Shared Hope International, a Christian anti-trafficking organization, reports that up to 300,000 children in the U.S. are at risk for trafficking each year. Twelve years old is the average age of entry.

"Men are buying younger children," Shared Hope founder and former congresswoman Linda Smith said. "They're buying more violent acts with the children and those children aren't willingly saying 'I want to be prostituted.' Now we're seeing 9, 10, 11-year-olds. Eleven years old is common--snatched from a middle school, lured through a mall or online."

Traffickers are kidnapping or luring these children from all kinds of communities. Ohio is just one place where it's surfacing.

Dr. Celia Williamson at the University of Toledo authored a recent report for Ohio's Attorney General Richard Cordray. The report estimates more than 1,000 Ohio children are trafficked each year.

Toledo is one city where trafficking is well documented. Williamson's report ranks it number four in the U.S. in terms of the number of arrests, investigations and rescues of child trafficking victims. But per capita, Toledo leads the nation.

"Toledo is an origin city," Williamson explained. "The kids are recruited here and they're shipped across the country, so when the FBI rescues kids they may find Toledo kids in Las Vegas and Atlanta, Pennsylvania, and California."

Innocence Lost Task Force

In 2003, the FBI, Department of Justice, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children launched anti-trafficking "Innocence Lost" task forces around the country. Since then, 34 task forces and working groups have been started.

Toledo became a focus after a 2006 raid on a Pennsylvania truck stop. Almost half of the 150 victims were from Toledo. Seventeen of the 18 traffickers also called the city home.

So, why Toledo? "I don't necessarily think there's more here. I just think we're doing a better job of identifying and attacking the problem here," FBI special agent Dave Dustin said. "It's a common sentiment among law enforcement in Toledo."

To the untrained eye, however, trafficking is often hard to see. The general public can easily tune out hot spots like strip clubs, motels, and truck stops. And most would never think of events like the Super Bowl as major trafficking destinations.

But the FBI says traffickers flock to big games and conventions where they know they'll find an easy market.

"You're not going to see kids out on the street in everyday America because those are more likely to be the recruitment areas," Williamson said. "Those are the areas where our kids are at risk for being recruited and then shipped around the country."

A Country in Denial

That lack of visibility tends to discourage public awareness.

"There's a sense of denial among the general community about human trafficking," Cordray, who leads the state trafficking commission, said. "There's a desire to believe it's an international problem but not an American problem."

Almost a year into its work, Cordray's commission has more questions than answers. One question: Just why has Toledo become such a trafficking hub?

Some possible reasons include its proximity to Canada and crossroads status. Major interstates flank the small, working-class city. Also, many families struggle financially, which puts their children at greater risk. Sadly, there's also a generational issue.

"We're seeing a lot of cases, especially with the pimps, where the pimp's father was a pimp or the pimp's mother was a prostitute," Dustin said.

Life After the Sex Trade

Another question: How to help the children once they're rescued.

"Right now what happens in our country is that a kid is involved in the sex trade, traumatized by her traffickers, rescued and handcuffed by law enforcement and put in detention centers across the U.S." Williamson said.

"Most of the girls have no self-esteem," said Jennifer Meyers, an FBI victim specialist.

For most victims of trafficking, life once they get off the streets is tremendously difficult, and home is often not a safe place to go. That's why a group of Christians in Ohio is about to open Gracehaven, a rehab home for survivors.

Gracehaven's first employee, Teresa Flores, is herself a survivor. Having escaped in high school she now understands the mind games traffickers play and why it's so hard to get out.

"Once you're broken, which is usually through rape, gang rape -- things like that -- then they come back and tell you they love you and that if you love them you'll do this for them," Flores explained.

Breaking New Ground

When it opens later this year, Gracehaven will break new ground. Not literally, but nationally. No other Christian-based shelter like it exists.

Gracehaven founder Dr. Jeffrey Barrows is also helping to oversee four similar up-and-coming ministries across the country through the newly formed Christian Trafficking Shelter Association.

"There's just been a larger uprising, especially in the faith-based community, of people realizing 'Hey, wait a minute. This is going on all around us and we need to rise up and do something about it,'" Barrows said.

That's the challenge - what to do.

Gracehaven will provide residents 24/7 care for a minimum of nine months. It will offer individual counseling and training in life skills. But there's a price to pay for breaking new ground. There is next to no research to help develop curriculum, education, and programming. Little has been done to understand the best way to rehabilitate the victims of trafficking.

Flores explained the mindset of many victims.

"You know this is wrong. You know you don't want to do this -- nobody does," she said. "But you don't know anyway out, like you don't have any other options. You feel like there is nobody who would understand you."

But Flores now has a vision for where she wants to take these precious survivors who have endured such severe trauma.

"They have to understand that that was just one piece of the puzzle, one part of them," she said. "We have to teach them, 'You're more than that....and God loves you.'"

At stake: Lives that hang in the balance, children torn from the streets of middle America and plunged into darkness.

But now, with growing awareness and the outreach of faith, there's more hope than ever. (Sells, Heather)

Well, it's true. A 15-month-old, non-profit group called Clean the World recycles old hotel soaps into new soap and shampoo for impoverished countries and U.S. homeless shelters, the National Geographic Traveler told us earlier this month. Its primary goal is to help children in developing countries combat diarrheal diseases that cause nearly 1.8 million childhood deaths per year, the article says. Proper hygiene practices can elimimate avoidable deaths.

Today, about 175 hotels and B&Bs collect used soap for Clean the World, according to the group's website. It's an interesting list because the hotels vary widely by price category, hotel type and geography. Among them:

• The boutique Muse Hotel, a Kimpton property, in New York City's Times Square area.
• The budget Quality Inn in Sequim, Wash.
• The historic Biltmore in Coral Gables, Fla.
• The business traveler-oriented Embassy Suites hotels in Chevy Chase, Md.
• The luxury Ritz-Carlton Golf Club & Spa in Jupiter Beach, Fla.

How do you recycle used soap?

In its Florida lab, Clean the World cooks the soap to remove impurities before reshaping it into 2-ounce bars, according to the group's website. It has recycling centers in Orlando, Houston and Atlanta, the article says.

Since its start, Clean the World says it has put more than "4 million soap bars and 200,000 pounds of shampoo and conditioner back into use, simultaneously eliminating over 380 tons of waste, according to its website. (De Lollis, Barbara)

Donations from the United States and other wealthy countries have leveled off while the number of people infected with H.I.V., the AIDS virus, grows by a million a year. By one informed estimate, only $14 billion will be available of some $27 billion needed this year to fight the disease in the developing world. Fewer than 4 million of the 14 million people infected with the AIDS virus are getting drug treatment — far short of the goal of universal access set by the United States and others.

(The New York Times) Donor nations cite the economic crisis and tight budgets as reasons to slow their contributions to the global fight against AIDS. The Obama administration and many donor nations apparently believe that more lives could be saved by fighting other cheaper diseases, such as respiratory illnesses, diarrhea, malaria and measles.

The results of those decisions can be seen in Uganda and other countries where, as Donald G. McNeil Jr. recently reported in The Times, the campaign against AIDS seems to be falling apart.

Although the number of Ugandans receiving drug treatments jumped from fewer than 10,000 a decade ago to nearly 200,000 today, hundreds of thousands more Ugandans need the drugs and likely can’t get them because clinics now routinely turn new patients away.

That is partly because American funds have been frozen and clinics were told to stop enrolling new patients unless the government has a plan to pay for their treatment. It is also because Uganda has badly skewed its own priorities, such as negotiating to buy a squadron of fighter-bombers from Russia for $300 million.

The United States has been a leader in providing financing for the war on AIDS through bilateral programs and a multilateral global fund. Now, instead of a sharp increase in donations, as once planned, the administration proposes only a slight increase in bilateral financing and a modest reduction in its multilateral contribution.

It has shifted its focus to childhood diseases, keeping young mothers alive, and interrupting the transmission of H.I.V. between mother and child. It is pushing countries to improve their medical delivery systems, manage their own AIDS programs and contribute more of their own funds.

Those are good goals. But the AIDS pandemic is still spreading. And the goal of universal access to treatment remains a distant dream. (Editorial)

The rugged laptops are made by the non-profit organisation One Laptop Per Child, which aims to give a computer to every child in the developing world.

One Laptop Per Child say computers are a good way of improving the education of children living in poverty.

Humanitarian conditions have deteriorated in the Gaza Strip in the last three years, the UN says.

Israel and Egypt maintain a blockade on Gaza, which was tightened in 2007 after Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip, and all but humanitarian supplies are prevented from entering.

Unrwa, the UN agency for refugees, began distributing 2,100 laptops on Thursday in Rafah, a town in the south of the strip.

This is part of a wider ambitions to distribute 500,000 laptops to children in Gaza by 2012.

Connected

One Laptop Per Child has built the energy efficient XO laptop especially for children in developing countries.

"The XO laptop has a special place in children's education in regions that are disrupted by ongoing violence," said Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the organisation.

"With the XO the children can continue to stay connected and gain the skills and knowledge required to participate fully and thrive in the 21st century - even when getting to school is impossible."

The UN agency which looks after Palestinian refugees, UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) provides housing, health services, education and emergency food supplies to more than four million refugees in five countries.

The computers are to be loaded with textbooks and teaching aids that cover the primary school curriculum, a statement from UNWRA said. (BBC)

Why?

"Unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and the lack of hygiene claim the lives of an estimated 2.2 million children under the age of five every year," said Dr. Maria Neria, WHO Director of Public Health and the Environment. "The impact of diarrheal diseases [alone] in children under 15 is greater than the combined impact of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis."

Yet, according to the UN-Water Global Annual Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) report, between 1997 and 2008 total development aid commitments for sanitation and water fell from 8% to 5%. The new level is lower than commitments for health, education, transport, energy and agriculture.

The White House, after a shocking makeover by international charity WaterAid and global campaign group End Water Poverty (Montage created by Saddington & Baynes for WaterAid and End Water Poverty).

The report also outlines how significantly off-target the distribution is for water and sanitation aid specifically. For example, over the past three years only 42% of aid for water and sanitation has been targeted at least developed and low-income countries where the need is the greatest. And only 37% of that aid is targeted at sanitation, making the Millennium Development Goal for sanitation (MDG 7) off track and almost unattainable for many of the poorest countries.

Perhaps the most important aspects of the GLAAS report are the identified current gaps in aid for sanitation and water and what this means for donors, including US philanthropists. This is interesting because the majority of US philanthropists have yet to find a major role in addressing water and sanitation challenges compared to other global health and development issues.

Thankfully the GLAAS observations provide a roadmap for leaders, decision-makers and philanthropists to engage in solving the sanitation and water challenge. For example, according to the report, 12 of the developing countries who responded still lack a sanitation policy covering both urban and rural areas. A donor or a foundation with interest in urban development could ensure that these policies are put in place in partnership with those developing countries.

The lack of reliable data, especially at the local level, was cited as the most common reason for failure to implement investment plans. This kind of capacity building seems like the perfect match with the private sector. Using their expertise, through philanthropy, the private sector could build local and national capacity for water and sanitation in the developing world.

Another area of incredible need is human resource development. Astonishingly 24 out of 29 responding countries indicated a great need for in-country education and training. This could be a tremendous opportunity for philanthropy channeled through the education sector.

"The GLAAS report shows donors that there are ways to contribute that are more than just building infrastructure," said Clarissa Brocklehurst, Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene at UNICEF. "It shows how important it is for there to be increased investment in capacity building, which will result in good plans, people trained and institutions created to address the water and sanitation challenge."

The GLAAS report provides an initial framework for targeting strategic investments (related to both infrastructure and capacity building) to trigger more action around water and sanitation. It's an important step towards looking at the water and sanitation problem at scale and can serve as a valuable tool for US philanthropists looking to increase their commitment to the sector.

The findings from the GLAAS report are being presented at the first annual High Level Meeting of Sanitation and Water for All hosted by UNICEF on April 23 in Washington DC. The High Level Meeting provides a forum for Ministers of Finance from developing countries, accompanied by Ministers responsible for sanitation and water, and representatives from donor countries (including the US) to gain a greater understanding of the linkages between water, sanitation and economic growth, in order to commit the appropriate resources as well as to promote a culture of effectively managed, targeted and sustainable aid for sanitation and water.

For further information, please visit:

The Corporate Philanthropist: The Global Water Crisis
Water Advocates
Perspectives in Philanthropy

(Sauer, John)

For most people the waste they eject from their bodies is something they don't bother thinking about once they've shut the toilet door behind them.

But there are some who think human waste could be a major part of a stable gas supply. Just as long as we can overcome our prejudices.

The UK has to ensure that, by 2020, 15% of the energy it produces comes from renewable sources. This, combined with government plans to reward those who pursue this route sooner rather than later, has led to a surge in interest in deriving power from the euphemistically termed "sewage waste".

With many energy experts already looking forward to the end of North Sea gas, much will hinge on the stability of supply from Russia and the Middle East. Uncertainty could be a driver for the exploration of alternative sources of gas.

The UK produces 1.73 million tonnes of sewage sludge every year, which the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs says could potentially be used to produce biogas.

Anaerobic digesters

And, this summer British Gas, in partnership with Thames Water and Scotia Gas Networks, plan to be the first to start piping biomethane, derived from faecal matter, into the national network and straight back to the homes of 130 customers in Didcot in Oxfordshire.

Anaerobic digesters - carefully managed bacteria - are already used to turn faeces into a means of generating electricity, but the additional plant that British Gas will install will clean up the spare biogas and turn it into biomethane which can be used on household hobs and in gas central heating.

The whole process should take about 23 days from flush to finish and since the infrastructure is already in place, British Gas say that the test customers would not notice any difference in the final product.

The most crucial thing for many consumers will be the issue of smell. The new biomethane will smell just like the standard natural gas supply.

Other energy firms including United Utilities and Ecotricity have also announced their plans to inject biomethane straight into the network at a later date.

There may be some people who find the idea strange, but deriving power from human waste is nothing new. Experts who have contributed to a list maintained by University of Adelaide say biogas was believed to be used to heat bath water in Assyria in the 10th century BC and Persia in the 16th Century.

In the 13th century, the traveller Marco Polo noted the Chinese used covered sewage tanks to generate power, while biogas technologies were also referred to by 17th century author Daniel Defoe.

In 1859, an anaerobic digestion plant was built to process sewage at a Bombay leper colony, while in Victorian Britain excreta was used to power gas street lamps.

Sewage is still an important source of energy in communities in India and China.

Although human waste power has made its mark in the electricity field in the UK thanks to incentives already in place, gas companies say that until now, it had been too expensive for them to clean up that gas for it to be used in hobs and heating.

Prof Frank Scholwin, the head of the Biogas Technology Department at the German Biomass Research Centre, says the trend in Europe began around 15 years ago when waste management companies realised they could use the sewage as a fuel source for buses and heavy vehicles they had on site.

European countries were interested in producing their own gas sources as, among other factors, it provided them with a degree of stability, Prof Scholwin suggests.

"The result was that they became far less dependent on other major natural gas producing countries such as Russia."

Legal obligations and incentives resulted in an increase in the number of companies in Germany and Sweden producing biomethane for a variety of purposes.

A 2009 paper by the National Grid said with the "right government policies in place, renewable gas could meet up to 50% of the UK's residential demand for gas" but admitted this would not be easy.

It said that by 2020, a more feasible projection could see sewage and waste water providing up to 270 million cubic metres (0.28%) of the estimated 97,000 million cubic metres total demand for gas. In an ideal scenario, by that same date, it could provide 629 million cubic metres (0.65%) of the total UK gas demand.

Dr Guy Hitchcock, head of Exeter University's Centre for Energy and the Environment, says changes such as the Renewable Heat Incentives and other legal obligations have made sewage an attractive proposition for investment in the energy market.

Although biofuels made from food crops such as wheat and rapeseed were often criticised about their potential impact on the food chain, land development and carbon footprints, he says there were fewer arguments against biomethane derived from sewage.

Instead conflicts were over economics and the most profitable ways of utilising the gas.

"If we're talking about biogas from food crops then the argument is similar but when it comes to sewage it appears to be a different matter.

"It is a way of turning methane into something useful and something which will prevent the displacement of fossil fuels."

However he admitted that the potential for power generation has an obvious limitation - the finite amount of human waste produced.

"We produce what we produce and we use it. The resource is obviously limited by what we produce", he notes.

The government's Renewable Energy Strategy says "12% of our heat could come from sustainable biomass, biogas, solar and heat pumps, supplying the equivalent of four million households with their current heating demands".

But it also warned that this could potentially lead to an increase in household electricity and gas bills.

And that could be of more concern to consumers than a bit of squeamishness.(Shah, Dhruti)

That was what 86 students and five teachers believed as they walked barefoot in the blazing sun around a very hot Shikellamy High School track Thursday afternoon, said student organizer Laura Hagy, a senior.

Hagy first heard of One Day Without Shoes, a national fundraising charity event, about a week ago.

The idea of the walk, she said, is to have participants go a part of the day barefoot, to experience a life without shoes firsthand, and to help spread awareness of the impact a simple pair of shoes can have on a child's life.

"It's so hard to imagine," Hagy said, "but millions of children throughout the world can't afford basic necessities like shoes and have no choice but to go barefoot. When I heard of the charity, what they do and who is involved, I knew I wanted to get the community involved."

The charity is operated by Tom Shoes, a boutique shoe manufacturer based in California. For every dollar raised by participants, Toms Shoe gives a pair of shoes free to a needy kid.

In two years of holding the walks, the company has given out more than 150,000 pairs of shoes.

It took less than a week, even with time off for Easter, to get the word out. News spread around the high school like a viral video.

Hagy hung up posters, wrote school announcements and "talked it up" wherever she went over the past few days.

Heidi Weller, Hagy's social studies teacher at Shikellamy High, helped put the event together.

"The cause, I thought, was meaningful," Weller said. "And I was glad to help Laura. The high school cooperated fully. But Laura did a lot of the work. She even raised $100 herself, which translates to 100 shoes."

Katherine Kaufman, of Sunbury, said she was there to walk from 3 to 5 p.m. "It's a good cause," she said. "And I'm here to support it. But it is awfully hot out here."

Megan Litchard, of Northumberland, a 2009 Shikellamy graduate, said she was aware of the charity a year ago. "I tried to organize it last year, while I was still in school," she said. Since then, Litchard has attended five barefoot walks, one in Baltimore, two in Lancaster and two in Allentown. Not all participants hold the walk on April 8.

Litchard's friend, Kate Kistler, of Northumberland, a senior at Shikellamy High School, also was drawn to the walk by the cause.

Hagy and Weller hope that One Day Without Shoes will become an annual event in Sunbury. "We might organize this a little bit different next year," Weller said. "But we are extremely pleased to see so many people came out today."

For Hagy, the bottom line is just to get the word out, about One Day Without Shoes and about the Toms Shoes mission to provide shoes for kids in need. "We're here today to make everyone aware of the cause. Even if you go barefoot for five minutes, it will go a long way," she said.

To make a donation or for more information, visit www.toms.com or soles4souls.org. (Dandes, Rick)

Shuruh al-Hubeish, 14, fled her home in Harf Sufyan last year and, like many of the 48,000 IDPs in Amran, yearns to go home but is afraid.

“Before I was scared of the fighting, now I am scared of the landmines,” she said.

Local authorities estimate that 10 percent of IDPs from Amran have already returned to their homes and with them the first casualty reports are trickling through. According to the Ministry of Interior, five people have been killed and 20 injured as a result of contact with explosive devices in the Malaheed and Marran areas of Saada, and in Harf Sufyan in Amran.

Mine action plan

Three demining teams from the army have been dispatched to the north to clear main roads and assess the gravity of the threat. It is estimated that their initial impact survey will take three months to complete while their technical survey, to mark contaminated areas, will take six to eight months.

A mine action plan will be devised based on these surveys.

“Clearance is slow, but as long as people know where the mine fields are, they can avoid them,” Al-Azi said.

One of the problems deminers face is the lack of maps of mined areas as the Houthis kept no record of where mines were laid. Although the Yemeni army is being assisted by their former adversaries, mines were laid randomly by the rebels without central coordination. “The problem is if the person who laid some mines died, the information as to where the mines are died with him,” Al-Azi said.

Implementing the Mine Action Plan would cost about US$5 million and take two to three years, according to al-Azi, with four platoons of deminers, four survey teams and four mine dog groups. “We are ready to start in the north. We only need the money from donors and then we can move immediately,” he said.  (IRIN)

The problem is particularly pronounced in underdeveloped food-deficit areas of the far- and mid-west regions where more than 27 percent of children are acutely malnourished, Pokhrel said.

“In such areas, there is a need to provide food rations which include fortified super flour also for the mothers,” he said.

Health experts say poor maternal health among Nepali women is directly contributing to child malnutrition; nearly a quarter of the country’s estimated 14.5 million women are malnourished, afflicted particularly by a low body mass index.

Meanwhile, nutrition workers from NGOs say the government has not done enough to educate women and health workers about nutrition at a local level, especially in the most remote areas.

“The government has not done anything vital. It has even failed to raise awareness about basic education about nutrition,” Som Paneru, a nutrition expert and executive director of health and education NGO, the Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation (NYOF), told IRIN.

Agency support

Officials say the World Bank, UNICEF and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) recently completed a nutritional gap analysis to assess child and maternal nutrition needs.

The findings are to be integrated into the Nepal Health Sector Programme, which aims to expand access to and the use of essential health care services, and is supported by the World Bank and the UK Department for International Development (DFID).

The first phase of the programme will expire in July this year and the Ministry of Health and Population is drawing up plans for its implementation over the next five years.

“The World Bank now is bringing significant funding which hasn’t been previously specifically for nutrition within the national health sector plan. So we know the interventions that will work,” Gillian Mellsop, UNICEF country representative in Nepal, told IRIN.

However, officials say they have yet to sort out how efforts will be coordinated across the relevant ministries, while challenges lie ahead in implementing programmes at the local level.

“We still do not have specific planning for community-level programmes and we have not been able to make targeted area-focused programmes,” said Pokhrel. (IRIN)

"Trafficking rates have come down,,,and convictions are up," Ego Uzoezie, Commissioner of Women Affairs in Anambra State Ministry told IRIN, "but the progress is not as high as we'd like when we compare it to the efforts the government has put in."

Nigeria uses the UN definition of trafficking, which includes recruiting, transporting, harbouring or receiving people through use of force or coercion, abduction, or fraud; and exploiting a person in a position of vulnerability for forced labour or servitude.

How many men, women and children are trafficked each year in Nigeria is unknown – the only figures on record are the number of people law enforcement officers have intercepted since the National Agency Prohibiting Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) was set up in 2004.

Over 4,000 victims were intercepted between 2004 and the end of 2009, with the number rising each year to reach 1,000 in 2007 and 1,269 in 2008, according to NAPTIP.

Most children trafficked and smuggled in Nigeria are sent by families to work as domestic labourers, with a minority used as street beggars, or sold into marriage or to illegal orphanages, according to NAPTIP.

Families pay middlemen to take children across the borders to West African destinations like Togo and Cameroon, or north to Saudi Arabia, said Simon Chuzie Egede, the head of NAPTIP.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) child protection specialist in Abuja, Sharon Oladiji, said poverty was still the main reason families pushed children to leave home to find work.

"I was sold by my mother because of a 20,000 naira [US$137] debt she owed a yam-seller. Later I was forced into early marriage by him [the seller]," said Grace Ikede (not her real name), from Rivers State. She was lucky - the man she married helped her trace her family when he heard her story. "We are on the look-out for the seller, but he is on the run," she told IRIN.

Convictions up

The government has been making progress in the fight against traffickers and smugglers, partly because the Ministry of Women's Affairs, NAPTIP, the police, immigration services, and child protection agencies such as UNICEF, have started working closely together, Egede told IRIN. Prosecutions have steadily risen since 2006, with 67 traffickers convicted between 2004 and the end of 2009, UNICEF said.

On the US State Department list rating countries' efforts to eliminate the worst forms of trafficking, Nigeria rose from tier-two to tier-one status.

"This is a clear sign Nigeria has made progress in preventing trafficking, punishing traffickers and protecting children," UNICEF's Oladiji told IRIN.

In 2009 the government also set up a Victims Trust Fund, through which assets confiscated from traffickers are transferred to victims. NAPTIP said so far the assets of two traffickers in Sokoto State had been seized.

But prosecuting traffickers was still "achingly slow", Oladiji said, with dozens of cases awaiting trial. A 2009 report on Nigeria's justice system noted that detainees could wait up to nine years for conviction. NAPTIP's southern zonal coordinator, Ijeoma Okoronkwo, said it would take state-by-state reform of the prosecution system to speed up the rate.

Next steps

Oladiji told IRIN that preventing trafficking would have to be stepped up in view of the sluggish prosecution service, and stressed that this must be a community effort, not a family-by-family attempt. UNICEF has been working with communities in at-risk border areas to encourage them to protect vulnerable families from turning to child smugglers.

A human rights lawyer in Anambra State, Ben Nwosu, told IRIN that punishments should be made more severe to deter traffickers. "The fines and jail terms given to those convicted and sentenced are still not enough compared to the inhumane treatment that the traffickers subject their victims to."

NAPTIP is evaluating the impact of its recent efforts – including the Victims Trust Fund, among other tools – to better prioritize its funding, Egede told IRIN.

To attract more funding for the fight, NAPTIP and all other agencies involved should develop clear action plans on prevention and prosecution, so that donors could peg funding to the initiative, UNICEF's Oladiji told IRIN.

The governments of Italy, Switzerland, Finland and the United States have recently supported anti-trafficking activities in Nigeria. (IRIN)

India has taken its the first step towards redemption of promises made to women 62 years ago when it attained freedom.

It was a promise of living with dignity, opportunity, self pride, fearlessness.

Today India awakens to the fact that a nation, like a human body, can not be free if it is torturing half of itself. Mutilating, destroying, deriding, wishing away. No such nation can ever be healthy.

Today we may have opened the door towards a healthy nation.

India may have unleashed forces who could bring succour to her poor, her deprived, her unsung and unheard.

And yet we might lose our way yet again.

Many men will ask: "But they will only think of their own gender. What about us?"

Well what about the men? What about all those men, who even given the opportunity, did not ask, "What about the women?"

Not once in 62 years.

Instead, some of them plundered our bodies and souls, and dishonoured us, made us afraid of further sanctions. For the women are too often the loot - our bodies, our minds, our thoughts, our wombs.

"But they will be the rubber stamps of their men," the men cry.

So what, even if some are? What are the men today but rubber stamps of their own deviousness, greed and lust for power?

"But aren't women as greedy and corrupt as the men," the men will cry.

Yes some are, trapped alone in the gutters called the male corridors of power, tutored by a patriarchal society that equates selfish self-interest and greed as cleverness.

And even if they are like that, it will change nothing from the status quo. Except that the women WILL be in.

And then there will be a possibility that the women will not play the game by the same rules.

That they will, in a group, be able to let their instincts of co-operation, inclusiveness and caring, of nurturing and problem solving prevail.

And that they will at last get down to the brass tacks of solving this country's fundamental problems, just like they have in their homes or in their work places for ever.

Today might not change our world.

But it will be a first step.

The road is long. The women need to be chosen, trained, tutored, equipped - not in corrupt ways but in governance, in delivery of benefits and empowerment to the last in line, in transparency. And in not succumbing to the air that prevails.

A new, liberating journey for Indian women has now begun.(BBC)

According to the latest official data in August 2009, the unemployment rate is 7.87 percent, but it hovered around 10 percent until 2008.

And with more than half the country's 245 million people living on less than US$2 a day, according to the World Food Programme (WFP), many quit school early to contribute to the family income.

"The good thing about the Learning Farm is that it will lead to the creation of livelihoods for people living in the area, because the young people at the farm will teach the surrounding community how to practise organic farming," Catharina Dwihastarini, a project manager with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Indonesia, told IRIN. UNDP has provided a grant of $40,000.

About 40 percent of the young men trained at the Learning Farm either go on to start their own organic farms, teach organic farming and environmental education, or are employed by commercial farms.

Escaping poverty

Poverty in Indonesia is largely a rural phenomenon, with agrarian households accounting for about 57 percent of the nation's poor, according to the World Bank. Three out of five Indonesians still live in rural areas and farming is their main occupation.

Desperate to escape poverty, villagers migrate to the city, many disappearing into the slums.

The Learning Farm's director, Jiway Tung, a Chinese-American from New York, is trying to create a new interest in farming by using ancient Indonesian organic methods.

"It's not bringing in something foreign; it's reconnecting and re-envisioning," said Tung.

Most Indonesian farmers, however, still use fertilisers and pesticides on their vegetables that are forbidden in other countries.

Although this is still common practice, organic farming is slowly making an appearance in the archipelago. The Indonesian market for organic produce might be small, but there are opportunities: the Farm's customers include the well-heeled in Jakarta and it is also negotiating with a large supermarket chain to sell its vegetables.

Such deals will make it attractive for young people to become organic farmers. While the organic field that Maghfur tends is already feeding 30 children in the orphanage, his goal now is to grow more vegetables, so they can also be sold to the community.

"We want to create agents of change, so that they take what they learned back to the streets, to their villages," said Tung. (IRIN)

A health care worker is questioning one of them about their social and economic background.

He writes down an increasingly grim litany.

Education - none, job - none, children - many, rooms in mud hut - too few.

It is clear that these are people in need.

In Malawi, one in eight adults are infected with HIV.

But drugs alone may not be the answer to this deadly scourge.

Care in the community

In Neno, a remote area in southern Malawi, poverty and HIV are both rampant.

There are clutches of straw roofed huts, neglected villages and abandoned crops.

People here are obviously very poor. It is the recipe for a major health crisis, one that is far beyond the resources of the government to cope with.

But in the last three years, they have joined forces with Partners In Health (PIH), a social enterprise dedicated to providing quality health care to the world's poorest people.

PIH believes that social factors are as important as medical ones.

They do not just offer medical care, but practical help as well. They argue that the poor need food, homes, work and education in order to stay healthy, not just tablets and surgery.

This means that a lot of their work does not take place in hospitals, but out in the community.

New life

Edna Joseph was taken in by PIH after she was diagnosed with HIV. Tiny and hunched, she is wasted by the disease and moves with difficulty.

Seventeen-year-old Edna was married at the age of 13 and has two small children.

Her husband was adult when she met him.

After being diagnosed with HIV and suffering abuse from both husband and in-laws, she was turned out of the marital home.

She returned to her mother's home, but her parents were in no position to support her.

PIH was prescribed anti-retroviral drugs to control the illness, as well as given the food she needed to make the medicines effective.

PIH also built her a tin-roofed house with two bedrooms so she could start to re-build a life for herself and her children.

"When I moved into my new house," said Edna, "I sang a song to say I am so happy not to have to sleep in a house with a leaking roof any more."

Food enterprise

PIH also helps patients get jobs.

But with little formal employment, they have to do this by giving them grants to set up their own businesses.

In a nearby town, a group of 15 women recently set up their own restaurant with the support of PIH.

They are former prostitutes, and all are HIV positive.

The women, all on anti-retroviral medication, wanted a business, not only to provide money to live on, but to give them a sense of pride in themselves.

Good food is essential for HIV positive patients, but the local diet is generally poor.

The staple food is "sima", a maize flour mixed with water.

Its nutritional value is negligible and PIH has started programmes to encourage people to both grow and eat a wide variety of vegetables.

But growing vegetables takes a lot of water, a scarce commodity. One of the projects here failed simply because it lacked a proper well.

Successful business

The restaurant, named "Peace", has been a tremendous success.

The rota is in place, Florence has a new right-hand woman named Ivy and, most importantly of all, the cooking is delicious.

The women are already turning a profit but their goal is even more ambitious. They want to be self-sustaining by the end of the month.

Soon after that, they hope to see their turnover top $200 a day - a staggering amount in Malawi.

Pride and hope

The investment PIH has put into Malawi has been enormous. They have built two brand new district hospitals equipped with wards and operating theatres.

The money comes from a partnership between Partners in Health and the Malawian government, and the running of the hospital will become the sole responsibility of the government within the next five years.

But the best and the most visible return on their investment is Edna's shy smile.

The medication has saved her life, but her new house, decent food and the prospect that soon she may have a job have given her back her pride and hope.(Farrell, Cassie)

Korogocho location chief Rebecca Balongo told IRIN/PlusNews that many programmes supporting HIV-affected households had collapsed. "It is not unusual to have a family share only a plate of food in a day," he said.

Little help

The Kenya Network of Women with AIDS, which until 2009 provided food assistance to about 4,000 HIV-positive people in slums in central Kenya, has had to shut down its feeding programme due to lack of funding.

"We are no longer giving food at our drop-in centres in Korogocho, Kiambiu, Soweto and Mathare slums in Nairobi, Kiandutu slums in Thika and Kiawara slums in Nyeri town," said KENWA advocacy programme officer James Ndung'u.

"KENWA is only providing highly nutritious porridge to the very weak and bedridden clients.

"The slums have high HIV prevalence rates and without food there are challenges; our nurse has reported clients failing to collect ARVs on schedule - they say they are busy looking for work to buy food," he added. "ARVs require one to have a proper diet, but on an empty stomach, there is a tendency to default and consequent risk of drug resistance."

A few programmes continue to provide support in the form of food or cash transfers. Concern Worldwide has started a cash transfer programme in Korogocho to provide food subsidies of about US$20 per month to 2,000 extremely vulnerable households, including bed-ridden HIV-positive people. (PlusNews)

Senator Coburn had blocked the bill's passage due to funding authorizations of $40 million intended to help communities victimized by LRA violence. The compromise language reached uses slightly different wording in calling for the funding and added an emphasis making clear that the allocation should come from the existing foreign aid budget instead of adding to it.

Now, focus will turn to the House of Representatives, where the bill will soon be considered by the Foreign Affairs committee before being voted on by the full chamber.

Mark Nehrenz, the Oklahoman who coordinated the Hold Out, was overcome with emotion in response to news of the victory:

"First, I want to join with a chorus  of Oklahomans in thanking Senator Coburn for listening to our voices and hearing our cries for the children of Uganda and central  Africa. Over the the last eleven days and nights, I have stood beside, slept beside, and frozen beside amazingly committed individuals from this state and all over this country. It has been painful and cold, but worth every last second.

"I have never been prouder to say I am from this state. The support we have received from everyday people  and students in downtown Oklahoma City moves me to tears. I want to thank each and every person who was a part of this stand in some way. We all did this together. What has happened here has been a monumental achievement towards peace and justice in central Africa, and for each of us it has been a life-changing affirmation of the power of our voices.

"We have seen the strength in engagement and dialogue as opposed to an 'us vs. them' battle. We believe that our actions speak louder than our words, and as we have turned from 'the kids sleeping in the street' to 'our friends outside', we have seen the world start to change.

"We hope this bill is the beginning of the end of Africa's longest running war, but this stand has been the beginning of something else: A new kind of activism and engagement, rooted in passion, respect, dignity and dialogue. We believe in building relationships in order to change hearts and minds.

"As a movement, we found our voices this week, and we will not be silent. We are here to stay." (Resolve Uganda)

"Agricultural production, HIV and AIDS, food security and poverty are interconnected and cannot be tackled in isolation of each other. We believe a comprehensive approach is key to achieving the underlying objective of CAADP ... meeting Goal One of the Millennium Development Goals of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger ... at current trends, Swaziland is unlikely to achieve [this] by 2015."

Swaziland is no longer a net exporter of foodstuffs: drought and a population that has tripled since independence from Britain in 1968 have forced people to farm marginal lands, while HIV/AIDS has decimated the agricultural workforce. According to UNAIDS, about 26 percent of Swaziland's sexually active population are infected with HIV.

Membership of CAADP paves the way for the establishment of an Agricultural Development Bank of Swaziland, which could be used to provide loans or grants for subsidising agricultural inputs.

Such an eventuality would necessitate a sea change in relations between the government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which provide vital support in most of the country's social and agricultural spheres.

"Laudable as this show of support is, the question remains whether government can indeed work with NGOs, the private sector and the beneficiaries," said a director - who declined to be identified - of an NGO affiliated to the Congress of Non-Governmental Organisations (CANGO), an umbrella organization for NGOs.

"The [government] ministries have always worked independently - they are territorial. It will be interesting to see if they can work together, and if the voices of the rural farmers will be heard, or whether solutions will be imposed," he told IRIN.

A broad front

UNAIDS Country Coordinator Sophia Monico noted that "All the UN agencies are coordinating our work on AIDS. We're setting an example by forging an alliance between specialties."

She said the UN would adopt a comprehensive approach: food security issues would be handled by WFP, AIDS issues would be handled by UNAIDS, the UN Children's agency (UNICEF) would deal with issues concerning children affected by HIV and AIDS, and poverty reduction issues, under the authority of the UN Development Programme, would be strategically coordinated.

"It's like getting relief supplies to areas hit by disaster - it's not enough to put food on the plane, you have to get the delivery infrastructure working, the beneficiaries' needs sorted out, and rebuild the agriculture sector to make food production sustainable again," said Charles Ndwandwe, a food aid distributor in Mliba.

"That's what must be done in Swaziland," he commented. "It's harder when AIDS complicates things, but this is being factored in." (IRIN)

When the country is in the midst of its worst electricity crisis for 50 years, the answer is lots. In fact, an entire army's worth.

On the Fuerte Tiuana military base in Caracas, there is a warehouse full of light bulbs. Hundreds of boxes of Firefly energy-efficient bulbs are sitting in vast stacks, ready to be loaded onto waiting trucks by the troops.

Meanwhile, the other half of the warehouse is a graveyard for used and spent light bulbs.

Huge amounts of filaments and broken glass have been swept into small mountains before being shipped to Venezuela's second city, Maracaibo, for safe disposal because of the mercury content.

Outside the warehouse, a platoon of soldiers is standing to attention for their colonel before being dispatched to hand out the light bulbs in one of the capital's poorest neighbourhoods.

"Today's mission is vital for the health and development of the nation. And it comes directly on orders from the commander-in-chief," barks the colonel.

Greedy consumers

There can be little doubt that the measure to swap over the country's light fittings comes from on high.

It is part of an effort to tackle the fact that Venezuelans are the highest energy consumers per capita in Latin America - by a significant margin.

The recently nationalised state-run electricity company, Corpoelec, says Venezuelans consume more than 1,000 kilowatt hours a year per person than the second biggest users in the region, Chile.

Unloading the low-energy bulbs into their knapsacks, the troops have been joined by volunteers from the local community council - pro-government teams set up under President Hugo Chavez.

These small groups of red-clad Chavez supporters and soldiers in green uniforms, referred to as "civic-military partnerships", are heading into San Augustin, one of the city's roughest parts.

"I've been doing this for a month," says Miriam Parra de Gonzalez, an activist with the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).

"People have reacted well on the doorsteps because it saves them money. The incandescent light bulbs wear out more quickly and these ones use less energy, so they last longer," she says.

"Plus we're giving them away for free!"

Changing attitudes

At a scrap yard and car wash tucked away in San Augustin, the manager, a Spanish immigrant called Miguel Alvarez Lopez, ushers us into a small apartment which he is currently renovating.

"In the business, I changed around 40 bulbs last week through Mision Sucre [one of the government's social missions] and now another five today in this apartment."

Asked whether it is the money or the energy he is most interested in saving, his answer is emphatic: "It's the money," he says - a response many in San Augustin would likely echo.

But Mr Alvarez is quick to add that "given the crisis situation we're experiencing, it's also necessary to show a little of the consciousness that we should all have in Venezuela".

The president of Corporelec and vice-minister for electrical energy, Javier Alvarado, is confident that the current crisis is helping change public attitudes.

"For many years, we have had the huge oil income and, you know, you kind of get spoilt. You get used to an easy life," he says.

Faced with such apathy and indifference among Venezuelans, he says the government has launched a ferocious public education campaign, to be combined with a carrot-and-stick policy for industrial and major domestic energy consumers.

Fines and rewards were applied last weekend.

But many are critical of the government's response.

"It's ironic that a country blessed as it is with the energy resources that Venezuela has, in both hydrocarbons and fresh water for hydroelectric power, is in the dire straits that we're in right now," says the general manager of the Venezuelan-American Chamber of Commerce, Carlos Tejeda.

The basic problem is that electrical capacity has not kept up pace with demand over the past 10 years, he says.

"The fact that we're in these circumstances points to a lack of management, a lack of planning. That's evidently the case."

Switching off one at a time

The business community is concerned that the government's energy-saving initiatives, such as forced blackouts and heavy fines for any company which does not cut its electricity consumption by 20%, will cripple Venezuelan productivity.

"Some companies can reduce by 5%, or maybe 8% tops," says Mr Tejeda. "But to cut by 20%, you can only do that by lowering production itself."

Mr Alvarado concedes lessons need to be learnt from the current crisis.

"The fast increase in demand maybe caught us by surprise," he admits.

"But we are investing extensively in thermo-electrical plants, and after these problems with El Nino, we will come out with a more solid, more robust power system."

In the meantime, every light bulb helps, he says.

"We are 27 million Venezuelans. If all of us switch off one light, that's 27 million light bulbs, and that's what makes the difference. I feel sure that the solution is in the small details like that." (Grant, Will)

“For farmers the biggest risk is weather. To minimize exposure, they tend to use as little inputs as possible. As a consequence, their harvest is below the optimum even when rains are good. Insurance gives them the security of a payout in case of a full crop failure, therefore promoting investment in farming inputs and subsequently improving productivity,” she said.

The insurance programme is targeting at least 5,000 farmers in Central, Rift Valley and Western provinces, covering maize and wheat, which are facing considerable weather risk.

Said Goslinga: “A key challenge is that insurance is new to farmers and it generally has a bad reputation. Capacity building and trust are key challenges.”

“These new tools to manage risk will need to be complemented with investments that reduce the risks faced by poor households, such as low-cost irrigation schemes and drought-resistant seed varieties,” the IFPRI report stated. “To make index insurance viable, a long-term, reliable, and homogeneous database of weather information is needed, as are weather stations that report weather data quickly.” (IRIN)

Some 400,000 health workers and volunteers will go from door-to-door in 19 countries, giving oral polio vaccine to children under the age of five.

Africa has made significant progress in the fight against polio, which attacks the nervous system, but the virus has still not been stamped out.

Previous efforts at eradication failed as too few children were vaccinated.

The effort is a joint campaign by the Red Cross and United Nations.

Many analysts believe the key to its success lies with Nigeria.

In the past, campaigns in the north of the country were met with suspicion by religious leaders, some of whom even suggested the vaccinations were an attempt to spread sterility and HIV.

But religious groups are now showing support for vaccination drives, and correspondents say there is optimism that the debilitating, sometimes fatal, virus can be eradicated.(BBC)

But the oceans are under extreme pressure and many fear we are running out of fish.

The experience of the Grand Banks Cod Fishery, off the east coast of Canada, serves as a grim warning.

It had been landing tens of thousands of tonnes of cod every year for centuries.

But, in the early 1990s, one of the world's most abundant populations of the fish suddenly collapsed, leading to a total fishing moratorium.

"Forty thousand fishermen lost their livelihoods," says Rupert Howes, chief executive of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). "This was the wake-up call."

Over the last 50 years, the amount of fish caught around the world has increased five times. We used to think the oceans were limitless: now we know this isn't true.

The MSC was established 10 years ago to help transform fishing. A partnership of businesses, scientists and environmentalists, it certifies seafood that has been caught in a sustainable way.

At the moment, 10% of seafood is certified by the MSC as sustainable. Now it is moving into one of the biggest and most challenging markets - Japan.

Market forces

Although Japan has just 2% of the world's population, it eats 10% of its fish. It's a national obsession.

In Tokyo's Tsukiji market - the world's largest - they trade more than 400 different types of seafood, from wriggling eels to 300kg tuna.

Before World War II, the vast majority of Japan's fish came from local waters. But now, because of depleted stocks, 40% of this fish is actually imported.

If this market is to have a future, it is essential that all these fish are caught using sustainable methods.

This will not happen unless customers understand the importance of sustainability and demand MSC-certified fish.

But, as Alvin Hall found out, few Japanese people know anything about the MSC.

"Is it to protect whales?" asked one woman.

"I've only heard the name," said another. "I don't know what they do."

Tradition counts

The solution may lie in the small port of Yaizu. Here, some fishermen still use the traditional pole-and-line method to catch skipjack tuna, rather than nets.

This is more sustainable because young, small fish, that have not yet reproduced, can be thrown back. But fewer than 30% of Yaizu's fish are caught this way.

Hiroyuki Myojin, the president of a local fish processing factory, is determined to change this.

His ambition is to get his processing company MSC-certified, not only to ensure his own future but also as a marketing tool.

He only buys pole and line-caught fish. But winning certification is a rigorous process. To be successful, not only does the fishery have to become certified, but the entire supply chain.

Every step is checked, from fishery to processor, distributor, right up to the ultimate retailer, whether a supermarket or restaurant.

It will take many months.

"Given the choice," he says, "99% of Japanese consumers would choose tuna caught by pole and line. Unfortunately, the fact that the MSC logo proves the fish is sustainable is not commonly known among Japanese consumers."

And that's the problem. Without consumer awareness, there is little incentive for fisheries to take the time or make the necessary investment to become MSC-certified.

Improving recognition

To tackle this, the MSC is now forming alliances with big retailers to market the benefits of sustainable fish.

At an eco-fair in Tokyo, the MSC's Rupert Howes proudly displays the results of months of planning.

Aeon, the biggest supermarket chain in Japan with more than 1,200 stores, has dedicated a third of its stand to displaying its MSC-certified products.

"In Japan, we've seen the growth in MSC-labelled products go from none three years ago to 160 individual labelled products now," says Rupert.

"Aeon is carrying over 20 products just on their own."

Right now, 8% of Japanese consumers recognise the MSC logo. To improve that, the council has made some changes.

The logo now spells out that the fish symbol stands for "Certified, Sustainable Seafood".

And this tag line is translated into the appropriate local language in every market where certified seafood is sold.

Dream fulfilled

Back in Yaizu, after six months, Mr Myojin has triumphed. His factory has just gained its MSC certificate.

A huge MSC logo adorns the exterior of the factory. The certificate itself is proudly displayed inside.

Mr Myojin is already discovering that it's not just good for fish, it's good for business.

"We've had around 30 inquiries from overseas," he says. "So we are currently exploring doing business with these contacts."

Fish has been fundamental to life in Japan for hundreds of years.

Mr Myojin invites Rupert Howes to accompany him to a local 2,000-year-old Shinto shrine. Dedicated to agriculture and fisheries, it's where local people have always come to pray for bountiful harvests, big catches and the safety of their fishermen.

Rupert pays his respects. "My prayer was for the world's oceans," he says, "and a hope that one day the Marine Stewardship Council can deliver its mission.

"And that in the future we can have plentiful bountiful supplies of sea food for future generations. It's as simple as that." (Marshall, Jill)

The British Medical Association (BMA) wants more Fairtrade and ethically sourced kit to be used.

It says at least a fifth of surgical instruments are made in northern Pakistan, where child labour is common.

Ministers said "exploitation of any kind was unacceptable" and the Department of Health was working with the BMA to develop practical guidance.

The BMA is hoping NHS staff will support the campaign - Fair Medical Trade - and push for a change in buying habits to ensure fairer pay and better working conditions for producers in developing countries.

'Risking lives'

The campaign says many surgical instruments are made in Pakistan where workers work in dangerous sweatshop conditions.

It says there is also evidence of child labour, with some workers as young as seven.

The campaign follows a BMA survey of 383 doctors which suggested while eight in 10 doctors were supportive of the NHS purchasing ethically-sourced goods, only one in 10 was aware of such equipment.

Dr Mahmood Bhutta, a surgeon and adviser on the BMA's Medical Fair and Ethical Trade Group, said more needed to be done to raise awareness.

"Some of the workers in the developing world making medical supplies bound for the NHS are exposed to hazardous working conditions where they risk serious injury and even death," he said.

"There is also evidence that children as young as seven are risking their lives to supply us with equipment to save British lives."

The BMA has launched a new website, www.fairmedtrade.org.uk , which provides information on the ethical procurement of medical supplies and how doctors can get involved.

The Organic Medical Clothing Company already sells Fairtrade textiles, such as bed linen and cotton gauze, to the NHS.

Spokesman Nik Powell said it helped farmers in developing countries provide freshwater wells, schools and healthcare.

A Department of Health spokesperson said: "We welcome the BMA's initiative to raise awareness of ethical trade issues across the medical profession.

"We are working hard with procurers to make sure they seek assurance and evidence that international labour standards are being maintained."(BBC)

For two years after the shooting, Israel officially closed the road and cordoned off the surrounding area for security purposes, leaving Nahed stranded and unable to reach his land. In 2003, the road was re-opened and Nahed was given permission by the Israeli authorities to return but found he was still unable to farm. Although he had nothing to do with the death of the soldier, residents of the settlement wanted to take his land from him in order to build a park and monument dedicated to the soldier’s memory. Nahed volunteered to give the settlers a portion of his land to build their monument on but was not prepared to surrender everything. These fields have been in his family for generations, serving as their primary source of income and are currently planted with over 500 olive trees.

Ongoing harassment

Despite Nahed’s offer, the settlers remained adamant that he should not be allowed to continue there. From then on, according to Nahed, the farm became a focal point for the settlers’ frustration. Over a series of attacks between 2003 and 2007, the settlers destroyed half of his olive trees and uprooted his grape vines, as well as destroying a retaining wall and his water irrigation network. Nahed appealed to the Israeli authorities for protection. They came out to investigate and documented the damage but still the vandalism kept occurring.

In 2007, Nahed, who was suffering financially from this ongoing harassment, began filing the paperwork to start legal proceedings against the perpetrators. Both sides entered arbitration, where the settlers eventually agreed to leave Nahed’s farm alone in exchange for a piece of his land on which they could build the soldier’s monument and visit at any time.

Getting back to turning a profit

Now Nahed says he is relieved because things on the farm are quiet and he can finally focus on production and getting back to turning a profit. In 2008 he joined the Aboud Agricultural Co-operative, which has just gained organic and Fairtrade certification for olive oil production through an Oxfam GB project, “Support to small and medium scale olive producers.” With funding from the European Commission, the Oxfam project aims to certify 30 Palestinian olive farming collectives as organic and Fairtrade. Through local partners, the Palestinian Farmers Union and Bethlehem University’s Fairtrade Development Centre, the farmers receive training on producing a quality product that can improve their livelihoods through the guarantee of a fair price. The project is also working with Zaytoun, an ethical trading company in the UK, to make sure the farmers’ products reach Fairtrade consumers abroad.Nahed says he is really excited about the Fairtrade certification. After years of lost income, he can now harvest his olives and produce his oil knowing that he will recover the costs and receive a fair market price.

In addition to the income he will earn from Fairtrade, Nahed says that he is grateful for the opportunity to have his product sold in European markets because he thinks it’s a way for Palestinians to be seen in a different light.

A sign of hope

Standing besides the stone monument the settlers erected on his land, Nahed says consumers should see his success as a sign of hope in a land where there is too much emphasis on the negative.

“In my case, we found a solution that everyone could live with. We should always look for these solutions,” he says. (Heske, Willow)