Even on a summer day, the sun’s reflection off the snow-capped mountains that surround a remote corner of Kyrgyzstan can be intense enough to damage the human eye. For herders, laborers, and families who spend long hours outdoors, the result is often eye diseases like...
The CH-47 Chinook helicopter is a strange, almost mystical creature. At rest, she resembles the unlikely offspring of a frog and a small building — quiet and immovable yet seemingly poised for an urgent departure. But when her twin rotors come alive, the beast becomes...
In recent weeks, escalating tension and clashes between Kurdish forces and the Syrian government displaced over 150,000 civilians in and around Aleppo. Thousands of vulnerable families fled their homes with little warning, arriving at crowded shelters with few...
A few days after I joined Spirit of America as Chief of International Operations, I traveled to the Iraqi Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, where Spirit of America has been making a difference for two decades. As a US Navy veteran with multiple deployments to the...
Crackles of boiling oil, scrapes of a metal ladle against a giant iron kazan, or Tajik cookpot, and rhythmic chopping of knives on wooden cutting boards created a cacophony that could only mean a delicious meal of Tajik osh, or palov, was to come. In Tajikistan, palov...
At the age of 18, Eid became the sole breadwinner for his family. His father had been a doctor during the war against the Soviets and was tortured during his six to eight months in captivity, leaving him mentally unstable and unable to work. Eid dropped out of high...
In a society where gender roles are shaped and curtailed by cultural norms, women and girls in Iraq face a number of barriers that often prevent them from participating in athletic activities. Free to Run, an innovative nongovernmental organization, empowers women and...
Though it’s a central character, this story is not really about bread. In early April, I received a message from General Hazhar Ismail, the Senior Military Advisor to the Minister of Peshmerga Affairs. For some time, the General and I have known each other, having...
