2011-02-18
This is my first winter without snow. I remember the first time I ever made a snowman. I scooped snow into my mittens and tried to form a ball, but the powder just crumbled apart and fell as I separated my hands. I watched in jealous frustration as my older brothers rolled their rapidly expanding...
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In recent weeks, I’ve watched as people my age took to the streets of Cairo to uphold the idea of liberty. It’s made me wonder, would the youth of America take such radical action in the face of similar injustice— would they even notice the injustice in the first place? I come from a generation...
Read More2011-02-17
“Why don’t pregnant women go to the hospital to give birth?” is one of the questions that appears on a survey that we have been giving the parteras of the rural, mostly indigenous communities within the canton of Cayambe, Ecuador. The best translation for partera is midwife, as these women serve their respective communities by...
Read More2011-02-16
The Magal 2011 was perhaps my most thrilling, exhausting, and challenging experience in Senegal yet. At the end of January I traveled to Touba, the central holy city of Mauridism, where every year millions of pilgrims (Wikipedia says 1-2 million, but I was told 5+ million) celebrate the return of the founder of the Islamic sect to...
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With no moon tonight it’s almost pitch black outside. Absa, my host dad’s second wife, asks to borrow my cell phone. They need a light. “Foo jem?” “Where are you going?” I ask. “Jocko genar.” “Getting the chickens…” Okay, so I’m not positive about the verb but I KNOW genar means chicken. “Newal” Absa beckons...
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This piece was featured in the Verona-Cedar Grove Times on April 28, 2011. Read the article here. “DAKAR, Senegal — Thousands of children in Senegal are forced to beg on the streets under the pretext that they are receiving religious instruction, Human Rights Watch said in a report Thursday that urged the government to crack down...
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Maybe it was a mirage in the desert. It did look enchantingly perfect: dozens of young, strong women filing through the gate soon after the other Léona fellows and I had arrived at the community garden plot. They were there to water onions and eggplants. The field belongs to the Federation de Jeune Filles, a...
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