Reviewer Cites Heart of Diamonds For Action

Amazon reviewer Dan Berger says Heart of Diamonds is full of “Action Action Action!”

If you want action, this thriller is for you. From the beginning when a doctor is confronted by an AK-47-wielding rebel soldier to the wild ride in an assault helicopter at the end, Heart of Diamonds is one heart-stopper after another.

It’s gratifying that this reviewer enjoyed the book.
Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds

Tags: romantic thriller, Congo, blood diamonds

Grandmama

Taken while researching Heart of Diamonds

Tags: romantic thriller, Congo, blood diamonds

Vote For Congo Women — Today!

Now is the time to cast your vote for women in the Congo and other victims of war and violence in the Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan, and other war-torn countries. If you haven’t already, please go to American Express Member Projects and vote to Help Women and Children Survivors of War Rebuild.

The cause is in the top 25 and just a few votes shy of making into the top 5 finalists–who will share $2.5 million in funding from American Express.

With funding from Members Project, Women for Women International can provide even more tangible financial support, job skills training, rights awareness training and social networks for women rebuilding their lives and the lives of their children.

These are extremely vulnerable populations who may be widows, refugees, victims of rape and torture and at the same time the sole source of support for their families. But perhaps most importantly, these women are already the ones who have been rebuilding after war…time and time again.

This is the cause I’m supporting with the Heart of Diamonds Team at the NY Run for Congo Women on October 4. You can help, too, with just a few clicks of the mouse–but you must act now to have your vote count by the September 29 deadline.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds

Tags: romantic thriller, Congo, blood diamonds

You’re Invited. . .

…to chat with me online. One of the great pleasures of the author’s life (at least for me) is making new friends and getting acquainted with readers. If you’d like to spend a few minutes with me online, I’m hosting an Author’s Chat on LibraryThing through October 5. Stop by and say hello!

Brave Rape Fighter Honored

Mathilde Muhindo of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been awarded the prestigious Human Rights Defender Award for 2008 by Human Rights Watch. Her award was one of five announced by the international organization that polices human rights violations around the world.

Muhindo, once a member of Congo’s parliament, was honored for her work supporting rape victims in South Kivu in eastern DRC, where a woman is raped every thirty minutes. The area has been ravaged by armed conflict for over ten years and sexual violence is used by government forces and rebel militias to terrorize the civilian population and control territory. Sexual slavery, gang rape, and mutilation are endemic.

Muhindo now works as director of the Olame Centre, a nongovernmental women’s rights organization that provided psychological and practical assistance to victims of abuse. Its programs empower women to fight against pervasive discrimination and sexual violence. She also founded a parliamentary committee to investigate rape as a weapon of war.

“Women and children are paying dearly for the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” Muhindo said when told of the award. “Sexual violence in eastern provinces should be seen in its proper contexts – a war within a war. A war against women.”

In partnership with Human Rights Watch and other groups, Muhindo has brought the issue to the European Union, the United States, and others. She led a coalition of local women’s organizations that advocated for a comprehensive law on sexual violence in the DRC.

Muhindo faced death threats for her work, but refuses to be silenced.

Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds