ONE and World Pulse in the UK Just three weeks ago I received a call that I had the unexpected opportunity to travel to the G8 summit in Edinburgh, Scotland on a chartered flight with the 100 other top activist delegates from the "ONE: Make Poverty History" campaign www.one.org representing Americans who care about ending poverty. World Pulse is a partner in the ONE campaign and I encourage you to join your name on the site with the 1.5 million in the US and the 138 million worldwide who have already done so.	Founding Editor, Jensine Larsen, reports from Edinburgh, Scotland on the largest international anti-poverty coalition ever known
The journey to Scotland was an epic trip with mixed emotions and little sleep. There was euphoria with crowds of 100,000s at the run-up Live 8 concerts in steamy Philly and soggy Edinburgh, joy experiencing the excitement and stories of many women leaders who had traveled all the way from Africa, and sadness that there was a never a forum for their vital views on solving poverty to be heard - neither amidst the rock stars nor leaders of the industrialized world. Then there was the solemn quiet as we landed in London's Heathrow on July 7, an hour after the bombings.
In Edinburgh we traipsed through windy, mossy cobblestone streets and toggled between well-meaning celebrities, indifferent and oblique White House officials, and energetic organizers of major US nonprofits. Delegates from all the ONE coalition partners were there, and they were primarily women: Oxfam, Mercy Corps, Save the Children, Bono's DATA (Debt, Aids, Trade, Africa), CARE, World Vision, Bread for the World, International Rescue Committee, and InterAction to name a few.	George Clooney and Djimon Hounsou (Amistad and In America) chat with ONE delegates about strategies for influencing world leaders.
Ultimately I came away buoyed with the enthusiastic drive and determination of the women organizers I met both from Africa and the US. Although the final outcome of the G8 summit itself is not much to celebrate for women -- if the boundless energy, creativity and organizing capacity of these women I met is any indication of what is to come . . . . we're in for some BIG earthquakes on the global stage.

African Women Backstaged but Undeterred After G8
Despite being sidelined in Edinburgh and Gleneagles last week, African women - the most affected by debt, aid, and trade negotiations - are returning home determined to press forward with their visions for lifting Africa out of poverty. By Jensine Larsen (Edinburgh, Scotland )--- It was billed as a historical moment to end poverty. The excitement was palpable as tens of thousands of people, including delegates from the largest international anti-poverty coalition ever known, the Global Call for Action against Poverty (GCAP) representing 150 million people in over 70 countries, converged in the UK ahead of the G8 summit to demand concrete action for Africa from the world leaders. Read more...	"African women are no longer dying for Africa, but living for Africa!" Wahu Kaara, 2005 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee

A Place Where Women Rule All-Female Village in Kenya Is a Sign Of Burgeoning Feminism Across Africa
By Emily Wax Washington Post Foreign Service UMOJA, Kenya -- Seated cross-legged on tan sisal mats in the shade, Rebecca Lolosoli, matriarch of a village for women only, took the hand of a frightened 13-year-old girl. The child was expected to wed a man nearly three times her age, and Lolosoli told her she didn't have to. Read more...

COMMENTARY: Investing in women is smart by Ritu Sharma, Women's Edge Coalition Ending poverty around the world is entirely possible; we just need our world leaders to step up to the plate to help make it happen. And this year, leaders of the world's wealthiest nations have a tremendous opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of the poor by tackling head-on some of the pressing global issues of our time: aid, trade and debt. With the year 2005 labeled "Make Poverty History," and a series of upcoming high-level international events with global poverty as their main focus, beginning with the July G8 Summit in Scotland, world leaders can do just that. Read more...

Onward
After London I flew to Greensboro, North Carolina where I had the tremendous honor of speaking to a group of sharp 14-17 year-old girls about a career in media & following one's dream. The leadership camp is called "Power Girls" and is hosted by Bennett College, one of the only African-American women's colleges in the nation. I'll next be speaking at Portland State University on Saturday, July 16th at a Human Trafficking Conference on global bright spots in the struggle to end human trafficking. In the next month I'll be posting a Fall speaking tour schedule around the US. Stay tuned and e-mail Jessica at devdiva@worldpulsemagazine.com if you would like to host an event.	Stay tuned for Jensine's (Yen-See-Nah) national speaking schedule

BOOK REVIEW

Unraveled The True Story of a Woman Who Dared to Become a Different Kind of Mother (Harmony Books, 2005) By Maria Housden After losing her three-year-old daughter to cancer, Maria Housden wrote her first book, Hannah's Gift: Lessons from a Life Fully Lived. Supremely sensitive and lyrical, that book presents the impact of the devastating experience and reveals how the author was ultimately able to move beyond grief into growth. Unraveled details the cathartic changes that followed. The lessons Maria learned from her daughter's short life encouraged her to make a difficult, controversial decision: she divorced her husband and gave him custody of their children in order to cultivate a healthier relationship with herself. Though she was heartily criticized by friends and acquaintances, a great deal of careful self-examination convinced her that the move was best for everyone involved. Intimate without slipping into self-indulgence, Unraveled reads as a candid, uplifting tale of personal discovery. Review by Maria Jett