The View from Here: February 2012 Archives

Wednesday February 29, 2012

A box full of light saves lives

Solar panels, lights, and battery chargers.  All that's needed to give doctors and patients a chance when the power goes out.  Photo/We Care Solar

They were in the middle of surgery again when the power went out in the Nigerian operating room.

Luckily, a visiting American doctor had a flashlight.

But Laura Stachel figured there had to be a way around the recurring problem.

And with husband Hal Aronson, a solar energy educator in California, they came up with something called the Solar Suitcase.

She joined us while unpacking one in a maternity clinic in another part of Africa to explain how it's providing lifesaving light.

 join Laura in the examining room

Dr. Laura Stachel at work with her Solar Suitcase in Sierra Leone. She's co-founder of WE CARE Solar, creating technology to benefit maternal health in the developing world.

Thanks to Lisa Russell for helping us record that interview with Laura Stachel in Sierra Leone. 

The February 23 Dispatches program

your comments

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

Tuesday February 28, 2012

They die so we might know

"We need war correspondents out there who are prepared to risk their lives to bear witness to events others would prefer went unreported."

Rick MacInnes-Rae's reflection on the death in Syria of fellow war correspondents:

A Turkish journalist in Ankara, on February 24, 2012, holds pictures of French photojournalist Remi Ochlik (L) and Sunday Times correspondent Marie Colvin, killed in an alleged rocket attack by Syrian regime forces against a makeshift opposition media center in the besieged city of Homs in Syria on February 22. PHOTO ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images) .

I didn't know Marie Colvin, though I met her once, very briefly, in the mine-strewn mountains of Albania, where reporters were camping out to interview refugees pouring over its border from Kosovo, and waiting for our chance to go in.

She was a force of nature. An experienced war correspondent who struck me as a cross between the CBC's Ann Medina and the BBC's Kate Adey, two other journalists I've never met, but much admire.

Colvin, along with photographer Remi Ochlik, died Feb. 22 while covering the civil war in Syria.

I thought she was gutsy, and relentless, and sardonic. And like I say, I didn't know her at all well, but I'm pleased the many tributes coming in since her death confirm those were some of her qualities.

This was back in 1999, a couple of years before she began wearing a distinctive black eyepatch. But she already seemed to me as raffish as a Barbary pirate.

Read more »

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

Friday February 24, 2012

Kennedy's very bad day in South Sudan

Journalist Kennedy Jawoko in Juba, South Sudan -- before his harrowing motorcycle accident (Photo: Kennedy Jawoko)

Journalist Kennedy Jawoko gets around. Ugandan by birth, he went to school in Israel and Canada. 

And he recently went to do a story for us in the newly independent country of South Sudan, ensnared in escalating conflict with neighbouring Sudan.   

And that turned into something Kennedy couldn't get around, and turned HIM into a story.  

Now, he's no stranger to the hazards of the road. Someone stole his laptop on one assignment. He contracted malaria on another. But this one left him bleeding and captive in a ditch.  

When Kennedy started telling Rick about it, we knew we had to get him to tell our listeners too. 

Rick's conversation with Kennedy

Categories: Africa, Promo Box, The View from Here

Thursday February 23, 2012

Young Senegalese "fed up" with regime

The "Fed Up" movement leaders hold a news conference determined to spark Senegalese out of their "defeatism" and to reclaim their government.  Photo/Amanda Fortier

"Spring" wind blows into Senegal streets

This weekend's election in Senegal isn't passing the smell test with some, and now there's a whiff of Arab Spring in the air.

It's an old story. A president comfortable in power tries engineering more of it.

But that didn't sit well with a small band of disaffected Senegalese young people, and it's morphed into a movement, spilling into the streets of this small African country.

It's a call out a president reneging on his promise to resign.

And we found Canadian journalist Amanda Fortier in with the ringleaders.

hear Amanda's dispatch

 The February 23 Dispatches program

Your thoughts

Categories: Africa, News Promo, The View from Here

Wednesday February 22, 2012

A special court for post-trauma vets

 

Judge Wendy Lindley (left) presides over the Orange County Combat Veterans Court, an alternative to conventional justice for PTDS war veterans  (photo/California Courts)

Like a lot of veterans returned from the wars, Michael Jones has seen things, done things, that prey on his mind, and would be illegal anywhere but a battlefield. 

But when veterans cross that line when they get back to the world, are they entitled to a different kind of justice than most civilians can  expect?

California is one state that decided to cut them a break. And the results would seem to bear it out. CBC Correspondent Jennifer Westaway is there as a very special court comes to order.

Jennifer's dispatch

The February 16 Dispatches program

Your comment

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

Friday February 17, 2012

Baad justice haunts Afghanistan

Young women who escape Afghan marriages arranged to settle disputes (a practice called baad) hide in a secret safehouse, where they learn to sew. (Photo/Laura Lynch)

The New York Times this week featured a report on Baad -- the Afghan tradition of givng daughters to settle disputes. Last fall, Dispatches presented this report:

 

In Kandahar, Canadian troops are taking their base apart now that their combat role is over in Afghanistan.  

Afghans meanwhile, are still putting together the framework for justice and governance to keep the country together once western troops depart. 

Millions have already been spent training judges and building courthouses. 

But ten years after the war began, many Afghans still resort to old traditions which have cruel consequences for women, as we hear from Canadian journalist Laura Lynch at the jail where many wind up.  

Laura's documentary

 

Sohaila's father married her to a warlord to settle a dispute in an Afghan practice called baad. She escaped, married on her own, but she and her husband were captured and sent to jail. Her father says she has to kill her son to come home. (Photo/Laura Lynch)

 

The Oct 27 Dispatches program

 

The Dispatches View From Here blog

 

 Your comments

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brigadier-General Richard Giguere, shown Wednesday, April 13, 2011 at Kandahar Airfield. (Photo: Colin Perkel/CP)

A Brigadier-General's dispatch

Brigadier-General Richard Giguere spent 18 months inside and outside the wire, practising this mantra: in an insurgency, get the people on your side.  Civilians are the centre of gravity.

Rick asked him about his thoughts on that, on challenges to the rule of law in Afghanistan and the mission still ahead.

Rick's conversation with General Giguere

Categories: Promo Box, The View from Here

• 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