World Vision Report

One journalist rethinks her Western stereotypes of Africa and the Central African Republic.

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This story also aired on KUOW on Oct. 26.

Like India, Pakistan has its share of call centers, offering everything from customer service and tech support to health insurance and home security systems. Jessica Partnow takes us through a night in the life of Ali Jaffri, a professional telemarketer in Lahore.

In Africa's refugee camps, having access to basic health care isn't easy. Resources are limited, safety is uncertain, and aid agencies have to work harder to save lives. Ernest Waititu spent an evening riding along in the only ambulance serving Kenya's sprawling Kakuma Refugee Camp. The camp is home to more than 40,000 refugees from more than 10 countries in Eastern Africa.

Primary education is compulsory in Pakistan, and the country has a large public school system. But many of these schools are just marginally functional. Corruption is rampant, teachers play hooky, and some schools exist only on paper. The problems are so widespread that the term "ghost school" has become a household phrase.

Jessica Partnow reports from Karachi.

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Pakistani singer Shehzad Roy spent much of his childhood in the U.S., and was troubled by the poor quality of public education he saw when he got back to Pakistan. So he founded an advocacy group called the Zindagi Trust, designed to reform failing public schools.

This program re-aired on World Vision on Oct 2, 2010.

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For centuries, nomads from the Fulani ethnic group have driven their cattle across thousands of miles of African grazing lands, through countries including Mali, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria. But Nigeria is Africa's most populated country. And more and more land there is being used for food production.

In the far north of Nigeria, the situation has put farmers and nomads at odds with each other. David Hecht reports from the small village of Yardanko.

A truck is a truck is a truck. Except in Pakistan, where trucks go to the beauty parlor for makeovers. Listen to this report.

A Karachi-based group bent on eradicating child labor is offering school lessons outside working hours.

Listen to this story at World Vision Report.

This story also aired on KUOW.

Listen to this story at World Vision Report.

Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis were already fleeing the Swat Valley before the latest fighting broke out.

Sher Ali Khan, 55, is one of them. He fled his home in a village in the Swat Valley nine months ago. Sher Ali Khan now lives in a rented house in Landhi, a largely Pashtun settlement on the outskirts of Karachi.

Bolivian President Evo Morales says he's committed to fighting cocaine production and trafficking in his country. Three years ago, he instituted a drug program called "Coca si, cocaine no." That means it's illegal to make cocaine -- but farmers are allowed to grow the coca plant, the basis of cocaine, for traditional uses such as chewing or making tea.

Sudan has become synonymous with war, due to the five-year conflict raging in Darfur. The UN estimates that 300,000 people have died and close to 2.5 million others have been displaced. The vast majority have been indigenous Africans.

Darfur's war is often portrayed as a racial one, pitting Arabs against Africans. But in northern parts of the country, many Sudanese are defying stereotypes. Heba Aly files this report from Dongola, a town in northern Sudan where Africans and Arabs have been living together harmoniously for decades.