Matador Featured Articles - Sustainability

A Portrait of Hope: Lessons from the Memory Project

Olivebeard — Wed, 5 Dec 2007 14:49:03 -0600

". . the Memory Project is addressing an area that has long been overlooked by other organizations, a component of development that many of us with parents take for granted: a sense of personal history," writes Jacob Bielanski in this profile of the Memory Project.

Awóyaya: A One-Day Sensitization Forum by C.H.I.E.F

geotraveler — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 21:41:36 -0600

With captivating photographs and a lovingly-told story, Lola Akinmade reveals how the NGO C.H.I.E.F is improving the life and health of local Nigerians.

Holy Fire, Sacred Water pt. 2

James — Sun, 7 Oct 2007 13:12:12 -0500

This dam clash is epochal because it is one of the few turning points in history where a small, illiterate band of half-naked mud-hut dwellers have halted – temporarily or for good – a democracy’s proposed use of water," writes James Workman in this comprehensive look at the Himba, proudly defiant and independent natives at Namibia's edge.

Holy Fire, Sacred Water part 1

James — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 15:54:59 -0500

"This dam clash is epochal because it is one of the few turning points in history where a small, illiterate band of half-naked mud-hut dwellers have halted – temporarily or for good – a democracy’s proposed use of water," writes James Workman in this comprehensive look at the Himba, proudly defiant and independent natives at Namibia's edge.

Cidadão Comunitário: Youth Mural Project in Northeastern Brazil

JennDjesus — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 12:36:16 -0500

Working with a local Brazilian NGO, a California muralist helps the youth in Natal, Brazil express their stories and beautify their community.

Communidad Inti Wara Yassi

sullyblime — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 18:34:15 -0500

A group of children from the Communidad Inti Wara Yassi hike through the Bolivian jungle where they find devastated ecosystems and wild animals caged for sale on the black market. They begin a public education campaign that evolves into an internationally-sponsored animal shelter and rainforest preserve.

NO G8: Report from Heiligendamm

davidzlutnick — Tue, 3 Jul 2007 18:24:09 -0500

From the streets of Heiligendamm amid clashes between police and protesters, independent journalist David Zlutnick delivers a comprehensive, on the ground report of this year's meeting of the G8.

From the Ground Up: Planting Seeds in Northern Thailand

Tim Patterson — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 09:11:18 -0500

Tim Patterson reveals a little-known but growing community of farmers, builders, and visionaries at the edge of a National Park in Thailand's rural North.

Zapovedniks: Preserving Russia's Great Wilderness

E. Linhart Money — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 22:53:18 -0500

Featuring stunning photography by local Russian environmental activist Igor Shpilenok, this story traces the history of Russia's great wilderness preserves or zapovedniks, from their creation in the late 1800s to present-day issues and challenges.

From the Dust of Kabul: a history of modernization, destruction, and reconstruction in Afghanistan

ZTP Teo — Tue, 8 May 2007 08:06:45 -0500

"The only signs of modernity are mini-buses shuttling shalwar-clad passengers between towns, rusting Soviet tanks, the odd generator and cellular phone," writes Zachary Johnston in this concise history of modern Afghanistan.

Side by Side with Street Children in Delhi: Profile of the Salaam Balaak Trust

Jenny Williams — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 08:48:23 -0500

In this profile of the Salaam Balaak Trust, Jenny Williams sheds light on one of the few organizations helping the street children of Delhi.

Beyond Yunus: As its Founder Steps into the Limelight, Microcredit Evolves into a Force of its Own

hkathleenc — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 16:35:43 -0500

It’s become an often-repeated story: Muhammad Yunus, an economics professor at Chittagong University in Bangladesh, gave 27 dollars to a stool maker in the village of Jobra. This was three years after the Concert for Bangladesh, when a famine, a war, and a cyclone had all but devastated the country....

Touch of Grey: Living with Elephants in Africa

James — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 02:52:43 -0600

Learn how one group, Living With Elephant Foundation (LWE), a Botswana registered NGO, is bringing together elephants–perceived by villagers as destructive and undesirable pests–and orphaned street children–in encounters that are as unpredictable as they are unforgettable.

The Beauty of Compassion: The Starfish Project in Cambodia

Tim Patterson — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 14:30:31 -0600

Words by Tim Patterson
Photos by Ryan Libre

A muscular man without legs drags himself down a beach. He stops to rest in the shade of a beach umbrella and lights a cigarette from a pack of Marlboros, using messily amputated fingers.

Behind the beggar, a young woman in a red bikini reclines on...

DAD in La Cava: Using sports as a catalyst for youth leadership in the slums of BsAs

Christian Denes — Thu, 8 Feb 2007 17:06:50 -0600

Melchor Villanueva and Susana “Chana” Flores are co-workers at DAD – a sports-based youth development program in a slum called La Cava on the Buenos Aires periphery. Just five years ago, neither had imagined themselves working there. And given their remarkably disparate backgrounds, it would...

Six Actions for Economic Justice

Mike Szymanski — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 00:00:00 -0600

Every day we make decisions on how to spend our money – whether it is for food, clothing, charitable donations or even how we invest. Each of these financial decisions has an impact on the world and everyone living in it. It is important to understand what impact these decisions have and how we can...

The Burden of Return: War, Peace, and the LWF in South Sudan

Jenny Williams — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0600

"In a region where most people are agriculturalists, leaving their lands meant leaving their livelihoods behind as well," writes Jenny Williams in this snapshot of life in Southern Sudan.

Fishing for Hope: Volunteer work on the banks of Vietnam’s Red River

Jennifer Anthony — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 23:28:48 -0500

Eleven a.m. Volunteers descend from one of Hanoi’s air-conditioned city buses onto the blazing hot street. They pick their way through the labyrinth of narrow alleyways that will eventually lead them to the banks of Vietnam’s Red River. They pass homes whose outside walls and doors are covered...

Right to Play: Developing the Truest of Champions

Kate Johnson — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 00:00:00 -0500

June 8, 2006 - Waiting to board the plane in Tel Aviv I smiled at a young football player and his teammate. They play for a professional Israeli team and are very friendly, with large white smiles and gorgeous black skin. Holding a soccer ball up, he asked if I played, lifting his eyes and...

Learning Spanish and Giving Back at Asociación Pop Wuj

Kate Gustafson — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 18:48:04 -0500

When the ten of us students had clambered into the back of the pick-up truck outside Asociación Centro de Estudios de Español Pop Wuj, one of the guys from the U.S. said, “I hope this is the right truck.” We were dressed in our cruddiest clothes, headed to try our hand at helping indigenous...

La Tortuga Feliz: Saving sea turtles in Costa Rica

Miguel Lasala — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 18:41:07 -0500

A profile with links to volunteer opportunities at La Tortuga Feliz, an organization fighting to protect Costa Rica's marine turtles.

As Long As We Live: A Profile of the Mothers and Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo

David Miller — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 22:27:15 -0500

The March

There was nothing to signal the start of the march—no drums, no speeches—just the
Madres themselves, the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, their quiet footsteps on the pink bricks of the square. They carried photos: young faces, faces of the Disappeared. And their heads were covered with white...