art

Imagine you lived in Virginia and worked across the river in Washington, DC. Now imagine living with the daily uncertainty of whether someone would stop you from crossing over to make a living or returning in the evening to be with your family. This seems like an absurd scenario to many of us but it is a reality for more than 2.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank, a territory roughly the size of Delaware.

While recently visiting sub-grantees of the BOTA Foundation in Almaty, Kazakhstan, I met a group of young adults who are developing their professional talents, despite never having had attended school and rarely having had the opportunities to leave their homes.  It is not that Almaty lacks schools; there are many schools of high quality that are developing a skilled workforce that is supporting their country’s economic growth.  Nor are they excluded from the education system based on their ethnic or linguistic aff