New York, N.Y. Most Americans think they know Haiti, that squalid, refugee-camp-ridden place somewhere south of Florida. Some Americans think they know Haitian-Americans, too: the maid in Miami, the health attendant in Manhattan, the taxi driver in Brooklyn. What many miss are the approximately 3 million professionals of the Haitian diaspora in North America and [...]
Archive | 2011
Opportunities for Widows and Children in Afghanistan
Kabul, Afghanistan. For two months this year, I had the honor and joy of supporting the establishment of a remarkable new center in Kabul, Afghanistan, unlike any other I have seen or studied. As part of a contract from the U.S. Department of Defense, Noori Foundation Afghanistan (NFA) – a private foundation started by a [...]
Teen Philanthropist Outlines Steps To Making A Difference
By Isaac J. Kassin, edited by Jim Luce New York, N.Y. This world is enormous: Planet Earth has approximately seven billion humans like you inhabiting it. You are only one, miniscule human living on this large, crowded planet; how can you possibly make a difference? How can you be heard? If I were to illustrate [...]
My Mother: “God Damn It James, I Raised You Better Than That!”
New York, N.Y. My mother’s words still ring out in my head, year after year. It was Thanksgiving 1998, Boston. I was continuing to complain about how traumatized I felt having experienced the Dicksonian conditions of the orphanage where I found my infant son Mathew in Indonesia. The warehouse institution was crib-to-worn-out-crib of children dressed [...]
Intense, Ironic, Iconic: Hahn-Bin Takes Joe’s Pub at The Public
New York, N.Y. “Hahn-Bin, the World’s Saddest Clown, Dies at 24.” So proclaimed the faux New York Times article on each table before the performance began. It continued, “He committed suicide… just hours after the alleged murder of his ex-lover.” So began one of New York’s most mesmerizing, strangest and strongest musical performances of 2011. [...]
Zombie Banks: A New York Story in Three Parts
New York, N.Y. Scene One: I meet an interesting Turkish-American professional at my college alumni reception and we chat about my foundation’s interest in opening a Turkish Fund for women and children’s social issues in Turkey. He volunteers to advise me — great! Scene Two: I notice an intelligent New Yorker on the subway reading [...]
Video: Diaspora Palestinians Search for Their Heritage
Download video from our partner The Media Line (TML) here. The Media Line™ (TML) is a unique non-profit news organization established to enhance and balance media coverage in the Middle East, promote independent reporting in the region, and break down barriers to understanding in the Arab and Israeli journalism communities. TML’s mission is to provide [...]
At Home with Boumi’s Founder Hassina Sherjan
Kabul, Afghanistan. With the light pouring into the sitting room of Hassina Sherjan’s roomy Afghan home, the treasures she has accumulated and arranged are a glowing representation of so much about Afghanistan that is so beautiful. Pillows from the Boumi home furnishings collection. Photo courtesy Boumi. Everything about the atmosphere is at once Afghan [...]
