SRKindredSpirits

It's Christmas time and everyone, everywhere is giving out hugs.  Some people love it.... some people hate it. I happen to fall in the last category. Don't get me wrong.... I love a good hug with the people I love.... I love hugging my husband, my kids, my best friend Joe, and a few other people that are important to me..... like my father-in-laws, my ex-husband, my little sister, and  my  Grandpa Stump - he gave the best hugs ever! However, I'm really not into hugging most other people.... acquaintances, coworkers, extended family, brothers, sisters, in-laws, neighbors, a stranger, your uncle, the aunt who wears too much perfume, the cousin you only see once a year, etc.... The uninvited embrace from someone you barely knew or used to know — like a relative assuming a familiarity that doesn’t exist.  It seems everywhere you go, all throughout the year, people wants to hug... at weddings, baby showers, birthday parties, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Sunday church, etc.

When Mr. Nihar Suthar contacted me to review his new book, 'The Hope Raisers', I honestly wasn't sure I'd be interested. But I love this book and the idea that all it takes, is for a few good people to do something they believe in and they can inspire and have a lasting impact on so many more people than they will ever know! As, a teen, my Grandparents started a Misson in Kenya, Africa. And I have heard many stories and saw lots of pictures of how the Kenyans live... this book took me right back to watching my Grandpa's picture slides, listening to his stories, and singing 'Nothing But The Blood of Jesus' ('Hakuna kitu ila damu ya Yesu') in Swahili! Ok, back to the book....  This story is told honestly, without tiptoeing around the crushing poverty experienced by the Characters. They have never known life outside the world of poverty and slums they were born into.The hardships of unemployment, scant education, water and food scarcity, gang violenc