Friendships can be among the most rewarding—and sometimes the most challenging—relationships in our lives. As we continue our 2025 theme of FRIENDSHIP, we’ll take a closer look at some of the complexities that arise in these meaningful connections.

What does it mean to do something that genuinely matters — and what happens to you when you do? Ruksana spent a year living in Samochima, a village of 1,600 people in Botswana's Okavango Panhandle—no coffee shops, no theaters, a fan that had its own opinions about when to work, water that showed up when it felt like it, and heat that considered 90°F a cool day.