by Michelle Chen
- USA -

After spending years living in the homes of strangers, Andreah Moyer finally found her way back to her grandfather at the age of seventeen.

• Over half a million children are in foster care today, many of them shuttling from placement to placement. Photograph by Michael J. Fajardo. •

For her first eight years, Moyer’s grandparents helped raise her in rural Iowa. But her parents’ substance abuse eventually forced the household apart. Moyer and her two brothers were swept into the state’s foster care system, and she spent most of her adolescence isolated from her family. By the time she left foster care in her late teens, Moyer had bounced through more than 15 state-funded substitute homes.

After they reunited, her grandfather told her that throughout those years, her grandparents desperately wanted her back home again. But as a farm family living on a fixed income, they were convinced their hearts stretched beyond their means.

by Constance Manika
- Zimbabwe -

On October 23rd, I sent my young sister Farai off to the Republic of South Africa (RSA) to seek employment. In 2005 she graduated from the University of Zimbabwe with a BSc Honors in Information Technology, and yet she never managed to find any paid employment in this field (save for a one-year unpaid industrial internship she completed as part of her four-year training).

• As capable professionals leave Zimbabwe in search of a livable wage, industry and the economy continue to crumble. Photograph by Gary Bembridge. •

But of course the policies of our despotic leader, Robert Mugabe, meant there would be a different future in store for her. With unemployment levels at a staggering 80 percent (although the government continues to insist preposterously that unemployment is at 9 percent) my sister's future was doomed even before she got her degree.

by Rose-Anne Clermont
- Germany -

BERLIN - Seventy years ago, every kernel of a German’s identity was accessible by the government; financial statements, personal correspondence, family and religious information remained unprotected and defenseless. Private was what could be hidden in an attic, in the lining of a coat, or quickly swallowed in desperation. The absence of data protection allowed for Nazi officials to easily pick apart its citizens and brand them with a star or deem them racially superior.

• Patriotic Way in Rostock, Germany. Photograph by Fabian Bromann. •

“There were some things we just didn’t say outside of our house,” remembers Barbara Boock, 73, of both regimes. “One never spoke about politics outside of the family.” Boock was born in a small eastern town outside of Jena, in 1934, a year after the Nazis came to power. Because her parents were Anthroposophist, (a spiritual philosophy known mostly for Waldorf schools and biodynamic agriculture) the family was scrutinized by the Nazis. “I remember coming home from school and watching the Gestapo storm through our house and take away all of our Anthroposophist books.”

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

“Free Tibet” has become part of our lexicon due to countless bumper stickers adorning Volvos and fundraisers featuring Richard Gere. Despite the feminist persuasion of many Tibetan supporters, women in Tibet, particularly nuns, are rarely the focus of the movement. After seeing the film Daughters of Wisdom, which is currently on the film festival circuit, I was so inspired by Tibetan nuns and their spunk that I wondered why the “Free Tibet” movement doesn’t focus more on these incredible women.

• Ochi Drolma has been a nun since the age of 14 and is one of Kala Rongo’s founders who helped build its first temple structure. Photograph courtesy of BTG Productions. •

In Tibet, a man who devotes his life to religion is considered a source of pride for his family, but women are not encouraged to join a monastery, even if this is their only access to an education; rather, nuns are considered a burden to their families since they cannot help farm, will not have children who will help farm, nor can they be married off in exchange for livestock. The Kala Rongo Monastery is the only place in Tibet exclusively for nuns, many of whom join the monastery when they are children, to live freely amongst other women.

by Susan Enuogbope Majekodunmi
- Nigeria -

Nigeria is an oil-rich country in West Africa also endowed with other mostly unexploited natural resources, such as coal and tin, iron ore and other valuable minerals. Colonized by the British, their influence is still evident in many ways; an obvious legacy is that Nigeria’s official language is English. Nigeria gained its independence on October 1st 1960 and was initially ruled by democratically elected officials. However, from 1966 to 1999, the country was ruled by military dictators who seized power in coups d'état; the only exception was a short-lived second republic from 1979-1983. Upon assuming power, each democratic or military government has promised reforms, but none ever delivers. This roller coaster ride of regimes has allowed widespread corruption to flourish and has created both political and economic instability, and as a result many people have chosen to build a better life elsewhere.

by Tess Raposas
- Philippines -

In coastal communities all over the Philippines, it is ironic that seawater is abundant everywhere but effectively, there’s not a drop of clean water to drink. But the problem exists throughout the country, and in fact, across the world. Residents must travel miles away to collect fresh water, which must be also be consumed sparingly because in the absence or shortage of this basic commodity. Children suffer the most. Not only are children usually assigned to be the handy collectors of water for many households, but they are also the most susceptible when it comes to water-borne diseases.

• Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink for many of the world's most improverished people.
Photograph by Debashis Basu. •

Lack of clean water and adequate sanitation facilities are realities that poor people in almost every corner of the world have to contend with every single day of their lives. They end up paying a very steep price for the lack of something so basic to well-being.

by Nancy Van Ness
- USA -

I cross 42nd Street and walk up Times Square. It is a cold, windy, rainy day but I had promised to come. I continue past the army recruiting center and the police headquarters; police are out in force. I notice the New York Times building on the east side of the Square at 43rd. The huge Clear Channel signs, some of the most prominent of those that are bright day and night cast a glow that makes the square seem like daytime 24 hours a day while flashing images. Across the way are the Disney buildings and Reuters. I walk over to the Broadway side of the Square, go up to 44th and then to Shubert Alley and over to 45th, giving high fives and thumbs up to striking stage hands as they parade up and down between police barriers in front of the theaters.

• In the city that never sleeps, Time Square glows brightly just steps away from Broadway's theaters and striking stagehands. Photograph by
Nancy Van Ness. •

I head to a theater where, ironically, the show is about RCA’s theft of the rights to the invention of television from its inventor. It is never comfortable or convenient to man the picket lines and today is really nasty, but I had told the stage hands there I would be back today, so here I am.

I have come to see if I can get a true picture of what is going on. The endless media reports about the family from Seattle or somewhere else who had come to see The Grinch and how disappointed the children were because the stage hands had shut the show down had become intolerable to me.

by Eva Sohlman
Sweden

SANA'A, Yemen – For a Yemeni woman the most common route to a jail cell is love or prostitution. Another is to be raped. “The most common reason why a Yemeni woman is in prison is relationships with men,” says Najiba Naji, director of the state prison in Yemen’s capital Sana'a.

• Unlike some 30 years ago, women in Yemen today cover most of themselves from head to toe. Photograph by Eva Sohlman. •

Yemen, known by the Romans as "Arabia Felix" (Happy Arabia) in the days when it flourished from the incense trade, is strategically placed at the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula where the Red Sea meets the Indian Ocean. Today it is one of the world's poorest countries, on the periphery of world politics, and more known by the epitaph, “The land of the three Ks – Kidnappings, Kalashnikovs and Khat”. Ironically, this marginalization has meant that the country has ended up at the center of world events once again.

by Aralena Malone-Leroy
France

When in 2002 President Jacques Chirac resuscitated a proposal for the creation of a museum of immigration, he was honoring an unpopular dream that had been in gestation for nearly 15 years. First proposed in 1989 by Zaïr Kedadouche, a second-generation Algerian municipal councilman, with support from a small group of historians, the project was considered too politically risky by then-President François Mitterand. Almost ten years later, in 1998, riding high on the euphoria of France’s post-World Soccer Cup win, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin tried to renew interest in the project, even recruiting representatives from the Human Rights League and various public officials to launch a proposal for a site - but the initiative stalled and faded again.

By Constance Manika
- Zimbabwe -

I am always left cursing and depressed and angry after covering assignments where I meet with People Living With HIV and AIDS. (We call them PLWAs here.)

• Weighing only 90 pounds when she began antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, this woman has benefitted greatly from both the New Life Support Group as well as ARVs. She now weighs a healthy 132 pounds. Photograph courtesy of PSI-Zimbabwe. •

I know almost everyone's "story", including deep secrets they say they never have and never will tell anyone else. I am invited to their private family parties; they ask me to cover their support group functions. They even phone to update me on their health; when they are too sick to call me, they ask their relatives or spouses to do it on their behalf.

I always listen, comfort, offer advice and help where I can; I have become very close to many people affected by AIDS. I appreciate the fact that they trust me that much. And I love talking to them. But when these " friends" confide in me, they usually have problems and depressing news.

Often I am left stressed, because I cannot help. This special community of friends all know I have no financial means to help them, being the underpaid journalist that I am. They know that I, too, struggle to make ends meet in this harsh economic environment that is Zimbabwe.

What is my life like? I have chosen to work for the so-called independent press. Supposedly I am playing a very crucial part in writing the history of Zimbabwe. Yet I live on less than $0.43 USD a day! Here is how I calculate this $0.43 USD cents per day: it’s very simple. I currently earn a salary of Z$13 million a month. When divided by 30 days in a month, this means that I earn $43 USD per month!

by Jessica Mosby
USA

The story of a young and adrift guy finding his way in a confusing world has been done – too many times. Though I usually would not go see a film about this sort of fellow, I found myself intently watching a film about just that at the Mill Valley Film Festival. In part it was the name that intrigued me, Four Sheets to the Wind, but what really inspired me to attend the screening was when I read that it was a film about Seminole-Creek Indians by a Seminole-Creek Indian. A niche market if there ever was one.

• Cufe (Cody Lightning) and Cora Smallhill (Jeri Arredondo). Photograph by Chuck Foxen. •

by Louise Belfrage
News Editor, The WIP
Argentina

• Flag of Argentina. Centered in the white band is a radiant yellow sun with a human face known as the Sun of May. Courtesy of CIA World Factbook. •

True, but nonetheless, the always-crowded Plaza de Mayo was empty that night. No one was there except for the usual scores of doves flying about.

by Katharine Daniels
Executive Editor, The WIP
USA

On Monday afternoon Managing Editor Patricia Vásquez and I changed gears and filmed seven questions The WIP wants answered by the next President of The United States. Reporting to you from behind a camera is something I will certainly have to get used to, but nonetheless these powerful questions coming from Bahrain, Malawi, Argentina, Germany, Zimbabwe and the USA get to the heart of the US policies that matter most to the international community.

by Suad Hamada
Bahrain

Women’s empowerment apparently clashes with the not-so-hidden agendas of Kuwaiti and Bahraini parliamentarians. Dirty politics have resulted in the recent resignation of the first two female ministers ever to join the cabinets in either country.

In Kuwait, Health Minister Dr. Massouma Saleh Al Mubarak resigned shortly after being grilled by the parliament over irregularities in her ministry, as well as about a fire that broke out in a public hospital that caused the death of one patient and injuries to others. Last month in Bahrain, Health Minister Dr. Nada Haffadh resigned over conflicts and arguments with Shiite Conservative MP Mohammed Al Mizal so heated that they made newspaper headlines.

by Jessica Mosby
USA

• Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis become the kings of corn in their new documentary by exploring the factors that have led to America's obesity epidemic. Photograph by Sam Cullman, courtesy of Mosaic Films Incorporated. •

After watching the documentary King Corn, which is currently playing in select cities, I was shocked to learn that corn is indeed wreaking havoc on America’s health. Gone are the days of idyllic Midwestern family farms growing tasty organic vegetables. Today large corporate farms grow genetically-modified corn that is later used to create the real criminal: high-fructose corn syrup.

by Katharine Daniels
Executive Editor, The WIP
USA

Five long years after the 2003 invasion of Iraq the chatter coming from the White House reads like déjà vu. Despite the calls from world leaders and weapons experts to “stop and think,” the White House appears stubborn and determined to rush into another ill-conceived, poorly executed, and unsupported pre-emptive strike. In 2003 there were very few women’s perspectives in the debate that ultimately led to the war. The foreign policy experts, the politicians, and the journalists on television and in print during the critical period before the invasion were overwhelmingly male. The lack of women’s voices parallel a lack of perspective. That lack of perspective is similarly noticeable today as the White House drums up support for another war.

• Global demands to pursue diplomacy with Iran over nuclear development fall on the deaf ears of the Bush administration. Photograph by
Nic Persinger. •