cycle of poverty--disease--death---poverty, which begins anew with each orphan. Inside the book you'll see the stark reality of a world without food, medicine, and education. Sure, we in the West know about AIDS in Africa, we read about it in the news, but the photos add an element of humanity to our fellow man by putting an individual's name to each face. For each child's photograph, a brief history, partially written in the child's voice, explains how he or she became an orphan. More importantly, throughout the book, Madonna highlights what her organization, Raising Malawi has done to make a difference in each child's life.
Though it is heart-breaking to see the photos of children's lives interrupted, I Am Because We Are, is a poignant reminder that there are those who still do good, striving to change the inequities of the world with their talents and financial abilities. Proceeds from the sale of I Am Because We Are will be donated to Raising Malawi, a charitable organization founded by Madonna and Michael Berg, and will be used for their work with the orphans of Malawi.
Kristen Ashburn is a documentary photographer who has received numerous honors including a nomination for the 28th Annual Emmy Awards (2007), NPPA- Best of Photojournalism (2oo7, 2006, 2003), the John Faber Award- Overseas Press Club of America (2006) and two World Press Photo prizes (2005, 2003). The Getty Grant 2006, Canon's Female Photojournalist Award in 2004, and the Marty Forscher Fellowship for Humanistic Photography 2003. In 2004 she was recognized as one of Photo District News '30 under 30 photographers' and participated in the prestigious World Press Photo "Joop Swart" Master Class. In 2003 she was a speaker at the TED Conference [...]
She began to photograph the impact of AIDS in southern Africa in 2001. Ashburn's work has also taken her to Iraq a year following the US-led invasion; Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Sri Lanka in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami; Russia to cover the spread of MDR-tuberculosis in the penal system. Her work has appeared in many publications including Time, Newsweek, US New & World Report, Life and others.
5 Stars
