journalismwithoutborders.com: Articles http://www.journalismwithoutborders.com/ Articlesen journalismwithoutborders.com: Articles http://www.journalismwithoutborders.com/typo3conf/ext/tt_news/ext_icon.gif http://www.journalismwithoutborders.com/ 1816ArticlesTYPO3 - get.content.righthttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssTue, 17 Jul 2012 13:59:00 +0200 Miracle Mum's 40 Babies http://www.journalismwithoutborders.com/details/article/baby-bear-tortured-to-entertain-euro-2012-tourists.html The 40 children dumped on the streets in bins and doorsteps and found and raised by caring Lou... "But now that she needs something in her life we feel that we as her family want to be the ones to provide that, and to care for her and to thank her for what she did for us. We would ask people not to send donations while we still feel it is within our means to give her what she needs." She said that people who were touched by the story were welcome to send a card to her mother - adding: "I am sure it would be good for her to get a get well card but we ask at this stage that people not send donations."

(The Chinese address to print and paste on the card is : 浙江金华市金东区东孝街道东关社区枫树小区484号。 邮编：321002 楼小英（收）- The English address: Lou Xiaoying , Fengshu Residential Block No. 484, Dongguan Community, Dongxiao Street, Jindong District, Jinhua
city, Zhejiang province, P.R. China.  Postcode: 321002)

Her youngest son Zhang Qilin - now aged just seven - was found as an hours old baby dumped in a trash bin. He was found when Lou Xiaoying was 82-years-old. "Even though I was already getting old I could not simply ignore the baby and leave him to die in the trash. He looked so sweet and so needy. I had to take him home with me. "I took him back to our home, which is a very small modest house in the countryside and nursed him to health. He is now a thriving little boy, who is happy and healthy. "My older children all help look after Zhang Qilin, he is very special to all of us. I named him after the Chinese word for rare and precious. "The whole thing started when I found the first baby, a little girl back in 1972 when I was out collecting rubbish. She was just lying amongst the junk on the street, abandoned. She would have died had we not rescued her and taken her in. "Watching her grow and become stronger gave us such happiness and I realised I had a real love of caring for children. "I realised if we had strength enough to collect garbage how could we not recycle something as important as human lives," she explained. "These children need love and care. They are all precious human lives. I do not understand how people can leave such a vulnerable baby on the streets." Lou, who has one biological child, a girl called Zhang Caiying and now aged 49, devoted her life to looking after abandoned babies. Now Lou has become a symbol of kind-hearted charity in China, where thousands of babies are abandoned on the streets by their poverty stricken parents. One fan explained: "She is shaming to governments, schools and people who stand by and do nothing. She has no money or power but she saved children from death or worse." "In the local community she is well known and well respected for her work with the abandoned babies. She does her best. She is a local hero. But unfortunately there are far too many abandoned babies in China who have no hope of survival."

Only last week there was news of a baby miracle lucky to be alive after having its throat cut and then being put in a plastic bag and thrown in a dustbin at Anshan city, in northeast China’s Liaoning province. The baby – a girl – was thought to be a victim of the country's one child policy where parents restricted to only having a single child prefer boys and girl children are unwanted and often discarded. Although reporting is discouraged infanticide of guilt children is still a problem in rural areas but it is rare that it is observed in the city. The baby's fate has horrified China. The youngster was spotted when a passerby went to throw some rubbish in the and saw what he thought was a dead baby in the bag. He told police that the child was purple and had not moved until he examined the bag more closely – not convinced that it was a real baby. Medics said that if the baby had been left in the bag a few minutes longer she would have died of suffocation and it had already been affected by the lack of oxygen hence the purple colour. They said that the baby had been born premature and was probably between 32 and 34 weeks old and weighing just 1.4 kg. A medic said that if the cut had been just a millimetre deep in the baby would have died.]]> Fri, 29 Jun 2012 12:17:00 +0200 Baby bear tortured to entertain Euro 2012 tourists http://www.journalismwithoutborders.com/details/article/baby-bear-tortured-to-entertain-euro-2012-tourists-1.html These heartbreaking pictures in which a bear cub is torn away from his mother and shoved screaming...

Four Paws spokesperson for Ukraine Dr. Amir Khalil said: "The pictures were shot in May this year and they were the most shocking I have seen in my time covering this region. A baby bear in the wild usually spends two years with its mother.  Taking it away so young would leave the tiny bear traumatised. "In addition being used as a tourist attraction represents a lifetime in torment for the baby bear. The sale of baby bears to private individuals is supposed to be illegal in the Ukraine."

 

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]]> Fri, 29 Jun 2012 12:17:00 +0200 Subway appeal for China's tragic head boy, aged 5 http://www.journalismwithoutborders.com/details/article/subway-appeal-for-chinas-tragic-head-boy-aged-5.html Sitting on the ground outside a busy subway station in China Liu Jun is begging for help from...

Sitting on the ground outside a busy subway station in China Liu Jun is begging for help from commuters for his grandson. Last summer a small swelling appeared on the side of Wang Xingao's face that has now grown so large it is almost the size of his head. Since the problem appeared the desperate grandfather and the five-year-old boys parents who are poor farmers from Guannan county, in east China’s Jiangsu province, have been to dozens of hospitals who have all been unable to help - in the main because of the cost involved. He said: "It was just a pimple when it appeared and then when it got to be the size of a small egg we tried to get help. "I and my daughter, the boy's mother, went to a great many hospitals but it was all completely in vain. All we could do as we went from hospital to hospital was watch it getting bigger and now it is as big as his head. "It weighs so much it is pushing his head to one side and now we are at the point where he is in a lot of pain. It is not even possible for him to see out of one eye any longer." One of those at the subway pulled strings to have the boy checked at a hospital in Shanghai where a basic examination was carried out. Hospital officials have confirmed that without urgent treatment, that needs to be paid for by the family, the boy will not live much longer. A hospital spokesman said: "Even with treatment it will be very difficult to do anything because any cancer in the head is extremely hard to tackle – especially one as advanced as this." For the moment Xing’ao is back on the street with his grandfather begging for donations to try and raise the cash needed to start the process. Overnight the pair are staying in a small hostel. Journalismwithoutborders.com has agreed to help raise funds and is in contact with the family about helping to get the operation organised as soon as possible. Spokesman David Rogers said: "Our staff in China have spoken to the family and we will do all we can to raise some of the money so that the medical treatment can at least begin. Every day now is crucial."

]]> Tue, 05 Jun 2012 13:56:00 +0200 Skin and Bone Girls Battle to Survive http://www.journalismwithoutborders.com/details/article/chinese-doctors-are-battling-to-save-the-life-of-this-baby-girl-after-people-across-the-country-dona.html Chinese doctors are battling to save the life of this baby girl after people across the country...
The doctor in charge of her treatment, Zhang Chengye, said: "We are doing everything we can for her but the situation is not good. "She should have started receiving treatment a long time ago and is now much harder to help her. Because she has been unable to hold down her food for so long she is now critically weakened. To be honest it's amazing that she is even alive now – she must have an enormously strong will to survive. She is a fighter.

"There are numerous health problems that need to be treated, she weighs just 5.2 kilograms, in comparison with a normal child of her age who would be around about 11.5 kilograms on the average." They are pinning their hopes on keeping her alive until she reaches her second birthday in two months by which time they believe she will be much stronger, and respond better to treatment for her various ailments.

So far £20,000 has been raised in China to pay for the treatment.

Journalismwithoutborders.com has also offered to pass on any donations to the fund directly.]]> Wed, 09 May 2012 16:43:00 +0200 Nazi victims cash used to fund Euro 2012 http://www.journalismwithoutborders.com/details/article/nazi-victims-cash-used-to-fund-euro-2012.html Ukraine has been accused of swiping money destined for the poorest members of its community...
Speaking in Cologne in Germany Michael Schnatz who is the ABS project coordinator for central and East Europe said: "The Euro 2012 is a prestige project. But the Ukraine is totally overstretched in trying to finance it. The development and building of the key locations has 100 per cent been at the expense and provision of social services and that has meant the weakest and most sick members of society have suffered more."

In Kiev Svetlana Levkovska, managing director of the Ukrainian Samariterbund said: "I am really pleased that we have the Euro 2012 in our country. But at the same time we had completely different expectations: The creation of jobs, investment in infrastructure and hospitals. Instead of that we have had a massive shortfall in investment in social programs, and the building of five-star hotels which nobody here needs and also a massive increase in prices. Of course I want all the fans who are going to come to our country to feel good and to feel welcome and to experience a great football event – but it shouldn't be forgotten at whose cost the whole thing has been carried out."

The ASB pointed out that in Kharkiv there were over 100 former victims of the Third Reich that were being cared for through joint project with the Ukrainian Samariterbund and have been since 2008. But this vital care had now been cut down to the very basics because 75,000 Euros that was supposed to come from the regional government had simply not been transferred over.They have launched an appeal for funding to try and make up some of the shortfall from government sources.

ASB is a charity and first aid organisation that is independent and across Germany has more than 1 million members and 15,000 full-time staff. As well as its work with the emergency services and in disaster zones it also gets involved in care for the elderly, children and teenagers and helpful people who are disabled both at home and abroad.


An account for anyone who wants to support the ASB's efforts in the Ukraine has been set up:

IBAN: DE81 3701 0111 1241 1130 00
BIC (Swift-Code): ESSEDE5F370]]> Mon, 07 May 2012 09:02:00 +0200 Appeal to help burns boy aged 5 http://www.journalismwithoutborders.com/details/article/boy-6-has-his-face-burnt-off-in-china.html The Chinese boy left trapped behind a mask of scar tissue after a fire burned his face and hands...
A journalist from the British charity Journalism Without Borders said: "We are collecting money for the family to pay the medical costs but they already have enough to start the process. "We also want to help him with a teacher, so he can make a start on his schooling that will fit around his medical appointments." Dad Wang Yougui, 32, is a rural migrant worker who earns about 200 pounds a month to support his family while the boy's mum Zheng Weixiu, 30, is a housewife. The couple spent their life savings - around 15,000 - and had almost given up hope before the boy's story appeared in the media and donations started to come in.

Doctor Li Jinning, from Ningxia Medical University hospital, said Xiaopeng needed a minimum of three surgeries to get an at least "human" look and probably much more to do a proper job.

Dad Yougui said: "The summer was always the worst for him, the heat makes his burns painful and he really suffers from mosquitoes, but his biggest wish is to one day go to school like the other children. That's why we want him to study now so that he has the basics if the operations go well."

At the moment even if a school would take him he has trouble seeing - and he lost a lot of his fingers making it hard to hold a pencil or a book. He does have a few friends who have got used to his appearance but he is alone when they go to school. Although a Communist country, China does not have a cradle-to-grave free-at-the-point of use healthcare system. Instead around half of the population buy basic medical insurance which covers for half the costs of their healthcare. The remainder is paid either by patients or their health insurer.

However, this leaves the poorest in China struggling to meet medical bills for serious condition like Xiaopengs.]]> Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:04:00 +0200 Micro Light Success As Rare Ibis Returns http://www.journalismwithoutborders.com/details/article/micro-light-success-as-rare-ibis-returns.html A critically endangered bird species that lived in Europe for 1.8 million years before it was wiped...  
He said: "We now have the birds established in three mountain locations. It's a great success - but we are counting the days now until the first birds return after running the gauntlet of hunters."
 
Last year German student Stefanie Heese, 25, and Austrian student Daniela Trobe, 29, took six months off from University to act as parents to the latest new arrivals.
 
From first light until sundown the two were on hand to cater to the baby birds every need – from feeding them as chicks through to grooming them and then later into educating them on how to survive in the wild. Educational games such as hunting worms together were designed to expand the birds interest in the world around them, and in training in how to find food on their own – and that effort culminated in the last six weeks of their time together with flight training.
 
Every day the pair and would lead the birds to a microlight plane and would then practice flying and gliding over the Austrian Alps in Salzburg in preparation for the long migratory flight to Tuscany.
 
Finally last year in October the pair accompanied their 16 charges as they made the 1,353 kilometre journey accompanied by three support vehicles over 36 days to their winter feeding ground in Italy. Every day they stopped at a prearranged spot and met up with the ground crew where food was provided for the birds to keep their strength up, and then they carried on with the trip.
 
Dr Fritz who initiated the project a decade ago after working with the birds as part of research project organised by the Conrad Lawrence Research Centre said he had been motivated by the difficulties he observed there in reintroducing captive Ibis birds back to the wild.
 
Fossil records show that the Northern Bald Ibis, regarded as a critically endangered species, had been present in Europe for 1.8 million years but it vanished 300 years ago - and now thanks to the work of Dr Fritz not just one but three breeding colonies have been established back in Alpine Europe.
 
He said: "I was also sceptical about being able to reintroduce this unique bird back into the wild but all that changed when I saw the film Fly Away Home and was really impressed by William Lishman's success with Canada geese. I decided to try and repeat the experiment."
 
Single-handedly he started his project and over the years has built up supporters including Schonbrunn Zoo, the world's oldest zoo, located in the capital Vienna which has a large captive Bald Ibis colony and which provides many of the eggs for the yearly trip down to Italy.
 
The project has hit many snags – and Dr Fritz, 45, would be the first to admit that starting from scratch there was a lot to learn.
 
He said: "The imprinting where the birds are taught from the start to recognise a specific person as a parent bird was the first hurdle.
 
"It is amazing to watch, when the human they don't recognise is around the birds avoid contact and fly away. But when their adopted parent appears they will run or fly to the person as soon as they spot them – calling and rocking their heads in a welcoming gesture that shows they clearly recognise their parent. That position allows the human to teach the birds a lot – for example not to be afraid of the microlight."
 
The first batch Dr Fritz acted as a parent for he admitted was ultimately a heartbreaking experience. None of his 10 hatchlings still survive and now every year he selects students to be parents for the birds. The latest batch of 16 were hatched out by the two students and of the 16 that set off 15 made it. He said: "That is a fantastic success rate."
 
And Dr Fritz added: "It shows how far we have come. Only one became ill and couldn't make it – and that bird has now been put permanently with a captive colony in Carinthia in Austria to spend the rest of it years there. The other 15 are now flying around in Italy with others as part of the community down there."
 
The team have managed to iron out teething problems with the imprinting to make the adoption a flawless process and also overcome all the birds obstacles to following the microlight down to Italy where they spend the winter learning from other birds how to feed themselves and about life in the wild.
 
But they haven't managed yet to overcome the one big obstacle – man.
 
Dr Fritz said: "Every year we lose birds to hunters. There's always been a tradition in countries like Italy about shooting migratory birds which used to be eaten. Nowadays, it's mainly done for fun, even though it's illegal to shoot the Ibis which is on the red list as highly endangered.
 
"This will be the first time we get to see the real advantages of the electronic tagging. We started tagging a few birds last year (2011) and by October we had managed to tag 50 percent of the birds. The device was specially created for us and our requirements. By March (2012) we had tagged all of our birds."
 
He said that although they mix in one group in Italy the birds are actually from separate breeding colonies and one group will fly back to Burghausen in Bavaria, Germany, while the others will fly back to colonies in Salzburg and Scharnstein, both in Austria.
 
Fritz is trying to teach and inform hunters about the project to prevent further losses of the birds by gaining publicity in the media.
 
He said: "The technology allows us to track exactly where the birds are. This will help us protect them and control their movements."
 
To find more about the project email or write to Dr Fritz on info@waldrapp.eu  / +43 676 550 3244.]]> Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:17:00 +0100 Abortion Agony of PIP Mum http://www.journalismwithoutborders.com/details/article/abortion-agony-of-pip-mum.html A woman expecting her first baby is involved in a desperate race against time to find a medical...  
The pharmacist discovered she was pregnant in the same week as she was told her 2008 implants were from the batch produced containing potentially lethal industrial silicone. A scan revealed they had already started to leak.
 
"Just as I'd realised my dream of a baby, I have been told I have to give it up. Every time I see baby powder or nappies I burst into tears," she told the Munchener Merkur newspaper.
 
Surgeons have refused to remove her implants due to a blood condition which massively increases her risk of blood clotting - believed to have been caused by leaking silicone - and which means she might not survive the op.
 
Now changes to her breasts caused by the pregnancy mean growing pressure on the implants mean they could burst, threatening both her and her unborn tot.
 
The woman had been to more than 10 local surgeons who all turned her down before opting to have the abortion, scheduled to take place next week.
 
"I have always wanted a baby – and I got pregnant at the same time as I then discovered that I had been given the PIP implants," said Manuela, who is part of a class action law suit with the German legal firm Zierhut und Graf that is  suing the now insurance company Allianz in France that had insured the now bankrupt French firm that produced the implants.
 
So far 150 of the estimated 5,000 - 10,000 women in Germany are being represented by the firm that is also taking legal action against the firm that delivered the implants to Germany.
 
Since 2009 she has been suffering from a blood disease that meant she needed chemotherapy. Her lawyer Michael Graf said: "As this disease is usually hereditary and yet no-one in her family has had it before, we believe it was caused by the implants."
 
She had been training as a beautician in 2006 when she decided to have her first breast implant, saving all her earnings to pay for it. She said: "I was young and it was common in the branch for people to have beauty ops. I didn't really think about it."
 
She then needed a correction in 2008 and was given the cheap implants by a Munich surgeon.
 
She said: "He told me that he would only be using the best quality implants."
 
Journalismwithoutborders is hoping that by spreading her story world wide the young woman will be able to get help to have the implants removed.
 
Any medical institution that may be able to help is urged to email news@journalismwithoutborders.com ------ This article was written with the help of Munchener Merkur journalist Bettina Stuhl Weissenburg and photographer Klaas Haag who is allowing the picture to be used by English-speaking media ONLY. The picture is NOT to be used in Germany without permission from the photographer. Please write to office@journalismwithoutborders.com for details or contact the newspaper direct.]]> Wed, 29 Feb 2012 13:58:00 +0100 Brides Tragic Treatment http://www.journalismwithoutborders.com/details/article/brides-tragic-treatment.html This is the moment 24-year-old Chen Cuilan gets her final wish - to have a set of wedding photos...
He said: "We both came here as migrant workers. We never had much money but we had each other and we were very happy. We married in 2008 and our happiness was complete when our daughter Zeng Xingyue was born in 2009.

"Chen Cuilan had been getting stomach pains for some time but we had been too poor to go to a doctor straight away - when we did go in May this year we were told she had terminal cancer. My world ended when I heard that. When she said she wished we had done the pictures at the wedding - I knew what I had to do and straight away arranged to borrow the money."

The photos cost just 200 euros - equivalent to a months salary for the dad who will soon have to care for their daughter alone.

He said: "With the medical bills and the continuing treatment costs it was a struggle. But I found the cash by borrowing from friends - then I found my wife's dress and brought it to her at the hospital - it was great to see her smile.

"I took her in a wheelchair to the studio - when the photographer saw us crying rather than laughing he asked why and when he heard our story he refunded our deposit. "And he came back the next day to reshoot with our daughter in the pictures as well, again for free."

The bride's mother who was present at the second shoot had to hide behind a mirror so her daughter did not see her tears - and there was not a dry eye in the hospital as the couple's daughter hugged her mum and begged her to come home with them. Chen Cuilan said: "I think she sensed something was wrong. But she is a brave girl - she will understand."

Doctors believe that she has six months to live if she follows her medication - but without treatment she could die at any day.

She said: "We could not afford the wedding pictures - I always regretted it. Now I am content in the love of my husband and my daughter who have done this for me - and I hope they will think on me when they see the pictures."

Husband Zeng Sai agreed saying: "It was a day of beauty for us all to remember. She looked as lovely as the day we were married - but it was so hard to stay brave and smile." Although doctors say Chen Cuilan's condition is terminal, good medication will help to extend her life and Journalism Without Borders is collecting donations to help pay for this and to help clear the family's debt from previous treatment.]]> Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:01:00 +0200 Brave Face http://www.journalismwithoutborders.com/details/article/brave-face.html Brave mum Wei Yanjun has vowed to raise 50,000 GBP for reconstructive surgery after her...
"We are not rich, not even comfortable, but I will do anything in my power to make my son well again," said mum Wei Yanjun, 32. Local schools have banned the youngster, afraid they won't be able to cope with the dozens of creams and painkillers he needs to take every day.

"That is hard for him so after school I take him to their playground with a few friends so he can pretend he's at school," said Wang's mum.

Now surgeons say they can rebuild the lad's face in a series of operations - but they'd cost more than the entire family could earn in a lifetime.

"My boy has all sorts of problems. Lately his lips have started to grow together. But we will and we must raise this money," said his mother. Journalism Without Borders is collecting donations for Wang's treatment.]]> Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:47:00 +0200