What started as a simple hashtag has spread to all four corners of the globe. Created and popularized by African nationals, #IfAfricaWasASchool pokes fun at different countries and cultures by re-imagining them as high school stereotypes. Some countries are the jocks, for example, while others are the nerds or band geeks. “#IfAfricaWasASchool Ivory Coast…
The desire to make beauty a point has far-reaching ramifications. Not only are people ready to debate about it, but many demand for beauty to be reinstated as a public value that goes far beyond the latest trends in fashion. Alicia Keys has never been one to crumble under the constant scrutiny of others.…
Angela Merkel, one of the biggest names surrounding the refugee crisis, has come under fire once again after admitting she underestimated the refugee crisis. The blow boosted the AfD–Alternative fuer Deutschland party, an anti-immigration party–to over 21% of the votes in recent exit polls after Merkel addressed the fact that the impact felt by…
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged a $30 billion investment in Africa on August 27, 2016, noting that his country has faith in Africa’s future. Abe was in Nairobi, Kenya, to attend the sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD). He said the $30 billion in public and private support for education, healthcare…
Chris and Erin McCurdy, American missionaries in Zambia, made a new friend in Lusaka who also loved baseball. While the three played a game of catch they noticed a young boy watching. They invited him over to play. Soon, other children joined in. Every Saturday more children showed up to play. February 2016, is when…
The Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) promotes high-level policy dialogue between African leaders and development partners. Japan proposed the conference to the United Nations in 1991 and held the first event in Tokyo in 1993. Subsequent meetings took place in 1998, 2003, 2008, and 2013 and most recently on Aug. 27-28, 2016.…
Five salons since 2012 have been offering more than just a beautiful head full of braids; these Conakry, Guinea, businesses are sharing information with their customers about contraception. This idea is new for many of their patrons. With Guinea women having an average of five children, and the lowest contraceptive use rates in the…
When news surfaced that the popular movie, Ghostbusters, was undergoing a remake with some interesting new characters, fans of the original were anxious to learn more. When the crew turned out to be a team of diverse yet hilarious women, not everybody was so excited any longer. Despite the fact that people had ill opinions…
Unstoppable is the perfect word to describe the United States Women’s Basketball Team’s gold medal-winning performance at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. The Americans were unchallenged in the tournament, winning by an average of 40 points-per-game and eclipsing the 100-point mark in five of those victories. Some observers believe the gold standard was set by…
Dr. Satoshi Omura is a Japanese microbiologist who shared the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in developing Ivermectin, a highly effective and safe drug against parasitic worms in humans. It is a reformulated version of Avermectin, an equally successful drug that combats parasites in animals. He and Dr. William Campbell…
