On November 14, CNN released a video of their investigation into Libya’s slave markets. For years, there have been reports and rumours about migrants and refugees being kidnapped and sold along the infamous smuggling route through the desert, and in recent months, aid workers and rights groups have tried to get the attention of authorities […]
Welcome to Gorée Island, a 50 hectare (half sq. km) paradise just off the Senegalese coast in West Africa. Today it’s a tropical paradise frequented by international tourists and local students from Dakar, Senegal’s capital, but historically this place bears the grotesque scars of slavery. For over three hundred years, Gorée was a key slave-trading centre on the […]
While politics in the U.S. is becoming more polarized by the day, a new law with bipartisan support was recently passed by Congress. The law bars imported goods that have been made by convict, forced, or indentured labour from entering U.S. In essence, slave-made goods – like carpets made by child labourers in India or fish caught […]
This is one of the most powerful TED Talks I’ve ever heard. Gary Haugen, the founder of International Justice Mission, speaks about how the poor are trapped in systems of violence which makes it almost impossible for them to leave poverty. “It turns out that you can give all manner of goods and services to the […]
Here’s an excellent episode of Crash Course, on the history of slavery. I once met a woman in the South who tried to convince me that slavery wasn’t that bad, jarring me into the realization that the spirit of exploitation, rooted in entitlement, has not disappeared. When it comes to our responsibility to end injustice, I think Frederick […]
According to the Walmart Rug Buying Guide, here are some tips for when you make your rug purchase: Decide where to put the rug Select a rug that fits your lifestyle Match the rug to your decor Follow basic design principles Use a rug pad Take proper care of your rug While these tips are helpful for […]
I recently came across this Tedx talk by Lisa Kristine, an international photographer with a humanitarian focus. Well worth a watch.
I recently read Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, a novel about slavery in the U.S. It was first published in 1852, and within the first year sold 300,000 copies in the U.S. and over a million copies in Britain. This made it the best-selling novel of the 19th century. The book helped Americans see […]
I am reading a really good book. It’s called Man’s Search for Meaning, written by holocaust survivor Victor Frankl. Whenever I’ve studied the holocaust or the trans-Atlantic slave trade, I’ve assumed that being freed from such horrific bondage would be the best feeling in the world. And momentarily, it probably is. But as Frankl points out […]
Two weeks ago in Ontario, the air was heavy with humidity and the temperatures were off the charts. My husband and I live in an airstream trailer – AKA hot metal oven on hot days – and our little air conditioner was working overtime…until a thunderstorm knocked out power and the heat had its way. […]
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