In The News

New York Times: Improve a Billion Lives With Eyeglasses

Andrew Jacobs May 10, 2018
HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other deadly diseases are at the forefront of global health crises. This had allowed certain widespread health issues to be overlooked. Poor vision and lack of access to eyeglasses, while not necessarily fatal, afflicts more than a billion people worldwide. Eye exams and eyeglasses can be very expensive, while the resources allotted to improving vision care in...

BBC: Finland’s Basic Income Trial Falls Flat

Laurence Peter April 24, 2018
Populations grow yet automation and productivity reduce job numbers and security. To reduce poverty, governments consider guaranteeing a universal income for their citizens. Finland launched a pilot program in 2017, when the unemployment rate exceeded 9 percent, for 2000 unemployed people selected randomly to receive monthly payments of $685 per month. Results are expected in 2019, but the...

60 Minutes: The NBA’s Giannis Antetokounmpo

Steve Kroft March 26, 2018
The parents of Giannis Antetokounmpo, from Nigeria, landed in Greece as undocumented immigrants, living in poverty and teaching their children to embrace integration. The father gave his children Greek names and encouraged them to play basketball to fit in. At times, the brothers shared one pair of sneakers to play basketball. “They subsisted in the shadows of the economy, peddling goods on the...

Quartz: Teacher in Ghana Teaches Windows on Blackboard

Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu March 2, 2018
A teacher in Ghana posted photographs of himself on Facebook teaching his students about the Windows computer operating system. The students lack computers, so Richard Appiah Akoto makes detailed drawings on the chalkboard and they copy the diagrams in their notebooks. His posts went viral: “His photo was seen as both a bit of ironic fun about life in Africa but also as a source of inspiration...

IRIN News: The Real Crisis in North Korea

Gianluca Spezza May 31, 2017
The international community focuses on North Korea’s expanding nuclear capability. The narrow focus, largely due to the dictatorship’s secrecy and closed economy, overlooks North Korean citizens, explains Gianluca Spezza for IRIN News Agency. Spezza points out that Kim Jong Un, while brutal, does not wield the influence of his father or grandfather, adding that “Security apparatuses are no longer...

El País: The Coca-Cola Addiction of Mexico’s Indigenous Population

David Marcial Pérez April 7, 2017
A cold, sweet beverage is refreshing for those who labor on farms, but too many empty calories can contribute to obesity and diabetes. “In the indigenous community of the Mazahuas in San José del Rincón, a wooded village in western Mexico state, there are homes without running water but with a bottle of soda sitting permanently on the dinner table,” reports David Marcial Pérez for El País and he...

North-South Divide in Nigeria Is Hiding a Humanitarian Crisis

Emmanuel Akinwotu September 21, 2016
Boko Haram has terrorized northeastern Nigeria for seven years, leaving almost 2 million people displaced and many communities impoverished. The country of 180 million is ethnically diverse. The humanitarian crisis that also stretches into Chad, Niger and Cameroon has prompted outrage around the globe. The crisis is less urgent for journalists and government leaders of Nigeria, largely based in...