Vermin, snakes, cockroaches, invaders—throughout history, politicians have used these words to describe people they’ve deemed unwelcome in their countries. But what happens when media outlets pick up this weaponized language, expand on it, and reverberate it throughout the nation? Are they, somehow, responsible for the outcomes that follow? Read my piece for Foreign Policy.
Yemen, Egypt, Kenya, Somalia, Syria: Distant places with complex problems that generate frequent headlines. Dedicated journalists on the ground in these countries know that their reporting is important. And although some news organizations have cut back or closed their foreign bureaus, today’s international journalists feed audiences information through alternative sources, such as streaming video services, websites and podcasts. News professionals are often necessarily both multimedia experts and entrepreneurs. Excited to be featured in my alma mater’s alumni magazine!
I am proud and honored to have had the opportunity to work on this piece about my friend, Jason Spindler, who was killed by terrorists in the January 16, 2019 attack on the Dust2it Hotel on Riverside Drive in Nairobi, Kenya.
Nearly 1 billion people – 13% of the world’s population – live without electricity, mostly in rural areas. In Africa, 1 in 3 people resort to using kerosene or can only work during daylight hours. Read my DevEx piece on different business models for solar solutions across the continent.
Watch my videos on five micro-entrepreneurs hustling in Nairobi for the Mastercard Foundation.
Yemen’s four-year civil war has produced the world’s worst humanitarian disaster. The conflict between a Saudi-led coalition supporting the Yemeni government and Iran-aligned rebels has killed at least 10,000 people and pushed 14 million more to the brink of famine. Often overlooked in Yemen’s wartime narrative are women and children. Yet they are the ones most likely to be displaced, deprived and abused. These are their stories.
When the #MeToo movement reached East Africa, it sparked conversations on Twitter and in the media. But social stigma, and a normalization of violence against women and girls means that few men have been held accountable as a result of the movement.
Women in Yemen say they are being excluded from critical discussions about rebuilding the nation after war. Yemeni activists say the U.N. and the United States—actors that have committed to the inclusion of women in peace processes—have not insisted strongly enough on women’s participation. As I report from Yemen, without women, peace will be hard to come by.
After nearly four years of war, Yemen’s humanitarian situation is the worst in the world, say aid agencies, and quickly headed toward famine. Around seventy-five percent of Yemen’s population needs assistance as food prices have shot up due to inflation fueled by fighting around the country’s seaports. As I report from Aden, costs for basic food items have skyrocketed amid shortages, leaving up to 14 million people this year risking starvation.
In Yemen, women and girls have been watching their human rights being eroded for decades. I traveled to Aden, Yemen to meet a group of women’s rights activists who are fighting to reestablish basic rights, empowerment and protection for women and girls.