Champion of Choice: The Life and Legacy of Women's Advocate Nafis Sadik

Acknowledgments

465 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many midwives helped to deliver this book into being. First off, I’d like to express my gratitude to Nafis Sadik for making herself available for countless hours of interviews and follow-up questions and for connecting me with her friends, colleagues, and family; I would like to offer special thanks to Nighat Qureshi for her hospitality in welcoming me to Karachi. Likewise, my gratitude extends to everyone in this book who took the time to meet with me; these were minutes sacrificed from hectic lives, stolen during airport layovers, between meetings, after school, and while awaiting surgery. The conversations were conducted in hospital, hotel, and living rooms, offices , pubs, conference halls, lobbies, coffee shops, churchyards, and thatched huts. The generosity I encountered around the globe, in a post–September 11 era of paranoia, went a long way toward healing my worldview. And thank you, Charu Mitra, for the loan. Without the assistance of the United Nations staff to provide information, arrange meetings, help me find sources, and navigate the minefield of security, this project would have been impossible. At the top of this list is Stirling Scruggs, who handled my endless requests with his droll wit and southern charm. Also I would like to single out Abubakar Dungus and Sheila Murdock at unfpa who with good cheer fielded infinite emails. (I shudder to think how I 466 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS would have managed the logistics of this endeavor in a time before the Internet). My appreciation goes to a host of professional colleagues who shepherded my writing from laptop to bookstore: editors Kristen Elias Rowley and Ladette Randolph at the University of Nebraska Press, and my agents Susanna Lea and Mark Kessler—all of whom possessed the patience of saints as the years dragged on. Also a shout out to Kelly Harrison, my meticulous indexer; Veronica Oliva, permissions editor extraordinaire; and publicity guru Karin McKie. My research assistants worked long hours, their diligence driven merely by a desire to contribute to a project they believed in, and for this I am truly humbled. My eternal thanks go to Lakshmikanthan Anandavalli, who worked with me for years without pay and was no doubt sent to me by my own personal goddess. I’d also like to thank Robin Somers, Shannon Bowman-Sarkisian, Tim Heath, and Nikolina Kulidzan for their skills in unearthing obscure information, ranging from Queen Mary photos to cnn footage to the Sind Club’s history. I relied on some collaborators who provided me with knowledgeable details to aid in description: Pamela Michael on the Taj Mahal; Kelly Stuart on Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9; Amy Funge on the birthing process. Others aided me with their expertise as well: Camille Charpentier and Nancy Calef transcribing thousands of pages of interviews, Christina Delfico consulting on recording techniques, Annika Dalen translating in Buenos Aires. Lastly, a huge hug to the coterie who kept me propped up during the darkest days—and there were many—as I struggled to finish this book: Susan and Don Vollmer, Sabrina Bryant, Katie Sigler, Scott Sublett, Camille and Russ Charpentier, Marty Courson, Elaine and Paul Gormsen, Jacqueline Harmon Butler, Suzanne LaFetra, Maureen Wheeler, Arturo Mendoza, Alison White, Sally and Frank Ashton , Jane Fazzari, Rick Perez, Baris Ozer, Carolyn Blackman, Suzanne Austin, and J.C. I couldn’t have done it without you. ...