BY MARJORIE TOLSDORF I was hopelessly lost in the center of Old Cairo with a dead phone, a handful of useless Arabic words floating around in my head, and an escalating fear that I would not find my way back…
A Different Experience of a Minority Group
BY BASBIBI KAKAR When Ramzia, a pseudonym to protect her identity, sees people migrating from one country to another, she doesn’t blame them. “You can’t be in a place where your life is not guaranteed,” she says. “You have to…
From Little Brother to Grandfather: A Photographer’s Journey
BY LUCIA ZERNER A Newar father and son kneel in front of their life’s work, a sea of clay bricks drying in the cool Kathmandu Valley air. From the photo, it’s as if their gaze looks directly at us. The…
‘Organizational Interest Comes First’: One Intelligence Officer’s Experience with Interservice Rivalry
BY JENNIFER KELTZ Just because two officers are fighting for the same cause does not mean that they will work together. As a boy in New York, John Gentry never pictured that he would one day spend over twenty years…
An American Muslim Finds his Place in the Marine Corps… and Afghanistan
BY JOHN PATRICK DEES An American Muslim Finds his Place in the Marine Corps… and Afghanistan At 0500 hours sharp the drill instructors barged into the Quonset hut. The entire structure shuddered from the impact of the door on…
Up
BY MINQI SONG Wes Lam never thought of himself as a stranger in the U.S. Army. A son of Chinese immigrants, Wes served in the army from 1999 to 2009, including one year in Iraq right after the 2003 Invasion. …
A Bridge Between Two Lives
BY MARJORIE TOLSDORF Bahram watched as his mother and sisters wept, soaking the white cloth that covered his uncle’s body with tears. He could hear his mother moaning her brother-in-law’s name over and over, morphing into a single monotonous tone.…
He Sought Refuge in the Kitchen. Now, He Does Not Want to Leave.
BY SARAH SAKHA “I’ll be in the red bandana.” His note had been short, but bold. I spotted Ruslan as soon as I walked into the coffee shop, with his bright red bandana, thick-rimmed crimson glasses, a gray hooded jacket,…
Kidnapped by a Libyan Militia: One prominent gay rights blogger recounts his detention by a conservative militia.
BY SEAN HANSEN “Are you a mule, or not?!” His kidnappers shouted, using a derogatory slang word for a gay person in Libyan Arabic. Abdough Ilbosiphi cowered in the back of a blacked-out Toyota, as it drove away from his…
Finding a Path to Feeling Free
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…
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…
Grandma in the Frontline of Bolivia’s Gas War
BY BLANCA ARISMENDI La Paz, Bolivia 2003 The country was on the cusp of an uprising. President Gonzalo “Goni” Sanchez de Lozada’s decision to export natural gas through Bolivia’s historic enemy, Chile, triggered a nationwide rejection. Starting in February, numerous…
To Develop or To Defend
BY BLANCE ARISMENDI Cecilia stood in front of a seated crowd, both her hands gripping the microphone. With a broken but firm voice, Cecilia Moyoviri told her audience ”If this road is constructed, we as Indigenous people, along with our…
2006 Didn’t Defeat Lebanese Patriotism
BY JUANA LEE According to an IDB study conducted by the Herzliya Conference, Israeli Jews were just as patriotic following the 2006 Israel and Lebanon War. But, what about Lebanese survivors? In an interview, Nadine, now 23, recalled the strengthening…
The Day I Met My Daughters
BY TARA HEIDGER Nashik, India “Chris! We have less than an hour before we have to be there and you want to take a shower?” I asked my husband as he grabbed his soap and looked at me with a…
Endgame for Rukban
BY AMIR KHOUZAM AND TARA HEIDGER At the Rukban informal IDP camp on the Jordan-Syria border, desperation can be measured by the price of bread. This past month that price has doubled. The small markets and bakeries sustaining the 50,000…
Fleeing from Fahaheel
BY S’HA SIDDIQI On August 2, 1990, a thunderous boom rattled the streets of Fahaheel, Kuwait. It was early morning and 26-year-old Asma Ahsan had just returned to bed after nursing her infant son back to sleep. Her eyes fluttered…