Hong Kong’s Domestic Workers Demand to Be Treated Like Employees, Not Slaves

As COVID-19 exacerbates the discrimination and abuse that domestic workers in Hong Kong face on a daily basis, activists vigorously fight for their rights 

Domestic workers take to the streets. International Domestic Workers Federation. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Erwiana Sulistyaningsih knocked on her neighbor’s door at 2 a.m. She needed food. She was a domestic worker, or “helper,” in Hong Kong for Law Wan-tung, who rarely fed her. By Hong Kong law, helpers are required to live with their employers, so such abuse is not unheard of. Nor was forced starvation the full extent of this abuse. Law once shoved a metal vacuum cleaner tube into Sulistyaningsih’s mouth, causing her lip to bleed. Law even forced her to stand naked in the shower in the middle of the winter while she splashed water on her. That night at 2 a.m., her neighbors saw the result of months worth of abuse. 

Long a marginalized group, helpers fuel the economic engine of Hong Kong, completing domestic work so their employers can dedicate time to their careers, often in the lucrative financial sector. They shop, do laundry, help children with homework, cook meals, clean living spaces and do anything else their employers wish. While helpers are employed by both the middle and upper class and have a widespread presence in Hong Kong, they rarely have a voice in public policy debates. Because most helpers are migrants and ethnic minorities, they often endure discrimination and abuse because of their race and social class. 

A woman protesting helper abuse. International Domestic Workers Federation. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Helpers suffer in an economic system that leaves almost no space to be human. Minimum wage for helpers is $596 a month. Having employers provide food and housing is intended to compensate for this low pay, but the real consequence of living with their employers is that helpers are effectively on-call all day, every day. Although helpers are required to be given one full day off each week, many are made to work anyway to satisfy their employers. Hong Kong law requires employers to provide helpers with “suitable accommodation” and “reasonable privacy,” but many helpers are forced to sleep on cots behind thin, cloth partitions. Some sleep on the floor. 

A demonstration for helpers’ rights. International Domestic Workers Federation. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

COVID-19 further exacerbated the discimination which they face daily. In late April, the government ordered all 370,000 domestic workers in Hong Kong to take COVID-19 tests or get a vaccine, deeming them “high risk” due to their “mingling” with other migrant workers. However, they rescinded the vaccination requirement after public outcry in May, yet the testing requirement remained. This order prompted accusations of discrimination because it did not apply to migrant workers in white-collar positions or those who employ helpers. In fact, infection rates among helpers are lower than the Hong Kong average. Still, police and passers-by regularly harass people they suspect are helpers for not following COVID-19 guidelines, even if they are. 

In particular, the live-in law has caused concern among activists campaigning for the rights of domestic workers in Hong Kong. In 2020, 17% of helpers reported being physically abused, a 2% increase from 2019. Cases of rape and sexual abuse increased to 6%. An astonishing 98% of helpers say they have worked longer hours during the pandemic. This is only the continuation of a trend. A 2016 study found that one in six helpers experienced forced labor at some point in their careers. 

Demonstrators hold a flag from the Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Unions. International Domestic Workers Federation. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Erwiana Sulistyaningsih was only one of thousands to experience abuse as a helper. When she became so injured that she could no longer work, Law attempted to sneak her onto a plane to Indonesia, hiding her bruises with makeup and threatening to hurt her family if they were caught—they were. Law enforcement intercepted Law before she could do any more harm, and a Hong Kong court sentenced her to six years in prison. It was a major victory, not just for Sulistyaningsih but for all 370,000 helpers working in Hong Kong. 

One positive trend for helpers’ rights has been a more focused public spotlight on their situation, led by a dedicated group of activists documenting and addressing helpers’ concerns. Sulistyaningsih made Time Magazine’s 100 Most Powerful People in 2014 for telling the story of her abuse. Her case serves as a reminder of the abuse that continues to befall helpers, and of how far away justice remains. Law Wan-tung got out of prison early in 2018, but for Sulistyaningsih and countless other domestic workers, physical and mental scars still persist. 

Michael McCarthy

Michael is an undergraduate student at Haverford College, dodging the pandemic by taking a gap year. He writes in a variety of genres, and his time in high school debate renders political writing an inevitable fascination. Writing at Catalyst and the Bi-Co News, a student-run newspaper, provides an outlet for this passion. In the future, he intends to keep writing in mediums both informative and creative.

Major Win in German Youth’s Fight for Climate Justice

Spurred on by youth climate activism, German courts rule that the 2019 Climate Protection Act does not adequately protect the futures of its youth.

Climate change protesters in Berlin, Germany. 350 Action Fund. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

On April 29, 2021, Germany’s highest court ruled that the 2019 Climate Protection Act does not go far enough to protect the country’s youth. When it was created, the act stated that intensified climate action was needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent additional strains on the federal budget. The act required energy, transportation, industry, building, waste and agriculture sectors to collectively reduce carbon emission levels by 55% from 1990 levels.

However, the plans to reduce carbon emission under this act were set to stop by the year 2030. A group of nine young German protestors filed a lawsuit against the act for not containing explicit targets to fight climate change during the 20 years after 2030 and up until the country’s 2050 goal of reaching greenhouse gas neutrality. Young protestors fought for additional measures to be put in place from 2031 to 2050 to effectively reach the law’s goals.

In a significant climate case decision, the German court sided with youth climate activists and ordered the government to expand carbon emission mitigation measures to reach greenhouse gas neutrality by 2050. This new legislation hopes to protect future generations by taking action against climate change. 

This decision came just in time for a warning report from Bavaria that the region’s five alpine glaciers are melting quickly and are projected to be gone in a decade. According to Thorsten Glauber, the state’s environment minister, a glacier on the northern side of the country’s highest peak, the Zugspitze, is losing 250 liters (66 gallons) of water every 30 seconds. In the past decade, the glaciers in Bavaria have lost two-thirds of their ice.

Eibsee Lake in Bavaria, Germany. Barnyz. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Germany’s glaciers are essential to their landscape and society, providing water for rivers and streams during droughts, stabilizing mountain rocks, and hosting popular ski resorts. The glaciers are also indicators of global climate temperatures, serving as further proof that climate action needs to be taken immediately.

Germany’s recent court decision on the 2019 Climate Protection Act is more important now than ever. Not only does it come in time to help the country’s beautiful glaciers, but it also serves as an example of young people’s power to influence legislative decisions. Similar court cases filed by youth were attempted in other countries, but not many have been as successful as this one in Germany. Hopefully this case will pave the way for t many similar victories in the future.

Isabelle Durso

Isabelle is an undergraduate student at Boston University currently on campus in Boston. She is double majoring in Journalism and Film & Television, and she is interested in being a travel writer and writing human-interest stories around the world. Isabelle loves to explore and experience new cultures, and she hopes to share other people's stories through her writing. In the future, she intends to keep writing journalistic articles as well as creative screenplays.

LGBTQ+ Activists Fight Anti-Gay Hate in Siberia

In the Siberian tundra, queer folks face conservative attitudes, constant harassment and violence. As a result, the region’s few LGBTQ+ activists struggle to meet their community’s needs. 

A small show of support in Siberia. reassure. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

To this day, Yevgeniy Glebov doesn’t know how the two strangers found his address. Secure in his apartment, he heard a knock at the door. He opened it. They asked, “Aren’t you that gay activist?”

Yevgeniy needed to go to the hospital to recover from his injuries. After he reported the assault, the police closed the case without looking for a suspect. He expected little else from the authorities in Irkutsk Oblast, the Russian federal subject deep in Siberia where he lives and works. His NGO “Time to Act” provides legal, psychological and HIV prevention resources for the region’s LGBTQ+ community. However, this work  also puts a target on his back. Advocating for gay rights is mostly a thankless job, demanding secrecy. For most LGBTQ+ Russians, it’s safer inside the closet than out. 

Gay pride hasn’t yet reached the mainstream in Russia. Homophobia runs rampant in Russian society and riddles the country’s laws. Article 148 of the Russian criminal code gives prosecutors the license to claim any violation of religious practice as a crime, giving them a cudgel against gay rights groups. In 2013, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed into the law a ban on “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” designed to prevent children from viewing or learning about anything homosexual. These laws reflect widespread disdain and discrimination against queer folks. The bill passed the State Duma with unanimous support. 

Anti-homophobia demonstration in Russia. Marco Fieber. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Homophobia is less rampant in the cultural capitals of Moscow and St. Petersburg. There, gay clubs, beaches and bookstores thrive because of a highly concentAnti-homophobia demonstration in Russia. Marco Fieber. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.rated LGBTQ+ community. On the other hand, in Siberia, the presence of gay life diminishes as the threat of hate-fueled violence increases. Gay men have been lured to online dates in remote locations only to find a violent gang of homophobes when they arrive. Police have been known to abuse queer people as well. Yevgeniy once drove to nearby Angarsk after a supposedly gay boy had been brutalized by two strangers. When he arrived, the police had arrested the boy to accost him about his sexuality, letting the attackers go. 

This environment demands a different approach to LGBTQ+ activism than in Russia’s European part. There, activists like Nikolay Alexeyev vociferously demand their rights. Alexeyev organized the first Moscow Pride parade in 2006, which then mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov deemed “satanic.” The participants in the small parade faced arrests from the police and attacks from Neo-Nazis, but the subsequent, yearly demonstrations made Alexeyev the public face of the gay rights movement. He frequently brings his combative style to TV debate shows. On such a show, he grew so frustrated with a fancifully-hatted woman decrying “homosexual extremism” that he called her a “hag in a hat” and left. 

A protest placard mocking Putin. Marco Fieber. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Alexeyev often makes life difficult for gay activists in far-flung areas of Russia. Yevgeniy claims that the Russians he interacts with on a daily basis aren’t ready for Pride festivals, and that his pugnacity alienates those they need to win over. Irkutsk Oblast is home to 2.5 million people, but only forty LGBT activists, Yevgeniy estimates. His work with Time to Act doesn’t even pay. For money, he works at a local bakery. 

A long road lies ahead for Yevgeniy and his fellow activists. LGBTQ+ folks remain political untouchables across the Russian political spectrum. Even Alexei Navalny, Putin’s most powerful foe, does not touch the issue of gay rights. Amnesty International revoked his status as prisoner of conscience mainly because of his unapologetic xenophobia, but also because of his comments about the LGBTQ+ community. In a recent interview, Navalny repeatedly used a Russian slur to describe gay people. 

In the Soviet era, gay folks, if discovered, were sent to gulags—brutal work camps that relied on the frigid tundra to stop prisoners from escaping. Queer artistic luminaries such as filmmaker Sergey Paradjanov and poet Anna Barkova were enslaved there, leaving a legacy of queer survival. Their spirit invigorates LGBTQ+ activism in Russia; it is sorely needed. Although gulags now sit empty, queer Russians too often find their only safe haven in the closet. 

Michael McCarthy

Michael is an undergraduate student at Haverford College, dodging the pandemic by taking a gap year. He writes in a variety of genres, and his time in high school debate renders political writing an inevitable fascination. Writing at Catalyst and the Bi-Co News, a student-run newspaper, provides an outlet for this passion. In the future, he intends to keep writing in mediums both informative and creative.

Gen Z’s Online Activism Helps and Harms Social Movements

Gen Z, those currently ages 11-25, have been using the Internet and social media all their lives. More informed about social issues through Instagram and TikTok, they are also more vulnerable to misinformation as much content on such platforms is not fact-checked or verified.

Read More

Africa Faces Higher Food Insecurity Due to COVID-19

Africa experiences food insecurity due to poverty, conflict, climate change and a lack of access to food. When COVID-19 hit, it made all of these matters much worse.

A man inspects failed corn crops in Mauritania. Oxfam International. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Although made significantly more severe by COVID-19, food insecurity has been a serious concern worldwide for decades, mostly caused by economic shocks, climate change and conflict. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, 239 million people in sub-Saharan Africa were undernourished as of 2018.

The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened food insecurity across the world by reducing incomes and disrupting food supply chains. The United Nations warns that about three dozen countries—Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Sudan included—could experience major famines this year, pushing 130 million more people to starvation. East Africa’s biggest locust invasion in 70 years combined with the impact of COVID-19 threatens to drive 25 million people into hunger. Research from a series of high-frequency phone surveys shows that over 105 million adults have been affected by some degree of food insecurity across Uganda, Nigeria, Malawi, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso following the onset of the pandemic. Devastated food sources and billions of dollars in crop damage may push residents over the edge.

In addition, preventive measures like border closures, lockdowns and curfews intended to slow the spread of COVID-19 are disrupting supply chains that struggled to keep markets well-stocked even before the pandemic. At least 60% of the African population is dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods and access to food, and disruptions to this system caused by COVID-19 are threatening this group’s food security.

A man tending to his crops in Uganda. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. CC BY 2.0.

Most African countries rely heavily on food imports; between 2016 and 2018, Africa imported about 85% of its food from outside the continent. Heavy reliance on world markets is extremely detrimental to food security, and export bans imposed by major food exporters due to COVID-19 made the region even more vulnerable. If trade blockages persist, agricultural production in Africa could decrease by between 2.6% and 7%.

African countries are also reporting shortages and price spikes for some domestic food crops, such as millet, sorghum and maize. In addition, the disruption of marketing and trade activities, combined with panic-buying during the pandemic, intensified food price increases and caused both rural and urban consumers to lose purchasing power.

As a direct result of rising food prices, the availability and affordability of nutritious food has plummeted. Nutrient-rich foods like eggs, fruit and vegetables are 10 times more expensive than staple foods like rice or wheat in sub-Saharan Africa, so vulnerable families were forced to buy cheaper and less nutritious food to survive, adding to a rise in malnutrition and obesity.

In addition, school closures in South Africa have stopped a national feeding program that provides nutritious meals to 9 million poorer children.

Restrictions imposed by governments—lockdowns, travel bans and social distancing measures included—have increased the risk of food insecurity, and many low-income households have lost their livelihoods and ability to access markets.

A fruit and vegetable stand in Kampala, Uganda. World Bank Photo Collection. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

COVID-19 has clearly had a detrimental effect on food security in Africa, with 43% of households that were not severely food insecure in 2018 estimated to be severely food insecure as of June 2020.

However, there are ways to help, and many government programs have already started to alleviate some of the hunger in Africa. In Chad, a government project is providing food kits, establishing cereal banks and distributing seeds for future harvests so that households can survive the rest of the pandemic. In East Africa, the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Feed the Future program is supporting measures to keep food and agricultural inputs moving across borders and from ports to inland countries.

Although many efforts to help Africa are already in place, it is imperative that African countries take the necessary steps to build resilient, climate-friendly and competitive food systems so that they can survive COVID-19 and any future challenges.

To Get Involved:

Donating to Oxfam South Africa or Action Against Hunger will help to provide essential care to hungry families in Africa. Additionally, the U.N. World Food Program uses donations to deliver lifesaving food to those in need, wherever they may be located.

Another great way to help is by giving to The Hunger Project, which uses donations to implement programs that mobilize rural communities to achieve sustainable progress against hunger. These are just a few of the many ways to get involved to help end the crisis. To learn more, visit the United Nations’ website on hunger in Africa.

Isabelle Durso

Isabelle is an undergraduate student at Boston University currently on campus in Boston. She is double majoring in Journalism and Film & Television, and she is interested in being a travel writer and writing human-interest stories around the world. Isabelle loves to explore and experience new cultures, and she hopes to share other people's stories through her writing. In the future, she intends to keep writing journalistic articles as well as creative screenplays.

Pakistani Women Continue to Push for Societal Change

On March 8, Pakistani women’s rights activists took to the country’s streets for the Aurat March, which celebrates International Women’s Day and advocates for better treatment. The organizers of the protest immediately experienced backlash from the Taliban. 

Pakistani woman sitting with friends. Vicki Francis. CC BY 2.0

Pakistani women, despite the presence of the Taliban in the country, still organized and marched on International Women’s Day. The Aurat March included pushing for accessible health care, basic economic rights and equal opportunities for women. After the marches, the Taliban posted a forbidding statement: “We want to send a message to those organizations who are actively spreading obscenity and vulgarity in our beloved Pakistan. Fix your ways.” The Taliban accused participants in the Aurat March of insulting Islam. The group falsified photos and videos, signifying that protesters held the French flag.

The social media organizer for the Aurat March in Karachi responded to the Taliban’s accusations of “obscenity and vulgarity” on Twitter: “Their attempts do not and will not deter us. We will continue to organize and speak out against the violence we are subject to. We will continue to build political power and fight back.” 

Pakistan was ranked the world’s fourth worst-performing country when measuring women’s well-being and empowerment in their homes, communities and societies, according to the 2020 Women, Peace and Security Index. At least 28% of women aged 15 to 49 have experienced physical violence, according to the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey. In the same survey, 40% of men agreed that it was acceptable to beat one’s wife under certain circumstances. With no national data for comparison, the scale of the violence against Pakistan’s women is difficult to gauge with other countries.  

The fight for women’s rights in Pakistan is not new. In 1983, over 200 women marched on the Lahore High Court in protest against former Gen. Zia ul-Haq’s discriminatory laws. In 1979,  Zia enacted the Hudood Ordinance, which required four male witnesses for an accusation of rape. Under this same ordinance, women who filed accusations of rape without without the proper witnesses could be sent to jail for adultery.

In December 2020, President Arif Alvi signed into law an anti-rape ordinance that approved the speedy trial of rape cases with women and children as victims. The ordinance also include the creation of a countrywide registry of sex offenders. The law came months after a rise in social outcry across Pakistan because of a motorway gang-rape incident. 

Inequalities are still seen between men and women in Pakistan through lower literacy rates, lesser wages and a smaller representation in government. Pakistan ranked 151 out of 153 countries on global gender parity, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2020. 

Despite the adversities facing women in Pakistan, they continue to organize and push for sweeping changes. In the words of Aurat March Karachi’s social media organizer, “Merely existing is a radical act of resistance.” 

Kyla Denisevich

Kyla is an upcoming senior at Boston University, and is majoring in Journalism with a minor in Anthropology. She writes articles for the Daily Free Press at BU and a local paper called Urban Media Arts. Pursuing journalism is her passion, and she aims create well researched multimedia stories which emphasize under-recognized narratives to encourage productive, educated conversation.

Senegal’s Artisanal Fishing Sector Faces a Rising Tide of Troubles

As vaccine rollouts speed up and restrictions loosen, some countries are beginning to piece back together life from before the COVID-19 pandemic. Other countries, like Senegal, have seen just the opposite. 

Fish market in Senegal. Evgeni Zotov. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. 

For many, a job is just a job—a way to keep food on the table and to pay the bills. For others, the wealth brought from working is deeply cultural, offering up a steady stream of personal meaning supplemented by financial gain. In the West African nation of Senegal, artisanal fishermen and women take great pride in their heritage, with the women standing center stage. 

Senegal is a relatively poor nation, with 30% of households grappling with food insecurity. The fishing industry plays a substantial role in Senegalese society: over 600,000 people are employed by the fishing industry and half of the protein consumed by the country’s residents comes from fish.

The women of Senegal’s coastal fishing villages sustain a matriarchy built on the fishing industry. The women process by hand loads of fish brought in by fishermen. They sun-dry and smoke the fish before selling them in local markets and to foreign fishing companies. Their work done by these women upholds their families, with one income from a fish processor able to feed up to eight family members. 

The Senegalese fishing women possess profound resilience; the COVID-19 pandemic has diminished their income to nearly nothing, which only increased their determination and creativity. By pooling money and taking hold of other resources, the Senegalese women have discovered a way to push through the pandemic.

However, Senegal’s artisanal fishing industry faces other major hurdles besides the COVID-19 pandemic. The rising sea levels brought on by climate change have ravaged many families’ coastal homes, with many unable to build new houses on their income. Additionally, rising sea levels have forced the men to venture much farther off the coast to haul in the same catch. This proved particularly difficult with Senegal’s COVID-19 curfew, which limited how far the men could travel out to sea. The women who process the fish have experienced decreased production as well, with many processing sites closed or greatly limited in capacity.

Lastly, larger industries have threatened the livelihood of this comparatively small field. Nearby construction threatens Senegal’s waters with pollution, while major fishing companies easily outproduce the women selling their catch. In addition, the government permits other countries to fish in local waters within regulation, but failure to effectively enforce these rules has greatly hurt the artisanal fishing industry.

Although there seems to be one hurdle after the next, the fishermen and women of Senegal have proven again their resilience. The country’s fishing women, in particular, stand not just as hopeful examples for their neighbors, but as a sign of strength for the entire world. 

Ella Nguyen

Ella is an undergraduate student at Vassar College pursuing a degree in Hispanic Studies. She wants to assist in the field of immigration law and hopes to utilize Spanish in her future projects. In her free time she enjoys cooking, writing poetry, and learning about cosmetics.

The Pandemic’s Impact On Homelessness in America

In 2020, 580,466 people in the United States experienced homelessness on any given night, 2.2% more than in 2019. COVID-19 is likely a major factor in this increase. 

In 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, over half a million people in the United States were experiencing homelessness each night. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reports that in 2020, this number increased by 2.2%. Though 2.2% may seem like a small figure, it amounts to an additional 12,751 people experiencing homelessness on any single night. 

Numerous people lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic and struggled to find new ones in the midst of a global crisis. In April 2020, the U.S. unemployment rate peaked at 14.8%, the highest percentage since unemployment data began being recorded in 1948. By December, the unemployment rate had dropped to a still-elevated 6.7%. These record unemployment rates almost certainly contributed to the rise in homelessness. Data collected by the Congressional Research Service shows that in April 2020, unemployment rates in every state and the District of Columbia had reached levels greater than their highest rates during the Great Recession. 

In addition to increasing the overall number of people experiencing homelessness, the pandemic contributed to worsening living conditions for unhoused people. There is more than one type of homelessness; the four main categories are chronic, episodic, transitional and hidden. These four categories are separated by how long a person has been experiencing homelessness and by what types of resources are available to them.

People experiencing chronic homelessness are defined as having been continually homeless for a year or more or having had four or more episodes of homelessness in the last three years. Rates of people experiencing chronic homelessness increased 15% from 2019, with 2020 being the first year since 2011 that the number passed 100,000 people. 

There are also two other subcategories of homelessness: sheltered and unsheltered. Sheltered refers to those who are residing in a publicly or privately owned shelter that provides temporary housing, like an emergency shelter, transitional housing or even a motel. Unsheltered refers to those residing in a place not designed for human habitation, like on the street or in cars, abandoned buildings or other makeshift shelters. 

People experiencing chronic homelessness are statistically more likely to fall into the unsheltered category. Rates of unsheltered homelessness also increased from 2019, by 7%. This rise in unsheltered homelessness is likely a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led shelters around the country to limit their capacity in order to allow for social distancing in an attempt to reduce the spread of the virus. The measure, though reasonable in the context of the pandemic, left many unsheltered. 

Other support systems for people experiencing homelessness were limited by the pandemic as well, especially in the early months. Amid national lockdown orders, charities that offered food and warmth to the homeless shut down, and many volunteers at places like soup kitchens were afraid to work due to the risk of contracting COVID-19. Time magazine reports on this phenomenon of a social safety net shutdown in West Virginia, but similar things happened nationwide. Most indoor spaces were shut down, and unsheltered people living under a shelter-in-place order had nowhere to go. 

Cities around the country reported increasing death rates among their homeless populations. Some of the deaths resulted from COVID-19 itself, as many people experiencing homelessness have preexisting conditions that make them fall into the high-risk category for the disease. The lack of social support systems also contributed to the high death rates, as people had nowhere consistent to turn in times of freezing cold, or even when looking for basic resources like food. 

The pandemic has drawn attention to the severity of the homelessness crisis in the United States and to the necessity of social support systems, as well as programs designed to get people into housing. Some such programs, like California’s Project Roomkey and Project Homekey, were developed during the pandemic. However, government funding for these programs is often limited. There is hope that in 2021, governments will finally invest the money necessary to work toward ending homelessness. President Joe Biden has signed an executive order directing that the Federal Emergency Management Agency should fully reimburse what states spend to house people in non-congregate shelters through September 2021. 

To Get Involved: 

To learn more about America’s homelessness crisis and how to solve it, visit the website of the National Alliance to End Homelessness here.

To find resources to support a homeless shelter in your area, visit the Homeless Shelter Directory here.

Rachel Lynch

Rachel is a student at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY currently taking a semester off. She plans to study Writing and Child Development. Rachel loves to travel and is inspired by the places she’s been and everywhere she wants to go. She hopes to educate people on social justice issues and the history and culture of travel destinations through her writing.

How Not to Volunteer Abroad: An Interview with Author Pippa Biddle

In her new book, “Ours to Explore: Privilege, Power, and the Paradox of Voluntourism,” Pippa Biddle asks travelers and volunteers to look at the ways their actions affect the global community.

Philippa (Pippa) Biddle is the author of “Ours to Explore: Privilege, Power, and The Paradox of Voluntourism.” Her freelance work has been published by Guernica, The Atlantic, Wired, BBC Travel, AMC Outdoors, Maine magazine and more. You can preorder “Ours to Explore” here. 

Biddle sat down with CATALYST Sarah Leidich to discuss her latest book and offer her take on voluntourism.

Q: What inspired you to write this book? 

A: For me, so much of working on the book was trying to call people into a conversation and call out the industry and not the individual. With voluntourism, so much of the critique has been focused on specific people. 

It actually wasn’t my idea. I wrote a piece called “The Problems of the White Girls” that went viral and a literary agent reached out who suggested that there was a book in it. I spent about a year working with them on a proposal before I realized the book they wanted me to write was not the book I was interested in writing. They really wanted me to write a how-to-do-it-better, and I didn’t want anyone to do it. So why would I take an entire book to do that? But the process of working with them really showed me that there was a book in this—that there was enough material, enough research, enough interest to have a book. 

Q: Before we talk about avoiding it or preventing it, can you define contemporary colonialism? How does it function today?

A: To me, contemporary colonialism is the continuation of colonial ideologies and empires into today. The reason that I use the phrase “contemporary colonialism” as opposed to neocolonialism is because oftentimes, the way we think about colonialism today is informed by and yet somehow held separate from the colonialism of the past and empire-building of the past, specifically empire-building done by Western European and North American powers. In North America, primarily the United States. To me, that differentiation between past and present is completely false. 

It actually allows us to de-implicate ourselves, and by ourselves I mean people who are residents of powerful nations, beneficiaries of power dynamics, and travelers and voluntourists. Contemporary colonialism is simply a different phrase that refers to colonialism that I hope better amplifies the fact that there is that unbroken thread between past colonialism and present colonialism—it’s just modified itself for the present-day environment. 

Q: Is it possible for volunteers to travel abroad without engaging in contemporary colonialism? 

A: I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to travel anywhere without engaging in contemporary colonialism, but engaging with something isn’t in and of itself necessarily problematic. However, you have to recognize it to begin to address the problems with it when it is problematic. Just the fact that some people can travel for leisure and some cannot is an engagement with contemporary colonialism. The fact that I can, pre-pandemic and probably still right now, go to Tanzania and arrive and get a tourist visa for probably $100 and be in the door, but someone from Tanzania cannot reciprocate that action in the United States, is an example of contemporary colonialism, regardless of whether I’m going there to be a volunteer or go on a safari. 

Q: What steps can travelers, especially privileged travelers, take to avoid acts that perpetuate the harmful side effects of travel? 

A: I think that one of the biggest things we need to ask ourselves before booking a trip somewhere is “why are we going there?” I think a lot of travelers don’t take that moment to ask themselves “why do I need to go to this place?” And once they answer that question, to make decisions that fulfill their “why” in the most respectful way possible, which sometimes means not going. For example, if I were to say I really want to go to Ecuador because I’m really fascinated by Ecuadorian cuisine, then if I were to go to Ecuador, I should be focused on eating at restaurants that are owned and run and staffed by Ecuadorians. This sounds like an obvious thing, but most tourists don’t do that extra step. They go somewhere and eat at the places that are easy, that have the menu in English, that the resort has on their short list. The resort is probably foreign-owned, so the restaurants are probably owned by people associated with the resort. 

The whole idea that travel should be something leisurely is really off-base. Travel is not a leisure activity. Travel is an activity that demands conscious engagement and thoughtful consideration, and as long as we treat it as something that is in the same realm as a relaxing day on the beach in your hometown—if you happen to live by the beach—we’re going to be doing it in ways that are disrespectful. 

Q: You write about the tension between communities sometimes believing that voluntourists and missionaries are actually doing good work and then the harmful reality of this kind of travel, volunteering and missionary work. Is there a way to reconcile the relationship between intention, perception and outcome?

A: In the book I use the term “pathological altruism.” Pathological altruism really speaks to this tension, because it is the inability to see that something you are doing with the intention of the impact being positive is having a negative impact, and through that inability to see it, insisting on continuing to do it regardless. I think that the intention to do good is a very good core intention and stripping back to that core intention is a really positive thing, but the idea that intention should be immediately followed by action is misguided. 

I used to work for the Jane Goodall Institute doing educational programming, and one of the things that we brought into classrooms a lot was a thing we called the “Knowledge-Compassion-Action Cycle.” The Knowledge-Compassion-Action Cycle is basically the idea that when we learn about something, we begin to care about it, and once we care about it, we are able to act in the best possible way, and through action you will learn more knowledge. I think a lot of people are skipping that middle part of true, deep knowledge and care. For example, with children in orphanages, if people who chose to volunteer in an orphanage cared about child welfare, and they’re jumping to the idea of volunteering at orphanage, that shows me that they haven’t gone through the knowledge procession and they haven’t gone through the compassion process, because there is no way you go from child welfare to orphanage if you’ve actually gone through that process. It’s trying to integrate more time and education and slowness into what we care about so that we have that time for knowledge and compassion to develop before we choose to take action. 

Q: So if knowledge is developed and compassion is developed, and travelers are moving through the communities with intent, are there changes to the voluntourism industry you would like to see? 

A: Something that makes me nervous about suggesting changes to the voluntourism industry is that it could be misconstrued as me saying that if the industry were to make those changes, it would be OK. That is not what I’m saying. However, there are things that can be done to mitigate the harm as we slowly dismantle voluntourism. The first thing, hands down, is to stop working with kids. Unfortunately, a lot of the trip providers that have stopped working with orphanages have simply pivoted and now take volunteers to work with youth groups, so the only thing that’s changed is that it’s not a residential environment, but so many of the same issues still exist. Honestly, if voluntourism stops working with kids, a fair amount of the market for voluntourism will dry up because the number one thing people want to do on these trips is work with kids. If that is not an option, the industry will shrink. 

Parallel to that, I am adamant that prospective voluntourists deeply engage in the education around what they’re taking part in. One of the things I write about in the book is the “EdGE” platform by Omprakash, which is a nonprofit. EdGE is their learning platform, and EdGE is not perfect and Omprakash is not perfect, and Willy Oppenheim, the founder, is the first to admit that. But it provides trip providers and educational institutions that are facilitating voluntourism, as well as individual travelers that are going on their own, with a curriculum that attempts to educate them on some issues like White privilege and the White savior complex prior to them getting on the ground, so they go through the learning curve that I had years after going before they even go. Does that mean they will not be part of the White savior complex and White privilege? No, but it is a really important step. 

Q: How would you encourage people who are looking to be philanthropic or looking to help? What would you say to them? 

A: Think global, act local. Learn about global issues, engage in global conversations, learn about places, travel as a tourist who is respectful and thoughtful, but you have to remember that even the opportunity to travel is a privilege. If we have this idea that the only way to help is by going somewhere else, we are discounting billions of people on this planet who simply don’t have access to that opportunity. So think global, and then when you choose to act, look locally. 

Sarah Leidich

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Sarah is currently an English and Film major at Barnard College of Columbia University. Sarah is inspired by global art in every form, and hopes to explore the intersection of activism, art, and storytelling through her writing. 

Chernobyl Becomes a Symbol of Resilience, 35 Years After Disaster

Time and time again, humans have been ravaged by disaster, only to successfully prove their resilience. Thirty-five years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Ukrainians appear eager to rewrite their story. 

The abandoned streets of Chernobyl, Ukraine. Pedro Moura Pinheiro. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. 

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986 marked chaos for the Soviet Union and still influences modern-day Ukraine. The accident was caused by a series of technical faults, resulting in a nuclear explosion that spewed radioactive substances into the air. Chernobyl stands as the most devastating nuclear incident to have ever occurred, with 31 deaths as a direct result of the meltdown, 4,000 cancer deaths from exposure to radiation and millions affected in various other ways. 

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Chernobyl will now function as a nuclear waste site.

Now, at the 35th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, Ukrainians are determined to move forward. Life has slowly begun to return to the area; the “exclusion zone” stands as a prime example of the resilience of nature. What was once a deadly zone, marked as a no man’s land, now abounds with life. Radiation levels in the area have decreased over the years, creating a nature preserve of sorts—elk, deer and other wildlife graze throughout the empty space. 

As frightening as Chernobyl may seem, locals have moved back. Elderly residents have returned to the surrounding area despite being advised against it; for them, the comfort of home outweighs the peril of living in the region. These residents stand as a reminder of the power—and the risks—that follow one’s determination. 

Officials in Ukraine hope that Chernobyl will be added as a World Heritage Site, as many residents believe that the outsize influence of the site merits its inclusion. 

Once wholly abandoned, Chernobyl and the nearby town of Pripyat allow visitors today. Travelers come to the site and find an unconventional experience; the disaster has created a reflective tone, as Chernobyl’s tragic history sheds light on the lows of human struggle and the highs of human triumph. 

On April 26, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Chernobyl will now function as a nuclear waste site. It is projected that the nuclear waste site will save Ukraine about $200 million per year. 

Zelenskyy also promised to “transform the exclusion zone, as Chernobyl is referred to, into a revival zone.” While it won’t be easy, Ukraine intends to move on from the past and head toward a stronger future.

As time passes, many tragic incidents of history dissolve from the spotlight. With revival on the horizon, Ukraine hopes for a triumph at Chernobyl.

Ella Nguyen

Ella is an undergraduate student at Vassar College pursuing a degree in Hispanic Studies. She wants to assist in the field of immigration law and hopes to utilize Spanish in her future projects. In her free time she enjoys cooking, writing poetry, and learning about cosmetics.

COVID-19 Slows Africa’s Progress Against Poaching

Poaching is a last resort for villagers who lost their jobs due to COVID-19 lockdowns. Conservationists now struggle to preserve endangered species. 

A valuable commodity. valentinastorti. CC BY-NC 2.0.

They march through the field with chainsaws, the rhinos sedated. What follows is no gruesome act of poaching. It’s the exact opposite. Workers at the Spioenkop Nature Reserve in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province rev their chainsaws and go to work sawing off the rhino horns. “It has a face mask put on it to cover its vision, it has earplugs put into its ears [...] so that reduces trauma to the animal,” says Mark Gerrard of Wildlife ACT, a nonprofit that protects African wildlife. “We’ve got to remind ourselves that this [a rhino’s horn] is just keratin—this is really just fingernails.” 

These rhinos’ horns will grow back in 18 to 24 months, but in the meantime, poachers won’t hunt them for the priceless commodity. Armed with only chainsaws and sedatives, the conservationists at the reserve are combating Africa’s interminable poaching problem. If a rhino has no horns, poachers have no reason to kill it. This fact doesn’t make the job any easier. “It is a traumatic experience for us,” Gerrard says, “not for the rhino.”

Spioenkop Nature Reserve has fared unusually well in its fight against poaching. Out of 15,600 rhinos in South Africa, 1,175 were killed by poachers in 2014. In 2015, the country began dehorning rhinos to considerable success. By 2019, the number of dead rhinos had fallen to 594. By 2020, it was 394. Nevertheless, Gerrard defines a truly successful dehorning effort as “zero animals poached.”

Two big cats, two big trophies. DappleRose. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

It will be a hard goal to reach. After COVID-19 effectively shut down international travel, tourism revenue in Africa plummeted, leaving conservationists cash-strapped in their anti-poaching campaigns. Spioenkop Nature Reserve has struggled to patrol its vast territory, but the issue goes beyond just South Africa. Wildlife tourism generates $29 billion each year and employs 3.6 million workers across Africa. The lack of sufficient funds for anti-poaching efforts is a continent-wide problem.

In Zambia’s Kafue National Park, poaching takes place at the edges of the park, where patrols have been cut back. In 2020, the park reported a 170% increase in snares, which snag wild cats. That same year, two lions were killed while none had been slain the year before. More disconcerting, patrollers increasingly find poached animals gored for “buck meat.” Poor local villagers, desperate from COVID-19 lockdowns, have joined poachers in the hunt to earn a living and put food on the table.

By and large, however, poaching is the work of international crime syndicates working in the black market. Some conservationists advocate legalizing the sale of poached items such as rhino horns and ivory to lower the market value, reducing profits for poachers. In Kenya, courts have buffed up their prosecution efforts, leading to a precipitous drop in poaching. Dedicated legal teams actively pursue convictions for poaching, and those caught red-handed face long prison sentences and fines of up to $200,000. Still, the black market provides lucrative opportunities for locals willing to break the law in hopes of amassing a fortune. A 35-pound black rhino horn can be worth up to $2 million. For poor Africans, the opportunity is often irresistible. 

Confiscated rhino horns. USFWS Headquarters. CC BY 2.0.

At Mpala, a research center in central Kenya, patrols have adopted a digital approach to combat rampant poaching. They use the SMART app (spatial monitoring and reporting tool) to track every animal a patrol encounters—alive or dead. It also allows them to track people seen infiltrating the parks. Conservationists are attempting to make up in brainpower what they lack in manpower; less tourism revenue led to slashed budgets, which meant fewer patrols. However, park managers agree that addressing the root cause of poaching, poverty, is the best solution to the problem. In this regard, nobody seems to have an answer.

So the traumatic work of sawing off rhino horns in Spioenkop continues. “We cannot let our guard down,” says Elise Serfontein of the organization Stop Rhino Poaching. “The kingpins and illicit markets are still out there, and even losing one rhino a day means that they are chipping away at what’s left of our national herd.” With one rhino’s horn sheared to a nub, the team moves on to the next. The rhino sleeps in the field as they approach. One member revs the chainsaw and begins cutting. White flakes flutter through the air like dust. 

Michael McCarthy

Michael is an undergraduate student at Haverford College, dodging the pandemic by taking a gap year. He writes in a variety of genres, and his time in high school debate renders political writing an inevitable fascination. Writing at Catalyst and the Bi-Co News, a student-run newspaper, provides an outlet for this passion. In the future, he intends to keep writing in mediums both informative and creative.

LGBTQ+ Intolerance in Ghana Reaches Boiling Point 

Tensions within the West African country have risen following the recent restriction of LGBTQ+ rights, resurfacing the decades long discussion regarding the criminalization of same-sex conduct.   

Pride flag waving in the sky. Tim Bieler. Unsplash. 

The newly established office of nonprofit organization LGBT+ Rights Ghana was raided and searched by police last month, endangering one of the only safe spaces for LGBTQ+ people in the country. This raid came mere days after Ghanaian journalist Ignatius Annor came out as gay on live television, and many have speculated that the raid was in retaliation of that moment. 

Given Ghana’s criminalization of same-sex conduct, it is not a stretch to say that homophobia runs rampant and unchecked, especially when considering the widespread opposition from both government officials and religious figures regarding the construction of the center for LGBT+ Rights Ghana.   

The building has been under scrutiny since it first opened back in January. Only three weeks after opening its doors to the public, the organization had to temporarily close in order to protect its staff and visitors from angry protesters. The director of the organization, Alex Kofi Donkor, explained how the community “expected some homophobic organizations would use the opportunity to exploit the situation and stoke tensions against the community, but the anti-gay hateful reaction has been unprecedented.”   

This unprovoked suppression of basic freedoms indicates that LGBTQ+ intolerance in Ghana has reached a boiling point and is about to bubble over. 

Aerial shot of Accra, Ghana. Virgyl Sowah. Unsplash. 

News of the situation reached a handful of high-profile celebrities such as Idris Elba and Naomi Campbell, who joined 64 other public figures in publishing an open letter of solidarity with the Ghanaian LGBTQ+ community using #GhanaSupportsEquality. While prejudice has only recently garnered public attention due to the letter, blatant and widespread homophobia in Ghana has run rampant for years. 

According to a study conducted by the Human Rights Watch in 2017, hate crimes and assault due to one's sexual identity are regular occurrences in Ghana. Dozens of people have been attacked by mobs and even family members out of mere speculation that they were gay. Furthermore, the study found that for women, much of this aggressive homophobia was happening behind closed doors through the pressures of coerced marriage. 

Consider 24-year-old Khadija, who identifies as lesbian and will soon begin pursuing relationships with men due to the societal pressure for women to marry. Or 21-year-old Aisha, who was exiled by her family and sent to a “deliverance” church camp after she was outed as lesbian. 

Marriage pressures and intolerances are certainly prevalent in other countries as well, even in those often deemed progressive. The big difference is that in many countries, homophobic beliefs are slowly becoming less and less common. In Ghana, it seems as though these sentiments are normalized and held by the majority of people. 

The precedent for discrimination based on sexual orientation was set as early as 2011, when former Western Region minister Paul Evans Aidoo called for the immediate arrest of LGBTQ+ people in the area. The stigma that actions like this produced in Ghana have only been amplified over time when coupled with religious and cultural tensions. 

A rainbow forms above a home in Kumasi, Ghana. Ritchie. Unsplash. 

Many victims of hate crimes or abuse in Ghana reported that because of the codified homophobia in the country, they are unable to report their experiences to local authorities without putting themselves in danger. As a result, LGBTQ+ Ghanaians find themselves stuck in a perpetual cycle of making slight progress just for higher authorities to snatch it away. 

There have been countless opportunities for legalized discrimination to be addressed, and ever since current Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo assumed office in 2017, he has been under immense pressure to announce his official position on homosexuality. Four years later, he has still not done so.

Instead of embracing the shift toward more inclusive policies supported by LGBT+ Rights Ghana, the Ghanaian government appears to be succumbing to public pressures in an attempt to keep peace. What it fails to realize is that sweeping inequalities under the carpet doesn’t make them go away. It actually does quite the opposite. It heightens inequalities until they become absolutely impossible to avoid. Celebrity involvement in dismantling Ghana’s current system has caused quite the public reaction. It may end up being the spark that causes the Ghanaian government to reconsider its policies and begin to offer LGBTQ+ people the respect and protection they deserve. 

Zara Irshad

Zara is a third year Communication student at the University of California, San Diego. Her passion for journalism comes from her love of storytelling and desire to learn about others. In addition to writing at CATALYST, she is an Opinion Writer for the UCSD Guardian, which allows her to incorporate various perspectives into her work.

In 2020, Femicide Rates Rose Around the Globe

Last year, the U.N. reported a significant increase in domestic violence against women and girls worldwide. Rates of femicide, the murder of women because they are women, have increased greatly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 Last year, countries around the world saw protests decrying the increase of violence against women. A number of these protests were sparked by femicides that made headlines, like the murders of Vanessa Guillen in the United States, Pinar Gultekin in Turkey and Tshegofatso Pule in South Africa. Guillen, an Army private, is believed to have been killed by another service member who likely also sexually assaulted her, and Gultekin and Pule both died at the hands of a current or former boyfriend. These women were only three of a reported 50,000 women who die as a result of domestic violence each year. 

In 2020, that number increased further. The U.N. reported that reports of domestic violence as a whole dramatically increased, with 243 million women around the world being subjected to sexual and/or physical violence within the year. That figure only includes women and girls aged 15 to 49, so the real total worldwide is even higher, since women outside that age range experience violence as well. 64-year-old Justina Galo Urtecho, who was raped and strangled to death in her home in Costa Rica, stands as a prominent example. The rise in violence against women, especially domestic violence, is directly related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Concerns over security, health and money, as well as the series of lockdowns in many countries, have all contributed to an increase in cases of domestic violence. Due to the pandemic, women and girls worldwide found themselves stuck at home in abusive situations. 

Since France’s March 17, 2020, lockdown, cases of domestic violence have increased 30%. Emergency calls to domestic violence helplines in Argentina, Cyprus and Singapore increased 25%, 30% and 33%, respectively, after the countries instituted lockdowns. 

Many women who were victims of domestic violence ended up dead. During the first two months of its lockdown, Brazil saw a 22% increase in femicides from the same time last year. In Mexico, at least 987 women and girls were murdered in the first four months of 2020 alone. 

At the same time that the pandemic led to an increase in violence against women, it also compromised the care that women facing domestic violence had access to. With health care providers and governments overwhelmed by COVID-19 cases, the U.N. report suggests that support for women who experienced violence slipped through the cracks. 

The United Nations has dubbed the increase of domestic violence and femicide that followed the COVID-19 pandemic “the Shadow Pandemic,” and urges that national responses to COVID-19 include services to address violence against women and girls. The U.N. Shadow Pandemic Campaign recommends that countries follow five steps to combat the increase of violence against women: 

  1. Allocate resources in COVID-19 response plans to addressing violence against women.

  2. Strengthen support services for women who experience violence by treating them as essential services.

  3. Increase the capacity of key support services.

  4. Put women at the center of policy reform. 

  5. Collect data on the phenomenon to inform governments’ responses.

Violence against women is an ongoing issue around the world. It did not start when the pandemic did; it simply increased. Similarly, violence against women will not end when the pandemic does. Reports suggest that the most effective way to prevent femicide is to end intimate partner violence, which necessitates addressing global gender inequality and power imbalances as a whole. 

To Get Involved: 

A list of ways to take action with the U.N.’s Shadow Pandemic Campaign can be found here. 

Rachel Lynch

Rachel is a student at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY currently taking a semester off. She plans to study Writing and Child Development. Rachel loves to travel and is inspired by the places she’s been and everywhere she wants to go. She hopes to educate people on social justice issues and the history and culture of travel destinations through her writing.