“I stand before you as a proud American, I also stand before you as the son of an African,” he said. Obama spoke about democracy and warned African leaders that “nobody should be president for life.” That’s a sore point in a number of African nations, where leaders in their 80s and 90s continue to hold power. […]
TAPACHULA, MEXICO—It is not hard to find the Eritreans in this low-key town near the Pacific coast a few miles north of the Guatemalan border. They gather on the front steps of the Palafox Hotel with the only other Africans here—Somalis, Ethiopians, a handful of Ghanaians, all of them migrants—or they crowd into the bustling […]
What Big Data Won’t Tell You The science of global health is propelled by statistics. The larger a research study’s sample size, the more accurately researchers can map trends in health issues from infant mortality to the spread of HIV. But it’s not always about the numbers. That’s what Jennifer Beard, a School of Public […]
The Peace Corps today announced its 2015 rankings of the top volunteer-producing colleges and universities across the country. This year, Boston University ranked No. 24 among large schools, with 30 alumni currently volunteering worldwide. BU alumni are currently serving in Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Georgia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Macedonia, Madagascar, […]
Over 35,000 Eritrean refugees live in Israel today. Dubbed a “cancer” by right-wing politicians, just four have been granted asylum. Kifle was in the fourth grade at Bet Soira — the “Revolution School” run by the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front at their rear base in Harareb — when the final battle of the 30-year struggle for independence […]
The science of global health is propelled by statistics. The larger a research study’s sample size, the more accurately researchers can map trends in health issues from infant mortality to the spread of HIV. But it’s not always about the numbers. That’s what Jennifer Beard, a School of Public Health assistant professor of global health, […]
In June 2012, a landslide in eastern Uganda killed dozens and left hundreds homeless. Scores of people had been buried alive in a similar disaster in the region two years earlier. Climate change is expected to only increase the occurrence of landslides caused by heavy rains in the region. Kira Sullivan-Wiley (GRS’16) is working to […]
Central Americans are not the only ones risking their lives to get to the United States through Mexico. Tucked in among this northward flow are hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia. They include hundreds from the troubled northeast African state of Eritrea. Eritreans have been taking this perilous route for more […]
THEY SCALE BARBED-WIRE FENCES, HIDE IN CROWDED FISHING BOATS, AND STOW AWAY IN CARGO TRUCKS. EACH YEAR, MORE THAN 800,000 MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN CROSS INTERNATIONAL BORDERS SEEKING REFUGE FROM PERSECUTION. Under the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 145 nations have agreed to protect those who are at risk in their own […]
Eritrean refugees face human trafficking, exploitation, and hostility throughout North Africa and the Sahel. Hundreds of thousands of Eritreans have fled a repressive dictatorship since 2001. Their small northeast African country, which has a population 4-5 million and was once touted as part of an African “renaissance,” is one of the largest per-capita producers of […]