HARARE, 21 June 2013 (IRIN) – Standing in a winding queue in downtown Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, Judith Kapito, 38, cannot hide her excitement: she is waiting to receive a new identity document, one that will offer her rights and opportunities she has long been deprived of. Kapito was born to Malawian parents who migrated to Zimbabwe – then Southern Rhodesia – in 1960. She lost her citizenship in 2001, when the government’s amendment of the Citizenship Act forced those born of alien parents to renounce their foreign citizenship. Kapito, who was born in Zimbabwe and registered as a national of... Continue Reading
You probably thought I misspelled or you misread. Sadly, that is the title. Location: Borno Temperature: 40C/104F degrees scorching hot days and 12C/54F freezing cold nights. Time: 2am approximately, someday in 2009 Two 9 year old almajiri boys were in bed; well, on the floor actually, inside or beside a mosque or nondescript shack somewhere in Borno state, north east of Nigeria. One woke up to use the “bathroom” that fateful cold night and when he got back, the second had pulled his, and the only blanket over himself. ‘Give me my blanket,’ the almajiri boy demanded. The other “bully”... Continue Reading
London, 30 May 2013 – As the rainy season begins in south eastern Chad, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders(MSF) is racing against time to assist tens of thousands of refugees and returnees who have temporarily re-settled to evade clashes in neighboring Darfur. Since early March, an estimated 50,000 Sudanese, Chadian and Central African civilians have crossed the border into Chad. The refugees are mainly women and children, with 40 percent of those under the age of five. They are traumatized and exhausted by their recent displacement and are in need of basic healthcare, water, food, shelter and proper sanitation. As the Tissi area has no functioning hospital, MSF teams... Continue Reading
Despite continuing challenges faced by women in diplomatic service, the world has made strides in ensuring women take up the challenging role of representing their countries abroad, a role traditionally reserved for men until recently. Two women diplomats — Ambassadors Lisa Stadelbauer (Canada) and Barbara Joziasse (Netherlands) — testified at a Ladies Night event organized jointly by the Quill Press Club and the U.S. Embassy’s Women Journalists Mentoring Program (WJMP). Currently, Harare is host to 12 female heads of diplomatic missions (two of whom are Charge d’Affaires). “Women are good at diplomacy because they tend to be less confrontational by... Continue Reading
BY YOLANDA NDLOVU – Harare, April 4, 2013: A Zimbabwean NGO has accused local media of ‘taking the sting out of humanitarian stories’ to protect politicians from public scrutiny. Virginia Muwanigwa, a veteran journalist and director of the Humanitarian Information Facilitation Centre (HIFC) said this development has trivialized pertinent issues affecting the general population, and affects the country’s preparedness for humanitarian disasters. “Most stories do not connect what prominent people say to our everyday life,” said Muwanigwa. She defined humanitarian reporting as stories on issues and situations that threaten the health, safety, security or well- being of a community. “When the... Continue Reading
