Temple Students From Violence-Torn Nations Find Philly Isn’t All That Different

A piece in the Temple News examines how foreign students experience Philadelphia’s, er, elevated crime rate. Nidaa Husain, a photographer from South Africa, made a project out of documenting the effects of gun violence here. Turns out living in Philadelphia isn’t so different from life in a violence-wracked country anywhere else in the world:

Back in Johannesburg, where the country-wide murder rate was 30.9 per 100,000 in 2011, the comparison between the two cities far exceeds her expectations.

“I feel it is easier to find similarities,” Husain said. “Young people are getting guidance from the streets, and there is fear and grief caused by violence, which I believe forms part of our collective consciousness, possibly further fueling the epidemic.”

At least we’re not worse.