The G/wi and G//ana people have appealed to Pope Benedict XVI for help in prompting the government of Botswana to allow them to return to their homes. Botswana and the Vatican have recently established diplomatic relations, a move that was initiated by the previous President of the country, Festus Mogae…. 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…
Dorjee Tshering Lepcha sits on his floor cross-legged every morning and chants, asking the spirits to forgive him for any intrusions he might make that day against nature. He plays a tune on his flute to welcome the day and to add to the sincerity of his plea in advance… Continue reading…
Unrest among civil service employees has broken out in both Ladakh and in Tahiti, where government employees are striking to improve their retirement pay scales. While these two developments are purely coincidental, they suggest an important question: do strikes and other forceful activities, which try to compel others into taking… Continue reading…
Last week a Fipa fisherman tried to sell his albino wife for 3.6 million shillings (about US $3,000) to traders from the DR Congo in the Kalungu, Tanzania, marketplace. An informer tipped off the police that the sale was about to take place, so they set up a trap for… Continue reading…
The strange, tragic deaths of numerous Birhor villagers in Jharkhand State on October 2 continue to reverberate in India, particularly since other so-called tribal peoples have also been dying of mysterious causes. Eight people died due to unknown circumstances within a few hours of one another that evening in the… Continue reading…
Officials in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, are obsessing about the inadequacies of outhouses at two new farmhouses built for Schwartzentruber Amish families. According to news reports last Thursday, County Judge Norman Krumenacker hopes to work out a compromise with the Amish families that are violating the county sewer codes and the… Continue reading…
The Tristan Times reported last week that a Constitutional Review Team would be arriving on St. Helena island on November 12th for a visit that may last about two and a half days. Tristan da Cunha, which has 268 residents, is administered as a dependency of St. Helena, a British… Continue reading…
The village of Likir is nestled in the foothills of the Ladakh Range about 30 miles northwest of Leh, north of the Indus River and the main Leh to Kargil highway. The Lonely Planet guide to India (7th edition) describes the 150 monks in the magnificent Likir monastery as “friendly”—they… Continue reading…
A slight, unpretentious, 30-year old Yanadi woman gave a very effective speech at a political convention near Hyderabad last week and made an enormous impression. She will probably be nominated to be a candidate in upcoming state elections from the new political party that organized the meeting. Tupakula Munemma, a… Continue reading…
