However Long the Night - by Aimee Molloy (Paperback)

About the Book

In However Long the Night, Aimee Molloy tells the unlikely and inspiring story of Molly Melching, an American woman whose experience as an exchange student in Senegal led her to found Tostan and dedicate almost four decades of her life to the girls and women of Africa.This moving biography details Melching's beginnings at the University of Dakar and follows her journey of 40 years in Africa, where she became a social entrepreneur and one of humanity's strongest voices for the rights of girls and women.Inspirational and beautifully written, However Long the Night: Molly Melching's Journey to Help Millions of African Women and Girls Triumph is a passionate entreaty for all global citizens. This book is published in partnership with the Skoll Foundation, dedicated to accelerating innovations from organizations like Tostan that address the world's most pressing problems.

Book Synopsis

In However Long the Night, Aimee Molloy tells the unlikely and inspiring story of Molly Melching, an American woman whose experience as an exchange student in Senegal led her to found Tostan and dedicate almost four decades of her life to the girls and women of Africa.

This moving biography details Melching's beginnings at the University of Dakar and follows her journey of 40 years in Africa, where she became a social entrepreneur and one of humanity's strongest voices for the rights of girls and women.

Inspirational and beautifully written, However Long the Night: Molly Melching's Journey to Help Millions of African Women and Girls Triumph is a passionate entreaty for all global citizens. This book is published in partnership with the Skoll Foundation, dedicated to accelerating innovations from organizations like Tostan that address the world's most pressing problems.

From the Back Cover

In 1974, American exchange student Molly Melching arrived in Senegal for a six-month program that would become a forty-year journey of transformation. Inspired by her experiences living in a remote village, she founded Tostan, an organization dedicated to empowering communities by using democracy and human-rights-based education to promote relationships built upon dignity, equality, and respect.

Tostan's groundbreaking strategies have led to better education for the women of rural Africa, improved health care, a decrease in child/forced marriage, and declarations by thousands of African communities to abandon the practice of female genital cutting. However Long the Night is the story of how Melching, named by Newsweek and the Daily Beast as one of the "150 women who shake the world," is paving the way to a world with human dignity for all.

Review Quotes

"Melching's incredible journey from Illinois to Africa, from graduate student to great humanitarian, is paralleled by the journey of the countless women touched by her work: a journey to understanding, empowerment and human dignity." - Lisa See, bestselling author of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
"Melching's transformation from Midwestern college graduate to thrill-seeking international crusader makes for compelling reading...Molloy has a reporter's knack for selecting and arranging the most salient details of Melching's experiences, and the resulting story is moving and memorable...Uplifting and inspirational." - Kirkus Reviews
"Molloy offers a moving account of one woman's struggle to empower African women and challenge tradition...Reading like a novel, this book demonstrates the power of education and grassroots organizing." - Publishers Weekly
" There is no way to overestimate the gift that Tostan and its leader, Molly Melching, have given to the world. The amount of suffering they have alleviated is beyond anything we can gauge. What a story, what a power, and what a blessing." - Marianne Williamson, New York Times bestselling author
"Molly Melching saw a deeply disturbing but deeply entrenched practice and refused to accept that it couldn't be stopped. Her relentless efforts are proof that commitment and partnership can drive transformational change." - Hillary Rodham Clinton
"The story of Molly Melching and Tostan proves that determined and loving individuals can accomplish the seemingly impossible--abandonment of a harmful tradition that is thousands of years old." - Former President Jimmy Carter
"This is the story of an extraordinary woman: Molly Melching. Molly has worked in Senegalese communities to improve lives of the country's poorest people. . . . This book reinforced my belief that developing communities already have the potential to spark change that will lead to better lives for themselves and their families." - Melinda Gates
"This is the story of an extraordinary woman: Molly Melching. For more than 40 years, Molly has worked in Senegalese communities to help improve lives for some of the country's poorest people. Her success is based on her insistence on working in close partnership with local communities. That way, change is always driven from the center out, not the top down. This book reinforced my own belief that developing communities already have the potential and desire to spark the change that will lead to better lives for themselves and their families." - Melinda Gates