The Common Language Project

Mr. Seng's Homecoming

2007-03-12T00:00:00-06:00

Koh Kong, CAMBODIA--1974. For Americans, the long Indochinese nightmare is finally over, but war rages on across the rice fields of Cambodia. Corrupt officials receive tons of bombs and millions of dollars in military assistance from the United States, but battle hardened remnants of the Khmer Rouge tighten control over the countryside and threaten the capital of Phnom Penh. Amid the suffering, tens of thousands of families abandon their homes and take refuge across the border in Thailand.

Recycling in Mali

2008-08-07T00:00:00-06:00

Most people know the familiar refrain reduce, reuse, and recycle. Many of us are even compelled to sort our paper and metal into bins, or to reuse all our scratch paper. But in developing countries recycling is often less of a luxury. In one of the world's poorest countries, Mali, West Africa, producer Kira Neel came upon an ingenious form of recycling.

To Be (Or Not To Be) An Independent Journalist

2007-03-12T00:00:00-06:00

There’s some pretty powerful propaganda out there romanticizing my profession.

Testing Tolerance

2007-03-12T00:00:00-06:00

TOKYO, Japan--Nestled among the towering half constructed apartment frames that fill the skies of the Koto-ku section of Tokyo leans a squat building with crumbling walls, propped up on one side by a tangled assortment of metal pipes. This is the Edagawa Chosen School, one of a number of ethnic Korean schools run by Chongryon – The General Association of Korean Residents in Japan – a group that also serves as North Korea’s unofficial embassy in Tokyo.

CLP Journalists Alex Stonehill and Sarah Stuteville on Frontline/WORLD

2009-07-17T00:00:00-06:00

Journalists Sarah Stuteville and Alex Stonehill spent six weeks crisscrossing Pakistan to report on the country's growing education crisis. Both are funded by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, and spoke recently with iWitness from Karachi about their experience. Watch the interview and find out why they believe Pakistan's religious schools get an unfair rap from the West, and how so-called "ghost schools" are at the heart of the state's failings. The two also talk with a Swat resident in Karachi who has just fled the fighting, and why his presence in the city is causing new tensions.

Hope for Pakistan's child workers

2009-05-21T00:00:00-06:00

KARACHI, Pakistan - Sher Shah is a hard-working neighborhood — a confusing knot of cramped lanes offering up a riot of rattling power looms, puttering motors and booming furnaces. This rough suburb, with its garment factories, machine shops and scrap metal smelters far from the imposing cement skyscrapers of the city center, forms the industrial gut of Karachi.

CLP's Alex Stonehill on PBS's Foreign Exchange

2009-06-21T00:00:00-06:00

This week on PBS's Foreign Exchange CLP journalist Alex Stonehill discusses education in Pakistan with host Daljit Dhaliwal. The show also featured Galleries on the Go a short CLP documentary piece about the art of Pakistani truck decoration.

'Green' Gold Joins List of Fair Trade Products

2009-05-08T00:00:00-06:00

Brides and grooms looking for ethical ways to celebrate their marriage can find lots of fair trade items for their weddings and receptions, from flowers and rice to wine and coffee. But when it comes to their rings - it's harder to be a responsible consumer.

Third Country Nationals

2007-01-03T00:00:00-07:00

Amman, JORDAN--Mohammad reached across the bar and handed me his mobile. He told me to press start and play the video on hold.

Squatters Stand Up

2006-06-01T00:00:00-06:00

Phnom Penh, CAMBODIA – At first glance, Tumlop 2 village looks like any third world city slum: crowded huts with corrugated tin roofs are scattered along dusty dirt paths, and barefoot children mingle with freely wandering chickens and dogs. Look closer and you’ll find that this community also houses a tidy health center where local women diagnose and treat common ailments. Look even closer and you’ll see that gender relations in this poor and traditional society may be more evolved than in the more wealthy households of the teeming and ever-expanding city that surrounds them.

Nothing Goes According to Plan in Cambodia

2006-03-14T00:00:00-07:00

In fact, you may find yourself regretting having even tried to make a plan in the first place. Today marks our two week anniversary in Cambodia. We were supposed to have flown to New Delhi a week ago. But journalism, it seems, is mostly about waiting.

More than Mouths to Feed

2006-04-03T00:00:00-06:00

I Come from All of India

2006-04-06T00:00:00-06:00

Ahmedabad, INDIA—In a small, dimly lit room decorated with drawings celebrating Christmas, Diwali, and Eid, forty children attending Arzoo Kids Center sit with eyes closed and hands folded as if in prayer, belting out the Indian national anthem. While this may seem like a commonplace scene in an Indian after school program, it could mean salvation for the troubled city of Ahmedabad.

Backpacks not Bombs

2006-06-01T00:00:00-06:00

Ayubia, PAKISTAN—Ten year old Fazia Reza was in English class when she felt the ground starting to move. She watched in terror as the walls of the school began to tremble and crack, obeying her teacher’s shouts to run outside and start praying just in time to see the roof collapse and the walls cave in. Her father, one of 40 people injured in this tiny village of just 145 families, lost his leg, and two others died in the October 8, 2005 earthquake. Almost all of the town’s buildings were destroyed.

A Danger to Democracy

2006-11-07T00:00:00-07:00

Two years after Ohio's disputed presidential elections, Ohio University journalism students Liz Gray, Meghan Louttit and Julia Marino asked Ohio voters if the state was ready for the 2006 midterm races.

Voting Global

2006-11-07T00:00:00-07:00

On September 11th, I flew back to Seattle after almost a year reporting in Asia and the Middle East for independent media.

Down Under the Veil

2007-03-12T00:00:00-06:00

Sydney, AUSTRALIA--A young woman leaves squeaky footprints in the sand as she carries her fiberglass short-board towards the surf in a yellow string bikini. It is late afternoon and her elongated shadow drifts past the blue hijab of another woman lying on the beach with her children.

Get Your Tickets Today for the CLP Annual Fundraiser

2009-06-11T00:00:00-06:00

We are cooking up a great fundraiser for this summer: delicious food, beautiful waterfront location, and amazing auction items from a luxurious night at the Tulalip Resort to a genuine Seattle P-I newspaper box! Join us Thursday, July 23rd at 6 pm at Seattle's Lake Union Yacht Club. We'll share some of our most interesting stories from the Pakistan: Hearts and Minds project, and offer a special screening of our recent short documentary chronicling the last days of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, It's in the P-I. And of course it wouldn't be a CLP fundraiser without music, food, and booze!

Click here to buy tickets

A Treacherous Trek to the Crater's Edge

2008-03-22T00:00:00-06:00

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – "Just breathe," I comforted myself as I shuffled slowly through the dusty gravel. "One breath with each step," I repeated raggedly as fifty pounds of brackish water sloshed rhythmically against the sides of the muddy yellow jerry can strapped to my back.

Quenching the thirst

2008-03-22T00:00:00-06:00

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – It's early morning and a dozen westerners, mostly Seattleites, were getting ready to leave the capital for a three-day visit to water development projects in Oromia, one of this country's largest, rural states. As they set out – a caravan of five land rovers moving through the dense traffic – many of them were still quietly coming to terms with the parting words of Adane Kassa, Executive Director of Water Action, the Ethiopian NGO that coordinates the projects they'll be visiting.

Ethiopian Epiphany: Timkat in Addis Ababa

2008-01-21T00:00:00-07:00

According to Ethiopia's unique calendar, the year 2000 started last September. Christmas was two weeks ago, on January 7th, and this weekend, at the end of the twelve days of Christmas, the country's 33 million Ethiopian Orthodox Christians celebrated Timkat, or Epiphany, a commemoration of the baptism of Christ. CLP Audio Producer Jessica Partnow brings us this report from the nation's capitol, Addis Ababa.

Haramaya

2008-03-24T00:00:00-06:00

ADDIS ABABA—Chala Ahmed, 26, hit the jackpot eight years ago when he won the US visa lottery in the bustling eastern Ethiopian town of Haramaya. His first thought was that he would build his mother a big beautiful house. His next thought was that the new home, painted a rosy pink behind a high white gate, should be erected on the shore of Lake Haramaya, the huge stretch of placid water that gave his hometown its name.

Power Politics Trump Democracy in US-backed Ethiopia

2008-04-11T00:00:00-06:00

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia—Dawn in the Merkato breaks over a tangle of streets jammed with shouting hawkers and towering pyramids of ripe produce from Ethiopia’s fertile countryside. Today it is a popular destination for sunburnt foreign tourists, expensive cameras poised to capture lively scenes from one of Africa’s largest open-air markets.

Troubled Waters

2008-06-24T00:00:00-06:00

The sky is just beginning to lighten over Lake Victoria and the hacking of machetes echoes along the Kenyan coastline. Fishermen, stripped to their underwear in the already rising heat, are chasing silvery baby fish through the thick grass that chokes the lake shores, in defiance of laws against fishing in these delicate breeding grounds.

Drought Spurs Resource Wars

2008-04-25T00:00:00-06:00

DUBLUCK, Ethiopia — On a warm January afternoon in southern Ethiopia, thousands of ill-tempered livestock stand in groups with the pastoralists who have guided them for dozens of miles to drink. The animals dot an expansive field of Acacia trees, severed bits and pieces of dead grass and dust. Earlier in the day thousands of young goats, sheep and calves took turns to have their fill of water. And the show will not end with the cattle; camels are still waiting in line. For being the best able to resist drought, now they will be last.

Heading South Part 5: A Dawn with Dion

2008-02-02T00:00:00-07:00

Part 5 of the CLP's multimedia blog series "Heading South": an audio blog by Jessica Partnow on the challenges of reporting on the impoverished southern Ethiopian community of Dillo. Especially while Celine Dion is blasting in the background.

Behind the Scenes Update from Karachi Pakistan

2009-04-28T00:00:00-06:00

The CLP team takes a break to reflect on the first half of the Pakistan: Hearts and Minds reporting project.

Caught in Pakistan's crossfire

2009-04-24T00:00:00-06:00

The day is closing in Jellozai and children run along the narrow dusty rows of UNICEF-stamped tents trying to squeeze a little more play time out of the dying evening. Some 43,000 people live in this refugee camp just outside of Peshawar, after fleeing violence in the tribal regions not far from here.

Official Selection: It's in the P-I to show at Seattle International Film Festival

2009-05-07T00:00:00-06:00

Our short film, It's in the P-I, will be playing at the Seattle International Film Festival May 29th at 9:30pm. The film explores the closure of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer at a moment when America's newspapers are on the verge of extinction. Produced in collaboration with The Last Quest and the Something Factory as part of the International Documentary Challenge. Tickets available from SIFF.

Bad times return to Karachi

2009-05-05T00:00:00-06:00

Despite Karachi’s decades-old reputation as Pakistan’s most violent city, over the last year this urban economic hub has remained a haven from the bombings and violence reverberating through the rest of the country. But a flaring of ethnic clashes in recent weeks, exacerbated by a the arrival of thousands of refugees from the violence in northern Pakistan, has many worried that instability has returned to the streets of this massive port city on the shores of the Arabian Sea.

Delhi's Dark Waters

2009-05-08T00:00:00-06:00

The Yamuna River, which flows through the heart of India's capital city, New Delhi, is one of the holiest Rivers in Hindu mythology. Its also one of the most polluted rivers in the world absorbing over 200 million gallons of sewage from the city each day. This video takes us to the banks of the Yamuna, where some still eke out a living from a river that others are fighting to bring back to life.

Dawn in Addis

2008-01-12T00:00:00-07:00

Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA -- 5:30am and still dark. But the rooster knows the sun is coming and his crow trills up past the sulfurous street lamps into the still night sky.

Karachi Nights

2009-05-07T00:00:00-06:00

No matter how frenzied the exhaust-coated sun-saturated day is in Karachi—this city really lives at night.

Big, bright and, to many, beautiful

2009-05-28T00:00:00-06:00

KARACHI, Pakistan - At first glance this is not a colorful city. An aerial view of Karachi reveals a sprawl of squat markets and utilitarian high-rises set among sparse vegetation and dull industrial public art, a landscape of stucco corroded by salty sea air and looming cement structures coated in urban grime.

Letting the Terrorists Win

2009-04-17T00:00:00-06:00

Pale columns of smoke are rising from a sea of blue tents stretching into the distance of the flat khaki plain that is Jellozai, a refugee camp eight miles outside of Peshawar, home to an estimated 43,000 people fleeing violence in the tribal regions not far from here.

Why Journalists Are Not Social Workers

2009-12-20T00:00:00-07:00

Ghana's Gold Project Blog

2009-12-21T00:00:00-07:00

Tall Americano, Hold the Paycheck

2007-01-31T00:00:00-07:00

When Abdenasser "Sammy" Ennassime returned home to visit his family in Morocco six years ago, he could brag of a bustling coffee shop, a baby son, and an American wife to show for his more than two decades in the United States. In this light, Ennassime's suggestion to bring his adolescent niece, Lamyaá, to his home in Tacoma to help with the new baby - in return for enrolling her in school and guiding her toward U.S. citizenship - was seen as the magnanimous gesture of a generous uncle.

Dirty Gold

2009-12-18T00:00:00-07:00

It's In the P-I

2009-12-11T00:00:00-07:00

In Spring of 2008 the Seattle Post-Intelligencer joined the ranks of collapsing American newspapers, shutting down print operations after 142 years. It's in the P-I tries to capture the confusion and disappointment of the people who worked the last few days of this Seattle institution. This short film was produced as part of the International Documentary Challenge. It was conceived and completed over the span of five days at the beginning of March 2009. It represents a collaboration between The Last Quest and the Common Language Project.

Ghana's Gold Project Blog

2009-12-02T00:00:00-07:00

Near the center of the small town of Yayaaso in Ghana's Eastern Region, Samuel Obeng stops mixing concrete to sit on a bench under a tree and tell me what he thinks of the arrival of Colorado-based gold mining company, Newmont. He wears a faded pink tank-top and gestures with his hands. "Me and my brothers will all get work. For the women, if they're vendors, they'll get more business." Samuel is pretty optimistic, but he's keeping an eye out. "If that doesn't happen when they come… and they just leave us, then there will be plenty of problems."

Ghanaian locals caught in a gold rush

2009-11-30T00:00:00-07:00

Ghana is one of the world's top producers of gold. And with gold's price at record highs, more companies are heading to the African country for a piece of the action. Anna Boiko-Weyrauch reports.

Journalism and Democracy

2010-01-09T00:00:00-07:00

The face of journalism is changing. Traditional newspapers are declining. Television networks are becoming more streamlined and editorial in their content. What kind of journalism does a democracy need in order to thrive? How do you define good journalism? CLP reporter Sarah Stuteville joined a panel on KUOW's Weekday discussing these issues and more.

Canadian Miner Meets Adversity in Ghana

2009-12-07T00:00:00-07:00

With gold prices at record highs, many companies are trying to get in on the action and mine in Africa's second-largest gold producer, Ghana. But one Canadian company already operating in Ghana is running into problems with the local community and the government.

Day Two: A Dose of Downtown Reality

2010-02-06T00:00:00-07:00

I take back what I said yesterday about the destruction not being so bad. Or rather, I’ll take this opportunity to revise it. Downtown Port-au-Prince is a disaster, no ifs, ands or buts about it.

Day One: Santo Domingo to Port-au-Prince

2010-02-05T00:00:00-07:00

I got a late start this morning, thanks to a slight wardrobe malfunction (forgot to bring underwear).

Day Three: Life in the Camps

2010-02-07T00:00:00-07:00

In Search of an Oasis

2009-10-24T00:00:00-06:00

Innovations in digital technology and the global economic crisis have fueled a need for independent reporting through the use of multimedia. This video by CLP Water Wars Intern Julia Marino tells the behind the scenes story of reporting on water issues from Ethiopia and Kenya on a shoestring budget.

Grant Fuller Reports from Haiti

2010-01-23T00:00:00-07:00

When Haiti was devastated by an earthquake on January 12, a flood of international media showed up to cover the shock and sadness of a terrible human disaster. But eventually, Haiti will no doubt fade from the headlines and the media will trickle out as the Haitian people continue rebuilding their lives. In the weeks and months ahead, it will be vital to keep up coverage of the massive, long-term recovery effort. Freelance reporter Grant Fuller will help fill the journalism void as he travels to Haiti and produces radio features, audio slideshows, and print articles that tell the stories of the Haitian people trying to move forward.

Galamsey: Will Work for Gold

2010-01-18T00:00:00-07:00

Driving outside Prestea, in western Ghana, you might wonder about the makeshift tents lining the roadside, or what the black grime on the ground is, or why there are so many women selling food in such a random-looking place. But if you went to the area’s chief and got permission to enter the camp, you would see that it’s not a shanty-town but a profitable small business, run by local entrepreneurs.

We Made the Finals - Vote CLP

2010-01-25T00:00:00-07:00

We are one of just 24 finalists in the 2010 WeMedia Game Changer Awards - and we need your help to win! It takes just a second to cast your vote - just click here: http://wemedia.com/awards/2010-community-choice-finalists/ and click on "Common Language Project" at the right of the page.

Your Vote Could Help Us Win $25,000!

2009-11-30T00:00:00-07:00

Poverty and Faith Fill Pakistan's Madrassas

2009-11-11T00:00:00-07:00

For years, Pakistan's religious schools have been identified as breeding grounds for terrorists. But they're also the only opportunity millions of poor Pakistani children have to get an education. In this video, reporter Alex Stonehill goes inside madrassas to find out whats really being taught.

The CLP: Now @ University of Washington!

2009-09-23T00:00:00-06:00

We are thrilled to announce that we have moved in to the Department of Communication at the University of Washington. Over the coming year, we'll be offering quarterly workshops, teaching an undergraduate course in Entrepreneurial Journalism, showcasing student work on this site, and working closely with the University to explore new models of supporting investigative multimedia reporting in our new media climate. We're also hiring two UW student interns this fall. Stay tuned for more!

Alex Stonehill on PBS's Foreign Exchange with Daljit Dhaliwal

2009-10-03T00:00:00-06:00

Journalist Alex Stonehill discusses the pollution of the Yamuna River in India and the World Water Forum.

Educating Humiera

2009-08-16T00:00:00-06:00

BUGNA, Pakistan — Thirteen-year-old Humiera Kausar's oversized sneakers hurry over piles of granite boulders and through scrubby pines bristling with last night's rain. A headscarf and pink shawl are wound tightly around her small frame to protect against the thick mist that has settled over her high mountain village.

Young immigrant among thousands of federal detainees in Tacoma

2009-02-13T00:00:00-07:00

NORTHWEST DETENTION CENTER, Tacoma -- Arms poking stiffly from an oversized blue jumpsuit, Vitaliy Budimir recounted his crimes in a hesitant voice that barely revealed his Russian origins.

The Ghost Schools of Pakistan

2009-07-17T00:00:00-06:00

September 20, 2009: Story updated with radio feature and photo slideshow. Despite ankle deep garbage, charcoal-scribbled graffiti of machine guns and the scorched remains of squatters' fires, the dusty green chalkboard still reads "December 2, 2006," the last day that classes were held in the primary school wing of Mirza Adam Khan, a government-run compound of schools in the poor and violence plagued Karachi neighborhood of Lyari.

Pakistani immigrants in Seattle confront a huge challenge at home

2009-08-17T00:00:00-06:00

As the first notes of the Quran, sung by a diminutive imam in an embroidered prayer cap, fill the Westin Bellevue's ornate Grand Ballroom, a sea of hands moves to cover heads.

Ghana's Gold

2009-04-15T00:00:00-06:00

Gold is enjoying some of the highest prices in decades on the global market. In recent years, Ghana has worked to attract new investment, making it the second-largest gold producer in Africa. This new collaboration with independent radio producer Anna Boiko-Weyrauch will generate a number of stories examining the relationship between mine companies and communities. It will also follow gold from the mines, through international regulation efforts, to its most visible end product, consumer jewelry. The project will produce a number of sound-rich radio pieces, multimedia slideshows and print articles that present the nuanced, personal stories behind this issue.

Ghana's Gold Project Blog

2009-08-27T00:00:00-06:00

I recently got a grant from The Nation Institute's Investigative Fund to cover gold mining in Ghana - in particular I'll be looking at the relationship between large mining companies and the communities in which they operate.

New Digs

2009-10-12T00:00:00-06:00

Life in Cerro de Pasco - a gritty mining town high in the Andes - has always been hard. But after a century of corporate mining that has left the soil saturated by toxic waste, safe drinking water scarce, and rancid fumes floating in the thin air, it has become unlivable.

Dry Land, Dry Sentiment

2009-09-25T00:00:00-06:00

East Africa is in transition; a drought that has lasted over a year in many parts of the region has just broken with the onset of rains. Many say that this period without rain has the been the worst that anyone can remember, the majority of livestock dying, crops failing and refusing to sprout, perennial rivers drying up for the first time, and power and water rationing taking place in urban areas. In the rangelands of northern Kenya, and similar landscapes throughout the region, land degradation and resource scarcity has provoked conflict, political maneuvering along ethnic lines, and left at least 20 million people lacking food security. Now, with the onset of El Nino rains, the region is poised on the edge of extremes, fearful of the damage that too much water will cause in a degraded and fragile land.

Sex and the City of Joy

2006-05-08T00:00:00-06:00

Kolkata, INDIA--The smells of jasmine perfume, fried food, bidi smoke, and liquored breath mingle in the thick humid air. Watery pink and white neon lights from Hotel Welcome, Dream House, and Love Lotus shine in the eyes of women lined up in turquoise saris or red mini skirts and the customers jostling to admire them. Backlit in shadowy doorways, young girls beckon into the night with childish voices that betray their pre-pubescence, despite alluring gestures and deep purple lipstick.

First Rain

2009-10-21T00:00:00-06:00

Dark clouds swarm on the horizon and the wind carries approaching rain. It is not a smell or a feeling that drifts across the land, though the nostrils are suddenly thrust free of dust and the air is lighter and cooler against the skin. It is a taste, a saturated sweetness on the tip of the tongue, a quenching of the thirst by particles unseen that blow, for the first time in over a year, across the bare earth, scarred trees, and broken imaginations of northern Kenya.

A Landmine Survivor's Story

2006-03-14T00:00:00-07:00

When Aki Ra met Chet, he was living on the streets of Phnom Penh, shining shoes to earn money and sniffing glue because a friend had told him it would make him feel full. He’d lost his left leg in a land mine accident 3 years earlier and hadn’t yet gotten the prosthesis he now happily shows off.

Up All Night

2009-10-24T00:00:00-06:00

Like India, Pakistan has its share of call centers, offering everything from customer service and tech support to health insurance and home security systems. Jessica Partnow takes us through a night in the life of Ali Jaffri, a professional telemarketer in Lahore.

Dismantling a Dangerous Past

2006-03-14T00:00:00-07:00

Kenyan Elephants Fenced Out

2008-09-01T00:00:00-06:00

An 83km-long electrified fence has been completed to keep elephants separate from humans in central Kenya. The controversial solution to the age-old problem of human elephant conflict was initiated and managed by the Laikipia Wildlife Forum and the Kenya Wildlife Service after other methods of deterring the species from cropraiding, such as chilli fences and noise guns, had failed to resolve the issue satisfactorily.

Hanging with the Ladies

2009-04-09T00:00:00-06:00

In the gray light of my first morning in Pakistan, the thick salty smell of sulfur introducing me to the seaside city of Karachi, the streets were full of men. With few exceptions it was men congregating in front of the still dark airport, men piled onto buses carnival decorated with Technicolor and chrome and men weaving through the thickening traffic on motor bikes and rickshaws.

Perplexed in Pakistan

2006-06-02T00:00:00-06:00

Tomorrow morning we will leave Pakistan, heading back over the border to India to catch our onward flight to Kazakhstan. When we first arrived here I was full of nerves and expectations, and now, a month later, I am leaving the country still confused and newly disheartened. Pakistan is probably the most interesting country I’ve ever visited, but I can’t wait to leave.

Faces of Pakistan

2006-06-01T00:00:00-06:00

Our reporting took us to three of Pakistan's four provinces, from northern mountain regions to lawless tribal areas and the agricultural fields of Sindh, as well as Pakistan's four major cities - Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Islamabad. Despite mainstream news coverage that depicts a one-dimensional Pakistan seen through the lens of The Global War on Terror, our travels revealed a country of incredible diversity and remarkable complexity.

The Power of Propaganda

2006-05-24T00:00:00-06:00

The late afternoon sun beats down on the high-rocky landscape. Sweat runs down my face and the back of my neck–tickles my scalp underneath a long grey burka swaddled tightly around my head and shoulders, and hanging to just below my knees. My feet slip on loose pebbles as I scramble up a steep slope in the rugged foothills of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province.

Twenty-First Century Slavery

2006-06-09T00:00:00-06:00

Lahore, PAKISTAN—On the night of October 1, 2005 in the tiny town of Jannat, one hour outside of Lahore, Shoukat Masih, 35, was fast asleep. He and his extended family had pulled their rusted charpoys out into the courtyard of their one room home in order to enjoy the cool air and a night’s rest before returning at dawn to another twelve hours of hard labor in the neighboring brick kilns. Around 11:00 pm a group of men armed with pistols and sticks entered the courtyard and yanked Masih to the ground, shouting, “Are you the one making statements on the television?!” His wife was in a neighboring village visiting family, but his father, children, nieces, and nephews, all looked on in terror as he was beaten to death on the packed clay earth.

Reflections from Pakistan

2007-01-12T00:00:00-07:00

I was in Pakistan for a little over a month last year reporting on the issue of bonded labor and debt slavery in the country. Though Pakistan was only one of the ten countries I visited in an eight-month tour, it looms the largest in my memory. I was fascinated by this country so at odds with itself: as feudal as it is modern, as isolated from as it is harassed by the international community, as hospitable as it is hostile. But the real reason Pakistan is still on my mind is because America won’t let me forget it.

The Halfway Mark...And Pakistan Looming

2006-05-06T00:00:00-06:00

Well, we’re almost three months in with about three more to go. As I write this I’m counting down the hours to our next train ride which will take us to our fourth country–Pakistan. It’s seems that the half-way mark is good place to stop, look around, and think about where we’ve been and where we’re going as a project, as journalists, and as individuals.

Lessons from God

2006-06-09T00:00:00-06:00

Peshawar, PAKISTAN--Rows of adolescent boys kneel in an open marble courtyard, dwarfed by the oversized, yellowing Arabic texts opened before them. Murmuring under white knit prayer caps, their small bodies sway in rhythm with their hafiz (memorization of the verses of the Koran by rote). The entryway is adorned by a faded poster of Mulana Sami al-Haq, the owner of the sprawling grounds of the Dar al-Haqqania Madrassa and Principle Administrator to its 3000 students. Shrouded in green, he holds a Koran in one uplifted arm and a Kalashnikov in the other.

Fear Factor: Pakistan

2009-03-31T00:00:00-06:00

I’ve become terrified of my email. I’ve always been a little skittish of the inbox, never knowing what that first login might bring to my day - an outraged critique of a recent article, a facebook request from a long lost ex-boyfriend - but in the weeks leading up to our departure my crowded inbox has set my stomach lurching in newly anxious ways as I sift through daily accounts of the chaos that has touched down in Pakistan.

Getting Our Minds Into the Gutter

2009-03-27T00:00:00-06:00

An estimated 35,000 people died last week as the 5th World Water Forum convened in Istanbul, Turkey. If you didn’t hear the news, don’t be surprised; the 35,000 deaths the week before, and the week before that didn’t grab any headlines either.

Heading South Part 4: A Night Under the Stars

2008-02-02T00:00:00-07:00

The word travel traces back to the Middle-English word travailen, meaning to journey, labor, strive and most importantly, to torment. Much of traveling does feel a little like torment and as the strange bug bites, desperate trips to the bathroom and embarrassing cultural misunderstandings mount (who knew that blowing raspberries was one of the rudest things you can do in traditional Ethiopian culture?) I often wonder how I’ve found myself so far away from home.

An American's Water Shortage

2008-01-21T00:00:00-07:00

Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA —The water in our new house in Addis has been turned off for days and my back is so sore I’ve been squirming around on our dirty couches all evening begging for a position that doesn’t hurt.

Being Typical

2008-03-25T00:00:00-06:00

Recently a short piece I wrote about the personal conflict I felt when comparing my water-wasteful lifestyle in the United States with the stories I'd reported of water shortages in rural Ethiopia--specifically the story of one father that had lost four children to waterborne diseases--was classified by one reader as just another "guilt trip."

Heading South Part 3: A Night at the Yabello Motel

2008-02-02T00:00:00-07:00

After being stranded in the middle of the elusive bush, and experiencing the morning nap in the dusty room in Arero, we were all fantasizing about a clean bed, and more importantly -- a shower. Hot, warm, frozen, it wouldn't matter. At the advice of our handy Lonely Planet, we pulled into the Yabello Motel, a place the book described as "clean and comfortable." Although the toilet and the shower were outside, it was nice to finally find a place to unpack and unwind.

Heading South Part 2: A Night in the Bush

2008-02-02T00:00:00-07:00

When our four-wheel-drive pickup truck vroomed off the town of Negele I knew I was in for a giant adventure. Well, I must quickly clarify that I was not here for adventure; Negele is of course not one of those places you go site-seeing. I was here to work, following stories on water scarcity and how it had impacted the people of Southern Ethiopia.

Fourth Estate Foreclosure

2009-01-17T00:00:00-07:00

2009 promises to be another tough year for the journalism industry, and it looks like it’s our turn to take a beating here in Seattle. The imminent closure of the Seattle Post –Intelligencer, the city’s oldest and second largest newspaper was announced last week, just a few months after the second round of major staff cutbacks in 2008 went down at our other major newspaper, the Seattle Times.

The Journalism Hustle

2009-02-13T00:00:00-07:00

The CLP's latest investigative feature hit the newsstands – er internets – last night. The punch-drunk Seattle PI posted on the Tacoma Immigration Detention Center as a web-only feature about 25 headlines below the lead story about who has a heavily anticipated art opening in Greenwood tonight.

Bitter Harvest

2007-07-03T00:00:00-06:00

Yakima, WASHINGTON--Wisit Kampilo's sparse black hair ruffles in a gust of March wind. Standing in a patch of dry yellow grass off a remote road in the Yakima Valley, he pulls a secondhand Oakland Raiders bomber jacket around his thin frame and looks back at the dingy three-bedroom manufactured home where he and 32 other Thai guest workers were housed together in the fall of 2004.

Seattle Anti War Protest

2007-01-27T00:00:00-07:00

War resisters, Vietnam vets, and teenage punks all joined together to protest the Iraq War and shut down a military recruiting center in Seattle's Central District. This audio slideshow explores anti-war protest tactics and their impact on the US's presence in Iraq.

Life on the Duwamish: Rediscovering Seattle's Dirty South

2007-09-24T00:00:00-06:00

In the past 150 years, the Duwamish estuary has been home to a tranquil Native American community, Seattle's first white settlers, gold miners enjoying 24–hour saloons, one of the country's busiest ports and cutting edge companies like Starbucks, Boeing and Amazon.com. Life on the Duwamish explores the history, culture, and neighborhoods around the Duwamish waterway, a historical center of industry in Seattle, Superfund Cleanup site, and a focal point of communities in South Park and Georgetown.

Mexico Fact Sheet

2009-01-01T00:00:00-07:00

Palestinian Territories Fact Sheet

2009-01-01T00:00:00-07:00

Life in Lagos

2007-10-01T00:00:00-06:00

Lola Akinmade's photo essay offers a vivid view of every day life in Lagos, Nigeria.

In Our Backyard

2007-11-12T00:00:00-07:00

Tacoma, WASHINGTON--It’s visiting day at the Northwest Detention Center. The facility, opened three years ago to hold undocumented people awaiting deportation, is set among a tangle of industrial roads near downtown Tacoma. A distant midday sun reflects new spirals of razor wire circling the low grey building as a middle-aged Sikh man and a frightened looking Hispanic family approach the line of police armed with plastic handcuffs and padded gear, here to guard the entrance against today’s planned protests.

Ghosts of Bhopal

2006-04-25T00:00:00-06:00

More than 20 years after the disastrous accident at Union Carbide in Bhopal, India that instantly killed over 7,000 people, residents continue to suffer from health problems caused by exposure to the hazardous chemicals once produced at the plant. Today, the death toll has risen to over 20,000. This slideshow explores the ruins of the chemical plant, as well as some of the work being done here to ease residents' medical trauma.

A visit to the Akira Land Mine Museum and a demining expedition in northern Cambodia

2006-03-25T00:00:00-07:00

Aki Ra took CLP reporters on a demining expedition in northern Cambodia, showing off his own technique for disarming land mines - hundreds of which he laid himself as a child soldier.

Kenya Fact Sheet

2009-01-01T00:00:00-07:00

Australia Fact Sheet

2009-01-01T00:00:00-07:00

United States Fact Sheet

2009-01-01T00:00:00-07:00

After Andijan

2006-07-05T00:00:00-06:00

Pakistan Fact Sheet

2009-01-01T00:00:00-07:00

India Fact Sheet

2009-01-01T00:00:00-07:00

Cambodia Fact Sheet

2009-01-01T00:00:00-07:00

Ethiopia Fact Sheet

2009-01-01T00:00:00-07:00

Running on Hope

2008-04-16T00:00:00-06:00

Ethiopia has been a dominant force in long distance running for decades. Despite a shortage of training infrastructure, athletes have excelled thanks to hard work, the high altitudes in their home country and the purity of the ancient sport, where whoever runs the farthest and the fastest, wins. Alex Stonehill's photo slideshow offers a taste of training in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Off the Record: World Water Crisis

2008-04-17T00:00:00-06:00

Africans’ struggles for water inevitably read to American audiences as happening “over there” in a chaotic and distant world. Connecting them to a looming global trend requires a prescience that doesn’t hold up to the exacting principles of print journalism. This is especially true because developments on the ground often outpace the scientific community -- in many neglected areas, for example, the only way to find out if rainfall has been declining is to ask a subsistence farmer, because the formal scientific data simply doesn’t exist.

Playing the Aid Game

2006-08-03T00:00:00-06:00

RAMALLAH, West Bank - The administrative headquarters of Ruwwad Youth Empowerment Project, housed in a newly constructed office tower on the outskirts of Ramallah, sparkle with disuse in the fluorescent overhead light. A skeleton crew of employees looking for ways to busy themselves are scattered around the offices, separated by a grid of vacant cubicles that serve as a reminder of what this project was meant to be.

Unsafe Crossings

2007-01-11T00:00:00-07:00

Kira’s piece explores her experience working with women seeking abortions at a Rhode Island clinic after surviving rape while crossing the US-Mexico border illegally.

Kenyans Tap Sun to Make Dirty Water Sparkle

2008-04-13T00:00:00-06:00

NAIROBI, Kenya--The long rainy season in Kenya has begun and sudden storms regularly burst over Nairobi. Many welcome the downpours, which signal the end of another dry summer and wash the steamy crowded capital clean each morning. In Kibera, a massive slum of rusty tin roofs and makeshift homes spreading out from the southwest of the city, the rain is turning the twisting dirt roads and alleyways to thick red mud.

Requiem for a Dual Hegemony

2006-07-05T00:00:00-06:00

The collapse of the Soviet Union is my earliest memory of politics. The sense of relief and of victory that I felt around me was overwhelming, and I became fascinated with the idea that events on the other side of the world could mean so much in my own home. Televised images of East Germans taking sledgehammers to the Berlin Wall or Boris Yeltsin speaking from atop a tank in Red Square became the very definition of freedom in my ten year old mind, and even as I grew older and learned of the theories behind communism and the Cold War missteps of the CIA, this picture of humanity breaking free of oppression by sheer will stuck with me.

China Fact Sheet

2009-01-01T00:00:00-07:00

Kazakhstan Fact Sheet

2009-01-01T00:00:00-07:00

Israel Fact Sheet

2009-01-01T00:00:00-07:00

Heading South Part 1: A Night on the Road

2008-02-02T00:00:00-07:00

We stood in the pre-dawn glow of the streetlamps, greeted by intoxicated heckles from the previous night’s most diligent drinkers. A battered, extended cab Toyota Hilux pickup pulled up, carrying a mound of mysterious goods under a green tarp and bearing faded Ethiopian Red Cross decals on its doors. Seeing that there were already three passengers inside, I almost threw in the towel right there and sent my colleagues Ernest and Julia on without me, motivated as much by the practicalities of fitting so many people into such a tiny space as I was by the thought of my still warm bed waiting for me just down the block.

Kenyan Elections Update

2007-12-30T00:00:00-07:00

The New Thai Capitalism: Development or Disaster?

2007-01-22T00:00:00-07:00

Nai Lai, THAILAND--Halima Singkala, 49, and her neighbors were repairing fishing nets when thirty soldiers marched into their village on a bright March morning two years ago. Residents were still recovering from the massive tsunami that had struck just three months prior, but these officials brought guns, not relief, to the southern Thai fishing village of Nai Lai. Singkala and her neighbors were ordered to vacate the property immediately: according to the soldiers, their newly constructed homes were built on land they no longer owned.

The New Thai Capitalism: Development or Disaster?

2007-01-22T00:00:00-07:00

Khon Kaen, THAILAND--"Let's go!" shouts Mannee Boonrod over the cries of barking dogs and the thundering of the monsoon rains on the corrugated tin roof of the temple. This kindly looking lady in her sixties has become something of an activist in recent years, known for her eloquent, forceful speeches and unwavering passion for this community's struggle. She's energetically retelling the story of the day three years ago when she and a pack of angry women charged toward 300 of then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's personal guards.

Thailand Update

2006-09-21T00:00:00-06:00

I found out last night at 11PM that there was a military coup here in Thailand yesterday. The military’s top general (Songthii) led tanks into Bangkok, declared a coup, and took power from Thaksin, the now former Prime Minister, with the support of the Thai military. They also took over all of the television stations, preventing Thaksin from communicating with the people, and issued their own referendum.

Pakistan's Viral Video

2009-04-11T00:00:00-06:00

The release of a grainy video showing a girl being flogged for adultery by the Taliban in the Swat valley has created an uproar in Pakistan. In this video-blog journalist Alex Stonehill discusses why, amidst all the violence in Pakistan, this particular video has evoked such a reaction.

Our Fight for the Forest

2006-04-21T00:00:00-06:00

In January the Forest Development Corporation officials came and hired some men from our village to work in the forest nearby. They said they wanted to cut some diseased trees and clear naturally felled wood, but after a couple of days we knew that the officials had bigger plans. The FDC men had started cutting healthy Sal trees as well, clearing a huge area of the forest. The village men refused to go on working. They remembered what had happened to the bamboo in the forest when we were children.

What's Democracy Got To Do With It?

2007-10-10T00:00:00-06:00

Not too long ago, I found myself on the balcony of the youth radio station in Thimphu, Bhutan. I was having a discussion with a new radio host at the station, 13-year-old Tenzin “Sora” Tshewang. The skater shoe and hoodie-clad young man spoke impeccable English and had just begun volunteering as a DJ for the station’s popular call-in request show ‘Youth Unplugged’.

Fighting a Legacy of Environmental Neglect

2006-06-28T00:00:00-06:00

Kyrgyzstan Fact Sheet

2009-01-01T00:00:00-07:00

Nigeria Fact Sheet

2009-01-01T00:00:00-07:00

My Romantic Reunion with Africa

2008-01-12T00:00:00-07:00

ADDIS ABABA--Close to 40 hours after leaving Athens, Ohio, I arrived to my destination in Addis. My Emirates flight was not exactly that long...I had two stopovers - four hours in Hamburg and 12 in Dubai. It is the kind of thing you have to contend with when you make a decision to fly cheap.

Back to Africa on a Water Mission

2007-12-14T00:00:00-07:00

Some of my toughest times growing up in Kenya were those spent on my way to and from the village river. I call it the village river because it was by and large the only source of water for my village. Never mind the fact that the river was four miles away and was shared among scores of villages along its course.

The Best Friends Aid Can Buy

2006-06-01T00:00:00-06:00

Surprisingly, the strongest indicators of international aid presence are the words of this man, Dantali Shah, the village head here in Kakray. “We are so happy for the help of America-- please don’t be afraid of us. We welcome any more aid the Americans can offer.”

How has the world water crisis affected you?

2008-10-30T00:00:00-06:00

It is dawn and the camels move past the truck like shadows. They seem too tired to talk, their heads bent down as they plod on along the dirt track. The only sound they make is the light thud of their feet hitting the white sand. Perhaps they are embracing the morning in silence; watching the last few rebellious stars disappear as the pink sky turns the acacia trees to silhouettes. Or, and this is much more likely, they are quiet because they are walking through a graveyard and do not want to wake the dead.

Passionate Politics

2008-01-03T00:00:00-07:00

Meru, KENYA-- Raila Odinga is brave to be holding a campaign rally here. This PNU (Party for National Unity) territory, and Raila represents the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) – the opposition party in December’s elections. Kenyan politics are both colorful and violent – and venturing into another party or politician’s territory can be dangerous.

The Most Dangerous Men in Kenya

2008-04-22T00:00:00-06:00

They spoke of poverty and of being expected to feed and take care of themselves by their early teens. Many described turning to theft almost immediately, well aware that even the lowest paying factories of Kisumu wouldn't hire them--they came from the wrong neighborhood, none of them had finished school and anyway around here any available job, no matter how menial, was filled before the help wanted sign could even go up.

Tasting a Slice of Street Life in Addis

2008-07-10T00:00:00-06:00

We arrive at the police station -- half a dozen or so iron sheet structures. We are led into one of the structures where the officer on duty is seated on a bed in front of a table leaning backward.

The Hotel Between Heaven and Hell

2007-01-01T00:00:00-07:00

Su Fan'gs audioslideshow explores the hidden lives of Beijing's Min Gong.

Tuol Sleng Prison and Genocide Musem, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

2006-03-01T00:00:00-07:00

Landmines and unexploded ordnance are not the only remnants of war in Cambodia. During the reign of the Khmer Rouge, Tuol Svay Prey High School in Phnom Penh became "Security Office 21," the central prison and interrogation center of the Khmer Rouge. From 1976 to 1979 thousands of Cambodians, at first mostly intellectuals, but later workers, farmers, officials and even Khmer Rouge soldiers themselves, all accused of opposing the Regime, were sent to S-21. They were imprisoned, had their photos and biographies recorded, and were then tortured to death or executed, often along with their children and other innocent family members. Of the thirteen thousand plus people who entered S-21 as prisoners, only seven came out alive. Today the compound is the Tuol Sleng (Khmer for "Poisonous Hill") Genocide Museum, which is open for public visits and remains largely in the condition it was in when it was liberated by the invading Vietnamese army in 1979.

The Lords of Democracy

2006-08-03T00:00:00-06:00

I didn't always know that there are different definitions of democracy. Studying for my Masters at Birzeit University, I learned that there are many, and that each one serves a certain ideology, a certain vision and certain interests. It's as if each definition is working to legitimize its own ownership of the concept of democracy which others must recognize and abide by.

Morocco Fact Sheet

2009-01-01T00:00:00-07:00

What Does Democracy Look Like?

2006-08-03T00:00:00-06:00

In the heat of a street protest in The United States the most popular chant that will rise out of the crowd is the impassioned cry, "This is what democracy looks like!" I use this example not to reiterate the tired cliche that Americans are proud of their democratic ideals, but to underscore how the term democracy has become so omnipresent in American political rhetoric that its meaning is now beginning to elude us.

Saving the Sal Trees

2006-04-21T00:00:00-06:00

Chhattisgarh, INDIA--“Zindabad!” shouts Bindia Bai, pressing her hands together in greeting as she sits down on the hard-packed mud floor to meet with fellow village women in the sunny courtyard of her home. This revolutionary rallying cry meaning “victory” echoes throughout Batka Behra village and has been spreading across the remote tribal hills of Chhattisgarh state in recent months. A new movement challenging government corruption and resource cooption is building among these ancient people.

Trouble in the Suburbs

2006-06-28T00:00:00-06:00

Almaty, KAZAKHSTAN—The sounds of construction are ubiquitous in Almaty. Pounding jackhammers, whining saws and lumbering bulldozers are at work on almost every block of this green, mountain-rimmed Central Asian city. This breakneck development takes place alongside the expensive bistros and Mercedes dealerships that cater to a new generation reveling in the riches of recently discovered oil and gas reserves, giving this city—once considered a sleepy Soviet outpost—a powerfully wealthy and cosmopolitan veneer.

Atheists in the Holy Land

2006-08-02T00:00:00-06:00

As I woke to the muezzin’s wails straining through a riot of church bells in my cramped hostel room in Old Jerusalem, excerpts of the previous night’s angry conversations were already working their way through my mounting hangover. Shouts of, “how can you call them terrorists?” and “there aren’t two sides to this story!” and, of course, “What are you looking for anyway?!” pierced the headache I had earned over hours of politically charged debate and a steady stream of warm red wine. I rolled out of my narrow bed and groaned, cursing another day of reporting in this enraged and bitter country.

Panorama: Diversity in the Muslim World

2007-12-06T00:00:00-07:00

In the Winter and Spring of 2006 I set off across Asia with The Common Language Project in hopes of challenging some of the stereotypes about other countries that dominate the mainstream American press. As expected, Islam was an ever-present force in the places we visited, which not only prompted worried emails from family members back home, but also provided us with a chance to learn a lot about the religion firsthand. While we encountered mosques, headscarves and skepticism for American foreign policy in all of the Muslim countries we visited, the similarities stopped there. Stereotypical images of Islam tend to portray a monolithic, homogeneous religion of fundamentalist believers conforming to strict, unified codes of conduct. But I found myself struck by the diversity of believers in Islam, the nuances of their interpretations of the faith and the varying intensity of religion's role in their lives.