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70% of the World Is Water — But So Often, There’s Not a Drop to Drink
When you think of places where girls have to walk for hours to carry back water, you might tend to think of hot, dry regions of Africa. But water shortages can happen anywhere in the world—from remote villages in Albania to cities right here in the United States. Schoolchildren learn that water covers 70% of the planet—it sounds so plentiful. But the fresh water we drink and use in our homes and on our farms only makes up 3% of the world’s water. And most of that is unavailable—locked up in frozen glaciers or otherwise inaccessible. So providing clean water is more difficult than it might sound at first glance.…
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My People of Syria — I’ll Keep Sharing Your Stories
For five years I have watched my people lose their homes and lives to war. For five years I have watched as they scattered around the world in search for safety. From country to country, refugee camp to refugee camp, year after year. For five years, in six different countries and in dozens of camps, I have witnessed first-hand the effects of war and conflict on the people from the same nation my mother, grandmother and her mother were born in—Syria. I’ve seen my fellow Syrians in Lebanon, living in makeshift homes wherever they could find, a masjid construction site, a building boiler room and a leather factory near the…
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Celebrating Unseen Strength on International Women’s Day
When you think of the word “strong,” who do you think of? A muscular man, lifting weights … fixing a road with heavy machinery … carrying bricks to build a big wall? That’s physical strength, yes. But so often, strength looks like this: It’s Mina Bibi, cleaning a clinic in Pakistan for $10 a month to support her four daughters after losing her husband. And then an earthquake destroys her house, and she has to pick up the pieces for them, all alone. That’s strength. Strength is Naza, surviving World War II and the war in Bosnia, losing her husband, seeing her village burned down, then starting over in a…
