Finding a place for the Misak language in the digital world

Originally published on Global Voices

Illustration designed by Marco Martínez and the Rising Voices team, used with their permission.

Rising Voices (RV): How do you like to introduce yourself?

Lucy Elena Tunubalá Tombé (LETT): Soy Lucy Elena Tunubalá Tombé, mujer misak del departamento del Cauca. Nací entre los páramos fríos del resguardo indígena de Guambía y fui educada alrededor del fogón, entre la palabras de mis abuelos y la sabiduría natural.

Para mi comunidad, el nak chak, o fogón, es el centro de la vida y la educación, pero también desde allí me impulsaron a conocer otros mundos y otras culturas, hasta animarme en convertirme en antropóloga, lo que me ha ayudado a amar más mi cultura y entender el significado de nuestra lengua más allá de las palabras.

Lucy Elena Tunubalá Tombé (LETT): I am Lucy Elena Tunubalá Tombé, a Misak woman from the department of Cauca. I was born in the cold páramos (moors) of the Guambía Indigenous Reservation and raised around the hearth, surrounded by the words of my grandparents and the wisdom of nature.

For my community, the “nak chak,” or hearth, is the center of life and education, but it was also from there that I was inspired to learn about other worlds and cultures, even becoming an anthropologist, which has helped me grow in my love for my culture and understand the meaning of our language beyond words.

Lucy Tunbalá in her Misak territory. Photo: Daniel Velasco. Used with permission.

RV: What would you like to share with the world about your language and territory?

LETT: Mi comunidad ha habitado este departamento desde tiempos previos a la conquista española. A pesar del intento de exterminio, nuestra memoria oral, las toponimias y las investigaciones arqueológicas evidencian nuestra existencia. Por ejemplo, el nombre del departamento del Kauka es una palabra de la lengua nam trik, que un español significaría “madre de los bosques”. Esto quiere decir que muchas comunidades que habitaban el hoy conocido Valle de Pubenza, hablaban variantes de una lengua a la que varios investigadores denominaron nam trik o guambiano, que hoy clasifican dentro de la familia lingüística barbacoa.

Algunas de las variantes aún se mantienen vivas, como namui wam, hablada por la comunidad de Guambía; nam trik de Totoró, hablada por el pueblo Totoroez o el kishuwam, del pueblo de Kisgó. Aunque no todas cuenten con el mismo número de hablantes, varias comunidades realizan esfuerzos por revitalizarlas o fortalecerlas. Así como la cultura es dinámica, también las lenguas se han transformado al pasar de las generaciones.

LETT: My community has lived in this province since before the Spanish conquest. Despite the attempted extermination, our oral memory, toponyms, and archaeological research attest to our existence. For example, the name of the Kauka department is a word from the Nam Trik language, which a Spaniard would say means “mother of the forests.” This means that many communities that inhabited what is now known as the Pubenza Valley spoke variants of a language that several researchers called Nam Trik or Guambiano, which is now classified within the Barbacoa linguistic family.

Some of these variants are still alive, for example, Namui Wam, spoken by the Guambía community; Nam Trik from Totoró, spoken by the Totoroez people; and Kishuwam, spoken by the Kisgó people. Although not all have the same number of speakers, several communities are making efforts to revitalize or strengthen them. Just as culture is dynamic, languages ​​have also transformed over the generations.

The hearth and my grandmother. Photo by Laura V Rengifo. Used with permission.

RV: What dreams do you have for your language in the digital and non-digital world?

LETT: Cada vez se digitalizan más las acciones de la vida cotidiana y a través del mundo digital podemos acortar distancias en fracción de segundos y tener al alcance mucha información. Teniendo en cuenta que las lenguas indígenas han sido minorizadas, discriminadas y desvalorizadas, creo que llevarlas al mundo digital aporta al enriquecimiento del conocimiento en el mundo. Sin embargo, para esto es más importante aún generar acciones de autoconciencia y valor de uso a nuestras lenguas originarias entre las personas hablantes, comprendiendo así que como cualquier otra lengua en el mundo, podemos usarla para todo en nuestra vida cotidiana.

LETT: Everyday activities are becoming increasingly digital, and through the digital world, we can bridge distances in a fraction of a second and access vast amounts of information. Considering that Indigenous languages ​​have been marginalized, discriminated against, and devalued, I believe bringing them into the digital world contributes to enriching knowledge worldwide. However, in order to achieve this, it is even more important to create self-awareness and value the use of our Indigenous languages ​​among their speakers, thus understanding that, like any other language in the world, we can use them for everything in our daily lives.

RV: Could you share with us what your project is about in this Catalyst Program?

LETT: Se trata de alimentar la versión digital del diccionario vivo bilingüe nam trik de Totoró — castellano, con nuevas entradas léxicas, acompañadas de ejemplos ilustrativos, con imágenes y archivos de audio. Este diccionario es una herramienta multimedia, colaborativa, de acceso público y gratuito a través de dispositivos móviles y computadores.

Recopilaremos los datos en encuentros realizados en el resguardo indígena de Totoró, con las personas hablantes nativas que no están alfabetizadas en su lengua nativa ni en el castellano. Por eso, registraremos los datos y los traduciremos desde el equipo de trabajo que conformamos la profesora Marleny Angucho, quien ha apoyado los procesos de revitalización como parte de la comunidad; Geny Gonzales, quien ha acompañado a la comunidad en diversas investigaciones sobre la lengua, y yo, como hablante bilingüe.

LETT: The goal is to add new vocabulary entries to the digital version of the Totoró Nam Trik–Spanish bilingual living dictionary, accompanied by illustrative examples, images, and audio files. This dictionary is a collaborative multimedia tool, freely accessible to the public via mobile devices and computers.

We will collect the data during meetings held in the Totoró Indigenous Reservation with native speakers who are illiterate in their native language or Spanish. Therefore, we will record the data and translate it with a team comprised of Professor Marleny Angucho, who has supported the revitalization processes as part of the community; Geny Gonzales, who has supported the community in various research projects on the language; and myself, as a bilingual speaker.

RV: Why is it important for you to imagine and navigate processes of using, strengthening, revitalizing, and/or promoting your language through digital media and tools?

LETT: Las juventudes estamos atentas a la vanguardia digital y nos llama la atención aprender a través de estas herramientas y formatos, por lo que considero importante encontrarle un lugar a nuestra lengua en el mundo digital que le permita enseñar a las personas interesadas y documentar los conocimientos de quienes la hablan y no han transmitido este conocimiento por diversas causas.

LETT: We, the young people, are attentive to the digital forefront and are drawn to learning through these tools and formats. Therefore, I believe it is important to find a place for our language in the digital world that allows it to be taught to interested people and to document the knowledge of those who speak it and have not passed on this knowledge for various reasons.

RV: What would you say excites you about sharing this process with other Indigenous language speakers in Colombia?

LETT: Siempre es emocionante aprender de otras experiencias y pensamientos, como aprender nuevas palabras o sobre sus comunidades. Conocer otras formas de ver el mundo y habitarlo es importante para crecer como personas y profesionales.

LETT: It's always exciting to learn from other people's experiences and thoughts, like learning new words or learning about their communities. Discovering other ways of seeing and inhabiting the world is important for growing as individuals and professionals.

RV: What would you like to say to other Nam Trik speakers about continuing to speak and strengthen their language?

LETT: Mayaelan matɵke. Namui wam mei, ñimun ik pɵrikwan aship putrapelan alɵntrap inchar, namui chi kɵpikwan untak tɵka matana tɵka kɵkun cha. Namui shur mera kusrenanikwan pesanamɵ, namui wam wan waminchip, misak isuikwan tɵka kɵp, wentɵsrɵ ɵsik kɵmikwai. Namui wam wan tɵka kuiknuk kutrimpe namui nu isuikpe patsɵmɵntrun. Unkua Unkua.

Alondra Santiago published a song critical of the government

Originally published on Global Voices

Alondra Santiago. Screenshot from video “Canción de la semana | ¡Salve, oh patria!” (Song of the week | Hail, O Fatherland!) from her YouTube channel IngoEc. Fair use. “Hail, O Fatherland” is Ecuador's national anthem.

In the early hours of June 25, 2024, Cuban journalist Alondra Santiago took to X (formerly Twitter), to share the the notification she received from the Ministry of External Affairs and Human Mobility. The Ministry revoked her visa which had allowed her to live in Ecuadorian territory for 19 years. The notification was signed by Vice Minister Alejandro Dávalos.

The Foreign Ministry warned her that she has five days to return to her country of origin. The ministry made the decision to revoke her visa based on two reports — one from the Ministry of the Interior and the other from the Foreign Ministry — reports unknown to the affected person, as reported by her lawyer to the media.

Santiago described it as an “attack on the freedom of the press/expression.” Furthermore, she warned that she would not remain silent.

Lo que antes fue una noticia falsa, hoy se hizo realidad.
Me llegó notificación de “revocatoria de visa” por parte de Cancillería.

Esto es sin duda un atentado a la libertad de prensa/expresión. Este gobierno quiere silenciarme a toda costa pero NO me quedaré en silencio.
Esa… https://t.co/R5BCYQorcA pic.twitter.com/g84PmUhVzm

— Alondra Santiago (@cubalondra) June 25, 2024

What was once fake news, today became reality.
I received a notification of “visa revocation” from the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

This is undoubtedly an attack on freedom of the press/expression. This government wants to silence me at all costs but I will NOT remain silent.
That…

Alondra Santiago was trending on social media at the end of May for criticizing President Daniel Noboa's government on her YouTube channel, mentioning the lyrics of the Ecuadorian national anthem.

¡Salve, oh patria!
Hace rato no hacía una canción.
Pues ahí les va, mucho que decir, mucho que cantar. pic.twitter.com/pfd7bFc5gM

— Alondra Santiago (@cubalondra) May 31, 2024

Hail, oh country!
I haven't made a song in a while.
Well there you go, a lot to say, a lot to sing.

The song goes like this:

Salve oh patria, ¡mil veces!
Oh patria (…)
Se están secuestrando y la delincuencia no para.
Mientras Lavinia a cortar manglares manda (…)
Mientras una madre llora porque su hijo murió.
Verónica Abad no existe para este Gobierno nefasto
Que ha hecho todo lo posible por eliminarla hace rato (…)
Los primeros los hijos del suelo (…)

Hail oh fatherland, a thousand times!
Oh homeland (…)
They are kidnapping and crime does not stop.
While Lavinia orders to cut mangroves (…)
While a mother cries because her son died.
Verónica Abad does not exist for this disastrous government
Which has done everything possible to get rid of her for a long time (…)
The first the children of the soil (…)

The song mentions the high levels of violent death and, while the government has decreed a permanent state of emergency, it has not been able to curb the violence. Moreover, the song criticizes the president's wife, Lavinia Valbonesi, for felling trees in a protected zone in Manglar Alto in the province of Santa Elena, to build a real estate project by the company VINAZIN S.A., of which Valbenosi is the principal shareholder.

Combining the lyrics of the national anthem to criticize the government revived the political dispute between President Noboa and Vice President Verónica Abad, who he decided to send to Israel as an Ambassador of Peace in the middle of a war.

This prompted university professor William Brito to accuse her of slander for using the lyrics of the national anthem to criticize the national government. He then filed a complaint to the Prosecutor's Office.

CIUDADANOS BUSCAN ACCIONES LEGALES CONTRA ALONDRA SANTIAGO

Ciudadanos ecuatorianos denunciando ante la Fiscalía del Guayas el accionar de la extranjera cubana, Alondra Santiago en contra del Himno Nacional. pic.twitter.com/gt71AgcqBT

— El Portal Ec (@ElPortalEcu) June 4, 2024

CITIZENS SEEK LEGAL ACTIONS AGAINST ALONDRA SANTIAGO

Ecuadorian citizens denouncing to the Guayas Prosecutor's Office the actions of the Cuban foreigner, Alondra Santiago, against the National Anthem.

In addition, the journalist was attacked on social networks. Former vice president (1992–1995) Alberto Dahik requested that she be “deported.”

Viene de Cuba donde si abre la boca la meten presa. Le dan visa, y debe decir cuál es su actividad: o estudiante, o trabajo o inversionista. Sin embargo ofende a todo el pueblo ecuatoriano utilizando en forma grotesca el himno nacional para injuriar al país. ¡Depórtenla!

— Alberto Dahik (@alberto_dahik) June 5, 2024

She comes from Cuba where if she opens her mouth they put her in jail. They give her a visa, and she must say what her activity is: either student, or work, or investor. However, she offends all the Ecuadorian people by grotesquely using the national anthem to insult the country. Deport her!

The notification from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility that Santiago shared on social media mentions there is a “report with acts that threaten public security and the structure of the state,” a report that has been classified as “secret.” Her lawyer, Carlos Soria, has mentioned that the Foreign Affairs Ministry will have to prove the basis for revoking the visa in court.

For its part, the Ministry of the Interior issued a statement denying all responsibility. It states that the Strategic Intelligence Center is responsible for the issuance of the “document classified as SECRET.”

However, for constitutional lawyer Santiago Machuca, it is a clear violation of due process that the journalist was not allowed to defend herself before being notified. On X, he explains that “If they were capable of violating the right of asylum and the inviolability of diplomatic headquarters, they are capable of anything.”

Likewise, lawyer Pedro Páez stated that the withdrawal of the journalist's visa is a violation of fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and human mobility.

This is not the first time this has happened in the country. In 2015, the government of Rafael Correa revoked the visa of French–Brazilian journalist Manuela Picq when she was present at demonstrations against the government of that time. The government justified the decision by arguing that the journalist's visa had “expired.”

The reactions of solidarity in favor of Alondra Santiago on social networks were immediate. Mónica Velásquez, a journalist from the digital media La Posta, described the decision as “an act of censorship of freedom of expression.”

La periodista Alondra Santiago, ha sido notificada de la revocatoria de su visa ecuatoriana, esto después de cuestionar la gestión del gobierno del presidente Daniel Noboa.

En el documento el Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores hace mención de un “informe en el que se determina… pic.twitter.com/niAnfEIokE

— Mónica Velásquez (@MoniVelasquezV) June 25, 2024

Journalist Alondra Santiago has been notified of the revocation of her Ecuadorian visa, after questioning the management of President Daniel Noboa's government.

In the document the Ministry of Foreign Affairs mentions a “report in which it is determined…

The vice mayor and councilor of Guayaquil, Blanca López, said that the revocation of the Cuban journalist's visa is “arbitrary,” and political analyst Mauro Andino said that the Foreign Ministry's decision is “a discriminatory act that destroys freedom of expression.” Teleamazonas journalist Fausto Yépez described the act of withdrawing Alondra Santiago's visa as “authoritarianism.”

Columnist of the digital media Primicias, María Sol Borja, warned that the ministry's decision is “a brutal abuse of power.” This journalist's program “Los Irreverentes” (The Irreverents) was closed down at the beginning of June 2024. It was broadcast on the private channel RTU and directed by her, Fabricio Vela, and José Luis Cañizares. The journalists were critical of the Government of Daniel Noboa. The program had to go off the air due to “pressure from the government (Noboa),” said journalist María Sol Borja, in an article published by the digital media Primicias.

Cerró Los Irreverentes. Parece que las autoridades del nuevo país, las del “cambio”, no soportaron . Yo usé primero los zapatos de plataforma, pero podía compartirlos; de gana se ataca así. Por suerte estos no son los 60’s y la opinión seguirá viva en redes y otros espacios. pic.twitter.com/yvCZCZCDgG

— José Luis Cañizares (@graciasaljose) June 12, 2024

Los Irreverentes closed. It seems that the authorities of the new country, those of the “change,” could not stand it. I was the first to use platform shoes, but I could share them. He just wants to attack us this way. Luckily these are not the 60s and the opinion will continue to live on social media and other spaces. [Editor's note: Cañizares refers to the “platform shoes” worn by Noboa on May 24 when reporting to the nation at the National Assembly].

Furthermore, organizations and human rights defenders, such as the Alliance of Organizations for Human Rights, the Popular Legal Action Collective, and the Periodistas Sin Cadenas (Reporters Without Chains) Foundation, have rejected the arbitrary decision of the National Government against Santiago.

Controversy around President Daniel Noboa

It is not the first time that the Noboa government has been criticized for what is considered authoritarian practices and arbitrary censorship since it assumed power in November 2023, arriving with a campaign discourse of renewal and youth to improve the country.

However, his decisions have been criticized nationally and internationally. For example, on April 5, 2024, the police invaded the Mexican Embassy in the city of Quito in order to arrest the former vice president of Ecuador, Jorge Glas, who already had been granted political asylum. But the Prosecutor's Office accused him of alleged embezzlement and launched an investigation.

In an interview published by journalist Jon Lee Anderson in The New Yorker, Noboa confessed that the decision to invade the Embassy was his alone. This violates international laws and drew criticicism by the OAS and Latin American countries.

Noboa came in wearing a red-and-white athletic shirt bearing the logo for Pilsener, a ubiquitous Ecuadorian beer. Chuckling, he said, ‘It’s been a crazy few days.’ He explained his decision to arrest Glas. ‘The option of entering the Embassy was always in my head over the last couple of months,’ he said. He told me that Attorney General Salazar had heard from witnesses in the Metástasis case that Glas was leading operations aimed at undermining his government. ‘He’s a very dark figure,’ Noboa said.

Last April, more than 20 public officials and the former minister of energy were reported to the Prosecutor's Office by the government for alleged sabotage in a so-called confidential investigation. President Noboa's ex-wife, Gabriela Goldbaum, also faces around 49 legal proceedings against her filed by her ex-husband. She has publicly denounced him for abusing the state power he exercises over her.

On the other hand, there is the case of Verónica Abad, Noboa's vice president mentioned in Alondra Santiago's song. In addition to being sent to Israel, the Ecuadorian justice system placed her son in preventive detention for alleged influence peddling last March. Diana Jácome, the representative of the executive in two public companies (Medios Públicos and Correos del Ecuador), suggested in statements given to the news outlet Notimundo that he was sent to a maximum security prison in order to force Vice President Verónica Abad to resign.

After revoking Santiago's visa, the Noboa government broadcast a patriotic video on the national television network in prime time. The video begins with the phrase “Out of respect for the country,” then the national anthem plays and the video concludes with the government's slogan: “The New Ecuador Solves.”

For observers like journalist Menéndez, the video contains an ironic joke:

Criticaron esto (himno de Alondra), e hicieron esto… Usar el Himno Nacional para promocionarse y decir “por respeto al país” y que el “nuevo Ecuador resuelve” (con una risa irónica al final).

¿Quién los asesora?, ¿Qué mensaje quieren darnos? https://t.co/SkAS4yeQid pic.twitter.com/rQ7R3dTeSA

— Tere Menéndez (@TMT30_) June 26, 2024

They criticized this (Alondra's anthem), and they did this… Use the national anthem to promote themselves and say “out of respect for the country” and that the “new Ecuador solves” (with an ironic laugh at the end).

Who advises them? What message do they want to give us?

Read more: Despite what we think, the press does not live in a free paradise in Ecuador

Renat Bekkin explores Crimean Tartar history in his latest book

Originally published on Global Voices

book cover “Ak Bure. Crimean Tatar Saga”, publishing house Blitz. Author Renat Bekkin

Within the framework of the recent confrontation between Russia and Ukraine, the Crimean Tatars are often disregarded in the international media — as if the events of 8 years ago are entirely unrelated to today's realities.

Meanwhile, Crimean Tatars live not only inside the Crimean Peninsula but are also spread throughout Ukraine.

The national identity of Crimean Tatars within Ukraine is becoming stronger, especially in the film industry, as directors and actors like Akhtem Seytablaev or Nariman Aliyev become well-known outside of Ukraine. This national identity and national movement are increasingly being noticed by researchers around the world. Global Voices interviewed Renat Bekkin, an orientalist, writer, and researcher, author of fiction and documentary works, a Tatar by nationality, and last but not least, the author of “Hawa-la” and “Ak Bure. Crimean Tatar saga.” The book itself was published in 2021 on the 100th anniversary of the Crimean ASSR.

Renat Bekkin discussed the national movement of the Crimean Tatars, which he reflected through the prism of relations between the Kazan Tatars and Crimean Tatars in his book. Renat rightly clarifies that “Tatars” and “Crimean Tatars” are two different peoples with their own history, destiny, and culture.

Bekkin explains that since there is a lot of contradiction around this history, he has not only relied on historical sources like archives and memoirs, but also representatives of the Crimean Tatar nation, such as the veterans of the National Movement of Crimean Tatars: Ruslan Eminov, Gamer Baev, Ayder Emirov, and others. Bekkin even recorded video interviews with some representatives of the Crimean Tatar nation about their national movement.

The novel “Ak Bure. The Crimean Tatar saga” explores the history of three generations of a Crimean Tatar family. The main character of the novel, Iskander (Crimean Tatar), will have to figure out whether his father, in the past an active participant in the national movement of the Crimean Tatars, is a romantic hero or a traitor and a coward. The story is linked with important events in Russia and Crimea's history.

Bekkin was drawn to research this story after discovering that in different geographical localities, people understand or perceive the history of the Crimean Tatars and the history of the National movement of the Crimean Tatars differently. While some in the Western region know of the political and historical figure Mustafa Dzhemilev and the Mejlis, East of the Ukrainian borders Yuri Osmanov and the NDKT (Национальное Движение Крымских Татар – National Movement of Crimean Tatars) are more familiar.

Thus, in “Ak Bure” the author reflects on which path the Crimean Tatars should take during the Perestroika (the 1980s) — following the NKDT's more liberal path, which is longer and more restrained, or choosing a more radical decisive path as the West did through the Mejlis. The author emphasizes that only the Crimean Tatars themselves know what is useful for the people.

Renat, explains that because he is not a Crimean Tatar, it was a rather bold decision to choose a Crimean Tartar as his main character.

Renat Bekkin (RA): Normally, writers apologize for taking, for example, an Indian for the protagonist, not being an Indian, or a Negro, not being a representative of one or another people. I did not want to apologize, but still I was worried about how the representatives of the nation that I put at the head of the plot would eventually react. But despite all my fears, the Crimean Tatars received my book very warmly. They were glad that the topic was covered by a person from the outside, but they regretted that none of them [Crimean Tatars] took it on.

Bekkin notes that many Crimean Tatars often avoid digging into their still-fresh wounds. And yet, there is a completely different understanding between those who are in or from Ukraine in the West, and those in the East, in the countries of the former USSR.

“It is also surprising that the perception of the Mejlis in Crimea, is completely different than in the West,” said Bekkin. Many people have developed a negative perception of the Mejlis, especially among older generations.

To understand these nuances, it must be noted that historically, Ukraine's national policy did not account for the Crimean Tatars’ own autonomy. Those who are older remember that the leadership of the then-Soviet Ukraine would not allow Crimean Tartars to return to their homeland. However, by 2014 the perception of the situation changed again, and many Crimean Tatars adopted an ambivalent attitude toward the states at that time, in spite of the crisis. Many younger Crimeans also have a negative perception of Russia.

This left the Crimean Tatars between a rock and a hard place. And in Ukraine itself, the moods of the Crimean Tatars were ambiguous, there is no monolith, there is no united front to “return to the Motherland,” which was typical in the USSR, instead there is a split. Yet Crimean Tatars in Ukraine and Crimean Tatars in Russia occupy completely different worlds.

RA: The main protagonist of the book, Iskander, has his own path, he did not become Ukrainianized by 2014, for him the main language is Russian — after all, he lived in Tashkent since childhood, then in the 90s he studied in the international environment of the city of Kyiv. It is necessary to understand the atmosphere of Kyiv in the 90s, where, apart from Ukrainians, Russians, Jews, and Crimean Tatars lived. Indeed, the Iskander family lived for some time in the Crimea, but at that time, the main issue was survival, or the struggle for survival, the issue of self-consciousness, identity was not a priority.

EL: I noticed an interesting parallel between Nariman Aliev's film “Evge (Homeward)” (2019) and your novel “Ak Bure” (2019), the description, which is not often mentioned, namely the proclamation of Crimea — as the “Promised Land,” somewhat an Israel for the Crimean Tatars. In the film, it was a main idea, but in your book, it was not even suggested by the protagonist.

RA: In my story, this comparison is rather used by the Kazan Tatar, the antagonist of Iskander — Dinar-Hazrat [an islamic honorific]. He offers an alternative to his ideological Turkic project, “Crimea is a land for the Turks, as Israel is for the Jews.” In this vein, he only argues. But one must distinguish between the Zionist project and the national movement. Nevertheless, the Zionist project was planted by force, through the purchase of land, and armed seizures, moreover, a thousand years ago, where so many peoples ceased to exist and others formed from some ethnic groups. Whereas the national movement of the Crimean Tatars (through the NDKT) saw a peaceful path, it is still the same national, people's movement, but not through squatting.

In his book, Renat unpacks issues specific to Crimean Tatars (or Tatars and Tatarstan), that are normally invisible to people outside of these communities. He introduces Tatar philosophers, authors, writers, leaders, Turkic literature, and spiritual Islamic rites, and at the same time, ridicules the specific features of some leaders, familiar at its best to those who are “in the know.” At the same time, Renat sprinkles the story with magical characters who represent those in power, like security officers, and spiritual leaders.

EL: Iskander ( “Iskender” is also a name of Aleksander the Great used in Turkic languages) is leading us through the streets of Kazan, its cozy places and makes relations with people of different religions and even races. He also takes the reader through the history of his family, through different centuries and various locations where many Crimean Tatar families were destined to visit, in many cases involuntarily. Can you talk about this?

I wrote for those who are interested in the path of this representative of the Crimean Tatar who ended up in Kazan, his interactions with the Kazan Tatars. I cannot avoid topics such as muftiates and succession, about another future of Russia, which is characterized by leaderism.  At the same time I provided the alternative way of the future’ development, through the history of this Crimean Tatar, when there can be miracles and life without strong leaders. Individual leaders still cannot move the block called Russia. For those who are interested in the perspective of a popular movement in the context of a national minority.

Image courtesy of Giovana Fleck.

For more information about this topic, see our special coverage Russia invades Ukraine.

Radio enhances education in rural areas of Bolivia

Originally published on Global Voices

Boys and girls from rural areas of Bolivia who were part of the Radio Escuela. Photo: Courtesy of CEPRA.

This article was originally published in our partner Bolivian outlet Muy Waso and was edited and republished by Global Voices.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in Bolivia, the gap in access to education between schoolchildren in urban and rural areas has increased. An educational radio project has sought to fix it.

During 2021, educational activities in Bolivia were virtual and blended due to the pandemic, yet about 30 percent of students attend schools in rural areas with limited access to the internet and computers. The dropout rate in 2021 was around 20 percent in Bolivia, one of the highest in Latin America and the Caribbean.

According to data from the National Institute of Statistics from 2018, nine out of 10 households in rural Bolivia do not have internet access. In cities, the situation is not much better: only six out of 10 households have an internet connection. Four out of 10 Bolivian adolescents or young people indicated that they were not attending classes through any internet platform in a UNICEF opinion poll.

Boys and girls from rural areas of Bolivia who were part of the Radio Escuela. Photo: Courtesy of CEPRA

Searching for solutions

It was in this context that a radio school project from the non-profit radio organization Centro de Producción Radiofónica (CEPRA) emerged to provide educational materials to primary school children in 24 municipalities in the country in 2021. The project was managed by their own funds and donations.

CEPRA's radio school reached areas that received little to no resources from the State. It brought printed and radio materials such as booklets, radio stories, and radio dramas to support children's education.

“In 2021, this project aims to close the gap that left rural areas without any support or guidance at the end of the 2020 school year. (Following government regulations), radio and educational booklets are included, but with a lesson-based approach, giving only instructions to the students,” explains Juan Luis Gutiérrez, CEPRA coordinator. 

CEPRA's radio school project also sought to recognize the different types of intelligence and ways of learning that children have “without qualifying or categorizing them.”

CEPRA reached children in four rural departments of the country: Potosí, Oruro, Cochabamba, and Chuquisaca. The booklets and radio materials include themes, characters, flora and fauna from each of these areas of Bolivia. The project addressed issues specific to each region.

The activities of the CEPRA project addressed community issues and the flora and fauna of the place. Photo: Courtesy of CEPRA.

A participatory project

The project not only focused on the distribution of materials but also included the training of teachers and community media broadcasters.

“Twenty-four community radio stations had an hour dedicated to children. It is something that had not happened until now,” emphasizes Gutiérrez, who is also a specialist in neuroeducation. It was not easy, some teachers said that trying to apply this project was “one more task for them to do,” but others cooperated with the project.

They had to evaluate the connectivity conditions and check if the students had internet and radio signals. This allowed them to carry out interventions in the households where they identified situations of violence.

“The 15 teams of educators who were going to implement the radio school sessions evaluated what was happening in the schools. During this process, we witnessed situations of violence from teachers, parents… so we set up spaces for psycho-pedagogical support and the pedagogues increased the number of visits to the households,” highlights Gutiérrez.

The initiative also sought to implement cultural, community, and environmental values, under the Montessori educational methodology. “Our educational approach includes more resources in the classroom and does not focus on the teacher. We want to support the student's perspective. We wanted to dignify the children, promote them as people with voice and decision power, and to create well-being with education,” says Gutiérrez enthusiastically.

Originally published on Global Voices

The aftermath of the cyclone in Beira. Photo by Juliano Picardo (19 March 2019), used with permission

Cyclone Idai hit southern Africa between 15 and 19 March and has already left over 350 dead and more than two million homeless across the region, specifically in Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Mozambique, with the latter being one of the most affected.

The category four cyclone formed on 4 March in the Mozambique Channel and hit the continent at the coastal city of Beira, the second largest in Mozambique with over 500,000 residents. Winds of 180 to 220 km/h were recorded, and over 160mm of rain caused sudden floods.

The number of deaths confirmed in Mozambique exceeds 200, according to the government, but it is thought to be much higher. The government estimates that more than 350,000 people are in a “state of constant risk”. The Red Cross reports that Beira could have had 90 per cent of its infrastructure destroyed, saying that “the scale of devastation is enormous.” The Mozambican provinces of Manica, Tete, Zambézia e Inhambane were also affected.

Provisional figures indicate the destruction of 23,000 houses, 616 classrooms, 30 clinics, bridges, and other infrastructure, alongside electricity cuts, and devastated agricultural land across 274,131 hectares. The collapse of telecommunications towers has also cut telephone and internet connections in the region.

Idai is the most violent cyclone to hit Mozambican territory since 2000. The United Nations said that the disaster left in its wake could be the worst ever in the southern hemisphere.

On Tuesday night, 19 March, the Mozambican government declared a state of emergency and national mourning for three days. While torrential rains and strong winds had been foreseen, the magnitude of the disaster was unexpected, and it has lead President Filipe Nyusi to cut short his state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini.

The aftermath of the cyclone in Beira. Photo by Juliano Picardo (19 March 2019), used with permission

“It is really a humanitarian disaster of great proportions” was how Nyusi described the situation in a statement to the nation broadcast live on the state television channel, Televisão de Mocambique.

After having flown over the most affected areas, Nyusi explained that in Nhamatanda district, Sofala, rivers’ waters burst their banks due to the high water flow in the water basins of Búzi and Púnguè:

As águas dos rios Púngoè e Búzi transbordaram fazendo desaparecer aldeias inteiras e isolando comunidades, vêem-se corpos a flutuar, e estradas totalmente cercadas pelas águas

The waters of the rivers Púngoè and Búzi overflowed making entire villages disappear and isolating communities, you can see bodies floating, and roads totally surrounded by the waters

“It is all destroyed”, lamented the Minister of Land, Environment and Rural Development, Celso Correia.

“The brutal force of the waters was such that it managed to destroy what for us had been unthinkable,” commented the Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, João Machatine, about the destruction of the new National Road No. 6. The road had opened only in late 2018 and connected the Port of Beira to inland regions. Machatine said that it had “toughness that was supposed to withstand any type of bad weather”.

The spokesperson for the UN World Food Program Hervé Verhoosel, told AFP “I don’t think that the world (has) realised the scale of the problem yet”.

On Tuesday 19 March, in a river in Manica province, ten bodies were found, most likely of people who tried to flee the intense rains by making the crossing. On that day, numerous people in Buzi were still holding on to buildings calling for help:

Imagens tiradas esta manhã no Distrito de Buzi pela equipa do Instituto Nacional de Gestão de Calamidades #INGC. Equipas de resgate estão nas buscas com o apoio das Nações Unidas. pic.twitter.com/mXOYhdvVHs

— Nações Unidas em Moçambique (@onumocambique) 19 mars 2019

United Nations in Mozambique: Images taken this morning in Buzi District by the team of the National Institute for Managing Disasters. Rescue teams are searching with the support of United Nations

Rescue teams reported seeing children clinging to trees, and when they lost strength, they were swept away by the current.

Humanitarian Aid

In order to minimize the suffering of the displaced populations, various international and national teams are in the affected areas to deliver assistance. Despite the cyclone having passed, the victims continue to struggle with heavy rains, making the arrival of aid difficult, as was recounted to DW África, on a story dated 18 March, by the spokesperson for the National Institute for Managing Disasters, Paulo Tomás:

Os nossos armazéns ficaram destruídos. Há necessidade de fazer a assistência alimentar via ponte aérea para alguns locais onde não há transitabilidade via terrestre. Há dificuldades também na comunicação com alguns pontos. Estas é que são as maiores dificuldades neste momento. E a cidade da Beira está sem energia, logo não há água disponível.

Our storehouses were destroyed. It is necessary to deliver food aid by air to some areas where it is not possible to travel by land. There are also difficulties for communications with some places. These are the biggest difficulties at the moment. And the city of Beira has no energy, so there is no water available.

Faced with the inaccessibility of land routes, India decided to divert naval ships to Beira, a port city, to deliver immediate aid to and help those affected. The ships hold food, clothing, and medicine, as well as three doctors and five nurses to give immediate medical assistance.

South Africa sent more than 100 divers supported by three helicopters to rescue families who found themselves trapped by the overflowing waters of the Búzi and Púnguè rivers. Verhoosel, who is coordinating the humanitarian response of the United Nations Mozambique, made an appeal for the collection of around 40 million US dollars alongside other partners.

The European Union made 150,000 euros available to the Red Cross of Mozambique, while the Portuguese branch of Caritas, a charitable Catholic Church organisation, announced the donation of 25,000 euros. The oil company Anadarko pledged to give 200,000 dollars.

After the cyclone in Beira. Photo by Juliano Picardo (19.03.2019), used with permission

France is sending 60 tons of material aid (3000 reconstruction kits and 6000 tents), while the French NGO Télécom Sans Frontière managed to re-establish internet communications in Beira Airport by way of satellite mobile phones, thereby helping rescue operations to function.

A plane with UN food aid landed on Sunday, March 17 in Beira with 22 tons of fortified biscuits to feed 22,000 people for three days:

Response to #CycloneIdai in Sofala: @WFP rushed four tonnes of high-energy biscuits early today to assist people stranded in #Nhamatanda district after rising floodwaters burst a major dam on Saturday. It's part of 20 tonnes airlifted into Beira on Sunday from @unhrd in Dubai. pic.twitter.com/ymVs5ZCse9

— WFP Mozambique (@wfp_mozambique) 18 mars 2019

On social media there have already been numerous appeals and fundraisers organised by Mozambicans to help the victims of the cyclone, such as this one from Porto de Maputo:

Porto de Maputo anuncia barco para transporte de ajuda humanitária para vítimas #IDAI “apelamos que os bens sejam entregues com a maior antecedência possivel, entre as 7h30 e as 16h no Terminal de Cabotagem do Porto (acesso pela Av. Mártires de Inhaminga)” #MoçambiqueCheias2019 pic.twitter.com/iaXZKaEe3O

— Verdade Democracia (@DemocraciaMZ) 19 mars 2019

Porto de Maputo announces a ship for the transport of humanitarian aid for victims #IDAI “we call for the goods to be delivered as early as possible, between 7:30 and 16:00 to the Port’s Cabotage Depot (access by Av. Mártires de Inhaminga)”

Originally published on Global Voices

Anonymous says it has hacked into Iranian government servers and procured over 10,000 email messages from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Originally published on Global Voices

Flickr-photo "Scale" by deepchi1

Indonesia managed to weather the latest economic crisis and is now even a contender for the BRIC nations. What exactly was the secret of the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation? More than half of Indonesia’s 230 million people are women.

The majority of Indonesian women still adhere to their principal societal roles of being a wife and becoming mother. Although the trend is changing, most of the time women are still not included in decision-making nor are they demanded to contribute to the family’s well being; working is an option but not compulsory – thus financial independence is not absolute.

In the villages, parents marry off their daughters in hopes of securing their future. This practice leads many women poorly educated and left with few options in life. Women are often classified as “unskilled laborers” – working in the factories or sent abroad to work as maids – but their contributions to the state’s coffers have been overlooked and their rights haven’t been properly acknowledged.

In the past years, Indonesian women have inspired one another and showed that they too can ace in areas mostly governed by their male counterparts. One of Indonesia’s inspirational women is the former Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, who is currently the Managing Director of the World Bank.

A 2008 report published by the Indonesian Bureau of Statistics said that there are 46-49 million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in Indonesia, and 60_80% of them are owned by women. Those MSMEs represent 97.1% of the country’s labor force.

Similar to women in Africa or South Asia, Indonesian women also face challenges, like taking a bank loan without male guarantor, or if they fail to demonstrate that they are creditworthy.

Fortunately women do stick together in this country, and a strong presence of camaraderie among women can be felt in rural or urban communities.

On his blog, Son Haji Ujaji [id], an activist based in Tangerang, West Java, highlights how women have the capacities to increase the family’s income:

Perempuan akan mengambil peran-peran penting dalam kapasitasnya sebagai makhluk sosial, terutama dalam rangka peningkatan kualitas pendapatan keluarga. Lembaga-lembaga local yang ada lebih tepat bila diperankan secara langsung oleh kaum perempuan, baik yang bergerak dalam bidang sosial maupun ekonomi. Sesungguhnya kultur perempuan yang ada pada sebagian masyarakat Indoensia adalah bersifat guyub (komunal). Kuatanya daya komunalitas ini tercermin dari masih eksisnya lembaga-lembaga yang bergerak dalam bidang kewanitaan, seperti PKK, Posyandu, bentuk-bentuk arisan warga dan sejenisnya.

[…]

PKK mempunyai prioritas program berupa Usaha Peningkatan Pendapatan Keluarga (UP2K). […] Potensi, daya, dan karakter perempuan yang tidak kalah penting dan bobotnya dengan laki-laki dapat menjadikan program UP2K-PKK sebuah program unggulan dalam tataran program social safety net (jaring pengaman social), sebagai salah satu upaya menolong masyarakat dari keterpurukan ekonomi dengan jalan memberdayakan dan membangun masyarakat menjadi individu atau keluarga yang mandiri.

Generating income online and offline

Koperasi (cooperatives), a business institution founded by a group of people, governed democratically and aimed for mutual benefits, is regarded as one of the cornerstones of Indonesian economy.

Over the years, the basic principles of Koperasi are pretty much ingrained in the people’s mind. Although Multi Level Marketing (MLM), doesn't have identical values as Koperasi in acknowledging the importance of community and network, it is also considered as a great way to generate alternative incomes. People don’t necessarily go to MLM meetings to buy; they come to network, to find new opportunities or business partners over gossip, tea and cakes.

After presentations and catalogues for MLM came blogs and Facebook. The ladies quickly found a new place to market their crafts, imported Korean sundresses, or even last season’s Jimmy Choo heels and other luxury goods at discounted prices. Generating extra income is becoming as easy as tagging pictures.

Does microcredit work in Indonesia?

Microcredit, in practice, is not always a silver bullet against poverty in Indonesia, on the other hand new jobs would be.

International micro-credit organizations like Kiva aim to empower impoverished women and their communities through lending; this, however is not a simple task.

A netter nicknamed salman_taufik made a comment on a post appeared on Stanford Social Innovation Review. He has an excellent insight about why micro-finance is not quite a success story in Indonesia:

I have similar finding in macro level for Indonesian cases. During last decade after crisis 1988 – 2009, poverty only slightly downed from 21% into 14.15% by 2009, despite controversy over this statistic. Meanwhile, the credit growth into micro entrepreneurs increase 7 times during 2000-2009, much more higher than overall banking industry which only twice for the same periods. Contrasting of both figures bring me into question the effectiveness of microfinance to alleviate poverty. Since some the credit flows into micro entrepreneurs are consumer loans, I suspect that the rapid growth just showed how success capitalism sell their consumer goods into the poor such motor cycle, cellular phone, home appliances, etc, and the poor sell their land and cut illegal tree to pay all those stuffs. Furthermore, even though micro finance give access for poor people to have capital or liquidity but they have to pay almost twice than corporation. I just think that there have been money slavery over the poor. So somehow I agree with you unless they don’t charge the money, let it as working capital to save their lives.

In a country where many still earn less than US$ 2 a day, foreign financial aid is often misunderstood by poor communities.

Anna Antoni, a Kiva fellow based in Bali explains:

Originally published on Global Voices

Though the major conflict has ceased in Darfur, in western Sudan, a recent U.N. report says those living in the region still suffer from major human rights abuses and a fundamental lack of freedoms. The continuing instability and ongoing attacks have been particularly harmful for Darfur's young people, as nearly half of those affected by the conflict are children.

Since 2003, when the fighting began between rebel groups and Sudanese government forces in Darfur, the U.N. estimates as many as 300,000 people have died. During this time, more than 2.7 million Darfuri people have also been displaced, forced into refugee camps in Sudan and Chad. A study released last month shows that more than 80 percent of the deaths during the conflict were the result of disease, not violence, suggesting that many people remain at risk even though the fighting has decreased. To make matters worse, last year the Sudanese government evicted many international humanitarian groups after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes in Darfur; the government continues to expel foreign organizations.

The situation has been especially hard on the country's young people, as an estimated 1.8 million children have been affected by armed conflict, many exposed to health concerns, a disruption in education and other services and brutal violence. In Darfur, 700,000 children have grown up knowing nothing but the conflict and an estimated 4,500 children are believed to be associated with armed forces and groups. These young people, however, are not the majority, as youth both within and outside of Sudan have been vital in raising awareness and funds and trying to bring change to the region.

Over the past several years, Darfuri children's experiences during the conflict have been chronicled via their drawings. Some of these drawings are being used as evidence submitted to the International Criminal Court as part of the investigation of war crimes. In 2005, two Human Rights Watch researchers went to the Chad-Sudan border, during which time schoolchildren offered them hundreds of drawings. Many pictures showed bombings by Sudanese government forces, shootings, rapes and the burning of villages. Ethan Zuckerman, a co-founder of Global Voices Online, blogging on My Heart's In Accra, said the images were powerful:

“When I was at Human Rights Watch a week ago, there was a pile of these sketches on a conference room table, along side a pile of photographs from Janjawid militamen. What amazed me was how details in the children’s drawings echoed details from the photos – the stocks of the automatic rifles, the round shape of the houses, the posture of two gunmen riding on horseback. It was immediately clear to me that these drawings weren’t of weapons imagined by children, but eye witness accounts.”

A Waging Peace researcher collected similar drawings in 2007, some of which are shown in this video. Drawing is also being used as a way to help children heal, shown in this video, as are other forms of art. The documentary Darfur Plays shows a group of two dozen young people in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, who are using street theater to spark discussion and increase awareness. Tambay, blogging on Shadow and Act, comments on the film:

“Love this!

Art makes a difference in Darfur, where a troupe of self-taught young actors take theatre into the streets and refugee camps.

Their medicine for ailing Darfur is theatre, drama, song and dance – a testament to the power of art to heal!”

Young people outside of Sudan are also working to raise awareness and improve conditions for Sudanese youth. In addition to a host of celebrities, youth in many Western countries have been drawn to the situation in Darfur. Youth initiatives over the years have varied greatly, from creating poetry and organizing rallies to podcasting student voices and finding fundraising programs.

And the initiatives continue. In Canada, the youth-led group STAND Canada has developed a campaign called ‘Stand For The Dead.’ Beginning this month, Canadians will be encouraged to wear t-shirts bearing one Darfuri victim’s name and the group will be showing a film called Darfur. Lori L. Tharps, blogging on My American Meltingpot, came across a different Darfur t-shirt-campaign years ago and at first questioned its effectiveness:

“Throughout the day in New York City, I kept seeing more and more teenagers with Darfur t-shirts on. Like it was a fashion statement. Like supporting Darfur was cool. At first I was amused, then a little perturbed, like ‘did these wealthy White kids have any clue what modern-day genocide really meant?” But then I reasoned, even if they didn't, they were increasing awareness with their simple black & white t-shirts…

…Black teens, White, Asian…I'm seeing a multicultural mix of young people up in arms for not only the victims of Darfur but for people around the world who are suffering, caught in the crossfire of violence. I stumbled onto the website Teens4Peace and was overjoyed to see that American teens have more to care about than MySpace, Ashlee Simpson and the latest iPod manifestation.”

Meanwhile, a high school in Long Island City, New York, organized a fundraiser in December to help youth in Nyala. The blog Stories From Darfur elaborates on the event:

“I received an email from a friend and activist in Nyala Darfur. He works with a group of youth who are trying hard to preserve and nurture Darfur’s musical and cultural heritage. The youth write and perform their own songs and develop theater pieces based on issues their communities care about the most. Some of the pieces are nostalgic and speak of life before armed militias violently displaced them, others are purely entertaining while others are calls for justice, freedom and peace. For war affected youth and their audiences this group is a great forum for expression, community building and healing. My friend asked us to help them start a mini orchestra…Our youth at Long Island City High School decided to support their effort and packed their school’s auditorium last Thursday for a Talent Show fundraiser. From Hip Hop dance performances to an impersonation of Lady Gaga, they put together a 30 act show that raised over $800.”

Other strategies are being used to engage even more youth. A few years ago, a free, online, student-developed video game called Darfur is Dying was released. In the game, players learn about the conflict and must keep their refugee camp functioning despite possible attacks. The game has led to at least 50,000 people taking action to help end the violence. Steve Rothman, blogging on The Social Media Soapbox, critiques the game:

“To play the game, you first select from one of several Darfurian avatars, but they are no more than cartoon figures.  Perhaps if a fictional profile for each of the figures had been provided, it might have had that effect. I also wondered if transforming such things as foraging for water or hiding from the militia into game objectives could potentially backfire and desensitize people to the plight of Darfurians…

…Nobody will be spending hours playing Darfur is Dying in order to “keep their camp functioning,” the stated goal of the game.  But of course that isn’t the point.  I imagine the greatest value of this game, and others like it, will be to engage a mass audience of young people in social issues and causes — an audience that is less accessible through more traditional communications channels.”

Whatever the method, Emily Holland found that increased awareness is exactly what some youth in Darfur want. Blogging for the International Rescue Committee, she talked to about 50 young people in a refugee camp. When she asked them, “What is your message to young people your age around the world?,” they said:

“We want them to know about our activities and our problems.

We want them to support us. To understand that we need education and healthcare.

The individuals whom people from outside Darfur are exposed to are not always necessarily from the camps. We want youth from all over the world to see what life is like here. To hear the real story.”

Photo of Darfuri girl in red by wanderingzito on Flickr, Creative Commons.

Originally published on Global Voices

By any account, Burma is a beautiful, naturally rich country with a diverse ethnic history. It is also run by one of the most oppressive regimes in the world, the State Peace and Development Council, an 11-member group of military commanders. This junta, in power under different names since 1988, has been cited for countless human rights abuses. The SPDC (as its commonly known) also oversees a corrupt, inefficient economy. In spite of the country’s natural wealth, social-economic conditions continue to deteriorate, along with Burma’s schools and hospitals.

The end result is between 1.5 and 2 million Burmese of various ethnicities have been forced to scatter into Thailand. Nearly 300,000 people – mostly representatives of the Karen, Karenni and Mon ethnic groups – live in nine temporary displaced persons camps based along the border. Several hundred thousand members of the Shan ethnic group also reside in Thailand, mostly as illegal immigrants because the Thai government does not recognize them as refugees.

A tenuous life
Burma’s refugees maintain a tenuous status in Thailand. Their rights and protections are nearly non-existent, mostly because Thailand is not a signatory of the 1951 UN Convention regarding the status of refugees, meaning only those displaced from Burma’s conflict zones are permitted to receive humanitarian aid. Of course, Thailand’s government acknowledges the countless other Burmese refugees, but strictly restricts their movement. A report by Suzanne Belton and Cynthia Maung illustrate the lack of freedom of movement for refugees and migrants: “If a Burmese migrant has a work permit, they may travel and use [Thailand’s] universal health insurance scheme but the climate of fear and uncertainty can stop people travelling. Public transport must pass through many road blocks and checks and if passengers are discovered not to have the correct papers they are deported.”

For the Shans and other illegal immigrants, life can be even more difficult than life in camps. These migrants often lack access to basic needs: clean water, sanitation and shelter, as well as access to education and health care. For girls and young women, human trafficking is especially problematic, especially with an estimated 16 brothels doing business in Mae Sot, the largest border town. One report found young trafficked girls “face a wide range of abuse including sexual and other physical violence, debt bondage, exposure to HIV/AIDS, forced labour without payment and illegal confinement.”

Reproductive health education
An often poor, usually traumatized population means reproductive health is a constant issue. However, most people who grow up in Burma have very little sexual or reproductive health education. In fact, a 2007 study of 400 Burmese adolescents who now live in Thailand demonstrated this lack of sexual knowledge. The study, carried out by a local NGO called the Adolescent Reproductive Health Network in Mae Sot, found:

– More than one-third of adolescents interviewed have never learned about sex or sexual anatomy;
– Nearly 25 percent of those surveyed reported being sexually active, usually around the age of 18. However, ARHN interviewers believe girls may have underreported their sexual activity;
– More than half of those surveyed reported awareness of basic contraception practices – condoms, the pill, and injections – but were not aware of emergency contraceptive methods; and,
– Of those who reported having sex, only 23 percent used a male condom and only 9 percent used birth control regularly.

The report also found fundamental differences between the sexes when it comes to deciding on whether to use birth control. Nearly two-thirds of the women interviewed said they had the right to use birth control regardless of their husband’s opinion. However, only half the men interviewed agreed with that statement. Perhaps making matters worse, 55 percent of males agreed that sometimes a female partner deserves to be beaten. More than 36 percent of females also agreed with this.

Peer education
After reviewing the ARHN report, Nancy Goldstein points out the importance of peer sexual education on the Thai-Burmese border in a piece for RH Reality Check.

ARHN owes its ability to connect with young Burmese migrants to its intrepid, fiercely dedicated young peer educators. Inside Burma, any kind of humanitarian work that creates health for people outside of the army is considered political and can get a worker arrested, beaten, or even killed. And Burmese culture itself remains both highly conservative and very private regarding sex and sexuality. Few if any parents in the camps would think it’s cool that their son or daughter works as a peer sex educator, and peer educators have to be cautious about what they teach and where. “Every time ARHN’s peers go out into the community to conduct workshops on sexual safety and health, distribute contraception, or collect survey information, they risk arrest, violence, deportation, and the displeasure of their families,” says Tarjina Hai, ARHN’s current technical advisor.

As one peer educator explained to me, a relatively easy, obstacle-free training session is one that has the blessing of the village leader and religious leader or pastor, and takes place in a church. It involves incredibly expensive travel, but only one or two illegal border crossings, and requires bribing only a handful of authorities. That’s if you’re lucky: if there are too many people around when the educator is stopped at the border, no bribery can take place, meaning that his or her half done and fully paid for trip ends there.

Yet the work must continue. As Leila Darabi has noted, Thailand’s fairly rigorous family planning program is not reaching these young Burmese migrants, who are at significant risk for unplanned pregnancy, sexual assault, and sexually transmitted diseases. Many of these youth are working and living in factories (some legally, most not). They don’t have ready access to contraception, and they’re easy prey for both transactional and coercive sex. Most refugees have scant access to any kind of health care at all, let alone sexual and reproductive health care. Education efforts are stymied by low literacy rates, limited access to television, and virtually no access to the Internet.

Post-abortion complications
Mixing sexually active people without proper reproductive education, abortion often becomes an issue. The UNFPA estimates in Burma that nearly one-third of pregnancies end in abortion. However, by law, abortion can only take place when the mother’s life is at risk. Abortion is not so restricted in Thailand, which also allows it for proven cases of incest and rape. Regardless of the restrictions, however, abortions continue in the refugee community. The Thai health ministry believes the abortion rate for Burmese migrants is nearly two-and-a-half times higher than the rate for the local Thai population. Belton's and Maung's 2002 study of reproductive health outpatient care found:

– 25 percent of women with post-abortion complications underwent self-induced abortions like those common in Burma: drinking ginger and whiskey, vigorous pelvic pummeling and inserting sharp objects into sexual organs;
– Most of the women with post-abortion complications are married and two-thirds of them already have at least one child;
– One-third of the women have already had at least five pregnancies.

Here is a discussion regarding how the issue reproductive health for adolescents is intertwined with abortion on the Thai/Burma border with Cari Siestra, who helped edit the AHRN report.

The Mae Tao clinic
For Burma's refugees, the Mae Tao clinic has helped fill the massive health care gap. It was launched by Cynthia Maung who left Burma when 10,000 student activists fled across the border in September 1988 after the government violently cracked down on pro-democracy protests. Dr. Cynthia, as she’s called, thought it would only be a matter of weeks before she could return to her small Rangoon medical practice. Instead she became appalled by the lack of care at the makeshift refugee camps, where the refugees pouring across the border were suffering from trauma, from gunshot and landmine injuries, malaria and diarrhea. She opened a clinic in the Huay Kaloke camp with only her medical textbook and a rice cooker to clean and sterilize instruments.

Today, the Mae Tao clinic counts a staff of 5 physicians, 80 health care workers, 40 trainees and 40 support staff. This staff treats more than 100,000 patients annually. Two students at Westminster College who participated in a service learning project at the clinic provide a good description:

The floors were uneven cement, covered by mud. It is best described as an outdoor walk through clinic; each service had its own room. The waiting area was overly crowded with exhausted displaced Burmese people. When we walked past the pediatric center we saw immobile malnourished children being comforted by their parents.

The clinic provides service in a number of different areas, from baby vaccinations to creating prosthetics for injuries due to landmines. In 2006, doctors at the hospital delivered 1600 children. The clinic also provides trainings on maternal care. Cathy, who works at Mae Sot clinic, explains some of the issues surrounding the reproductive health trainings.

The Clinic runs an active birth control program, but not everyone has had the education. For migrant women (many thousands working in Thailand in the sweatshops, trying to help their family,) life is not easy. Most women need a protector of some sort. With a baby, it is impossible to continue working. Dr. Cynthia and the Karen Women’s Organization run several orphanages. The Karen has enormous charity for each other. I have not a met a more caring people. Generally, the husbands are with their wives as they have their babies and giving birth is a thing of great joy but often on the other side of the building there are women very sick as the result of botched back street abortions.

Originally published on Global Voices

“I want all other children born in Liberia- and the world- to lead full lives free of pain and filled with the blossoms of love, like mine,” writes Mahmud Johnson at the blog for the youth-oriented HIV/AIDS group Global 40 Forum. He is an 18-year old former co-host of the Liberian youth radio show, “Let’s Talk About Sex”, which deals with issues relating to the spread of HIV/AIDS and pregnancy prevention.

Liberia is gradually transitioning from the nearly 15 years of intermittent civil war that ended in 2003 and moving towards mainstream development. The barriers that remain are great. Nearly 250,000 people were killed during the war, and several hundred thousand were exiled in neighboring countries or in Europe or the United States.

The effects of war on youth
The effects of the war on children are well documented. When the fighting began, different military groups searched for soldiers in the ranks of children. Perhaps as many as 20,000 children, some as young as 6-years-old, were recruited, often forcibly. “They were forced to kill friends and family members including their parents, rape and be raped, serve as sexual slaves and prostitutes, labor, take drugs, engage in cannibalism, torture and pillage communities,” says the report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia. Women and girls also suffered greatly. Liberia’s TRC received nearly 7,000 reported cases of sexual violence. Girls and women aged 15–19 make a majority of those reported cases.

Despite seven years of peace, bad news can still cascade out of Liberia like a waterfall. Three out of four Liberians live on less than one dollar a day; only half the country's children attend school; Fifty percent of households in the capital Monrovia are classified as food secure. The economic prognosis remains bleak and repatriating young people – some of them former child soldiers – into the economy continues to cause the government problems. This can be especially troubling because half of Liberia’s population is under 20.

On the Ceasefire Liberia blog, a Rising Voices project, Stephen R. Johnson writes:

Liberia’s youth face many challenges in gaining an education that delivers them the right set of skills and knowledge to become productive in today’s labor market. As a result, the transition from school to work is more often than not unsuccessful and youth end up either unemployed or underemployed in the rural, suburban and urban informal sectors.

Yet, the country and its people are determined to put the past behind them. The country’s economy has been growing and the government is modernizing its infrastructure. Groups like the YMCA have been training ex-combatants for employment or to start their own businesses.

Poverty and tough decisions
However, the continuing economic problems have created a ripple effect in other areas. Poverty has forced many women into making difficult and dangerous decisions regarding their sex life, says Jerry B. Tarbolo Jr, from the Federation of Liberian Youth. He said this combination has helped intensify the HIV/AIDS transmission rate in Liberia’s urban areas. If this continues, the disease will mainly affect the younger generation, he says, which is one of Liberia’s great resources.

The connection between economic survival and sexual violence has a legacy in Liberia. A 2008 UNFPA study of women in Liberia’s Lofa County found that during the war, nine out of ten women had lost their livelihoods, 96 percent had lost shelter and nearly 75 percent had lost a relative. More than half of the women were victims of sexual violence, and of those women, half of them reported providing sex for some form of favors.

Misconceptions of HIV/AIDS
Pauline Wleh, a nurse counselor at a Monrovia-based YMCA Youth Centre, says one thing young Liberians today need is education regarding sexual health. She spoke to a writer for Merlin, an international NGO that builds health services in fragile states.

“Years of conflict here disrupted our formal schooling system and broke up health services so that youths today know very little about HIV and AIDS. Because of the lack of knowledge, there is a lot of stigma and misconceptions surrounding AIDS now. Youths are too scared to talk to their parents and there is a lack of accessible information. But they can discretely drop in on me between basketball games or after a trip to the computer lab to ask questions, access services and get advice.”

She says some changes in attitudes have become apparent.

“In the two years since the centre opened, I have seen thousands of young people but only given 291 HIV tests. Although people are keen to talk to me, they are rarely convinced to take an HIV test because they are scared.”

The majority who opt out of the testing, claim they will ‘come back later,’ or more honestly ‘don’t want to know my status, because I don’t want to worry.’

The fight for awareness
This social avoidance is what programs like “Let’s Talk About Sex” are designed to educate against. The weekly 30-minute show, funded in part by UNFPA, provides listeners with 30 minutes of information and conversation about sex and reproductive health issues, all tailored toward young people. Each program is researched and written by the four young hosts, who control all the programming, including research, writing and performing each episode.

“My work as co-host of the LTAS show gave me a working knowledge on the actual realities faced by my fellow Liberian youth in the fight against HIV,” Mahmud Johnson writes. He says you can’t separate Liberia’s economic problems from issues regarding sexual health.

As the show’s outreach team usually traveled to leeward communities and villages to teach the youth there about HIV, I became aware, first hand, of the economic and traditional issues many people are faced with, and how those issues contribute to the spread of HIV in Liberia. I also became aware of some bizarre myths young people harbor on HIV spread and treatment. A very huge percentage of the youth population in Liberia has practically no knowledge about the transmission and prevention of HIV, and this phenomenon is due in no small part to the country’s spiralling illiteracy rate. Even the youth who go to school have minimal information about HIV, as such reproductive health issues are not taught in Liberian schools. Hence, many myths abound amongst Liberian youth about HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, prominent amongst which is the myth that smoking pot prevents HIV infection. Because of these potentially dangerous myths, the radio show’s team developed a ‘Myths vs. Reality’ segment, in which (in colloquial Liberian language) we addressed several of those myths on a weekly basis.

The show offers a useful medium for young people to learn about the virus. And, of course, talk about sex.

Today, the LTAS radio show is aired all over Liberia, and uses other reinforcement channels such as brochures, dramas, road shows, focus groups discussions, and peer training to spread the message about HIV transmission and pregnancy prevention. The show is so popular that the Liberian populace have even used the show to coin a joke in response to the recent shortage of chicken eggs on the Liberian market: chickens in Liberia now listen to ‘Let’s Talk About Sex!’ and practice safe sex! I am aware of the reality that not every single youth in Liberia will heed the health messages disseminated on the show. But even if one person’s life is changed in the process, that would a phenomenal success for me as a pioneer host on the LTAS show.

Originally published on Global Voices

Depending on how you measure the term “youth,” young people in India count for roughly a few million more people than the population of the United States. This generation dwarfs other age groups in its own country, too. The 315 million young people between the ages of 12-24 years makes up 30 percent of India’s population.

For the most part, India’s youth of today are completely different from the age groups of decades past. For one, the country these young people are growing up in is an emerging superpower, says BusinessWeek. Young people mirror that rising prominence. “This cohort is healthier, more urbanized, and better educated than earlier generations,” writes the US-based Population Council, a non-profit dealing with reproductive health issues.

India’s youth are also increasingly willing to make their own decisions. BusinessWeek reports that 76 percent of India’s single women claim it should be them who decides when they have a child. To researchers and groups like Population Council, however, this confidence may be masking deeper, more cultural reticence regarding reproductive health. “These young people face significant risks related to sexual and reproductive health, and many lack the knowledge and power they need to make informed sexual and reproductive health choices,” Population Council reports.

Information gap

This information gap Ishita Chaudhry has been trying to fill since she began the Youth Parliament in 2002, when she was just 17. Also known as the YP Foundation, the internally-acclaimed group designs and implements community-based youth projects, providing funds for people between the ages of 13 through 28 years to create projects working within socio-cultural, economic, legal and environmental issues. Some of the projects include voter ID registration drives, peer programs for street children and publishing an youth-oriented magazine.

One of the subjects the YP Foundation has naturally gravitated to, however, is reproductive rights and sexuality. Issues like AIDS is especially problematic for the world’s youth, reports UNAIDS. The Geneva-based organization says people worldwide between the ages of 12-24 years account for four of each ten new AIDS cases. Also, (mirroring findings from Population Council, above) this age group has very little knowledge about the disease and its transmission. That's not all. Young people are often “left to fend for themselves,” regarding all aspects of sexuality and reproduction, said Dr Robert Carr, the Associate Director of the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations.

Using technology

The internet is a natural choice to disseminate this information. “If you’re looking at issues of sexually reproductive rights and health,” says Ishita Chaudry, “then it becomes clear to provide a space where young people can continue conversations once they’ve finished community based interactions and workshops.” For the most part, that space is through technology, which works well because so many of India’s youth are online. But also, the internet is a good medium to provide this information because young people can read it on their own time and, if they want, anonymously. In this video Ishita Sharma and Ishita Chaudry speak about the YP Foundation’s online work.

Project 19

The internet may be a fine organizing tool, but the YP Foundation thrives to create communities in the real world. One of the organization's major initiatives is Project 19, which trains young people in New Delhi to become peer facilitators to lead discussions and workshops on often hush-hush topics like gender, sexuality, reproductive rights and HIV/AIDS.

In a post on the YP Foundation blog, Ishita Chaudry sums up some reasons the initiative got underway.

Why as society, are we so scared to address any kind of sexuality education or rights cohesively? What stops us from giving people complete rather than half baked information that is critical and live saving and that can protect them from disease, empowers them to be informed individuals and that teach them to be respectful to their own needs and desires and to be respectful towards the rights of others as well?

…We have had too many years of awkward silences and far too many generations of people who have grown up not being given the opportunity to speak out about their thoughts, fears, expressions and questions.

In conjunction with Project 19, the YP Foundation also organizes (with a variety of other groups) the Project 19 Annual Festival, bringing over 600 at risk and marginalized group and urban youth from around India to Delhi. These young people, whose members range from truck drivers to sex workers, lobby and discuss how to tackle issues ranging from collective rights to sexual reproductive rights and health.

As the Daily Indian newspaper explains:

Using various mediums like art, music, theatre and dance, the festival will provide a platform to the young men and women as well as the vulnerable groups to bring forth their experience-based opinion on different issues and form a network so as to solve some of the problems together.

Originally published on Global Voices

As Haiti's government raised the confirmed earthquake death toll to 150,000 earlier this week, warning that figure could double, there is particular concern for the well-being of the country's most vulnerable — its young people.

Up to 3 million people are estimated to need aid following the January 12 earthquake. The situation is particularly critical for youth, says UNICEF, since nearly half of all Haitians are under 18 years old and almost 40 percent are under 14. Of the survivors, many thousands of children have been orphaned, lost or separated from their families, leaving them open to health risks, abuse and exploitation. However, young people aren't passively watching the catastrophe unfold. Those within and outside of Haiti are contributing to efforts to raise aid and awareness.

In Jacmel, on Haiti's southern coast, the film school Ciné Institute continues to provide Haitian youth with film education and technical skills training. Despite losing film equipment and having their school reduced to rubble, the students have been documenting the quake's aftermath through photos, Twitter and eyewitness accounts. Here's an account from student Marie Lucie Dubreuse:

“This is the first time I am seeing the damages of an earthquake. I was at Ciné Institute when everything started rolling under our feet. Thank God I wasn’t alone on this unforgettable day. One of my classmates took my hand and ran to the streets with me. That’s when I understood what happened.

I ran home to get my daughter that was home at the time. This has traumatized everyone. We are all alive at Ciné Institute and we are doing our best to inform you of the situation in Jacmel.”

The students are also posting videos. The blog Barking Robot, by Derek E. Baird, calls the captured stories and images “heartbreaking and hard to watch.” This video, for example, compiles the students’ earthquake coverage:

After the Earthquake: A Compilation of Ciné Institute Coverage from Ciné Institute on Vimeo.

The blog Go Green Toolshed discusses another initiative called Nouvelle Vie *Haiti,* an ongoing project of the International Association of Human Values. The project plans to mobilize 50 Haitian youth who will commit to serving their country for two years. During this time, they will develop skills in trauma relief, food and water security, as well as technology and construction. Meanwhile, Rick Perera, blogging for the humanitarian group CARE, shares stories of how the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Girl Guides have been helping in the city of Léogane. In this post, he talks about a 22-year-old named Joanie Estin:

“Joanie was enjoying the early evening socializing with neighbors outside, as was the custom on the Rue de la Liberté in Léogane, when the unthinkable happened.

Her father was the only one inside the house when it collapsed. They never saw him again. The surviving family members – Joanie, her mother, and six siblings – have been living at a local school, the Écôle des Frères, ever since.

“I was so overwhelmed at first. My mother and I stood still in the middle of the road for about 15 minutes, until the earth calmed. Then we went home, and our house had been completely destroyed.”

Joanie coped the way she always has: by getting down to work. As soon as she could, she found her way back to Ste. Rose de Lima and, with some 50 boys and girls who had survived the earthquake, started rallying.

As many of the local Scouts and Girl Guides who could find each other in the aftermath – 94 in all – began volunteering their services to humanitarian groups, including CARE, that bring critical supplies to survivors in central Léogane.”

Outside of Haiti, youth are also taking steps to help raise money and awareness. In Los Angeles, “Youth Run 4 Haiti” brought together around 3,000 people, youth organizations have posted tips on how to help, youth are being encouraged to send text messages to raise funds, and numerous multimedia initiatives are connecting young people with ongoing relief efforts. Another example: venezuelanalysis.com says that the youth wing of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela is showing solidarity:

“The youth wing of Chavez’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) has set up a collection point in central Caracas, for donations of food, medicine, clothing and shoes to send to the people of Haiti.

Heryck Rangel from the PSUV youth said, “We young people want to deepen the internationalist character of the Bolivarian Revolution and highlight solidarity as a socialist value. The Venezuelans have to understand that Haiti is a country that has suffered much and now needs our urgent support.””

Even fashion is playing a role in helping Haitians. The Teens for Jeans drive in the U.S. and Canada is expanding its mission to help homeless Haitian teens. Once the jeans arrive in Haiti, the YMCA Haiti in Port-au-Prince will distribute them, as well as provide other services. The blog Fashion Fling elaborates:

“Want an easy way to help out the teen victims of the Haiti earthquake? Aéropostale and Do Something are teaming up to donate jeans, and you can join them! For every pair of gently worn jeans you donate to the Teens for Jeans program, Aéropostale will donate a brand new pair of jeans to Haiti victims (up to 100,000 pairs). This initiative is part of Do Something's “Teens for Jeans” campaign that's going on now, which raises awareness about the youth homelessness epidemic.”

Various writers and bloggers caution, though, that while short-term relief efforts are important, there must also be an eye towards long-term solutions and rebuilding efforts. Still, Steven Culbertson, blogging on The Huffington Post, says that youth should be acknowledged for their efforts so far:

“Students in schools and universities immediately planned fundraisers in order to send money and supplies to charities providing aid to the earthquake victims. They became a wealth of knowledge, helping to spread the word about ways to provide support through social networking sites. They helped set a new record for money raised by mobile phones…

…We sometimes forget when planning our professional lives around engaging and supporting youth in service that, when the moment comes, children and youth are already poised for action. Thank you to all of the amazing youth out there, around the world, who continue to answer the call to serve.”

Photo of Girl Surveys the Damage by newbeatphoto on Flickr, Creative Commons.

Originally published on Global Voices

Last year was the deadliest one for Afghanistan's civilians, including children, since the American-led war began in 2001.

Children have increasingly become victims of the conflict — Afghanistan Rights Monitor recently showed that about 1,050 children died in 2009 in war-related incidents and there were at least 2,080 cases of grave violations of child rights, such as recruitment of kids as suicide bombers and foot soldiers and forced labor. Three decades of conflict has also had long-term repercussions on the country's youth, many of whom are disfranchised and lack educational and employment opportunities. Literacy and secondary school enrollment rates are also low. The situation for Afghan girls and women is particularly concerning; a December report shows that they suffer high levels of violence and discrimination and have poor access to justice and education. Afghan girls are also under traditional pressures to enter early marriage and early pregnancy.

The Youth Parliament blog, based in India, elaborates on the situation:

“Possibly one of the biggest roles in the process of restructuring Afghanistan can be played by the youth of Afghanistan. 68% of the Afghan population consists of people who are under the age of 25 years. However, the long period of war has deprived many of them of their youth and childhood. Categorized as the ‘lost generation’ of Afghanistan, the socially imposed silence and lack of education has suppressed large sections of the Afghan youth. Moreover, the youth is hardly seen as a direct mechanism for peace building, but only as possible recruits for various terrorist organizations.”

Despite the circumstances, efforts are being made nationwide by and for youth to maintain their health and education and to empower them. The Youth Parliament blog continues:

“The youth has been able to overcome some of these barriers in the recent past to play a more active role. This is evident from the existence of a number of youth organisations spread over the entire country which have undertaken the task of promoting non-formal education, increasing awareness, promoting volunteerism for peace and development of the country and most of them have got integrated in the government or working of other NGOs.”

Examples of youth involvement range from a teen training to be midwife to help combat the country's high maternal mortality rate to young women protesting against a law restricting their rights to a young woman nurturing Afghan girls through soccer. In Kabul, another sport is being used to get kids off the street and stay active — skateboarding. Skateistan teaches boys and girls how to skateboard, among other skills such as skateboard instruction, literacy and computer skills. Skateboarding offers a rare opportunity for Afghan girls to participate in a public sport, helping break down traditional barriers, as this video documents. The blog I Skate, Therefore I am provides background on the initiative:

“Skateistan started two years ago in a dried-up fountain in the heart of the Afghan capital, when two Australians with three skateboards started teaching a small group of fascinated kids. It is now Afghanistan’s (and the world’s) first co-educational skateboarding school. The school engages growing numbers of urban and internally-displaced youth in Afghanistan through skateboarding and provides them with new opportunities in cross-cultural interaction, education, and personal empowerment programs.”

The bright lines discusses the opening of Afghanistan's first indoor skateboarding park and its significance:

“On October 29, 2009, Skateistan will be opening the largest indoor sports facility & skate park in Kabul. It’s incredible how this team of instructors is engaging young folk in the art of skateboarding, in a place where the social opportunities for them, especially young girls, is limited because of the U.S. war in Afghanistan. The goal is to bring indoor & outdoor skateboarding facilities to Afghanistan. There’s going to be separate classes for young girls.”

Some young women are also finding an outlet for self-expression, healing and outreach via writing. The Afghan Women’s Writing Project is a blog started by novelist Masha Hamilton that connects Afghan women, between the ages of 18 and 28, with writing instructors in the United States. Its goal is to allow Afghan women to have a voice that isn't filtered through male relatives or the media. The young women's writing covers issues ranging from the joy of playing basketball to death threats from the Taliban to breaking the silence. In this post, an anonymous blogger talks about how she is being forced into a marriage and in desperate need of solutions:

“After my father died, the responsibility for me fell to my brothers, who grew up under the Taliban government and were influenced by it. Now I live with three Talibs and I must obey what they say. I am not like a girl in the house, but a slave. When I was at third year at the university, the owner of our house demanded higher rent. My family decided they would leave Kabul and go to a province where housing was cheaper. But I didn’t know how I would continue my studies in that case, so I gave up my transportation money to help pay for our rent, and I go to the university on foot.

Still, at the beginning of this year, my brothers said: “It is time for you to marry.” They arranged a marriage to my first cousin, my mom’s brother’s son, who lives in a province where most of the people are Talib. My cousin is about 40 years old and uneducated. His family has a business and a big house. Their women are required to wear burqas and are responsible for cooking, cleaning and caring for the animals. Most have eight or nine children. They can’t go outside the house—even when they are sick, they aren’t allowed to go to the doctor.”

Many of the young women also express their sentiments through poetry. In these segments of a poem, Shogofa shares her story:

“I am from long line of women who have walked alone …
From a land that smells of the blood of innocent people
From a people who have lost everything in war – sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers
From a people feeling hopeless

…

I am from long line of women who have walked alone…

I know now how to enter society

And find my answers though I’m alone

Learn from my experience though I have failed many times

I never give up

I find my way and learn nothing is impossible to achieve

I ignore those things that destroy my mind

I learn that no one can help me except me

I accept reality and I’m ready to face any problem

Now I have ambition to achieve my goal

To help my people bring peace to the next generation”

Others also remain hopeful about the future of Afghanistan and the role youth can play in bringing peace and security. Mozhdah Jamalzadah, blogging on Afghanistan Through My Eyes, says:

“One thing that impressed me very much about the younger generation in Afghanistan, at least from what I’ve seen so far, is that they are so eager to learn, and they strive for success. Even with the lack, and low standard of education these kids try to gain as much as they can. They are incredibly intelligent. In North America where education system is absolutely amazing, most kids will do only what they have to in order to get to the next level. Most are not passionate. I believe if you give the same opportunities to these Afghan youth who are so hungry for knowledge, who knows how far they can take it. The sky is the limit.”

Photo of Afghan children by isafmedia, U.S. Air Force TSgt Laura K. Smith, on Flickr, Creative Commons.

Originally published on Global Voices

Here are just a few of the online networks and databases which have mobilized in the last few days to help relatives abroad locate family and direct urgently needed help to survivors, many of whom are still trapped beneath the wreckage of their own homes.

The International Committe of the Red Cross has an extensive online database of the missing where friends or family.

Major news organizations like the New York Times and CNN , as well as Google, have also set up databases for the missing.  A site called Haiti Earthquake Support Center is working on a tool which would allow volunteers to help match faces in news photographs to faces of missing persons.

The Facebook Group EARTHQUAKE HAITI currently has over 150,000 members and more than 4,000 photographs posted by family looking for loved ones.

Ushahidi, used to great effect during the Kenyan election crisis, is also mapping crisis information, including missing persons reports, information about collapsed buildings, and road conditions.

On Twitter, the tag #relativesinhaiti is being used by Haitians abroad who are still trying to locate missing relatives.  Meanwhile, #rescuemehaiti is being used to direct search & rescue efforts to specific addresses around Port-au-Prince where survivors are known to be still trapped under the rubble:

Christopher Frecynet still alive. They heard him screaming. 64 Rue Nord Alexis. Call cousin Daphney 509-39046983

63 people still alive Carribean Market. survivor sent txt so we can send help. PLEASE LET PPL KNOW

Heloise Boyer is trapped in her house #40 Rue O, Turgeau.

HELP IS NEEDED ! People still alive under College Canapé Vert are screaming for help to get them out …

Latitude: 18°31′25.74″N Longitude: 72°16′28.25″W #bresma #Haiti We need food and water to approx. 150 people there NOW

Originally published on Global Voices

It was 5:53 p.m. on Tuesday, January 12 on the island of Hispaniola, when all of a sudden people felt dizzy and the earth shook violently. At the moment, an earthquake struck. In the Dominican Republic, it was nothing more than a great scare. However, in neighboring Haiti, where the epicenter was located, the situation was total disaster as the earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale struck. To make matters worse, the earthquake was barely 6 miles (10 km) undeground making the damage that much worse. Dominican blogger Alf Micstar of Duarte 101 [es] describes that moment with these words:

Remenión, jamaquión, temblor, sismo, juidero, panico, corre corre. Ayer martes 12 de Enero cinco minutos antes de las seis, la isla volvió a recordarnos que se mueve, que no es un pedazo de tierra estático, que sus placas no son como las de los carros y que el suelo no pide permisos para sus sacudidas instantáneas.

Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince located 10 miles east of the earthquake's epicenter, was left devastated and incommunicado. Buildings had collapsed, and left countless thousands injured or dead, as there are no official numbers. Without electricity, water, or communication, several hours passed before the entire world could witness the damage caused by the earthquake. Many of these photographs and testimonies were distributed via social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. The scene was grim, and to make matters worse, the aftershocks did not let up.

In the Dominican Republic, as a result of the earthquake, a tsunami alert was placed in effect, and the Emergency Operations Commission (COE) closed the commercial plazas in the capital Santo Domingo and took precautions along the coastal zones and on the Haitian border. In the early morning hours of the next day, Dominican President Leonel Fernández called an emergency meeting to put together a aid commission for Haiti, which included aid for health, water, electricity, infrastructure, and the assistance of the military.

Joan Guerrero, of Duarte 101 [es] summarized the actions:

Desde tempranas horas de hoy, las autoridades, empresariado y militares dominicanos unen sus fuerzas para movilizar ayuda humanitaria ante el temblor de Haití.

Plane carrying relief supplies to Haiti. Photo by Duarte 101 and used with permission.

The Dominican team help send food and bottled water, and sent heavy machinery to help remove the rubble. The hospitals in the province of Barahona were made available, as well as the airport to receive aid that would be distributed to Haiti. Personnel from the COE attended to more than 2,000 injured and the Dominican Institute of Telecommunications (Indotel) helped to restore telephony services. The Dominican Red Cross and the International Red Cross have been coordinating health relief services. The Dominican Republic has also been a landing point for foreign correspondents who have come to cover the tragedy.

In addition to the efforts of the government, many Dominicans have joined the cause with collection centers, while others have offered private plnes and other materials destine for Haiti. Duarte 101 [es] writes a short summary of the help needed and collection points across the Dominican Republic.

José Rafael Sosa concludes [es]:

El pueblo dominicano se ha volcado para ayudar a Haití. Lo que ha ocurrido en Haití no tiene precedente. Es demasiado dolor. Demasiado sufrimiento. Aquí se paran las diferencias absurdas y se impone la solidaridad pura y simple. Abierta y decidida. Es este el justo momento para ayudar a un pueblo hermano. Démosle la mano y el alma a un pueblo que no merece tanto sufrimiento.