Hope Is the Struggle: A Community in Action

Lynn Bestari is a community development consultant in Guelph, Ontario.

This book is about St. Columbia House, a women’s collective in
Montreal’s Point St. Charles. Divided into six parts, the book details
how the members of this collective have struggled to overcome poverty,
both their own and that of their community.

Part 1 relates the personal stories of the women and how each came to
be involved in St. Columbia House. In Part 2, the women talk about the
idea of hope and how it relates to the sense of community in Point St.
Charles. Subsequent sections examine three community-based organizations
operated by the women, the idea of hope as it relates to Bible
teachings, the meaning of work in our society and women’s personal
experiences with it, issues of poverty and community development faced
by a group of women in Mexico, and the process through which the St.
Columbia House women have become empowered over the years.

Unfolding like a long conversation, this book is a worthwhile read for
anyone interested in the subjects of women, poverty, and community
development.