2022
March
15
Tuesday

Monitor Daily Podcast

March 15, 2022
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Trudy Palmer
Cover Story Editor

The app Ukraine Take Shelter, created in record time by two Harvard University freshmen, connects Ukrainian refugees with people around the world ready to house them. As Avi Schiffmann, who came up with the idea, explained to The Washington Post, “What we’ve done is put out a super fast, stripped-down version of Airbnb.”

He and his classmate Marco Burstein worked around the clock to develop and launch the app in just a couple of days. A week after it went live on March 2, it had 4,000 people worldwide offering shelter, ranging from couches to spare bedrooms to vacation homes.

Now, there are roughly 7,000 hosts, the developers told the Monitor via email, adding that they have “received many messages and success stories from hosts and refugees.”

Obviously, Ukrainian refugees are more likely to seek housing in countries near them than in the United States. And lots of offers are coming from Europe. But when I typed my Midwestern U.S. city into the app, I found scores of people, rippling far out from the city center, eager to open their homes.

You could argue that it’s easy for Americans to offer shelter since they’re not likely to find takers 5,000 miles away. But the sincerity in the postings dispels that cynicism:

  • “Offering a safe haven in my home”
  • “Retired grandmother with three plus bedrooms and her whole home to share”
  • “LGBTQ welcomed with [red heart emoji]
  • And those are just the headlines. Expand an entry to get details, and the sincerity often expands as well:

  • “We don’t have much but what we have you are welcome to have as well.”
  • “Stay as long as you need and know that you are not a burden.”
  • “We want to be a place of refuge for anyone.”
  • And that grandmother eager to share her home? She’s offering to help pay airfare too.


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    Today’s stories

    And why we wrote them

    So far, the world’s sweeping economic backlash to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is primarily being felt by those Russians most engaged with the West. But everyone knows the bite will soon be felt more broadly.

    The hunt for oil to replace banned Russian imports is forcing Washington into some difficult choices. But in one case, it might also lead to a happier outcome.

    A deeper look

    Mary Schwalm/AP
    University of Pennsylvania's Lia Thomas smiles after winning the 100-yard freestyle final at the Ivy League Women's Swimming and Diving Championships at Harvard University, Feb. 19, 2022, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

    Swimmer Lia Thomas’ participation in the NCAA’s national championships this week offers an opportunity to discuss the experience of transgender athletes and to consider what constitutes fairness when it comes to their inclusion in sports.

    Banning books can have unintended consequences. In the United States, one result has been a redoubled effort to ensure those books – and the ideas they express – are freely available.

    In Pictures

    KANG-CHUN CHENG
    Community members build a manyatta, a Maasai term for a dwelling, for Juliana Lorisho near the construction site for her language learning center.

    In an increasingly connected world, many minority languages are in danger of disappearing. Native speakers seek their revival – not out of practicality, but dignity.


    The Monitor's View

    Reuters
    Farmers cultivate maize crops in Masvingo, Zimbabwe.

    Efforts to lift the world’s poor people have long focused on educating girls and empowering women. Yet achieving those goals has been slow in many regions. In Africa, for example, women contribute 70% of food production, according to the World Bank. Yet just 13% of women between the age of 20 and 49 have rights to land. The marginalization of African women in general costs the continent $60 billion a year, finds the United Nations, and most of that is caused by gender disparity in land ownership.

    Yet across Africa, a growing number of initiatives are finding ways to solve the imbalance of land ownership between men and women. In countries like Kenya and Tanzania, for instance, rural programs run by women’s groups are teaching women their legal rights. Just as important, they are helping men see the economic advantages of granting greater land security to their wives and daughters. Once taught, values like justice and equality sink in, helping village societies transcend entrenched traditions.

    “For women’s land rights to be realized, they must not only be legally recognized but also socially,” Jacqueline Ingutiah, a Kenyan human rights official, told Ms. Magazine.

    Although nearly all sub-Saharan countries have constitutions recognizing gender equality, traditional styles of governance still control land rights. That leaves women particularly vulnerable. As Transparency International notes, corruption is rampant in rural areas where local chiefs determine land rights. Women often face sexual servitude in exchange for permission to stay on their farms if their husbands die. Daughters are almost never seen as legitimate heirs.

    Groups like the International Land Coalition are working with African partners to teach traditional leaders and others how to apply legal standards of gender equality in new land policies. Educating men can have a profound effect. A study conducted in Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya by Lori Rolleri Consulting and local partners surveyed male participants before and after a 12-hour course. The results, published in December, showed a dramatic shift in attitudes. Prior to the training, most of the men said land should be passed on only to sons, and few had formal wills. Afterward, many participants had created joint land ownership with their wives and made legal provisions to leave their lands equally to sons and daughters.

    The shift in attitudes had another effect, the study found. Landownership laws that are more gender-neutral help reduce “family tension over land matters which had often led to serious consequences” such as violence and cyclical poverty.

    As more countries create more equitable societies, African countries are learning that outdated and harmful social norms may not be as entrenched as they seem. They are giving way to higher ideals of justice that benefit all.


    A Christian Science Perspective

    About this feature

    Each weekday, the Monitor includes one clearly labeled religious article offering spiritual insight on contemporary issues, including the news. The publication – in its various forms – is produced for anyone who cares about the progress of the human endeavor around the world and seeks news reported with compassion, intelligence, and an essentially constructive lens. For many, that caring has religious roots. For many, it does not. The Monitor has always embraced both audiences. The Monitor is owned by a church – The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston – whose founder was concerned with both the state of the world and the quality of available news.

    Алексей Облов/Moment/Getty Images

    Is prayer effective in the face of conflict? A military veteran explores how acknowledging everyone’s God-given ability to value and do good can make a real difference in hostile situations.


    A message of love

    Urs Flueeler/Keystone/AP
    The Kapellbrücke (Chapel Bridge) and the Wasserturm (Water Tower) in Lucerne, Switzerland, appear in new colors, as Sahara sand colors the sky in orange and creates a special light atmosphere, March 15, 2022.
    ( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Karen Norris. )

    A look ahead

    Thanks for joining us today. Tomorrow, Washington Bureau Chief Linda Feldmann looks at how President Joe Biden is handling Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – and what Americans think of his performance.  

    More issues

    2022
    March
    15
    Tuesday

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