Search for Common Ground

Fatoumata Cissé, a visually impaired young woman from Mopti, Mali, grew up in a community where young women are often discouraged from participating in associative or NGO activities and are encouraged instead to focus on housework. Fatoumata, however, has dreams and passions, and there was a time when she felt caught between her personal aspirations and her family’s e...

The first night, Amina didn’t sleep. The room was too quiet. Not the kind of quiet she was used to—where you know what’s outside, who’s nearby, what tomorrow will look like. This was different. Everything felt temporary. Even the walls. She lay awake, going over what she had brought. What she hadn’t. What she couldn’t. A few weeks later, someone showed her how to pour ca...

Joseph was ten when he left. Not because he wanted to, but because staying meant something worse. He had already lost his parents. The people who were supposed to care for him didn’t. So he left. The street doesn’t ask questions.
It doesn’t explain anything.
It just teaches you quickly:
how to stay quiet
how to stay alert
how to survive For a long tim...

There are days when Maya doesn’t know what the next week will look like. Plans shift. Things change quickly. But in her workspace, she focuses on what she can control. Wax.
Wick.
Heat. She pours each candle carefully. Lets it settle. Checks it before moving on. There’s something grounding about that. A process that holds, even when other things don’t. Lighting one of he...

Mariam learned to work with clay by watching. Standing just to the side.
Close enough to see how her mother’s hands moved and how something soft could slowly take form. She remembers the first time she tried it herself. The clay didn’t listen. It leaned.
Collapsed.
Lost its shape before she could steady it. Her mother didn’t correct her right away. Just said, “Stay ...