Healing Our World: Inside Doctors Without Borders.

Nikki Tate-Stratton writes children’s picture books and novels for
preteens. Her most recent novels are Jo’s Triumph, Raven’s Revenge,
and Tarragon Island. Her latest picture book is Grandparents’ Day.

Healing Our World is an interesting behind-the-scenes glimpse into the world’s largest independent medical-humanitarian organization, Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF, or Doctors Without Borders). The book opens with a quick overview of the scope of the organization’s work, charter, guiding principles, and structure as well as some sobering statistics about ongoing threats to people’s health and welfare worldwide. A world map shows the current locations of MSF missions.

Chapter 2 profiles volunteers and staff and offers an idea of the skills and personalities best suited to the organization’s work. The third chapter describes how an overseas mission is established and some of the specific tasks accomplished there.

Interspersed throughout the first part of the book, excerpts from Morley’s journals while on missions in the Republic of Congo, Mozambique, El Salvador, and Zambia provide readers with a sense of the day-to-day frustrations and triumphs experienced by those working in war zones, with famine victims, and in the wake of natural disasters.

The second part of the book includes three more chapters made up exclusively of excerpts from the author’s journals.

Colour photographs on the cover are appealing and powerful. It’s a shame that interior photographs are black and white and printed on a paper stock that does little to enhance them. The overall organization is somewhat confusing: journal entries included in the Part 1 might have been better integrated into Part 2. In general, though, the content is timely and interesting and the book would be a valuable addition to any library or classroom bookshelf. Recommended.