ONE Arts and Music Blogger Hannah Elansary interviews the ladies behind the Last Song Before the War, a documentary of the Festival au Desert in Mali. As Northern Mali continues to face instability, music serves as a powerful driver of cultural unification.  The riveting feature-length documentary, The Last Song Before the War, captures the importance

I’m very big on atmospheres. I’m one of those people who walk into a  room and can just tell whether its inhabitants are feeling generally  perky…or whether they’ve just had a blazing row. Wherever I travel for Catholic Relief Services, around West and  Central Africa, I subconsciously seem to work out whether I like the 

Once again, the Sahel’s lean season (the period after farmers invest in planting but before they reap the benefits of harvest) is in full swing, and has pushed more people into a dire situation than ever before. After almost a year of crisis in the Sahel, 18.7 million people in more than 9 countries have

This blog is part of a series organized by The Huffington Post and the NGO alliance InterAction to call attention to the crisis in the Sahel, a region in sub-Saharan Africa where more than 18 million people face starvation and 1.1 million children under the age of 5 are at risk of dying from acute

Today, our photos come from Laura Cook, a professional photographer who travels all over the world on the quest to take photos of people in a beautiful and dignified way. Laura uses her pictures to tell the powerful, complex stories of her subjects. “It is time to strip away the negative images of so many

This week for Amazing Africa, we bring you photographs from two different ONE members. Gunnar Salvarsson is a professional photographer from Iceland who specializes in portraits of people from all over the world. Julienne Oyler recently returned from a 6-month trip through West and East Africa. Take a peek at these stunning moments that these

I am so excited to share with you today the work of one of your fellow ONE members, Ahtziri Gonzalez. Ahtziri is a 22-year-old photographer from Mexico City who — according to her blog — “travels… parties… writes… lives,” and above all, takes some beautiful photography. She emailed me 10 of her best photos from

Mali is not the first country that comes up when people describe educational progress sub-Saharan Africa. Ranked as one of the top 25 poorest nations on earth, improvements do not come easily. Yet despite financial issues, Mali has made promising strides in education in the last 10 years. The government of Mali is working with

I just got back from Mali, and you know what was one of my favorite stops? Le Ndomo in Segou. It’s a company that employs local artisans to make beautiful products, from blankets and scarves to pillows and napkins.

Africare, a partner organization devoted to improving lives and building futures, also tells the stories of individuals making a difference in Africa. Enter “Pass It On”. Through a new series of 16 videos, one featured each month, Africare hopes to connect the development work Africans are doing in different countries. Certain challenges, including access to