Fiona Fewell

As the newly appointed minister of education in Sierra Leone, David Moinina Sengeh assumed that the administration he served—not to mention his family and friends—shared his conviction that all girls belong in the classroom. He was shocked to learn that many of those closest to him, including a member of his own family, were against lifting a long-standing policy banning pregnant girls from school. Radical Inclusion is the dramatic narrative of Sengeh’s drive to guarantee pregnant girls’ right to an education.

Who is currently running your life? The answer—mostly unbeknownst to us—is that none of us operates from a single self. Instead, we unconsciously move between different personas or defender selves, formed in childhood to help protect us from perceived threats that tell us we’re not good enough. In many cases, the defender serves a useful purpose, but it can also be defensive and highly reactive to any experience of criticism. The Reckoning is a journey of awakening designed to surface the beliefs, habits, biases, fears, and rationalizations of our defenders that prevent us from being our best.