Stories from Quick Reads from September, 2014
Peruvian Amazon Faces Cold Temperatures: Consequences of Climate Change
Peruvian journalist and writer Paco Bardales, comments with other colleagues the waves of cold weather, or friajes, that recently affected usually hot Iquitos. These weather phenomena have gone from sporadic, as the group remembers from their childhood, to more frequent and longer lasting, so much that the state agency Meteorology...
The First Edition of the Africa Web Festival Will Kick Off in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
The first Africa Web Festival will take place in Abidjan, Côte D'Ivoire (November 24-26). The festival will give the opportunity to any designers in Africa to participate in a contest (registrations are open until October 12) Vous êtes journalistes, développeurs, producteurs de web tv, de web radio ; vous êtes créateurs et...
Pope Francis will Visit the “Ground Zero’ of Typhoon Haiyan Disaster in the Philippines
The official logo and website related to the Philippine visit of Pope Francis in January 2015 have been unveiled already. Pope Francis will visit Manila and Tacloban. Tacloban is the “ground zero” of the Typhoon Haiyan disaster which claimed the lives of more than 6,000 people in the Eastern Visayas...
Will Trinidad & Tobago's Government “Listen, Learn & Lead”?
Blogger and public relations professional Dennise Demming is disillusioned with Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who claims to “listen, learn and lead”, but then takes action to the contrary. Demming first cited the example of the country's recent Constitutional Amendment Bill, with which, “despite popular objection, the Government...
Colombia: No to Sex Tourism in Medellín
By mid July 2014, the Facebook page No to sex tourist was created, with the purpose of create awareness about sex tourism in Colombia. Wikipedia lo define como: … una forma de turismo con el propósito de mantener relaciones sexuales, normalmente de varones con prostitutas hembras, pero también, aunque menos,...
Telling Puerto Rican Stories on the Web
Esta Vida Boricua [This Boricua Life] is a digital storytelling project which explores the past and present of Puerto Rico through the collection of experiences of people from all walks of life and all ages. At its most basic level, it is “a place to share stories,” as explained in...
Art & Education in Suriname
Referring to English art critic Sir Herbert Read‘s book Education Through Art, Carmen Dragman, via Srananart's Blog, looks at the value of art in education, suggesting that the current Caribbean model is shortchanging students by not recognising the power of art as a creative outlet and learning tool: Teachers and...
Questioning Weekend's Media Silence About Ebola
“When will Ebola news go 24/7?,” asks a US/Canadian professor Crawford Kilian: I have long been used to outbreak news dropping off on weekends. The media, government agencies, and NGOs all knock off on Friday afternoon and show up again Monday morning. But after the last few weeks of Ebola,...
The Curious Case Of Marrying Out Of Caste in India
Karthik Shashidhar, a freelance management consultant and data scientist, shares interesting statistics from the National Family Health Survey. Shashidhar discusses the percentage of women in India who are married to someone of their own caste. The caste system in India is based on an order of (predominantly) endogamous groups rendering marriage...
Non-Japanese Who Stayed in Sendai After 3.11 Earthquake Walk for Recovery
Despite being uncertain of what the future might bring, dozens of non-Japanese people decided to remain in their adopted home of Sendai, a coastal city located in the north of Japan hit by massive tsunami triggered by the earthquake of March 11, 2011. Sharing the footsteps to recovery, those standing together...
Wanna Learn the Khmer Language? Check Out this Audio Dictionary
Kheng.Info is a useful portal to learn Khmer, the official language of Cambodia. Aside from word translation, the website also offers an audio recording of Khmer words which is helpful to understand the meaning of the Khmer script. Check out how the word ‘love’ translates to Khmer:
Film Shows How a Malaysian Tribe is Stopping Loggers from Destroying their Land
Sunset Over Selungo is a 30-minute film documenting how the indigenous Penan tribe is defending the remaining rainforest of Borneo island in Malaysia. Borneo is the largest island in Asia. The film was made by independent British filmmaker Ross Harrison
U.S. Authorities Seek Data on Indymedia Athens
On September 5, the U.S. Department of Justice issued to the organization and Web hosting provider May First an inquiry about one of its members, Greece-based Center for Independent Media Athens, also known as Indymedia Athens. Founded in 2005, May First is a non-profit organization dedicated to provide cooperative Internet services, such as...
Describing Pain in Hospitals Without Indigenous Language Services
Without medical professionals fluent in indigenous languages or without proper interpretation services in Mexican hospitals, there is a risk that patients will not be able to adequately describe what ails them, writes Yásnaya Aguilar in her regular blog column for EstePaís. She provides examples how the Mixe language allows her...
Industrial Pollution Kills Hundreds of Wild Birds in Inner Mongolia
More than 500 dead wild water birds appeared in the lake areas of Inner Mongolia since this summer as a result of water pollution. The poisonous water, as reported by local herdsmen, came from factories from a nearby eco-industrial area. Annie Lee from China Hush wrote a photo feature on...
Iranian Judiciary Sets 1-Month Deadline to Block Viber
Iranian judiciary has set a one-month deadline for Hassan Rohani's government to block or to control messaging applications Viber, WhatsApp and TangoMe. Iran judiciary sets 1-month deadline for communications ministry to block messaging apps @Viber, @WhatsApp & @TangoMe — Sobhan Hassanvand (@Hassanvand) September 20, 2014
Massive Participation in Earthquake Drill in Mexico
On September 19, 1985, the center, South and West regions of Mexico, in particular the Federal District, were struck by a powerful earthquake, considered the most lethal in Mexican written history. Conmemorating the event 29 year later, the Secretary for Civil Protection of Federal District organized an earthquake drill, for...
Threats to Press Freedom in the Fight Against Ebola in Liberia
The Press Union of Liberia is concerned about the threat to freedom of information as a result of the actions taken by the government to limit the expansion of the Ebola virus. The union wrote a letter to the Minister of Justice to draw his attention to the challenges media...
Digital Library of Traditional Philippine Healing Practices
Initiated by several government agencies, the Philippine Traditional Knowledge Digital Library on Health (TKDL-Health) seeks to document and digitize indigenous health practices in the country. The communities, characteristically living in the mountains or their fringes, have depended mostly on plants and other natural products from the forest to prevent or...
China: ‘The More You Exploit Us, the Happier We Get’
Kevin Slaten from China Labour Watch wrote on China File on the situation of labour exploitation in China — the fact that industrial safety and workers’ lives were taken for granted for economic growth, which is reflected in a notorious local Kunshan government's appeal to foreign investors: “The Kunshan people...
