Grateful News September 2015

This month’s Grateful News focuses on how art can have long-lasting impact on kids in India, creative help for Syrian refugees, a Somaliland student’s incredible journey, and a coach who encourages athletes with carefully chosen quotes.

How an art school is helping slum children in Delhi

“The parents used to tell me, you’re wasting your time, colouring on paper doesn’t put food on the table,” Rangamma Kaul, an art teacher in the Indian capital, Delhi, tells AFP news agency. That was 20 years ago. Today her school has up to 60 students. Leaning art develops more skills, and a better the chance of future work in other areas.
» Story in photos

Syrian refugees share ‘safe space’

UK charity Christian Aid has been working with Lebanese organization on a photographic project to help young refugees from Syria integrate with Lebanese youth. “It was also great to see them instinctively focus on the people, places and things that made them feel happy and comfortable, using the cameras to help them focus on the beauty in life despite everything they have been through.”
» Story in Photos

Trained In Budapest, Middle Eastern Doctors Return To Aid Migrants

As Middle Eastern migrants make their way through Budapest’s Keleti train station, they are often greeted — and treated — by doctors with roots in the very region the migrants have just fled.  » Listen and read this story

From Somaliland to Harvard

Abdisamad Adan, a 21-year-old beginning his freshman year at Harvard. Some of his 18 siblings are illiterate and never went even to first grade, and he was raised without electricity or indoor plumbing by an illiterate grandmother in a country that doesn’t officially exist. » Full Story

With Words at Play, Tom Coughlin Motivates the Giants

How does the old-school coach motivate and inspire — or just wake up — a roomful of millennials who are being paid millions? What he has done for several decades: He read his players a thought-provoking quotation, such as “Be where your feet are” which they discuss, then ponder on throughout the day.  » Full Story