Election campaign season was the only time we ate rice in my childhood in Nairobi. My mother would come back to our home in Kibera carrying a small portion of rice, a handout from a politician. My siblings and I would gather, waiting for the moment when the water would boil. In Kibera, we always …
In the last few months, we’ve heard that the Trump administration has proposed funding cuts to several women’s programs, such as the State Department’s Office of Global Women’s Issues. And he isn’t alone. A recent assessment of the EU budget showed that funds allocated for gender equality had significantly been cut down between 2015 and 2016. Some …
NEW YORK – Last month, world governments and other donors pledged $1.2 billion to help carry the 30-year fight to eradicate polio over the finish line. At its height, the polio epidemic caused 350,000 cases of paralysis in children every year. Last year, only 37 cases were reported. So far this year, the number stands at six. But …
Africa is the only continent in the world where poverty and malnutrition are on the rise. Between 1990 and 2014, the number of stunted children increased by 14 percent in East and southern Africa, and 41 percent in West and Central Africa. Of the 34 countries in the world with the most children suffering from malnutrition, 22 are …
In November, 2016, I met 3-year-old Barack Obama’s mother, Mary Atieno, who was all smiles as she watched over her son at the Akala Health Center in Siaya County in western Kenya. Just a few hours earlier, he was struggling to stay alive, one breath at a time. He had been admitted at the hospital …