Newsletter Archive

He’s a Hollywood actor — and an undocumented immigrant. Bambadjan Bama, who’s originally from West Africa, recently revealed he’s a DACA recipient. The status of DACA — the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — which allows undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children to live and work legally, is now up in the air. Bama talks about the challenges of living in America as a black undocumented immigrant, and reveals why he went public with his immigration status.

VIDEO: Meet an 11-year-old Afghan girl who has spent her entire life behind bars. Mina was born in the prison where her mother is an inmate. She has never seen the outside world. VOA talks to Mina and her mother at the Nangarhar Prison in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, where the child says she’s eager to experience life outside the prison’s four walls.

For centuries, people of all faiths have come to pray at the shrine of a Sufi saint in Sindh, Pakistan. VOA goes to the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine, where legend has it that people have danced wildly every night for 700 years. However, a recent suicide bombing could be a sign that the inclusive, tolerant culture of Sindh is about to change.

Anocha Panjoy, a Thai woman, was abducted in 1978. Hwang In-cheol’s father was on a plane that was hijacked into North Korea in 1969. Both are among the hundreds of people believed to be held by Pyongyang, reportedly to train North Korean spies. In Seoul, VOA finds families of North Korean abductees feel abandoned by the world.

VIDEO: Ready for take-off. After more than 10 years in the making, Senegal is set become a major air hub for West Africa with the opening of a new airport. VOA takes a tour of the international airport, which is currently set up to serve 3 million passengers a year. But the plan is to extend its capacity to 10 million, making it the busiest airport in West Africa.