Kenyan ice sculptor, activist nurse, triumphant goats : Goats and Soda : NPR

Dear readers, we are grateful that so many of you — millions of you — read our stories each year.

And of course we love it when a story gets a huge number of page views.

But page views aren’t the only measure of a story’s online success. There’s also “time on page.” Do readers click on a post for a nanosecond, then hop over to Amazon to buy some matcha tea? Or do they read all the way through?

So yes, it is deeply satisfying to know that readers found a story and stayed with it. But we can’t help but wish there had been more dedicated readers.

So the editors of our blog are shining a spotlight on “high engagement” stories from 2022 that we think deserve more page views. Some of the posts are sobering. Some are inspiring. And some are just plain fun.

You’ll read about a young man in Kenya who improbably decided to try his hand at ice sculpting — hoping to send a message about climate change. A nurse in Liberia who was frustrated that hospitals demanded pregnant women bring a costly bag of supplies for admission — and came up with a solution. And a deeply moving chance encounter that our visuals editor Pierre Kattar had on the streets of Rome with an Afghan schoolteacher.

Here are 8 of our favorite hidden gems from 2022 that we hope you’ll click on as the year comes to a close.

Climate change gave a Kenyan youth a ‘crazy’ idea: Become a world-class ice sculptor

Ice sculpting and tropical heat don’t usually go together, until Kenyan journalist Michael Kaloki decided to do something “crazy”: form a team to represent Africa at the Quebec Winter Carnival. Published on November 26, 2022

‘Comfort Closet’ helps Liberians overcome an obstacle to delivering in a hospital

Public hospitals in Liberia may require a bag of supplies to gain admission for delivery: bleach, baby clothes, diapers. The $100 price tag is too much for the poor. One nurse has a solution. Published on October 15, 2022.

‘I was their teacher’: A chance encounter as Afghans protest after a suicide bombing

Pierre Kattar edited the pictures for an NPR story about two of the teenagers killed in the Sept. 30 attack. On Oct. 10, he went to a demonstration in Rome and made an unexpected connection. Published on November 1, 2022.

Food insecurity is driving women in Africa into sex work, increasing HIV risk

A study found that giving direct food support to women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa cut their risk of contracting HIV by 64%, because it alleviated the pressure to engage in high-risk sex. Published on November 11, 2022.

‘Scream for Me, Africa!’: How the continent is reinventing heavy metal music

Africa’s metalheads have a bold vision. We talk to Edward Banchs, author of a new book about Africa’s metal scene, and to a heavy metal singer in Botswana known as “Vulture.” Published on August 7, 2022.

A $2.5 million prize gives this humanitarian group more power to halt human suffering

Jan Egeland of the Norwegian Refugee Council, which has been awarded the Hilton Humanitarian Prize for helping millions in crisis, talks about unprecedented challenges and dreams of a better future. Published on October 20, 2022.

This MacArthur ‘genius’ grantee says she isn’t a drug price rebel but she kind of is

Health justice lawyer Priti Krishtel doesn’t believe your ability to heal should depend on your ability to pay. Her mission is to reform the patent system that drug companies use to block competition. Published on October 13, 2022.

And because we can never resist a good goat tale:

High up in the mountains, goats and sheep faced off over salt. Guess who won

It was the unstoppable force versus the immovable object as goats and sheep locked horns over salt licks newly exposed in a warming climate in Montana. A new study reports on this cage match. Published on October 17, 2022.