Juan Rivera was interrogated for four days before he confessed to the murder of Holly Staker in 1992. On the night of the fourth day, the questioning became particularly accusatory, and he suffered an emotional breakdown.

Forced marriage, rape, malnutrition, and drunken teachers offering gifts in exchange for sex; one after the other, girls voiced the barriers they face in trying to complete primary school in Gulu District, Northern Uganda.

At lunch one day in high school, I was telling a few friends about my summer harvesting tomatoes on a farm.

With latex-covered hands and goggled eyes, I maneuvered the flask in my palm, scrutinizing it for a trace of my chemical product.

My heart dropped; my world collapsed. Barely discernable beyond the swirling dust and debris, a doll-sized child lay sprawled on the charred ground.

It wasn’t until Mihaja turned off the television that I realized I could still hear gunshots in the distance. It was the first weekend of my semester abroad in the capital city of Antananarivo, Madagascar, and the deadliest day to date of the political crisis that began just before I arrived.