Who Knows Tomorrow

September 22, 2014
In the midst of a career in high fashion, journalist and author (Paris Interiors) Lovatt-Smith stepped off her gilded career path to pursue a passion. This inspiring memoir explores her transformation from the youngest editor at British Vogue into an activist focused on the establishment of childrenâs aid organizations in Ghana. When her daughterâs emotional problems became overwhelming, a counselor suggested that volunteering might help. Hoping the experience of working with orphans would be a âlife lessonâ for her 17-year-old daughter, whom she had adopted 12 years earlier, Lovatt-Smith moved their household to Ghana. Conditions were abominable, but working with the children changed the course of both their lives, intellectually and geographically. As Lovatt-Smith writes, âI had moved to Ghana, effectively transformed my career from writing and styling for magazines to charity work, and opened three companiesâOafrica in Ghana, Spain and Franceâ Though she was industrious and committed to her work, the authorâs naïveté regarding her adopted countryâs customs and culture soon became apparent as she grasped the depth of corruption within Ghanaâs adoption business. The author reversed her plan in 2005, and initiated a crusade to get children out of orphanages and into families. âIt was not only what I was reading of course, it was the nearly four years of experience in seven different orphanages, all with the same problems,â she writes. Lovatt-Smithâs immensely readable narrative explores her personal metamorphosis and her positive impact on the children of Ghana.

September 15, 2014
When a Vogue editor trades designer photo shoots for community development, the steep learning curve makes rich material for this memoir. After a nomadic and sometimes-difficult childhood, first-time author Lovatt-Smith planned a trip with her daughter to Ghana to volunteer in an orphanage. What seemed like a solid plan to give her daughter some perspective and the two of them an opportunity to bond became the first step toward new lives. After five weeks at Awutiase-a run-down and crowded orphanage-Lovatt-Smith decided that she had to do more. She started her own aid organization, OAfrica, with the goal of offering orphanages assistance with modernization, staff, training and more. In her time at Awutiase, the author experienced both knee-jerk, righteous anger and the first bloom of guilt for making assumptions about best practices due to what she calls her "own poor grasp of the macroeconomics of the developing world." She eventually learned that the orphanage directors were truly corrupt, which colored much of her experience and seems to have vindicated many of those early opinions. Still, Lovatt-Smith is willing to show that some of her assumptions were both hurtful and wrong, and she was clearly willing to learn as she went. Soon after finally establishing her own orphanage, she discovered research indicating that orphanages were not necessarily the best way to help children. By nature an impulsive woman, the author was as willing to change the direction of her organization as she was to start it in the first place. That adaptability led to OAfrica becoming an organization that tries to keep children in their families rather than one that works with group homes. Lovatt-Smith is understandably proud of her accomplishments with OAfrica, but a bit more humility would have benefitted this memoir.

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