Shannon Galpin
Author of Mountain to Mountain: A Journey of Adventure and Activism for the Women of Afghanistan
About the Author
Shannon Galpin is the founder and president of Mountain2Mountain, a nonprofit organization focused on helping women and children in Afghanistan. Her humanitarian efforts have been profiled on Dateline NBC and CNN, and m The New York Times, Outside Magazine, National Geographic Explorer, USA Today, show more Mountain Flyer Magazine, and Women's Adventure Magazine. show less
Works by Shannon Galpin
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Gender
- female
- Country (for map)
- United States of America
Members
Reviews
Statistics
- Works
- 2
- Members
- 37
- Popularity
- #390,572
- Rating
- 3.1
- Reviews
- 2
- ISBNs
- 9
On page 164, after saying how much she needs to help schools for girls she writes: "My projects over the previous three years--supporting schools and literacy programs, starting computer labs and kindergartens, securing land donations and working to build a deaf school--had taught me an enormous amount about Afghanistan. But there were bigger organizations that could tackle these types of projects more effectively."
We never really heard about these projects, but now she is giving up on them. On page 172 she talks about how tired she is of her non-profit and instead of schools and education (that she talked about as her purpose for the previous 2/3 of the book) she would rather focus on projects that "transform the way people viewed women and the way Americans viewed Afghans, and the way the public viewed humanitarian work--a goal much less tangible than building a school, and much harder to rally the masses and raise money for. Creating a computer lab or trying to build a school for the deaf was not where I wanted to put my passions going forward. Supporting graffiti and street art projects, working with female activists, and creating other programs that challenged perceptions and empowered voices were."
In other words, she liked going to Afghanistan and riding around talking to people and taking photos. She was not successful coming back to the states and raising money to do so, except for that one time that male author held a book signing she profited from. Also, people want to give money for education, not for art, but she wants to do art. Fine. Art is good. Her photo project in Afghanistan was cool. But I started to feel like she just cobbled this book together so she could use it for fundraising opportunities under the guise of education, but to pursue what she really prefers - street art projects.
She also tells more details about a sexual assault than she does about any of her humanitarian efforts. I got so frustrated with this author the more I read. It's like a diary from a self-centered person who tries to blame everyone else for their circumstances and isn't being honest with her therapist. She's one of those women who talks about all her male friends and claims she has never had many female friends because she's not a "girl's girl" when in reality it's a way to distance herself from the fact that she's probably a selfish a-hole and that's why no women want to be friends with her. I kind of want to hear the viewpoints of her "colleagues" in the middle east and of her ex-husband and of her friends. I have no problem with someone wanting to spend all their time in a foreign country, evading adult responsibility. But don't do it under the guise of being a women's activist and humanitarian.
Pass on this book and watch the movies "He Named Me Malala" and "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" or read the books that inspired them. You'll get more out of it than you would from this mess.… (more)