By Jeffrey Moyo

MWENEZI; Zimbabwe (IDN) – Raviro Chawuruka scoops out sand from a well on a stream bank closer to her rural home in Rutenga, 443 km west of Harare, in Mwenezi district in Zimbabwe’s Masvingo Province.

At the age of 72, Chawuruka says she has known no rest while scavenging for water, this as she daily battles it out with the sand-filled water well in the vicinity of her home. She stands out among millions of Africans to whom piped water still remains a luxury, decades after several African nations gained independence from their former colonisers: Zimbabwe over 37 years ago.

According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency, 65 percent of Zimbabwe’s 14 million people such as Chawuruka are domiciled in rural areas, where they have become the number one victims of lack of piped water. (P21) ｜JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | CHINESE TEXT VERSION PDF |
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By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE (IDN) – At one stage in her life, she was a top accountant with the National Railways of Zimbabwe. Now, domiciled in Epworth, a crowded informal settlement in south-eastern Harare Province, 25 kilometres outside Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, hers has turned out to be a riches-to-rags tale.

Shuvai Chikoto, a 48-year-old mother of three who was widowed five years ago, is just one of millions of other Southern African urban dwellers who have plunged into poverty over the years – and she is not particularly impressed that the United Nations has set the goal of ending poverty in all its forms everywhere within the next 13 years. (P20) ｜JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN TEXT VERSION PDF
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By Neena Bhandari

SYDNEY (IDN) – Violence is one of the most pressing issues, especially in the highlands, of Papua New Guinea (PNG) – one of the world’s most ethnically and linguistically diverse nations.

“Increased access to high-powered guns such as military style M16s and home-made shotguns, and the breakdown of traditional rules of warfare, has amplified the effects of violence, resulting in dozens – if not hundreds – of violent deaths and thousands of displacements each year, especially in the Highlands,” says International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) chief official in PNG, Mark Kessler. ”We are seeing wounds that one would see in war zones.” (P18) ｜JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF
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By Justus Wanzala

KAKUMA, Kenya (IDN) – As the sun shrinks into a red ball steadily disappearing beyond the horizon, residents of Kakuma refugee camp in Turkana County, north-western Kenya, adjust to their evening routines. Late shoppers rush out to food stores, school children pick up their books and mothers start preparing the last meal of the day.

Darkness quickly envelopes the camp – which is administered by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) – and only a few businesses and homesteads are in the fortunate position of possessing diesel generators or solar and kerosene lanterns to provide lighting. Like most places in northern Kenya, Kakuma refugee camp – home to some 170,000 refugees from neighbouring South Sudan, Burundi, Somalia and Congo among others – is off grid, meaning that access to electricity for lighting and other uses is limited. (P17) FRENCH｜JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE | SWAHILI
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By Joan Erakit

NEW YORK (IDN) – There is a famous bible passage that alludes to the unfortunate kinship between siblings; a child is questioned by God about his brother and he, at the time having killed his brother, denies allegiance by asking: “Am I my brothers keeper?”

Some may interpret the parable about Cain and Abel as follows: being humans, we are brothers by birth meant to look out for one another, yet circumstances have arisen that have turned us against each other. In the end, it is religion that is called upon to solidify bonds, bringing people from various backgrounds and points of view, together on the same page. (P16) GERMAN｜JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SPANISH
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By Shanta Rao

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Speaking of the UN’s post-2015 development agenda, the President of the UN General Assembly Peter Thomson of Fiji last year zeroed in on a home truth: very few human beings in the world, he said, know anything about the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

So, he argued, SDGs should be part of every school curriculum. The UN will make a big push for it and youth should be taught about the importance of SDGs in the development agenda, he told reporters.

“If every school curriculum in the world incorporates the Sustainable Development Goals, every school teaches them, and every young person on the planet is made aware of them as rights and responsibilities, the world will stand a very good chance of attaining the Goals by 2030,” he declared. (P15) ｜JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF
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