by Kisha Montgomery The other night, I went with a local NGO to warn street children in Durban that the police were planning a raid the next day to sweep about forty of them off the street. Typically, the police will gather the children in vans. They will then either trump up charges and send…
by Eva Kent Picking up the VIA Destinations magazine from the ticket counter at the train station, I saw that the main topic of the September issue was “What Do Men Want?” I realized this would make for painful reading material. The night before I had been stood up by a Canadian guy I really…
by Audrey Mei At 9:30 a.m., Sunday, November 1, 1755, Lisbon was struck by the first of three earthquakes, the third of which succeeded in reducing the bustling town—a center of wealth and culture—to rubble. The stone roofs of the churches came tumbling down onto the thousands of churchgoers who had congregated to worship All…
by Genice Jacobs In 2004, Genice Jacobs traveled halfway around the world to Almaty, Kazakhstan to adopt her daughter Jiana. She kept a blog to record her journey, both to Central Asia and to motherhood. Saturday, November 13, 2004 The Beginning: Thinking, Planning, and Worrying It’s been a long, windy, and fortunately not-too-bumpy road since…
by Dianne Ancona The African coast was within sight. Though a day trip to Morocco wasn’t what I had imagined for my first trip to Africa, it was a start. As I stared out at the cobalt-blue water and watched the colossal Rock of Gibraltar shrink behind us, a single dolphin leapt from the water…
by Julie Ferro Aletch Glacier, high in the Swiss Alps. With both trepidation and excitement, I allow myself to be tied to eight other people, single-file, about three feet apart from one another. Our guide, the very experienced and well-known Art Furrer, ties himself at the head of the line to form a ten-person dragon….
by Marcie J. Bushnell Over 500 kinds of lichens and moss blanket the lava fields. It’s nature’s way of softening the rugged, mostly treeless “moonscape” that greets us as we exit the sleek Icelandair aircraft in Keflavik, Iceland. My twenty-six-year-old daughter and I exchange glances and smiles as we pass through the modern, minimalist airport…