Who is Alourdes, aka Mama Lola from Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn and what is their importance?

Alourdes, the central character and focus of this book, was born in Haiti to a mother who was a powerful and generous manbo. Her journey is not only that of her immigration to the United States, but also of her struggle through the process of becoming a Vodou manbo and the responsibilities carried therein. Like the women in the generational lineage before her, Alourdes rejects the idea of becoming a Vodou priestess, but is soon persuaded by the spirits who inform her, as they have informed her ancestors in no uncertain terms, that they will not take no for an answer. Alourdes, like most others who refuse service to the spirits, becomes gravely ill, and her recovery begins only when she swears that she will take up the ason and carry on the heritage of her foremothers.