BY ALIA DHARSSI (FGJ ‘14) - One day at the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year in the rural Rishi Valley region of Andhra Pradesh, India, two dozen children in Grades 1 through 5 gathered quietly around four tables on colorful mats on the floor of their one-room school, working with books and worn laminated materials. Few looked up when I walked in. READ MORE

BY ALIA DHARSSI (FGJ ‘14) - This is the first part of Alia Dharssi’s series, Workers Without Borders. To see the series in its entirety, click here.The first time Reylene Punzalan saw snow five years ago, she couldn’t resist tasting it. “I was so excited because the snow was so beautiful,” recalled Punzalan, 28, a Filipina woman with a freckled face and pin-straight black hair. READ MORE

BY ALIA DHARSSI (FGJ ‘14) - This is an introduction to Alia Dharssi’s series, Workers Without Borders. To see the series in its entirety, click here. Canada’s immigration policy is at a crossroads. As other countries turn away refugees or have divisive debates on limiting newcomers, Canadians will welcome as many as 300,000 immigrants to the country this year, up from a cap of 285,000 in 2015. READ MORE

BY ALIA DHARSSI (FGJ '14) Blindness costs Canadians almost $16-billion a year, with two of its leading causes, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma, often detected too late to prevent vision loss. Two University of Toronto medical students may have a found a solution, however — in India. Read more

BY ALIA DHARSSI (FGJ '14) Dr. Margot Salomon, director of the Laboratory for Advanced Research on the Global Economy at the London School of Economics’ Centre for the Study of Human Rights, has spent much of her career thinking about the connections between economic development and human rights. She was a member of the six-person committee that drafted the Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States in the Area of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, a document that sets out 44 principles to help states better promote and protect the human rights of those living in other countries. Read more