The View from Here

Thursday May 31, 2012

Child "bomberitos" on Peru's most dangerous highway

Peru's Bomberitos to the rescue

Bomberito means "little fireman" in Spanish. In the Andes Mountains of Peru groups of them use their homemade carretas  to help stranded motorists and truckers along the highway.  The tips they earn help support their families.   Hevert (left) was a bomberito as a kid, helping rescue stranded motorists and victims of disasters.  They get their carretas up the steep highway through the Andes by attaching ropes, or just their hands, to passing transport trucks.  (Photos: Romi Burianova) The photo that started it (below). Filmmaker Quincy Perkins saw this picture of two Bomberitos -- kids on their own in the mountains of Peru who make their way to mountain accidents and disasters. Our Dispatches contributor went with him to the Amazon valley as he made a film about them (Photo/StefanSonntag)

It was one of those dinner party stories that sticks in your head. A rumour about kids racing homemade carts high in the Andes, acting as first responders during accidents and disasters.

They have a catchy name. They're said to do dangerous work in a dangerous region.

But are they real?  For Dispatches contributor Lori Chodos and a colleague, the voyage to find out was a story in itself.

 Lori's documentary

May 31 Dispatches

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories: Americas, News Promo, Promo Box, The View from Here

Thursday April 12, 2012

Peace without justice in Liberia

Comfort Tokpah, 50, lost her husband and brother in Liberia's civil war and was forced to marry a child soldier. (Photo: Bonnie Allen)

Later this month, we'll hear a verdict in the case of the first African Head of State ever tried for war crimes.

Charles Taylor, a former President of Liberia, faces 11 counts for crimes he allegedly committed in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

They include murder and rape, and recruiting child soldiers

Remarkably enough, neither he -- nor anyone else -- faces any charges for triggering a war in his own country, which killed 1/4 million Liberians. 

The innocent now live side-by-side with people guilty of committing atrocities against them. Dispatches contributor Bonnie Allen tells us two of those stories.

Listen to Bonnie's documentary

And a cruel footnote to that story: Alhaji Kromah, the former rebel leader in charge of the state broadcaster where Moses works, just got a new, more important, government job.

The President's appointed him an Ambassador-at-large in the Foreign Ministry. Observers say it likely means his prospects for prosecution are even more distant. But on the upside, it means Moses won't have to look at him every day.

Categories: News Promo, The View from Here

Thursday April 5, 2012

Turkish minorities tread carefully in opening doors to multi-culturalism

People in Instanbul enjoy the newly-revived Baklahorani Carnival. What was once a pagan Christian rite, has morphed into one of the few celebrations of Turkey's multi-cultural past and present. Dominant Turkish nationalism has made its organizers tread with caution. (Photo/Meghan MacIver)

Dancing to the tune of reconciliation

With a history of conflict dating back more than 600 years, Greeks and Turks are not often found at the same party. As recently as the 90s, they sent warships into the Aegean in a sovereignty dispute over a tiny rump of rock cherished only by goats. And don't even get them started on Cyprus.

But now it seems, times are changing, ever so slightly.

Canadian journalist Meghan MacIver has found some Greeks and Turks dancing to the same tune at an unusual, and very historic party in Istanbul.

Listen to Meghan's dispatch

The April 5 Dispatches program

Read more »

Categories: Asia, Europe, News Promo, Promo Box, The View from Here

Friday March 30, 2012

Cape Town "car guards" offer "protection"

A few weeks ago, Anders Kelto told us about car guards in Cape Town

Listen to The Car Guard Song - Derick Watts & The Sunday Blues (Eminem feat. Rihanna Parody)

 

Lionel is a "Beach Buddy" in Muizenberg, a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. They're licensed versions of the ubiquitous "car guards", who demand payment to watch over parked cars and (sometimes) guard against theft. (Photo: Anders Kelto)

Here's the Horatio Alger story: how to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, in a South African parking lot.

 

For a few rand, they'll make sure your car is safe where you parked it.  Car-guarding is a good way to rise it up from dire poverty.  Even if guarders aren't always effective,  

Listen to Anders Kelto's View from the car parks of Cape Town

The March 8 Dispatches program

Categories: Africa, News Promo, Promo Box, The View from Here

Friday March 30, 2012

Liberian journalist hides, for reporting sexual mutilation

Mae Azango is a journalist in Liberia. She's in hiding fearing for her safety after breaking a national taboo and writing a story about a secret sect that practices female genital mutilation. (Photo: New Narratives)

On March 30 it was reported that traditional tribal leaders have agreed to a deal with the Liberian government to stop the practice of sexual mutilation of young girls.  This follows a brave expose by a Liberian journalist who went into hiding because of death threats for reporting the practice continues in secret. (link to Mae's follow-up piece below)

 

Last week and this week Dispatches covered the story:

 

At age 13, Ma Sabah was taken into the African bush and circumcised according to the tradition of her people.

When you put it that way, it almost sounds noble. But what Ma remembers is four women holding her down while another took a knife and hacked at her genitals.

That was more than 30 years ago. But for writing her story this month, reporter Mae Azango received death threats. She's now in hiding in Liberia, where we've managed to reach her.

Listen to Rick's interview with Mae Azango 

Journalist Mae Azango, is in hiding in Liberia. She's a reporter with the daily newspaper FrontPage Africa, and the website New Narratives.

The March 22 Dispatches program

March 29th: More from a Liberian journalist in hiding

Last week on the program, we heard from Mae Azango, a Liberian journalist forced into hiding after receiving death threats for a story she wrote about the tradition of female genital mutiliation.

As she told us, some Liberians believe it deters adultery.

Since then, the Liberian government has cautioned journalists to be careful reporting the story but urged tolerance for her.

It also says it sent out letters to those who perform the procedure four months ago, asking them to end it.

Mae's reaction?

For the record, this is the first time the Liberian government has said it wants to stop female genital mutilation.

But the Minister of Gender and Development - Julia Duncan Cassell - admits there's a big difference between asking traditional leaders to stop it, and getting them to actually stop it.

Her comment

Mae's follow-up piece:

Your comment

Categories: Africa, News Promo, The View from Here

Thursday March 29, 2012

Mexican tabloids: Black & White -- and dead all over

A typical front page for one of Mexico's biggest Nota Roja tabloids. The term means 'red press', referring to the bloodshed it features. Mexico's drug war has provided them with plenty to write about. (Photo/El Manana)

Surging drug violence brought Mexico together with the U.S. and Canada this week to talk about military co-operation to contain it.

But it took the Pope's visit to cause a temporary halt.  One cartel hung out signs welcoming Benedict and pledging not to attack rival gangs while he's in the country.

With his departure, the killing that's claimed more than 47,000 lives has resumed. And with it, the debate over how best to treat it in the Mexican press -- that ranges from black-and-white, to red all over.

Canadian journalist Myles Estey has been watching it at work in one of the most dangerous cities in the world.

 Myles's documentary

 

The March 29 Dispatches program

 

Letters about violence in Mexico in Your Dispatches

Categories: Americas, News Promo, Promo Box, The View from Here

• May 2012
  • Thu., 31 – Child "bomberitos" on Peru's most dangerous highway
     
• April 2012
  • Thu., 12 – Peace without justice in Liberia
     
  • Thu., 5 – Turkish minorities tread carefully in opening doors to multi-culturalism
     
• March 2012
  • Fri., 30 – Cape Town "car guards" offer "protection"
     
  • Fri., 30 – Liberian journalist hides, for reporting sexual mutilation
     
  • Thu., 29 – Mexican tabloids: Black & White -- and dead all over
     
  • Thu., 22 – The trials of Tweeting in China
     
  • Thu., 22 – Help for kids of India sex workers
     
  • Wed., 21 – In Italy, a long drink of yesterday's wine
     
  • Fri., 16 – Apple critic admits parts of his expose were fabricated
     
  • Thu., 15 – China's painful healing, with bee-stings
     
  • Thu., 15 – Rwandans find new uses for malaria nets
     
  • Thu., 15 – Verbal autopsies shed light on death
     
  • Fri., 9 – Italy's crisis endangers its guilds
     
  • Thu., 8 – Mexico's vigilante mayor
     
  • Wed., 7 – Lanse kòd animate Jacmel Carnival
     
  • Tue., 6 – Canadian journalist's Afghanistan story now used to train intelligence analysts
     
  • Thu., 1 – Self immolation: Tibet Buddhists debate non-violence
     
• February 2012
  • Wed., 29 – A box full of light saves lives
     
  • Tue., 28 – They die so we might know
     
  • Fri., 24 – Kennedy's very bad day in South Sudan
     
  • Thu., 23 – Young Senegalese "fed up" with regime
     
  • Wed., 22 – A special court for post-trauma vets
     
  • Fri., 17 – Baad justice haunts Afghanistan
     
  • Fri., 17 – Inside Egyptian military's business web
     
  • Tue., 14 – Justice served in Haiti
     
  • Tue., 14 – Nuclear radiation: a life shaped in its shadow
     
  • Mon., 13 – Syrian refugees' defiance and division
     
  • Mon., 13 – Cairo, a year ago: security file free-for-all
     
  • Thu., 9 – Sri Lanka tourism vs. the fisherfolk
     
  • Tue., 7 – Colombia's no-name dead
     
• January 2012
  • Tue., 31 – Costa Rican government responds to cane-cutter investigation
     
  • Fri., 27 – Surfing with the crocs in a Borneo river
     
  • Fri., 20 – India's surprise link to the heyday of jazz
     
  • Fri., 20 – Why was it Kandahar for Canada's troops?
     
  • Thu., 12 – Dispatches on the web
     
  • Wed., 11 – Dutch pot cafes take heat
     
  • Fri., 6 – Romania outreach for Roma kids a bust
     
  • Tue., 3 – Kampala, 2011: some hope from a gay bar
     
• December 2011
  • Thu., 29 – Deadly larceny over land in Haiti
     
  • Sun., 18 – Fast food in the land of slow cooking
     
  • Thu., 15 – Rio's Maracana makeover
     
  • Wed., 14 – Mass marriage and divorce, Peruvian style
     
  • Tue., 13 – The concrete issue of carbon emissions
     
  • Thu., 8 – The road from Damascus -- to Libya
     
  • Wed., 7 – Taliban's tweets, friends, social networks
     
  • Sun., 4 – Old pop bottles light up lives of Manila's poor
     
  • Thu., 1 – Amsterdam "Santa's" helpers in blackface
     
• November 2011
  • Wed., 30 – Guyana: jungle tourism and Jonestown
     
  • Mon., 28 – Colombia Kidnap Radio hostage killed
     
  • Fri., 25 – Santa, Peru buries death-squad victims
     
  • Thu., 24 – Twins, a train and art in Brazil
     
  • Wed., 23 – L.A.'s Father Dollar Bill dies at 92
     
  • Mon., 21 – Kudos for correspondents
     
  • Wed., 2 – Centuries-old baroque music survives in Bolivian jungle
     
• October 2011
  • Thu., 27 – Otsego County, NY: The fracas over fracking
     
  • Thu., 20 – Sudan's "next" civil war in progress in Blue Nile
     
  • Sat., 8 – Famine aid: giving cash instead of food
     
  • Fri., 7 – Rick and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
     
  • Wed., 5 – China's surfer girl goes global
     
  • Sat., 1 – Congo's pygmies: from the forest to the suburbs
     
• September 2011
  • Tue., 27 – Al Qaeda: up close with the bosses
     
  • Thu., 15 – Peace and death on Tripoli Street
     
  • Thu., 8 – Lamont Tilden remembered
     
  • Thu., 8 – 30 Mosques/30 days goes worldwide
     
  • Thu., 1 – The Sky Cries Blood, Afghanistan 2002.
     
• August 2011
  • Fri., 26 – How To Fix A Football Match
     
  • Thu., 25 – Pakistan's untold stories
     
  • Tue., 16 – Urumqi, China's underground 6 City
     
  • Tue., 16 – Uyghur Thriller Soundtrax
     
  • Mon., 1 – U.S. Ramadan Road Trip
     
• July 2011
  • Wed., 27 – Whoonga! What's in the killer street drug of Durban?
     
  • Wed., 20 – North/South Sudan -- a site with its own compass
     
  • Thu., 14 – From Spain via Israel -- Ladino music revival
     
  • Wed., 13 – Nothing but mammals, baby...
     
  • Mon., 11 – This Is Not America
     
  • Fri., 8 – U.S. space heavyweights protest shuttle demise
     
  • Wed., 6 – Ex-con released same day as his hit record
     
  • Sat., 2 – Aggra, India: throw our correspondent from the train
     
• June 2011
  • Wed., 29 – Guca, Serbia: brass bands and nationalism
     
  • Wed., 29 – The Khmer Rouge and Foxy Lady
     
  • Mon., 27 – Remembering Andrew Princz
     
  • Mon., 27 – World fight against cruel treatment of drug users
     
  • Fri., 24 – Haiti's disabled: can it be cruel to be kind?
     
  • Fri., 17 – A Space Shuttle, a premier, and an ocean
     
  • Mon., 13 – Jerusalem...covering the never-ending story
     
  • Fri., 3 – Law catches up to El Salvador military men
     
  • Wed., 1 – Hainan Island, China...surfer girl catches waves here
     
• May 2011
  • Fri., 27 – Montebaducco, Italy...what you don't know about donkey milk
     
  • Wed., 25 – Radio's eyes, The Human Kind Of Eye
     
  • Thu., 12 – Ivory Coast... refugees look for hope in Liberia
     
  • Wed., 4 – Glasgow...Rangers/Celtic matches - no hate songs here!
     
  • Mon., 2 – War brides return to Britain on QM2
     
• April 2011
  • Tue., 19 – Kampala...home of Gadhafi's fan club?
     
  • Sat., 16 – Cairo...security file free-for-all
     
  • Thu., 14 – Tokyo...in the shadow of Fukushima
     
  • Mon., 11 – Dakar's wrestling sandbox millionaires
     
  • Thu., 7 – Benghazi, Libya...on the road with the rookie rebels
     
  • Mon., 4 – Jordan's protests run deep
     
  • Mon., 4 – Beijing: One dissident released, another detained
     
  • Fri., 1 – Benghazi...training the rebels Gadhafi vows to crush
     
• March 2011
  • Thu., 31 – Grand Forks, ND: misinformation on the menu
     
  • Wed., 30 – Tunis...joining the queues of complainers here
     
  • Mon., 28 – Mexico: fear of narco-censorship here
     
  • Thu., 24 – Berlin...military brass and Smoke On The Water
     
  • Tue., 22 – Noda, Japan...pictures, pieces of lives
     
  • Tue., 22 – The screwy Saudi security syndrome
     
  • Thu., 17 – Beijing...ice swimming and loving it
     
  • Tue., 15 – Mendoza, Argentina...a witness to brutality
     
  • Mon., 14 – Addis Ababa...renting the news of revolution
     
  • Fri., 11 – Margaret Evans' Mideast overview
     
  • Thu., 10 – Monrovia...following the news from Libya here
     
  • Thu., 10 – China rolls back reforms
     
  • Wed., 9 – Oil rules: Saudi democracy runs on vapors
     
  • Wed., 2 – Tunisians demand democracy now!
     
• February 2011
  • Mon., 28 – Dublin...the government suffers a humiliating defeat here
     
  • Mon., 28 – Kabul's curbside cops
     
  • Thu., 24 – Whoonga -- what's in the killer street drug of Durban?
     
  • Wed., 23 – Urumqi, China..underground music here
     
  • Thu., 17 – Kingi, Congo...feared former rebels in the army here
     
  • Thu., 17 – Lampedusa Island...Tunisian refugees land here
     
  • Wed., 16 – Nairobi...vaccine for millions; but none made here
     
  • Fri., 11 – Haiti classics -- A Canadian Grammy nominee
     
  • Wed., 9 – Nairobi...Togetherness Supreme here
     
  • Mon., 7 – London...cuts to BBC World Sevice here
     
  • Thu., 3 – Cairo...re-charging in a mosque here
     
  • Tue., 1 – Rohtak, India...I'm a stranger here myself
     
• January 2011
  • Thu., 27 – Ladino: The Jewish music of Spain sung here
     
  • Wed., 26 – Yak manure: from poo to petrol
     
  • Wed., 26 – South Sudan...a new national anthem here
     
  • Fri., 21 – Our man from China assesses India
     
  • Thu., 20 – Haiti...just another death by cholera
     
  • Wed., 19 – Goma, Congo...Clever Boys here
     
  • Tue., 11 – Spain - no more matadors on TV here
     
  • Thu., 6 – Juba...boatloads of celebration here
     
  • Tue., 4 – South Sudan...will it be born a failed state?
     
  • Mon., 3 – The view from a South African inmate's "gentle side"
     
• December 2010
  • Fri., 24 – Dispatches, our soundtrack edition: we sing you the world!
     
  • Mon., 20 – The soundtrack of a randy taxi driver
     
  • Fri., 10 – Vigo, Spain...the flag from here flies on the sun
     
  • Tue., 7 – Jacmel and Sabonette, Haiti...overtaken by the ladies here, and the little guy
     
  • Mon., 6 – Kampuchea...the mysteries of the Foxy Lady here
     
  • Mon., 6 – Rikileaks...dishing the diplomatic dirt here
     
  • Fri., 3 – Kabul...the roadside pension plan here
     
• November 2010
  • Fri., 26 – Indonesia...western fare displaces tradition here
     
  • Wed., 24 – Afghanistan...Embedded with the Taliban here
     
  • Tue., 23 – Kampala..The Secret Reach Of "The Family"
     
  • Sat., 20 – Thanks for finding your way to a new feature
     
  • Wed., 17 – Shatila refugee camp...guns are common here
     
  • Tue., 16 – Kampala...battling homosexuality here
     
  • Mon., 15 – Zimbabwe...Waiting For The Rain here
     
  • Mon., 15 – Khartoum... Radio Dabanga broadcasters detained
     
  • Wed., 10 – Tallinn...tradition sings for the future here
     
  • Mon., 8 – Herat, Afghanistan...fighting for playgrounds here
     
  • Wed., 3 – Nunavut...caribou-head has many flavours here
     
  • Tue., 2 – San José Calderas, Guatemala and Postville, Iowa
     
  • Mon., 1 – China in Africa...no Chinatowns here
     
  • Mon., 1 – Sarawak, Borneo...what headhunters eat here
     
  • Mon., 1 – Nicaragua...the remains of a DC-3 here
     
• October 2010
  • Fri., 29 – Washington...Franzen, Freedom and Obama here
     
  • Fri., 29 – Mabou, Cape Breton...unsheepishly "fuaragish" here
     
  • Thu., 28 – London...the tale of MI-5 from here
     
  • Wed., 27 – Makira, Madagascar... the forest for the trees here
     
  • Mon., 25 – Maalula, Syria... meeting Chavez on the road here
     
  • Mon., 25 – NYC 9/11...What's Going On here?
     
  • Fri., 22 – Manila..."offending religious feelings" here
     
  • Thu., 21 – Havana...sticking like crazy glue here
     
  • Wed., 20 – Haiti...Rumours Of Glory here
     
  • Wed., 20 – Who do you pay to be in the news here?
     
  • Tue., 19 – New York City...living in tunnels here
     
  • Fri., 15 – Falkland Islands...music of the long march
     
  • Fri., 15 – Lusaka, SA...Tracy Chapman echoes here
     
  • Tue., 12 – Khao Lak, Thailand...song from the Tsunami
     
  • Tue., 12 – Mitrovica, Kosovo...Getting taken for a ride here
     
  • Tue., 12 – Tripoli, Lebanon....a world of contrasts here
     
  • Mon., 11 – Baku, Azerbaijan: fixing sport corruption here
     
  • Thu., 7 – Brcko, Bosnia... the music brings me back here
     
  • Thu., 7 – Pakistan floods... you can't get home from here
     
  • Wed., 6 – The Chinese in Zambia... how hard they work here
     
  • Mon., 4 – Rio de Janiero... sleeping on the beach here
     
  • Mon., 4 – Amman, Jordan... the word from The Queen here
     
• June 2010
  • Thu., 17 – Assam, India...childbirth can be deadly here