Foreign
Aid, Refugees
“The United States will contribute nearly $32 million in
humanitarian aid to help Rohingya Muslim refugees, the State Department said
Wednesday, in the Trump administration’s first major response to the mass
exodus from Myanmar.
The new money for food, medical care, water, sanitation
and shelter comes as the U.S. joins a growing chorus of international
condemnation over the minority group’s plight. In less than a month, some
421,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh, one of the world’s poorest countries,
as the United Nations and others raise allegations of ethnic cleansing.
The U.S. said the new money makes up roughly one-fourth
of what global aid groups say they need to address the humanitarian crisis,
with the expectation that the rest of the world will make up the remaining
three-quarters. Over time, the overall cost will probably run into many
hundreds of millions, said Eric Schwartz, the president of Refugees
International.
“I’ve been doing this work for 30 years,” Schwartz said
by phone as he flew back from Bangladesh. “This is as bad as anything I’ve ever
seen in terms of the human mystery that the Burmese military has created.””
Inspiration, Science, Kindness
(Read or Listen)
“Sophia Spencer, 8, loves bugs —
especially grasshoppers. She's an expert on insects, and likes to give her
littlest friends an occasional ride on her shoulder.
That used to earn her mockery
from her peers. But now it's earned her a massive outpouring of support — and a
byline in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America.
Everything changed after Sophia's mom,
Nicole Spencer, reached out to scientists for support last year.
She wrote to the Entomological Society of
Canada and explained the dilemma. Her daughter wanted to know if she could
learn more about bugs as a job, but her mom wasn't sure how to encourage her.
And she wanted to reassure her that her entomological enthusiasm wasn't weird.
Mission accomplished. The organization tweeted out the appeal, with the hashtag #BugsR4Girls, and
hundreds of people responded with encouragement. Scores of working
entomologists reached out to share their stories. And Sophia joined forces with
Morgan Jackson, the entomology Ph.D. candidate who wrote that tweet, to write a paper about the role Twitter can serve in promoting women in
science.”
Women, Military
From March 2017:
“The US military is the largest
employer in the world, but only about 15% of its nearly 1.3 million active-duty
workforce are women.
In the Marine Corps, it’s only about 7%.
The small numbers are a very big
problem.
The latest US military scandal is
shocking in its both scale and the level of malice: Hundreds of current and
former Marines posted
and commented on nude and sexually suggestive photos of female colleagues in a
30,000-member, private Facebook group.
Online harassment, not limited
to the Marine Corps, is only one of the problems the US military struggles with
to make the armed forces a suitable workplace for women. And while there are a number
of critical
steps to take toward true integration, the military needs, first and
foremost, more women.
The military is slowly moving to
draw them into more combat jobs. The Army also wants to increase the number of female
recruiters by 1% per year. Neller’s initiative to recruit more women
focuses on high-school athletes. His stated goal is modest—increasing female
ranks to 10%. Even that is proving difficult. It’s been twice as hard
to find women recruits.”
Disaster Relief, Mexico
“A devastating
7.1-magnitude earthquake struck near Mexico City on Tuesday, killing at least
139 people.
With power and
phone lines down, people are having trouble getting in touch with loved
ones. To make matters more stressful, the country was already recovering from
an earthquake that hit less than two weeks ago.
Instead of feeling hopeless in the
face of the destruction, here's how you can help earthquake victims.
Donate
what you can
Organizations like UNICEF Mexico are looking for monetary donations.
There's a big need for clothes,
water, and food. Giving to places like the Red Cross Mexico, Oxfam Mexico, and Save the Children
Mexico is a way to get resources
flowing. Smaller nonprofits like Project Paz are also collecting donations for earthquake relief.
A rescue brigade, Topos Mexico, was
huge part of efforts back in 1985 and is hard at work with the latest
earthquakes and taking donations.”
Read the entire article to find more ways to help.
Cancer,
Coping
“Sometime,
during my cancer trial, I began to believe the lies cancer told me. Lies like,
“You’re not good enough. You’re no longer a real woman. Your life is over.”
Those words wormed their way into my heart and mind, taking up residence there.
They would surface whenever I let my guard down. At first, I didn’t recognize
the damage they were doing. I found myself saying, “I can’t” more often. I used
my health issues as an excuse to get out of doing things I would normally do.
But as I found myself speaking negatively more often, I realized something had
to change. I needed to learn to discern fact from fiction.
By encouraging myself with positive self-talk, I found, like the little engine
that could, that tasks were easier to complete. At first, I felt silly being my
own cheerleader, but even when I didn’t speak the words aloud, my thoughts
gradually shifted from negative to positive ones. If I needed to accomplish a
task for which I didn’t have the strength or energy, I’d tell myself I’d try.
Sometimes I’d attempt a task multiple times before it was complete, but if I
persisted, I usually succeeded. Whenever I managed to get the job done, I’d
compliment myself by saying something like, “See, you did it!” or “Slow and
steady wins the race.” I was happier because even though my physical
limitations were real, the power of positive thinking helped me a great deal.”
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