Type
Topic
Country
Letter to my younger self
Hey little me, I wish you had written down a couple of questions for me to answer today. It is hard to think what you would have wanted me to talk about specifically, since I am you and not, at the same time. My last resource is guessing. I am not sure if you ever desired advice from an older self in order to take decisions. So even though you did not wish for them, here is a couple of bits of advice: To the one I was 15 years ago, math is hard but learning is great. Do not feel like you need to follow what everybody else does in order to feel part of the bunch. Keep being loud and kind; you...
The dark spots of Tirana
Walking down the streets of Tirana,Albania, you happen to see a lot of things. Giant buildings, most of them inhabited, some of them left undone at the very last moment. You see people running up and town, some going to work, and some searching for one. There are cars honking at every red light, being parked at the side of the road, occupying that very little public space, and therefore making driving in the streets of Tirana, an extreme sport. If you keep walking a little bit more you will see cafes, a lot of them. Probably one of the most beneficial businesses. You will see people inside...
Migrants: exposed and vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic
No Country for Online advocacy
In the spawn of three months, grandparents learned how to use Zoom, professors that had been teaching since the last millennium had to learn forcefully about live-streaming and virtual conferences, and humanity realized that many daily activities can be done online. Technology had been swallowing slowly our daily routines during the last decade; however, it took an accelerated and imposed growth due to this pandemic This change to online-based society seems easy and even unavoidable in the so-called High-Income countries. But Low-Middle Income countries got stuck in a slow development, where...
A safer world for women
I once read an article, where they asked a few ladies what they would do if men were to disappear from the world for 24 hours. "I'd sleep with my windows open", "I'd walk home from work at night", "I'd have walks in the park after it gets dark in the summer"...were among the answers ,and if we look carefully at these answers, we notice all of them are things a female should be able to do what is her natural right regardless of the presence of men. It is almost impossible to walk past somewhere and not be catcalled by someone who finds it funny, who finds it totally normal to harass women in...
Child vaccination and the challenge of consulting
Now that the COVID-19 vaccination has advanced greatly in many countries, levels of absenteeism are rising in the places where the doses are being put. The anti-vaccination movement has had a significant impact on this matter, alongside the help of fake news and disinformation. Misleading communities is a serious issue, but it becomes even bigger when those people are parents. At this level, it not only affects them, but also their children’s health. Thus, this problem escalates from an individual sphere to a family spectrum. And just like in other medical instances, the youth is not given a...
Let's go back to school
The COVID-19 pandemic changed everyone’s lives abruptly. Lockdowns were enforced, businesses were closed, and schools had to shut down and transfer their classrooms to a virtual sphere. Homes suddenly became workplaces, both for adults and children. But for many, it was not easy. Numerous siblings sharing the only phone or computer available, sometimes even borrowed from a family member or neighbor. Some kids climbing up trees to get data reception; meanwhile others were spending the entire day at a park or shopping mall to use the free Wi-Fi. Adults tend to have many different activities...
Our Chance
The Tree
You(th) are the future.
Today, I wanted to write about us, youth. Young people are the greatest agents of change in a society. To be young is definitely one of the most beautiful times in a person's life. You are full of energy, dreams and have so many aspirations. But there are many challenges too. We live in a busy world, many things have changed, including views and expectations. Some adults think that today's youth are a generation addicted to technology, that do not want to work and only focus on having fun. These stereotypes seem to be deeply rooted in some cultures, appearing to us time after time. And the...