Nine Lives Making the Impossible Possible

PUBLICATION DATE: 24th September 2009

Presents the life stories of those who have been confronted with insurmountable obstacles, opposition and oppression. Whether it human rights activist Harry Wu, who spent 19 years in a Chinese labour camp or Nobel Laureate and president of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias Sanchez, each of the nine voices has faced an urgent and inescapable need to dig deep, either to rescue themselves or to forge a fresh way forward for others.

How do ordinary people keep going against all the odds in their efforts to change the world? How do they retain their faith in the future even in the most desperate conditions?

The world over, millions of ordinary people live their lives in the shadow of oppression, terror, violence and separation. While some may believe they have no choice but to accept their fate, others choose to risk their freedom in order to speak out and tackle head-on the seemingly insurmountable obstacles that stand in their path. Nine Lives introduces us to nine such incredible individuals.

From a Thai campaigner who has saved thousands of girls from the sex trade to a graphic designer whose fourteen year old daughter was killed in a suicide bombing in Jerusalem, from a human rights activist who spent more than nineteen years in Chinese labour camps to a man who has dedicated his life to laying bare the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge, this moving and humbling collection provides a memorable and intimate window into the lives and views of ordinary people that would otherwise go unreported. Each story, told in the first person, is a demonstration of self-effacing honesty, resilience, courage and ingenuity. Each represents a cause that goes beyond their own personal story and the region they represent. Each proves that ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things.

Born in a different country, any of us could so easily find ourselves the subject of these stories. What would we do if we were in their shoes? Sit back and accept our lot or stand up and fight back? As the experiences in this uplifting and highly readable book demonstrate, there is always hope for the unrecognised, the suppressed, and the underprivileged. It's just that sometimes, that hope or last straw turns out to be you. Food for thought indeed?

YOUK CHHANG, executive director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia has dedicated his life to laying bare the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge

MALALAI JOYA, expelled from the Afghan Parliament and the target of death threats and assassination attempts, continues to defend Afghanistan's human and women's rights

HARRY WU spent nineteen years in the laogai, the Chinese labor camps. He is an activist for human rights and founder of the Laogai Research Foundation

CHAELI MYCROFT, a teenage girl with cerebral palsy whose campaign for disability rights has lit up South Africa

SOMPOP JANTRAKA, Thai campaigner who has rescued thousands of girls and women from the sex trade

OSCAR ARIAS, Nobel Peace Prize winner and President of Costa Rica, which has no army

MONIREH BARADARAN, who survived years of imprisonment and torture under Iran's theocratic regime

BASSAM ARAMIN served a seven-year prison sentence for an attack on Israeli Defence patrols. In 2007 his daughter died when shot by border police.

RAMI ELHANAN is part of the Israeli-Palestinian Circle of Bereaved Parents. His fourteen year old daughter was the victim of a suicide bombing in 1997

About the Author
Peter Braaksma has worked as an editor, communications advisor and journalist in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.