Life beyond birth, Liberia

As a midwife, Henry Teh listens to life through a horn-like device. (Photo/Bonnie Allen)

As Canada lobbies the G20 to fund reproductive health care in the developing world, the African state of Liberia is among those living without it.

The long civil war is long over, but one of the biggest threats now is death by childbirth.

Henry Teh learned that the hard way, and it changed his life. He's training to become one of Liberia's male midwives.

It needs more of them, but culture and cash stand in the way, as we hear from journalist Bonnie Allen, in a pediatrics ward in southeastern Liberia...

Bonnie's dispatch...

Life beyond birth, India

Bhangru Lohar stands with his two sons outside their home in a tea plantation in Assam, a state in northeastern India. A month earlier, Bhangru's wife died while pregnant with the family's third child. (Photo/Hanna Ingber Win)

 

If Sulekha Lohar had only had access to an ambulance instead of that handcart.

If the clinic just had a doctor, instead of just empty shelves.

If the hospital only had a bloodbank, as we hear from American journalist Hanna Ingber Win, Sulekha's children might still have their Mother.
Hanna's dispatch...

 

 

Hanna also spoke with Rick about the broader issue of maternal health in India...

Journalist Hanna Ingber Win specialises in maternal mortality reporting.

Hanna's recent coverage of maternal health from India and Africa has been sponsored by the Pulitzer Centre on Crisis Reportingand the United Nations.

You can find out more about the boat clinics Hanna mentioned in her interview here.

Hanna's photo gallery from the tea gardens of Assam.

 

Let the names begin

Nine cities, 350,000 fans, 32 teams.

The logistical challenge of The World Cup in South Africa is eye-watering. But making things just that much more interesting, they're changing the names of streets and landmarks.

White names from the apartheid era are out, being replaced by those of black leaders who opposed it.

Let the games begin.

Dispatches contributor Kyle G. Brown met the only guy who seems pleased with the way things are going.

Kyle's documentary...

Taliban: pay 'em now, or pay 'em later

October 3, 2009. U.S. soldiers were rocked from their bunks in remote Afghanistan by grenades and gunfire.

Their COP, or Combat Outpost, known as Keating was under seige by a Taliban force five times its size.

A few weeks later, a local warlord made the Americans an offer. For 50 rifles and 20 grand, he'd turn on the Taliban.

COP Commander Robert Brown saw an opportunity, and pushed it up the chain of command in what some are calling the new American way of war.

Lieutenant-Colonel Brown, is repatriated in Colorado Springs...

Shucking oysters under the spectre of the spreading BP spill -- at the first-ever New orleans Oyster Festival. It might be the last one for a while. (Photo/Maureen Brosnahan)

The story of Lt. Col Robert B. Brown and Mullah Sadiq was first told in a series by Greg Jaffe, a Washington Post military affairs reporter. Read his story here, or visit his photo gallery here. 

New Orleans finds its pearl

German philosopher Frederich Neitzsche once wrote "That which does not kill us makes us stronger."

In New Orleans, they've gotta hope he's right, as we hear in this week's guest essay from CBC reporter Maureen Brosnahan.

Maureen's essay...

Chef Joe, outside at his herb garden, says the fish and shrimp can swim from the oil. But the oysters? (Photo/Maureen Brosnahan)

Inland a few blocks, the recovery from Katrina has been slow. (Photo/Maureen Brosnahan)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This program is the work of producers Dawna Dingwall, Alison Masemann and Steve McNally. With technical producers Tim Lorimer and Victor Johnston, Senior Producer Alan Guettel and Rick MacInnes-Rae.