Noëlla Coursaris is not only a well-known model, but she is also a self-described “fierce advocate for Africa’s youth” and an active philanthropist. As a successful fashion model in London and NYC, she has regularly graced the pages of magazines like Vogue, Elle, and Vanity Fair. Her true passion, though, is giving back and championing human rights.…
Health risks and dangerous conditions such as malaria, pneumococcal infections, viral induced encephalopathy, and bacterial blood diseases continue to affect African populations, particularly children, across the continent. These matters also constantly keep Dr. Evelyn Gitau, a cellular immunologist from Kenya, busy in the lab and the field. Dr. Gitau believes that clinical immunity to malaria…
The Neem Foundation program focuses on helping the former captives of Boko Haram. This terrorist group, widely known for its mass kidnappings—most sensationally the 2014 kidnapping of over 200 Nigerian school girls—uses various violent means to fuel its terrorist organizations, as well as spread its zealous ideology. Some kidnapped girls have even been forced…
The Easter holiday has profound meaning in the Christian faith for it represents the mystery of the Resurrection, a great symbol of hope that the Savior will one day return to unite humanity and make everything holy for eternity. Although news headlines closely follow Easter celebrations conducted by the Roman Catholic Church, it is important…
Fresh off a PEN/Open Book award for her 2016 story collection, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours (Riverhead Books), author Helen Oyeyemi continues to emerge as a voice of global importance. At just 32 years of age, Oyeyemi is already a veteran author of six highly acclaimed books. Oyeyemi was born in Nigeria in 1984 and…
The 2017 Women in the World Summit was a powerful three-day celebration of the female voice in the midst of a tumultuous political and cultural climate. The annual conference was started by Tina Brown in 2010 and consists of speakers, panels, and performances centered around the theme of building a better world for women and…
Ndija Anderson-Yantha, like most black women, learned at a young age that how she wore her hair was a complex subject that many had strong opinions about. Her hair attracted a lot of attention, both positive and negative. While an undergraduate at Spelman College, she was startled to be given the advice, “if you would…
America’s loss is South Africa’s gain. Writer and scholar Wole Soyinka has joined the University of Johannesburg’s faculty as a Distinguished Visiting Professor. The distinction comes after Soyinka, the first African writer to win a Nobel Prize in Literature, made good on a promise to cut up his green card in the event of a…
Inspiring South African activist Ahmed Kathrada passed away at the age of 87 on March 28th, but he leaves a powerful and lasting legacy. He is most known for his time working in the anti-apartheid movement with the African National Congress and his subsequent long-term imprisonment. Kathrada began activism at a very young age and worked tirelessly…
Johns Hopkins Welcomes its First Black Female Neurosurgery Resident Nancy Abu-Bonsrah is now the first black female resident at the prestigious Johns Hopkins neurosurgery department. She was born and raised in the Ashanti region of Ghana until she moved to Maryland with her parents at the age of 15. After graduating high school at Hammond High School…
