Author: Michael Hopek

SEATTLE — A global universal health care declaration argues that investment in healthcare for all financially benefits developing and developed countries. Published in the Lancet medical journal during September of this year, the document includes the signatures of 267 economists from 44 different countries. Former U.S. Treasury Secretary and current Harvard University economics professor, Lawrence Summers,  authored of the document. He wrote that “the economic benefits of investment in grand convergence are estimated to be more than ten times greater than costs—meaning that early stages on the pathway to UHC, focused on high pay-off convergence interventions.” Professor Summers and an…

NEGELE, Ethiopia — Dhaki Wako Baneta is a 24 year old pastoralist who benefits from U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) efforts. She, her husband and three children grow and harvest crops and milk on their farm in a small village. Because the area is dry, the family cannot always rely on crops for income, so they have to sell milk two hours away in the main town market. Even selling milk is not always a reliable income for the family because of local market fluctuation. USAID solves this problem by funding a milk refinery business in town. The owner,…

SEATTLE — In “Why Not?” Sawsan Dahi tells the story of how he and his family fled the war-torn city of Aleppo, Syria to start a cloth printing business in the western port city of Tartous. Dahi explains that on August 5, 2012 “armed groups entered our neighborhood.” He and his family migrated west, expecting the violence to end shortly so they could return. Dahi rented out a space in Tartous and bought a table to start his cloth business. Slowly his business grew, requiring more employees. Therefore, Dahi hired friends and family from Aleppo. Around 60 families were able…

SEATTLE — News often narrates the global migration crisis as simply a story of victims of war and poverty. But the crisis also includes stories of people who adapt and thrive as migrants. Many migrants look to their status with pride, using their circumstances as motivation to succeed in their lives. Here are five stories of migrants changing their lives for the better. Lebanon Ali started his life in a Beirut Palestinian refugee camp almost forty years ago during a series of Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian conflicts. Rola Souheil tells Ali’s story in a short nonfiction film called “The Architect.” Ali used his…

LONDON — In his first speech as Labor Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn urged the British people to reconsider the conservative government’s attention toward poverty. “What they are is poverty deniers,” Corbyn said, “They’re ignoring the growing queues at the food banks, they’re ignoring the housing crisis, they’re cutting tax credits when child poverty rose by half-a-million under the last government to over four million.” Jeremy Corbyn surprised the British public with a landslide victory. His policies and public speeches show a political leader that adds a new perspective to poverty quite different from conservative Prime Minister, David Cameron. Corbyn diverges…

SEATTLE — Like many caught up in the global refugee crisis, Ameera, Sahira and their family fled the war torn city of al Ramadi, Iraq fearing for their safety. The sisters migrated to Baghdad after violent city conditions put their lives at risk. The sisters’ story is one among the millions of refugees fleeing war and violence in the Middle East. The Syrian civil war has forced 3.9 million Syrian refugees to migrate toward Jordan, Turkey and Western Europe. The majority are Syrians, but others come from as far as Africa while trying to escape regional insecurity. These migrations are…