Abigail Higgins is a freelance journalist based in East Africa whose work appears in The Washington Post, Time, The Guardian, NPR, The Christian Science Monitor, Al Jazeera, The Times of London, and The Boston Globe. Her work on conflict and security, women’s rights, politics, and human rights is inflected by five years in the region during which she learned to speak fluent Swahili. She covered the Westgate Mall attacks in Nairobi, al Shabab's attack on Garissa University in Northeastern Kenya, and the civil unrest and failed military coup in Burundi. She studied Political Science, African Politics, and Gender Studies at Bryn Mawr College. You can find her on Twitter, @abbyhiggins, and Instagram @abbymhiggins and see more of her work at abbyhiggins.com.