In my country of India, the Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma recently asked foreign women to self-regulate their behavior when visiting “for their own safety.” New welcome kits given to all foreign arrivals, he said, now include safety advice for women such as advising them to not wear skirts or dresses. Advice like this, which implies that sexual harassment and assault is …
It was dawn in Nigeria on Dec. 31, 1983, just a few days before my ninth birthday and I was excited for my party. When the news broke that the military had taken over power in a coup, my father, a former police officer and a card-carrying member of the Unity Party of Nigeria, a …
It's been 27 years since my last conversation with my mother. Like many girls born in rural Uganda in the late 1950s, she did not finish school before she was married off. She often told me, "I never got my degree but one day, my little man, you will." She instilled in me the value …
Not many years ago, global health advocates bemoaned the fact that it took decades for life-saving vaccines to become widely accessible in poorer countries. This resulted in the unnecessary deaths of millions of children every year. Today, however, childhood vaccines are available nearly everywhere. This was thanks to global partnerships between governments, industry and philanthropists. Unfortunately, …
Mother of three Achok Deng woke up suddenly around midnight to rapid gunfire around the Tompin area of Juba, South Sudan’s ramshackle capital. This was Friday the 8th of July; her husband, a soldier with the presidential guard, had left for duty the preceding evening. She was confused as to what was happening, what to …