This month, we're featuring a YALI Network Podcast, recently recorded from our very own Potter Studio at James Madison's Montpelier.

While in high school, YALI 2017 Fellow Emmanuel Agumah was diagnosed with Buruli ulcer. The disease kept him hospitalized for approximately three years. Now, Emmanuel is Founder of the Buruli Ulcer Victims Aid Foundation, working to give back to victims who have suffered from Buruli ulcer.

In this YALI Voices podcast, Agumah shares his story with another YALI 2017 Fellow Rebecca Ojedele. Rebecca is project coordinator at the African Radio Drama Association, where she has written and produced over 15 different radio programs, several short videos and documentaries, and a toolkit app on various health, social and developmental issues.

America's third President, Thomas Jefferson, wrote in America's Declaration of Independence that among the unalienable rights of every man (and woman) were the rights of "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." The first two rights in this often quoted maxim are simple enough; but for over 230 years people around the world have puzzled over man's right to happiness and how to define it. In the past decade sociologists, neurologists, and other scientists have begun to answer this fundamental question. The National Geographic Society recently summarized their work. For all of us in the Precinct community who study how we might improve our countries for the betterment of all, there are valuable lessons here.