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Africa: A month into 2008: Hope, Dreams, Living

Paula Odhiambo · 11:27 · Sub-Saharan Africa

lingua → es

2008 is one month old. Different African women bloggers are going through different spiritual experiences. For many, this is just another year, exactly the same as 2007, and 2006, all the way back to the day they were born. For some, it began on a high note, with excitement and festivities; for others, hopes were dashed and disappointment could not be hidden.

One day, In the Midst of Her felt pulled toward the book of Jonah and discovered that she is not too different:

One night after wondering what to read, I decided to read the book of Jonah. I don’t know why I felt pulled to it, but I decided to heed the desire and do it. I love the bible because it tells of the character of God. Here is what I learnt from the book of Jonah; I learnt of myself… the Jonah in me…

Jon 1:3
But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

I think of how many times knowing what was desired of me, purposely gone the opposite way. I look at Jonah’s story and say, “if God ever called me to do something, I would run to it immediately. But do I need to physically hear God’s voice to have this passion?. Knowing the word of God is hearing the word of God and we should be quick to do everything the bible states.

Some Broken Heart is going through a see-saw of emotions, first grappling with the situation in Kenya:

my heart thumps…thumps…but only weakly
Shouls i be afraid of me, or of them?
Am I my greatest enemy or are they my greatest enemy. 2008, and am scared that life is passing me, afraid that i myt loose, all I have maybe to insanity, i dont seem to have feeling no more, am going numb inside…….

and then dealing with the loss of “Thomas”:

I believe I can find love again, am young, am not some old woman who has been married for 40 something years, who just cant bear to move on, but resolves to age lonesome in honour of her late husband. I am a young, beautiful woman who fell in love with you, had the best years of my late teens with you, and lost you when we were almost there, and now am having problem trying to get over you, death has no mercy.

and finally choosing to trust God in all things:

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 8:33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.

Rinsola, meanwhile, is grateful for a new year and confident that God’s grace will see us all through the tough times.

I'm so grateful to God for yet another year, i honestly can't thank Him enough, but i pray i would always be thankful to Him. I also pray that we'ld all have numerous reasons to be thankful to God this year. I personally i'm looking forward to being a recipient of His 2008 BLESSINGS, I'm going to believe Him and His words especially those things i thought to be impossible (EVERYTHING is possible to him who believes Mark 9:23) and i hope you all are highly expectant this year also.

To my fellow bloggers, lookerbys' and readers let's walk through 2008 with God, believing Him, and that His grace, strength and love would see us through this year. Remember the challenges would come, but it is POSSIBLE with Him.

Faraja has determinedly decided to take the road of resolution:

I decided to call this my “year of surprises” figuring that if I just live my life with God leading me it would have to work and the end result would be more happiness because I’d taken the pressure of myself. Surprises can be more enjoyable than planning every minute detail…it was time for me to stop trying to control my life.

And Vee shares her longing to give birth to a set of twins:

I had a dream where I was pregnant with twins last night. I woke up so disappointed that I wasn't pregnant, which is why I'm freaked out! Like, how can I possibly want to be pregnant? I'm 25, shouldn't I want to hold on childishly to my independence and freedom? Shouldn't I be actually jumping for joy at the realisation that it was all a dream, and not be wallowing in self pity at the loss of my [phantom] pregnancy? Its official there's something wrong with me!… Abba, you know I really want to have a set of twins right? So when the time comes, please keep that in mind. But in all scenarios let Your will be done.

February’s already here, but we’re all still finding our place and getting our footing in 2008. It is bound to be an interesting year, and is already full of great expectations. Within the despair lies an indestructible ray of hope. Those who dream carry in them a longing for the fulfillment of their hearts' desires. If we could see the future, we would all know what 2008 holds for each of us, but for now, we hope, and we dream, and we live on.

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Japan: Insider trading at public broadcaster NHK (Part 2)

Chris Salzberg · 05:52, February 2nd, 2008 · East Asia

The uproar last week about the discovery of insider trading at Japan's public broadcaster NHK has died down, with former Asahi Breweries advisor Fukuchi Shigeo having taken over for beleaguered NHK president Hashimoto Genichi, who resigned days ahead of his scheduled end-of-term. Fukuchi has been criticized for his lack of experience in journalism or broadcasting.

This week, more comments from bloggers on the insider trading scandal at NHK (for more background see part 1).

One blogger described insider trading as potentially suicidal for any media outlet:

会社は、重要な情報開示が、市場に過激な影響を与えることのないよう、取引終了後に発表することが多い。ただ発表前に原稿を報道機関に渡しておくため、今回のようなことが起こり得る。報道機関がこのようなことでは、会社などは、彼らに情報を流さなくなる。これでは報道界の自殺行為だ。

In order for important announcements not to have an extreme impact on the market, companies often make announcements after the close of trading. However, because documents are handed over to media outlets before the announcement, incidents like this one can happen. If media outlets do this kind of thing, companies will stop releasing information to them. That would be suicidal for the news industry.

Blogger and former Asahi newspaper journalist Hara Junjirou expressed a similar sentiment in his blog:

　ＮＨＫの報道を担当する職員がインサイダー取引の疑いがかけられている。事実ならジャーナリストの風上にも置けない。しかも一度に３人も容疑者が出た。日常的に行われていたとしたら重大である。

Employees in charge of reporting for NHK are suspected of insider trading. If this is a fact then it is a disgrace to all journalists. And on top of this, all three of the suspects came out at the same time. If this happened on an everyday basis then it would be very serious.

　私がいた朝日の経済部は昔から株取引は禁止されていた。インサイダー取引規制もなかったし、社内規則などの成文法もなかった時代だが、だれも破るものはいなかった。従業員規則に盛り込まれたのは、最近である。

At the business news department of Asahi where I used to work trading in stocks was banned. That was an era when there were no regulations against insider trading and no statutory laws such as internal rules, but even so there were no violations. It is only recently that [such rules] have been incorporated into employee regulations.

　今回の事件は規則がなかったから起きたのか、それともＮＨＫ職員のモラルが低下したためなのか、どちらなのだろう。

Did the incident this time happen because there were no regulations, or did it happen because the morals of employees at NHK have declined, I'm not sure which of these two it is.

　成文法はなくてもわれわれは株取引はしなかった。規則以前の職業倫理の問題だと思っていた。ジャーナリストの倫理が揺らいでいるのだろうか。

Even though there was no statutory law, we never traded in stocks. We thought of it as a problem of professional ethics, something which stretches back before regulations. Are the ethics of journalists perhaps wavering?

　ジャーナリストは一般の人より高い倫理観が求められるといわれる時代になった。職業上知り得た情報で私腹を肥やしていたら、だれもジャーナリストに真実を話さなくなる。報道機関の自殺行為であることはいうまでもない。

In the era we have now entered, it is said that a sense of ethics is demanded of journalists which is higher than that of ordinary people. If journalists use the information that they learn about while at work for their own personal profit, then people will stop speaking the truth to them. It goes without saying that this is a suicidal action for a media institution.

Blogger finalvent, on the other hand, didn't think the amount of money involved in the trading was actually that much:

　ＮＨＫの記者の例でいうと、儲けはたかだか５０万円くらいのようだし、さっと儲けが出た時点ですっこめたということで、端から小遣い稼ぎだったようだ。が、５０万円というのはＮＨＫ記者の年収にすればはした金と言っていい。いや、５０万円をはした金とかいうとネガコメレッドにすかさず悪口言われそうだが、いやいや私や彼女のような貧乏人じゃない。ＮＨＫ記者ならねということ。

In the case of the NHK reporters, the profit was apparently at the most about 500000 yen, and at the moment that profit was made they suddenly withdrew, so from the start it was only pocket money. But in terms of the yearly income of an NHK reporter, 500000 yen is a mere pittance. Actually, if I say that 500000 yen is a mere pittance I will probably be immediately insulted on a negative comments thread, but they are not poor like my girlfriend and I grudgingly are. That's in the case of an NHK reporter.

Blogger toritori1987, finally, interpreted the whole event in terms of society's fixation on money:

バブル以来、世の中は金、金、金。
金に執着するあまりすっかり魅力のない社会になってしまった。
金がものをいう世界は大抵の場合モラルが崩壊しており、人間社会の基本が機能しなくなっている。

Since the bubble years, the world is all about money, money, money.
There is such a fixation on money that we are becoming a society completely without charm.
In a society where money is powerful, morals are destroyed and the basis of human society ceases to function.

お隣の国、中国や韓国がそういう国になっているのは仕方がない。
しかし当の私たちの国がそうなっていては話にならない。

There is nothing we can do when this happens in China and South Korea, countries next to ours.
However it is out of the question that our country becomes like this.

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Come Explore New Videos at Rising Voices

David Sasaki · 05:23 · South Asia , Americas

lingua → es

The first round of Rising Voices outreach projects have already been training participants in underrepresented communities how to use the tools of citizen media for just over seven months now. Of course in the beginning they started slow. First each of the project participants created their blogs and learned how how to link to other information on the internet. Slowly, the projects then explored digital photography and photo-sharing websites like Flickr. Now many of the projects are taking their media production skills to the next level by using Windows Movie Maker to produce short video documentaries that reveal the realities of the communities where they live.

These videos are, of course, far from sleek Hollywood productions. Which is exactly what makes them so valuable. They show life as it really is, not as we'd like it to be. You can always see the four latest videos from Rising Voices projects on the front page of our website. Every video is subtitled in English and many are available in other languages as well. For example, La Receta from HiperBarrio is already available in Bengali, Chinese, English, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. You can always help us translate all of the videos into other languages using dotSUB. To watch any of the videos with subtitles, simply click on the video player where it says “Choose a language …” To help translate the video into another language that does not appear on the list, click on “translate this video.”

All of the videos are currently downloadable in their native language, though we will soon make downloads available with English subtitles as well. We are also in the process of creating a special video archive page and increasing the size of the video player in order to make the subtitles easier to read. We hope that you will continue to check back and keep up to date with the latest videos from Rising Voices participants.

Rayones by Jorge Jurado

“Rayones” translates into English as “tagging”, a particular form of graffiti in which names, nick-names, and brief messages are scrawled in public places and on the sides of houses and building. In fact, as we learn in this video production by HiperBarrio participant Jorge Jurado, tagging can even take place on human skin. (And probably not where you're expecting!). Jorge's video is a thoughtful meditation about an activity which is common in La Loma, Colombia along with other working class neighborhoods around the world. Is tagging vandalism or a form of individual expression?

Interview with Monwara Begum by Taslima Akhter

Taslima Akhter is the video-blogging trainer at Nari Jibon in Dhaka, Bangladesh. She recorded a heartbreaking interview with Monwara Begum who describes the abuse she endured at the hands of her husband and his family.

Banda Paniagua by Dnabier Sady

The Paniagua Band from the Medellin's outlying community of La Loma used to be one of the city's most famous musical groups. But as you will soon learn in this brief documentary by HiperBarrio's Dnabier Sady, today very little is heard of or from the family group that has endured five genrations.

This is just a small sampling of the videos that have already been produced by Rising Voices projects. In upcoming weeks we will have more videos from Voces Bolivianas, HiperBarrio, and hopefully other projects as well. Stay tuned!!

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