Archive for category: Global Poverty

Key articles and information on global poverty.

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3 Major Successes of Humanitarian Aid to Sri Lanka

humanitarian aid to sri lanka
Sri Lanka, an island in the Indian Ocean, has a population of approximately 22 million. The Sri Lankan government and a militant group had severe tension throughout the 1980s, and these tensions escalated substantially in 2006.

However, the government ultimately gained their control back and following the years of conflict, the government put into place various economic development programs primarily funded by the government of China.

Aside from economic restructuring, the government also resettled 95 percent of civilians that were displaced during the decades of conflict. Through the government’s efforts coupled with humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka, millions of people have seen improvements in living conditions, access to education and healthcare and overall disaster preparedness. Here are three successes of humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka.

PINA Organisation

PINA Organisation has provided humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka since 2008. While the organization has several ongoing projects, one of its main objectives is addressing chronic kidney disease (also known as CKD); many Sri Lankans experience high rates of health complications and death as a result of CKD.

The northern and eastern parts of the country are the most affected by the disease — poverty and lack of access to clean water is extremely prevalent throughout the region. With only 35 percent of the entire population having access to clean water, the remainder of the population resorts to using unfiltered ground water.

The use of unfiltered water has been found to be one of the main causes of CKD. The PINA Organisation has partnered with the Sri Lankan Navy and has successfully completed two water filter systems in different regions of the country. Through reverse osmosis, these water systems filter 10,000 liters per day and provide individuals with access to a clean water source.

The organization is responsible for funding the construction of these systems, while the Sri Lankan Navy is responsible for the construction. In 2018, the organization plans to construct another water filtration system in hopes of further preventing CKD by providing Sri Lankans a filtered water source.

World Vision

World Vision has one goal: to sustain the well-being of vulnerable children. Through four key sectors, World Vision is able to meet the needs of children through education, economic development, health and nutrition, and water and sanitation. In 2016, World Vision served over 10,000 children through education. It provided literacy improvements throughout schools around the country, trained over 250 classroom facilitators and provided additional support to nearly 100 children with disabilities.

World Vision also provided proper healthcare and nutrition to over 120,000 children by implementing nutrition programs in schools and prevention programs for disease. The organization also provided access to clean drinking water to upwards 7,000 children, 3,600 households and 35 schools and preschools. Through humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka, World Vision has been able to improve the livelihood of thousands of children throughout the country. 

The United States

Many humanitarian organizations have provided support; however, the United States has also provided substantial humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka. USAID seeks to improve economic growth and financial stability across the country.

Over the past several years, more than 10,000 employment opportunities have been created, with $14 million leveraged in private sector funds. Through this effort, entrepreneurship can be fostered, and public procurement processes can be strengthened.

The United States also has a concern for vulnerable populations such as war widows, female-headed households, disabled individuals, and resettling families in Sri Lanka. They have provided job skills to more than 50,000 Sri Lankans, in hopes of giving individuals the necessary skills to thrive.

Through the humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka provided by these organizations and the United States, many individuals’ livelihoods has significantly improved. Further assistance is needed to fund projects such as the water filtration system project with PIMA Organisation as well as additional resources to meet the needs of more Sri Lankans that are living in poverty.

– Sarah Jane Fraser

Photo: Flickr

Projects Aim To Build Sustainable Agriculture in Indonesia

sustainable agriculture in indonesiaIndonesia is a vast country spread over thousands of islands, home to a diverse array of ecosystems and agricultural areas. With a rapidly growing population of 260 million people, the government in Jakarta is seeking solutions to improve sustainable agriculture in Indonesia and increase efficiency in a key sector that accounts for around a third of the country’s total land use.

Large industrial plantations and small-scale landholders and subsistence farmers dominate farming in the archipelago, but the pressure of rapid population growth is forcing local businesses and stakeholders to push for sustainable agriculture in Indonesia. Commercialization, industrialization and urbanization have forced agricultural businesses to face the environmental effects of pollution and deforestation and invest in more sustainable practices.

Indonesia has recently gained a reputation as a regional hub for tech start ups, most famously for the motorbike ride-hailing app Go-Jek. A new app named iGrow has gained a following after emerging at the StartupIstanbul competition in Turkey. By connecting regular citizens with Indonesian farmers, iGrow helps users invest in the farmers’ crops and plantations and promote more sustainable agriculture in Indonesia. For now, the app only allows users to invest in planting one of three different seeds, durian, peanuts and longan, but the app’s creators promise that more options will be available soon.

Jakarta is also partnering with the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to research and promote sustainable agriculture in Indonesia and beyond, pioneering a food diversification program in southeastern Sulawesi in eastern Indonesia. The project aims to reduce dependency on common carbohydrates like grains and rice and instead promote indigenous sources of starch like the sago palm. An earlier collaboration with the FAO planted 5,000 hectares of sago in Papua in a similar project, and the current program targets two districts with a project to build a sago processing unit to commercially export the crop.

Elsewhere in the world, the major lender Rabobank is launching a $1 billion sustainable farming facility in partnership with U.N. Environment that will initially focus on Brazil and Indonesia. The facility will seek to advance sustainable agriculture in Indonesia and ultimately around the world, financing sustainable land use in ways that help the country achieve its climate goals under the Paris Climate Agreement.

– Giacomo Tognini

Photo: Flickr

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Ending Child Marriage With Women’s Empowerment in Burkina Faso

women's empowerment in burkina fasoApproximately one out of every two girls in Burkina Faso will be married before the age of 18, and one out of ten girls will be married before the age of 15. Although child marriage rates vary from one region to another, rates are as high as 76 percent in the East region and 86 percent in the Sahel region. Tradition, poverty and lack of education contribute to child marriage in Burkina Faso.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) recorded the following trends among women aged 20 to 24:

  • 60 percent of women with no education were married at age 18.
  • 42 percent of women with primary education were married at age 18.
  • 3 percent of women with secondary education or higher were married at age 18.

These findings show that there is a negative correlation between the amount of education a woman receives and the age at which she marries. An educated woman is more likely to avoid child marriage than an uneducated woman.

Ending child marriage is possible by increasing women’s empowerment in Burkina Faso. In November 2015, the country finalized a national strategy to end child marriage by 2025. The strategy prevents child marriage, strengthens national efforts to end child marriage, supports child marriage victims and monitors its implementation. A multisectoral platform launched in June 2016 outlines the strategy’s roles and responsibilities.

In November 2015, The Hunger Project-Burkina Faso hosted two workshops for women’s empowerment in Burkina Faso. The workshops focused on female leadership and the fight against forced child marriages. The first workshop was held at Boulkon Epicenter, and aimed to generate interest among female leaders in involving their fellow women in the electoral process.

The second workshop, The Child Marriage Project, included training on sexual and reproductive rights of young girls forced into marriage. It was held in collaboration with Association D’appui et d’Eveil Pugsada, an organization that empowers women to assume significant roles in community development, and Kinderpostzegels, a Dutch organization that supports vulnerable children across the world. Burkina Faso is also a focus country of the UNICEF-UNFPA Global Program to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage.

Girls who know their human rights and are equipped with education and life-skills are proven to be less vulnerable to child marriage. With continued work from the government and nonprofit organizations, increasing women’s empowerment in Burkina Faso can help end child marriage.

– Carolyn Gibson

Photo: Flickr

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Education in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of China

Education in NingxiaNingxia, known as Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, is located in the northwest of China. This region of about 6.7 million people is surrounded by Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi and Gansu. People of the Hui ethnicity make up more than one-third of the population in Ningxia. The steady and continuous progress of education in Ningxia has taken place since it was founded in 1958.

Until now, the nine-year system of compulsory education in Ningxia has established an enrollment rate of more than 98 percent. There are nine universities and ten professional colleges. Standards of higher education and vocational education for adults are high.

Last year, education in Ningxia reached a number of milestones. A total of 69 kindergartens were newly set up or restructured, the heating facilities of 1,086 schools were renovated and rural schools ended the use of stove heating. Nine vocational training centers were built. A total of 313,000 people received financial aid from the Student Financial Assistance Project and 280,000 students were benefited by the Nutrition Improvement Program.

Compared to the last century, great changes have taken place for education in Ningxia. However, regarding the overall quality of education in this region, there remain significant disparities compared to the well-developed southeastern provinces of China.

Firstly, there is an observable gap between education in urban and rural areas. By the end of 2016, there were still 43.7 percent of people living in rural areas of Ningxia. About 380,000 rural people live below the poverty line. Take the Chencha Primary School as an example. It is the most remote school in the countryside, about 250 miles away from Yinchuan. Due to the inconvenience of lacking transportation services, each of the 48 students across five grades has no option but to walk a long distance to school.

The second problem is the ethnic disparities in education. In October 2014, an investigation on ethnic disparities concluded that the Hui children have a shorter period of education than the ethnic majority and that this had been occurring for generations. Sample statistics showed that while urban males in Hui and Han ethnicities had an average of 11 years’ education, in rural Ningxia, male Hui had 1.4 fewer years of education on average than rural male Han. However, many senior women of rural Hui only had a couple of years’ education and their illiteracy rates in poor, remote areas were high.

Gender inequality in education accompanies this ethnicity problem. It was reported that in rural Ningxia, Hui females had two fewer years of education on average than those of Hui males. Meanwhile, in some Hui families with multiple children, it is likely for parents to put the education of younger boys above that of girls and older boys. Due to the relatively low attendance rate of Hui girls, education in that region was lower, which restricts the overall development of education.

A recent investigation on the lifestyle transformation of Hui Muslim women in Ningxia found that higher education is correlated with avoiding early marriage. Meanwhile, some rural Hui families regard education as unnecessary for women. While the enrollment of primary schools had reached 99 percent in Ningxia, quite a few rural girls terminated their education in grade three or four.

In the Chinese government’s thirteenth five-year plan, the local government in Ningxia will be part of a plan to improve the overall education level of China by 2020. A total of 15,000 new kindergartens are expected to be constructed in poor villages across this region.

These policies will address poverty-related issues and provide aid to minority students and poor families attain education in Ningxia. Global giving with online donations is another measure to support scholarships for girls in rural families of Ningxia.

Better education in Ningxia demands reliable support from all individuals and broader society now and in the future.

– Xin Gao

Why Laws Are Not Enough to End Poverty in South Africa

laws aren't enough to end povertySocial justice does not work like a movie. Even if a climactic event results in the removal of unjust systems, the after-effects of injustice persist decades after the fact. Though apartheid was eliminated decades ago, South Africa still sees stark divisions between the living conditions of blacks and whites. These divisions continue due to economic barriers and reveal that laws are not enough to end poverty or prejudice.

The removal of apartheid laws brought several economic opportunities to poor, black South Africans. Unfortunately, this victory did not change ownership of land and capital from its predominantly elite white holders. Without a solid foundation for business creation, few black men and women could find substantial gain pre- or post-apartheid. Even in 2016, ten percent of South Africans own 90 percent of the nation’s wealth, and that ten percent is mostly white.

In an attempt to house black South Africans, the African National Congress built townships around major cities. Though these townships settled close to major centers of business, they were not business centers themselves. With no money flowing into these government-owned lands, the townships became ghettos with dangerous buildings and poor education. South Africa’s unemployment rate neared 28 percent in 2017 and more than half of the black population is officially unemployed.

In a 1997 Regional Review article, Ed Glaeser of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston examined the creation of ghettos and found features of segregated areas that apply all over the world. Concentrating resources in cities brings great wealth only to those working there. When certain areas of a city are deprived of incoming wealth due to artificial barriers, like in a township, racial tensions increase. An expanding economy in the 2000s doubled the size of South Africa’s black middle class, but the financial crisis of 2008 destroyed that decade’s gains.

Though Glaeser based his studies on American ghettos, his findings easily apply themselves to South African townships. “The ghetto walls themselves, not any increase in racism they may engender, thus seem primarily responsible for the poor black outcomes associated with increased segregation,” he stated. Both black and white South Africans consider themselves victims of racism. 44 percent of whites and 73 percent of blacks believe that the two races will never trust each other.

So what has helped South Africans escape destitution? Though laws are not enough to end poverty, they can create situations that allow people to overcome their struggles. In 2014, South Africa cut the rate of extreme poverty in half. In a press release from 2014, the World Bank credits this victory to redistributed income through tax benefits. Through a progressive tax system and an investment in infrastructure, South Africa achieved higher poverty reductions than Brazil, Mexico, or Argentina that year.

The fight is not yet over. The World Bank concludes its press release with the notion that “reducing poverty and inequality further in a way that is consistent with fiscal sustainability will require a combination of better quality and more efficient public services but most importantly greater employment opportunities.”

The New York Times compared South Africa post-apartheid to Europe post-WWII. Both regions had to rise from adversity by re-engineering their economy and challenging the legacy of colonialism. Just as the Marshall Plan restored Europe to prominence, so might foreign aid bring South Africa to the glory it seeks. Although laws are not enough to end poverty, persistent intervention from other countries could help.

– Nick Edinger

Photo: Flickr

Infrastructure in Papua New Guinea Making Critical Gains

Infrastructure in Papua New GuineaPapua New Guinea is just north of Australia and is home to 8.1 million people. With some 600 islands and a topography that rises from sea level to 4500 meters, improving infrastructure in Papua New Guinea is a significant challenge, especially in rural areas.

Paved roads are unequally distributed across Papua New Guinea (PNG), which creates a disparity in the economic opportunities available to the entire population. Coastal shipping services and aviation are common attempts to overcome these network gaps, but they are not cost-effective.

PNG’s National Transport Strategy considers maintenance and creation of paved roads its highest priority. PNG contains approximately 22,000 kilometers of roads, with the national road network comprised of 8738 kilometers of roads, only 40 percent of which are sealed.

Rural access to roads is limited, with only 68 percent of the rural population living within two kilometers of an all-season road. There are no main highways between the country’s biggest city, Port Moresby, and the Highland region, which is home to nearly half of the population.

Papua New Guinea also has the lowest national water coverage of the Pacific region. This is a significant challenge for infrastructure in Papua New Guinea, as only the Marshall Islands has a lower percentage of piped coverage.

In November, PNG and the China Railway Group signed agreements for three projects worth around $4 billion, a quarter of the country’s gross domestic product. These agreements will upgrade 1,600 kilometers of highways and set PNG on a good pace toward developing a modern road network.

Also included in the deal is a $32 million project to improve water supply to PNG’s Eastern Highlands Province. Water supply is a major problem of infrastructure in Papua New Guinea, with 60 percent of the population living without a safe water supply. Papua New Guinea has the poorest access to clean water in the world, according to a study released by World Water Day.

Henry Northover, head of policy for WaterAid, said “This is not always an issue of scarcity—by and large we are dealing with a distributional crisis. It is fixable with clear and coherent government policies, and with the focused support of international agencies.”

The Water Supply and Sanitation Development Project is an initiative of the government of Papua New Guinea. It was formally agreed to in a ceremony marking World Water Day 2017, and the $70 million project will deliver access to clean and reliable water supply services for tens of thousands of people living in nine provincial towns and 10 rural districts.

These recent projects bode well for the future growth of infrastructure in Papua New Guinea. Continued focus on these areas can bring access to critical infrastructure to all of the nation’s people.

– Sam Bramlett

Photo: Flickr

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The Improvement of Education in Macau

Education in MacauEducation in Macau experienced slow progress before the middle of the twentieth century. Primary education was gradually popularized from the 1960s onwards, and the development of secondary and higher education followed. The economy of Macau was developing fast in the following two decades, which induced changes in the structure of society and families. As a result, education in Macau boomed, particularly primary.

Since the Macau Special Administrative Region of China was set up in December 1999, the government has provided 15 years compulsory education, comprised of three years of kindergarten followed by primary and secondary education each of six years. Out of 77 secondary schools in Macau, 65 offer free education. There are 10 accredited institutions for higher education in Macau, offering more than 250 academic programs.

Compared to China and other nations, education in Macau displays special features of its own. The whole society in Macau pays high attention to education, comprehensive curricula and professional development. Students are open to bilingual education and extracurricular activities.

While education in Macau is fast developing and has made great achievements, a few existing problems are also transparent. Before free and compulsory education was extended to 15 years in Macau, only 35.3 percent of the employed population had received a high school education.

Despite the overall education level of the labor force gradually improving in the past decade, in-grade retention rates are relatively high in Macao. As reported in 2013, the retention rate in junior middle school was as high as 15 percent; a previous study showed that 76 percent of senior high school graduates had been retained at some stage.

Tertiary education in Macau is also far from problem-free. The system of tertiary education is not consistent with other levels of education; performance appraisal in universities exists in name only. Due to the high cost of tuition in Macau, student resources and living space and restrictive. Meanwhile, more than 70 percent of students choose the major of economy and business management, which leads to an unbalanced allocation of educational resources. This is harmful to the healthy growth of these institutions in the long run.

In 2017, the government launched the third phase of its Continuing Education Development Plan in Macao. For tertiary education, the corresponding services office kept on facilitating a variety of external cooperation projects within that field, and seek reinforced collaboration from China inland.

To sum up, the current education in Macau has great potential for future improvement. Kindergarten education urges more attention from governmental and public support, and there is a need for better integration of all levels of education. Meanwhile, the structure of tertiary subjects also requires adjustment to meet the economic development strategy with diversity in this region.

– Xin Gao

The Behno Standard: Factory Workers Transform into Humans

Behno StandardConsidering the work that millions of people do in factories around the world, progress is often valued not for the quality of the work but for how quickly the product can reach the market. If money is the primary objective, human beings can be endangered in the process. Without teamwork and employee wellbeing as priorities, products will not make it past production and the economic gains will not materialize. One solution to this culture is Shivam Punjya’s Behno Standard.

Punjya is a man who has sought to revolutionize the conditions in which factory workers operate, especially women. During a 2012 research trip on women’s health in India, he witnessed some extraordinary handmade textile work in rural villages. He was appalled to learn that 90 percent of these beautiful artworks were tailored by women who are paid less than $1 per day.

One year later, a tragedy would ultimately push him into advocacy. On April 13, 2013, the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed, killing more than 1,100 workers, the majority of whom were women. This incident brought intense awareness to factory conditions and the need to support workers.

Behno is a word used to describe love, harmony, and balance in its most beautiful connections with creative solutions. It is primarily an artistic expression used by communities full of like-minded individuals who strive for that harmony and balance with love. It is also the name used for the ethical fashion line that Punjya founded in New York.

Its central focus is on providing these factory workers with an environment to pursue their designs without their health being compromised. Through a partnership with a large nonprofit in rural Gujarat, India, called Muni Seva Ashram, Punjya began The Garment Worker Project. This was debuted in July 2016 as the first implementation of the Behno Standard through a collection of social programs.

The Behno Standard is broken into six categories: health, garment worker mobility, family planning, women’s rights, worker satisfaction and benefits and eco-consciousness. Its crucial emphasis is on offering a new meaning to the label ‘Made in India,’ often synonymous with unspeakable worker conditions. With the Behno Standard, Punjya strives to change that outlook and prove that a healthy working atmosphere leads to efficiency and high-quality products.

In Punjya’s own words, “Ethical fashion is such a collaborative space because the supply chain is massive and so convoluted. We encourage other brands to reach out to us, and we reach out all the time, to collaborate and utilize each others’ platforms.” Due to his inspiration for starting in the fashion business, he doesn’t want Behno to be a brand that tries to compete on the basis of profit. Instead, he wants his brand to be the unique type of team that collaborates with other companies.

Business doesn’t necessarily need to be a competition but can delve into a community goal. In that sense, the Behno Standard is transforming the connotations of factory work and joining together to revolutionize how the fashion business operates through human connections.

– Nicole Suárez

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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Women’s Empowerment in the Central African Republic

Women's Empowerment in the Central African RepublicThe landlocked Central African Republic has a population of about 4.7 million and a land area of 623,000 square kilometers. Women’s empowerment in the Central African Republic is a challenging task in this nation, known as the unhappiest country in the world. The Human Development Index ranks this country as the lowest among 188 nations.

Similar to a few other undeveloped nations, economic and social discrimination are common barriers to women’s empowerment in the Central African Republic. Single women are not regarded as the heads of households and are often denied family subsidies to which they are entitled. While the constitution guarantees equal rights, many women, especially seniors and those without families, had been accused of being witches. The proportion of women in government ministries and female seats in parliament remains relatively low, at 12.5 percent as of 2015.

While equal inheritance and property rights are enshrined in civil law, women are vulnerable to discriminatory customary laws, especially in rural areas. There is no penalty for spousal rape, nor a minimum sentence for rape. Incomplete statistics suggest that one in seven women had been raped during the previous year, while the true incidence of rape could be even higher. Of women surveyed, 22 percent claimed physical harm by a member of their household. Also, there is no set of penalties on sexual harassment till then.

A 2013 report found that access to primary school was not equal for girls and boys. While 65 percent of girls were enrolled in the first year of school, this number sharply declined to 23 percent after the sixth grade. Many girls left school in their early teens to marry and have children. The illiteracy rate of females was also much higher than that of males.

A recent study reported that this nation has the second-highest rate of child marriage in the world, where 68 percent of teenage girls got married before the age of 18 and 29 percent were married before the age of 15. There is no prohibition against polygamy and bride-trading, which poses significant barriers to women’s empowerment in the Central African Republic.

A few global institutions such as U.N. Women and the International Rescue Committee put great effort into the protection of women’s empowerment in the Central African Republic. Their officials appealed to the international community to mobilize for the peace and security of women.

While some notable progress had been recognized on women’s empowerment in the Central African Republic, gender inequality and other related issues persist, demanding patient global advocacy on closing the long-existing gender gaps for this nation.

– Xin Gao

Photo: Flickr

Project Begins to Improve Road Infrastructure in Laos

infrastructure in laosLaos is completely landlocked, with Vietnam standing between the small country and the Gulf of Tonkin. As a result, road transport is an essential form of transportation and the only means of improving economic development through infrastructure.

Unfortunately, road infrastructure in Laos is limited, underdeveloped and particularly vulnerable to extreme weather conditions. According to the World Bank, 50 percent of the roads observed were in fair or good condition and only 56 percent of the rural population in Laos has access to an all-season road.

In 2017, The World Bank and Laos Ministry of Finance signed an agreement to dedicate $25 million to the Second Road Sector Project in Laos, which is mainly designed to create climate-resistant road infrastructure and to improve road connectivity in parts of Laos that are susceptible to natural disasters.

As a country, Laos is no stranger to natural disasters such as landslides, floods, earthquakes and cyclones. For villagers in rural areas, floods are the biggest detriment to crops, which are not only a source of income but also a source of sustenance for many farm families.

The six provinces at the center of the Second Road Sector Project are particularly defenseless in the wake of natural disasters. The central provinces face issues with backwater flooding while the northern provinces are most susceptible to flash floods and landslides.

Ensuring climate resilience in these provincial roads involves routine road maintenance. Spot maintenance is also needed to improve the poorest sections of existing road infrastructure in Laos.

These maintenance changes include increasing drainage, decreasing or stabilizing large slopes, elevating low roads that are vulnerable to flooding and re-graveling existing roads. The upgrades aim to lessen the effects of different forms of flooding and will help maintain the accessibility of more roads following natural disasters so that people in the most rural areas may attend work and school and have access to important services.

On the institutional level, the project called for critical changes in policy and the public sector, such as providing training and technical assistance which ensure proper and timely implementation of the roadwork projects. In the case of the highly probable natural disaster, project proceeds are re-allocated to an emergency response for the poor northern and central provinces. The emergency response includes a specified list of goods, services and infrastructure work that are to be implemented following a natural disaster.

While the project was only implemented a year ago, the World Bank and the Lao Ministry of finance have made tangible steps toward progress. By October 2017, the World Bank collected a large amount of data on the conditions of road infrastructure in Laos and the climate-resilient road maintenance component is already in motion, making certain parts of Laos better prepared than they were in 2016 for the next flash flood or earthquake. The World Bank projects that these changes will give 57 percent of people access to all-season roads by 2022 with the hope that this number will continue to increase.

– Danielle Poindexter

Photo: Flickr