The groundbreaking novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is coming to the screen for the first time in a Spanish language series for Netflix, the streaming service said on Wednesday.

The multi-generational family tale, published in 1967, is widely considered one of the most influential novels of the 20th century and an early example of the magical realism style embraced by other Latin American authors.

Garcia Marquez’s two sons will serve as executive producers on the television series, which will be filmed mainly in the author’s native Colombia.

They said in a statement that the Nobel Prize winning novelist, who died in 2014, had been reluctant to sell the rights to the books for years “because he believed that it could not be made under the time constraints of a feature film, or that producing it in a language other than Spanish would not do it justice.”

However, given what has been called a new golden age of television “and the acceptance by worldwide audiences of programs in foreign languages, the time could not be better to bring an adaptation to the extraordinary global viewership that Netflix provides.”

The announcement follows Netflix’s acclaimed black and white Mexican movie “Roma,” filmed in Spanish and indigenous Mixtec, which won three Oscars last month.

Netflix in February announced it was expanding its presence in Mexico, opening an office in Mexico City and furthering its development of movie and television projects in Spanish.

 
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Israel’s Hebrew University announced Wednesday that it had obtained a “magnificent” collection of Albert Einstein’s manuscripts, shedding new light on the mind and soul of the Nobel Prize-winning physicist ahead of his 140th birthday.

The bulk of the 110-page collection consists of yellowed pages of handwritten equations, as well as several personal letters written in German. In one correspondence with his lifelong friend Michele Besso, Einstein said he felt “ashamed” for never bothering to learn Hebrew.

Professor Hanoch Gutfreund, the Einstein archive’s academic director, said: “For historians of science, it is very important to have manuscripts, because then one sees that he crossed out something, that he changed something, and it is interesting to see how he actually worked.”

 

Each of the four personal letters from Einstein “is a gem,” Gutfreund added.

 

“In every letter exchanged between them, they refer to something scientific. But they always share something personal about their families,” said Gutfreund. “And they also very often exchange remarks about their Jewish identity.”

 

Besso, a Swiss-Italian engineer of Jewish descent, was baptized a Christian but also learned the Hebrew language. In one of their letters, Einstein wrote with a touch of sarcasm that he “as a ‘Jewish saint’ must feel ashamed at the fact that I know next to nothing of it. But I prefer to feel ashamed rather than to learn it.”

 

“You will certainly not go to hell, even if you have had yourself baptized,” Einstein wrote.

 

In the same letter from 1951, Einstein tells Besso that he has “still not come closer” to fully comprehending the nature of light particles after nearly 50 years of research.

 

The esteemed physicist had left Germany years earlier amid the rise of fascism. In a 1935 letter to his son Hans Albert, he expressed dismay that other European powers had not done more to curb Nazis’ military buildup.

 

“The German armament must be extremely dangerous; but the rest of Europe is now starting to finally take the thing serious, especially the English,” Einstein wrote. “If they would have come down hard a year and a half ago, it would have been better and easier.”

 

The Chicago-based Crown-Goodman Family Foundation purchased the 110 pages, most of which have never been publicly displayed, from a private collector in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and donated them to Hebrew University.

 

The university did not say the purchase price, citing the donor’s wishes.

 

A different signed Einstein letter to Besso sold at auction in 2017 for $68,000.

 

These newly acquired documents had belonged to Ernst Straus, Einstein’s one-time assistant and fellow mathematician. They were sold by Straus’s family after his death in 1983 to a New York antique dealer. Eventually the documents made their way to the collection of Gary Berger, a Chapel Hill doctor.

 

Roni Grosz, curator of the Albert Einstein Archive at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, called the documents “a rare find.” Though the contents of many of the documents were already known to researchers, “originals are a very, very special addition to a collection,” he said.

 

Einstein helped establish Hebrew University and was a member of its board of directors. After his death in 1955, he left most of his archive — over 82,000 items, ranging from manuscripts to his music records — to the school.

 

Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 for his work on the photoelectric effect, Einstein is perhaps more famous for his General Theory of Relativity.

 

 
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Israel’s Hebrew University announced Wednesday that it had obtained a “magnificent” collection of Albert Einstein’s manuscripts, shedding new light on the mind and soul of the Nobel Prize-winning physicist ahead of his 140th birthday.

The bulk of the 110-page collection consists of yellowed pages of handwritten equations, as well as several personal letters written in German. In one correspondence with his lifelong friend Michele Besso, Einstein said he felt “ashamed” for never bothering to learn Hebrew.

Professor Hanoch Gutfreund, the Einstein archive’s academic director, said: “For historians of science, it is very important to have manuscripts, because then one sees that he crossed out something, that he changed something, and it is interesting to see how he actually worked.”

 

Each of the four personal letters from Einstein “is a gem,” Gutfreund added.

 

“In every letter exchanged between them, they refer to something scientific. But they always share something personal about their families,” said Gutfreund. “And they also very often exchange remarks about their Jewish identity.”

 

Besso, a Swiss-Italian engineer of Jewish descent, was baptized a Christian but also learned the Hebrew language. In one of their letters, Einstein wrote with a touch of sarcasm that he “as a ‘Jewish saint’ must feel ashamed at the fact that I know next to nothing of it. But I prefer to feel ashamed rather than to learn it.”

 

“You will certainly not go to hell, even if you have had yourself baptized,” Einstein wrote.

 

In the same letter from 1951, Einstein tells Besso that he has “still not come closer” to fully comprehending the nature of light particles after nearly 50 years of research.

 

The esteemed physicist had left Germany years earlier amid the rise of fascism. In a 1935 letter to his son Hans Albert, he expressed dismay that other European powers had not done more to curb Nazis’ military buildup.

 

“The German armament must be extremely dangerous; but the rest of Europe is now starting to finally take the thing serious, especially the English,” Einstein wrote. “If they would have come down hard a year and a half ago, it would have been better and easier.”

 

The Chicago-based Crown-Goodman Family Foundation purchased the 110 pages, most of which have never been publicly displayed, from a private collector in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and donated them to Hebrew University.

 

The university did not say the purchase price, citing the donor’s wishes.

 

A different signed Einstein letter to Besso sold at auction in 2017 for $68,000.

 

These newly acquired documents had belonged to Ernst Straus, Einstein’s one-time assistant and fellow mathematician. They were sold by Straus’s family after his death in 1983 to a New York antique dealer. Eventually the documents made their way to the collection of Gary Berger, a Chapel Hill doctor.

 

Roni Grosz, curator of the Albert Einstein Archive at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, called the documents “a rare find.” Though the contents of many of the documents were already known to researchers, “originals are a very, very special addition to a collection,” he said.

 

Einstein helped establish Hebrew University and was a member of its board of directors. After his death in 1955, he left most of his archive — over 82,000 items, ranging from manuscripts to his music records — to the school.

 

Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 for his work on the photoelectric effect, Einstein is perhaps more famous for his General Theory of Relativity.

 

 
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An emotional R. Kelly says he’s being “assassinated” and denies sexually abusing women and controlling their lives.

“CBS This Morning”‘ on Wednesday broadcast Kelly’s first interview since he was charged with sexually abusing four people, including three underage girls. Kelly says “all of them are lying.”

 

The R&B singer says he’s done “lots of things wrong”‘ when it comes to women, but he says he’s apologized. He denies doing anything against their will.

 

The singer believes social media is to blame for creating the allegations against him.

 

At one point during the interview, Kelly stands up and rants, saying: “I have been buried alive, but I’m alive.” He says he needs someone to help him “not have a big heart.”

 

CBS says it interviewed Kelly for 80 minutes.

 

 
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An emotional R. Kelly says he’s being “assassinated” and denies sexually abusing women and controlling their lives.

“CBS This Morning”‘ on Wednesday broadcast Kelly’s first interview since he was charged with sexually abusing four people, including three underage girls. Kelly says “all of them are lying.”

 

The R&B singer says he’s done “lots of things wrong”‘ when it comes to women, but he says he’s apologized. He denies doing anything against their will.

 

The singer believes social media is to blame for creating the allegations against him.

 

At one point during the interview, Kelly stands up and rants, saying: “I have been buried alive, but I’m alive.” He says he needs someone to help him “not have a big heart.”

 

CBS says it interviewed Kelly for 80 minutes.

 

 
…

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You can thank enslaved Africans for one of America’s most iconic drinks: Coca-Cola.

“The base ingredient in Coca-Cola is the kola nut that’s indigenous to Africa,” says Frederick Opie, professor of history and foodways at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and the author of several books, including “Hog and Hominy: Soul Food from Africa to America.”

Since the 17th century, when Africans were forced into slavery in the New World, they and their descendants have had a profound impact on what Americans grow and eat. Watermelon, okra, yams, black-eyed peas and some peppers are all indigenous to Africa. 

“If you know what people eat, you can find out where they’re from,” Opie says. “There are certain things that we crave. Many African Americans love spicy food. That’s because we’re from the South. But also, we come originally from a culture, from a hot tropical climate, and spicy foods create a gastrointestinal sweating that causes you to cool yourself. So, that’s why so many African Americans love spicy food.”

There was a practical reason indigenous African foods made it to the New World.

“When Africans were put on slave ships,” Opie says, “the reality of trying to keep your cargo alive and making money off them meant that you found out what this group of people ate, and you made sure that they were fed that and given that when they first arrived in the Americas.”

Fruits and vegetables brought from Africa flourished in America in large part because enslaved Africans planted their own gardens to supplement the meager rations provided by their captors.

These plants eventually made their way from gardens of the enslaved to those of some of the wealthiest and most prominent people in the country, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, whose gardens were planted with heirloom seeds from Africa. 

Enslaved African chefs left their mark on certain cooking methods, while also developing recipes that are now staples in the American diet, particularly in the American South.

“Dishes like gumbo, jambalaya, pepper pot, the method of cooking greens — Hoppin’ John (a dish made with greens and pork),” Kelley Deetz, director of programming at Stratford Hall, told VOA via email.

Stratford Hall is the birthplace and family home of Robert E. Lee, general of the South’s Confederate Army during the Civil War.

“The method of deep frying of fish or barbecuing meats were all documented in West Africa before the transatlantic slave trade,” says Deetz, who is also the author of “Bound to the Fire,” which explores how Virginia’s enslaved cooks helped invent American cuisine. “These dishes and ingredients were essential to the formation of Southern, and eventually American, food.”

Many of these foods with roots in African American culture eventually came to be known as “soul food.”

“Soul food is just a term that was coined during the Black Power movement of mid-to-late 1960s as a way of identifying a food that represented the heritage of African Americans,” Opie says. “But also, through the years, it is food that African Americans began to create a long time ago to eat with dignity as enslaved people in (the) diaspora.”

For more than 200 years, Southern plantation owners relied on enslaved Africans and their descendants to work in their fields and houses, to help raise their children, and to provide food and drink. But the contributions African Americans have made to American cuisine have not been well-documented until more recently.

Deetz says that’s because there’s been a longstanding and intentional misrepresentation of the origins of southern cuisine.

“The skilled and talented black chef has been written out of our nation’s history,” she says. “This negligence gives way to racist narratives that support white supremacist ideology that enslaved Africans and African Americans brought little but their labor to this nation, and that the culture from their ancestral land has not made a positive impact on the United States. … It was both their labor and their talent that shaped American cuisine.”

 
…

your ads here!

You can thank enslaved Africans for one of America’s most iconic drinks: Coca-Cola.

“The base ingredient in Coca-Cola is the kola nut that’s indigenous to Africa,” says Frederick Opie, professor of history and foodways at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and the author of several books, including “Hog and Hominy: Soul Food from Africa to America.”

Since the 17th century, when Africans were forced into slavery in the New World, they and their descendants have had a profound impact on what Americans grow and eat. Watermelon, okra, yams, black-eyed peas and some peppers are all indigenous to Africa. 

“If you know what people eat, you can find out where they’re from,” Opie says. “There are certain things that we crave. Many African Americans love spicy food. That’s because we’re from the South. But also, we come originally from a culture, from a hot tropical climate, and spicy foods create a gastrointestinal sweating that causes you to cool yourself. So, that’s why so many African Americans love spicy food.”

There was a practical reason indigenous African foods made it to the New World.

“When Africans were put on slave ships,” Opie says, “the reality of trying to keep your cargo alive and making money off them meant that you found out what this group of people ate, and you made sure that they were fed that and given that when they first arrived in the Americas.”

Fruits and vegetables brought from Africa flourished in America in large part because enslaved Africans planted their own gardens to supplement the meager rations provided by their captors.

These plants eventually made their way from gardens of the enslaved to those of some of the wealthiest and most prominent people in the country, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, whose gardens were planted with heirloom seeds from Africa. 

Enslaved African chefs left their mark on certain cooking methods, while also developing recipes that are now staples in the American diet, particularly in the American South.

“Dishes like gumbo, jambalaya, pepper pot, the method of cooking greens — Hoppin’ John (a dish made with greens and pork),” Kelley Deetz, director of programming at Stratford Hall, told VOA via email.

Stratford Hall is the birthplace and family home of Robert E. Lee, general of the South’s Confederate Army during the Civil War.

“The method of deep frying of fish or barbecuing meats were all documented in West Africa before the transatlantic slave trade,” says Deetz, who is also the author of “Bound to the Fire,” which explores how Virginia’s enslaved cooks helped invent American cuisine. “These dishes and ingredients were essential to the formation of Southern, and eventually American, food.”

Many of these foods with roots in African American culture eventually came to be known as “soul food.”

“Soul food is just a term that was coined during the Black Power movement of mid-to-late 1960s as a way of identifying a food that represented the heritage of African Americans,” Opie says. “But also, through the years, it is food that African Americans began to create a long time ago to eat with dignity as enslaved people in (the) diaspora.”

For more than 200 years, Southern plantation owners relied on enslaved Africans and their descendants to work in their fields and houses, to help raise their children, and to provide food and drink. But the contributions African Americans have made to American cuisine have not been well-documented until more recently.

Deetz says that’s because there’s been a longstanding and intentional misrepresentation of the origins of southern cuisine.

“The skilled and talented black chef has been written out of our nation’s history,” she says. “This negligence gives way to racist narratives that support white supremacist ideology that enslaved Africans and African Americans brought little but their labor to this nation, and that the culture from their ancestral land has not made a positive impact on the United States. … It was both their labor and their talent that shaped American cuisine.”

 
…

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As a child, Tatsuo Sato was terrified when the Namahage demons roared into his northern Japanese house every year, but in adulthood he mourned as the centuries-old tradition faded away.

“The kids disappeared, the young people disappeared. We had to give it up,” Sato, 78, said of the New Year’s Eve visits by men in horned masks and straw capes, all shouting “Are there any bad kids here?”

UNESCO’s registering Namahage as a cultural property late last year has given new life to the colorful tradition.

But experts say the recognition, which included several similar traditions in which costumed “gods” visit villages, doesn’t automatically guarantee survival. In some cases, it could even stifle changes that help keep the groups going, such as including outsiders or women.

“Within this UNESCO designation, there are several groups that I believe may not be able to continue – or not be able to continue in their present form,” said Satoru Hyoki, a professor of cultural history at Tokyo’s Seijo University.

Masukawa revived its traditional New Year’s Eve ritual last year after 12 years, thanks partly to a group of young transplants to the area, whose population has dwindled to just 130 in the last two decades.

Oga had 120 Namahage troupes in 1989 but just 85 in 2015; that only young men were allowed to take part didn’t help matters.

Some hamlets have raised the age limit, while others welcomed young outsiders. One of those transplants, Haruki Ito, came up with the idea of inviting young men from around Japan to take part alongside the locals in Masukawa.

“If Namahage aren’t young men, it’s no good, everyone agrees,” said Sato, who took his turn as a demon when he was younger. “Maybe if women did it we’d have enough people, but I don’t think we have to go that far.”

Tourist Treasure

Local officials hope the long-sought UNESCO designation stirs a tourism-based economic boost badly needed in places like Oga, a remote peninsula some 450 kilometers north of Tokyo, and the Masukawa district where Sato lives.

Economically, the attention has already helped. The Oga city’s Namahage Sedo festival, held in early February, drew 7,600 people, compared with 6,100 in 2018.

The festival, in which a parade of torch-bearing demons makes its way down a snow-covered mountain, swells Oga’s population by nearly 30 percent as tourists pour in, hoping straw from the demons’ capes – believed to be lucky – will fall near them during the smoky procession.

Masukawa’s decision to revive its New Year’s Eve tradition, buoyed by the UNESCO registration, led to a scramble for everything from straw to makeshift sword materials foraged from local discount stores.

The flurry of activity made people “really happy,” said Ito, 27, adding that some elderly residents told him the revival literally gave them reason to live. “Many people feel ‘the gods must really care about me,'” he said.

Misunderstanding

Hyoki said the UNESCO designation has no money attached to it and carries the risk of unsustainable tourism or even a loss of autonomy. UNESCO recognizes that traditions change, but the Japanese registration required to apply for the listing does not, which he said creates misunderstandings.

“Some people worry that if they got the UNESCO listing, they’d just be forced to continue in the traditional ways, that if they try to change things people will say, ‘that’s not the way it was done in the old days,'” he said.

For now, Oga has parlayed growing interest into a year-round promotion of everything Namahage, including demon-themed biscuits, rubber stamps and even a facial skin mask.

Many are designed by Kokoro Ohtani, a 24-year-old from southern Japan who moved north for university and fell in love with the Namahage. She now works at the Oga town office.

Ohtani, who is close to one troupe of Namahage performers, said respect for her friends and their reverence of traditional ways has deterred her from pressing to take part.

“There’s a bit of a clash within me, but it isn’t discrimination or chauvinism,” she said. “It’s more like feeling I want to keep trying so that, one day when they let women take part, I will be the one they choose.”
…

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As a child, Tatsuo Sato was terrified when the Namahage demons roared into his northern Japanese house every year, but in adulthood he mourned as the centuries-old tradition faded away.

“The kids disappeared, the young people disappeared. We had to give it up,” Sato, 78, said of the New Year’s Eve visits by men in horned masks and straw capes, all shouting “Are there any bad kids here?”

UNESCO’s registering Namahage as a cultural property late last year has given new life to the colorful tradition.

But experts say the recognition, which included several similar traditions in which costumed “gods” visit villages, doesn’t automatically guarantee survival. In some cases, it could even stifle changes that help keep the groups going, such as including outsiders or women.

“Within this UNESCO designation, there are several groups that I believe may not be able to continue – or not be able to continue in their present form,” said Satoru Hyoki, a professor of cultural history at Tokyo’s Seijo University.

Masukawa revived its traditional New Year’s Eve ritual last year after 12 years, thanks partly to a group of young transplants to the area, whose population has dwindled to just 130 in the last two decades.

Oga had 120 Namahage troupes in 1989 but just 85 in 2015; that only young men were allowed to take part didn’t help matters.

Some hamlets have raised the age limit, while others welcomed young outsiders. One of those transplants, Haruki Ito, came up with the idea of inviting young men from around Japan to take part alongside the locals in Masukawa.

“If Namahage aren’t young men, it’s no good, everyone agrees,” said Sato, who took his turn as a demon when he was younger. “Maybe if women did it we’d have enough people, but I don’t think we have to go that far.”

Tourist Treasure

Local officials hope the long-sought UNESCO designation stirs a tourism-based economic boost badly needed in places like Oga, a remote peninsula some 450 kilometers north of Tokyo, and the Masukawa district where Sato lives.

Economically, the attention has already helped. The Oga city’s Namahage Sedo festival, held in early February, drew 7,600 people, compared with 6,100 in 2018.

The festival, in which a parade of torch-bearing demons makes its way down a snow-covered mountain, swells Oga’s population by nearly 30 percent as tourists pour in, hoping straw from the demons’ capes – believed to be lucky – will fall near them during the smoky procession.

Masukawa’s decision to revive its New Year’s Eve tradition, buoyed by the UNESCO registration, led to a scramble for everything from straw to makeshift sword materials foraged from local discount stores.

The flurry of activity made people “really happy,” said Ito, 27, adding that some elderly residents told him the revival literally gave them reason to live. “Many people feel ‘the gods must really care about me,'” he said.

Misunderstanding

Hyoki said the UNESCO designation has no money attached to it and carries the risk of unsustainable tourism or even a loss of autonomy. UNESCO recognizes that traditions change, but the Japanese registration required to apply for the listing does not, which he said creates misunderstandings.

“Some people worry that if they got the UNESCO listing, they’d just be forced to continue in the traditional ways, that if they try to change things people will say, ‘that’s not the way it was done in the old days,'” he said.

For now, Oga has parlayed growing interest into a year-round promotion of everything Namahage, including demon-themed biscuits, rubber stamps and even a facial skin mask.

Many are designed by Kokoro Ohtani, a 24-year-old from southern Japan who moved north for university and fell in love with the Namahage. She now works at the Oga town office.

Ohtani, who is close to one troupe of Namahage performers, said respect for her friends and their reverence of traditional ways has deterred her from pressing to take part.

“There’s a bit of a clash within me, but it isn’t discrimination or chauvinism,” she said. “It’s more like feeling I want to keep trying so that, one day when they let women take part, I will be the one they choose.”
…

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Hello Kitty might not have a mouth but she’s got a movie deal.

 

Warner Bros.’ New Line Cinema announced Tuesday that it has acquired film rights to Hello Kitty from the Japanese corporation Sanrio. The 45-year-old iconic feline has never been turned into a movie despite its merchandising ubiquity.

 

New Line said it will quickly begin work on a script to put a film into production. Sanrio also granted film rights to other characters including Gudetama, My Melody and Little Twin Stars.

 

Warner Bros. has had success with toy adaptations before, including “The Lego Movie.” That film’s sequel, however, has underperformed at the box office since opening last month.

 

Hello Kitty presents potentially steeper challengers, though. She doesn’t talk or, for the most part, change facial expressions.
…

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Hello Kitty might not have a mouth but she’s got a movie deal.

 

Warner Bros.’ New Line Cinema announced Tuesday that it has acquired film rights to Hello Kitty from the Japanese corporation Sanrio. The 45-year-old iconic feline has never been turned into a movie despite its merchandising ubiquity.

 

New Line said it will quickly begin work on a script to put a film into production. Sanrio also granted film rights to other characters including Gudetama, My Melody and Little Twin Stars.

 

Warner Bros. has had success with toy adaptations before, including “The Lego Movie.” That film’s sequel, however, has underperformed at the box office since opening last month.

 

Hello Kitty presents potentially steeper challengers, though. She doesn’t talk or, for the most part, change facial expressions.
…

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 An online comic strip released on Tuesday tells the story of a Mexican girl working 17-hour days cleaning an American office building until a woman working late sees her and speaks out, leading the girl to freedom from human trafficking.

The comic is the second in a series called “Wolves in the Street,” aimed at users of social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, and condensing the true story of a trafficked undocumented migrant into 20 illustrations.

The comic, authored by Dan Goldman, was released by anti-trafficking group UNITAS and presents two different endings, depending on whether a bystander takes action or not.

In the story, the parents of a girl named Lucinda from Ciudad Juarez in northern Mexico arrange for her to go to the United States to escape threats of violence at home.

A people smuggler takes her across the border to the home of a neighbor’s aunt, but instead of being sent to school, she is made to work long hours cleaning office buildings and told she owes the aunt more than $6,000.

In the first version of the comic, a woman working late who notices Lucinda thinks something might be wrong but gets distracted by work and does nothing.

In the second version, the same employee calls a trafficking hotline and Lucinda is helped to freedom, and granted a special visa allowing her to stay in the United States.

“Any time that there are individuals who are brought to this country and then subsequently exploited, it’s all of our responsibility to see them,” Andrea Powell, a UNITAS board member, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“To treat them as real survivors and not individuals who just need to be picked up and deported.”

Lucinda’s story is based on the experience of a survivor who went through a similar ordeal in 2016 and was rescued, according to Powell.

Though Lucinda was able to stay legally in the United States, since last year anyone whose application for the special “T visa” is denied must appear at immigration court for a hearing that can begin the deportation process.

The policy change was ordered by President Donald Trump in a crackdown on anyone in the country illegally.

There are thought to be hundreds of thousands of victims of human trafficking in the United States, according to Polaris, which runs the National Human Trafficking Hotline.

Globally, some 40 million people are believed to be victims of labor or sex trafficking, according to the International Labor Organization and other leading groups.
…

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 An online comic strip released on Tuesday tells the story of a Mexican girl working 17-hour days cleaning an American office building until a woman working late sees her and speaks out, leading the girl to freedom from human trafficking.

The comic is the second in a series called “Wolves in the Street,” aimed at users of social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, and condensing the true story of a trafficked undocumented migrant into 20 illustrations.

The comic, authored by Dan Goldman, was released by anti-trafficking group UNITAS and presents two different endings, depending on whether a bystander takes action or not.

In the story, the parents of a girl named Lucinda from Ciudad Juarez in northern Mexico arrange for her to go to the United States to escape threats of violence at home.

A people smuggler takes her across the border to the home of a neighbor’s aunt, but instead of being sent to school, she is made to work long hours cleaning office buildings and told she owes the aunt more than $6,000.

In the first version of the comic, a woman working late who notices Lucinda thinks something might be wrong but gets distracted by work and does nothing.

In the second version, the same employee calls a trafficking hotline and Lucinda is helped to freedom, and granted a special visa allowing her to stay in the United States.

“Any time that there are individuals who are brought to this country and then subsequently exploited, it’s all of our responsibility to see them,” Andrea Powell, a UNITAS board member, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“To treat them as real survivors and not individuals who just need to be picked up and deported.”

Lucinda’s story is based on the experience of a survivor who went through a similar ordeal in 2016 and was rescued, according to Powell.

Though Lucinda was able to stay legally in the United States, since last year anyone whose application for the special “T visa” is denied must appear at immigration court for a hearing that can begin the deportation process.

The policy change was ordered by President Donald Trump in a crackdown on anyone in the country illegally.

There are thought to be hundreds of thousands of victims of human trafficking in the United States, according to Polaris, which runs the National Human Trafficking Hotline.

Globally, some 40 million people are believed to be victims of labor or sex trafficking, according to the International Labor Organization and other leading groups.
…

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Stockholm’s bid for the 2026 winter Olympics has political backing, the International Olympic Committee said on Tuesday ahead of an evaluation visit prior to the June vote.

Stockholm is competing against an Italian bid of Milan and Cortina D’Ampezzo after other cities pulled out with concerns over cost, size of the event, or opposition from locals.

The Swedish project, which includes competitions in the Are ski resort, does not have clear local and central government support yet, while the Stockholm city government is worried over potential use of taxpayers’ money.

But Christophe Dubi, Olympic Games Executive Director at the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said the signals were “very reassuring” with regards official backing.

“The talks with every level of government are in the right direction … We see very strong support from the government,” he said in a conference call ahead of next week’s IOC visit to Sweden.

Dubi said a set of IOC reforms aimed at reducing costs, construction and size among other aspects, were being enforced fully for the first time with the two 2026 Games bidders, and the bids were more tailored to the local population.

The Italian bid is facing similar problems with fragmented political support at the moment.

Stockholm-Are 2026 bid CEO Richard Brisius said political backing was on track with the requirements of the IOC.

“We have received assurances in the most positive way. The prime minister of Sweden was in the media a few weeks ago saying how he supports the project. It was echoed in all our discussions. It is all on track,” Brisius said on the same conference call. “We have all the support requested at this stage.”

Swiss city Sion, Japan’s Sapporo, Austria’s Graz and 1988 hosts Calgary in Canada all withdrew last year, while Turkey’s Erzurum was eliminated from the bidding process by the IOC. 
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U.S. Army soldier Bryan Anderson was nearing the end of his second, yearlong tour of duty in Iraq, and approaching the end of his enlistment, when he unexpectedly reached a turning point on Oct. 23, 2005 — a date that is now seared in his memory.

“That’s the day I got blown up,” he told VOA.

A hidden improvised explosive device, or IED, cut through the military Humvee as Anderson was slowly driving through the dangerous streets of Iraq.

“When the explosion went off, it cut my legs and my hand off instantly,” he said.

Anderson credits the instant action by his comrades for saving his life, but his extensive wounds left him with one badly damaged arm and hand.

“Soldiers don’t think about coming back halfway,” he said. “You either think you are going to make it, or you’re not. I certainly did.”

Anderson’s evacuation from the battlefield marked the beginning of a long recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. There, while trying to learn how to walk on prosthetic legs, he encountered many visiting celebrities, or “peer” visitors. 

“Celebrities and peer visitors didn’t mean anything to me. I didn’t care. I felt more or less that these people would just come in, take pictures with soldiers, and say, ‘I did it! Look at me!’ It just felt like it was fake.”

But Anderson said one visitor who arrived in the middle of one of his intense therapy sessions was the exception. 

“I’m trying to like, say, ‘Excuse me, can I get by?’ and then I tripped and hit somebody’s foot or something. And I fell forward, and I landed right into somebody. And I grabbed his chest, and he stood strong, and he held me up. And I pushed back and tried to stand up. And I’m like, ‘Oh holy crap, Gary Sinise!’ And he’s like, ‘Oh holy crap, the real Lieutenant Dan!'”

His performance as the rough Vietnam War soldier “Lt. Dan Taylor” in the 1994 Hollywood blockbuster “Forrest Gump” has, in part, defined Sinise’s career on and off camera.

Lt. Dan represented a generation of military veterans scarred by the Vietnam War, many of whom received a cold reception upon returning home to America. 

Sinise’s portrayal of the wounded amputee and war-weary U.S. Army officer resonated with many veterans — something reinforced to Sinise during his visit to the 1994 Disabled American Veterans, or DAV National Convention in Chicago. 

“The ballroom was filled with over 2,000 wounded veterans,” he explained to VOA during a recent interview in Chicago. “They were cheering for Lt. Dan, and the guy who played Lt. Dan, and I was overwhelmed with emotion. From that point on, I stayed actively involved with the DAV.”

While best known for his award-winning work as an actor, first on stage, then television, and eventually film, it is his service off-camera that is now earning Sinise the respect of many in uniform, prompted by what he describes as his own turning point — the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Despite not having served himself, he wanted to ensure the hard lessons learned during the Vietnam War weren’t repeated as a new generation of service members headed off for a new war.

“That they would go off to war responding to Osama bin Laden, and al-Qaida, and the attacks on our country, and they would return and feel appreciated.”

Giving back

Today, Sinise shows appreciation through initiatives that include building homes for those injured in war through the Restoring Independence Supporting Empowerment, or RISE program of the Gary Sinise Foundation. 

“I’ve been involved in building over 70 some houses for badly wounded service members,” he said. “I am a beneficiary of what our defenders do for us on a daily basis, so I want to support them in any way I can. Which is why I started the Gary Sinise Foundation.”

Today, the foundation that bears his name raises tens of millions of dollars annually to fund programs such as RISE, and the Snowball Express, which provides vacations at the Disney World Resort for Gold Star Families — those who have lost a loved one in combat. 

To help fund the many philanthropic endeavors of his foundation giving back to those who served, including first responders and emergency personnel, Sinise performs around the world as a guitarist in the “Lt. Dan Band.”

His life on and off the many stages of his career, which began at the Steppenwolf Theatre he founded in Chicago in the 1970s, is all in his new book “Grateful American: A Journey from Self to Service,” now a New York Times best-seller. 

Anderson, who appeared with Sinise on the TV show “CSI: New York” and now serves as an ambassador for the Gary Sinise Foundation, said it’s veterans like him who are the grateful Americans for Sinise’s attention and support.

“I got the sense that he felt a little guilty that he never served, and that he took the path that he did,” said Anderson, who is in the beginning stages of building his own accessible home through the RISE program. “But I try to tell him, ‘Look, we all serve in our own ways, and we try to do the best that we can. And you are more of a patriot than some of the guys that I served with.'” 

It is a sentiment now documented in a heartfelt, viral online video featuring many notable Americans such as former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Sinise’s “Forrest Gump” co-star, Tom Hanks, praising him for his service to others.

“I was just overwhelmed with emotion that people would take the time to do that,” Sinise explained to VOA. “I’m on a mission here, and I’m just trying to do what I can to support our military and veterans community.”

Sinise said the recognition is welcome and helps the overall work of his foundation. 

“We still have people who are serving in harm’s way. They are still in the war zones. They are still getting hurt. We’re still losing them. It’s a dangerous world out there. They are deploying to places we still don’t even know about, and they end up getting hurt, or their families end up losing them, and I don’t want to forget them.”
…

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U.S. Army soldier Bryan Anderson was nearing the end of his second, yearlong tour of duty in Iraq, and approaching the end of his enlistment, when he unexpectedly reached a turning point on Oct. 23, 2005 — a date that is now seared in his memory.

“That’s the day I got blown up,” he told VOA.

A hidden improvised explosive device, or IED, cut through the military Humvee as Anderson was slowly driving through the dangerous streets of Iraq.

“When the explosion went off, it cut my legs and my hand off instantly,” he said.

Anderson credits the instant action by his comrades for saving his life, but his extensive wounds left him with one badly damaged arm and hand.

“Soldiers don’t think about coming back halfway,” he said. “You either think you are going to make it, or you’re not. I certainly did.”

Anderson’s evacuation from the battlefield marked the beginning of a long recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. There, while trying to learn how to walk on prosthetic legs, he encountered many visiting celebrities, or “peer” visitors. 

“Celebrities and peer visitors didn’t mean anything to me. I didn’t care. I felt more or less that these people would just come in, take pictures with soldiers, and say, ‘I did it! Look at me!’ It just felt like it was fake.”

But Anderson said one visitor who arrived in the middle of one of his intense therapy sessions was the exception. 

“I’m trying to like, say, ‘Excuse me, can I get by?’ and then I tripped and hit somebody’s foot or something. And I fell forward, and I landed right into somebody. And I grabbed his chest, and he stood strong, and he held me up. And I pushed back and tried to stand up. And I’m like, ‘Oh holy crap, Gary Sinise!’ And he’s like, ‘Oh holy crap, the real Lieutenant Dan!'”

His performance as the rough Vietnam War soldier “Lt. Dan Taylor” in the 1994 Hollywood blockbuster “Forrest Gump” has, in part, defined Sinise’s career on and off camera.

Lt. Dan represented a generation of military veterans scarred by the Vietnam War, many of whom received a cold reception upon returning home to America. 

Sinise’s portrayal of the wounded amputee and war-weary U.S. Army officer resonated with many veterans — something reinforced to Sinise during his visit to the 1994 Disabled American Veterans, or DAV National Convention in Chicago. 

“The ballroom was filled with over 2,000 wounded veterans,” he explained to VOA during a recent interview in Chicago. “They were cheering for Lt. Dan, and the guy who played Lt. Dan, and I was overwhelmed with emotion. From that point on, I stayed actively involved with the DAV.”

While best known for his award-winning work as an actor, first on stage, then television, and eventually film, it is his service off-camera that is now earning Sinise the respect of many in uniform, prompted by what he describes as his own turning point — the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Despite not having served himself, he wanted to ensure the hard lessons learned during the Vietnam War weren’t repeated as a new generation of service members headed off for a new war.

“That they would go off to war responding to Osama bin Laden, and al-Qaida, and the attacks on our country, and they would return and feel appreciated.”

Giving back

Today, Sinise shows appreciation through initiatives that include building homes for those injured in war through the Restoring Independence Supporting Empowerment, or RISE program of the Gary Sinise Foundation. 

“I’ve been involved in building over 70 some houses for badly wounded service members,” he said. “I am a beneficiary of what our defenders do for us on a daily basis, so I want to support them in any way I can. Which is why I started the Gary Sinise Foundation.”

Today, the foundation that bears his name raises tens of millions of dollars annually to fund programs such as RISE, and the Snowball Express, which provides vacations at the Disney World Resort for Gold Star Families — those who have lost a loved one in combat. 

To help fund the many philanthropic endeavors of his foundation giving back to those who served, including first responders and emergency personnel, Sinise performs around the world as a guitarist in the “Lt. Dan Band.”

His life on and off the many stages of his career, which began at the Steppenwolf Theatre he founded in Chicago in the 1970s, is all in his new book “Grateful American: A Journey from Self to Service,” now a New York Times best-seller. 

Anderson, who appeared with Sinise on the TV show “CSI: New York” and now serves as an ambassador for the Gary Sinise Foundation, said it’s veterans like him who are the grateful Americans for Sinise’s attention and support.

“I got the sense that he felt a little guilty that he never served, and that he took the path that he did,” said Anderson, who is in the beginning stages of building his own accessible home through the RISE program. “But I try to tell him, ‘Look, we all serve in our own ways, and we try to do the best that we can. And you are more of a patriot than some of the guys that I served with.'” 

It is a sentiment now documented in a heartfelt, viral online video featuring many notable Americans such as former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Sinise’s “Forrest Gump” co-star, Tom Hanks, praising him for his service to others.

“I was just overwhelmed with emotion that people would take the time to do that,” Sinise explained to VOA. “I’m on a mission here, and I’m just trying to do what I can to support our military and veterans community.”

Sinise said the recognition is welcome and helps the overall work of his foundation. 

“We still have people who are serving in harm’s way. They are still in the war zones. They are still getting hurt. We’re still losing them. It’s a dangerous world out there. They are deploying to places we still don’t even know about, and they end up getting hurt, or their families end up losing them, and I don’t want to forget them.”
…

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While best known for his award-winning work as an actor on stage, television, and film, it is his off-camera service earning Gary Sinise the respect of many in uniform. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh spoke with Sinise about his new book “Grateful American” and his journey to honor and support those who serve their country.
…

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While best known for his award-winning work as an actor on stage, television, and film, it is his off-camera service earning Gary Sinise the respect of many in uniform. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh spoke with Sinise about his new book “Grateful American” and his journey to honor and support those who serve their country.
…

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A Tanzanian woman is traveling around Africa showcasing her soccer ball juggling skills as a way to feed her family. Her video clips have gone viral on social media and captivated the hearts of many people in the continent and beyond. This month, one of her clips caught the eye of U.S. president Donald Trump who tweeted “Amazing!”

Hadhara Charles Mjeje started honing her ball juggling skills when she was a teenager in Tanzania playing for a local women’s football team.

She maneuvers the ball with her feet, head, chest and shoulders.

For the past six years, Mjeje, a single mother of two sons, has been using the skills to raise money to feed for her family. 

She says this helps her to pay school fees for her two children, purchase food to feed her family and also pay household bills and other needs.

She has so far traveled to several countries across Africa including Cameroon, Burundi, Gabon and recently Malawi.

She charges $4 for a two-minute performance and earns between $45 and $50 a day.

​She dismisses accusations of using black magic to develop her skills.

“There is no magic in this ball,” she says – “this is my own talent I started developing long ago.”

In Malawi, her skills captivated National Women’s Football officials who thought of bringing her into their women’s soccer development program. But she declined the offer.

Sugzo Ngwira is the chairperson of Women’s Football Committee in Central Malawi.

“If she was ready to impact her skills with others, I think we would explore all the other options. I would liaise with the teams and how best we can utilize her talent to impact especially the youngsters who are just starting,” Ngwira said.

​Her skills have also dazzled male footballers. 

Samuel Zeka plays social football in the capital Lilongwe.

Zeka says this is a rare talent for women to juggle the ball as this lady is doing. I would be very grateful if she would teach me such skills, he added. 

Her video filmed in Malawi also caught the eye of U.S. President Donald Trump. 

Mjeje who is 29-years-old, says she wished the American president could have done more than tweeting his amazement.

She says she wished he helped her feed her family. She has two children, and elderly parents they all rely on her for help. She wished Trump helped her boost her talent so that she can be known across the world and earn more money.

But after Trump’s tweet, Mjeje received various request for interviews from local and international media organizations like the BBC and Reuters.

She returned to Tanzania this week after an agent who came to Malawi from Zimbabwe last Friday, convinced her of possible lucrative advertising contract in Spain.

Mjeje told VOA she hopes the new contract, marks the beginning of her better life.
…

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A Tanzanian woman is traveling around Africa showcasing her soccer ball juggling skills as a way to feed her family. Her video clips have gone viral on social media and captivated the hearts of many people in the continent and beyond. This month, one of her clips caught the eye of U.S. president Donald Trump who tweeted “Amazing!”

Hadhara Charles Mjeje started honing her ball juggling skills when she was a teenager in Tanzania playing for a local women’s football team.

She maneuvers the ball with her feet, head, chest and shoulders.

For the past six years, Mjeje, a single mother of two sons, has been using the skills to raise money to feed for her family. 

She says this helps her to pay school fees for her two children, purchase food to feed her family and also pay household bills and other needs.

She has so far traveled to several countries across Africa including Cameroon, Burundi, Gabon and recently Malawi.

She charges $4 for a two-minute performance and earns between $45 and $50 a day.

​She dismisses accusations of using black magic to develop her skills.

“There is no magic in this ball,” she says – “this is my own talent I started developing long ago.”

In Malawi, her skills captivated National Women’s Football officials who thought of bringing her into their women’s soccer development program. But she declined the offer.

Sugzo Ngwira is the chairperson of Women’s Football Committee in Central Malawi.

“If she was ready to impact her skills with others, I think we would explore all the other options. I would liaise with the teams and how best we can utilize her talent to impact especially the youngsters who are just starting,” Ngwira said.

​Her skills have also dazzled male footballers. 

Samuel Zeka plays social football in the capital Lilongwe.

Zeka says this is a rare talent for women to juggle the ball as this lady is doing. I would be very grateful if she would teach me such skills, he added. 

Her video filmed in Malawi also caught the eye of U.S. President Donald Trump. 

Mjeje who is 29-years-old, says she wished the American president could have done more than tweeting his amazement.

She says she wished he helped her feed her family. She has two children, and elderly parents they all rely on her for help. She wished Trump helped her boost her talent so that she can be known across the world and earn more money.

But after Trump’s tweet, Mjeje received various request for interviews from local and international media organizations like the BBC and Reuters.

She returned to Tanzania this week after an agent who came to Malawi from Zimbabwe last Friday, convinced her of possible lucrative advertising contract in Spain.

Mjeje told VOA she hopes the new contract, marks the beginning of her better life.
…

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With its alliances and betrayals, crimes and cash, and even a dash of witchcraft, the theatrical twists of Nigeria’s politics are inspiring directors from the country’s Nollywood movie industry.

The saga surrounding Nigeria’s recent election, delayed for a week just hours before voting started, has film-makers convinced they may have hit movie gold.

Nigerians watched as their election delivered all the ingredients of a thriller, including charges of vote card fiddling, armored cars filled with cash delivered to politicians’ homes, and even arrests of opponents by the secret police — all in the space of one week.

“I can do 100 movies based on Nigerian politics,” said local director Ike Nnaebue. “There is too much drama going on (…) and I believe that, as story tellers, it’s our responsibility to start the conversation and begin to start changes.”

With 190 million people in Nigeria and a growing wider audience on the African continent and among Nigeria’s diaspora, Nollywood has become the world’s second-largest cinema business after India’s Bollywood in terms of the number of films the industry pumps out.

And juicy local politics is increasingly a theme.

In “Dr. Mekan”, a satire released in 2018, Nnaebue tells the tale of the rise of a “repat,” a Nigerian who grew up or lived abroad for a long time and who returned to live in Nigeria, often disconnected from reality.

“As soon as he comes back from the States, he has fantastic ideas of how to run his state, and wants to become governor of Anambra. He has good intentions, but he doesn’t understand how things are being done in Nigeria,” the director said.

In one key scene the candidate makes an ambitious election promise to improve agriculture and develop local rice cultivation. The crowd applaud but a rumor runs through the crowd that his rival is offering food handouts at his rally and the spectators run off to get their free bags of rice — imported from China.

In another scene, the candidate’s campaign team is busy handing out cash to the crowd, while Mekan himself shouts at young people “Money will destroy you!”

“In this movie, we laugh at us. It’s a critic of the foolishness of the politicians and of the people,” the director said. “We need to start asking ourselves what is wrong in our country and change it. Cinema is a tool for it.”

President Muhammadu Buhari was re-elected last month after the delayed poll that angered voters. It was the second ballot box victory for Buhari, a one-time military ruler who was first elected in 2015 to lead Africa’s top oil producer.

The Godfathers

A sense for change also motivated Mike-Steve Adeleye to write the screenplay of his latest film, “Code Wilo,” previewed in Lagos early March.

Adeleye did not choose humor, but action to criticize what Nigerian politics has become, and especially the idea of political “Godfathers” who bless or destroy aspiring candidates.

In his new film, a Nigerian ruling party’s sponsor announces that his daughter will be the candidate for the next state governor, without even consulting his political base or the voters.

“Citizens are spectators. They are just watching politics, and they have no word to say on the scenario. It’s already written. We are just here to see who will be elected,” Adeleye said.

In “Code Wilo,” the young candidate and adored daughter of the “godfather” is kidnapped for ransom.

“I’m hoping that when politicians see the end of the film, they will get scared. I hope it will haunt them and then they will start thinking about what they are doing to us,” the director said.

Nigeria is a cultural heavyweight in Africa, leading in film and music. But it has long been confined mostly to just entertainment.

But recently, artists such as rappers M.I. or Falz are touring the country to educate young people to vote and to hold their leaders accountable. That message is far from the usual music video clips of champagne, pools or luxury cars.

Ideas may be starting to change little by little on the music scene, but in the cinema “Nollywood is still mainly focused on business. It’s all about bling bling and plastic life,” Adeleye said.

“But we can’t keep going like this. Elections after elections, it’s getting worse, and it’s more depressing. As Africans we have stories to tell, stories that can have an impact and make our society better.”
…

your ads here!

With its alliances and betrayals, crimes and cash, and even a dash of witchcraft, the theatrical twists of Nigeria’s politics are inspiring directors from the country’s Nollywood movie industry.

The saga surrounding Nigeria’s recent election, delayed for a week just hours before voting started, has film-makers convinced they may have hit movie gold.

Nigerians watched as their election delivered all the ingredients of a thriller, including charges of vote card fiddling, armored cars filled with cash delivered to politicians’ homes, and even arrests of opponents by the secret police — all in the space of one week.

“I can do 100 movies based on Nigerian politics,” said local director Ike Nnaebue. “There is too much drama going on (…) and I believe that, as story tellers, it’s our responsibility to start the conversation and begin to start changes.”

With 190 million people in Nigeria and a growing wider audience on the African continent and among Nigeria’s diaspora, Nollywood has become the world’s second-largest cinema business after India’s Bollywood in terms of the number of films the industry pumps out.

And juicy local politics is increasingly a theme.

In “Dr. Mekan”, a satire released in 2018, Nnaebue tells the tale of the rise of a “repat,” a Nigerian who grew up or lived abroad for a long time and who returned to live in Nigeria, often disconnected from reality.

“As soon as he comes back from the States, he has fantastic ideas of how to run his state, and wants to become governor of Anambra. He has good intentions, but he doesn’t understand how things are being done in Nigeria,” the director said.

In one key scene the candidate makes an ambitious election promise to improve agriculture and develop local rice cultivation. The crowd applaud but a rumor runs through the crowd that his rival is offering food handouts at his rally and the spectators run off to get their free bags of rice — imported from China.

In another scene, the candidate’s campaign team is busy handing out cash to the crowd, while Mekan himself shouts at young people “Money will destroy you!”

“In this movie, we laugh at us. It’s a critic of the foolishness of the politicians and of the people,” the director said. “We need to start asking ourselves what is wrong in our country and change it. Cinema is a tool for it.”

President Muhammadu Buhari was re-elected last month after the delayed poll that angered voters. It was the second ballot box victory for Buhari, a one-time military ruler who was first elected in 2015 to lead Africa’s top oil producer.

The Godfathers

A sense for change also motivated Mike-Steve Adeleye to write the screenplay of his latest film, “Code Wilo,” previewed in Lagos early March.

Adeleye did not choose humor, but action to criticize what Nigerian politics has become, and especially the idea of political “Godfathers” who bless or destroy aspiring candidates.

In his new film, a Nigerian ruling party’s sponsor announces that his daughter will be the candidate for the next state governor, without even consulting his political base or the voters.

“Citizens are spectators. They are just watching politics, and they have no word to say on the scenario. It’s already written. We are just here to see who will be elected,” Adeleye said.

In “Code Wilo,” the young candidate and adored daughter of the “godfather” is kidnapped for ransom.

“I’m hoping that when politicians see the end of the film, they will get scared. I hope it will haunt them and then they will start thinking about what they are doing to us,” the director said.

Nigeria is a cultural heavyweight in Africa, leading in film and music. But it has long been confined mostly to just entertainment.

But recently, artists such as rappers M.I. or Falz are touring the country to educate young people to vote and to hold their leaders accountable. That message is far from the usual music video clips of champagne, pools or luxury cars.

Ideas may be starting to change little by little on the music scene, but in the cinema “Nollywood is still mainly focused on business. It’s all about bling bling and plastic life,” Adeleye said.

“But we can’t keep going like this. Elections after elections, it’s getting worse, and it’s more depressing. As Africans we have stories to tell, stories that can have an impact and make our society better.”
…

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