Malaak Compton-Rock Gives Volunteering Advice and First-hand Accounts in "If it Takes a Village, Build One"

If you've seen CNN's "Black in America 2," then you may already be familiar with Malaak Compton-Rock, the lead volunteer for 30 at-risk youth going to South Africa to meet new people and learn about real poverty. In her April 2010 book release, she details her experiences in South Africa with these teenagers in addition to 289 pages of other volunteer experiences she's been involved in, interviews with well-known leaders and guides to volunteering opportunities.

"How I Found Meaning Through a Life of Service and 100+ Ways You Can Too: If It Takes a Village, Build One" is not the kind of book you want to reserve at a library or borrow your friend's copy. Compton-Rock's book is one of those publications that you'll want to buy to refer to again and again if you're on a quest to do something within your community or overseas.

Compton-Rock writes about topics like how she got into volunteer work, why she continues to get her daughters (Lola and Zahra) involved when she volunteers, her views on overseas volunteering versus local volunteering, her experience as one of the judges on Oprah Winfrey's "Oprah's Big Give," and the impact UNICEF, the Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) Foundation and Dress for Success left with her.

This book is useful for three kinds of people:

1) The people who want to donate money to a cause but don't know who to trust. Compton-Rock breaks down how to know whether the company is legitimate and why small donations matter just as much as large donations.

2) The people who want to start a nonprofit organization. It's hard enough to earn money, but to create a business or event to raise money can be time consuming. "If It Takes a Village, Build One" gives step-by-step details on writing grant and fundraising letters, how to get product or service donations from large and small companies, and money spending tips.

3) The people who want to volunteer. Anybody can Google an organization to find out who needs volunteers, but how do you really know what you're getting into? Compton-Rock's book doesn't just give Web site addresses and categories each organization is in. She also provides interviews from volunteer leaders (ex. Bobby Shriver, the founder of DATA [Debt, Aids, Trade, Africa], ONE and [PRODUCT] Red) to talk about the organizations.

Other interesting interviews include Essence's Editor-in-Chief, Angela Burt Murray; Terrie M. Williams, the founder of the Stay Strong Foundation; CNN journalist Soledad O'Brien, who gave in-depth coverage of Hurricane Katrina and was the host of "Black in America": Julie Bernstein, the director of international programs for Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

What I liked most about this book is that Compton-Rock didn't gush over every organization. She made sure to tell the pros and cons, including learning at what level you want to volunteer. Some volunteer organization, especially the ones who do work in locations overseas, may require people to rough it (think of a place with no running, clean water; no available shower; bugs crawling on you; no electricity) while others are much more convenient. Compton-Rock admits she's more likely to go to locations where she can take a hot shower and rest in a hotel room before going back out to work, but she has roughed it, too.

After attending a Hyde Park Alliance for Arts & Culture (HyPa) jazz event, I spoke with a Peace Corps volunteer about her experiences in Africa, so I really dove into the Peace Corps chapters in addition to volunteer vacations. Sometimes having too many options for where to travel and where to volunteer can be intimidating, so it was good to hear and read some hands-on advice.

I was also intrigued to find out how Compton-Rock convinced Bushwick kids Jeremy and Jonathan to participate in the Journey for Change: Empowering Youth Through Global Service.

The only cons I had for this book had nothing to do with volunteering and everything to do with tone. There was one spot in the book where Compton-Rock said, "Now, everyone who knows my husband and me knows that I do all the talking in the relationship! The only place he talks mor than me and better than me is onstage."

I thought that comment was incredibly arrogant. While I understand that Compton-Rock wants people to know she stands on her own two, there's no need to insult Chris Rock in the process. She talked about him refusing to wear a Santa Clause outfit at an event and found it hilarious instead of thoughtful that a Johannesburg resident named a child Chris Rock Skhosana. I didn't see the humor in that. I thought it was kind of cool. She explained that she never relies on Chris Rock's name for her events outside of a Katrina event that she "let him do the talking," but I was hoping she'd talk about events they may have worked on together.

For those of you who think she's going to talk about Chris Rock a lot, you'll be disappointed. This is not that type of read nor should it be. I got that, but she sure did talk about every single memory with her daughters. Readers got a detailed account about one daughter not wanting to sit on Nelson Mandela's lap, but the only thing we heard about Chris Rock was that he was thinking, "What is a comedian from Brooklyn going to say to the most respected man in the world?" Every time she talked about her husband, it sounded condescending to me up until the end.

But I finally got why she glossed over her husband's contribution when she wrote, "Chris is a silent giver, a person who is extraordinarily generous but does his giving anonymously and without any fanfare. For years I watched him from afar taking hundreds of kids on exciting outings to places like Toys "R" Us, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, and, of course, baseball games. This was something that Chris did on his own with an assistant and I would usually find out about it only when I looked at his weekly schedule."

I probably wouldn't have been looking out for Chris Rock's contributions if not for his article in Vanity Fair with poet Maya Angelou on the cover. It was a 12-cover issue that they talked about HIV/AIDS, and Chris Rock wrote a comical but truthful piece on the state of Africa.

But again this book was written by Malaak Compton-Rock about her own volunteer experiences as well as others so she did her job. Quite honestly, I admire her drive and anybody else who wants to help people. The Chris Rock snubs momentarily distracted me, but the book overall was great. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.