From North Korea to Africa, here’s an interesting global perspective from Montanans on the ground.
First, Butte native Holly Pickett has a photo featured by National Geographic. I first ran into her in Afghanistan a while back. Later, I noticed her tweet showing she was the first Westerner to view Qaddhafi’s body after he was killed in Libya.
Her photo, from the Mentao Refugee Camp in Burkina Faso can be seen by clicking here.
Her photo is just one of many from a group of photographers in Africa who share snippets of ordinary life on an Instagram feed called Everyday Africa.
And,if you missed this story from The Billings Gazette, it is incredibly rare to talk to an American who has actually travelled inside North Korea, but a Montana missionary withe the Bozeman-based Vision Beyond Borders has done just that:
“Everywhere we went we would see these performances of people worshiping the leaders,” Klein said. “They had almost like a praise and worship band and they were singing these worship songs to the leaders. We kept hearing the names of the leaders over and over again.”
At one point on the trip, she (the tour guide) grew angry when Klein and a friend, sitting outside one of the shrines, started to pray.
But in a dialogue later, the women asked Klein why all Americans hate the North Koreans. He was quick to reassure her that many Christians in the United States love and pray for her people.
And, from Ireland- former Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT) was honored with the Tip O’Neill Irish Diaspora Award.
What, no bolo tie? (h/t a listener in Helena)