Seeds of Power: Global Sisters in Action is a memoir of friendship, faith, and global engagement. Through journeys to India, Bolivia, the Philippines, Romania, Uganda, and beyond, Laura Nagel and Karen LaFrance tell the remarkable story of the International Convocation of Unitarian Universalist Women and the women whose partnerships transformed lives through advocacy, education, economic opportunity, and mutual support. Part travelogue, part organizational history, and part celebration of women's leadership, this inspiring account offers a hopeful vision of how ordinary people can work together across cultures and borders to create lasting change.
"In Seeds of Power, Laura Nagel and Karen LaFrance chronicle their remarkable efforts in leading global action. Their work spanned convocations and partnerships in six countries, and a microlending program run village by village, woman by woman. This book captures what made that work distinctive, and what made it hard. Writing decades after Grameen made microcredit a global cause, Nagel and LaFrance offer a ground-level account of how their small lending program unfolded, told with rare honesty and grace: the late repayments, the cultural misreadings, the difficult decision to wind the program down, alongside the deep friendship that carried fifteen years of work. Their willingness to document failure as carefully as success makes this memoir far more valuable than triumphalism could ever be. Read this book for its inspiring account of grassroots feminist practice."
-Diana Strassmann, Founding Editor, Feminist Economics, Carolyn and Fred McManis Distinguished Professor in the Practice, Emerita, Rice University
"Seeds of Power captures in detail how projects were created in various international locations by women organized around goals of compassionate mission and ministry. These women have made an enormous impact in upgrading the lives of countless families. A fine testament to how groups of dedicated people can make an ongoing positive difference!"
-Rev. Dr. Renee Waun, founder of the African Rural School Foundation, the in-country organization critical to the success of the microlending program. At the time of the book, she was serving four Unitarian Universalist congregations in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio
"This is an excellent read. The book brings out powerful testimonies of struggle and development and shows that issues of the poor and women are the same in any part of the world."
-Reema Nanavaty, President, Self Employed Women's Association, Ahmedabad, India
"Laura and Karen took their considerable community development and organizational skills and - inspired by Unitarian Universalist principles of "world community" and "respect for each and every individual" - created an amazing global women's organization. It illustrates the power of women supporting one another across national, cultural, and economic boundaries as they address challenges ranging from violence and discrimination to economic opportunity and public leadership. Never doubt that a few women CAN change the world for the better!"
-Cathy Cordes, Executive Director, Retired, Unitarian Universalist Partner Church Council
