2022
September
12
Monday

Monitor Daily Podcast

September 12, 2022
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Clayton Collins
Director of Editorial Innovation

As a businesswoman, Janine Ndagijimana owns her niche. 

The market, in her case: eggplants. Not the aubergine kind but a white, African variety commonly called “garden eggs.” She first noticed them as a market favorite inside a refugee camp – she was born in one camp in Rwanda, to Burundian parents, and lived in another in Tanzania before arriving in the United States in 2007. 

Six years later she was growing them, among other varieties, in the soil of northern Vermont near Burlington. The city has long played host to a diverse resettlement community. Ms. Ndagijimana got support from regional organizations that help new Americans take root through agriculture.

She also drew from her years in those camps.

“Life was not easy because even the food they provided was not enough for one person,” she told The Associated Press, through an interpreter, in 2018.

Today she ships her specialty produce to buyers around the U.S. And last year she began partnering with Vermont Foodbank, which purchases produce from her – 1,000 pounds of it in that first year, says Elena Palermo, a community engagement manager.

This season the food bank is on track to pick up 1,500 pounds of eggplant. Ms. Ndagijimana also produces amaranth. Food-bank produce recipients who aren’t part of an African diaspora have warmed to unfamiliar options, says Ms. Palermo. The food bank provides recipe cards.

“It’s a great partnership,” says Ms. Palermo, one begun by a conversation with members of the resettled community that revealed “a desire for more culturally responsive food choices.” Coming next: an African corn variety that will be ground and sold as a staple. That’s just Ms. Ndagijimana deepening her roots.

“She’s definitely excited to be sharing this variety with her community,” says Ms. Palermo. “She has that wonderful entrepreneurial sense as well.”


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

Howard LaFranchi/The Christian Science Monitor
Olena Danylenko with her daughter Nastia and their American Shar-Pei Sheila at the Lviv Feminist Workshop's shelter for displaced women and children, in Lviv, Ukraine, Aug. 19, 2022. Ms. Danylenko, who fled her home in the Donbas with her family in May, says she was amazed when a woman from her new neighborhood offered to share any of her possessions that might meet the family's needs.

War has forced millions in Ukraine from their homes, overtaxing the battle-focused government’s safety nets. To the rescue have come civilians who feel compelled to take responsibility for one another.

Patterns

Tracing global connections
Emilio Morenatti/AP
A balloon with a picture of Queen Elizabeth II hovers over flowers at the Green Park memorial, near Buckingham Palace, in London, Sept. 10.

For 70 years, Queen Elizabeth II offered Britons a unifying common point of reference unusual in today’s world. Her successor, King Charles III, will be pressed to enjoy such trust or exert such influence.

Q&A

With the start of the school year comes talk of shoring up the ranks of teachers, including those from Black, Latino, and Native communities. What historical patterns have influenced the need for diverse teachers today? The author of a recent book addresses myths and solutions.

Points of Progress

What's going right

In our progress roundup, two examples of the power of recognition: Oxford marks contributions of African Americans to the English language in its new dictionary, and a video game producer is offering choices from two European women’s leagues in its new soccer simulation game. 


The Monitor's View

Reuters
In this official photo, Ukraine soldiers patrol the liberated town of Kupiansk after a Russian retreat Sept. 10. The soldiers' faces have been blurred out.

The war in Ukraine took another unexpected turn last week. Much like the way Ukrainians repelled a Russian assault on the capital, Kyiv, six months ago, their military was able to retake several cities in the crucial northeast region during a six-day offensive.

The quick Russian retreat and the speed of the Ukrainian blitz suggest more than the quality of weapons may determine the outcome of this war. Ukraine’s troops clearly have higher morale as they are defending their land. Yet as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at the start of the war when he bravely stayed put in Kyiv, Ukraine’s best weapon is the truth.

Unlike most Russians, Ukrainians can easily follow reports of the war – both defeats and victories. Their military can more easily recruit willing volunteers, whereas Russia has seen large defections of its volunteer fighters and has experienced difficulties in enticing Russian men to sign up for service in Ukraine.

Even referring to the war as a war can land a Russian in jail. A poll in August by independent pollster Levada found 48% of Russians pay little or no attention to the events in Ukraine. Most media are tightly controlled by the Kremlin.

Ukraine’s ability to command truth as a weapon includes one clever ploy: Many of the captured Russian soldiers are handed a cellphone to call their mothers to reveal details about the war. This has spread news about corruption and bad leadership in the military.

Those problems may help explain Russia’s latest battlefield retreat. As Russian blogger Yuri Podolyaka wrote to his 2.3 million Telegram followers last week, the Russian people could soon cease to trust “the government as a whole.”

To win the war, Russian President Vladimir Putin might need to impose a draft. That alone would be an admission that the war is actually a war and not a “special military operation.” A lie would be exposed, undercutting his popularity.

Critics say Mr. Putin now fears a revolt among Russia’s elite as much as he fears an independent Ukraine. Last June, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Mr. Putin is afraid that a “spark of democracy” could ignite in Russia.

Ukraine is still a long way from winning the war. President Zelenskyy said over the weekend that the next 90 days will determine the country’s future. For now, Russia’s retreat may have put a spark among its people, one lit by Ukraine’s bright beam of truth-telling. 


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.

The concept of losing is generally thought of as a negative. But when we lose a mortal, limited view of life and replace it with the uplifted understanding of life as spiritual, loss becomes a win.


A message of love

Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters
A rickshaw puller enjoys rain during a monsoon in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sept. 8, 2022.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Karen Norris. )

A look ahead

Thanks for starting your week with us. Come back tomorrow. We’ll be examining a challenge faced by the nations of the former British Empire: Will they hold together after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, amid a growing anti-colonial movement? 

More issues

2022
September
12
Monday

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