· October, 2007

Stories about Humanitarian Response from October, 2007

Ukraine, Belarus: Helping Chernobyl Children

  31 October 2007

In a comment to MoldovAnn‘s recent post about Chernobyl aid organizations, executive director of one such charity mentions new approaches to rehabilitation of children affected by the 1986 catastrophe. The charity – Chernobyl Children's Project International – has a blog, too, and one of the stories there is about a...

South Korea: Street Vendor Suicide

  30 October 2007

CINA explains how the brutal policy of street vendors crackdown leaded to the death of Lee Geunjae, who had been a street vendor for 13 years in the City of Goyang.

China: Culture and Salary Standard

  29 October 2007

Xueyong argues that the extremely low salary standard in China is a result of the degrading morality (zh). The planned economy has cultivated a de-personalized morality that lacks basic sympathy on other individuals.

Serbia: Milosevic's Propaganda

  26 October 2007

Srebrenica Genocide Blog explains why Slobodan Milosevic was “a clever mass murderer” whose “attempts to shift blame on the victims failed miserably” – but whose propaganda “is well and alive even today.”

Africa: Coming to a donation box near you

  22 October 2007

Diary of a Mad Kenyan Woman writes takes a critical look at Western philantrophy in Africa: “I am intrigued by the recent proliferation of web-based giving and I have been keeping a curious eye on sites such as Kiva.org and Heifer International, in an attempt to understand what is going...

Iraq: Impossible to Get Treatment

  22 October 2007

Iraqi blogger Mama narrates the horrific ordeal of a young Iraqi boy, injured when a mortar fell on his house. “The worse part in this story is the hospital condition it is very dirty ,with very limited medical services, few doctors,and large number of casualties, no one checked him during...

The War in Abkhazia – ‘Cyxymu’ Remembers

  20 October 2007

Blogger cyxymu - whose Russian-language blog is devoted to the “memories of Sukhumi, the war and the pain” - spent the second half of September marking the 14th anniversary of the storm of the Abkhaz capital, which dealt a final defeat to the Georgian forces in their war with Abkhazia. Lyndon Allin translates from some of cyxymu's entries, and reviews and comments on the others.

Ukraine: Tragedy in Dnipropetrovsk

  18 October 2007

On Oct. 13, a gas explosion destroyed much of a 10-story apartment building in Dnipropetrovsk, killing at least 23 people (including seven children). LJ user didaio (Denis Davydov) has been at the site of the tragedy, blogging about it ever since it occurred.

Ukraine: Is Victimhood Profitable?

  16 October 2007

MoldovAnn takes a critical look at programs for “the so-called ‘children of Chornobyl'” and other Chernobyl-related aid efforts: “I do believe aid organizations want to help people have better lives. But when I hear them talking about ‘we’re going to support this community because it’s not too far from Kyiv...

Haiti: Celebrity Philanthropy

  16 October 2007

In light of the attention being given to former Playboy Playmate Susie Scott Krabacher's philanthropic work, Haiti Innovation writes, “Haiti needs all the friends it can get…at the same time, though, I am frustrated that the need for such celebrity philanthropy exists.”