Paradise divided: Culture and conflict in the Caribbean
BOCAS DEL TORO, Panama—We hear the buzz of the motor closing in. Both Josh and I stand up instinctively, peering into the inky blackness for the invisible boat. We’ve just finished eating at our little teak table in the cockpit, enjoying the dark ensconce of the warm, humid evening. I see only reflected yellow lights
Panama Canal, Part II: Waiting for Disaster
PANAMA CANAL—Our boat floats 85 feet above the Caribbean Sea. Waiting at the top of the Panama Canal locks on the Atlantic side, we stare from Gatun Lake down three steep chambers directly to a new ocean. Neither Oleada nor I have sailed this sea. Here, the notorious Caribbean trade winds whip clear water into
Creating Possibilities for Girls’ Voices: My Speaking Appearance in Seattle
Celebrate. Innovate. Make Possible. was the theme for PATH’s 40th anniversary celebration, which took place on Friday, May 12, 2017 in Seattle, Washington. PATH is a global health innovation organization that works to improve the health of the most marginalized groups of people, notably women and girls. I had the privilege to speak as a
Human Trafficking and Migration: Awareness and Training for Nigerian Children
“Trafficking in Persons (TIP) is the third most lucrative business in the world, after drugs and arms sales,” an official from the Nigerian National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) told students during a three-day training workshop held from May 22-24 in Abuja. The workshop aimed to increase the awareness of in-school
A Medical Outreach on Children’s Day
Millions of children live in poverty in Nigeria;lacking access to clean water, food, health care services, and education. Two and a half million children suffer from severe acute malnutrition, “defined by a very low weight for height (below -3z scores of the median WHO growth standards), by visible severe wasting, or by the presence of
Panama Canal Part I: Water-Locked: Can the Panama Canal Handle Climate Change?
“Handline Vessel Oleada, your transit has been cancelled.” It’s 5:00 am, and our sailboat bobs around in the choppy entrance to the busiest shipping channel in the world. We are on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal, and we have spent the last two weeks securing everything we need to pass through the canal
Why They Stay: Humans and Sea Level Rise
On a windswept knuckle of land that juts proudly from Mexico’s Pacific coast, a tiny town perches between cliff and sea. With a smattering of artisanal fishers and restauranteurs, Tehuamixtle has tucked into a precarious edge, protected only slightly by the jagged black headlands of Punta Ipala. To get to the town by land requires
ICWA Fellow Guyer interviews Egyptian Author Sonallah Ibrahim
The oeuvre of Egyptian novelist Sonallah Ibrahim chronicles his country’s political dramas from the time of Gamal Abdel Nasser. At 79, he is lifelong agitator, “a symbol of the independent intellectual,” as a major Egyptian paper put it. In the Spring 2017 issue of the Cairo Review of Global Affairs, Ibrahim speaks to Fellow Jonathan Guyer about the “beautiful
Forced into Marriage at 17, Now Fighting for Divorce: A Tale of a Child Bride in Nigeria
In developing countries, one in every three girls is married before reaching age 18. One in nine is married under age 15. – [1] In Africa, Nigeria is expected to have the largest absolute number of child brides. The country has seen a decline in child marriage of about 1 percent per year over the
The Sacred Bridge
In a recent Newsletter (JVC-3), I shared the perspectives of Acehnese Muslims in an attempt to complicate singular notions of Islam. The Story of the Stick tuned in to the (dis)harmonies of Islamic belief and practice, and set the stage for a consideration of the role that religiosity and gender play in Banda Aceh’s political