She could have chosen to protect herself and her possessions, but Islande instead chose to help those who didn’t know where to turn. As the floodwaters sent inhabitants scrambling to higher ground, Islande called out from her rooftop to men, women and children in her area trapped by the rising water, and guided them to a ladder so they could climb to the safety of her roof. Islande saved at least 50 people from the raging water and mudflows which hit the city.

Islande is indeed a brave young woman. Before this year’s storms ravaged Haiti, this same courage that led her to join the Mouvement Paysan Kongrès Papaye, a group which assists disadvantaged farmers, particularly women. Islande wanted to escape beatings by her husband and the oppression she felt within her marriage. And so Islande turned to Mouvement Papaye to learn skills that she could use to earn her own living like sewing, recycling for cash, and making fruit jams, peanut butter and shredded coconut.

Click here to read the full story.

Women on the Front Line: Mauritania (Part 1 of 2)
Women on the Front Line: Mauritania (Part 2 of 2)

Source: UNFPA

Women on the Front Line: Morocco (Part 1 of 2)
Women on the Front Line: Morocco (Part 2 of 2)

Source: UNFPA

This year, a group of Parsons faculty and students returned to San Lucas Toliman to work side-by-side with Ajkem’a Loy’a for four weeks. Through a series of workshops, the women of Ajkem’a Loy’a developed their business and organizational skills and experimented with new tools and technologies. They also experimented with non-traditional patterns and the first-time use of sewing machines. And  learned about navigating the complexities and rewards of fair trade. They even found new friends and business partners along the way!

Together, The New School, CARE and Ajkem’a Loy’a have begun to push the limits of traditional design to bridge the gap between products, cultures and lives.

• Read stories from the Parsons The New School for Design trip to Guatemala
• Visit a blog on the students’ experiences and ongoing work with Ajkem’a Loy’a

Women on the Front Line: DRC Democratic Republic of Congo (Part 1 of 2)
Women on the Front Line: DRC Democratic Republic of Congo (Part 2 of 2)

Source: UNFPA

In the fifteen years since the Ifetayo Youth Ensemble was established, the organization has gone on to create additional programs designed to further support the creative, educational, and vocational development of African American and Caribbean youth. The Ifetayo Cultural Arts Facility currently serves 500 students annually through seven major programs. In 2001, it was a Union Square Awards recipient, recognized for its nurturing approach to youth development and community building. More recently, Ifetayo received a $100,000 grant from the Charles Hayden Foundation to support its Rites of Passage programs.

Programs:

Sisters in Sisterhood Rites of Passage (SIS): geared to girls 8 to 21, this two-year Rites of Passage program offers practical instruction on health and sexuality, builds awareness of cultural heritage, and makes connections with local and international communities of women.

I Am My Brother (IAMB): The Rites of Passage program for boys and young men 8 to 21 relies on positive role models and mentors and provides students with the counter perspective in which black men are leaders, providers, scholars, and contributors to a global community.

Cultural Arts Program (CAP): open to all, this comprehensive and sequential arts instruction program offers after-school and Saturday classes in dance, music, drama, and visual arts.

Ifetayo Youth Ensemble (IYE): open by audition only, this pre-professional training and performing program is designed for people 11 to 24 years of age. The group performs at local community schools, theaters, churches, special events, at Ifetayo concerts, and other Brooklyn venues. Members receive full artistic scholarships for training and rehearsals.

Marcus Garvey Cultural Heritage Program (MGCHP): This program offers workshops and lectures on the cultures of Africa and the cultures of African descendents globally to young people and families annually. The program runs year-round and includes a Saturday program as well as special workshops, a language institute, and summer cultural tours.

Arts in Education (AIE): This program provides instruction in the arts to elementary schools students in the Flatbush and Crown Heights sections of Brooklyn in collaboration with community school boards and the New York City Department of Education.

More info about the Ifetayo Cultural Arts Facility can be found at www.ifetayo.org.

What do you say makes someone an activist?
I’d say it’s anyone who is doing things to hopefully leave this earth better than they found it. Sometimes we think only people who are a part of organizations, go to demonstrations or are Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson types can be activists. But I think the woman who hides another woman in her home from an abusive spouse is an activist. The person who takes clothes to the kids next door who don’t have anything new is an activist.

What is the one overarching message young activists have for the world?
I don’t think there’s one overall message. I fight with a lot of activists about our differing messages and I think that is part of what it means to be an activist - to not only be willing to stand against the obvious injustices, but be willing to challenge the people who are close to you when you think they are not on point. But at the same time, you have to be willing to be challenged and not get caught up in having to be right.

What responsibility, if any, do older activists take on when it comes to younger activists?
I think older activists (and I am moving toward that category now) have a responsibility to be mentors. That means passing on history and being there to support younger activists you feel comfortable with or with whom you share a political vision. But I also believe in mentoring young people who are not activists and have no desire to be. Not everyone will be an activist. I think its important not to live in a bubble and be involved in the lives of a range of people.

With the pervasiveness of social networks like MySpace and Facebook, what is now possible for young rebels who utilize these technologies?
I think, in some respects, they have helped a lot of people connect with other folks on a personal tip–we live such isolated lives, not only as activists but as people in the US. The social networking sites and blogs have really changed the face of what activism and organizing looks like. But at the same time, it is important to remember, the internet is also very much a tool of surveillance, and you had better operate under the assumption that if you are doing political activism online, it is being watched.

If you had one message that could reach all of humanity, what would it be?
I think we live with such intense levels of violence and dehumanize each other in the most banal and the most grotesque ways on a daily basis. I don’t know that I have one message, but I would like for us to think about all of the varying ways we dehumanize one another.

Who is the young activist (10-31) to watch in 2008?
Hmm… Good question. I don’t know that there is one person to watch. I would say to anyone reading this, YOU be the one to watch next year!

In March 2004, when award-winning photographer Lana Šlezić began an assignment in Afghanistan, she never dreamed she would stay for two years. At the time she believed that since the ousting of the suffocating Taliban in 2001, Afghan women and girls were living under considerably less oppressive conditions. She soon discovered that life for Afghan women was not as she expected and felt compelled to stay and document their story. With the help of a young female Afghan as her friend and translator, Šlezić photographed women all over the country. Over endless cups of tea in sitting rooms from city to village, Šlezić learned that Afghan women are still living in a harrowingly oppressive society where forced marriage, domestic violence, honor killings, and an unpalatable lack of freedom still exist. Even today many are not allowed to leave their homes or go to school, and the burka remains a common sight on the dusty streets of the war-torn country. Forsaken is a collection of photographs and vignettes that document Šlezić’s journey over the two-year period during which she lived and worked in Afghanistan.

Lana Šlezić was born in Toronto, Canada in 1973 to Croatian parents. Šlezić has exhibited her work at the War Photo Gallery in Croatia, the Toronto International Art Fair, and the Kargart Gallery for the Istanbul Ifsak Biennial. The recipient of various photography awards, including the International Summit Creative Award, the Gold National Magazine Award of Canada, the Society for News Design Award, and the Luis Valtuena Award for Humanitarian Photography, Šlezić has contributed to The Guardian, The New York Times, British Journal of Photography, British Vogue, The Independent, Canadian Geographic Magazine, to name just a few. Forsaken is Šlezić’s first book.

Look inside Forsaken: Afghan Women | Order from powerHouse books

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