Audiences around the world are getting ready to see Black Panther and dive into the film’s fictional kingdom of Wakanda. Though the film’s setting is a work of fantasy, the cultural influences behind it are entirely real.
South-African actor John Kani plays T’Chaka, the old king of Wakanda who is succeeded by the film’s protagonist, T’Challa, played by Chadwick Boseman. Kani brought the language of isiXhosa into Black Panther, and made it the official language of Wakanda in Captain America:...
admin
If anyone understands the power of narrative, it’s Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The highly-acclaimed Nigerian author has many achievements to her name, including becoming a recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship and having one of the most viewed TED Talks of all time, “The Danger of A Single Story.”
Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'d6_dD-b6RYZzCWOUKJ29lA',sig:'UJ8Kmj48BmSxDc7rHB2O5tsTde3C6xx518UE_wlVlCQ=',w:'594px',h:'409px',items:'909740240',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});
There’s no doubt that the narratives found in stories shape how we see the world. Adichie knows too well how problems can arise when a...
More than 130 million girls weren’t given the chance to go to school today. That’s why people around the world are adding their voices to the #GirlsCount campaign to tell our elected officials that they need to make girls’ education a priority.
Girls’ Voices shares in our passion to educate girls around the world. Their organization believes that “when a girl stays in school, she has the power to transform lives, families, and communities.” Through digital media training, they’re empowering...
By girls’ education activist Selina Nkoile and ONE Policy Manager Gabriele Simeone
In the Maasai community, girls are booked for marriage at the age of 6, sometimes earlier. Once married off — generally, at age 12 — their fathers are compensated for their daughters with cows (or ng’ombe in Swahili), the most precious assets a Maasai family can have.
Before being married off though, child brides have to go through female genital mutilation and — if they survive — become wives...
This post was originally published on water.org.
Four years ago, Water.org documented Rose’s story. At the time she had just taken a small, affordable loan to give her family a toilet and water at home. She explained why this loan was so important to her by sharing her story…
Rose dropped out of school after fifth grade. It is no surprise why she quit school so young as, globally, the daily struggle to secure water burdens mainly women and children. All...
Refugee Camp, Kadujli Primary School. Kakuma, Kenya, Feb 2017. As the sun rises over the dusty roads, its light begins to reflect on the corrugated tin rooftops. In these early hours, houses are already bustling with activity as young children prepare for school. In this refugee camp, as in hundreds of others across the world, many girls are busy preparing breakfast while helping their siblings get ready for the day. After their chores are done, the girls who...
These two teens from Senegal are fighting for girls’ education!
“In the world today, if you don’t study, you will lose out. I want to study until I achieve something.” — Safi
Safi and Dieynabah, 18, are trailblazers. They have fought hard to stay in school and get a good education.
It hasn’t been easy. They were both under pressure to get married — but refused — and persuaded their parents to let them stay in school. That alone is a huge achievement,...
Story by Megan Gieske; photos courtesy of Breadline Africa.
Breadline Africa started as a grant-giving organization, where those in need applied for funding and Breadline Africa raised the funds to meet them. Almost 25 years later, those in need can still apply, but assistance comes in a new shape and size — infrastructure!
Marion Wagner, Director of Breadline Africa, says that much of South Africa’s infrastructure is unsafe. For parents who work, this can mean sending their children to schools or...
By Chris Kardish, Raimund Zühr, Sabine Campe (SEEK Development)
There are few United Nations goals with a bigger impact across the entire development agenda than education. Improving the health of societies, reducing poverty and inequality, eradicating hunger, empowering women – all of them require giant leaps forward in global education. But as many researchers and advocates have pointed out, getting there will require more investment, including from wealthier donor countries to developing countries.
However, existing data reveals the opposite: donor country...
From Malala Yousafzai to the Chibok girls, stories of girls who sought to pursue an education – and experienced violence at the hands of extremists as a result – are all too common. And the stories of violence we hear about pale in comparison to those that don’t get as much media attention – stories of millions of girls worldwide who are harassed or face threats every day on their commute to school, or those whose teachers or classmates...