Irina Matchavariani

Reporter in Columbia, MO

United States

- Writer
- Language enthusiast
- Discovering America
- From the country of Georgia

Portfolio

DETOUR: Best Stories in Black Travel

Miami Herald
06/16/2022
The Other 'Georgia On My Mind'

The year was 1979 and bluesman B.B. King was playing his first riff in Tbilisi, the capital of Soviet Georgia, when a gentleman with thick sideburns stood up from his seat and shrieked with joy.

Miami Herald
10/03/2022
DETOUR Health Portal: Doulas for Black lives

Jamarah Amani is a community midwife in Miami, Florida, working to make sure that every mother has access to appropriate care before, during and after childbirth. Amani's organization, the Southern Birth Justice Network provides training for doulas and midwives in the U.S.

Miami Herald
09/27/2022
TuneDn: Patrice Roberts on travel and winning hearts of international audiences

As vibrant and fun-loving as the music she produces, soca artist Patrice Roberts brightened the room the instant she stepped into it with her neon-yellow heels. Easy-going and relaxed, Roberts, or "your girl Patrice" as she preferred to introduce herself, sat down with DETOUR in the Cult Lab in New York City.

Miami Herald
09/27/2022
Excursions with Gina Arias: Niger, Part 1

Gina Arias has already taken you on excursions to the Dominican Republic and Colombia. This time, she will take you on her very personal, life-altering journey to Niger in West Africa. Arias visited Niger as a health and nutrition education volunteer from the Peace Corps and spent two years working in the field.

Miami Herald
09/27/2022
Excursions with Gina Arias: Niger, Part 2

"I was a mixture of excitement and anxiety," Gina Arias says as she remembers her first day in the village of Koleram in Niger, West Africa where she served for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer. She started practicing the local Hausa language and struck friendships with local children who would converse with her eagerly.

Miami Herald
09/28/2022
Excursions with Gina Arias: Niger, Pt. 3

In the two years Gina Arias spent as a health worker in Niger she saw glimpses of real life that remain hidden from tourists. As a Peace Corps volunteer she took part in the attempts to eradicate Guinea worm disease - a tropical disease caused by consumption of contaminated water.

Miami Herald
10/05/2022
TuneDn: Rapper Jahvillani reflects on reaching white audiences

Recording artist Jahvillani did not expect his song Wileside Government to become a global hit so fast. Yet, the song exploded, as he told DETOUR when we sat down with him in New York - and, to Jahvallani's surprise, it impacted audiences in the predominantly white country of Germany too.

RJI Innovation Fellowship 2022

Rjionline
08/22/2022
Incorporating reader feedback at Illinois Latino News

"We want to hear from our readers," said Hugo Balta, Publisher of Illinois Latino Network, the online news outlet targeting the Latinx community in the state. The network had previously used forms to solicit opinions from readers, but had been inconsistent in the endeavor. Now it was time for a revival.

ILLN
08/30/2022
Oases in the Desert: How Local Initiatives Battle Food Insecurity

The Go Green Fresh Community Market in Chicago's Englewood is an oasis. With its earthy-colored signs and stalls stacked with leafy greens, the local grocery store sits at the intersection of 63rd and Racine - right in the heart of a food desert, where locals have little or no access to fresh produce.