by Jessica Moody | 10 May 2023 | Africa, Decoders, Educators' Catalog, Human Rights
Sudan is surrounded by unstable nations. A humanitarian crisis could result in refugees flooding into countries ill-equipped to handle the crisis. 150 evacuees from Sudan on a relief flight returning to Qatar, 5 May 2023. (AP Photo/Lujain Jo) This article was...
Conflict in Sudan is causing a humanitarian crisis. Correspondent Jessica Moody decodes what’s going on in Africa’s third largest country with a look at the past, present and future implications of the conflict. Could what’s happening in Sudan expand throughout the region?
Exercise: In an exercise to grow students’ synthesis skills, have them read the article, then come up with their own headline for the text. Their headline should synthesize the most important takeaways from the article. As a follow-up, ask students to consider how this headline has changed as a result of reading the article. How does students’ view of the Sudanese conflict differ from what they would have said yesterday? (Exercise adapted from Ron Ritchhart’s Making Thinking Visible).
by Kamuskay Kamara | 28 Mar 2023 | Africa, African Leadership Academy, Youth Voices
Overdevelopment has caused so much destruction. It is time to replant the trees we have cut down and be better stewards of our land. Volunteers search for bodies after heavy flooding and mudslides just outside of Freetown, Sierra Leone, 15 August 2017. (AP...
by Maame Afua Kome-Mensah | 8 Dec 2022 | Africa, Contest winners, Personal Reflections, SOS-HGIC, Student Posts, Youth Voices
I often wondered what it meant to be a ‘winner.’ Now I know a winner sees a problem and, with teamwork, finds solutions. The author receiving an award for placing 5th in Orator of the Year competition at her school. This article, by high school student...
by Varlee S Fofana | 10 Nov 2020 | Africa, African Leadership Academy, Contest winners, Educators' Catalog, Personal Reflections, Student Posts, Youth Voices
My family fled civil war in Liberia to a refugee camp in Guinea in West Africa. I learned the power of resilience and the value of diversity. The author, in white next to the woman on the right, at the Kouankan refugee camp in Guinea This story won first prize in News...
News Decoder’s goal is to create a global community, and Varlee Fofana has added his unique voice to the conversation with an essay about growing up in a refugee camp in Guinea. Not many News Decoder students have had to flee civil war as Fofana did, yet many play football, as the author did to connect with other refugee children. Gathering wood, plowing farmland or selling kerosene might not be common chores for most News Decoder students, but they, too, face challenges. Ask your class to read Fofana’s story and then, in up to 600 words, describe a personal experience that shaped their life and character. Encourage them to follow Fofana’s example by using simple words and an unassuming tone to draw readers into their world.
by James Langan | 7 May 2019 | Africa, Economy, History, Student Posts, Thacher School, Youth Voices
I recently returned to Kenya to see China’s hand in Africa’s economic development. But does China have the continent’s best interests at heart? A brand-new Chinese-backed cargo train heads from Mombasa to Nairobi, Kenya, 30 May 2017 (AP Photo/Khalil...
