Going Back to My Past

Karachi, Pakistan can be summed up in two words: insufferable heat. The faint, bitter smell of sweat lingers in the atmosphere; the stifling heat is almost tangible. Clothes cling obstinately to bodies and the feeling of being perpetually filthy prevails, no matter the number of cold showers one takes. Karachi is also extremely polluted. An…

Celebrating Women

The idea of a day devoted solely to celebrating and recognizing women’s achievements, International Women’s Day, was first proposed a hundred years ago by Clara Zetkin at the second International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen, Denmark. This was in the midst of an era of turbulent and changing times in a rapidly industrializing world.…

Haiti: Need for Self-Empowerment

That Haiti was devastated by a massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake – the largest to strike the small Caribbean nation in more than two centuries – on Tuesday, January 13th, is already well known. Since then, we have been confronted with a veritable deluge of distressing news and disturbing headlines, as the extent of the disaster…