It’s a wonderful book, full of hope and compassion. Written by a remarkable man, with a vision for our times, and he is selflessly living this vision. It contains things we can all take into our everyday lives, no matter who or where we are. Its not about religion, or how we can save the world. Its about what we can do right now, to make things better for everyone. I've passed this on to several people, who have all loved and been touched in some way by it. Oh and on the subject of passing it on, all royalties go straight to Michael Meegan’s charity. So buy it!

Each year when I go on holiday I reread this treasure of a book that speaks to all of us about the extremes of good and bad that we find in the world. It not only manages to tell a story about Africa and the poverty there, which somehow even in our media-saturated world is not often told this well or listened to, but also gives a sense of hope and possibility for us all as individuals and as a global society. Thoroughly recommend it to anyone who wants to be inspired in what is possible and in what needs to be done. Part of its brilliance is that succeeds n neither being preachy or new age, just very human. The descriptions in it of being there for people who are dying in unimaginable pain and squalor are enough to make anyone think hard about what we would do in those situations. I would love more in it about what he feels needs to be done to make things really better as I am sure he has some great insights to share.

I work in London as a social worker and sometimes (mistakenly) think I've seen/heard it all! There were parts of this book I almost wish I could unlearn because they were so appalling - I'm so fortunate, I had no "tools" to imagine such atrocities against humankind. However, this is not a desperate, sad, pathetic look at suffering but a powerful, positive look at love and compassion, which triumphs in the most horrible circumstances imaginable (and worse!). Towards the end of the book, the author writes: "We were not meant to have compassion, we were meant to become compassionate. With all my heart I believe that this is why we were born." John Hurt's comment on the front cover sums it up perfectly: "Powerful, disturbing and beautiful". I finished this book knowing that my approach to life and living will change for the better.If you can afford to pay full price for this book ALL of the royalties go to child survival, women's health and AIDS programmes in Africa.