Stories from August, 2009
FOKO: August 2009 Updates
The Rising Voices grantee FOKO Blog Club from Madagascar never has a dull moment. In this update we discuss about their recent photography workshop, updates on supporting the family of baby Kamba, interview of FOKO members by BBC, a blissful marriage between two FOKO participants and much much more.
Blogging Positively Guide Encourages Open Conversations About HIV/AIDS
We are pleased to announce the release of "Blogging Positively," a collection of case studies, interviews, and best practices about citizen media related to HIV/AIDS. You will be introduced to some of the leaders and veterans of the HIV-positive blogging community, and also to citizen media projects which aim to spread more awareness about the pandemic. The guide contains tips for workshop facilitators and teachers, and points readers to helpful resources for new bloggers just getting started.
EWAMT: Joining The Global Conversation
The Yemeni society is very conservative and there are a lot of challenges for women who want to come out in the open and claim their equal share among the main workforce of the country. The Rising Voices grantee 'Empowerment of Women Activists in Media Techniques' (EWAMT) is conducting workshops to teach Yemeni women new media tools and enabling them to join the global conversation and they are talking about their struggles, their society and lives in their blogs.
Hospice Casa Sperantei: Patients Share Stories and Struggles
Patients at Hospice Casa Sperantei in Romania are having their stories told, many for the first time, and preserved on the project's new blog.
Nomad Green: More Workshops In Ulaanbaatar
On July 28-31, 2009 the Rising Voices grantee Nomad Green arranged another series of workshops in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar. The topics of these workshops were pollution in 'Tuul River', the mother river that provide water usage to about 60% of Mongolian population and 'waste management'. The participants also learned about working with Twitter and Wordpress.
Drop-In Center: A Call to Action
Pavel Kutsev, leader of Drop-In Center, writes about issues impacting the lives of people living with drug addictions in Ukraine. In his recent post, he provides various strategies that patients of substitution therapy programs can use to influence local politicians.
Hiperbarrio: Campus Party And The Workshops In Ituango
The Campus party Bogota 2009 took place in Colombia during July 6-12, 2009. Several members of the Rising Voices grantee Hiperbarrio participated in that event and wrote about their experiences. They also shared their thoughts on the blog outreach workshops in Ituango, a municipality located in the northern department of Antioquia in colombia.
Liberian Bloggers Show Everyday Life in Monrovia
Liberia was afforded a rare glimpse of international media attention this week when United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the capital Monrovia and Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. Most of the coverage focused on basic facts about Liberia. To learn more about everyday life we must turn to the country's bloggers.
Catalina Restrepo Awarded Miss Talent Medellín Award
The success of the Colombian citizen media project HiperBarrio has been the fruit of endless hours of dedication by many young leaders who pushed the project forward on their own initiative. Catalina Restrepo, one of the first and most dedicated leaders of the project, was recently awarded the "Mujeres Talento" award by the Medellín municipality.
Free Internet Depends on Costly Laptops
Cristina Quisbert of the Voces Bolivianas project was invited to this year's BlogHer conference in Chicago as one of five recipients of the International Activist Scholarship. While she was impressed with the free wi-fi in the hotel, she noted that it was much more difficult to find internet access without a costly laptop.
