Rekindling Hope “If we don’t end the war, the war will end us” – H.G. Wells The Plight of Bobo in Conflict-Stricken Bamenda Bobo, a 22-year-old young man is one of the many youths between the ages of 15-35 living in the conflict-stricken town of Bamenda. Bamenda also known as Abakwa, is a city in […]
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by Itohan Iyawe How water shortage drowns education opportunities in Nigeria During the course of one of my fieldwork for the identification of problems/challenges in rural communities, I visited the Irese community in the southern part of Ondo State, Nigeria. There, I met with Alice, a fifteen-year-old girl, looking way older than her age. As
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by Johny Soelistyo, “One day, during Ramadan, I was on my way to meet Fat, a lady in her 50s, when a call for mid-day prayer sounded over the village. When I knocked, her son opened the door. He said that his mum was taking a rest. ”I am sleepy, because of fasting” she shouted
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Martin Buber Plaque 2022 for Sabriye Tenberken and Paul Kronenberg The name “kanthari” was carefully chosen by Sabriye and Paul. They say: “kanthari is a chili that grows wild in the backyards of Kerala. Once rooted, it survives droughts and floods. The small ‘kanthari’ looks harmless but it is one of the spiciest chilis in
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We stayed in the guest rooms of the school and enjoyed Samuel Odwar and his team’s gracious hospitality throughout the time we were in Gulu. Of all the wonderful children there, Sunday and James turned out to be our favourites. Both are physically disabled with all their limbs being affected. But these two are the
By Riya Orison und Chacko Jacob We are in Gulu, Northern Uganda. The anticipation on a Friday night among the disabled and non-disabled students of Thumbs Up Academy for the next day is palpable. Faruk comes along with a dedicated coach every Saturday to Thumbs Up Academy to play a bunch of adaptive sports and
The Kenyan portion of the trip was very tightly scheduled. We were to visit Eltrud for a couple of hours in the morning and then together move to Steven Onyang’s (a 2013 kanthari graduate) Albert Schweitzer School which is close by. We were looking forward to seeing someone so fresh from the course, struggling to
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“There is no such thing as ‘away’. When we throw anything away, it must go somewhere” – Annie Leonard Waste Not, Want Not ‘Taka’ means waste and ‘kazi’ means jobs or employment in Swahili. Together it forms the name of and organisation that was started by Emmenual Mruu, 2015 kanthari graduate from Kenya. We travelled on
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(Read Part 1 here ) PART 2: … When Nancy was only 16, she married a school headmaster. She laughed when she told me about her choice. “I believed he was my ticket to more education. But that hope remained unfulfilled!” Soon enough she had two children in quick succession and adopted four more children
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by Sabriye Tenberken “When the quest for knowledge tramples poverty, then Zimbabwe can change for the better.” Says Nancy Mbaura, and she not only says it, but she also acts accordingly. About seven years ago, in 2016, she and single mothers ensured that a beer hall located in the centre of the small town of
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