Reporting Fellows

A lack of COVID-19 protections only scratches the surface of a long line of injustices suffered by migrant farmworkers who have lived in unsafe conditions and faced labor exploitation for years.

With all the suffering amidst the pandemic, how do we process our own pain? Five months after shutdowns began, "it is still okay to cry," writes Medill School of Journalism junior Amy Coval.

"This time made me realize the people, my unconditional best friends, that I want to rush back to,” one sophomore tells fellow Wake Forest University student Madison Borsellino.

An 18th birthday, the MCAT, a raucous third grade Zoom classroom, and job loss. These are just a few of her family's life experiences that Wake Forest University senior Marlee Rich chronicles during the pandemic.

“In order to care for our patients, we also need to be cared for,” one methadone clinic director who struggled to find PPE told Columbia Journalism School graduate Anastassia Gliadkovskaya.

“The whole place was engulfed in flames. We saw an exodus of people from a burning hell,” says Marco Sandrone, the field coordinator for MSF in Lesbos where the Moria refugee camp is located.

Designed to hold 3,000 people, Moria refugee camp now has 13,000 residents. The overcrowding makes it nearly impossible to follow social distancing guidelines and practice proper hygiene during the pandemic.

Once travel restrictions were lifted, a day in the field revealed how Radio Indígena has adapted work styles and utilized Spanish and Mixtec languages to continue reaching vulnerable populations.

As many farmworkers face the daunting choice whether to work and risk contracting coronavirus, the Mixteco/Indígena Community Organizing Project provides critical information in Spanish and Indigenous languages.

After Wake Forest University junior Anthony D’Angelo’s sister tested positive for COVID-19, his family made the painful decision to move his grandmother out of the house. But the rest of the family stayed put.

"Skillful means come from the lama, and knowledge comes from the amchi [doctors]. When the two work together as one, we will live a longer life." — Tsering Thinley

One out of 50 people are thought to have body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), a mental health condition that causes preoccupation with perceived physical flaws. Medill Journalism School graduate Gwen Aviles reports on how the pandemic has worsened symptoms.