Culture at the Center: Eritrean Community in D.C.

Every day around 5pm, people start pouring through a small heavy door on 18th Street in Adams Morgan.  Nearly hidden behind the long lines from the bars that surround it is the entrance to the Eritrean Civic and Cultural Center (ECCC).  Among the DMV’s considerable Eritrean population, the ECCC has emerged as one of the foremost meeting places for the community.  Continue  

“A Golden Opportunity: The 2016 Let Girls Learn U.S. Exchange Program” by Karima Lakouz, A Moroccan Let Girls Learn Participant

During my high school life, I was always known as the social butterfly. I spoke to everyone, tried to engage in every social activity that is available, and hence I met a lot of people who told me about exchange programs. Thanks to them, I participated in English Access Microscholarship Program, Techgirls, and Let Girls Learn. I would like to shed the light on the latter. Let Girls Learn is an initiative started by the first lady of the United States of America Michelle Obama to help girls around the world get the education they deserve. This program had...

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Behind the Lens: Let Girls Learn

Behind the Lens: Let Girls Learn First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let Girls Learn initiative, is an effort to support girls around the world with education and opportunity. Currently over 62 million girls are without an education.  While interning at Meridian International Center as a Marketing and Communications Intern in the GlobalConnect Division, I was invited to photograph the girls during the Let Girls Learn U.S. Exchange Program where girls from Morocco and Liberia were invited by the First Lady to come to Washington D.C. and watch CNN’s documentary “We Will Rise: Michelle Obama’s Mission to Educate Girls Around the...

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“The Let Girls Learn U.S. Exchange Program” by Bochra Laghssais, A Moroccan Participant

First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama invited 22 Moroccan girls and 22 Liberian girls to the White House for the premiere of the CNN documentary We Will Rise on October 11, the International Day of the Girl. I was one of the Moroccan girls invited to Washington D.C. as part of First Lady Obama’s “Let Girls Learn” initiative. The White House visit was a follow-up to First Lady Obama’s visit to Liberia and Morocco in June 2016, during which we Moroccan girls participated in a roundtable discussion on the challenges young girls face in order to continue...

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Expanding the Impact of Women Entrepreneurs in Africa

Each year U.S. missions nominate leading women entrepreneurs from sub-Saharan Africa to participate in the African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP) as part of the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP). AWEP was launched in 2010 to bolster the economic impact on women entrepreneurs during the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum. This post was written by Elizabeth Barry and Mark Rebstock. Continue