China's slacker culture

WHO honors 1 million low-paid health workers; what monkeypox looks like [View this email online]( [NPR]( Goats and Soda editor's note T. Narayan/Bloomberg via Getty Images A million women just won a big award. They'd like a raise, too. They're India's Accredited Social Health Activists, and they play a critical role in promoting health care -- from monitoring pregnant women to raising awareness about COVID vaccines. In May the ASHA workers were named [one of six recipients of the World Health Organization's Global Health Leaders Awards]( — sharing the honor with such luminaries as the late Dr. Paul Farmer. To say they are underpaid is an understatement. Average salaries are about $60 a month, not always dispatched on time. The ASHA workers have publicly protested for better working conditions. As ASHA worker Ramrati Chauhan told our reporter, "We aren't asking for much. Only what is commensurate with our hard work." [Read our interviews with three ASHA workers here.]( Marc Silver Editor, Goats and Soda monkeypox U.K. Health Security Agency [Monkeypox can look different than what doctors thought. Here's what they're learning]( Symptoms that doctors were taught about in medical school are not necessarily indicative of the cases of 2022. It can be much more subtle — and look a lot like other diseases. [Why this Nigerian doctor is angry about the Western media's coverage of the monkeypox outbreak]( Dr. Ifeanyi Nsofor objects to the images used to characterize the current outbreak in Western countries. Many media outlets are showing Black hands and faces with the pox, but monkeypox is a disease now affecting people in Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States. Nsofor has suggestions for the best way to cover the global outbreak. --------------------------------------------------------------- Newsletter continues after sponsor message --------------------------------------------------------------- in the news [Ethiopia set a world record for displacements in a single year: 5.1 million in 2021]( The war there is responsible — and makes it difficult merely to assess the scale of displacement. Details are in a new report from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. the arts Colin Delfosse [PHOTOS: Congolese artists channel 'Mad Max' and Chewbacca with costumes made of trash]( Using found materials and trash, artists from the Democratic Republic of Congo create getups that draw attention to Kinshasa's woes. Belgian photographer Colin Delfosse snaps their portraits. [Like The Linda Lindas, this teen girl band in Benin makes you dance — and think]( The 7-member band hails from a conservative part of the country. They sing about female genital cutting, child marriage and gender equality. And they rock. rough translation Sarah Gonzales for NPR [Hard work is a point of pride in China. But a culture of slacking off is now in vogue]( The new season of the NPR podcast "Rough Translation" is all about work. This week's episode tells how younger Chinese workers are questioning the benefits of the daily grind as they face worsening prospects. The rise of "Sang culture" embodies their frustration and soul-crushing weariness. Reactions include slacking off, playing video games and striking a prone pose. links we like - The New York Times looks at Cameroonian author Patrice Nganang’s three historical novels about his country. [“The dream of Cameroon is contradictory,” he says.]( - [The movie RRR]( shorthand for “Rise Roar Revolt" and inspired by two early 20th-century Indian revolutionaries -- ”turns Indian history into delirious legend," writes The New Yorker. - Vox reports that [underground Egyptian rap]( -- it highlights grievances of the poor and is banned in Egypt -- sets the tone for Moon Knight, the Marvel series on Disney+. --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- Stream your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. [Find a Station]( What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: [goatsandsoda@npr.org](mailto:goatsandsoda@npr.org?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback) Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can [sign up here](. Looking for more great content? [Check out all of our newsletter offerings]( — including Health, Daily News, Code Switch and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to Goats and Soda emails. This email was sent by National Public Radio, Inc., 1111 North Capitol Street NE, Washington, DC 20002 [Unsubscribe]( | [Privacy Policy]( [NPR logo]