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Good News: A blog by Warren Bull
An 11-year-old girl with Down syndrome was being bullied. So her country's President walked her to school
By Allegra Goodwin, CNN
Updated 2:36 PM ET, Fri February 11, 2022
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/11/europe/north-macedonia-bullied-girl-president-intl-scli/index.html
President of North Macedonia Stevo Pendarovski held Embla Ademi's hand as he walked her to her school in the city of Gostivar on Monday in support of the girl who has been bullied at school as a result of having Down syndrome.
Pendarovski "talked to Embla's parents about the challenges she and her family face on a daily basis," and discussed solutions, his office said in a press release.
"The President said that the behavior of those who endanger children's rights is unacceptable, especially when it comes to children with atypical development," the statement said.
"They should not only enjoy the rights they deserve, but also feel equal and welcome in the school desks and schoolyard. It is our obligation, as a state, but also as individuals, and the key element in this common mission is empathy. It will help children like Embla, but it will also help us learn from them how to sincerely rejoice, share and be in solidarity," the president added.
"We are all equal in this society. I came here to give my support and to raise awareness that inclusion is a basic principle", the press release quoted Pendarovski as saying.
The President said he "encouraged and supported" Embla's parents in their fight for the protection of the rights of children like their daughter.
"Prejudices in that context are the main obstacle to building an equal and just society for all," Pendarovski said, according to the press release.
He also stressed there was "a legal and moral obligation to provide inclusive education, in which the main focus is on developing skills and abilities in children with different developmental processes" and emphasized the need to raise public awareness of the issue.
Lost and Found
Sholem Aleichem, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and Chaim Grade wrote in Yiddish. Their works were translated into English but many others who wrote in Yiddish, especially women, have not been translated until recently.
Madeleine Cohen, the academic director of the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Mass., said over seven years eight Yiddish works by women have been published or are contracted for publishing, which is more than the number of translations in the previous two decades.
Researchers have searched microfilm from long out of business newspapers and card catalogs at archives and found works such as A Jewish Refugee in New York, a serialized account about a 20-year-old who escaped from Nazi Germany. She lived with relatives who made fun or her accent and clothing and dismissed her fears about her relatives’ fate.
Another find is Oedipus in Brooklyn by Blume Lempel who dealt with abortion, prostitution, women’s erotic imagination and incest. Reviewer Cynthia Ozick said it was “a splendid surprise.”
Publication not only brings to light a rich vein of literature, it also helps to revive interest in Yiddish, which has been gradually dying out.
Selling an Olympic Medal to Help a Sick Child By Anna-Kaisa Walker
https://www.readersdigest.ca/culture/good-news-stories-world/
Maria Andrejczyk captured the silver in the javelin at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games triumphing over the odds. At the 2016 Rio Games, she was just two centimeters short of winning a medal. To compete at all she overcame shoulder surgery in 2017 and a bone-cancer diagnosis in 2018.
So, when the 25-year-old heard about a fundraiser for an eight-month-old, Miloszek Malysa, who was born with a serious heart defect, she was inspired to help a fellow Pole beat the odds, too. His family needed US$380,000 for a life-saving operation that would be performed in Barcelona. They had already raised half from their own campaign, and Miloszek was running out of time. “It didn’t take me long to decide,” said Andrejczyk, who auctioned off her medal for the remaining funds. The winning bid of over US$125,000 came from Polish supermarket chain Zabka, which later told Andrejczyk to keep her medal.
Creating a Safe Haven—with Books —By Jason McBride
https://www.readersdigest.ca/culture/good-news-stories-world/
Terence Crowster has helped disadvantaged youth in the hardscrabble, crime-ridden Cape Town, South Africa, neighborhood of Scottsville. At area high schools, he helped create valuable skill-development programs, anti-bullying policies and leadership programs. But what has really transformed the area are the new libraries he’s built from shipping containers and filled with donations and second-hand books solicited through Facebook. The Hot-Spot Library, named for its location at the border of an area fought over by two rival gangs opened in 2017.
Despite the dangerous postal code, the library has flourished, becoming as much a safe space as an academic one. In its first year, its membership grew to 750 young people. Its shelves are now stocked with more than 2,000 books. Educational programs are offered six days a week. Last July, Crowster opened an additional branch in the adjoining Scottsdene neighborhood, with future branches and libraries-on-wheels planned for elsewhere in Cape Town.
Crowster sees the libraries as part of a larger movement towards social justice in the city: “If this can inspire more people to stand up and do their part, then I have done my job towards changing our community.”
