They were labeled witches, but they just had dementia

Note: This is a version of my personal newsletter, which I send out via Ghost, the open-source publishing platform. You can see other issues and sign up here.

Previously known as South West Africa, Namibia gained independence from South Africa after many years of guerilla warfare in the Border War. About the time Namibia was founded, Berrie Holtzhausen began a remarkable journey from irreverent preacher to caregiver for people with dementia and finally to his latest role: locating people who have been accused of witchcraft in Namibia’s tribal populations. His pioneering discovery of a connection between persons with dementia and an elevated risk of being named a witch spurred a personal mission to seek justice. “Witches need us to understand them,” he says.

Martin Luther King Jr. paid the hospital bill when actress Julia Roberts was born

When the was born 55 years ago in Smyrna, Ga., a couple swooped in and paid her parents’ hospital bill, because her parents didn’t have the money to do so. It was Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King. And how did this happen? Walter and Betty Roberts owned a theater school in Atlanta, called the Actors and Writers Workshop, which the King children attended. “One day Coretta Scott King called my mother and asked if her kids could be part of the school,” Julia Roberts recalled. “My mom was like, ‘Sure, come on over.’ And so they just all became friends and they helped us out of a jam.”

Continue reading “They were labeled witches, but they just had dementia”