SonjaBe.com International Relations – Be Here | Be You | Be True

Written by Sonja Be Few people will stand against the will of the government and the cultural norms of a society. Few women have the courage to speak up against injustice and advocate for real change. Noorjahan Akbar and Anita Haidary are two of those rare and brave young women who have, despite adversity, challenged the societal customs of Afghanistan. In a country where women lack the safety, support and basic rights to succeed, Noorjahan Akbar not only felt a heavy responsibility towards Afghan women, she also saw an opportunity: the opportunity to address the issues of inequality, violence, sexual discrimination and lack of access to education in Afghanistan. With an uncooperative government, poor human rights conditions, and unenforced laws on the elimination of violence against women, one can only imagine the vast challenges that lay ahead of these women.  Despite the major obstacles, Read More »

Written by Chantelle Krish From the day she came into this world Nora Sinclair was faced with obstacles. Poverty, family violence, addiction and mental health issues plagued Nora from a very young age and eventually led to living a life on the streets of Canada’s poorest neighborhood, the Downtown East Side of Vancouver. Nora’s mother was schizophrenic and developed an addiction to cope with her mental illness. Soon she turned to prostitution to support her drug use and from a young age Nora watched her mother’s clients come and go from their home. Her mother’s mental health became increasingly unstable and Nora’s personal safety was often at risk. In fact, Nora was molested by one of her mother’s clients. All of this happened to Nora by age six. Eventually Nora was put into foster care Read More »

Written by Ashoka Venezuela. Translated by Rebeca Fernandez.  Catuche is a poor community in Caracas with myriads of problems. Housing consist of poorly built shacks that are in danger of crumbling due to the instability of the river embankments upon which they stand, and a potable water supply is almost non existent. The river itself is a source of great discomfort for Catuche’s 12,000 inhabitants. After years of neglect, it has transformed into a veritable sewage system and it has been directly linked to very high rates of illness and infections in the area. Also, due to the lack of roads, 85 percent of Catuche’s inhabitants have to mobilize on foot any time they need to go in or outside their community. Read More »