If I were to sit you down to speak about the benefits of travel, we’d be sitting for so long that birds would be nesting in our hair. Scour the internet and you’ll find a myriad of anecdotal travel tales of life-changing experiences. Great writers like Mark Twain, D.H Lawrence, and Marcel Proust (to name a few) wrote passionately about the necessity of travel.

Ayesha took part in the Semester in Development in fall 2016. Over a year later, read her reflections of her experiences interning in Kampala, Uganda.

Ai Weiwei's new documentary tackles forced migration with lots of artistry, and a reminder of what it means to be human. 

Swooping overhead shots of mass migration movements, over land or by sea, serve as some of the most visually striking elements of Ai Weiwei’s ambitious film on forced displacement Human Flow. The focus of this imagery is in the physical, human element of migration: quite literally the flow of humans. The sheer scale of refugee migration is often lost upon us; these scenes of mass movement from a birds eye view elicit a soft surrealism. 

 A child, a swollen belly and a swarm of flies. Malnourished and in need of help.

A land of dense jungles, vast savannahs, and straw thatched huts.

An overpopulated city, rife with corruption. A slum. A dollar a day.

These are the narratives of ‘Africa’ as adopted by most mainstream media, particularly in the West. It’s a one-sided, over-used, and much outdated approach. And the world is starting to realise that.

For those tip-toeing the world of non-profit organizations and social business start-ups, the distinctions between the two may not be obviously clear at first glance. Both are organizations that are rooted in doing a social good, yet the avenues through which they both reach their goals are different.

If you want to learn about the positive impact of role models, there are behavioural studies galore to keep your mind fully satiated. Role models are people we as individuals can look to as sources of inspiration. They mobilize us to strive for success, to become the people we dream to be, to stand tall against the tides of struggle.

There is a movement happening in the underbelly of the development world, a movement that’s changing perceptions of development. We are leaving behind the world of pity campaigns. The guilt-saturated pleas for donations sprinkled with images of children in rural villages with bloated bellies and flies swarming their faces. Those awful Christmas songs meant to tug at our heartstrings to donate to charity this holiday season.

As humans, we thirst for knowledge and a greater understanding of the world around us. As overworked students, exams, final papers, and that toppling pile of readings keeps that thirst quenched, but can be monotonous at the best of times.

Perceptions of Africa by the majority in the West follow a common line of thinking in which Africa (often referred to as a unitary setting, rather than an entire continent full of diverse and varying countries and cultures) is seen as a place of poverty, famine, and backwardness. Such ideals are perpetuated by one-sided, simplistic portrayals of the African continent within social media.

In a society where attention spans have been reduced to 140 characters or less, the complexity behind the political and social processes of African countries have often been glossed over.

In a society dominated by online social feeds, we are constantly exposed to images of travel, whether they're from our friends, online celebrities, or campaigns. As travellers with the means to share our journey with just a click of a button, it’s natural we would want to share images with our family, friends, and the wider online community. However, the issue explored through this blog is when certain photos have the potential to be harmful and exploitative – specifically when photos are taken of vulnerable populations.