In May of 2016, there was weeping and gnashing of teeth—or so it would have appeared. Schools rich in personal and communal history were closing. Their doors were shutting for good, and the buildings would just sit there, rotting. There was no clear plan for what would happen to those buildings other than the fact that they wouldn’t house students.
Read MoreWe gathered in a living room of earthen walls painted mint green with a dirt floor covered by tarp. Our hostess sat aside from the group on a bench lining one of the walls so that we could all have a seat in a circle of sunk-in couches and ottomans. Alemaz Bola is a mother of five and an entrepreneur. She wore a head wrap striped with the green, yellow, and red of the Ethiopian flag and sat meekly aside as if to stay out of the way, despite the fact that we came to hear her story.
Read MoreConnections in life are kind of a funny thing. When I think of the people who have influenced me in my past and whose teachings and values I subconsciously carry with me to this day, the difference in each of those people is quite striking. There are few common denominators between them. They range from passive to aggressive, from strong type A personalities to passive type B personalities, from men to women, and any other clichéd opposite I could choose to put in this description.
Read MoreThe summer before my junior year of high school I had the amazing opportunity to travel to the island of Antigua on a mission trip. The majority of our trip was spent inland where we were able to see the heart, soul, and reality of this beautiful paradise. Tourism drove the economy of this small island, but the people drove the tourism. I witnessed a unity within the individuals of this community that far surpassed anything I had experienced in my young life.
Read More
