Tag Archives: society

Sep
17
2015

14-year-old boy arrested for building a clock

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Ahmed Mohamed, a 14 year old boy, built a clock and brought it to school to impress his teacher. He was suspected of having built a bomb and was brought to the police station in handcuffs.

He was then released when the police realized he was just a clever kid who had built an ordinary clock.

He recieved a lot of support from all over the Internet, including messages from President Obama and MarkZuckenberg, and was invited to several outstanding technological and scientific institutions.

Ahmed Mohamed Was Arrested For A Clock And Then Broke The Internet – YouTube.

Aug
15
2015

Woman chief in Mawali, Africa, bans child marriages and send the kids back to school

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Child marriages annuled Malawi

As Malawi’s Nyasa Times reports, in April, the African nation Malawi raised the minimum age of marriage to 18 years old. One might wonder, however, “What about the legions of underage children who were legally wed before the law took effect?

Well, one of the regional chiefs in Malawi – an elder woman who goes by the name Inkosi Kachindamoto – annulled the marriages of more than 300 youth in her district and sent them back to school.

In addition, she fired several village heads who had sanctioned the unions.

Child advocates around the world cheered on the effort to encourage girl education and abolish early marriages as soon as the news circulated.

Knowing the value education has in helping to empower citizens and strengthen the mind, the Senior chief terminated 330 marriages, of which 175 were girl-wives and 155 were boy-fathers. Those chldren were sent to school instead.

Said 18-year-old Malawian Memory Banda to The Guardian:

“Marriage is often the end for girls like me. But if our leaders will invest in us and give us the chance to be educated, we will become women who create a better society for everyone.”

Read More: http://www.trueactivist.com

Jul
26
2015

Native American women fighting for their culture

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Native American Mighty girls
A Mighty Girl

“Native Americans represent just one per cent of the US population and some languages have only one speaker left. Now a new generation is fighting to preserve the culture.” In an excellent piece in Marie Claire magazine, you can meet a few of the women leading that fight, including 22-year-old Sage Honga, pictured here, who wants to encourage young people to leave the reservation, get an education, and then return home to make a difference in the community: “My tribe, the Hualapai people, is so small that I want to be a role model to show my community and youth that it is possible to come off our land and do big things.”

Another woman featured, 30-year-old Evereta Thinn, a member of the Diné or Navajo tribe, aspires to open a language and cultural immersion school for young people. She explains, “Knowing who you are as a Native, know the teachings from your elders and engraining them as you go out into the modern world is how you maintain that balance… once the language fades, the culture will slowly start to go too. If the younger generations cannot speak the language, how will they be equipped to make decisions on policies and protect our tribes in the future?”

You can read more about Sage, Evereta, and other Native American women fighting to preserve their culture on Marie Claire here.

May
28
2015

Spray-painting the dreams of the homeless

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Skid Robot(Photo: SkidRobot/Instagram)

Anonymous Los Angeles street artist Skid Robot wants to “ignite a global revolution of compassion.” The artist brings attention to the issues of homelessness by making Skid Row his canvas and its inhabitants his muses. Best known for his graffiti, Skid Robot gives food, money, and toiletries to homeless people on Skid Row and then includes them in paintings done around their makeshift homes. Skid Robot will sometimes ask his models about their dreams and incorporate that into his pieces. While a painting of a warm bed doesn’t compare with the real thing, he is fund-raising for a documentary about homelessness.