Carter Center Feature Articles Archive: 2007

Dec. 12, 2007
25 Years of The Carter Center: Changing Agenda, Enduring Principles
The year 2007 marks the Carter Center's 25th anniversary. In the following article, former
U.S. President Jimmy Carter reflects on the Center's evolution and his hopes for waging peace, fighting disease, and building hope into the future.

Nov. 29, 2007
Carter Center Helps Educate Liberians on Laws, Rights
Although the country's decades of violence are over, Liberia's women continue to face their own private wars: marital rape, domestic abuse, poverty. The Carter Center, at the invitation of Liberia's Ministry of Justice and in partnership with community-based organizations in the West African country, is helping close the violence gap through local education programs and governmental capacity building.

Nov. 27, 2007
Group Brings Hope to Nigerians Disfigured by Swollen Limbs
Swathed in a loose-fitting tunic conservatively hiding his deformed right leg, 38-year-old Hamisu Isa pulls up a white plastic chair to join a group of his fellow Nigerians under two mango trees in the city of Jos.

Oct. 12, 2007
Election Delayed, But Long-Term Observers Continue in Nepal
Nepal has undergone tremendous changes in the past year. A 2006 peace agreement ended a decade of fighting between government forces and the Maoists, and the country's king gave up all power other than his ceremonial status. Plans were set in motion to elect a constituent assembly, which would determine the country's future by writing a new constitution.

Oct. 12, 2007
Long-Term Election Observers Go the Distance in Nepal (slide show)
A Carter Center multimedia feature on the Carter Center's long-term election observers — the only international observation mission in Nepal — deployed throughout the country.

Oct. 12, 2007
Long-Term Election Observer Reflects on Being Part of Nepal "Roaming Team"
Jason Katz is a long-term observer (LTO) for the Carter Center's election observation mission in Nepal. Katz previously worked at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in Washington, D.C., and served as an election monitor during both rounds of elections in Peru in 2001.

Oct. 12, 2007
Nepal Elections:  By Foot, Car, and Plane, Observer Assesses Country's Readiness
Stefanie Gross is a long-term observer (LTO) for the Carter Center's election observation mission in Nepal. Originally from Germany, Stefanie completed her undergraduate degree in political studies and her postgraduate degree in conflict resolution in the United Kingdom before interning at The Carter Center in 2006.

Oct. 9, 2007
Carter Center Mental Health Program Observes World Mental Health Day
Mental illnesses affect people of all ages in all countries and societies,  from the boy soldier in Sierra Leone traumatized by years of bloody civil war to the aging farmer in Oklahoma suffering from depression. These illnesses have a profound impact on the quality of life for individuals and families and stunt economic growth in societies around the world.

Oct. 9, 2007
In South Africa, a Journalist Finds Words for Unspeakable Tragedies
It was a recurring headline in South African newspapers: "Cop Murder-Suicide Claims Family." Dozens of sons, fathers, and husbands working in the South African Police Service had committed these crimes against their own families, but the stories of what motivated them were rarely told.

Oct. 9, 2007
Mental Health Fellow Breaks Down Stereotypes
Time and money to access voluminous public records are luxuries most reporters do not have to investigate negligence or malfeasance in the public sector.

Oct. 9, 2007
Journalism Fellowships Expand to Romania
Alex Ulmanu sometimes wonders if things could have been different.
"I had a colleague in university who was a brilliant, brilliant person and who committed suicide in her very early 20s. We learned afterward that she was suffering from schizophrenia," Ulmanu said.

Oct. 9, 2007
Nepal Elections:  By Foot, Car, and Plane, Observer Assesses Country's Readiness
Stefanie Gross is a long-term observer (LTO) for the Carter Center's election observation mission in Nepal.
I arrived in Nepal in March 2007, and after a briefing at the Carter Center's field office in Kathmandu, was deployed with my team partner to Biratnagar—hub of one of Nepal's five development regions. The main towns of the other four regions host similar teams of two international LTOs, while a roaming team tackles the most remote areas of the country.

Oct. 9, 2007
Long-Term Election Observer Reflects on Being Part of Nepal "Roaming Team"
Jason Katz is a long-term observer (LTO) for the Carter Center's election observation mission in Nepal.
Unlike other LTOs, I am not stationed in a particular region, although my base city is Kathmandu. My British colleague, John Clayton; our Nepali interpreter, Kamal Adhikari; and myself form what is internally labeled as the roaming team, or as I jokingly tell others, "Carter's Special Forces." Due to Nepal's mountainous terrain and limited road infrastructure, most of our observation work is done on foot.

Oct. 1, 2007
Uganda Attempts Nationwide Elimination of River Blindness
River blindness is such a pervasive disease in Africa that many global experts believe it can only be controlled not eliminated. But Uganda has announced plans to rid the disease, despite hefty challenges.

Sept. 1, 2007
Profile: Karin Ryan Director Assists Activists Fighting for Human Rights
After Iraq's 2006 elections, the United States and other Western governments celebrated that country's move toward democracy. But as Karin Ryan knows from her 20 years with The Carter Center, an election is only a small step on the long road toward a true democratic government.

Aug. 31, 2007
A Picture of Health: Officers Fill Void in Ethiopia Health Care
Forty-five minutes by car southeast of Ethiopia's capital, down a dirt road shared by vehicles, donkey carts, and schoolchildren, a modest building enclosed by high stone walls stands outside the town of Debre Zeit. Inside, patients sit on benches waiting for medical attention. Bishoftu Health Center is the primary medical facility serving the 65,000 residents of this sprawling agricultural community.

Aug. 31, 2007
Dramatic Learning: Acting Troupe Educates Liberians About Legal Rights
In rural Liberia, in a cinder-block schoolhouse packed with men, women, and children from nearby villages, a small group acts out a story. A woman returns home from market to find that her neighbor's daughter is uncharacteristically grumpy and rude. The woman learns that her husband has raped this young girl. She reacts by feeling shamed and asks the girl to keep the secret.

July 24, 2007
Emory Awards Honorary Doctorate to Longtime Carter Center Mental Health Supporter
Beverly Benson Long, a mental health pioneer whose efforts were instrumental in establishing the Rosalynn Carter Endowed Chair for Mental Health at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree during Emory's 162nd commencement ceremony.

July 17, 2007
Carter Center Consultant Norman Borlaug Receives Congressional Gold Medal for Food Research
Norman Borlaug, Nobel peace laureate and senior consultant of the Carter Center's Agriculture Program, was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal here July 17 for his work on high-yield, disease-resistant varieties of wheat credited with starting the "Green revolution" and alleviating starvation in India and Pakistan in the 1960s.

July 31, 2007

I Sold My Roof: Farmer's Hope for Grandchildren Includes Futures Free from River Blindness
The rolling, lush landscape of the Ethiopian countryside surrounded the straw and mortar shelter. Inside, Ababora Abajobar, 70, sat in the thick-walled darkness. His weathered hands perched upon his walking stick, his blue socks neatly folded around his scarred shins.

June 12, 2007
New Malaria Program Blankets Areas of Ethiopia with Bed Nets
Ethiopian farmer Mamo Tesfaye is no stranger to disease. Four years ago, he could only sit idly outside his home as the growing season came and went. Afflicted with river blindness, he could not see well enough to work his land or provide for his children.

May 22, 2007
Carter Center Issues Final Report on 2006 Nicaragua Elections
The Carter Center has issued the final report on the 2006 Nicaragua elections, Observing the 2006 Nicaragua Elections (Observación Electoral Nicaragua 2006).  Held November 5, 2006, this was the fourth national election in Nicaragua observed by The Carter Center since 1990.

May 1, 2007
David Carroll: Director Finds Satisfaction in Helping Struggling Democracies
When Liberia's first female president won in 2005, her opponent charged that the election results were tainted. But Carter Center Democracy Program Director David Carroll knew otherwise.

Feb. 23, 2007
Reporters Find Inspiration in Mental Health Stories
In South Africa, men view depression as a sign of weakness. So when veteran journalist Marion Scher wrote a story on the topic for the South African magazine Men's Health, she was thrilled that the men she interviewed allowed her to use their real names.

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