“Working hard should matter. Do not be afraid of hardships.” A Rwandan reflects on being challenged and on change. (Photo by: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY via AP Images) Below is a poem by Jean Bosco Sibomana, who works at News Decoder partner Kepler in Rwanda....
Almost all of us collect objects of some sort. Psychoanalysts think they are part of our identity. But when does a pastime become an obsession? The author’s “dupondius” of Augustus and Agrippa celebrating their military victory against the combined...
We are made of molecules, stardust and comets — small matter. I am 21, and I just want to love and be loved — because love is all there is. (Photo collage courtesy of Ange Theonastine Ashimwe) 1. I guess, now, I am twenty-one, and I still wonder what it means to be...
In many parts of the world, turning 21 years old is a milestone that signals a transition into adulthood. For Ange Theonastine Ashimwe, a student at Kepler in Rwanda, 21 is a “green-light number.” In her prose poem, she uses memory and metaphor to reflect on her lived experiences, contemplate our smallness in the universe and consider how much more there still is to learn.
Exercise: Ask students to reflect on a birthday that felt significant. What was happening in their lives? Why did it feel like a milestone? Then make a creative piece that explores those feelings.
My landlord — “Mum” — treated me like her own son. But I procrastinated — and now regret I never showed her the gratitude she deserved. Beatrice in 2008. (Photo courtesy of Jean Pierre Hakiza). At school, I learned that procrastination is our first enemy...
Our responses to COVID-19 have been driven by facts and perceptions of risk. As vaccinations increase, is it time for these perceptions to change? A family travels on a motorbike in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, after the government ended a lockdown of the city, 6 May 2021....
Many young people don’t know what they want to study or what career to choose. Giuliana Nicolucci-Altman’s advice? Find a mentor to inspire you. Giuliana Nicolucci-Altman During high school, like so many young students, Giuliana Nicolucci-Altman...
Not every successful entrepreneur wants above all to make money. But they do share certain traits. Read on if you want to break out on your own. “In the journey of an entrepreneur, the most important thing is self-belief and the ability to convert that belief...
Elisabeth Wachtel learned a second language, made friends and lifted her chances of college admission by studying abroad for a year of high school. Why would a teenager pick up stakes and leave friends and family behind for a year to study in an unfamiliar, foreign...
I come from Rwanda, where black children are not hated for the color of their skin. My photos capture innocence and an age of purity. (All photos by Stacy Shyaka) In my country, black children are able to hold on to their innocence because they live in a place where...
Mocked for my dark skin, I long loathed myself and yearned for a lighter complexion. But now I fight colourism and defend diversity. “Leaning away from un-African beauty standards,” by Alana Muchemi, August 2020. The author is in the yellow shirt....
Adolescence is a time of self-discovery, and Clarice Gillian Achola of the African Leadership Academy finds that the discrimination she has faced since her days on the playground plagues large numbers of girls and women with dark skin. With detail and sensitivity, the author gives shape to the abstract notion of colourism, then moves from the first to the third person pronoun as she extends her personal battle to a broader campaign to save others from bigotry.
