· November, 2008

Stories about Youth from November, 2008

Hungary, Czech Republic: Romaphobia

  30 November 2008

The Hungarian Spectrum reports on the murder of a 14-year-old girl in a Hungarian village, which led to an anti-Roma rally. The Reference Frame is unhappy with Al Jazeera's story on discrimination against the Czech Republic's Roma children in their access to education.

Mozambique: Different views of condom use in Africa

  29 November 2008

In a country which struggles to combat AIDS, twenty million condoms are distributed every year. Considering that at least 4 million Mozambican men are sexually active from a population of 17.4 million inhabitants, this makes a personal allowance of five condoms for the whole year. Surprisingly, kids are the most faithful users of them.

Cuba: Youth Activist Jailed

  28 November 2008

Diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense highlights the plight of a Cuban youth activist who “was sentenced this week to 3 years in prison for ‘offenses against authority.'”

Ukraine: Daily Posts on Street Children

  28 November 2008

A whole month of posts and photos featuring street children in Ukraine – at Scenes From the Sidewalk. Some highlights: a photo report on a visit to a Ukrainian jail; photos of Ukrainian street kids from six years ago – here and here; the ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures from the...

Egypt: Locking Al Azhar students in the dark ages!

  28 November 2008

Al Azhar English Training Center is funded through a partnership agreement between Al Azhar University, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Global Opportunities Fund and the British Council. The Center was supposed to provide English Language courses in its first semester to 125 students from various disciplines until Ali Laban, a Muslim Brotherhood deputy, decided otherwise. One enraged instructor speaks up on Facebook.

Egypt: Police officers banned off university campus

  27 November 2008

In a historic court ruling, police are now banned from patrolling Cairo University's campus. Instead, the university will have to deploy civilian personal as security guards. Bloggers, who linked police recklessness and use of excessive force to the order, welcomed the ruling with guarded optimism.

Jamaica, U.S.A.: Thanksgiving

  27 November 2008

“America is so full of contradictions! For even as our extended family sits down to eat our Thanksgiving dinner, there are many in our neighborhood who are now facing foreclosure and with barely anything to be cheerful about this year”: Jamaican diaspora blogger Geoffrey Philp is thankful for his children...

Angola: Children as young as 6 face accusations of witchcraft

  26 November 2008

Children as young as six years old have been accused of witchcraft and abandoned, mistreated, tortured and even killed in Angola, where such accusations are deemed valid. Clara Onofre investigates this practice advised by members of illegal churches and seemingly not related to local peoples' historical traditions.

Searching for blogs in Myanmar

  26 November 2008

There are several sites that provide a list of blogs in Myanmar. Myanmar Blog Directory contains an alphabetical listing of blogs. Sharbar offers a list of blogs according to category.

Myanmar: Social networking site

  26 November 2008

Myanmar Space is a new social networking site for Myanmar speaking people all over the world. There is a chat room, photo and video upload, forum, polls. There is also a blog section where members can post articles.

Japan: Employment promised and then revoked

  25 November 2008

Using the excuse of financial instability, new graduates in Japan, after being hired initially, are finding that unofficial promises of employment are then being revoked, a trend that blogger Akinori Nakamura [中村昭典] uses as a starting point for making observations on recent changes in the Japanese employment system. Nakamura-san compares...

Jamaica: Austism Speaks

  25 November 2008

“In Jamaica, the word ‘Autism’ is just now becoming a familar word. Years ago, having a child that was ‘different’ can warrant just titles as, ‘baffon’ or ‘Lagga Head'”: A Fe Me Page Dis Iyah is pleased that autistic children are finally beginning to get the help they need.