✊ Amazon 0 – Gen Z of color 1

Let's begin:

• Afghanistan: What are the 'normal people' doing?
• Somalia: Another female leader killed
• United States: Amazon 0 -- workers 1
• Plus: So many good news from Poland, Yemen, Madagascar, Algeria, Tanzania and the science people, etc.

Now without further ado, here's what happened last week:

what happened last week

We need to stay in touch with 'normal people' in Afghanistan
I refuse to leave Afghanistan in 'outside-of-relevant-mainstream-news' land, so, here are stories about the 'normal people' in Afghanistan. I'm sure, like me, you've been curious about how life has been like for them since the Taliban took over the country last August.

Okay, where do I start?
Alive in Afghanistan (AiA) is a good starting point. AiA focuses on covering the people of Afghanistan in provinces that have been out of media attention so far. Recently, they've co-published with ProPublica (a huge non-profit newsroom that investigates abuses of power), working on a pretty significant story about the untold first-hand accounts from Afghan civilians and U.S. Marines who were at Abbey Gate, Kabul airport's last entrance, on August 26.

But back to the stuff they cover that doesn't get much media attention. Here are few things I've learnt reading their articles:

• Some girls cannot go to school even if they wanted to. Not because the Taliban won't allow it but because they have to work to financially support their families. They make carpets, sell plastic bags, polish shoes, wash cars, etc.

  • To dive in deeper, read this story by Mirzahussain Sadid. He writes about children from three households who make carpets all day.

• Afghanistan is famous for its woodworking skills. However, in the last few years, deforestation (sometimes on purpose, other times trees were burnt down during combat) has led some timber salespeople to want to become carpenters.

  • To get a feeling for this, read this story by Khalid Khadim and Abdul Ahad Poya. It follows one busy working day in the life of 52-year-old Abdul Khaliq. He's a carpenter in Kotaki in the Kunar province. The Taliban takeover has significantly impacted his daily income, from making about US$34 per day to a daily wage of US$6-11 after paying his workers. According to Abdul Khaliq, if the government does not remove the restrictions, the work of carpenters in the province will decline and eventually collapse.

• Miniature art is the sh*t in Herat. It all started with Ostad Kamaluddin Behzad; a man who brought miniature art to its peak in Herat in the 15th or 16th century, with its fame reaching European countries. Centuries after his death in 1450, people in Afghanistan still practice the art of miniatures Behzad-style.

  • This story by Abdul Karim Azim is about a family of artists, the Hashemi family in Herat. They decorate glass bottles with miniature painting and have been dependent on the income from selling these objects. Since the Taliban takeover, the Hashemi family has been struggling to make a living.

Are you on Twitter?
Follow them if you like their work; they only have 1,540 followers right now.

We are mourning the death of another female leader in Somalia -- Rest in Power, Amina Mohamed Abdi
There are a lot of political leaders in Somalia; some of them are women. However, a lot of them, especially the women, end up getting killed. The latest victim is a famous member of the Somali Parliament: Amina Mohamed Abdi. She was killed in a suicide bomb last week as she was campaigning for a third term. The militant Islamist group Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack but not everyone is convinced.

Why this matters:
There are not many young women in Somali politics. Amina Mohamed Abdi was one of the Somali government's most prominent critics. Her death may be linked to the biggest political scandal in Somalia at the moment.

Tell me more about her:
Born in Mogadishu, she was an academic and a teacher -- later she became known as the outspoken politician who kept running for office (first time was in her early 20s), and kept winning, too. Somali Wire quotes one of her interviews, 'I was ... brought up ... in a country when there was no government. It is necessary for our children to have a government in order to get the basic rights: security, clean water and quality education.' Still, it was super risky.

• Dive deeper: Hussein Mohamed wrote up a long-read about Amina Mohamed Abdi for The Continent.
• Hear her speak in this interview with Reuters.

How risky?...