Stories about Development from December, 2013
Five Surprising Benefits of Smog in China
China's state-broadcaster CCTV claimed on December 8 that smog has brought five surprising benefits to China: It makes Chinese people more united, more equal, more clear-headed, more humorous, and more knowledgeable. You can imagine how netizens reacted to such comment. (See ChinaSMACK for more.)
Saudi Airlines Still has Manual Levers for Plane Seats
Saudi Muna AbuSulayman complains about the use of manual levers in Saudi Airlines aircraft seats: How old are theses @saudi_airlines planes!!!! 3rd time this week I was seated on them . Manuel levers??? Seriously! pic.twitter.com/8lotaiWRke — Muna AbuSulayman (@MunaAbuSulayman) December 11, 2013
No Electricity in Gaza
From Gaza, Palestine, Mohammed Al-Agha tweets: Without electricity for 14 hrs, and still waiting for ! everything here gonna be worst ! gazans have no life. #Gaza #palestine — Mohammed Al- Agha (@MZa_94) December 11, 2013 He continues [ar]: الزلمة اللي بطلع يجيب الكهربا شكله ماخد إجازة ؟ حنطبق ال24 ساعة...
What the Situation of Street Children in Port-au-Prince is Telling a Haitian Citizen
Valéry Moise, a Haitian physician and activist, reflects upon the dire situation of street children [fr] in Port-au-Prince : Moi, quand je regarde un enfant des rues briser une vitre, je vois une promesse électorale non tenue, quand je regarde un enfant sans idéal, je vois un gouvernement sans vision,...
Upholding the Essential Values of the Bhutanese Youth
Bhutan has been blessed with a sustained, rich cultural heritage and the Bhutanese people take pride in upholding a number of essential values including harmony, compassion and patriotism. Blogger Dorji Wangchuk has been working with the recovering addicts and alcoholics and looks for a long-term solution of the problem among...
4 Stories from Volunteers in Typhoon-Hit Philippines That Will Move You To Tears
Uncollected dead bodies, survivors waiting for aid, streets full of debris. These are some of the scenes witnessed by relief volunteers in typhoon-hit provinces in the Philippines
5 Energy Treasures in Africa You Haven't Heard About
Most African countries still suffer frequent power outages which inhibit economic growth. They are not, however, lacking in resources. This post outlines some of those least known in Africa.
“I Am a German Street Vendor in Dakar”
Being a street vendor is not an easy job, especially in Senegal. Yet this is the choice that Sebastian Prothmann, a native of Germany, made after he arrived in Dakar, Senegal a few months ago. The following video shows Prothmann at work [fr]: Prothmann explains in an interview for the...
Egypt: Campaigning for Rights of People with Special Needs
Marginalized Egyptians with special needs have been protesting for their rights both before and since the #Jan25 revolution. However, their grievances are yet to be resolved. At the time when the Committee of 50 is voting on the most recent draft of the Egyptian Constitution, Zayee Zayak campaign, which translates...
Hong Kong: Action to Preserve the Tai Long Sai Country Park
Facebook campaign group, Save our Country Park, organized a hiking trip to Tai Long Sai Wan on December 1 to show their support to the government's plan to expand the country park protection zone to a local village so as to prevent large private development project destroying the park.
Awareness Helps You Clean Indian Streets… Guaranteed!
Blogger Atanu Dey argues that to keep the locally produced garbage out of Indian streets you have got to make it culturally unacceptable to throw trash everywhere. Combined with efforts like assigning places to deposit garbage, ensuring regular garbage collection and some punitive actions for littering, the authorities can make...