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The green you see on the site is to express solidarity with all the people of Iran
(no matter what "side" they are on),
in their struggle to achieve freedom and peace in their country.
Young Girls Defy Taliban, Learn In The Rubble Of Their Former Classrooms
Monday, 26 October 2009
Earlier this year, Kanju Chowk Elementary School in Swat was targeted by Taliban militants simply because the teachers are women and the pupils are girls.
The head teacher, Parveen Begum, gives us a tour of what they left behind. She covers most of her face with a white shawl, and treads carefully over the debris in beaded leather slippers.
"This used to be the classroom for our very youngest pupils," she says, as we look into a room of mangled chairs and desks, littered with shredded exercise books.
"All the girls cried when they saw what the militants had done to it."
Parveen says that when the Taliban took control of Swat, she started receiving threatening letters.
"They said if we didn't close the school they would blow it up with all of us in it," she says. "We were scared, but we stayed open."
Then a group of Taliban militants visited Parveen at the school in person.
"They told us we could stay open if we all wore burkas, even the little girls," she says. "We did that, but they blew the place up anyway."
More than 300 schools in Swat were damaged in this way.
It was a systematic effort by the Taliban to stop girls getting an education, and one of the main ways they chose to put pressure on the government.
But the Taliban are not in charge here any more and, in spite of immense difficulties, lessons at Kanju Chowk have restarted.
Fancy A Career Change? How About Rowing Solo Across Two Oceans?
Monday, 26 October 2009
It's in the early 2000s in London.
Roz Savage sits on a commuter train, brooding about her seemingly
perfect life: husband, corporate career, big house, little red sports
car.
Skip ahead several years: She's 38, single, homeless – and alone on
the Atlantic, in a 23-foot carbon-hulled rowboat. Here's the strange
part: She has never been happier.
The environmental activist has chronicled her transition from her “cubicle days” as a consultant to ocean adventurer in Rowing the Atlantic: Lessons Learned on the Open Ocean,
released this month.
She lost 30 pounds, battled rogue waves and once
had to be rescued during those 3,000 miles and 103 days at sea. Through
it she gained personal satisfaction and a commitment to protecting the
planet. And she's not stopping there.
Next spring, Ms. Savage will embark on the final leg of a
three-stage bid to become the first woman to row solo across the
Pacific Ocean. She speaks to The Globe and Mail about pushing
boundaries.
Susan notes: These two women are at the top of my list of
heroines. Each is a brave pioneer in her own right. In this live
interview, they talk about everything from education to what it takes
to raise a king, with bits and pieces on social media in between.
Fabulous.
Sending more girls to school may help poor countries get out of the economic slump faster, the NGO Plan International says in a new report. Just a one percent rise in the number of girls attending secondary school boosts a country's annual per capita income growth by 0.3 percent.
Girls are a formidable future workforce - if they get adequate training. There are over 500 million adolescent girls and young women in developing countries, Plan estimates in its report 'Girls in the Global Economy: adding it all up'. But many girls do not have the opportunities for good education, and the financial crisis is worsening their situation.
The information available suggests that investing more in girls is a good way out of poverty. "Countries with the lowest number of girls in education lie at the bottom of the human development rankings," says Nikki van der Gaag, co-author of the report.
Investing in education promises an attractive return. "An extra year of education increases a girl's income by 10 to 20 percent; it is a significant step in breaking the cycle of poverty," the report says.
Children On Both Sides Of Palestinian-Israeli Conflict Suffer
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
Actress Mia Farrow headed back to the United States on Sunday
haunted by the image of a young girl who spoke in a tiny voice of the
destruction of her home and the death of her loved ones in the Gaza war.
"There was fear on her face and she spoke in a tiny voice... of the
injustice," the 64-year-old actress said in an interview with AFP as
she wrapped up a week-long visit to Israel and the Palestinian
territories as goodwill ambassador for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF.)
She said she'll never forget the face of the 12-year-old who told
her "about about when her house was destroyed, the people who were
killed."
Farrow also recounted visiting a Gaza
hospital where "doctors had to make the agonising decision to release
babies of only one kilo (2.2 pounds) because there weren't enough
viable incubators and they can't get spare parts in."
Gaza is under a crippling blockade
Israel imposed after the Islamist Hamas movement violently seized power
in the impoverished, overcrowded Palestinian territory in June 2007.
In December 2008, Israel launched a devastating military offensive in response to Gaza rocket fire. About 1,400 Palestinians, hundreds of them non-combatants, and 13 Israelis died during the 22-day onslaught.
"If there is one overriding impression it is how profoundly
leadership has screwed up in this region, in Israel and in the
Palestinian territory and at what cost to the most vulnerable, the
children, the elderly, the innocent," said Farrow.
Farrow also visited the Israeli city of Sderot, which has borne the brunt of the rockets attacks from Gaza, just a few kilometres (miles) away.
She said she heard of children in Sderot not being able to sleep at night, waking up in terror.
Susan notes: the stories of the innocent young girls in this BBC News
article are heartbreaking... If this issue captures your attention, see a riveting hour-long US Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) documentary on child brides and violence against girls and women around the world.
At the age of 14, Nolizwi Sinama set off from her aunt's home to a neighbouring village. She thought she had been sent on a routine chore. In fact, she was on her way to be married to a 42-year-old man.
Her aunt and brother had arranged the marriage, taking three cows as a bride price, or ilobolo as it is known in South Africa.
Three years later, Ms Sinama says the experience left her feeling worthless.
"They stole my innocence and my childhood," she says.
Her husband forced her to sleep with him, and she became pregnant a month after she was abducted.
"I begged them to not to take me. I told them I wanted to continue with my studies that I wasn't ready to be a wife but they wouldn't let me go," she says.
"They told me that I didn't have a say in the matter - one of them said all the arrangements were made with my family's consent."
Ms Sinama says she told her aunt that her husband forced her into having sex, but was told that a failed marriage would disgrace the family.
She finally fled after discovering her husband was HIV positive.
Ms Sinama, like numerous other girls in South Africa's Eastern Cape Province, was a victim of ukuthwalwa - a cultural practice among people from the Xhosa ethnic group to abduct girls for marriage.
Prince Xhanti Sigcawu, a member of the Xhosa royal family, defends the custom.
"Ukuthwalwa like all our other customs was and remains an important part of who we are as people," he says.
"There is nothing wrong with the practice when it is done in the right way - which is when the girl is at the right age and the parents are involved and agree."
But girls as young as 11 years old are being forced into marriage, and calls are growing for the practice to be banned.
New Scheme To Prevent Trafficking Of Women In India
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
The ministry of women and child development, government of India, has formulated 'Ujjawala', a new comprehensive scheme for the prevention of trafficking and rescue, rehabilitation and re-integration of victims of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation (CSE).
The object of the scheme is to prevent trafficking of women and children for CSE, to facilitate rescue of victims from the place of their exploitation and place them in safe custody.
To provide rehabilitation services both immediate and long term by providing basic amenities/needs such as food, clothing, medical aid, counselling, legal aid, guidance, vocational training and shelter, to facilitate reintegration of the victims into the family and society at large and to facilitate repatriation of cross-border victims to their country of origin.
The oldest female athlete at the World Masters Games in Sydney has broken a world record in the shot put - at the age of 100.
All eyes were on Ruth Frith, from Brisbane, as she arrived for day two
of the World Masters Games, hoping to win gold in the the shot put and
feeling pretty confident as she was the only competitor in the
over-100s category.
But her 4.07-metre (13 feet, 4.2 inches) throw on Sunday didn't just win her gold but also broke a world record.
“As long as I didn't foul I was going to win it,” Ms. Frith told Reuters Television.
76-Year-Old One Of Record Five Women To Win Nobel Prizes
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Elinor Ostrom, 76, known for her work on the management of common
resources, is the first woman to win a Nobel in economics. She shares
this year's prize with Oliver Williamson, 77, who pioneered the study
of how and why companies structure themselves and how they resolve
conflicts.
Monday's final prizes of 2009 capped a year in which a record five
women won Nobels. And it was an exceptionally strong year for the
United States, too. Eleven American citizens, some of them with dual
nationality, were among the 13 Nobel winners, including U.S. President
Barack Obama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said it chose Ms. Ostrom and
Mr. Williamson for work that “advanced economic governance research
from the fringe to the forefront of scientific attention.” They will
share the $1.4-million (U.S.) prize.
Ms. Ostrom showed how common resources — forests, fisheries, oil
fields, grazing lands and irrigation systems — can be managed
successfully by the people who use them, rather than by governments or
private companies.
“What we have ignored is what citizens can do and the importance of
real involvement of the people involved — as opposed to just having
somebody in Washington … make a rule,” Ms. Ostrom, a political
scientist at Indiana University, said during a brief session with
reporters in Bloomington, Ind.
Margaret Moth (Journalist / Camerawoman)
Sending more girls to school may help poor countries get out of the economic slump faster, the NGO Plan International says in a new report. Just a one percent rise in the number of girls attending secondary school boosts a country's annual per capita income growth by 0.3 percent.
Actress Mia Farrow headed back to the United States on Sunday
haunted by the image of a young girl who spoke in a tiny voice of the
destruction of her home and the death of her loved ones in the 
At the age of 14, Nolizwi Sinama set off from her aunt's home to a neighbouring village. She thought she had been sent on a routine chore. In fact, she was on her way to be married to a 42-year-old man.
The ministry of women and child development, government of India, has formulated 'Ujjawala', a new comprehensive scheme for the prevention of trafficking and rescue, rehabilitation and re-integration of victims of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation (CSE).
Elinor Ostrom, 76, known for her work on the management of common
resources, is the first woman to win a Nobel in economics. She shares
this year's prize with Oliver Williamson, 77, who pioneered the study
of how and why companies structure themselves and how they resolve
conflicts.
