BY BLANCA ARISMENDI Moving to New York City was the culmination of a lifelong dream for Qian, a second year student at SIPA. Attending Columbia was an unplanned opportunity she grabbed onto without thinking twice. Qian is excited to plan…
Month: October 2019
Mindanao’s Madrasahs: Countering or Contributing to Violent Extremism?
BY KEVIN CORBIN The Fajr call to prayer echoes over darkness in Jolo, a city in the Philippine’s conflict-affected Muslim Mindanao region. People slowly emerge from small makeshift homes with corrugated metal roofs just before sunrise and head to the…
How Gemfields Puts the Blood in “Blood Red” Rubies
BY JUANA LEE The jewelry sector is a billion dollar business that rakes in almost USD $300 billion per year. As fine jewelry, such as gems, become the ultimate luxury commodity, consumers are increasingly aware of purchasing “guilt-free” or “conflict-free”…
“The Pearl of Africa is Bleeding”
BY HANNA HOMESTEAD The first thing I noticed as we drove into town was the smell. The familiar fragrance of Kasese’s dusty air, usually scented by flowering coffee plants and smoldering kitchen fires, was replaced with a stench that turned…
Nepal’s Maoist insurgents target Sanskrit as a symbol of the regime they want to overthrow
BY SHRUTI MANIAN Ira Regmi and her father had just ordered tea at a bhatti and taken their seats when sudden screams rang through the bustling market. “They’re coming, they’re coming,” shouted people in the street outside. Shoppers and passers-by…
Four Piles: U.S. Humanitarian Relief After the Tohuku Earthquake
BY JILLIAN TIMKO Oshima Island, Japan Four piles: wood, debris, fishing equipment, and personal effects. For three days in March 2011, Marines from the U.S.S. Essex cleared and sorted the destruction caused by the Tohuku Earthquake on Oshima Island into…
Halima Sahim, a young woman striving for rights and a future in conflict-affected Mindanao, Philippines
BY KEVIN CORBIN Striving for a future First thing most mornings, Halima Sahim, reaches for her cell phone, usually to post an emoji-filled sunny status update. Real life isn’t as rosy for the 24-year old woman from Muslim Mindanao as…
No More Girls: How one woman is making a name for herself in Pakistan
BY CATE BROWN “My name is Noorena Shams, and my name is based on a myth.” Noorena tugs at her cascading ponytail, her fiery onyx eyes alight, “Pashtuns believe that whoever has this name for a daughter, then they will…
Want to demolish a Palestinian home? Call the American Ambassador
BY CATE BROWN The traffic was bad. Saturday night and raining. Abed Sabbagh tapped his fingers on the dashboard of our taxi, gently strumming along to the oud streaming from Bethlehem’s 89.6FM. I watched as the procession of yellow license…
An Average Mindanao Monday at Work Turns into a Death and Destruction After Bombing
BY KEVIN CORBIN I got up at sunbreak on a typical Monday morning, only to find there was no water for showering today. Not a problem, as I tossed on a formal Filipino shirt, shouted goodbye to the guards, and…