Walking on Fire

Beverly Bell is the founder and director of the Center for Economic Justice in Albuquerque, N.M. She has worked closely with the Haitian democracy and women's movements for more than two decades. Edwidge Danticat is the author of Breath, Eyes, Memory, The Farming of Bones, and Krik? Krak!

• Foreword, by Edwidge DanticatPreface: Beat Back the DarknessAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: The Women of Millet MountainPart I: Resistance in SurvivalYOLANDE MEVS - My Head Burning with the BurdenALINA "TIBEBE" CAJUSTE - A Baby Left on the Doorstep in a Rotten BasketLOVLY JOSAPHAT - I Always Live That HopeROSELIE JEAN-JUSTE - A Woman Named Roselie Who Fought BackVENANTE DUPLAN - I Don't Have the Call, I Don't Have the ResponseMARIE SONIA PANTAL - SchoolPart II: Resistance as ExpressionLELENNE GILLES - I'll Die with the Words on My LipsMARCELINE YRELIBN - Singing a Woman's MiseryALINA "TIBEBE" CAJUSTE - Getting the PoetryYANIQUE GUITEAU DANDIN - The Struggle for CreoleGRACITA OSIAS - Chaleron's LessonFLORENCIA PIERRE - The Cultural SoulMARTINE FOURCAND Expanding the Space of ExpressionPart III: Resistance for Political and Economic ChangeALERTE BELANCE - My Blood and My BreathYANNICK ETIENNE - A Grain of SandCLAUDETTE PHENE - A Little LightYOLETTE ETIENNE - Jumping over the FireLOUISE MONFILS - The SamaritanVITA TELCY - Five Cans of CornMARIE JOSEE ST. FIRMIN - Sharing the DreamSELITANE JOSEPH - Chunk of GoldROSEMIE BELVIUS - Reshuffling the CardsPart IV: Resistance for Gender JusticeLISE-MARIE DEJEAN - Minister of the Status and Rights of WomenGRACITA OSIAS - The Marriage QuestionLOUISE MONPILS - Walking with My Little CoffinCLAUDETTE WERLEIGH - Women's BusinessYOLANDE MEVS - Support for the ChildrenYANIQUE GUITEAU DANDIN - A Country's Problems, A Woman's ProblemsMARIE ]OSEE ST. FIRMIN - Deciding My LifeOLGA BENOIT - Assuming the Title "Feminist"JOSETTE PERARD - The Carriage Is LeavingPart V: Resistance Transforming PowerCLAUDETTE WERLEIGH - Lighting Candles of HopeMARIE SONIA DELY - Sharing the BreadfruitLISE-MARIE DEJEAN - The People Say JumpMYRIAM MERLET - The More People DreamYANNICK ETIENNE - You Can't Eat Gumbo with One FingerMYRTO CELESTIN SAUREL - Rocks in the RiverKESTA OCCIDENT - A Stubborn HopeEpilogue: Resistance as SolidarityALERTE BELANCE - Get Up, Shake Your BodiesNotesGlossaryFor Further Research and InvolvementBibliography

Walking on Fire provides powerful, moving witness to the desperate struggle of these women to protest and—more important—survive. The women who speak out in the pages of Beverly Bell's book offer an eloquent portrait of a poverty that is unrelenting in its meanness.(Women's Review of Books) In this moving book on opposing tyranny and degradation, activist Bell... gives face to the numbers by providing a forum for indigenous women to speak about their lives.... An antidote to cynicism, the book not only introduces American readers to an array of courageous role models but also proves that change is possible.(Library Journal) Rarely does the voice of Haitian women in Haiti fighting for their rights emerge so clearly to relate their own experiences, battles, and hopes....Despite the harshness of their lives, the honesty and healing potential of the women somehow rises above the unimaginable and lands at the readers' feet.(The Haitian Times) The women Bell interviews, many of whom are veteran activists in Haiti's grassroots democracy movement, recount stories of being raped, struggling to feed their families, and being subject to political torture.... Bell does her best to balance the painful lives of the women she interviews with the recognition that under such conditions, mere daily survival of the body and the spirit takes tremendous resilience.... Perhaps one day the small acts of rebellion that Bell celebrates may help to create a movement capable of political transformation, so that the example of Haiti once again frightens the powerful of the world.(Voice Literary Supplement) This is painful reading; it shows much suffering but also much remarkable transcendence. Bell's book vocalizes this, but its point is not merely archival. These testimonies are meant to move readers to action.(Publishers Weekly)