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I’m trying to set up a citizen journalism project with these kids in Sierra Leone. With the help of Virginia at BBC World Class and Alex and Janette at Plan International.
This boy in the photo is talking about how the hospitals don’t have enough equipment.
I’m trying to find out about some things that effect the kids and help them with their ideas on what they could report on.
These kids seem quite lucky as at least they are in school – although they say they’re having trouble paying their school fees because their relatives abroad have stopped sending them money due to the worsening global economy.
Perhaps they might want to talk about Freetown’s street children, or about child workers, like these reports of kids who worked in the diamond mines , there are also problems of child trafficking, the terrible health problems contributing to high child mortality rates , not to mention child soldiers.
Plenty of issues effecting kids in Sierra leone, it would be a great to finally get kids themselves telling their own stories. I hope that we can get this one off the ground. If you can help with contacts or advice, get in touch. I’d like to add a thanks to Florian who added his photo of a boy from Sierra Leone to the Your Story Flickr group.
I – (that’s me, Nina Robinson) have asked two very knowledgable people to give their assessment of Barack Obama, 100 days into his presidency.
Joe Maggioncalde has worked at GM in Detroit nearly all his working life. He’s been a regular contributor to Your Story - see some of his work here.
Joe writes …
This is one of those “milestones” the media uses to kill time and trees.
But what really has been accomplished?
Here in Detroit, the situation continues to decay quickly and daily.
Now GM has basically closed the doors till mid-July.
Here in Detroit we’ve seen nothing. Nothing. If Obama can somehow stimulate the rest of the country to the point where they feel capable of buying cars, then they’ll probably build a statue of him, chisel down his nose and wash him with a hose.
Although we sang his name
we all went hungry just the same
Read Joe’s full post on his blog.
Cynthia Harrison’s husband Al, works at Chrysler in Detroit. Here’s her assessment, 100 days in.
Cynthia and husband, Al
Cynthia writes ..
We certainly got change, just not the sort we expected.
As a part-time college teacher, I expected to be working less after 20 years on the job, not more. But like many wives of auto workers, I have added hours where I can, to make up for the smaller paychecks my husband Al now receives.
Our factories no longer bustle with activity, and our dealerships are deserted, but our auto plants are open most days. Al, who has been an employee at Dodge Truck for 35 years, has worked 30 of the last 100 days. He’s been laid off a good part of Obama’s presidency, but he still believes the right man won the office.
“Obama’s personal involvement has helped Chrysler stay viable as a company so far,” Al says. “If McCain had won, he would have let us hit the wall.”
So while times are tough, they could be worse. It’s almost certain that they will become worse. But we have Obama to thank for the reprieve, and if we can trust him to guide us through this streamlining of the auto industry, we can trust him to stay behind us if and when the bankruptcies begin.
Every week, as new waves of lay-offs occur, we wives of auto workers hold our collective breath. In my book group, there are three auto wives. One has already seen her husband forced into early retirement.
Obama seems to be everywhere at once. He’s in Europe and Mexico and in the Oval Office, but he is also in Detroit, working with our governor and with the auto companies. He cares about us, and we know it. And that is some comfort in these distressing times.
How do you think Obama is doing 100 days in? Add your comments below.
I just had a chat with one of the BBC World Service news editors here about the value of the G20 bloggers and their role at the G20 Summit.
We were talking about what added value they are bringing to the table in the coverage for this huge news event.
I mentioned that there was this blogger – Richard Murphy, a chartered accountant who has been campaigning about tax havens on his blog. He managed to ask Gordon Brown a question.
He was interviewed about this later by Sam Graham-Felsen who blogged for the Obama presidential campaign in 2007 and 2008. He put out this, on the Huffington Post.
It seems Richard Murphy thinks that there is real change happening in trying to shut down tax havens.
So from this point of view, there are people who know about their subject, who care passionately about what they are talking about and this, from my point of view, is what makes them different and is adding value to the media news coverage to this event.
Daudi Were
Other highlights from the G20 bloggers – some nice posts from Kenyan, Daudi Were on his blog, mentalacrobatics.com who came onto the World Have Your Say programme. He says on tax havens ..
Coming from Kenya where our former president the dictator Daniel arap Moi together with his cronies and family looted Kenya for over 20 years stashing away billions in these tax havens, my position is not that surprising. One caller from a tax haven, The Bahamas, emailed the BBC show to disagree with me stating that many people in the Bahamas relied on the tax haven financial system for their livelihood.
The UK international development secretary, Douglas Alexander’s response during the G20 press briefing was to remind us that saving lives takes priority over saving livelihoods.
more about “Richard Murphy becomes the first inde…“, posted with vodpod
I went to go and meet the 50 bloggers who have been brought to London to cover the G20 summit by Oxfam. See the last blog post about who they are and where they’re from.
Cheryl Contee who worked with Your Story for Obama’s Inauguration, has been writing about arriving in London here.
She writes..
I walked the wrong way to the hotel and saw the entrance to G20 ground zero – the ExCel Centre.
There are a lot of cops around dressed in bright yellow plastic vests and funny shaped round black hats, but they are all very nice and quite helpful. Though like Obama’s inauguration, they are perhaps not as well trained as they might be given the circumstances. One cop whom I asked for directions shrugged his shoulders and good-naturedly exclaimed: “I have no idea. They brought me in from Bristol!” Right…
The bloggers have been meeting up today and talking about the things they care about. I also went along and spoke to the Saudi Jeans guy, Jessica from Mexico – vivrmexico.com, Daudi Were from Kenya, his blog is mentalacrobatics.com and Michael Kleinham from humanitarianrelief.change.org.
I’ve recorded some of their thoughts on what they think the G20 should be talking about and that piece is going to be broadcast on the World Today programme tonight.
G20 Finance Ministers Mar 09 - Photo by Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images
I’ve been here at BBC World Service News, on the 3rd floor of Bush House, for about four years now.
During this time, high profile meetings involving heads of state and finance ministers – like the G20 summit - come around every year. Learn more about what the G20 heads of state will be talking about this week, here.
Most of the time these meetings are covered in a very straightforward and dare I say it, sometimes dull fashion. Analytical interviews with experts and ministers, although an important part of our coverage, can sometimes be an arduous listen. They are after all a collection of grey suits in a room (see photo).
So I was very pleased to hear that there will be an injection of colour this time round.
Blogger, Cheryl Contee just emailed me. Cheryl worked with Your Story as part of our Obama Inauguration coverage. She blogs at jackandjillpolitics.com – she’s an African-American woman, tech-savvy, smart and engaging.
She told me about G20voice.org. Oxfam are inviting 50 influential bloggers, to the G20 summit happening here in London this week and Cheryl is one of the bloggers they picked.
The G20voice.org website reads …
The UK Government recognises the growing importance of bloggers debating the issues around the G20 Summit and have allocated space and passes within the Summit venue.
The list of bloggers, will include 15 from the developing world, some focused on poverty, others on climate change. All are pretty high profile and eclectic people. You can see the selected bloggers and their latest posts here.
I think there’s potential to do something exciting here in how citizen journalism can add to our coverage of this G20 summit. I’ll keep you updated on this blog with what we plan to do.
I bought the Diamonds and Pearls album by the (artist formerly known as) Prince when I was about 15 years old. The little guy really did have talent. His music was a “sign of the times” – and one of the things I’m working on right now, could also be seen as a sign – of Obama’s new America.
It’s a musical event happening tomorrow night that is bringing together the Historic Colored Musicians Club and a local symphony orchestra. Also sharing the stage are Old School B Boys and the American lounge singer Lance Diamond.
It all started when Sue contacted me because of a chance encounter she’d had with an American soldier stationed in Iraq. We got talking and I found out about this concert she was working on.
I’ve just come off the phone from Michael Billoni from the Food Bank of New York they are benefiting from the concert. He was saying how they are seeing a significant increase in the number of families who are working but coming to the food bank because their wages don’t stretch far enough.
He also says that they were glad that Michelle Obama went to a soup kitchen in Washington recently.
Michael told me that her message for people to donate their time and money has seen more people coming to volunteer at his organisation.
See the World Have Your Say debate on this.
This is what I’m talking about as a sign of Obama’s America. Do you think that there is a greater spirit of collaboration going on? Are you feeling any more charitable lately? I gave actually 50 quid to a blind charity last week (this is not my characteristic behaviour!)
Also listen out for interviews with musicians and food bank guy on the World Today programme tomorrow night (UK time).
T
here are some important personal stories to tell about the current economic times all over the world.
Some of those stories are being told in Michigan though citizen journalists Cynthia Harrison – this is her blog, and also Joe Maggioncalda.
They have helped contribute to a report which will be broadcast this weekend on the BBC World Service. Be the first to listen to this by clicking on the BBC Your Story homepage.
Andrea Fouks from Portland in Oregon has also contacted the BBC with her story from the point of view of someone who has lost her job but is trying to see things from her employer’s perspective and who is looking to become a boss in the future. This is what she writes ..
I was laid off 2 months ago by a boss who also owns the company (a firm of about 15 people total). It was very clear that his decision was a difficult one to make (I ended up telling him “everything will be OK”). I liked my boss quite well and loved my job, and I do not blame him for the company’s lack of projects coming in. However, I think his position as the owner AND the one who runs the show is different than just one who runs the show. He cannot help but place his financial interests first as it is not just his salary at stake. I think many things could have been done in more of a team spirit to defer or delay lay-offs, such as all employees taking a cut in pay or reduced schedules, but that was not the approach taken. For this type of lack of “we’re all in this together” perspective, I do blame bosses.
On the up side, I am taking this time to become my own boss and start a business myself, and I think many people are taking this path as they find themselves without jobs.
Are you a boss? Do you have to tell people that they’re out of a job? How do you feel about this? How do you feel if you’ve recently lost your job? It would be good to talk to some of you about this.
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