Stories and News

Stories and News No. 1069 Rwanda has become the first poor country capable of providing eye care to the entire population. At least one-third of the latter have showed need of a treatment and specialized nurses have visited the inhabitants of all 15,000 villages within a health program that will literally change their lives. The consequences will be unpredictable, as the following story suggests... When the poor see. When the poor begin to see, they widen their gaze and discover the essential as the outline. Because everything now fits, every fragment of the picture, the most unfair too, it will find meaning. Because when the poor see better, they don’t fall into the trap again. Avoiding the usual hole, they jump over the typical trip and the fraud will have to do something else to bring home the booty. Then, sooner or later he will commit the mistake that will condemn him, and the poor will see it, you can bet on it. In fact, when the poor see for the first time, they n...

Stories and News No. 1068 Scott Warren was arrested for trying to save lives. He is a humanitarian operator and member of No More Deaths , an advocacy group based in Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona, which seeks to end the deaths of migrants crossing desert regions near the US-Mexico border. According to the federal court's report , his arrest last week arrived after border patrol officers inspected a building where two immigrants had received food, water, beds and clean clothes (visit the No More Deaths Youtube Channel , with videos of patrol officials emptying the water containers to prevent immigrants from finding them). The court ruled that Scott's crime consists in offering his help to individuals guilty of a crime, in a sort of indirect complicity, is that right? Well, the imputable people’s list is countless... Once upon a time there was a law . An equal for all one, otherwise what are we talking about? Yes, what, I've been wondering that for some time. Th...

Without words By Alessandro Ghebreigziabiher In the future, hopefully far... “Conrad!” ... “Conrad...” ... “Want you come here for a moment, yes or not?” “What's up, Mommy?” “Nothing, Lisa, mom would like to inform her grandparents of the good news.” “Which one, Mommy?” “Which one, Lisa? Your little brother, remember?” “Ah, yes, him...” “Don’t be jealous, you will see how it’ll be beautiful and we’ll all be happier, believe me.” “What does it mean to be jealous, Mommy?” “It means that... Conrad! He's always with that virtual helmet on his head, fuc...” “Don’t say bad words, Mommy.” “No, I didn’t say it, I stopped before, come on...” “As you say, Mommy. I'm going to call Daddy.” “Yes, thanks. And wait a minute…” “What?” “You are too perceptive for eight years.” “What does perceptive mean, Mommy?” “You don’t understand every word, but all the rest you do, right?” “I go.” ... “What’s up, Mary?” “Finally! What were you doing?” “Nothing.” “...

Stories and News No. 1067 According to recent estimates by Oxfam , 42 persons hold the same wealth as the 3.7 billion that make up the poorest half of the world's population... Once upon a time there was a world. A planet that has been balancing on itself since immemorial time. A proportion as old as man himself. In fact, precisely because of the latter, although the above position was precarious and perpetually on the edge of the precipice, this absurd contrast of weights and balances was immutable. Let's face it frankly, okay? Inequality was a state of affairs. It was persecuted, sought with enthusiasm and commitment, I would say with extreme dedication. Then, to be defended at all costs, as could be done with civil rights or democracy, in a naive story of romantic visions. As proof of that, the most portentous claim didn’t concern the real distribution of fortunes, more or less lawfully earned, but the nature of the present and the future which the various c...

Stories and News No. 1066 His name is Tom , yes, like an average person. And, like an average person, you could say to him: "Hey, Tom, wait a minute..." Then, once you've gotten a little of his attention, you might add: "Tom, do you know that last year was one of the three hottest in history ever recorded? Did you understand how hot it is, Tom?" He could turn around as if he had not heard anything, continuing to go in circles around his monotonous existence. But maybe you could be one of those insistent. Maybe you'll try again: "Tom, you know? The data tell us that last year was among the three hottest even without El Niño . Can you see how hot it is, dear Tom?" Without any intention of interrupting his stupid dance, he could look at you with a confused expression. Then, with due patience, you could explain to him: "El Niño, Tom, it’s the climatic phenomenon that causes a considerable heating of the Central-Southern and Eastern Pac...

Stories and News No. 1065 The indisputable numbers explain that in the major European countries and USA , which are often brought up by so-called local leaders as examples to follow, the immigrants are around 15% in Sweden, 14.4% in the United States, 12% in the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands, slightly less in France and even lower figures in Spain and Italy. This means, for purely statistical reasons, that there is a huge number of our fellow citizens who spend weeks, if not months, without meeting a foreigner. Anyone who started a speech about the problems of society and the priorities of the latter, no matter he’s a political exponent, of any sort, rather than the man in the bar, the social network friend, the chatty colleague or the relative statesman , even if only by citing the migrants, he should be kicked in the ass. Otherwise, it would be like slavishly accepting to be the one who is first kicked out and then cheated. Yet, despite over time the presences...

Stories and News No. 1064 Millions of people are exploited every day in Europe and in the rest of the world. The victims are often persons who have been promised a job by traffickers, or they could be people living on the edge of society, deprived of housing or just poor. Through threats, violence, coercion or addiction to drugs and alcohol, they are enslaved, working for a few money, living in squalid conditions, having been deprived of their documents. At the same time, women from Eastern Europe and West Africa are attracted to the dream of a better life, and then fall into a dark spiral of forced exploitation and forced prostitution, often unpaid. It also happens to children, migrants or not, who are recruited, transported and then sold. All this horror is left intact in dissonant harmony with our civil and modern society… Once upon a time there was a house as big as the world is. Like any self-respecting home, worthy of a prime time spot, or a smiling box office movie,...

Stories and News No. 1063 According to a Washington Post report, after being presented with a proposal to restore protections for immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti and some African nations - as part of a bipartisan immigration agreement, President Trump said : " Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here? " Well, there is only one way to reply to those who have no sense of past history and of the many, small living stories surviving around us... Shithole countries... Thank you, US president. Thank you so much on behalf of the aforementioned countries, for the certainly unintentional compliment. As you well know , the first shitholes were invented about three thousand years before Christ . It seems that the most advanced ones date back to 2800 BC. in the ancient city of Mohenjo-daro, in Pakistan, a country that you particularly loved. Other pioneers shitholes were found in Skara Brae, Orkney, Scotland, and date back to a period from 3100 t...

Stories and News No. 1062 Jalandhar Nayak and his family are the only residents of the remote village of Gumsahi in eastern India. Two years ago he took a chisel, a garden hoe, a pick and started digging. Over time, he managed to make an eight-kilometer route through the impervious hilly terrain to help his children get to school... I make way. Literally . I am a father and this is my job. I cannot just raise the arm with presumed authority and with a stretched hand pointing the finger at the horizon. Because the already written and conquered goal is old stuff, and because it would be too easy for anxiously travelers behind to follow the worn out footprints. I would dare to say useless. Jalandhar Nayak Photo: BBC India The peaks lacking of flags and memory are made of not yet pronounced dreams and hopes. If there is no beginning of the way, like the end, the future path greedily awaits pencil and courage. It waits for me. That's why I make way for others. I...

Stories and News No. 1061 US District Judge William Alsup has decided that the " Dreamers " program strongly supported by Obama, that protects from deportation minors illegally brought into the country by their families, must remain in place, considering Trump’s attempt to end it unfolded. It would be all simpler if - immodestly paraphrasing the philosopher Augustine of Hippo , we all obeyed a very simple motto... Once upon a time there was the law of migrants . One of even greater scope, but it takes time to raise head and prospects. At least, a story, this one. Nevertheless, the statement is short and straightforward: Follow the rules and then what you will, do . You can write it, if you like, but learning it by heart and above all conscience would solve a lot and facilitate our collective journey. Examples? The are many, my dear friend, even more, enough to compose a tale, where a doctor has clean shirts and skilled hands intended for patients whose citizensh...