Following a mid-life loss, I traveled to the Middle East to assist Iraqi and Palestinian refugees and am currently writing a book about my experiences. My dream is to bring to Americans voices we seldom hear: an Iraqi child who has known nothing but preparing for or recovering from war, a Palestinian mother trying to navigate a checkpoint in the West Bank, a woman whose entire family was murdered in a refugee camp in Beirut....

I'm an American woman who traveled to Iraq 5 weeks before the US-led invasion in 2003 and returned a few months later to find the people who had so deeply touched me. Since then, I have been writing, blogging and speaking about my experiences. I've addressed audiences from Congresswomen in the US Capitol to 5th graders learning about the pillars of Islam -- more than 400 audiences in 9 US states, Guam, the Philippines, Poland and Mexico.

Let me know if you'd like me to come to your community!

I blog at www.PeacePATHFoundation.org.