Archive for the ‘Rwanda’ Category
More pressure than dating
Last week I was at a party–or, rather, a graduation celebration for a typing course. That’s right. Huge stereo speakers, a DJ, brouchettes everywhere, lots of drinks….to celebrate a typing class. It was, some of these newly-certified typists said, the best day of their lives. And indeed, it was a pretty awesome party. The music [...]
How to stand out in Rwanda even more than you already do when you’re white
There are lots of great images and interesting language in Chimanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun, so I don’t know what it says that this one has stuck with me. But ever since reading it a few months ago, I’ve never felt quite the same way about myself. There’s this boy, Ugwu, who [...]
Fashion in Africa, where the Indians won the Series
Here’s an interesting piece by Canadian journalist Sarah Petrescu, whom I bumped into in Kigali while she was here. It was the strangest of meetings–we have an old friend in common, and we shared a beer once, in New York, what feels like lifetimes ago: before either of us had a “real” job in journalism, [...]
The limits of the internet
Of the 45 recipes you get if you type “goat” into allrecipes.com not a single one of them is actually for goat meat, which abounds here. In fact, every single one of them is for goat cheese, an idea which makes absolutely no sense to Rwandans. Milke a goat? Goats are for eating, and cows [...]
Rwanda’s street kids or America’s homeless: Who’s poorer?
A friend recently spent a month in California. While there, he took a trip to Venice Beach, and from the sounds of it, everything there surprised him. Like the crazy people who mutter to themselves and to anyone else who will listen. The most fantastical things roll effortlessly from of their mouths. Meanwhile, “I have [...]
Who does laundry for the Leader of the Free World?
This was one among many questions Bob Geldof had for George Bush. Geldof — you know, the guy behind retro-human-rights-cool “Live Aid” and modern-day-human-rights-chic “Live 8″ — flew on Air Force One as Bush hopped around Africa. He got some face-time with the president, and from it he made an interesting, punchy article for Time. [...]
I am a freelance journalist and multimedia producer who covers human rights, Africa and foreign affairs. [