Sandy Tolan recently returned from Gaza, where he was reporting on water in the context of the ongoing war there. He found people living under siege but determined not to give up hope. Sandy posted …
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The Homelands Blog
Life, death, and water in Gaza
Sandy Tolan is in Gaza, reporting on the water crisis there. Here is a Facebook post from July 26: This morning in Gaza, a whiff of war in the air in the wake of Israel’s …
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The Homelands Blog
Trump’s false narrative of chaos
In her latest commentary for High Country News, Ruxandra Guidi writes how the U.S.-Mexico border has become a stage for political theater, and why the Trump administration’s “deterrence” tactic against undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers is cruel and inhumane. …
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The Homelands Blog
Going Gray in LA Exhibit at LA’s Central Library
The traveling photo exhibit from Ruxandra Guidi and Bear Guerra’s year-long, multi-platform exploration of the lives of older adults in the heart of Los Angeles will open on Friday, October 6th, 2017 at the city’s …
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The Homelands Blog
Going Gray in LA event
On April 9th, Bear and Rux’s year-long collaboration with LA’s KCRW – Going Gray in LA: Stories of Aging Along Broadway – will have a culminating event in Los Angeles that’s free and open to the …
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The Homelands Blog
Life in Oil
Last year, Homelands’ Bear Guerra spent two weeks in the Ecuadorian Amazon making images to accompany anthropologist Mike Cepek’s upcoming ethnography about the impacts that oil has had on the life of the indigenous Cofán. The …
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The Homelands Blog
Going Gray in LA
Los Angeles is a rapidly aging city in a rapidly aging county. In fact, over the next 15 years, LA County’s senior population will double, to nearly one-fifth of the total population. Housing, health care, …
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The Homelands Blog
KCRW launches “Going Gray in LA”
One of Los Angeles’ NPR affiliates, KCRW, has launched Bear and Rux’s year-long multi-platform project about aging in the city’s working-class and immigrant neighborhoods. “Going Gray in LA: Stories of Aging along Broadway” is part …
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The Homelands Blog
Bear Guerra wins photo award
The photo above, from a 2015 story by Bear Guerra and Ruxandra Guidi published in Americas Quarterly, has won a prestigious American Photography award. The piece, “Indigenous Residents of Lima’s Cantagallo Shantytown Confront an Uncertain Future,” describes how …
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The Homelands Blog
Remembering Cecilia Vaisman
Family, friends, colleagues, and students gathered to celebrate the life and work of Cecilia Vaisman at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University on January 25, 2016. You can watch a video of the event here. Below are the …
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The Homelands Blog
Hope on the horizon for strawberry workers?
The strawberries on your breakfast cereal might not taste so sweet if you knew how bitter life can be for the folks who pick them. As if backbreaking labor and extremely low wages weren’t enough, strawberry workers are …
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The Homelands Blog
Children of the Stone Makes Booklist Top Ten
Sandy Tolan‘s Children of the Stone has been named one of Booklist‘s Top 10 Art Books of 2015. The news was published in the magazine’s November 1, 2015, issue on the arts. Reviewer Donna Seaman wrote: “Tolan illuminates …
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The Homelands Blog
Bear Guerra and his muse
There’s a sweet write-up about Homelands’ Bear Guerra on the Dispatches from Latin America section of the American Illustration and American Photography (AI-AP) website. Bear was recently honored in the group’s Latin America Fotografía competition …
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The Homelands Blog
Adios, Cecilia Vaisman
We Homelanders have lost our beloved friend and colleague Cecilia Vaisman. Ceci died of cancer early on September 27 in Chicago. She was 54. Our love goes to her husband, Gary Marx, daughter, Ana, and son, Andres. …
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The Homelands Blog
Alan Weisman on South American speaking tour
Homelands’ co-founder and senior producer Alan Weisman is spending nearly a month in Colombia and Ecuador giving talks and interviews about his two most recent books, The World Without Us and Countdown.
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The Homelands Blog
Photo file: Protests in Ecuador
Since August 13, Ecuadorians from across the political spectrum have been observing a nationwide strike and marching in the streets against the policies of President Rafael Correa. Homelands’ Bear Guerra has been documenting the protests, which have received little attention in the international …
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Special Projects
Stand-alones, one-offs, books, and other work from members of the Homelands collective.
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The Homelands Blog
Music as armor, statement, and salve
Music, occupation, hope, despair, healing, and the terrible weight of history are all the subjects of Sandy Tolan‘s rapturously reviewed new book, Children of the Stone: The Power of Music in a Hard Land. While you …
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Sandy Tolan
Special Projects
Children of the Stone
Sandy Tolan
Special Projects
Children of the Stone
Sandy Tolan’s book about freedom and conflict, determination and vision, and the potential of music to help children everywhere see new possibilities for their lives.
It is an unlikely story. Ramzi Hussein Aburedwan, a child from a Palestinian refugee camp, confronts an occupying army, gets an education, masters an instrument, dreams of something much bigger than himself, and then, through his charisma and persistence, inspires scores of others to work with him to make that dream real. The dream: a school to transform the lives of thousands of children – as Ramzi’s life was transformed – through music.
Musicians from all over the world come to help. A violist leaves the London Symphony Orchestra to work with Ramzi at his new school, Al Kamandjati. An aspiring British opera singer moves to the West Bank to teach voice lessons. Daniel Barenboim, the eminent Israeli conductor, invites Ramzi to join the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which he founded with the late Palestinian intellectual, Edward Said.“Ramzi has transformed not only his life, his destiny, but that of many other people,” Barenboim says. “This is an extraordinary collection of children from all over Palestine that have all been inspired and opened to the beauty of life.”
In Children of the Stone: The Power of Music in a Hard Land, Homelands co-founder Sandy Tolan chronicles Ramzi’s journey – from stone thrower to music student to school founder – and shows how, through his love of music, he created something lasting and beautiful in a land torn by violence and war.
This is a story about the power of music, but also about freedom and conflict, determination and vision. It’s a vivid portrait of life amid checkpoints and military occupation, a growing movement of nonviolent resistance, the prospects of musical collaboration across the Israeli-Palestinian divide, and the potential of music to help children everywhere see new possibilities for their lives.
For book tour information, articles, excerpts, and other resources, visit Sandy’s author page on Facebook or his blog, Ramallah Cafe.
Reviews
“Eye-opening… Tolan’s exhaustive research and journalistic attention to detail shine through every page of this sweeping chronicle.” – Publishers Weekly
“[Tolan] portrays the multigenerational Israeli-Palestinian conflict by focusing on the life and musical abilities of one youngster, Ramzi Hussein Aburedwan, and his family and friends… This is an engrossing and powerful story, moving skillfully amid the failure of the never-ending battles and ‘peace’ talks between Israel and Palestine and the determination of one brave young man to change his world.” – starred review, Booklist
“A resolute, heart-rending story of real change and possibility in the Palestinian-Israeli impasse.” – Kirkus Reviews
“A non-fiction account that reflects one individual’s belief in the power of music and culture to transform lives. His story is proof of the famous words of Margaret Mead – ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.’” – Yo-Yo Ma
“Somewhere amidst the separation barriers and the countless checkpoints, the refugee camps and the demolished homes, the fruitless negotiations and endless conflict, there is a people yearning for a life of dignity and normalcy. You won’t see them on TV or in many newspapers. But you will find them in The Children of Stone, Sandy Tolan’s moving account of the dispossessed children of Palestine, and the transformative power that music has had in giving them meaning and reason for hope.” – Reza Aslan, author of No God But God and #1 New York Times bestseller Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
“Children of the Stone is alive with compassion, hope, and great inspiration. It is not necessary to believe in music’s power to defeat evil in order to be enchanted by this wonderful story.” – Tom Segev, Israeli historian and author of One Palestine, Complete
“Sandy Tolan’s narrative artistry fuses the coming of age of a talented, ambitious, and fiercely dedicated musician with the story of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories conquered in 1967. A major contribution to our understanding of who they are and essential to a political resolution of the conflict.” – Joel Benin, Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History, Stanford University
“Sandy Tolan has produced another gem on what is happening under the surface in Palestine. The book contains enthralling biographical trajectories of ordinary people fighting against the odds. Written in the style of investigative journalism, the book is riveting and uplifting, without skirting issues of contestation and controversy.” – Salim Tamari, Professor of Sociology, Bir Zeit University (West Bank), and author of Year of the Locust
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The Homelands Blog
Big year coming (you can help!)
Before we say goodbye to 2014 we thought we’d give you a sneak peek at what we’re cooking up for the year to come. If you feel it’s worth supporting, far be it from us to stand …
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The Homelands Blog
A boon for the women of Ecuador
For the 60,000 residents of Cañar, Ecuador, the costs of migration can be great, especially for children. But the benefits can be great as well: unprecedented access to education and jobs, freedom of movement and financial independence for …
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Jonathan Miller, Joe Richman, Samara Freemark
Special Projects
The Square Deal
Jonathan Miller, Joe Richman, Samara Freemark
Special Projects
The Square Deal
An inside look at the legacy of George F. Johnson, an industrialist who offered his mainly immigrant workers decent working conditions and generous benefits in exchange for labor peace. Until it all fell apart under the pressure of competition.
George F. Johnson (1857-1948) was a socialist as a young man. He went on to become president of the largest shoe company in the U.S., which was known for its generous benefits. But Johnson fought hard against unions in his factories. Photo from the Special Collections Research Center of Syracuse University. In the early 1900s, most shoes in this country were manufactured by just one company: The Endicott Johnson Corporation in the Triple Cities region of upstate New York.
It was the largest shoe factory in the world. It churned out 52 million pairs of shoes a year and supplied boots to the U.S. Army in both world wars.
But Endicott Johnson wasn’t only famous for its shoes. It was also famous for having some the best wages and working conditions in the U.S.
The president of the company, George F. Johnson, was the first in the shoe business to introduce an 8-hour work day. He built libraries, parks, even hospitals, and offered his workers free medical care.
Some people called it welfare capitalism. Johnson had a different name for it.
“The Square Deal” was co-produced by Joe Richman and Samara Freemark of Radio Diaries and Homelands’ Jonathan Miller. The piece aired on NPR’s All Things Considered in 2010, then in 2015 on the Radiotopia podcast, and then again in 2015 on NPR’s Planet Money podcast. The audio here is from Radiotopia, with an introduction and afterword by Joe Richman.
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WORKING
Profiles of workers in the global economy, broadcast as a special monthly feature on Marketplace.
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Jonathan Miller
WORKING
Runner
Jonathan Miller
WORKING
Runner
Salina Kosgei always loved to run. At 16, she decided to make a career of it. Sixteen years and two kids later she found herself elbow to elbow with the defending champ in the most prestigious marathon in the world, with the finish line in sight.
Photo by Stevie Mann. Salina Kosgei was the tenth and youngest child of poor farmers in the highlands of western Kenya. The family hut had no electricity or plumbing. As a kid, Salina used to run 10 kilometers to school, barefoot, just for the fun of it.
But where Salina grew up, running wasn’t just a hobby. It was a well-worn path to financial security. The best houses in her area belonged to runners who had made good.
So at 16 she decided to go pro. It was a long slog, with lots of ups and downs. Then one day she found herself elbow to elbow with the defending champ in the most prestigious marathon in the world, with the finish line in sight.
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Sandy Tolan
WORKING
Shipbreaking Worker
Sandy Tolan
WORKING
Shipbreaking Worker
Ismael “Babu” Hussein works as an assistant in one of Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards, where armies of laborers dismantle old vessels the way ants devour a carcass. The work is perilous, the bosses abusive, the hours exhausting. Heavy stuff for a 13-year old kid.
Ismael “Babu” Hussein works as an assistant in one of Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards, where armies of laborers dismantle old vessels the way ants devour a carcass. The work is perilous, the bosses abusive, the hours exhausting.Babu’s reward? Just over two dollars a day, and nightmares about being crushed by giant sheets of steel.
Heavy stuff for a 13-year old kid.
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Sean Cole
WORKING
Banker
Sean Cole
WORKING
Banker
Risk, says Brandon Davies, is how we learn and grow as people. We should embrace it, not avoid it. At least that’s what he said in the summer of 2008. Then the global financial system collapsed.
Brandon Davies’ life is all about risk.A guru of global financial markets, he’s on the boards of two new banks; he runs a trading operation, using his own money, just for kicks. Risk, he says, is how we learn and grow as people. We should embrace it, not avoid it.
At least that’s what he said in the summer of 2008, when producer Sean Cole spent a few days with him in London.
Then the global financial system collapsed.
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Ingrid Lobet
WORKING
Electronics Recycler
Ingrid Lobet
WORKING
Electronics Recycler
Vicki Ponce was in her 50s, selling tamales in the street, when she and some middle-aged women friends decided to start a company dismantling old TV sets. Business is good. It would be even better if the jealous mayor would turn on the electricity.
For Mexican women of a certain age, finding decent work can be nearly impossible. Vicki Ponce was in her 50s, selling tamales, grateful for the money her daughter sent home from the U.S.Then she and some unemployed friends decided to make the leap into the booming trade in electronic waste. Today Las Chicas Bravas (“The Tough Girls”) spend their days dismantling old TV sets by hand.
Now to convince the jealous mayor to turn on the electricity.
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Gregory Warner
WORKING
Human Smuggler
Gregory Warner
WORKING
Human Smuggler
For 30 years, Alidad has been smuggling Afghans on a secret nighttime passage through the mountains of western Pakistan into Iran. “I have a lot of sad memories,” he says.
For most Afghan refugees, fleeing the war-torn country is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. For Alidad, it’s a job.He’s spent 30 years smuggling Afghans on a secret nighttime passage through the mountains of western Pakistan into Iran. Sometimes he finds out too late they can’t handle the journey.
“We go when it’s raining, when it’s snowing. People fall off the mountain, people die,” he says. “I have a lot of sad memories.”
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Kelly McEvers
WORKING
Marriage Broker
Kelly McEvers
WORKING
Marriage Broker
If you’re a Korean man who wants to marry a Vietnamese woman, Hang Nga is your go-to gal. Vietnam’s government frowns on the match-making business, but Nga says it’s worth the risk. The money means a brighter future for her two young children.
If you’re a Korean man who wants to marry a Vietnamese woman, Hang Nga is your go-to gal.She’ll help you select a bride, buy the rings, and arrange the ceremony, reception, and honeymoon. It only takes three days – and a few thousand dollars.
Vietnam’s communist government frowns on the match-making business, but Nga says it’s worth the risk. The money means a brighter future for her two young children.
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Sean Cole
WORKING
Circus Performer
Sean Cole
WORKING
Circus Performer
Svitlana Svystun spends ten months a year traveling around the United Kingdom. Her coworkers include a human cannonball, a crossbow artist, and a crew of Hungarian roustabouts. It’s a dangerous, nomadic life. But it’s surprisingly domestic, too.
As a performer with The Great Moscow State Circus, Svitlana Svystun spends ten months a year traveling from fairground to fairground around the United Kingdom. Her coworkers include a human cannonball, a crossbow artist, and a crew of Hungarian roustabouts.Home is a cramped trailer that she shares with her ringmaster husband Andrey and their three-year-old son Maxim. She does two performances a day, six days a week, risking serious injury every time she steps into the ring.
It’s a dangerous, nomadic life. But it’s surprisingly domestic, too.
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Sandy Tolan
WORKING
Labor Inspector
Sandy Tolan
WORKING
Labor Inspector
Leandro Carvalho had a comfortable job as an insurance agent on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach when he decided to join Brazil’s anti-slavery task force. He says he won’t quit until the last slave is freed.
In the mid-1990s, journalists and human rights groups began to uncover a web of slave labor linked to some of Brazil’s biggest export industries: cattle, soy, sugar cane, and pig iron used in making steel for automobiles.The Brazilian government responded, setting up rapid-response teams to find and liberate victims of forced labor. Since 2000, more than 30,000 slaves have been freed.
Leandro Carvalho had a comfortable job as an insurance agent on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach when he decided to join the force. And he says he doesn’t want to quit until the last slave is freed.
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Gregory Warner
WORKING
Miner
Gregory Warner
WORKING
Miner
Fidele Musafiri spends his days, and often his nights, banging away at a wall of stone in a crude tunnel under a Congolese mountain. He’s a small man with a hammer, a spike, and a dream of striking it rich. But danger is never far away.
Your cell phone or laptop wouldn’t work without a mineral called coltan. The Democratic Republic of Congo has about 80 percent of the world’s coltan reserves, and that has spawned a corrupt and violent industry. Military factions vie for control of the mines, earning millions of dollars while the miners themselves barely scrape by.One of those miners is Fidele Musafiri, a small man with a hammer, a spike, and a dream of striking it rich. But danger is never far away.
Winner of the Richard H. Driehaus/Third Coast Festival award for best news feature.
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Kelly McEvers
WORKING
Pirate
Kelly McEvers
WORKING
Pirate
Agus Laodi could barely feed his family with his earnings as a cocoa farmer. So he left his Indonesian village to seek his fortune on an island in the Strait of Malacca. Now he slips out at night to rob cargo ships with a machete.
Agus Laodi could barely feed his family with his earnings as a cocoa farmer. So eight years ago, with his wife’s blessing, he left his Indonesian village to seek his fortune on an island in the Strait of Malacca.Now he works as a buccaneer, chasing down and boarding ships on the high seas. Sound romantic? Think again.
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Jonathan Miller
WORKING
Industrial Designer
Jonathan Miller
WORKING
Industrial Designer
Industrial designers are the anonymous people who decide how the things around us look and feel. For Raffaella Mangiarotti, design isn’t about colors or shapes. It’s about solving problems.
There’s a huge amount of human effort buried in almost everything around us. You just need to know where to look.Peer deep into a toaster or a loaf of bread and you’ll find engineers and farmers, bankers and accountants, scientists, secretaries, architects, and graphic artists, not to mention politicians and tax collectors, health inspectors and extension workers, truck drivers and mechanics.
Industrial designers may be the ultimate “embeds.” They’re the anonymous people who decide how the things around us look and feel. Raffaella Mangiarotti lives in Milan, the global capital of design. She designs everything from plungers and toilet brushes to vacuum cleaners and washing machines.
For Mangiarotti, design isn’t about objects or colors or shapes. It’s about solving problems.
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Kelly McEvers
WORKING
Sex Worker
Kelly McEvers
WORKING
Sex Worker
Samanta plies her trade in Baku, an oil boom town. In a corrupt and violent society, it can be a very dangerous life – especially for a woman who was born a man.
Samanta moved to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, for the same reason that thousands of other foreigners did: the oil boom.As the eastern terminus of a new pipeline carrying oil from the former Soviet Union to Europe and points west, the city has swelled with oil workers, construction workers, businessmen, and engineers. And, as in boomtowns everywhere, with sex workers like Samanta.
In a corrupt and violent society, it can be a very dangerous life – especially for a woman who was born a man.
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Janna Graham
WORKING
Iceberg Wrangler
Janna Graham
WORKING
Iceberg Wrangler
With the Newfoundland fishing industry in the tank, Whyman Richards says he’ll give anything a try. So he steers his homemade boat toward the dreaded mountains of ice that break off the Greenland ice sheet every summer.
Whyman Richards says he’ll give anything a try.A fisherman from a tiny town in northern Newfoundland, he has struggled to make ends meet since the cod fishery collapsed in the early 1990s. So when a local businessman asked him if he’d be willing to steer his homemade boat toward the fearsome mountains of ice that break off the Greenland ice sheet every summer, he said why not.
Whyman and his brother Dale snag chunks of ice with a giant net, haul them on board with a hydraulic lift, and chop them up with axes. Hours later the water is in plastic bottles, heading for Texas.
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Gregory Warner
WORKING
Tannery Worker
Gregory Warner
WORKING
Tannery Worker
Mohmen left his village at 13 and quickly found work stacking animal skins in one of Karachi’s many tanneries. Now 17, he’s still doing the same job. The longer he works, the deeper his debt. “I don’t want to smile,” Mohmen says, “but it’s all I can do.”
Mohmen left his village at 13 and quickly found work stacking animal skins in one of Karachi’s many tanneries. He wasn’t allowed to stand by the window when the fumes overtook him. Now, at 17, he’s still doing the same job.His boss says Mohmen’s a good kid – smart, hard-working, easy to get along with. But with no education, he’s gone about as far as he can go.
Mohmen sends almost all of his money home. Sometimes, he says, he feels caught in a loop: the longer he works, the deeper his debt; the older he gets, the more his parents depend on his income. But sometimes he finds himself smiling.
“I don’t want to smile,” he says, “but it’s all I can do.”
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Jonathan Miller
WORKING
Movie Director
Jonathan Miller
WORKING
Movie Director
Nigeria’s Nollywood film industry may be the third largest in the world, but with little government support, daily power failures, no real studios, and rudimentary equipment, Nigerian filmmakers must be masters of making do. That describes Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen to a tee.
Nigeria produces more movies per year than any other country but India and the United States. Since the 1990s, “Nollywood” videos have been an entertainment staple – and a source of pride – for Africans everywhere.But with little government support, daily power failures, no real studios, and the most rudimentary equipment, Nigerian filmmakers can’t just be artists. They need to be masters of making do.
That describes Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen. At 37, the man known as “The Governor” has already directed more than 150 films. And every single one has been a struggle.
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Kelly McEvers
WORKING
Trader
Kelly McEvers
WORKING
Trader
Hussein Ralib Esfandiari crosses back and forth between Dubai and his native Iran laden with whatever bargains he can find at market. The Gulf is one of the most politically volatile regions on earth. But politics is the least of Hussein’s worries.
For thousands of years, traders have plied the waters of the Persian Gulf, braving pirates, warships, and sudden storms in wooden cargo boats called dhows.Hussein Ralib Esfandiari is one such trader, crossing back and forth between Dubai and his native Iran laden with whatever bargains he can find at market.
The Gulf is one of the most politically volatile regions on earth. But politics is the least of Hussein’s worries.
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Kelly McEvers
WORKING
Cargo Agent
Kelly McEvers
WORKING
Cargo Agent
Foreign workers have the same rights in Saudi Arabia, as long as they’re alive. But when non-Muslims die there, as thousands do each year, they have to go home for burial. And somebody’s got to get them there. Meet Wahid Khan Habibula.
About one-fourth of the people who live in Saudi Arabia are foreign workers. Many come from Sunni Muslim countries such as Indonesia, Pakistan, or Bangladesh. But others are Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, and minority Shiites.All foreign workers have the same rights in the kingdom, as long as they’re alive. But when non-Muslims die there, as thousands do each year, they have to go home for burial. And somebody’s got to get them there.
Meet Wahid Khan Habibula.
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Jonathan Miller
WORKING
Chocolate Taster
Jonathan Miller
WORKING
Chocolate Taster
Chloé Doutre-Roussel is in great demand around the world – not just because of her extraordinary palate and her memory for scents and flavors but because of her brutal honesty. “Diplomacy is not one of my known traits,” she laughs. Nor is self-satisfaction.
The New York Times called Chloé Doutre-Roussel a “goddess.” International chocolate guru Martin Christy compares her to Joan of Arc.As a freelance chocolate expert, she is in great demand around the world – not just because of her extraordinary palate but because of her brutal honesty.
“Diplomacy is not one of my known traits,” she confesses.
Nor is self-satisfaction. Globetrotting chocolate taster may be many people’s idea of the best job in the world, but Doutre-Roussel says it has its drawbacks.
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Sandy Tolan
WORKING
Cabinet Minister
Sandy Tolan
WORKING
Cabinet Minister
Gordana Jankuloska’s assignment is clear: to clean up decades of police corruption and violence in a former East Bloc country desperate to catch up with the rest of Europe. It’s a lot to ask of a young woman with a taste for nature shows and stuffed animals. She says bring it on.
Remember Hercules, the hero from Greek mythology? He’s famous for the twelve labors he was forced to perform by one of his rivals. One of the toughest was to get rid of 30 years worth of manure left by a herd of royal cattle.That’s a lot like the job facing Macedonia’s interior minister Gordana Jankuloska. Only in her case the mess is decades of corruption and violence in a former East Bloc country desperate to catch up with the rest of Europe.
At barely five feet and 100 pounds, she doesn’t quite have Hercules’ physique. But she’s got the shovel, and she’s determined to use it.
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Jonathan Miller
WORKING
Textile Worker
Jonathan Miller
WORKING
Textile Worker
Marco Moreno’s parents were tailors, with a tiny shop in a working-class neighborhood in Lima, Peru. He and his brothers decided they could do better. But nobody said it would be easy.
The garment industry is a place where dreams are more often shattered than fulfilled. The margins are low, the work is exacting, and the competition is brutal. It’s hard to imagine why anyone would actually choose to get into the business.But that’s what Marco Moreno Gonzales did. Moreno’s parents were tailors, with a tiny shop in a working-class neighborhood in Lima, Peru. Eventually they gave up and moved to Italy.
Marco and his brothers decided they could do better.
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Jonathan Miller
WORKING
Basketball Scout
Jonathan Miller
WORKING
Basketball Scout
Nigerian Sam Ahmedu is a foot soldier in the NBA’s army of international recruiters. A few of his finds have made it to the pros, but that’s not what motivates him.
More than one-fifth of all NBA players are from outside the United States, including some of the league’s biggest stars. Most of these foreign players have been on the league’s radar since they were barely old enough to dunk. That’s thanks to a global army of basketball gumshoes, scouring the planet for talent.Sam Ahmedu is a foot soldier in that army. He’s based in Nigeria, but his brief is all of Africa. A few of Ahmedu’s finds have made it to the NBA, but that’s not what motivates him.
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Claudine LoMonaco
WORKING
Lobster Diver
Claudine LoMonaco
WORKING
Lobster Diver
Romulo Greham, a Miskito Indian on Honduras’ Caribbean coast, almost lost his life while diving for lobsters for the U.S. market. Now he’s trying to keep other divers from the repeating his mistakes.
Walk into your local chain restaurant and you can get a lobster tail for around 15 bucks. Ever wonder where the lobster comes from, or why it’s so cheap?The U.S. imports about 100 million pounds of lobster from international waters every year. Much of it is caught by hand by divers in the Caribbean Sea.
In Honduras, about 3,000 men make their living that way. Every year several dozen of them get seriously hurt, and some of them die.
Romulo Greham, a Miskito Indian, almost lost his life in a diving accident. Now he’s trying to keep other divers from the repeating his mistakes.
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Chris Brookes
WORKING
Oil Worker
Chris Brookes
WORKING
Oil Worker
Blair Ghent left a good job in Toronto to return home to rural Newfoundland. But work is hard to come by on the island, and soon he found himself joining thousands of unemployed Newfoundlanders commuting 3,000 miles to the oil sands fields of Alberta.
Pam Pardy and Blair Ghent left good jobs in Toronto to return home to rural Newfoundland. They thought the quality of life would be better there for their son Brody.But work is hard to come by on the island, and soon Blair found himself joining thousands of unemployed Newfoundlanders commuting 3,000 miles to the oil sands fields of Alberta.
The fields raise big questions about the planet’s energy future. But for Blair and Pam, they raise more immediate questions – like who will help Brody with his homework, and whether their marriage will survive the time apart.
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Sandy Tolan
WORKING
Express Mail Driver
Sandy Tolan
WORKING
Express Mail Driver
Mr. Wang has traveled through Beijing picking up perhaps a quarter of a million packages destined for dozens of countries. Does he ever wonder what’s inside? “No,” he says, “I just want to make some money!”
Every weekday, Mr. Wang says goodbye to his daughter and his beloved pigeons in an old-fashioned Beijing neighborhood, mounts his bicycle and ventures into the chaos of the city.His destination is a local post office, where he parks his bike and climbs into a green express mail van.
Over the last 12 years, Mr. Wang (known as Laowang, or “Wang the Elder”) has picked up perhaps a quarter of a million packages destined for dozens of countries. Does he ever wonder what’s in those packages? Or who will receive them on the other end? Or why there’s such a big rush?
“No,” he says, “I just want to make some money!”
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Sandy Tolan
WORKING
Pop Singer
Sandy Tolan
WORKING
Pop Singer
Diana Dimova says she’s never so moved as when she sings the ancient mountain music of her native Bulgaria. But it’s no way for an ambitious, attractive young woman to make a living.
Diana Dimova says she’s never so moved as when she sings the ancient mountain music of her native Bulgaria. The music, distinguished by its haunting harmonies, was briefly popular in western Europe, and still enjoys a small but loyal audience.But it’s no way for an ambitious, attractive young woman to make a living. So Diana (better known by her stage name, Dayana) has decided to become a pop star.
She sings chalga, a popular form of dance music in central Europe. She performs for $10 a night at clubs, plus tips. It’s hardly glamorous, but stardom could be just around the corner.
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Kelly McEvers
WORKING
Fixer
Kelly McEvers
WORKING
Fixer
Tarek Haidar Eskandar can deliver an interview with a rebel commander or an interview with a victim of the latest catastrophe. Or at least that’s the promise. It’s a seat-of-the-pants business, and Tarek’s a seat-of-the-pants type of guy.
Tarek Haidar Eskandar with his sister. Photo by Kelly McEvers. Read a dispatch in the world news section of your local paper, or listen to a foreign feature on the radio, and there’s a good chance a fixer helped make the story possible.
Tarek Haidar Eskandar doesn’t work for the A-list news organizations. He hangs around Beirut’s popular journalists’ hotels, looking for people looking for access. He can deliver an interview with a rebel commander, or an interview with a victim of the latest catastrophe.
Or at least that’s the promise. It’s a seat-of-the-pants business, and Tarek’s a seat-of-the-pants type of guy.
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Jonathan Miller
WORKING
Metal Worker
Jonathan Miller
WORKING
Metal Worker
Pedro Córdoba’s says his job in a giant Peruvian smelter has made him seriously ill. And he’s not going to take it lying down.
Photo by Santiago Mujica Bustamante. Almost everyone in La Oroya, Peru, depends on the giant multi-metal smelter and refinery that sprawls across the valley floor. It doesn’t just dominate the city visually, aurally, and olfactorily, but also economically, politically, and psychologically.
That makes most townspeople tolerant of conditions that elsewhere might lead to open rebellion.
Not so Pedro Córdoba Valdivieso, a mechanic who works in the smelter. He is suffering from an incurable lung disease caused by years of inhaling rock dust. And he’s determined to make the company pay.
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Sandy Tolan
WORKING
Mine Clearer
Sandy Tolan
WORKING
Mine Clearer
Valdet Dule is a Kosovar and father of two young children whose job is to find and detonate explosives left over from the wars of the 1990s. Until the land is safe, he says, his people won’t be able to realize their dream of independence.
Long after the fighting ended in Kosovo in 1999, the people of the region are still struggling to free themselves from the legacy of war.Thousands of landmines and unexploded bombs remain in farmers’ fields, in forests, along roadsides.
Valdet Dule is a Kosovar (and father of two young children) whose job is to find and detonate those explosives. Until the land is safe, he says, his people won’t be able to realize their dream of independence.
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Sandy Tolan
Special Projects
The Lemon Tree
Sandy Tolan
Special Projects
The Lemon Tree
The tale of a simple act of faith between two young people – one Israeli, one Palestinian – that symbolizes the hope for peace in the Middle East. Winner of a Christopher Award, Booklist’s best adult non-fiction book of 2006, and finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
In 1967, Bashir Khairi, a 25-year-old Palestinian, journeyed to Israel with the goal of seeing the beloved stone house with the lemon tree behind it that he and his family had fled 19 years earlier.To his surprise, when he found the house he was greeted by Dalia Eshkenazi Landau, a 19-year-old Israeli college student, whose family had fled Europe following the Holocaust.
On the stoop of their shared home, Dalia and Bashir began a rare friendship, forged in the shadow of war and tested over the next half century in ways that neither could imagine on that summer day in 1967.
In The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East, Sandy Tolan brings the Israeli-Palestinian conflict down to its most human level, demonstrating that even amid the bleakest political realities there exist stories of hope and transformation.
The Lemon Tree grew out of Sandy’s award-winning documentary for NPR’s Fresh Air. The book won a Christopher Award for “affirming the highest values of the human spirit” and was Booklist’s “Editor’s Choice” for best adult non-fiction book of 2006. It was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. -
Worlds of Difference
Stories about people and communities facing critical decisions about who they are and who they want to be.
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Sandy Tolan, Elif Shafak
Worlds of Difference
The Street of the Cauldron Makers
Sandy Tolan, Elif Shafak
Worlds of Difference
The Street of the Cauldron Makers
Modern Turkey emerged in the 1920s as a secular, westernized nation where the rule was always to look forward, never back. But novelist Elif Shafak says buried memories have a way of rising to the surface. She takes us on a tour of an Istanbul street, where battles over identity, modernity, ethnicity, and minority rights have played out in miniature.
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Kate Davidson
Worlds of Difference
Saints and Indians
Kate Davidson
Worlds of Difference
Saints and Indians
Between 1954 and 2000, tens of thousands of Native American children went to live with Mormon families during the school year. For some, it was a chance to overcome the stresses of reservation life. For others, it was a repudiation of their identity. For everyone, it was a life-changing experience.
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Barbara Ferry
Border Stories
Borderland Jaguars
Barbara Ferry
Border Stories
Borderland Jaguars
On the trail of an elusive cat that used to prowl the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico.
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World Views
First-person documentaries reflecting the perspectives of ordinary people around the world.
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Barbara Ferry, Deborah Begel
World Views
Luis and Negra
Barbara Ferry, Deborah Begel
World Views
Luis and Negra
Mexican-American writer Luis Alberto Urrea returns to the slums of Tijuana, where he worked as a young man, to see a woman he knew as a girl. His story, for This American Life, explores the sometimes uneasy relationship between “first world” writers and their “third world” subjects.
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Victoria Mauleón
Border Stories
Colonia Panorama, Tejas (Spanish)
Victoria Mauleón
Border Stories
Colonia Panorama, Tejas (Spanish)
A Mexican immigrant organizes the residents of his slum on the Texas side of the Mexican border. In Spanish.
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Border Stories
Documentaries and features in English and Spanish exploring social, economic, legal, and environmental issues along the U.S.-Mexico border.
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Sandy Tolan
Worlds of Difference
An Exodus Of Women
Sandy Tolan
Worlds of Difference
An Exodus Of Women
Hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankan women work abroad as housemaids, mainly in the Middle East. Their remittances are a cornerstone of their country’s economy, and a desperately needed source of income for their families. But their absence is keenly felt.
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Victoria Mauleón
World Views
Panorama, Texas
Victoria Mauleón
World Views
Panorama, Texas
A Mexican immigrant organizes the residents of his slum on the Texas side of the Mexican border.
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Barbara Ferry
World Views
Border Soldiers
Barbara Ferry
World Views
Border Soldiers
A story from 2003 about how the then-new U.S. war in Iraq was affecting the Juárez, Mexico, families of American soldiers fighting overseas.
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Cecilia Vaisman
World Views
The Cross of Juárez
Cecilia Vaisman
World Views
The Cross of Juárez
A wave of assassinations of women factory workers in Ciudad Juárez shows no sign of abating, and trust between the twin cities of El Paso and Juárez has given way to a climate of fear.
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Cecilia Vaisman
Border Stories
La Cruz de Juárez (Spanish)
Cecilia Vaisman
Border Stories
La Cruz de Juárez (Spanish)
A wave of assassinations of women factory workers in Ciudad Juárez shows no sign of abating, and trust between the twin cities of El Paso and Juárez has given way to a climate of fear. Spanish version.
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Alan Weisman
Border Stories
LA Ecovillage
Alan Weisman
Border Stories
LA Ecovillage
Bringing ecological living to an urban slum neighborhood and a Mexican-American barrio, complete with electric low-riders and solar-powered rap recording studios.
The term “ecovillage” evokes pastoral visions of earthen homes and glistening solar panels. But in cosmopolitan Los Angeles, the idea of ecological alternative living gets stretched to include an urban slum neighborhood and a Mexican-American barrio, complete with electric low-riders and solar-powered rap recording studios. -
Sandy Tolan
World Views
Runaway
Sandy Tolan
World Views
Runaway
Debra Gwartney loved her two oldest daughters and they loved her in return. But then Debra divorced and moved the family, and relations with her daughters got worse and worse. Finally, at the ages of 13 and 14, they ran away. In this story for This American Life, mother and daughters try to retrace what went wrong.
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Sandy Tolan
World Views
Roots of Resentment, Part II
Sandy Tolan
World Views
Roots of Resentment, Part II
Produced for NPR in the wake of the September 11 attacks, this documentary explores the historical roots of anger in the Arab world toward the west in general, and the U.S. in particular. Part 2 of a two-part series.
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Stephen Smith
World Views
Roots of Resentment, Part I
Stephen Smith
World Views
Roots of Resentment, Part I
Produced for NPR in the wake of the September 11 attacks, this story explores the historical roots of anger in the Arab world toward the west in general, and the U.S. in particular. Part 1 of a two-part series.
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Chris Brookes
World Views
Newfoundland Shipwreck Survivor
Chris Brookes
World Views
Newfoundland Shipwreck Survivor
Lanier Philips, an African-American sailor, was on a US Navy ship wrecked during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland during World War II. More than 200 of his shipmates died, but he was rescued. The treatment he received forever altered his life, opening his eyes to the possibility of a world without racism.
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Barbara Ferry
World Views
Eco Pilot
Barbara Ferry
World Views
Eco Pilot
American flyer Sandy Lanham helps Mexican environmentalists track endangered wildlife. Winner of the 2002 Gracie Allen Award.
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Sandy Tolan
World Views
Coming North
Sandy Tolan
World Views
Coming North
A visit to a shelter for transients in the Mexican border town of Nogales, where would-be migrants prepare for the harrowing trip across the border to the United States.
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Alan Weisman
Border Stories
Laguna Madre
Alan Weisman
Border Stories
Laguna Madre
A profile of people and place – a fragile ecosystem spanning both sides of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo near the Gulf of Mexico.
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Alan Weisman
Border Stories
Laguna Madre (Spanish)
Alan Weisman
Border Stories
Laguna Madre (Spanish)
A profile of people and place – a fragile ecosystem spanning both sides of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo near the Gulf of Mexico. Spanish version.
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Sandy Tolan
World Views
Me and Hank
Sandy Tolan
World Views
Me and Hank
The story of a boy and his hero, baseball slugger Hank Aaron, 25 years after Aaron’s traumatic chase for baseball’s all-time career home run record, and an exploration of the hatred Aaron endured in chasing a white man’s record.
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Sandy Tolan
World Views
Ethiopian Jews
Sandy Tolan
World Views
Ethiopian Jews
A profile of Shula Mulah, an Israeli woman of Ethiopian descent, who came to Israel in 1984 as part of an airlift called “Operation Moses.”
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Cecilia Vaisman
World Views
Operation Pedro Pan
Cecilia Vaisman
World Views
Operation Pedro Pan
The story of a six-year-old girl and the secret U.S.-funded program that sent her and thousands of unaccompanied Cuban children to live in the United States.
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Alan Weisman
World Views
Gloria Flora and the Elko Uprising
Alan Weisman
World Views
Gloria Flora and the Elko Uprising
A rising star in the U.S. Forest Service runs afoul of monied interests – and her own agency – as she tries to protect public lands from depredation.
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Joelle Pouliot
World Views
Cholera Diary
Joelle Pouliot
World Views
Cholera Diary
A Canadian physician who joined Doctors Without Borders to help others ends up learning quite a bit about herself.
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Chris Brookes, Michele Ernsting
World Views
Mucho Corazón
Chris Brookes, Michele Ernsting
World Views
Mucho Corazón
The story of a Dutchman, a Cuban woman, and true love in a Cuban factory for pipe organs. A chronicle of passion, music, and international politics.
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Cecilia Vaisman
World Views
Alicia’s Story
Cecilia Vaisman
World Views
Alicia’s Story
A documentary exploring how Alicia Rodriguez, the U.S.-born, middle-class daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants, became a self-described freedom fighter for an island she first visited at age 21.
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Sandy Tolan
Gloucester at the Crossroads
The Paint Factory
Sandy Tolan
Gloucester at the Crossroads
The Paint Factory
Townsfolk debate the fate of an abandoned 19th century paint factory on Gloucester’s inner harbor. It’s symbolic of a larger debate over Gloucester’s economic and cultural identity.
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Gloucester at the Crossroads
Examining the social, cultural, and economic effects of declining fish stocks in the U.S.’s oldest fishing port.
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Sandy Tolan
World Views
The Stone and the Viola
Sandy Tolan
World Views
The Stone and the Viola
A first-person profile of a West Bank boy who grew up throwing stones at Israeli soldiers. Now, as a teenager, he has embarked on a life in music. The inspiration for Sandy Tolan’s 2015 book “Children of the Stone.”
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Sandy Tolan
World Views
The Lemon Tree
Sandy Tolan
World Views
The Lemon Tree
An audio documentary, weaving the voices of an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man whose families occupied the same house, exploring the roots of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
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Stories from the Middle East
Documenting conflicts over land and water, and efforts to promote peace and understanding.
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Sandy Tolan
Stories from the Middle East
Troubled Waters | Part V: Negev Ancient Springs
Sandy Tolan
Stories from the Middle East
Troubled Waters | Part V: Negev Ancient Springs
Part 5 of a five-part series examining the role of water in political tensions and the peace process in the Middle East.
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Sandy Tolan
Gloucester at the Crossroads
Lost at Sea
Sandy Tolan
Gloucester at the Crossroads
Lost at Sea
Over the last four centuries, Gloucester has lost, on average, one fisherman every thirteen days. The memory of the dead, and the knowledge that there will be more, have always haunted the town and its people.
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Sandy Tolan
Stories from the Middle East
Troubled Waters | Part IV: Of Jordan: A River and a Nation
Sandy Tolan
Stories from the Middle East
Troubled Waters | Part IV: Of Jordan: A River and a Nation
Part 4 of a five-part series examining the role of water in political tensions and the peace process in the Middle East.
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Sandy Tolan
Stories from the Middle East
Troubled Waters | Part III: Collision In Gaza
Sandy Tolan
Stories from the Middle East
Troubled Waters | Part III: Collision In Gaza
Part 2 of a five-part series examining the role of water in political tensions and the peace process in the Middle East.
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Cecilia Vaisman, Shirley Jahad
Special Projects
Picture Me Rolling
Cecilia Vaisman, Shirley Jahad
Special Projects
Picture Me Rolling
In his pursuit of the American dream, a young man finds himself at a crossroads.
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Sandy Tolan
World Views
The Poet and the Rickshaw Driver
Sandy Tolan
World Views
The Poet and the Rickshaw Driver
An Indian poet, Gagan Gill, describes her encounter with a homeless rickshaw driver on the streets of Delhi.
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Sandy Tolan
Gloucester at the Crossroads
St. Peter’s Fiesta
Sandy Tolan
Gloucester at the Crossroads
St. Peter’s Fiesta
For nine nights each summer, the Italian-Americans of Gloucester gather to pray to the patron saint of fishermen. It’s been a tradition since the 1920s. But with the depletion of the fish stocks, townsfolk are beginning to contemplate a very different future.
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Sandy Tolan
Stories from the Middle East
Troubled Waters | Part I: The Politics of Mideast Water
Sandy Tolan
Stories from the Middle East
Troubled Waters | Part I: The Politics of Mideast Water
Part 1 of a five-part series examining the role of water in political tensions and the peace process in the Middle East.
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Cecilia Vaisman
Special Projects
Carolyn
Cecilia Vaisman
Special Projects
Carolyn
A documentary about a woman who grew up hating blacks in a white Boston neighborhood, and how her attitudes have changed.
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Sandy Tolan
Gloucester at the Crossroads
The Penny Fish and the Multinational
Sandy Tolan
Gloucester at the Crossroads
The Penny Fish and the Multinational
Gloucester was once one of the greatest fishing ports on earth. Today it’s a gritty place where fishermen struggle to make a living. A debate over a proposed foreign-owned herring processing plant casts light on the challenges facing a town – and an industry – in transition.
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Sandy Tolan
World Views
Susan Walsh
Sandy Tolan
World Views
Susan Walsh
A profile, for This American Life, of a New Jersey go-go dancer who disappeared and was never found.
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Cecilia Vaisman, Katie Davis
Special Projects
The Fire Within
Cecilia Vaisman, Katie Davis
Special Projects
The Fire Within
African-American men in an Illinois prison describe their conversion to Islam in this 1996 documentary.
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Searching for Solutions
Documenting the efforts of innovators and visionaries working on ways to promote sustainable growth and development.
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Sandy Tolan
Searching for Solutions
Miracle Farmer
Sandy Tolan
Searching for Solutions
Miracle Farmer
In India, where signs of faith are everywhere, a deeply spiritual farmer has found a way to grow abundant supplies of rice without the use of harmful chemicals.
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Cecilia Vaisman, Nancy Postero
Searching for Solutions
Women’s Empowerment in India
Cecilia Vaisman, Nancy Postero
Searching for Solutions
Women’s Empowerment in India
The cultural, religious, and social realities that stand in the way of lowering fertility rates in India are apparent in the tiny farming villages where one women’s group is trying to bring about change.
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Cecilia Vaisman, Nancy Postero
Searching for Solutions
Family Planning in India
Cecilia Vaisman, Nancy Postero
Searching for Solutions
Family Planning in India
With funding from USAID, Indian health officials have launched a massive new family planning effort in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most densely populated state.
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Sandy Tolan, Alan Weisman
Vanishing Homelands
Caribbean Dreams
Sandy Tolan, Alan Weisman
Vanishing Homelands
Caribbean Dreams
Different sorts of dreams collide in the Dominican Republic, where industrial parks, sugar cane fields, and a posh resort all belong to a single U.S. corporation.
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Sandy Tolan, Alan Weisman
Vanishing Homelands
Sugar and Sorrow in Hispaniola
Sandy Tolan, Alan Weisman
Vanishing Homelands
Sugar and Sorrow in Hispaniola
Haitian sugar cane workers in the Dominican Republic live in squalid conditions. Although the sugar they produce is exported to the United States, the U.S. government has declined to intervene.