Smartphone is your enemy No.1: How stepping back from connectivity restored Adam Weiss’s focus in the lab
In early 2021, I hit a rut in my studies. As a doctoral candidate at the University of Chicago in Illinois, I work at the interface of polymer chemistry and immunology, using synthetic strategies to design safer, more effective materials for vaccine and gene delivery. Although I had been productive...
How President Aristide was hoisted to and ousted from power by criminal gangs that call the shots in Haiti
The rise – and fall – of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who saw himself as a champion of Haiti’s poor, represented a turning point for gangs in the island nation, particularly those in areas such as Cité Soleil where the grinding poverty contrasts sharply to that of the wealth...
Haiti, once a prosperous Black nation, is now a playground for criminal gangs patronised by power elites
Haiti was once one of the wealthiest colonies in the Americas, but centuries of colonial exploitation, foreign interventions, government mismanagement and natural disasters have contributed to more than half of today’s 11.4 million population living below the poverty line. The poverty, power imbalances and a lack of education have left...
Haiti criminal gangs: Gun violence is part of the island nation’s political culture – often deployed to support or quell opposition
the outskirts of Haiti’s capital, gunfire crackles in the seaside shantytown of Cité Soleil. Children playing soccer freeze for a moment. Down the street, a teenager bandages the hand he injured during a gunfight with a rival gang. The number of gangs in Port-au-Prince has grown from roughly three dozen...
South Sudan’s war horrors in Equatoria: Unborn babies were ripped out of women’s womb, bodies being dumped in wells
Politicians from South Sudan capital, Juba, have accused of supporting the formation of an Avungura-led militia in Western Equatoria reportedly backed by troops loyal to President Salva Kiir’s party, while a mostly Balanda militia was created with alleged support from opposition forces. Both sides want to manage the state ahead...
How South Sudan’s peace deal between President Kiir and his deputy Machar sparked conflict in town spared by civil war
The remote county of Tambura, in the breadbasket state of Western Equatoria, went largely unscathed during five years of devastating conflict in South Sudan that killed almost 400,000 people. But the county that survived a civil war has fared less well in a time of peace, as a fragile 2018...
Coming to America II: Tales of broken dreams, despair and attempted suicide in US refugee centres
Between 2017 and 2020, however, the Trump administration slashed refugee admissions to historic lows and starved resettlement agencies of funding. Around 130 resettlement agency offices – or nearly 40 per cent of the total in communities across the US – closed their doors, and many others had to lay off...
Coming to America: The shattered dreams of Afghan refugees running away from despotic Taliban regime at home
As the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan late last summer, Qassim Rahimi packed the odds and ends of his life into bags and joined the crowds forming at the gates of Hamid Karzai International Airport in the capital, Kabul. Forty-eight hours later, the 33-year-old left his lifelong home behind in...
Voices from Africa: Sall says ‘Black Panther’ inspired integration of culture and indigenous knowledge in science
In this article of this eight-part series about the career experiences of African women scientists, Khady Sall explains how seeing the 2018 superhero film Black Panther contributed to her decision to return to her native Senegal and develop her career there. The film depicts an African nation, posing as a...
Voices from Africa: Moruping tells fellow women to ask mentors specific questions, not use them as sounding boards
Pontsho Maruping, deputy managing director of operations and business processes at the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) in Cape Town, describes a career transition from mining to space, and how she juggles the expectations of male and female colleagues. I call myself a career nomad. I started out in...
