SOMALIA: Aden Muhumed Hassan, “I am better at collecting charcoal than my friends who have hands”

AFGHANISTAN: New report highlights people’s thirst for peace

SOMALIA: Galkayo threatened by rising insecurity

YEMEN: Nasser Ridhwan, "I had nothing in life but my wife, who I’ve now lost"

PAKISTAN: South Waziristan IDPs move further from conflict zone

In Brief: Hundreds flee attack in east Kenyan town

SOUTH AFRICA-ZIMBABWE: More than 2,000 Zimbabweans flee, fearing attacks

GUINEA: Uncertainty over toxic chemicals in Conakry

SUDAN: Increasing hunger could fuel conflict in south

GUINEA: Madame Diallo, "The children ask about him"

COTE D'IVOIRE: Yellow fever strikes in north

IRAQ: Minority communities in Nineveh appeal for protection

GUINEA: Humanitarian update

SUDAN: The Nuba Mountains - straddling the north-south divide

DRC-CONGO: Come back home, DRC government urges refugees

AFGHANISTAN: Over 2,000 civilians killed in first 10 months of 2009

YEMEN: Most IDPs shun official camps

SIERRA LEONE: War-wounded get micro-grants

YEMEN: Hundreds displaced by fighting on Yemen-Saudi border

CAMBODIA: Coming to terms with a violent past

Mama na come

Liberians have lots of great expressions, and I've enjoyed learning some of them as we traveled the country. I've shared a few of them here on my blog — how da body, tryin' small, a fish cup of rice.

My ear got used to the patois after we'd been here a few days, and I was happy to be able to rely less and less on our translators. I found myself slipping into Liberian English enough so that I could understand what people were telling me. I even was able to adapt my own spoken English with a touch of patois so that they could better understand me. It was fun and satisfying to connect with people through our talking, listening — and our shared language of simple human caring.

We met so many strong, proud Liberian people who are digging in to do the hard daily work of rebuilding their ravaged country. On this trip, we made a point of talking with lots of women. Most of the one-on-one conversations I had were with the grandmothers and mothers, sisters and daughters whose bright outfits often provided the only spots of cheerfui decoration against the drab browns of their mud-brick huts. Their personalities were as colorful and distinct as the fabrics they wore.

The fortunes of Liberia's people are being raised by hard-working businesswomen like Tetee, who has been supporting her family for two years by selling goods in her small shop. Photo: Nancy Farese for Mercy Corps

Liberian women are the cocoa farmers I met, like Mary and Samah and Annie. They're vegetable farmers who have also been trained in secretarial skills, like Isabella. They're businesswomen, like Tetee (in this picture), who has been supporting her family for two years by selling goods in her small shop. Many of them, like Wadey, have horrific stories of their experiences during the war years. It was hard to hear their stories of the violence that has scarred them.

And yet, they are looking forward with hope. That's the thing that stays with me the most from this trip.

To a woman, they talked about education — their number one priority for their children and themselves. "When there is no education," said Isabella, "you are blind. You can't do anything. Education is the key." They're earning their own money and counting every penny to try to save enough to pay school fees so their children can learn to read and write. They're absolutely ecstatic about the Mercy Corps literacy classes and other training that are helping them acquire the basic skills to get ahead.

They're also applying their own sweat and muscle to the hard slog of farming. They're eagerly absorbing new methods of planting, mulching and composting to improve their yields.

And the many people who have had Mercy Corps training in community-building are showing how much they have absorbed those lessons. Clearly, they deeply value respectful dialogue and inclusive democracy. At every village meeting I attended, people packed into the palaver huts to participate and listened with the utmost courtesy and attentiveness as each person spoke.

These are the some of the images and memories that will stay with me as I wind up this trip. I'm thinking about one expression I learned: "Papa na come." It means, "Things will be good," as in "Papa's gonna come." I think Papa here is meant to signify any family provider.

But after this trip, I've coined my own version of this saying. It's "Mama na come." Because I think the women of Liberia — the same women whose uprising helped lead the country away from a cruel dictatorship and towards a democracy led by a woman president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf — are showing the way to this beautiful country's future. I'm betting on their success, because I've seen with my own eyes what they're accomplishing.

Thirty years ago today...

Thirty years ago, the Cambodian refugee crisis was the catalyst for a relief effort that would later become Mercy Corps. Photo: Jon Warren for Mercy Corps

A friend recently shook my hand vigorously saying, "Congratulations on celebrating Mercy Corps' 30th anniversary!" I thanked him and went on to say that I would phrase his comment a bit differently. But I'll get back to that later in the story.

As the decade of the 1970s came to a close, a horrifying slaughter swept the country of Cambodia capturing the rapt attention of the world in what would come to be known as the "killing fields." The radical communist Khmer Rouge launched a massive wave of barbarism across the stricken nation, killing as many as 2.2 million innocent men, women and children while forcing more than 600,000 refugees into exhile, mostly into Thailand.

Week after week images of the dead and the dying filled the global media. "How could this be allowed to happen before the eyes of the entire world?" I wondered. In November 1979, First Lady Rosalynn Carter traveled to the Thailand-Cambodia border to witness the devastation first hand.

At the same time my wife, Cherry, and I agonized over what we could do if anything. After all, what can one or two people do in the face of such an overwhelming human catastrophe? We approached Cherry's father, entertainer Pat Boone, suggesting that he approach his extensive network of friends and industry colleagues to provide emergency aid to the suffering multitudes. Pat immediately said, "Dan, use my phone and rolodex to convene a group of concerned friends." His wife, Shirley, added, "We'll open our house for a dinner to discuss what we can do together."

I jumped on it, naively placing a call to the White House asking to speak with Mrs. Carter. To my utter amazement, she took my call and offered her support. She dispatched The Reverend Doctor Bob Maddox, a Special Assistant to the President, to our November 19 dinner event. More than 60 leaders from various sectors attended the dinner, which was covered by network TV news and print media.

The meal consisted of rice and dried fish on paper plates, the same diet as most of the Cambodian refugees. By the end of the evening, it was unanimously decided that an urgent fundraising drive would be launched and that I should lead the effort we called Save The Refugees Fund.

Graciously, Mrs. Carter invited me to the White House and requested that I serve on the Cambodia Crisis Committee. I opened an office in Seattle and — supported by the dinner guests and Mrs. Carter — raised nearly a million dollars to send help and hope to countless refugees.

At the end of the year-long project, I was convinced the effort should continue by reaching out to assist in other disasters and refugee scenarios. So in July 1981, Save The Refugees Fund was permanently incorporated as Mercy Corps. Since that time we have worked in 107 countries providing nearly $2 billion in assistance. Today, more than 3,700 staff are on the Mercy Corps team in 40 countries, helping those who are numbered among "the bottom billion" people on the planet.

And it all began with a handful of committed volunteers determined to make a positive difference 30 years ago.

Do we celebrate our anniversary? Let me put it this way. Because incalculable death and suffering heralded the occasion of Mercy Corps' founding, it is difficult to say we celebrate it. We mark it like a somber memorial, redoubling our determination to make the world a better place. The challenges are many but, with the help of caring friends and partners like you, we will continue upward and onward!

Six days on the road

I'm both exhausted and exhilarated by my six-day journey through the red clay rocky back-roads of Tajikistan's border area with Kyrgyzstan in the Rasht Valley.

Moving village to village to meet with women who have been patiently awaiting my arrival for six months, I feel humbled by their expression of enthusiasm upon seeing me. They greet me with near-celebrity status, and are utterly unaware of how much I am awed by them, completely inspired by them.

Photo: Janice Setser/Mercy Corps

These women, who have somewhere between a third and seventh grade education, live with their large families in a highly mountainous region where unforgiving winters last between six and seven months — severely shortening the growing season — and where they are miles from any market or hospital. Getting to a market or hospital in the winter time isn't generally an option anyway, except on foot or by horse. Occasionally, a government plough will clear the roads and, in a streak of good weather, it may be possible by car.

Electricity is also scarce and unregimented; houses are heated with wood they collect themselves or coal they buy, if they have the money. These women are the first to rise and the last to go to bed, providing the care for their children, their husbands, mothers- and fathers-in-law, the livestock and the land attached to the house. They stoke the fires, keep a constant pot of tea boiling and cook their one or two hot meals a day; they are the back bones of a large family, starting from the young age of 17 or 18, when they enter into an arranged marriage.

After three days in this Central Asian outback, my cuticles are split and bleeding and I'm constantly applying my $20 wheat germ oil to try to salvage my parched skin. Meanwhile, they are in and out of the house, to and from the detached kitchens, moving through the harsh elements — wind, rain or snow. There is no indoor plumbing, and sometimes the only running water is blocks away. Whether it is clean water or not is another issue.

The women thank me profusely for coming and I am at a loss to express my respect and admiration for them sufficiently. Even though it is my dream to live off the land, build my own house and have my own food forest, when I look at these women and their lives I wonder, could I ever do what they do? Could I ever really live as they live? Would I have the strength, the stamina, the fortitude to endure this beautiful but cruel environment such as they do?

I am grateful to these women, in this environment and with their workload, for actively participating in our program of health and agriculture education — some coming from long distances to meet together and hold discussions. This is a new habit for them, and the health and agriculture village educators who volunteer for us tell me that it was very difficult for them in the beginning to convince the women to come.

Photo: Janice Setser/Mercy Corps

Now, however, they come willingly and faithfully, eager to learn and discuss the topics of safe pregnancy, breast-feeding and supplementary feeding of children over six months. They tell me with fire and passion all of the different details that they know and have learned from Mercy Corps on these subjects. They tell me how the greenhouses have changed their lives too — eating tomatoes and cucumbers that they have produced themselves when they previously thought it was impossible in their region. They also express their gratitude that the jars that they have canned with fruits and pickled products are no longer exploding and being lost because of improper canning methods — now they are able to keep their jars and use them through the winter.

They are also grateful for the social time — the brief respite away from their large volume of tasks in the house — to meet together and exchange information, share problems and support one another in a forum that was previously unavailable to them.

Over and over their pour out their gratitude and appreciation to Mercy Corps for starting this program in their communities. I tell them that, in the Garm office alone, we have 74 staff that are all working for them and that, without them, without their participation, we would not have a program. I thank them, but I am thanking them for much more than just their participation. I am also thanking them for being amazing teachers of strength, capacity, warmth and extraordinary generosity — even though I fail to properly express this with my faltering language skills.

I hope they get it on some level — I hope they understand that they are the reason that I am here.

Artemis Great Kindrochit Quadrathlon 2010

A warm welcome to all of those taking part in the 2010 Artemis Great Kindrochit Quadrathlon, Mercy Corps is delighted once again be the beneficiary charity for this fantastic event!

The Artemis Great Kindrochit Quadrathlon is recognised as arguably Scotland’s toughest one day event. Participants must swim one mile across Loch Tay, walk/run 15 miles over 7 Munros, kayak for 8 miles before finally finishing the challenging event with a 34 mile cycle around the entire loch.

The 2009 event was a huge success and has so far raised over £165,000 for Mercy Corps work in India. A huge thank you to all of those who are returning once again to support Mercy Corps.

Lindsay Whitelaw of Artemis said "We are delighted to be the sponsors of this unique and eccentric event. Artemis employees have previously taken part in other Wildfox challenges, and we jumped at the chance to support Mercy Corps again. The GKQ is a fun event and the quadrathlete’s will be raising funds for a very worthwhile and motivating cause."

For more details on the event, please visit the the official website. view the video from last years event here

The 2010 Event will support Mercy Corps work with indigenous families in Guatemala; further detail can be found here.

We know that fundraising can seem like a daunting task, but we are here to support you every step of the way. Our events coordinator Jennifer Adams will be delighted to hear from you, contact her on +44 (0) 131 662 5173 or email
jadams@uk.mercycorps.org

For further information on what we can do to help you fundraise click here.

Lasting change

Gunanto is a vendor who sells healthy snacks for children in one of Jakarta's poorest neighborhoods. Mercy Corps staff visit vendors of their healthy street food project, KeBal, several times each week to monitor them and ensure proper hygiene and nutrition standards are met. Photo: Greg Briggs for Mercy Corps

Behavior is hard to change. I know. I’ve tried. Even with support, it’s still extraordinarily difficult to change. To learn new skills. To give up character flaws. To be a better person.

The last program I visited in Jakarta is a Healthy Street Foods Project called KeBal, translated: My Child’s Café. (Coincidently, this program is one of two selected just weeks ago as the 2009 winner of Mercy Corps’ most innovative projects worldwide.)

Children in Jakarta’s slums are extremely malnourished. Oftentimes, the easiest option for a mother is give her child small change (usually about, 2,000 Indonesian rupiah, which is only 20¢) to buy something from a food cart. Most of these options are fried or sugary foods that are really unhealthy and make children sick.

KeBal takes an innovative approach to address this problem: developing a food cart that is child-friendly (colorful, plays music and food is eye-level) and choosing a menu that provides vitamins and nutrients to children. Part of this project is teaching the cooks and food cart vendors about good hygiene and healthy food preparation. (Not wanting to risk getting sick because I was in Jakarta for such a short time, the only food cart I ate from was ours — and it was delicious!).

This pilot project has been so successful that it is being expanded to other neighborhoods in Jakarta.

Mercy Corps field staff talk about “continuous engagement” with the people we serve. I love that term. It’s encouraging, loving, unfailing. It means: we’re here to support you. Whatever it takes. We’re here today and if you need us, we’ll be here tomorrow.

I saw examples of continuous engagement in all the programs I visited in Jakarta. The problems are complex and the solutions are multifaceted. Even if you provide access to clean water, you still need to teach people the importance of washing their hands. Even if you provide a system to turn a community’s waste into compost, people still have to learn how to maintain it. Even if you provide access to a mother’s support group, you still have to have trained facilitators there to dispel myths and answer questions. And, even if you provide a food cart with healthy ingredients, you still have to show someone how to cook the food safely so children don’t get sick.

Mercy Corps’ programs work because there is continuous engagement. We don’t put the well in and walk away. Lasting change — the important kind — comes from teaching people how to do things differently and supporting them along the way.

Honored to be back among a people I love

It had been 33 years since I had lived there. When I heard that an earthquake and resulting tsunami had struck the Samoa Islands on September 29, I was taken back to a time when I had lived among the Samoan people as a young missionary.

The Samoan people I knew were a friendly, open and culturally rich people with deep traditions of respect and honor. I was deeply concerned, and felt Mercy Corps could be of assistance.

With support from Mercy Corps’ generous donors and assistance from Western Union, I knew that we could do much to assist the traumatized and devastated communities along the southern and eastern coasts of Upolu and Manono, two of several Samoan islands hit hard by the earthquake and resulting tsunami.

Steve Mitchell, Mercy Corps Chief Financial Officer and Vice-President for Financial Services, stands amidst tsunami wreckage in Samoa. Photo: Carol Ward/Mercy Corps

Upon arriving in Samoa, and after a long drive from the capital city of Apia, my fellow Mercy Corps colleague Carol Ward and I arrived in the southeastern district of Aleipata in Upolu, one on the most severely affected areas. Relying upon my rusty Samoan language skills acquired so many years before, I spoke with a village chief doing repairs with members of his family on his badly-damaged home near the beach.

As I expressed deep condolences for his village’s losses, he immediately interrupted me to express his profound gratitude and deep appreciation to all the people of America and abroad for their support of food, water and shelter. He even wished the blessing of God upon us as we conducted our work. As he thanked Mercy Corps for being there, I could not help but think that the Samoan culture of courtesy and gratitude that I knew so many years ago persisted even in this time of deep suffering. Under the worst of circumstances, I felt honored to be among a people I had come to love so long ago.

As Carol and I travelled along the only road linking villages in the district, we had heard that the village of Lalomanu, further south, had been particularly hard hit. As we summited a small rise in the road, and looked out upon what was left of Lalomanu, I was utterly shocked at the devastation. This village, which I later learned had the most fatalities, was simply no more. The surging waters had wreaked utter destruction.

One family, encamped in a salvaged home with tarpaulin covers, said they needed more help to reestablish themselves, and that many of their fellow villagers had moved inland because of their fear of the ocean, a recurring topic of discussion with the affected Samoans we met with. One woman I met with, as she looked out to sea, said she was afraid, or “fefe” of the ocean. The look in her eyes clearly demonstrated this fact. Particularly heart-rending was learning that so many children has perished, being unable to escape the rushing waters. Flowers marked the places where loved ones were lost. Bedding, clothing, tools, household goods, toys and building debris were scattered everywhere.

A later meeting I had with the Deputy Minister of Finance, Noumea Simi, helped me to understand what the beleaguered Samoan government was confronted with in reestablishing whole new villages inland from the ocean for devastated costal communities. Since so many affected villagers were terrified of living near the shore, the Government had to build roads, bring in power and put in infrastructure for these new inland communities, all the while having to rebuild the heavily damaged coastal village infrastructure for those Samoans not wanting to move away from their traditional home sites.

Tsunami-displaced families in parts of Samoa are living in makeshift shelters. Mercy Corps and its local partner, SPBD, has been helping meet their urgent needs with deliveries of critical supplies. Photo: Carol Ward for Mercy Corps

The following day, we travelled with representatives of our partner agency, South Pacific Business Development (SPBD), to the island of Manono to assess the cash-for-work program implemented the prior week by SPBD, and funded by Mercy Corps and Western Union. The cash-for-work program pays each villager needed cash for documented hours of work, typically at the end of the week, to do clean up and reconstruction.

After a slow boat ride from the eastern coast of Upolu, we arrived near the villages of Faleu and Lepuia’i. No vehicles of any kind are to be found on Manono, as the island is too small and isolated from the larger islands. The Manono villages, like others in Samoa, are nestled right up against the waters edge, to take advantage of cool breezes that keep the mosquitoes at bay and ensure proximity to the abundant supply of food take from the reef.

The earthquakes’ two tsunami surges had flowed over the village seawalls and destroyed homes and eroded foundations. Upon our arrival, we noticed numerous men in the village placing rocks in severely eroded areas of Lepuia’i village that threatened a home and the village church. Further down the coast, we saw extensive repair work to the seawall protecting both villages. For the past week, under the cash-for-work program, 51 men had done an amazing amount of restorative work to damaged seawalls and ground erosion.

Not only did major infrastructure repair work get done in these communities, but desperately needed cash was injected into their economies. Each worker earned 100 Samoa Tala, or about $40, for one week’s worth work, a significant amount of money where the per capita income is less than $1000 per year.

I had the privilege, along with our party, or accepting the heartfelt thanks, or “fa’afetai lava” of the village workers and chiefs for this badly needed program. They were truly amazed at the response of Mercy Corps and South Pacific Business Development to help their tiny island come back from this tragedy. Mercy Corps’ funding will help do more cash-for-work programming in Manono and the hardest hit areas of Upolu.

On the returning boat ride from Manono, as I looked out over the beautiful sea — the same sea that had caused so much pain and suffering to the wonderful Samoan people — I took great comfort knowing that the Samoan people were resilient and enduring, the same traits I recalled them having so many decades before.

Design For The Other 90%

Presented by Mercy Corps and The Lemelson Foundation, Design for the Other 90% features some of the most inspired inventions to improve the lives of low-income people around the world. Go to other90.cooperhewitt.org/about for complete information about this innovative and uplifting exhibition revealing the power of design to improve the lives of millions.

“The majority of the world’s designers focus all their efforts on developing products and services exclusively for the richest 10% of the world’s customers. Nothing less than a revolution in design is needed to reach the other 90%.

Dr. Paul Polak, International Development Enterprises

Curated by the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

Design for the Other 90% is made possible through the generous support of the following individuals, businesses and organizations:

Bart and Jill Eberwein; John and Jane Emrick; Glumac; Gray Family Fund of The Oregon Community Foundation; Hoffman Construction Company; KPFF Consulting Engineers; Gary Maffei and Marc Lintner; McKinstry Construction Corporation; Meyer Memorial Trust; Lindley Morton and Corrine Oishi; Dan and Tracy Oseran; Mark an Judy Peterman; Vesta Corporation; W+K and Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects.

Spring 2010 Rickshaw Run

Welcome Rickshaw Runners!

A warm welcome to all those taking part in the Spring 2010 Rickshaw Run, Mercy Corps is once again delighted to be one of the beneficiary charities for this fantastic event. This Spring, the route will see brave explorers travelling in their Auto Rickshaws from Cochin in Kerala to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan.

The event is pretty simple with no preparation and less luggage participants fly to the Indian Subcontinent to force 150cc of Indian engineering over thousands of miles of questionable terrain in around two weeks. For more details on the event itself, visit the Adventurists website.

This Spring 2010 event is extremely exciting for Mercy Corps, as the participants will fully fund a brand new project working with rural farming communities in the village of Jasodapur, Orissa. For more information about this project Click here

We know that fundraising can seem like a daunting task, but we are here to support you every step of the way. Our events coordinator Jennifer Adams will be delighted to hear from you, contact her on +44 (0) 131 662 5173 or email jadams@uk.mercycorps.org.

For further information on what we can do to help you fundraise click here

Mongol Rally 2010

A warm welcome to all those taking part in the 2010 Mongol Rally, Mercy Corps is delighted to be a beneficiary charity for this fantastic event for the fourth year running. To date the Rallies have raised an unbelievable £416,000 for our ongoing work in Mongolia.

The 2009 Rally was a great success with 500 teams from across the globe taking part, raising an incredible £120,000 for Mercy Corps.

The Mongol Rally is not an event for the faint hearted, 10,000 miles in a car with about as much power as your hairdryer, not to mention no maps and no support unit! To find out more visit the the Adventurists website.

For details about the projects that you will support in 2010 click here.

For information on what the 2009 event supported click here.

We know that fundraising can seem like a daunting task, but we are here to support you every step of the way. Our events coordinator Jennifer Adams will be delighted to hear from you, contact her on +44 (0) 131 662 5173 or email jadams@uk.mercycorps.org

For further information on what we can do to help you fundraise click here.

Fighting for their homes

Mercy Corps Program Manager Allison Huggins (left) stands with the widow's association near Bangui, Central African Republic. Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps

In the Central African Republic (CAR), women’s rights here are few, and the enforcement of the laws is almost non-existent. Most women are not even aware they have many rights. In a country where almost 70 percent of women cannot read, this is not surprising.

Widows are a group that is particularly taken advantage of and discriminated against. It is common at the death of a woman’s husband that the in-laws will take all the property that is legally due to the wife and dependents. Even more common, is that the government will refuse to pay the pension payments the widow is entitled to upon her spouse’s death.

Mercy Corps is working with the Organization of Widows and Orphans of Central Africa, a group of more than 150 widows who have joined together to defend their property rights, as well as assist widows and orphans who need financial assistance. The Association of Women Lawyers — another partner of Mercy Corps’ Women’s Empowerment Project — provides free legal counseling to the women, who otherwise would not be able to afford legal fees to defend their rights and keep their property.

I went out with the Mercy Corps Women’s Empowerment Program Manager to meet several widows in the group and learn more about their challenges. Just outside of the capital, Bangui, we met at one of the widow’s association offices. I heard the painful and traumatic stories of several widows, but I also heard inspiring news from the association about how they have begun to have a real positive impact on defending the rights of the widows.

I spent the afternoon with Marcelinne Gbenou and her neighbor Angele Tikoro — both widows and members of the association. Marcelinne’s husband died last year and was survived by her and their six children, the youngest just four years old. They had a relatively good life prior to his death: two simple homes (one in the village and one in town), enough to eat and all the kids able to attend school. By average CAR standards, they were doing well.

After her brother-in-law sold her house, Marcelline had to negotiate to live in a one-room mud brick house with her six children. Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps

When Marcelinne’s husband died, her brother-in-law came, sold their houses and kept the money for himself. No one questioned the sale of the homes, because it is common for a male to handle the financial transactions in CAR.

Marcelinne was left homeless and without any skills to earn a living and support her six children. Illiterate and never having attended school, Marcelinne was not aware of her rights and unable to navigate the complex legal system to defend her property.

She managed to find a charitable landlord who agreed to rent her a one-room mud brick shack for a very minimal fee. She moved her family in with the few items they had after selling off most of her possessions to pay for rent and food. Her eldest daughter dropped out of school and took a job as a maid to help the family survive.

When she moved into the rental home her new neighbor, Angele stopped in to welcome her. Angele, also a widow who had experienced similar problems when her husband died, urged Marcelinne to join the widow’s association so the group could assist her in taking her case to court.

Angele (left) and her friend Marcelline are both members of the widow's association, supported by Mercy Corps. Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps

Angele told her about her case, when her in-laws attempted to take all her family’s property after her husband's death. She joined the widow's association, which got Angele a lawyer who agreed to handle her case for free and they took her case to court. After the first court meeting, the in-laws dropped their action and Angele has not heard from them for the past several years.

Now the widows’ association is taking up Marcelinne’s case to try to get her some of the money from the illegal sale of her homes. It is often a long and complicated process, but with the help of educated and trained lawyers Marcelinne and widows like her are starting to have a fighting chance to protect their property and provide for their children.

Mercy Corps and the widow’s association are also looking at ways to help widows help themselves. On the slate for this year are literacy and basic math classes, so widows are better equipped to manage their homes and exercise their rights.

"Donner une chance à la Bosnie en l'intégrant à l'Europe", Louise Arbour in Rue 89

"Bosnia's Continuing Chaos", Louise Arbour in Foreign Policy

"Bosnien am Scheideweg", Louise Arbour in Die Zeit

African Peace-building Agenda: "Guinea: The Junta Must Leave", François Grignon

Palestine: Salvaging Fatah

President Mahmoud Abbas’s threat not to run in the next elections is only the latest sign of the crisis facing Fatah, the movement he heads.  Fatah’s challenge is to clearly define its agenda, how to carry it out and with whom.  While Fatah has begun long-overdue internal reforms to revitalise the movement, much remains to be done. In particular, Fatah’s leaders need to clarify its political strategy if it is to play an effective role in leading Palestinians toward a two-state solution.

Afghanistan announces army upgrade

Migrant workers at risk in S Africa

Romania holds presidential vote

Arrests in Italy over Mumbai attack

China coal-mine blast claims lives

Sri Lanka 'to free Tamil refugees'

Court respite for Blackwater guard

Scientists restart Big Bang machine

Lula urges Israel settlement freeze

Match-fixing arrests across Europe