Sep 29
This week I received an email about a program that was funded by USAID, the US federal government’s international development agency. I’ve read several in the past highlighting youth initiatives and other similar projects. What caught my attention about this one was the fact that it addressed controversial topics like child marriage. The Youth Theater …
Sep 29
Imagine living in poverty. You are your household’s main breadwinner. You are married and have four children who are all under the age of 18 and are depending on you to meet their most basic needs: shelter, food and clothing. You have the opportunity to go to another country to work. They will pay you …
Sep 23
Fire burns, true, but fire also purifies. Count my words as fire, burning embers that purify an unspeakable truth spoken at last. Two lesbians of African descent abandon fear for risk, decide to marry in New York City, breaking social taboo while making U.S. history. But did their struggle for equality pay off in Africa? …
Sep 23
Uganda Skimming over the New York Times this morning, I noted that the first article in their global edition was regarding the outrage that Oxfam is uncovering about Ugandan settlers being displaced on behalf of the Ugandan government and an international organization. Despite being a catchy headline on a leading newspaper, unfortunately these practices are …
Sep 22
What if your home was no longer yours? What if you were a guest in a place you once called your own? As I prepared for a fact-finding trip to Colombia in May 2010, I tried to do my homework. I looked up demographic and country data, information on the people I was meeting with …
Sep 21
On a daily basis, the news will report on cases of labor exploitation in restaurants, sweatshops or agricultural fields in urban and rural America. In more severe cases, we hear of people being enslaved and forced to work against their will as victims of human trafficking. People migrate to escape hardship back home. Poverty and …
Sep 16
I once met with a refugee who was days away from graduating from college. He was proud of this accomplishment, not only because he was the first member of his family to achieve such a feat, but also because he was proof that his family had made it in America. He was the first member …
Sep 15
There are parts of the world, where children don’t worry about how to tell their parents they received a bad grade or convince them to let them go out on a Friday night. That carefree life is a far reality from the grim existence that many live in throughout the world. There is a generation …
Sep 13
The same-sex lesbian couple are among a group of gay, lesbian, transgender, queer folk in New York making U. S. history by breaking social taboo, vowing to cement their lifelong commitment to each other through marriage, illegal in New York State before then. Both Renee and Kelebohile, a native of the mountainous southern African country …
Sep 07
I recently read an article about a mother, Raquel, that had been sentenced to prison for the death of her child, after a car hit her son (who consequently died) as he crossed the street. The mother was sentenced in spite of the fact that the driver who ran over them was drunk. An accident …
