ANNUAL REPORT 2012 - WBFN

In FY12, the group met every Friday from 11:00am to 1:00pm—except during the summer—atvarious members’ homes. Of a total of 13 members, each meeting was attended byan average of eight. As in previous years, the group organized additional activities such as tripsto the theater, the movies, museums, and concerts.Book GroupsAfrican Book GroupThe African Book Group has been meeting on the third Monday of the month for over30 years. The group meets from September through June and the December meeting isan evening potluck event, to which spouses/partners are also invited. The African BookGroup has always been a self-selecting group of women with some connection to Africa,often through birth or work. Meetings take place in the participants’ homes, and lightrefreshments are provided by the host.FY12 was a good year for the group, with 8-14 participants attending each meeting—the perfectnumbers for discussing books. The group chose to read the following books by authorsfrom as many different African countries as possible (brackets show the country of origin ofthe author and the host of the meeting):• Pieternella, Daughter of Eva, by Marlene Matthee (South Africa, Binny Saker)• Cutting For Stone, by Abraham Verghese (Ethiopia, Monica Schott)• Slave: My True Story, by Mende Nazer (Sudan, Vim Maguire)• The Devil That Danced On Water, by Aminatta Forna (Sierra Leone, Melitta Carter)• Absent: The English Teacher, by John Eppel (Zimbabwe, Veronica Murphy)• Mighty Be Our Powers, by Leymah Gbowee (Liberia, Ileana DeGeyndt)• Poor Mercy, by Jonathan Falla (Sudan, Mary Kay Smith)• House of Stone, by Christina Lamb (Zimbabwe, Nandini Lal)This year, the African Book Group’s June meeting was also a potluck event, organized jointlywith the English Book Group and hosted by Vim Maguire in her lovely garden.During FY12, two coordinators shared the administrative duties, with Debra Byam researchingthe author and keeping track of attendance and the books read, and Melitta Carter keepingthe group organized and communicating with the WBFN office and Mosaic. At the endof FY12, Melitta passed this function on to Alison Ordu, who has been a member of thegroup since the 1990s.64 65