Operation Christmas Drop, an annual humanitarian effort from Anderson Air Force Base in Guam that air drops holiday packages to the people of remote Micronesian islands, including Ifaluk, started off with a bust this year. The Christmas drop tradition began in 1952 when some air force people, flying over a… Continue reading…
Hutterite colonies in southwestern Saskatchewan have been sharing their food resources with needy people at Christmas time each year with the help of a local Salvation Army post. The 11th Annual Hutterite/Salvation Army Food Bank drive in the town of Swift Current has been more successful than ever this year,… Continue reading…
Lovina Eicher, an Amish woman living in Michigan with her husband and children, is the author of a weekly syndicated newspaper column, “The Amish Cook.” Her column of December 17 describes her daily work, family activities of the previous several days, her cooking and baking, and her children’s preparations for… Continue reading…
Tupakula Munemma, the Yanadi woman who garnered attention in the Indian press over a month ago when she made a rousing speech at a political convention, is still in the news. At a major convention of the Praja Rajyam Party in Vijayawada, a large city in Andhra Pradesh which is… Continue reading…
While many people around the world celebrated the 60th anniversary last Wednesday of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Botswana took the occasion to announce repressive measures against the G/wi. That country apparently did not notice the tragic paradox. Last Thursday morning, December 11, Google News provided… Continue reading…
The Associated Press released a story last Saturday describing the religious opposition to local building codes among some conservative Amish families in New York State and Wisconsin. The AP writer was obviously unaware of the sewer and building code violations that have roiled some Schwartzentruber Amish families in Cambria County,… Continue reading…
Until the 1970s, rural Thailand’s Suphanburi Province, located only 100 km north of Bangkok, was extremely isolated from the rest of the country. The province was the butt of jokes by other Thai people because their roads were either nonexistent or in such bad condition as to be virtually impassable…. Continue reading…
Elizabeth Warnock Fernea, a prominent writer about life in Old Nubia, died on December 2 in Austin, Texas, at the age of 81. She was an emerita professor of comparative literature and Middle Eastern studies at the University of Texas. She is survived by her husband, Robert Fernea, also a… Continue reading…
Last week, the Telegraph in Calcutta carried two different articles that featured the Birhor society of Jharkhand state. It appears as if the tragic deaths of numerous Birhor villagers early in October prompted the news organization to focus on a previously obscure group of peaceful people. According to a news… Continue reading…
According to a Reuters story last week, the Zapotec town of Juchitán just displayed its laid-back attitude toward gays and transvestites with its annual festival in their honor. The article indicates that transvestites, called muxes, a Zapotec word derived from the Spanish word for woman, mujer, are quite widely accepted… Continue reading…
