Walk with Us:

Triplet boys, their teen parents & two white women who tagged along

Elizabeth K. Gordon

Paperback, 320 pgs., 5.5" x 8.5", appendix

$19.95

Heartwarming story set in Philadelphia where two white women share a household with a young black family. Beautifully written with warmth and humor, this memoir brings home the joys and tribulations of reaching out across race, class and culture.

At the beginning of the end of “welfare as we know it” Tahija, an effectively homeless teenaged girl, finds herself pregnant. With triplets. Her boyfriend Lamarr turns to one of the few resources in his North Philly neighborhood: Kaki and Kathryn (Elizabeth), two white woman who left the suburbs to live in multiracial community and work for peace. The young mother moves in “just until the babies come.” But when they do come—three beautiful boys—the state threatens to take them into custody because the parents are so young (fifteen and seventeen), so poor, and without apparent adult support. Unless …

It may take a village to raise a child, but what if that village has been raided, the shaman kidnapped, the priestess raped, crops burned, huts standing empty? In this true, fast-paced story of love, family, conflict, forgiveness and reconciliation, Elizabeth Gordon responds to the still small voice within as, together with Kaki, she accepts the role of legal guardian to the young mother and, later, caregiver of Damear, Mahad and Lamarr.

With hope in your heart and an eye on the Beloved Community, walk with this amazing makeshift family of teenaged Black Muslims, middle-aged Quaker lesbians, and radiant baby boys growing fast into toddlers. Walk with us.