Journeys to the Heart is about the author’s experiences of Indonesia’s social changers. It is about finding your own place in the mix of people, projects and countries in a way that values them and values your own growth. There are nine journeys that read like essays on the country, or ordinary people, or women community leaders and on the author’s very personal journey to her heart.

Sofia tells the stories of six Indonesian social change makers from Brebes, Poso, West Kalimantan, Lombok, Yogyakarta and Jakarta. She also relates other stories of activists working in Kalimantan and Sumatra. Throughout the book there are succinct observations which are direct and simple but also provocative, including Sofia’s top 10 list of why working with government is difficult, how to apply successfully to U.S. universities.

Sofia led an education mentorship initiative to help prospective Indonesian students applying to U.S. universities and a women’s empowerment initiative, both of which she discusses in her book. She’s honest and admits to mistakes, and her own quest to find magic solutions.

Sofia Blake talks briefly of feminism, social organizations, her failed ideas and impossible models to conclude that the most valuable journey is that of the heart, and that unless “your heart is in it, success will never come.”