africa

Eyes on Darfur

- Adam Clare

Amnesty International has started a new campaign that aims to bring the world’s eyes onto the crisis in Darfur through a new website Eyes on Darfur. The site offers users the ability to see up to date satellate imagery of what’s going on in the troubled region. This Amnesty Interanatinal project sounds simialr to what Google Earth recently did.

Amnesty International USA’s unprecedented Eyes On Darfur project leverages the power of high-resolution satellite imagery to provide unimpeachable evidence of the atrocities being committed in Darfur – enabling action by private citizens, policy makers and international courts. Eyes On Darfur also breaks new ground in protecting human rights by allowing people around the world to literally “watch over” and protect twelve intact, but highly vulnerable, villages using commercially available satellite imagery.

let’s hope that this will get more people writing their officals to do something about the crisis!

Blogs for Empowerment

- Adam Clare

Information technology can be used for more than spam and this is a perfect example. Blogs for African Women uses blogging to communicate ideas and share resources with women to empower them.

Nine young women, activists in non-governmental organisations or community programmes in Lagos, will come together online and face-to-face to gain technical skills in blogging, podcasting and wikis over the next six months. Networking for Success is geared towards women who are already looking for ways that technology can help their work, who want to reach out to other organisations and collaborate more effectively.

Big Hearts Help Ship Fire Trucks

- Adam Clare

This is a heartwarming story of a group of people in the USA who had old fire trucks and shipped it to a place that could make good use of it. This is a great way to reuse equipment and make the world better! Thanks to Evan for finding this!

“Well, the town of Plymouth was able to scrounge up a few spare fire trucks, used, but in good working order; so why not ship them to Guinea-Bissau, along with an ambulance, and give the former Portuguese colony some peace of mind?
And that’s what is going to happen.

The country’s fire chief, Malam Djaura, will receive the keys to the equipment and training in how to operate them from Plymouth firefighters before the trucks and ambulance are shipped from New Jersey to West Africa.

These things, as improbable as they may seem, don’t happen in a vacuum. A Plymouth resident, David Applefield, who is a reporter for a newspaper in Guinea-Bissau, told his father, Jerry, about the fire. Jerry, in turn, mentioned it to state Rep. Vinny deMacedo, R-Plymouth. DeMacedo’s brother, Olavo bought one truck, and Jerry Applefield bought the other truck and ambulance, and Plymouth and Hanson fire officials threw in a bunch of hoses, connectors and other equipment. Olavo deMacedo even had one truck lettered and decorated with the Guinea-Bissau flag.”

Ugandans Return To Peace Talks

- Nikki Slabbert

Ugandan rebels have agreed to return to peace talks to end the country’s 19 year civil war. The Lord’s Resistance Army left talks recently after they claimed the army was surrounding neutral assembly points where the rebel forces had gathered. The army claimed they had done so after the rebel groups had began to leave the assembly points after a commitment to remain at the points until an agreement had been reached.

The two forces have been involved in one of Africa’s longest wars, both accusing the other of atrocities. The LRA, led by Joseph Kony, has long been supported by Sudan, causing the government to cut ties with this country.

The talks got back on track after rebels returned to the neutral assembly points and military convoys retreated. Said Martin Ojul, head of the rebel group; “The peace talks are on course, and we hope that we will come out with a solution.”

Researches Battle Tropical Diseases

- Adam Clare

A group of scientists have agreed to work together to fight tropical disease by making drugs that the larger pharmaceuticals aren’t researching. The researchers met in Nairobi to solidify their relationship to improve health in Africa.

“By working together in regional, needs-driven research platforms we are not only on the way to addressing the lack of capacity but also helping in the trials for new drugs,” said Davy Koech, director of the Kenya Medical Research Institute.”

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