Between 1989 and 2003, Liberia was somewhat synonymous with war. Stoking the existing tension among ethnic groups, military factions with power-hungry leaders unleashed an era of bitter internal conflict, coups d’état and uprisings during this period. Around 250,000 people died, and many more fled the country. When it was over, Liberia’s economic and political system …
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This week, as the world marks one year since the beginning of the Rohingya exodus – one of the most critical refugee crises of our times – images of helpless refugee women are likely to abound. Too often, in an effort to raise funds or move the public into action, we paint refugee women as powerless, …
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On day one of the Pulitzer Center’s Gender Lens Conference, June 3, 2017, a wide-ranging panel of experts discussed current public health initiatives and problems that face the world. The panelists included documentary photographer and Pulitzer grantee Allison Shelley, documentary filmmaker and Pulitzer grantee Rob Tinworth, senior program officer on sexual health and rights for …
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A narrow window is quickly drawing shut for Liberia to enact a landmark law that would guarantee millions of its people the right to formally own the land they have long lived on and farmed. If the Liberian legislature fails to pass the bill by a deadline currently set for the end of this month, …
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Liberia is also a land of strength, resilience and promise. Martha Karnga, of the women’s group BAWODA, is empowering women to stand up for their rights.
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Promoting healing after Ebola
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Cecelia Danuweli has been to hell and back. As a girl during Liberia’s brutal civil war, she witnessed her stepfather murdered before her eyes and faced the constant threat of rape and other violence as warring factions attacked her village. In 1990, she fled for her life and spent years living in the bush, hiding …
Read MoreOne of the things I find most inspiring about studying Torah is that the biblical characters are human. They may be our valorized, mythical ancestors, but they also consistently make mistakes, leaving a record of paradigmatic human foibles from which we can learn. There is one biblical failure, however, that I have always struggled to …
Read MoreAs if in mockery of Pharaoh’s decree—“every son that is born you shall cast into the river, but every daughter you shall save alive”[1]—Parshat Shmot opens with a cast of extraordinary women. Among these alternately cunning and curious, steadfast and stubborn women, a cabal of three—Yocheved, Miriam and Batya—stands out for its impromptu conspiracy of …
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