by Manar Ammar
-Egypt-

• Egyptian Women. Photograph by Joseph Mayton and courtesy of Bikyamasr.com. •

“I don’t have full normal movement in my arm, even after three and half years since the fight,” says Marwa. “I still don’t speak to my family, with the exception of my mother, and till this day he never apologized.”

Marwa, an educated middleclass woman, decided to press charges against her brother. Her decision lost her the family’s compassion and made her an outcaste. She had to drop the charges and move out of the family home.

by Stephanie Koehler
-USA-

The vision of “Female Perspectives on Ending Sexual Violence” is to unite women from all over the world to document the pain they suffer as a result of sexual violence and the healing approach they have taken to grow from victim to survivor. Each installment will include photography of a female survivor and provide a platform to tell her story. Stephanie’s vision is to grow this project into an international sexual assault awareness campaign.

Brandi and I met at her home after several prior conversations about my project. She agreed to be the first participant in this series of photo-journalistic accounts.

by Priyanka Bhardwaj
-India-

Every afternoon 8-year-old Raj Kumar and his younger sibling trudge along the ten kilometer expanse of Golf Course Road to take free classes at a school ensconced in a posh pocket of Gurgaon in the Indian state of Haryana. The zeal of their car-washer parents to conquer their poor living conditions has led them to push their children to get an education despite the hardship forsaking the extra income two sets of helping hands would have earned.

by Victoria Aitken
-UK-

Ever heard of a hospital which is an international tourist attraction recommended by guidebooks and airlines? Where state of the art medical technology is virtually limitless? And whose patients are all VIPs yet never complain? Welcome to Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital in the United Arab Emirates. A guided tour tells you all about these beloved birds and the dedication and achievements of award winning veterinarian Dr. Margit Gabriele Muller.

by Katie Palmer
-Canada-

Recently I partnered with a colleague from OneChild, a children’s rights organization, to travel throughout Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand for several weeks to investigate prevalent social issues affecting children and youth in the region. Such issues include child sex tourism, absolute poverty, largely inaccessible primary and elementary education, and health problems arising from large populations inhabiting informal housing districts. In order to gain the most from our exposure trip, we partnered alongside a number of hosting organizations.

One similarity among the varied hosting organizations was the implementation of “advocacy tours.” Geared towards both foreign tourists and wealthier local citizens, advocacy tours (sometimes referred to as “poverty tours” or “poverty tourism”) provide opportunities for participants to understand a variety of social and economic issues common in the Global South.

by Zubeida Mustafa
-Pakistan-

Empowerment is opening up new spaces for personal development for women in Pakistan. As opportunities for education come within their reach women are learning how to upgrade their lives. This has brought the realization that a big family may not be a blessing, and can actually handicap women. This is a big leap from where women were a few years ago, when motherhood was widely regarded as a status symbol. The more male children women had the more respect they could command. Sons brought a sense of security as they consolidated a woman’s position in the household and ensured that a second wife would not displace her.

by Nusrat Ara
-Indian-administered Kashmir-

Shazia Akhtar and her family have been preparing for months for her wedding. The family has saved for years for the big day. With marriages in Kashmir getting more expensive, the burden seems to be getting bigger and bigger, especially for parents of a daughter.

The gold jewellery and other household gifts given to the bride and gifts to the family members and relatives of the groom form the major part of the expenses. Other bridal gifts, the trousseau, and the grand feast on the wedding day are also major expenses.

by Jessica Mosby
-USA-

The annual South by Southwest film, interactive, and music festivals are one of the highlights of my year. In 2011 I attended South by Southwest for the first time, and while I had fun, being a novice was often a bit distressing. I generally felt that I had to do everything, even when it was not physically possible. I would lament that I missed this film or that event, completely overlooking the fact I had spent days in dark theaters watching four or five films in straight succession.

by Rachel Muthoni
-Kenya-

With the current inflation in Kenya, the number of Commercial Sex Workers (CSW) in Nakuru, the capital of the most populated Rift Valley province, is rising steadily – a trend that began after the 2007-2008 post-election violence.

The dangers CSWs are exposing themselves to range from HIV infection to mistreatment by clients and other workers. Karen Gakii, 22, will never forget the ordeal she underwent at the hands of her fellow CSWs.

by Alexandra Marie Daniels
Arts and Culture Editor

“What’s your dream?” she asks.

I look at my friend Marjon across the table at the little café on Second Avenue, where we regularly go for an affordable bowl of pasta and a glass of wine after work. It is 1997 in New York City, and she is waiting for my reply. I am embarrassed to respond. My face feels flushed to even contemplate my dreams and goals.

I fumble and take a long drag off my cigarette avoiding the question. “I’m not really sure. What is your dream?”

“I want to be in Cirque du Soleil.”

by Michelle Tolson
-Cambodia-

Entertainment venues are very popular in Cambodia. They are well supplied with beer and young women to serve it. Karaoke clubs and beer gardens are frequented by Khmer men who expect women to sit and drink with them. This can result in beer sellers drinking an average of five drinks a night according to independent researcher Ian Lubek. All this occurs despite assurances from beer companies that beer sellers are not expected to drink on the job.

by Joyce J. Wangui
-Kenya-

Though the name Lilian Mogiti Nyandoro may not mean much to those in Nairobi where she is based, in a small village in Kimana, Oloitoktok District her name speaks volumes. She has demystified the female gender. She has helped local women regain their dignity and brings smiles to their faces.

In this region, women had always succumbed to male patriarchy. The practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) had been an accepted norm, but not anymore. Lilian has ensured that men and women alike are slowly abandoning the barbaric act. Girls in the area praise the anti-FGM crusader and her organization for rescuing them from the knife. As the world marked the International Day of Zero Tolerance to FGM on February 6, an elated group of Maasai women could not hide their appreciation for this unsung heroine.

by Alexandra Marie Daniels
-USA-

Through the lens of average teenage eyes, The Forgiveness of Blood captures the contradictions that have hindered Albania’s post-communist development. Specific in context yet universal in theme, Joshua Marston (director of the highly acclaimed 2004 film Maria Full of Grace) has created a high quality artistic production - that educates and powerfully brings us closer to the possibility that, just maybe, as cultures we are not as different as we often like to think.

by Rita Banerji
-India-

• The Facebook game "Angry Brides." •

What I find appalling is how media reports depict “Angry Brides” as a commendable way to raise “social awareness.” The Vice President of Shaadi.com is quoted as calling “Angry Brides” an “innovative” plan to get more customers and engage with them about “the nuisance of dowry.” While the corporate giant Shaadi.com, with its base of 20 million customers, is recognized among the world’s top 50 most innovative companies, the term “nuisance” grossly understates the actual impact of the practice of dowry.

by Aloosh Devrim
-Syria-

Sunk deep in thoughts, Rania sits alone in her dark room oblivious to the thumping of feet on the roof where neighbor’s children are playing. The screams of Yousaf, her three-month-old, and the ringing telephone simultaneously interrupt her thoughts. She carries the baby on one arm and takes the call with the other hand.

This is a phone call she has been waiting for all day long. As she boards this emotional roller-coaster, her husband Muthana gently takes Yousaf in his arms.

by Katie Palmer
-Canada-

In recent years, there has been a slight yet noticeable shift among many Western young adult travelers. Once adventurously backpacking across Northern Europe and other parts of the world, they now combine cheap travel to the Global South with short-term volunteer endeavors. Whether one is performing low-skill unpaid work at an elephant sanctuary in northern Thailand for a couple of days, or providing high skill pro-bono legal aid at a law clinic in Nairobi, Kenya, today’s Generation Y is scheduling time to make a difference while on vacation abroad.

by Aralena Malone-Leroy
-France-

In late December 2011, while most Europeans were doing last-minute holiday shopping and preparing for gargantuan meals and family festivities, hundreds of thousands of women spent achingly sleepless nights, worried that their breast implants might be giving them cancer. The French Ministry of Health had just released a statement recommending that women with breast implants manufactured by the French company Poly Implant Prothèse (PIP) have them removed, even in the absence of signs of rupture or other complications. All medical fees for the “preventive” process would be covered by national health resources.

by Michelle Tolson
-Cambodia-

On January 12th, 2012 I traveled 45 km outside of Phnom Penh with a group of human rights workers and journalists to a relocation site for the evictees of the Borei Keila slum, which had been demolished the prior week. Deeply tanned faces lined with anguish peered out of makeshift shelters. Grief was the dominant theme as they shared stories of the eviction proceedings. Up on a hill, the beautiful temples of Udong contrasted with the temporary homes below fashioned from tarps and blankets, propped up by sticks.

by Wojoud Mejalli
-Yemen-

I met with the Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkol Karman in Oslo during the Nobel Peace Ceremony on December 10, 2011. After the ceremony, a few minutes were stolen away from other concerns to have a cup of coffee and learn the latest, both personally and politically, from my old Yemeni friend. She shared with me her perspective on recent political changes in our country, the rising youth movement in Yemen, and the relations between the East and West, especially after the Arab Spring.

by Jessica Mosby
-USA-

2011 was another great year for movies. For me, it started in January at the annual Sundance Film Festival with a full slate of must-see films, and kept that momentum for the next eleven months. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to write about all my favorite films or film festivals as they were happening; so as we move forward into 2012, I want to take a look back at five of my favorite documentaries that screened at the San Francisco Bay Area’s top three Fall film festivals: Mill Valley Film Festival, San Francisco’s DocFest, and San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival.

by Rachel Muthoni
-Kenya-

When they hear cries of their fellow countrymen hit by acute food shortage, Kenyan peasant farmers in more productive areas have no money to donate. While they may feel the need and the wish to feed other hungry Kenyans, these farmers cannot reach out with financial help.

More than 3.6 million Kenyans are in urgent need of food assistance. Within Rift Valley, which has a population of about 10 million people, millions languish in hunger, depending only on relief food. Yet other Kenyans in the Valley are struggling to find ways to dispose of produce following a bumper harvest.

by Katharine Daniels, Executive Editor

2011 was a remarkable year. People no longer conceded to sit idly while unjust economic policies and governments denied them prosperous futures. Around the world citizens began to occupy the establishment. At these global protests and uprisings women were common symbols - holding placards, marching in the streets, and speaking truth to power.

by Joyce J. Wangui
-Kenya-

Biopsy, mammogram, and chemotherapy are words all too familiar with cancer patients. Death is another word often at the tip of many tongues as patients describe the disease. Kenyans are coming to terms with cancer, hitherto perceived as a disease of the West and the rich.

Grim statistics show that over 60 Kenyans die of cancer and its related complications every day. In fact, cancer is Kenya’s third leading cause of death, killing more people than HIV and Malaria combined.

by Jenny Shapiro
-USA-

During my three years at International Planned Parenthood Federation, Western Hemisphere Region (IPPF/WHR), I have been fortunate—and humbled—to work with incredible colleagues whose dedication to securing sexual and reproductive health and rights for all is unsurpassed.

As Project Design Coordinator, I know my work is vitally important, particularly at a time when several large global health donors have withdrawn from Latin America and the Caribbean. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has “graduated” the majority of countries in our region, despite the inequalities that persist, as has the UK Department for International Development, USAID’s counterpart in the United Kingdom. The Netherlands, one of the region’s significant donors, is currently phasing out its final project in Colombia, and the Danish government will be pulling out of Nicaragua, a country it has supported for many years.

by Dr. Carmen Barroso
-USA-

Diseases such as diabetes and cancer cause tens of millions of deaths each year, many of which are premature. Once the burden of rich countries, these non-communicable diseases are increasingly affecting individuals in low- and middle-income countries where they impose heavy burdens on already fragile health systems. Among the most deadly—and preventable—of these diseases is cervical cancer.