Time, March 31, 2008 "A Village Women's Legacy" p.62

I really liked this article. After doing a presentation on women's activism, where I spoke about some famous women who either used their notoriety to be politically active, like the Dixie Chicks, or who became famous in certain circles because their causes succeded in part due to their activism, this article presents the example of a quiet personal approach to activism that saved a whole village in Ghana. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady, Rosalyn Carter decided to take the cause of eradicating the guinea worm disease in the village of Denchira in Ghana after they met a young women who greeted them while in great pain, and that during their meeting, they had the opportunity to observe how a worm of the kind that causes the guinea worm disease came out of the woman's nipple. This was so shocking to the President and Mrs. Carter decided to use their power and influence of the Carter Center to work to stop this disease from decimating villages in Africa. This disease would make villagers so weak that they could not work the land to make a living. "Sometimes it's the quietest voice that speaks the loudest"... " I never did see the young women again or find out what happened to her. But the following year when we returned to her village, guinea worm had been nearly eliminated there, .... Having seen her the day in 1988, I came to see life differently- in a micro way. I now believe that the vitality of one person's life has an impact on the health and harmony of the surrounding world."