Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is COOL!

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is a young Pakistani journalist determined to tell the stories that no one else will (photo source: The Guardian)

Among my cool new finds are documentaries made by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. Sharmeen is just COOL, because she has guts and tells stories that we all need to hear. (In fact Sharmeen, if you are reading this, I would really like to be your friend!). Her main subjects generally revolve around women and children in different Asian and South Asian contexts, the underground abortion industry in the Philippines, gang violence in Indonesia, child suicide bombers in Pakistan, women's lives under the Taliban, Islamic issues, and more.

A few days ago, I watched her excellent report titled "Children of the Taliban" and was blown away. Here, VOA does a profile of the film:




Here is an interview with her:

Turtles Can Fly: Movie Review

Since I'm on vacation, I'm beginning to catch up on my movies.

Saw Turtles can Fly yesterday. Another phenomenal, depressing, and eye-opening look at the life of kids in a refugee camp. Watch this if you want to know about landmines and how they are collected, what orphans live like in warzones, what war does to children, and just generally about survival.

Trailer here and below:



DEFINITELY watch this!

Getting Kids Involved in the Poverty Dialogue

Get kids involved in the dialogue early! (photo courtesy: Josh Hough)

BOPreneur blogger, Paul Hudnut has written an excellent blog entry about getting kids engaged in the poverty dialogue. He provides 6 ideas for moving forward:

It is that time of year... students are coming back on campus, faculty are scrambling to finalize syllabi. Sustainable design, social entrepreneurship, and and international development are hot topics on campus. If you are a teacher planning coursework in these areas (or at their "intersection"), or if you are a student that wants to do a project in one of your classes, check out these resources [...]