With 80 million hectares of arable land and over 1,100 precious metals and minerals, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has quickly established itself as a large exporter in the lucrative diamond industry. Despite this, the DRC ranks 176th out of 189 nations on the UN’s Human Development Index and over 60 percent of the 77 million DRC residents live on less than $2 a day. Internal and external war, coupled with political inefficacy and economic exploitation, has hindered the country’s ability to combat poverty and improve health outcomes. Listed below are some of the most deadly diseases that are currently affecting individuals in the DRC and the different strategies that governments and NGOs have taken to fight disease in the DRC.
3 Deadly Diseases Currently Affecting Individuals in the DRC
- Malaria
The DRC has the second-highest number of malaria cases in the world, reporting 15.3 million of the WHO-estimated 219 million malaria cases in 2017. Of the more than 400 Congolese children that die every day, almost half of them die due to malaria, with 19 percent of fatalities under 5 years attributed to the disease. However, some are making to reduce malaria’s negative impact. For example, the distribution of nearly 40 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets, or ITNs, has helped lower the incidence rate by 40 percent since 2010, with a 34 percent decrease in the mortality rate for children under 5. The DRC government procured and distributed the nets with international partners such as the Department for International Development, Global Fund and World Bank. In addition, the President’s Malaria Initiative, a program implemented in 2005 by President Bush and carried out by USAID, has distributed more than 17 million nets. UNICEF has also been a major contributor in the efforts to fight malaria and recently distributed 3 million ITNs in the DRC’s Kasaï Province. However, the country requires more work, as malaria remains its most frequent cause of death.
- HIV/AIDS
Among its efforts to fight disease in the DRC, the country has made significant progress recently in its fight against HIV/AIDS. As a cause of death, it has decreased significantly since 2007, and since 2010, there are 39 percent fewer total HIV infections.
This particular case illuminates the potential positive impact of American foreign aid. The DRC Ministry of Health started a partnership with the CDC in 2002, combining efforts to fight HIV/AIDS. PEPFAR, signed into U.S. law in 2003 to combat AIDS worldwide, has invested over $512 million since 2004, which has helped to fund antiretroviral treatment for 159,776 people. In 2017, it funded the provision of HIV testing services for 1.2 million people.
The country is also addressing mother-to-child transmissions. In the DRC, approximately 15 to 20 percent of mothers with HIV pass the virus onto their child. The strategy to end mother-to-child transmissions involves expanding coverage for HIV-positive pregnant women, diagnosing infants with HIV earlier and preventing new infections via antiretroviral drug treatment. UNAID, The Global Fund and the DRC Ministry of Health have undertaken significant work to accomplish these objectives and their efforts have resulted in the coverage of 70 percent of HIV-positive pregnant women. However, much work remains to cover the remaining 30 percent of pregnant HIV-positive women.
Overall, there is still a lot of necessary work to undergo in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the DRC and around the world. In total, UNAIDS estimated that HIV/AIDS was the cause of 17,000 deaths in the DRC in 2018. While this is a decrease from previous years, it shows that the DRC still has a long way to go in order to fully control the spread of the disease. Additionally, there must be more global funding. The U.N. announced on July 2019 that annual global funding for fighting HIV/AIDS decreased in 2018 by almost $1 billion.
- Ebola
Since 2018, the DRC has undergone one of the world’s largest Ebola outbreaks. On July 17, 2019, WHO declared the outbreak an international health emergency. Since August 2018, more than 2,500 cases have occurred, with over 1,800 deaths.
However, the country is making efforts to prevent the transmission and spread of Ebola in the DRC. Recently, more than 110,000 Congolese received an experimental Ebola vaccine from Merck & Co. The vaccine is called rVSV-ZEBOV, and studies have shown the vaccine to have a 97.5 percent efficacy rate. This vaccine provides hope that people will be able to control Ebola breakouts in the near future.
While there have been attempts to fight disease in the DRC in recent years, such as malaria, HIV/AIDS and Ebola, each disease remains a major issue. In the coming years, the country must continue its efforts.
– Drew Mekhail
Photo: Flickr
Fighting Malnutrition in Mali: A Collaborative Effort
A land-locked country in West Africa, Mali has an economy that is primarily based on agriculture. The main crops produced are millet, rice and corn. However, this country-wide reliance on agriculture depends on the weather, which often includes unpredictable rainfall patterns. Inconsistent agricultural production, high population growth and increasing desertification are some of the causal factors that have resulted in the country’s ranking 182nd out of 189 countries in the world on the Human Development Index. Malnutrition also happens to be one of the leading causes of death in Mali. Because of this, many NGOs and governments around the world have funded programs in Mali to help improve living conditions and decrease malnutrition.
Political Instability
Aside from agricultural issues, political instability has also led to severe malnutrition in Mali. Recently, USAID predicted that an additional 868,000 people will require urgent food assistance in 2019. Of these 868,000, 160,000 will be children. Children who are malnourished are at high risk of growth deficiencies; as such, many children in Mali are severely underdeveloped with regards to their height and weight.
Current and Past Progress
However, some progress has been made. From 2006 to 2013, thinness among women of reproductive age and adolescent women decreased by 2 and 4 percent, respectively. Additionally, the prevalence of underweight children (under the age of 5), decreased from 14 percent to 13 percent. Although this may not seem like a significant statistical improvement, 1 percent of the population of children under 5 years old (3.33 million) represents 33,300 children, indicating that progress has been made towards reducing malnutrition in Mali.
In 2010, then-U.S. President Barack Obama started the Feed the Future initiative, a U.S. funded foreign assistance program that targets specific countries to alleviate global poverty and improve food security. As one of 12 countries selected to receive aid, Mali continues to benefit from the implementation of environmental and nutritional plans. The country has begun to invest in fertilizers in farms across the nation to improve the quality of crop production, and an additional 4.3 million trees have been planted around the country to help make farms more resilient. Additionally, the initiative has encouraged farmers to plant oilseeds, which they can sell for people to use as biofuel and soap. As a result of all of this, the Feed the Future initiative has provided nutritional and humanitarian assistance to millions of individuals in Mali.
Other USAID programs have proven to be of great help in Mali as well, such as the Food for Peace program which has provided $28.5 million of emergency food assistance in the Mopti, Koulikoro and Segou Regions. The program aims to increase the diversity of foods consumed in these regions to decrease malnutrition and make the population healthier.
Today, the Office of Food for Peace (FFP), an organization within USAID, partners with the U.N. World Food Programme, U.N. Children’s Fund and CARE, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending world poverty, to provide food assistance in the poorest regions of Mali. As of July 2019, FFP assists 300,000 people with food distributions, supplemental nutrition assistance and asset-building activities. 33,000 severely malnourished children have received ready-to-use food and 124,000 people in the Mopti Region have been provided with programs to improve food security, promote hygiene and provide conflict support.
– Hayley Jellison
Photo: Flickr
Helping People Fleeing Violence in Central America
Central America is currently facing a growing and uncontrollable issue of violence and corruption. Many innocent civilians, in search of more stable living conditions, have decided to attempt to escape the devastating violence of the region. However, considering the various situations in nations like Venezuela and Colombia worsening, a large number of migrants are journeying toward the safety of the United States. In recent years, violence has run rampant in Central America and, specifically, the Northern Triangle (the region comprised of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras). Drug cartels and gangs have taken over, perpetuating corruption and violence that has crippled the region’s economy and political stability. The situation seems bleak, but here is how to help people fleeing violence in Central America.
Violence in the Northern Triangle
First, it is crucial to understand the violence occurring in the Northern Triangle. Specifically, two well-known gangs are to blame for much of the violence and conflict in the region. MS-13 and Barrio 18 have grown to control most of the crime and extortion rackets in Central America. These criminal organizations heavily involve themselves in drug trafficking as well, increasing the prevalence of violence and death in the region. According to InSight Crime, a foundation that focuses on the analysis of crime and threats to national and citizen security and safety, 47.4 percent of homicides in Guatemala in 2015 related to gangs or organized crime. On top of that, 49 percent of other homicides had unknown motives and perpetrators between 2012 and 2015.
The third country comprising the Northern Triangle, El Salvador, has also fallen victim to this festering cycle of violence and crime. Since 2015, gang violence alone has resulted in the deaths of more than 20,000 people in El Salvador, and to this day, innocent civilians are still trying to flee this volatility and corruption.
How Organizations are Helping
That said, there is still hope for the desperate refugees who have been displaced from the region. Organizations like The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Amnesty International have developed programs by which people can donate money and garner support for the humanitarian crisis in Central America. UNHCR and Amnesty International have done extensive work to analyze migrations from the Northern Triangle, chronicling why and how people are fleeing from the region. The organizations have also called upon various nations and leaders, such as the United States, to provide more aid to this desperate region through financial appeals processes and garnering support from the general public.
How Anyone Can Help
Those looking for how to help people fleeing violence in Central America can do so by emailing and calling their local representatives in Congress in support of the rejection of any proposed cuts to foreign assistance going to the Northern Triangle countries in Central America. It is as easy as sending an email or making a quick phone call, but the impact of these small gestures can have tremendous effects on policymakers, as they all must consider the ideas and sentiments of their constituents.
By reaching out to policymakers and creating more awareness regarding this growing issue, foreign aid will eventually reach the Northern Triangle. Though the proliferation of political instability and gang violence in the region makes for a bleak situation, foreign aid facilitated by active public engagement can have a positive impact on the people fleeing violence in Central America.
– Ethan Marchetti
Photo: Flickr
10 Facts About Life Expectancy in Guyana
Guyana is a country in northeastern South America that Brazil, Venezuela and Suriname border. In 1966, the country gained independence from its English colonizers. Since the liberation of Guyana, the country has found itself in political unrest that has resulted in an inability to thrive economically. As the country has grown and developed as an independent entity since 1966, it has seen a drastic improvement in life expectancy through government initiatives and treatment development. The 10 facts about the current life expectancy in Guyana will display that.
Though Guyana boasts rich gold, sugar, bauxite, shrimp, timber and rice industries – with great potential for expansion – the country still finds itself struggling to come out of poverty and attract foreign industry. However, in May 2019, the Guyanese government paired up with the U.N. Environment to tackle establishing the Green State Development Plan. The plan would work to develop sustainable economic growth in the country while still protecting its vast natural resources. The project would also work to diversify the Guyanese economy and steer them away from their current resource-reliant industry. Guyana would slowly transition into being a low-carbon developer bolstering a diverse economy, draw foreign investment, lower emigration rates and produce an ever-bettering quality of life for its people. Here are the 10 facts about life expectancy in Guyana.
10 Facts About Life Expectancy in Guyana
These 10 facts about life expectancy in Guyana show that although Guyana is still struggling with disease control and various disease’s effects on life expectancy, it is taking great initiatives to work towards improving and solving its current issues.
– Emma Hodge
Photo: Flickr
4 Organizations Improving Mental Health in Nigeria
Despite the mental health crisis that is looming there are several organizations working to improve mental health in Nigeria.
4 Organizations Improving Mental Health in Nigeria
Neem Foundation: This nonprofit, nongovernmental organization is doing important work in Borno State to help those who have suffered trauma as a result of attacks by the Boko Haram islamic militant group. In 2017 alone, the organization provided psychological services to over 7000 people in Borno. In order to reach their target of getting to 16,000 more clients by 2019, the foundation began a Counseling on Wheels program which has counselors use motorcycles or motor tricycles to take counseling services to people’s doorsteps. By doing this, they have managed to raise the number of their client reach 12,000 people so far. Besides providing mental health support to individuals, the Neem Foundation also offers training in counseling, trauma care and child-centered therapy.
Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative (MANI): Launched in June 2016, this Lagos-based nonprofit focuses on creating awareness on mental health and illnesses as well as helping its clients connect to mental health professionals. MANI has a suicide/distress hotline and is planning on launching a mobile app to connect mental health professionals to people in need of help. The organization promotes its advocacy campaigns online using channels such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and its website to draw attention to different mental health illnesses or other related topics each month. Since 2016, MANI has managed to expand its work to four Nigerian states and provide support to more than 5,000 people.
She Writes Woman: This organization has made great strides since its inception in April 2016. The organization launched the first privately-held, 24-hour mental health line in July 2016 and in April 2018 added a helpline chat service that has received 6,000 messages to date. The organization also founded and curates Safe Place – a support group where women in Nigeria can meet, discuss mental health issues and get the help they need. So far, more than 800 women have benefitted. In partnership with Airtel Nigeria, they have grown and founded Safe Place Nigeria – a walk-in clinic where young people can seek mental health care.
Love, Peace and Mental Health Foundation (LPM): Launched in 2012 in Lagos, LPM carries out advocacy and awareness campaigns to the youth in Nigeria. LPM also founded and curates Umbrella, a men’s-only support group which meets monthly. During the support group meetings, mental health professionals are on hand for observation and consultancy. The foundation also partners with various psychologists and consultants to provide free therapy sessions during these meetings. LPM also ran the #SAVE campaign in 2017 which encouraged creatives to embrace photography, music, art and fashion to raise awareness of mental health in Nigeria.
By creating awareness and challenging the misconceptions and stigma held by the public, these four organizations are helping create an environment in which those suffering from mental health illnesses do not need to isolate themselves or shy away from seeking help. Mental health in Nigeria is sure to improve because of these and other organizations and initiatives.
– Sophia Wanyony
Photo: Flickr
New Online Business School Launched in Nigeria
In July 2019, business coach and trainer Tricia Ikponmwonba launched a new online business school called Business Lab Africa (BLA), which provides qualitative and relevant knowledge for growth in the business field to entrepreneurs from around the world. Ikponmwonba, who has trained over 20,000 entrepreneurs across 10 different countries and has worked with multinational corporations such as Nokia, Coca Cola and Wrigley’s, is not offering the course content for free. The monthly subscription for either of its categories (for growing businesses and for established businesses) is very cheap, however.
Course Topics and Accessibility
Business experts from all over the globe teach the BLA’s courses, which people can access via mobile applications as well as the school’s website. Classes range from marketing and management to finance and business structure, and each month, the courses offered focus on one particular area of study for each type of business. In-depth explanatory videos that instructors recorded and live classes with field experts supplement these focus areas. They also include worksheets and templates geared towards helping students retain the material that they are learning.
The new online business school also uses peer-to-peer learning techniques in its online community where students can collaborate with each other. This is a major cornerstone of the program, as it stresses the importance of students being able to share ideas and techniques with each other, which can help students learn quicker and more efficiently. BLA also places a special emphasis on updating the quality and content of its program regularly to fit the current work environment. This is an important aspect of the program because the business world is always changing and many individuals and businesses must continue to learn new skills in order to succeed.
Positive Testimony
The fact that there are already numerous success stories from individuals who have taken classes from the BLA is a testament to the quality of the courses. Boyede Adebanjo, who is the Director of Administration at an elementary school in Nigeria, claims that the classes she took—Business Structure and Customer Service—gave her, along with her colleagues, insightful knowledge as to how to work on and improve the school’s five-year business strategy and overall business structure. Since these enhancements, Adebanjo has seen major improvements in worker productivity, which has helped improve the quality of education that the school can offer young children.
Looking Ahead
By 2022, the BLA hopes to have reached 100,000 entrepreneurs, giving each the knowledge and tools that they will need to succeed in the business world. While the company is not yet certified, it likely will be in the near future as it continues to produce results for its clients. All said it seems clear that this new online business school will continue to progress in a positive direction in the coming years.
– Jillian Rose
Photo: Flickr
The Effects of the US Foreign Aid Freeze
On August 3, 2019, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) ordered two federal agencies to temporarily freeze billions of foreign aid funding. This decision ordered the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to provide accounts for all unobligated resources of foreign aid. Rachel Semmel, a spokeswoman for the Budget Office, said the order aims to ensure accountability. According to the Associated Press (AP), the letter lists 10 areas that the U.S. foreign aid freeze targets, including development assistance, global health programs and United Nations peacekeeping. In total, the freeze puts $2 billion to $4 billion of congressionally-approved funding on hold.
Subsequent Response
The U.S. foreign aid freeze has met with bipartisan criticism. Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Eliot Engel said that the Trump administration has amounted to contempt and emphasized that congressionally-approved foreign aid is law and backed by the Constitution. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s criticism was harsher, labeling the freeze insane. In a letter to the OMB, lawmakers from both parties agreed that cutting foreign aid and development spending would not be in the interest of national security.
Critics of the OMB’s decision point to the fact that foreign aid spending makes up less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the federal budget. Before the freeze, the U.S. spent $30 billion annually on programs to reduce global poverty. Liz Schrayer, the chief executive of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, claims the OMB is cutting one of the smallest portions of the federal budget, but one that could have catastrophic impacts on U.S. economic and national security interests.
Impacted Countries
The U.S. foreign aid freeze will directly affect Malawi, one of the world’s least developed countries. The nation consistently ranks very low in various health indicators, such as life expectancy, infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate. In addition, an estimated one million people or 9.2 percent of adults in Malawi live with HIV/AIDS with an estimated 13,000 deaths annually. In Malawi, USAID works to improve the quality of life by supporting development, education and health programs, especially those that prevent and treat malaria, tuberculosis and HIV. Due to the Trump administration’s order, Malawi may not have aid for the remainder of this financial year. According to documents that Foreign Policy obtained, the freeze could also affect foreign aid to countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Funding for UNICEF projects to protect children account for a large portion of the U.S. foreign aid freeze. One of these programs involves early childhood education and development in Uzbekistan. According to UNICEF, only 30 percent of Uzbek children attend preschool while 70 percent are unable to achieve their full potential due to a lack of early education. UNICEF is rolling its program out across six regions in Uzbekistan and it has designed it to increase access to quality education for children. Regional instructors have trained 2,159 preschool teachers in child-centered learning and model schools, which have increased enrollment by 2,841 children. The U.S. foreign aid freeze will have a direct impact on similar programs across the globe.
Bipartisan Solution
On August 15, 2019, the OMB sent an official rescission request to the State Department to cut foreign aid funding by more than $4 billion, yet canceled the request a few days later. Since taking office in 2017, the Trump administration has made numerous attempts to cut foreign aid funding, and in some cases by as much as 30 percent. Members of both parties in Congress firmly rejected all attempts. Daniel Runde, former director of the Global Development Alliance (GDA) in the Bush administration, says development, diplomacy and defense experts are in full agreement that the Trump administration should work collaboratively with Congress to create a more robust and sustainable approach to foreign aid and development.
– Adam Bentz
Photo: Flickr
Efforts to Fight Disease in the DRC
With 80 million hectares of arable land and over 1,100 precious metals and minerals, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has quickly established itself as a large exporter in the lucrative diamond industry. Despite this, the DRC ranks 176th out of 189 nations on the UN’s Human Development Index and over 60 percent of the 77 million DRC residents live on less than $2 a day. Internal and external war, coupled with political inefficacy and economic exploitation, has hindered the country’s ability to combat poverty and improve health outcomes. Listed below are some of the most deadly diseases that are currently affecting individuals in the DRC and the different strategies that governments and NGOs have taken to fight disease in the DRC.
3 Deadly Diseases Currently Affecting Individuals in the DRC
The DRC has the second-highest number of malaria cases in the world, reporting 15.3 million of the WHO-estimated 219 million malaria cases in 2017. Of the more than 400 Congolese children that die every day, almost half of them die due to malaria, with 19 percent of fatalities under 5 years attributed to the disease. However, some are making to reduce malaria’s negative impact. For example, the distribution of nearly 40 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets, or ITNs, has helped lower the incidence rate by 40 percent since 2010, with a 34 percent decrease in the mortality rate for children under 5. The DRC government procured and distributed the nets with international partners such as the Department for International Development, Global Fund and World Bank. In addition, the President’s Malaria Initiative, a program implemented in 2005 by President Bush and carried out by USAID, has distributed more than 17 million nets. UNICEF has also been a major contributor in the efforts to fight malaria and recently distributed 3 million ITNs in the DRC’s Kasaï Province. However, the country requires more work, as malaria remains its most frequent cause of death.
Among its efforts to fight disease in the DRC, the country has made significant progress recently in its fight against HIV/AIDS. As a cause of death, it has decreased significantly since 2007, and since 2010, there are 39 percent fewer total HIV infections.
This particular case illuminates the potential positive impact of American foreign aid. The DRC Ministry of Health started a partnership with the CDC in 2002, combining efforts to fight HIV/AIDS. PEPFAR, signed into U.S. law in 2003 to combat AIDS worldwide, has invested over $512 million since 2004, which has helped to fund antiretroviral treatment for 159,776 people. In 2017, it funded the provision of HIV testing services for 1.2 million people.
The country is also addressing mother-to-child transmissions. In the DRC, approximately 15 to 20 percent of mothers with HIV pass the virus onto their child. The strategy to end mother-to-child transmissions involves expanding coverage for HIV-positive pregnant women, diagnosing infants with HIV earlier and preventing new infections via antiretroviral drug treatment. UNAID, The Global Fund and the DRC Ministry of Health have undertaken significant work to accomplish these objectives and their efforts have resulted in the coverage of 70 percent of HIV-positive pregnant women. However, much work remains to cover the remaining 30 percent of pregnant HIV-positive women.
Overall, there is still a lot of necessary work to undergo in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the DRC and around the world. In total, UNAIDS estimated that HIV/AIDS was the cause of 17,000 deaths in the DRC in 2018. While this is a decrease from previous years, it shows that the DRC still has a long way to go in order to fully control the spread of the disease. Additionally, there must be more global funding. The U.N. announced on July 2019 that annual global funding for fighting HIV/AIDS decreased in 2018 by almost $1 billion.
Since 2018, the DRC has undergone one of the world’s largest Ebola outbreaks. On July 17, 2019, WHO declared the outbreak an international health emergency. Since August 2018, more than 2,500 cases have occurred, with over 1,800 deaths.
However, the country is making efforts to prevent the transmission and spread of Ebola in the DRC. Recently, more than 110,000 Congolese received an experimental Ebola vaccine from Merck & Co. The vaccine is called rVSV-ZEBOV, and studies have shown the vaccine to have a 97.5 percent efficacy rate. This vaccine provides hope that people will be able to control Ebola breakouts in the near future.
While there have been attempts to fight disease in the DRC in recent years, such as malaria, HIV/AIDS and Ebola, each disease remains a major issue. In the coming years, the country must continue its efforts.
– Drew Mekhail
Photo: Flickr
4 Microlending Organizations that Empower the Poor
In the fight against global poverty, one hot-button issue is how to provide aid without the implication of paternalism, the idea that one person or group knows the interests of another group better than that group knows its own interests. Tariq Fancy, the founder of the nonprofit The Rumie Initiative, recalls hearing a Kenyan relative’s view on problems with international aid, saying “don’t walk in assuming that from your perch in North America you figured out all the answers for Africa.” Putting resources and power in the hands of communities both provides aid and acknowledges that they can make decisions about local interests. Microlending organizations have the power to do just that
Microloans are small loans at low-interest rates. Individuals living in poverty often have difficulty securing loans from traditional financial institutions due to a lack of borrowing history and assets to use as collateral. Even when people can get loans, interest rates are often high. People often use microloans to finance small businesses in their early stages, enabling people to overcome barriers and progress toward lifting themselves and their families out of poverty.
Microlending organizations can also issue loans for community projects, like building wells or funding schools. Microlending organizations typically, but not always, issue loans funded by individuals rather than by banks or other financial institutions. Here are four companies and organizations that use microlending in different forms to empower people living in poverty.
Four Microlending Organizations that Empower the Poor
The efficacy of microlending in pulling people out of poverty is up for debate, but some cases have shown promising results. A microfinance program in Uzbekistan resulted in 71 percent of participants reporting an increase in food intake quality. One study showed that when a microfinance program was put in place, there was an 18 percent decline in extreme poverty. While different studies report differing results, microlending organizations like Kiva, Zidisha, BRAC and WMI have certainly been a success.
– Meredith Charney
Photo: Flickr
5 Ways Convoy of Hope is Making an Impact
5 Ways Convoy of Hope is Making an Impact
It goes without saying that Convoy of Hope has made strides helping those dealing with poverty around the world, with more than 115 million people receiving various forms of assistance since 1994.
– Jessica Winarski
Photo: Flickr
10 Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes on Courage
10 Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes on Courage
Courage is the first step to growth, especially when the growth occurs in spite of unjust circumstances. Remembering these top 10 Martin Luther King Jr. quotes on Courage quotes may be the perfect catalyst to push one forward on whichever path they choose.
– Fatemeh Zahra Yarali
Photo: Flickr