Katharine Daniels
Executive Editor, The WIP
USA

This past weekend I attended the third annual BlogHer conference in Chicago, Illinois. Participants networked, socialized, and attended presentations by successful female bloggers from all online spheres of life. This year’s event, called “A World of Difference,” is precisely what I found.

• Elisa Camahort, Lisa Stone and Jory Des Jardins, founders of Blogher at this year's conference. Photograph by Josh Hallet •

BlogHer was developed in 2005 “to create opportunities for women who blog to pursue exposure, education, community, and economic empowerment.” The founders call it a “do-ocracy” that gives women online the opportunity “to help ourselves and work together to voice and achieve our individual goals.” It is no surprise that Blogher’s founders, Lisa Stone, Elisa Camahort, and Jory Des Jardins are three successful internet pioneers who had the chutzpah to follow an intuitive hunch, and they have developed something great and important.

by Sarah Wyatt
USA

Danielle Malchoff, 17, was a two-time champion at the 2007 World Eskimo-Indian Olympics (WEIO), held July 18-21 in her hometown of Anchorage, Alaska. At first glance, Danielle looks like any average teenager – her pierced eyebrow and black fingernail polish both testaments to youth culture. But Danielle knows she also represents the historic culture of her ancestors, competing fiercely in the WEIO games even though she only began participating last year. An Athabascan and Aleut, Danielle says, "I grew up in the Native community, but still learned a lot about my culture by participating". "These games have been handed down from generation to generation. Each game has its origin and a functional purpose [in the culture]."

• Danielle prepares for the Alaskan high kick. Photograph courtesy of Sarah Wyatt. •

Danielle received her coaching for the one-foot high kick competition from the current record holder, Carol Pickett.

This specialty requires the athlete to jump off the floor using both feet, to kick a suspended object with one foot, and then land on the floor using only that same foot. This event originated from caribou hunting; a messenger kicked high in the air as a signal to the hunters that the animals were running near.

Danielle is a high school senior who is already taking college courses. During the summer she works at a Native heritage center, and volunteers with other local causes.

For Danielle, like so many of her peers, the sports events are not the only cultural activities in which she participates. "I am active in Native dance groups," she said. "I believe it’s vital for my generation to preserve our heritage."

by D-L Nelson
France

Old wars are usually forgotten as soon as new wars make headlines. The war fought in Bosnia between March 1992 and November 1995 is such a war.

• The bridge at Mostar near the center. Photograph courtesy of May Maitland •

by Constance Manika
- Zimbabwe -

• A woman cries amongst her possessions. Photograph by Fidelis Zvomuya. •

At just about this time of year in 2005, I traveled to Bindura on assignment to observe first-hand the devastating effects of Robert Mugabe’s Operation Murambatsvina. Officially known as “Operation Restore Order,” but directly translated as “Operation Drive Out the Filth,” it wreaked havoc, leaving millions of the urban and rural poor homeless or destitute.

by Imelda V. Abaño & Esther Nakkazi
Philippines/Uganda
Reporting from Sydney, Australia

One of the greatest public health failures in the fight against AIDS is the world’s inability to prevent widespread HIV infection among Men who have Sex with Men (MSM), according to officials from the Foundation for Aids Research (amFAR). MSM is the most prominent method of HIV transmission in nearly all Latin American countries, as well as the US, Canada and some Western Europe countries. The roots of this public health failure are denial, discrimination and criminalization.

by Esther Nakkazi
Uganda

Coffee exporters in developing countries are bracing themselves for higher unit export prices.

• Coffee picker in Vietnam. Photograph by Everjean. •

by Janelle Weiner
USA

Women in the US make a lot of choices before their babies are born, from which foods to eat, to which birth preparation class to take, to how to decorate the nursery. For most, however, there’s no question where their babies will be born: a “bun in the oven” means feet in the stirrups for a delivery in the hospital - accepted as the safe, modern location for giving birth.

But studies show that giving birth at home can be just as safe and can even lead to more positive outcomes for both mother and child.

by Patricia Vásquez
Managing Editor, The WIP
USA

• Haleh Esfandiari. Photograph courtesy of the WWICS •

The would-be documentary claims it demonstrates the “confessions” of Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, Director of the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program and her fellow Iranian-American, New York-based social scientist Kian Tajbakhsh. The program featured blurry footage of revolutions in progress in Eastern Europe; only snatches of the two prisoners’ voices could be heard.

by Patricia Vásquez
Managing Editor, The WIP
USA

An incredible story broke worldwide on Tuesday, July 17, 2007:

• Haleh Esfandiari. Photograph courtesy of the WWICS •

Esfandiari and Tajbakhsh both spoke in Farsi and appeared to be in homes or offices. Esfandiari was sitting, wearing typical Islamic clothing - a black headscarf that completely covered her hair, and what appeared to be the traditional black cloak called a chador.

by Imelda V. Abano
Philippines

"I was working on our small vegetable farm in our backyard when I felt the earth tremble. I looked up and saw the landslide coming towards me.

• Typical home in the mountainous Mangyan village, an area in the Philippines prone to landslides. Photograph by Dylan Walters •

Ever since a massive landslide triggered by heavy rains buried an entire village in the Southern Philippines on February 17, 2006, 28 year-old Raquel cannot believe she and her two children survived the terror.

by María Suárez Toro
Costa Rica/Puerto Rico

On the one hand, the Republicans currently have - due to Bush’s performance - the lowest level of popularity they have had in a long time. So much so that it would not be an exaggeration to think that a Republican candidate stands little chance in the 2008 elections. The image of Republicans in government is not popular.

by Natasha Dokovska
Macedonia

In the past, if a woman wasn’t a virgin, she would surreptitiously pour animal blood on the bed after consummating her marriage. Today, this tradition has been replaced in Macedonia with a more sophisticated ruse – hymen repair surgery. This procedure is recognized medically as plastic surgery and is easily performed, taking only thirty minutes to one hour to repair a broken hymen.

by Constance Manika
- Zimbabwe -

“When elephants fight, it is the grass which suffers.” – African Proverb

When this program was launched, the Minister of Health and Child Welfare, Dr David Parirenyatwa, openly admitted that his government had no resources to expand. Rather, Zimbabwe was counting on the assistance of the international donor community to provide more people with the ARV treatment.

by Viktorija Plavcak
Slovenia

Two weeks ago in Celje, the third largest city in Slovenia, a fifty-year old man, barely able to drive himself to the hospital, walked into the ER in the middle of the night complaining about shortness of breath and severe chest pain. He worried that he was going to suffocate. Unfortunately, he had no doctor’s referral, and even worse, his medical card was invalid. Well aware of these facts, Bojan Kajtna was prepared to pay for his medical examination. Nevertheless, the attending nurse instead referred him to the health center just around the corner to fetch the required referral, a technicality that would allow him admission into the hospital. Unfortunately, Bojan never reached his destination. Just a few steps from the ER, he collapsed and died.

by Imelda V. Abaño
Philippines

• Photograph courtesy of IRRI •

Yet according to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), only 16 percent of mothers in the Philippines breast-feed their children, an extraordinarily low rate for such a poor country.

by D-L Nelson
France

France is a mecca for the large number of small-scale raw milk cheese producers that live and work in the region.

• Photograph by Jacob Rushing •

However, many cheeses from France never cross the Atlantic because they are made from raw milk and are then sold anywhere from the day of their fabrication to six weeks of age. This is the case with the majority of goat cheeses in Provence.
And yet, this great tradition of raw milk cheeses has come under attack as France seeks to comply with the new food regulations coming from Brussels and the European Union (EU).

by Delphine Zulu
- Zambia -

• Zambian school children. Photograph by Jennifer Milner. •

Because this problem continues to plague Zambia’s children and in addition accelerates the spread of AIDS, Zambia’s High Court judges have urgently called for the amendment of the Defilement Act: the hope is that publicly parading and photographing the offenders will deter them, where prison sentences have not.

At every court in Zambia, whether in lower or higher courts, at least three to four defilement cases are now being handled per session, compared to recent years past, when defilement cases only came before the courts about once every three months.

by Rosemary Okello
Kenya

Walking through Mefa Creations, a local organization specializing in African designs and located along Ngong Road in Nairobi, you are greeted with bold African colors, local jewelry and clothing made from African fabrics.

• Evelyn Odongo with one of her designs. Photograph by Judy Waguma. •

Unlike before, when young people used to shun traditional African dress in favor of the latest western fashions, Kenyan youth are now embracing African design and culture with a renewed passion.

As she talks about her work and why she chose to focus on the African designs, Evelyn Odongo, who is the designer and the proprietor, says; “My designs appeal to the younger generation because they are blended with the latest trendy designs from the west. This makes the youth feel like they are still current with fashion and I find my designs also have an impact on their lifestyles too.”

From music to food and even fashion, young Kenyans are now concerned with looking like “real” Africans. Odongo says the younger generations now prefer natural hair, and at times in dreadlocks, with their African attire. They also accent their appearances with African beads, locally made slippers and bags. These young people seem to be experiencing a cultural renaissance sparked by fashion. They have even created their own langauge, called “sheng” – a combination of English, a bit of slang and Kiswahili.

Katharine Daniels
Executive Editor, The WIP
USA

On the 29th of June The WIP posted a link to Anti-Americanism Hits New Record in Turkey from Today’s Zaman, an online Turkish newspaper. Apparently Turks now dislike the United States more than any other country in the world. A report from The Pew Global Attitudes Project documented that today only 2 percent of Turkish respondents had a favorable opinion of US President George W. Bush’s foreign policy, despite the fact that only five years ago 52 percent were supporters of The United States. This is in Turkey, a US ally and a member of NATO!

by Daisy Tormé
USA/UK

Sunday the Concert for Diana was aired live on VH1 and yes, I found myself huddled in front of the TV watching the entire thing along with millions of other viewers. The concert was organized from the ground up by "the heir and the spare", Princes William and Harry, as a tribute to the life - rather than the death - of their late mother, Princess Diana, on what would have been her 46th birthday. (Thank you, VH1, for showing this live, un-edited and not chock full of commercials.)

by Suad Hamada
Bahrain