Kikune knelt in front of Fukiko and me, the epitome of grace and beauty in a spectacular melon-coloured kimono.

She was in turn thoughtful, playful and coy, as she answered my questions and shared the trials, tribulations, and joys of fulfilling her dream: to become one of Kyoto’s legendary geisha.

It was a conversation I shall never forget.

One year later, I’ve finally produced the

The auditorium fell dead silent when Dr. Sunitha Krishnan stepped onto the stage at TED India on November 6. And Tedsters around the world, watching via a live stream webcast, were transfixed – or at least we were in Dubai!

The diminutive, soft-spoken, anti-trafficking crusader, who was gang-raped as a teenager, began her talk with the heart-wrenching stories of three children – Pranitha,

Journalist and camerawoman Margaret Moth is one of a kind.

No doubt. No argument. And definitely no tears.

Born Margaret Wilson, Moth changed her last name after asking herself what stopped her from having her own moniker rather than inheriting her father’s, or adopting a husband’s.

Her choice was inspired, she says, by a friend’s Tiger Moth plane, from which she frequently sky dived as

My Mom has Alzheimer's.

She doesn't know what time of the day it is, let alone the day of the week, or the month.

Sometimes she doesn't know even know the season of the year. Or what she just ate. Or the name of her cat.

One day soon she won't know who I am either.

But even in her demented state of mind, she knows it's wrong to torture people, she knows that sometimes you

Dr. Janet Rose Wojtalik has seven powerful “secrets” to share about parenting girls – secrets that will help today’s moms and dads create the strong, independent, amazing women of the future.

One of three children born to working-class parents, Wojtalik says she herself struggled to break free from negative, gender-biased parental and societal messages, and the fear of failure, to eventually

Here's a taster from the latest video blog update (#5), from Dubai-based Canadian journalist (and AWR member) Natalie Carney, who is producing a documentary on children in Afghanistan.

See the 10-minute "full meal deal" here.

Find out more about her fledgling charity Kids Being Kids: Afghanistan here.

 

Related links:

Svetlana hasn't seen her son in seven years, because she agreed to take a job as a waitress.

She was then was kidnapped and forced to work as a prostitute in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Her story is not unique. Hundreds of thousands of women are trafficked around the world for the purposes of pleasuring men who wish to pay for sex.

Being a prostitute by choice is one thing. Being a victim

Like Neda Agha Soltan, the young Iranian women who was shot and died in the streets of Tehran in post-election unrest, Marwa Al Sherbini seemed an unlikely candidate for martyrdom.

A pharmacist by profession, the 31-year-old mother of a three-year-old boy was several months pregnant with her second child when she walked into a German courtroom last Wednesday.

She was Egyptian. And a

I never thought I’d see a show that rivals the magic of Cirque du Soleil.

I recently enjoyed the Cirque’s Alegria, the last performance of which was delivered in Dubai in April. It was the fifth time I’ve experienced the Cirque since I first saw them during the Arts Festival held in conjunction with the Olympic Winter Games in Calgary in 1988. Since then they have risen from virtual