Category: People

The Loss of Belonging

Resurging Islamophobia in response to the conflict in Gaza has Nour Bilal reconsidering her newfound sense of home in the US By Abigail Bennett Nour Bilal’s past experiences with the police in her home country of Syria have all led…

Mom, You’re Home

My mom, Nasrin Waris {L} and grandmother, Nurjan Begum {R} in Bangladesh Source: Tasfia Arshad By Tasfia Arshad Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un. ‘Surely to Allah we belong and to Him we will all return’. At the time of…

Leaving Beirut: Finding God in a Broken Land

By FARIHA WASTI Fadia Nassar’s past keeps her rooted in Beirut’s homeland and is a part of her identity now, in the United States. Surviving 14 years through a Civil War in Lebanon, her faith gave her the courage to…

Armenia’s New Diaspora Generation Has its Say

By SEVITA RAMA Danica Harootian at the Report the Truth protest and march. Photo: Sanan Panossian. Sanan Panossian, a 28-year-old Armenian-American from San Francisco, California, has activism in her genes. She grew up in the largest Armenian diaspora community in…

A Civil War’s ‘Silver Lining’

By JORDAN LESSER-ROY In Yemen’s civil war, the governorate of Marib and its youth activists challenge the idea that war must mean total destruction. In March 2015, Sadam Al-Adwar boarded a plane from Pakistan to return to his native Yemen.…

Still Here: John Muster of Mentoring Academy

By BENJAMIN BARTU In a Berkeley church, past earth-toned pews, beneath a foyer reserved for community events and club gatherings, on the other side of the wall from a soup kitchen that promises a free chicken curry meal come Friday,…

I AM BRAINWASHED (OR NOT): A MONOLOGUE

BY MINQI SONG Nov 15, 2019. I woke up at 6 a.m, and checked my phone as usual. The first message was from Julie, sent ten minutes earlier. Julie is a core leader of Education Without Barriers (EWB), an education…

Diana, Palestine’s Fiercest Makeup Artist

BY KATIE BARNUM Diana remembers the drive from Ramallah to Nablus vividly.  It was her first return home after deciding to remove her hijab—a decision she had made nearly six months previously, over her family’s objection. Her palms were furiously…