by Liz McGinn
-UK-

Every year the BBC runs a huge televised fundraising event called Comic Relief. Its aim is to raise as much money as possible for worthwhile causes in the UK and Africa. The fundraising, undertaken by both ordinary people and celebrities, culminates in an evening television extravaganza featuring stories of both the fundraisers and the charities the event supports. This year’s event raised a staggering £17 million ($27 million USD).

by Rachel Muthoni
- Kenya -

If only Kenyan society would choose to understand their kin and friends who are HIV-positive, deaths resulting from this virus could be reduced significantly. But the stigma associated with being infected or affected by HIV hinders such acceptance and understanding, and makes many reject their friends and relatives when they are diagnosed.

by Katie Palmer
-Canada-

At first glance, it seems as if the Government of Singapore has developed a brilliant plan to create jobs for local Singaporeans, to boost tourism, and to generate large amounts of revenue. By opening two world-class Integrated Resorts (IRs), a Singaporean euphemism for casino-based vacation resorts, tourism officials hope to achieve 17 million visitors a year and generate an estimated US$21 billion by 2015.

by Katharine Daniels
Executive Editor

This commentary was originally published on Silent Heroes, Invisible Bridges and has been republished on The WIP under Creative Commons licenses. -Ed.

Does the successful bin Laden mission prove that U.S. values as a nation need not be compromised to wage a war on terror? Relying on old-fashioned intelligence techniques like surveillance and data analysis, the Obama administration successfully killed the head of al-Qaida, a figure who remained illusive to the Bush Administration in their eight-year quest to find him.

by Jessica Mosby
-USA-

In today’s technologically connected world, there are few places completely absent from the 24 hours a day 7 days a week international news cycle. One of those places is Burma, now known as Myanmar. For more than 47 years the Southeast Asian nation has been isolated from the rest of the world with few foreigners or journalists reporting from the ground. The brutal military dictatorship has ruled with an iron fist, fighting a bloody civil war against the country’s ethnic minorities. Aside from singular and infrequent news reports the world receives little information about the innumerable human rights atrocities committed by Burma’s military dictatorship.

by Chumile Jamela
-Zimbabwe-

Lisa Kunene’s* path to higher learning has been a painful one. A 20-year-old first-year engineering student at one of the top universities in Zimbabwe, she was born to a poor communal farmer in rural Matebeleland South, one of the country's driest provinces. She has had to endure the worst economic hardships. So it came as a big surprise and relief when she learned that she had been admitted into university. This was supposed to open the way to a very bright future, as well as provide a stepping-stone to the empowerment she had been waiting for all her life.

Where in the world are the best and worst places to be a mother? Watch this Link TV/Save the Children documentary – The Mothers Index – and learn about how you can get involved in supporting mothers and children around the world.

by Nola Solomon
-USA-

“Jambo! Karibu! Karibu!*” shout the villagers of Chyulu Hills as they shake our hands each day. Their enthusiasm is infectious, like the diseases that ravage them. Women wrapped in traditional sarong dresses cook the meal we will all share at the end of the day - sweet potatoes, spit-roasted antelope, corn, and papaya. They chatter animatedly as they shear the corn and set the spit, alternating between their tribal dialect and Swahili.