STIGMATIZED

<p>I could no longer be a part of the silence.</p><p><br></p><p><em>STIGMATIZED: A Mongolian Girl's Journey from Stigma & Illness to Empowerment</em> teaches that our struggles are our stories and that accepting every part of who we are - even the parts we hide - is essential to growth. Handaa Enkh-Amgalan offers readers the tools to reflect on and articulate their previous experiences while empowering them to rediscover who they are and find hope. Enkh-Amgalan intertwines her journey battling tuberculosis and the associated pervasive social prejudice with stories of growing up in the nomadic country of Mongolia and pursuing education abroad. She chronicles:</p><ul><li>Her daily fight for a spot on the bus out of her shantytown in Ulaanbaatar</li><li>Sleeping just two or three hours a night for years as she studied English</li><li>Who she turned to the night she was evicted from her apartment a world away from home</li><li>How she proved skeptics - including family members - wrong about her destiny.</li></ul><p>In her debut book Enkh-Amgalan deftly and earnestly combines storytelling with advocacy drawing parallels to other stigmatized populations and embracing survivor identity.</p>