Nicole Kallmeyer

Tom and Ken Steen, have a story they love to tell about their father: At age 94, Fred Steen was asked a question commonly posed to men his age: “How long have you been retired, sir?” His answer, however, was far from common. “ ‘Retired?’ he said, spitting the word out as if it were sour milk. ‘I finished work at 7 o’clock tonight and I’ll be back at the plant first thing tomorrow morning,’ ” the brothers recall in an interview at the new processing plant at Steen’s Dairy.

Fred Steen, who passed away three years ago at 95 years of age, never saw the new facility in Guelph, Ont., but his sons say he was in favour of relocating from the original plant in Erin, Ont. After working in Erin’s creamery for several years, Fred bought the dairy portion of the business in 1944. In the early days, he delivered door-to-door, often walking through unlocked homes and placing a bottle directly in the fridge. His sons joined him when they were about five years old, before they could even spell “dairy.” › Continue reading

Rugby has yet again served as a unifying force across racial lines in South Africa.

This past weekend, tens of thousands of white Afrikaners poured into a stadium in Soweto, South Africa’s most populous black township, to watch Pretoria’s rugby team play. The Pretoria Blue Bulls, who usually play in the Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria, were asked to relocate their match in order to preserve Loftus’ pitch for the FIFA World Cup in June.

“The fact that the Bulls’ leadership picked Soweto’s iconic Orlando Stadium as a replacement carries a symbolism that wasn’t lost on anyone,” wrote Nicholas Brulliard in an article for GlobalPost. › Continue reading

“Please do not leave us alone in the hands of these killers” — Letter from the human rights defenders in the Congolese town of Niangara to U.S. President Barack Obama

Last week advocates and lobbyists for northern Uganda let out a collective cry of victory as the United States Congress passed the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act.

This bill calls for political, economic, military and humanitarian support to bring lasting peace to Northern Uganda and surrounding areas affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army. It was the most widely supported Africa-focused legislation on record, and now awaits a signature from President Obama. If (or when) Obama signs the bill into law, it dictates that he has 180 days to implement a strategy to capture top LRA leaders, demobilize child soldiers, protect civilians from rebel attacks, and invest in recovery and reconstruction. › Continue reading

Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga were arrested the day after their engagement and this Tuesday they were tried in court and found guilty of “unnatural acts and gross indecency”. Under laws dating from the colonial era, the couple could face 14 years in prison. › Continue reading

Five years ago, Lisa Shannon couldn’t locate the Democratic Republic of Congo on a map. Today, she is traveling throughout North America and sharing stories about her DRC “sisters,” which she has collected in her new book, A Thousand Sisters.

Last night she spoke in Toronto about her journey from the moment she first learned about the war and sexual violence in the DRC—watching Oprah from her couch in Portland, Ore.—to creating a movement, Run for Congo Women, that has raised more than $600,000 for Congolese women. › Continue reading

When we see images of child soldiers, we usually see young boys in oversized fatigues with rifles slung heavily across their undersized bodies. We are rarely, if ever, shown the young girls who are also forced to fight and robbed of their innocence—not only on the battlefield, but in the bedroom as well.

Raymonde Provencher’s latest documentary, Grace, Milly, Lucy…Child Soldiers, reveals the faces and stories of three women who were abducted from their villages in northern Uganda and forced to become soldiers and wives to the rebel commanders of Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The film notes that of the approximately 30,000 children that have been abducted by the LRA, over 30 percent are girls. › Continue reading

Adrienne Rosen has ridden a motorcycle around the world, plays hockey, and leads a non-traditional family. She is also passionate about Tikkun Olam, which led her to help children in Guatemala receive access to education.

[To read the full article, please see pages 30-32 at this link: http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1mypb/FridayNightPremierIs/resources/3.htm]

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, there is a place filled with color. Radiant reds, bright yellows and deep purples lie draped over tables and under sewing machines in a room that feels far away from the sooty black roads and army greens ubiquitous in this war-torn African country. Painted on the back wall of this room are two words that have come to represent recovery and opportunity for many women: Healing Arts. › Continue reading

Smartphones make waves with marketers

Two years ago, more people said they would choose their mobile phones than their wallets if they had to leave home for 24 hours with only one item, according to the results of an IDC survey of about 2,000 people commissioned by Nortel. And even more people would likely agree today as separation between phone and wallet diminishes. › Continue reading

Today in Johannesburg, South Africa, AIDS-Free World, an international advocacy organization co-directed by Stephen Lewis and Paula Donovan, released a groundbreaking report on sexual violence in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. SLF volunteer and freelance journalist Nicole Kallmeyer attended the launch. Here is her report:

On a bright summer’s day in Johannesburg, Stephen Lewis revealed another dark truth about Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party’s acts of intimidation and terror during the 2008 presidential elections. › Continue reading