In this innovative and intimate memoir, a daughter tells the story of
her mother, Dora Akunyili, a pan-African hero who faced down misogyny
and battled corruption in Nigeria. Inspired by the African philosophy of
Ubuntu - the importance of community over the individual - and outraged
by injustice, Dora Akunyili took on fraudulent drug manufacturers whose
products killed millions, including her sister. A woman in a man's
world, she was elected and became a cabinet minister, but she had to
deal with political manoeuvrings, death threats, and an assassination
attempt for defending the voiceless. She suffered for it, as did her
marriage and six children.
I Am Because We Are illuminates the role of kinship, family, and the
individual's place in society, while revealing a life of courage, how
community shaped it, and the web of humanity that binds us.