A child shouldn’t have to sacrifice her body, safety and boundaries for tuition By James E. Copple Kariobangi North Girls Secondary School is an oasis in the midst of one of Nairobi’s worst slums, but the cost of an education, hope and a future can be criminal. We spent the morning at the Kariobangi North, and the […]

From the clandestine violence of child-trafficking, hers is a voice of anguish, hope By James E. Copple In the small town of Lafilya, Abebech and her family struggled to survive the worst drought in memory. Theirs is an impoverished community of nearly a thousand people in southern Ethiopia, where social advancement is impossible, and a […]

By James E. Copple   Where are the men? Gender-violence and human-trafficking are issues caused mostly by men but challenged mostly by women. There is a conspicuous silence and lack of interest on the part of Muslim men, government leaders (mostly men) and by men in general. Recent attention to the kidnapping of 276 Nigerian […]

Voices from the Night: The Power and Promise of Community Change is now out there for everybody to see and read. It is a “story book.” I am a story teller! I have had the opportunity to be a witness to so many events in so many environments. Whether it is the preacher in me, the teacher in me, or the advocate in me, or all of the above, I cannot tell a story without applying a lesson.

In a DC neighborhood, I talked with a family facing homelessness because their benefits and assets had just run out. More recently, I visited a Tribal Community in Oklahoma, and a slum community in Nairobi, Kenya.

The country became a part of my life when Kenya exploded into the headlines in 2007-2008…The post-election violence led to the death of 1,300 people…and a major disruption in the economic, social, and political conditions of the country.

I spent most of the year in the developing world with particular reminders of Ethiopia, Swaziland, and Kenya.  I observed for the first time a Church working underground in a hostile political and religious environment.  I was both amazed and startled by the harshness of religious bigotry and the courage of people who have made commitments to […]

This is not my story but the story of a case worker for CARE International.  It begins in Somalia and its ending is yet to be written.  I found the story in the harsh and desperate world of a refugee camp in Kenya, just 30 miles from the border with Somalia, an area controlled by Al Shabaab, the […]

This post/column/blog contains graphic details and information about cultural rites that mutilate and victimize women. If you are faint of heart – please do not engage. To state the obvious, we live in a male dominated culture and world. Various cultures and societies have made progress in their treatment of women. As they earn seats […]