Ariel Sophia Bardi
HARYANA, India — In 2014, Breakthrough India, an independent human-rights organization, launched a program to tackle gender discrimination throughout 150 schools in Haryana, one of India’s most gender-biased states. A 2011 census showed that Haryana, a primarily agricultural state bordering Delhi in northern India, had the worst child-sex ratio in the country, with only 830 … Read more
FLORENCE, Italy — This month, Italy’s tourism season kicks into high gear. Florence, which receives more than 16 million tourists a year, is one of many cities to be marred by mass travel. In the famously picturesque Piazza della Signoria, groups plod through the cobblestoned square, shepherded by flag-waving guides. Vendors peddle selfie-sticks in broken … Read more
LAPRAK, Nepal — Clouds roll in like smoke, blanketing the hillside. Gupsi Pakha, the largest camp in Gorkha district for displaced survivors of Nepal’s earthquake, is preparing for the coming monsoon season. In the frigid afternoon here, a toddler ambles after a fat white hen, and a few villagers queue for water by the camp’s … Read more
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Seven years after the end of its civil war, tourism in Sri Lanka continues to spike. The island nation is fast approaching its annual target of 2.5 million international visitors, a staggering figure for a country of 20 million. But rapid-fire development has created two Sri Lankas, leading to deepening schisms … Read more
KATHMANDU, Nepal — Migration in this country is omnipresent. Nearly everyone has a relative or a neighbor who works abroad, while the Department of Foreign Employment, based in the capital here, teems with job-seekers. Landlocked Nepal has a long history of labor exportation, but the scope of the country’s current migration boom is unprecedented: the … Read more
