Allison, my dada (sister) Teddy Chewa is a beautiful round brown woman who runs the Stella Maris Hotel where I was just staying in Moshi, Tanzania. Teddy wouldn't be Teddy if her hip bones jutted out at an angle. We stood together at a funeral mass yesterday morning, the large African women swaying and singing in Swahili. These women move like graceful ships, an armada of beauty and power. Their men like them just the way they are. I love Teddy just as she is. None of the African women I know here struggle to be skinny. What we see every day is indeed normal. It's just one of many reasons I love it over here. When these women hug you, you know it. You are enveloped,and there isn't a better feeling in the world. We don't know shit,really. and when I come home, it will be all about thin thin thin. It's just sick. I wish I had an answer, but it hurts my heart.