The World's Best News

Bringing you surprising stories of hope and change from developing countries. Find more stories at p {font-size: x-large} The World's Best News on Tumblr, on Instagram, on Facebook and on Flipboard  

[worldsbestnews]

Meet Myanmar's first female rap duo, Thazin Nyunt Aung and Aye Aye Aung. They are known as Y.A.K. and play in small clubs and cultural events around the country rapping about their culture’s ideas of femininity.

They focus on writing songs that elevate the status of women, and hope their music will gain wider acceptance as the country flourishes and changes under its new democratic leadership after decades of military rule. 

http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2015/12/23/myanmars-first-female-rap-duo-hopes-songs-about-strong-women-will-change-minds/

[worldsbestnews]

When their internet was slow to load, these two brothers decided to build their own faster browser from scratch. Meet the two Nigerian brothers who are just 14 and 16 years old and are setting the bar for teen coders... 

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/these-nigerian-brothers-were-dissatisfied-with-goo/?hootPostID=b2bf8942eeca90914995e20985bd1e2c

[worldsbestnews]

Photograph: Nicholas Weissman

This Woman Is Using Graffiti to Change the Way Her Country Thinks About Girls. Laila Ajjawi is determined to make positive change within her impoverished community. 

On a concrete wall in the alleyway of a Palestinian refugee camp in Irbid, Jordan, Laila Ajjawi works quickly, switching between the three spray-paint bottles that sit at her feet. Within 20 minutes, she has scrawled Arabic letters onto the veil of a girl with cavernous eyes and painted a feather quill by her side. Her mural is nearly complete.

Draped in a dark, paint-splattered cloak with a black respirator strapped over her hijab, Laila, 25, looks like a bona fide superhero. The petite graffiti artist even has a superpower: talking through walls. "My energy will be reflected from walls to people," she said, explaining that people will then take her message to others.

Read more here: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/news/a50015/this-palestinian-refugee-graffiti-artist-empowers-girls-with-street-art/

[worldsbestnews]

Photograph: Reuters/Tiksa Negeri

Meet the female pilots who are taking over Zimbabwe and Ethiopia’s skies

On Nov. 18, the Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Bangkok, Thailand had something different to it: it was completely operated by a female crew, from ground operations all the way to the sky. Captain Amsale Gualu was assisted by a female co-pilot, Selam Tesfaye, and by an all-female cabin crew and female ground staff. This was a first in the history of the airline—and likely in that of African aviation.

Read more here: http://qz.com/556243/photos-meet-the-female-pilots-who-are-taking-over-zimbabwe-and-ethiopias-skies/

[worldsbestnews]

Puran Bhatt expertly wields his handcrafted puppet (Credit: Mariellen Ward)

‘A man on a mission: renowned puppeteer Puran Bhatt is determined to save Delhi’s Kathputli colony from bulldozers. 

Bhatt is just as passionate about preserving the traditional Indian arts as he is about saving his community from demolition. "We would like to see an artist village developed where we can live and many different traditional skills can be preserved and taught, with performances in the evenings. A lot of kids don't even know what a puppet is today. So we also need to educate people." ‘

Read the story here: http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20151116-the-puppeteer-who-saved-a-slum

[worldsbestnews]

Christine Letooya harvests maize in her farm in Lolmusikopyi village, Samburu, Kenya. A World Vision scheme in the county helps support farmers to build resilience to drought. All photographs: Robert Kibet

On a slope overlooking the rugged land of dry shrubs around Lolmusikopyi village in Kenya’s Samburu county, Christine Letooya is busy harvesting her crop.

Letooya plucks the ripe cobs of maize from between the papery leaves. Like all farmers, she works long hours but at least this toil is safe – she used to be a pastoralist but armed raids by cattle rustlers persuaded the mother of four to change her way of life.

“Five years ago, our village was raided by armed young men from the Pokot community. They made away with our herds, leaving us at the mercy of relief aid. We had to relocate to safer grounds,” says Letooya, who is wearing a traditional Samburu necklace of coloured beads.

With the help of charity World Vision, Letooya decided to embark on sustainable farming through a project to support farmers in this notoriously harsh terrain with seeds and training. Now in its third year, the scheme offers alternative livelihoods to Samburu, helps to combat malnutrition, and equips local people to cope with more frequent droughts.

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/nov/16/kenya-climate-frontline-female-farmers-building-secure-future-drought-samburu

[worldsbestnews]

In India, girls go surfing 

Ishita was India’s first female surfer, and now she teaches young girls not only how to surf but also to be whoever they want to be. Watch her inspirational story here: https://www.facebook.com/Upworthy/videos/1076627229044801/ 

[worldsbestnews]

Afghanistan’s female marathon runner defies danger to go the distance

'Earlier this month, 25-year-old Zainab took part in Afghanistan’s first official marathon, held in Bamiyan. The pioneering female runner talks about her training, her experiences, the opposition she faces when participating in sport, and her hopes to inspire other women and engender change.'

Watch her in action here:

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/the-running-blog/video/2015/oct/28/afghanistans-marathon-woman-video

[worldsbestnews]

Cochin International Airport is the world's first solar-powered airport.

The airport located in Kerala in Southern India, built 46.150 solar panels that fill as much as 25 pitches.

Solar Panels will serve themselves into 5 years, and are then allowed to stand 25 years, you will save 300.000 tonnes of Co2 - IT CORRESPONDS TO PLANT 3 million trees.

Watch the video here:

https://www.facebook.com/ajplusenglish/videos/626873114120866/?fref=nf

�_��O|Fֽ5

[worldsbestnews]

(Photo: Kenyan schoolchildren wearing the backpack. Credit: Soular Backpacks.)

The backpack brightening lives in Kenya

Kenyan student Salima Visram has launched a product for school children called the Soular Backpack. She hopes the solar powered bag will help change the lives of the schoolchildren who buy it and provide employment for the community.

Listen to this short interview with the inventor: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p036w0zq?ocid=socialflow_facebook 

[worldsbestnews]

In 2007, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched an initiative to plant a million trees in 10 years. This week, officials reached their goal — two years ahead of schedule.

The one-millionth tree, an eight-year-old, 25-foot-tall lacebark elm, was planted Tuesday in the Bronx. Leaders behind the greening effort say they finished ahead of schedule because so many people were willing to volunteer.

A half-dozen poor neighborhoods, which were devoid of trees and reporting high rates of asthma, were singled out for mass plantings as a part of a city-wide environmental plan focused on creating new parkland and battlingclimate change. The trees would filter urban air pollutants and provide shade that keeps concrete and asphalt streets from heating up.

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/new-york-city-adds-1-million-new-trees/

[worldsbestnews]

Josefino Martinez explains how the pine trees he planted just three years ago are stabilizing the soil on the mountainside. Photo by Leah Penniman.

Four Ways Mexico’s Indigenous Farmers Are Practicing the Agriculture of the Future- http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/four-ways-mexico-indigenous-farmers-agriculture-of-the-future-20150810 

[worldsbestnews]

Multinational beer maker switches to locally produced ingredients

Beer is made of water, malt barley, hops, and yeast. Right?

Well yes, but in Africa, beer brewery Heineken are also making beer using local ingredients like corn, sorghum or cassava.

In 2011, as part of its sustainability policy “Brewing A Better World”, the multinational decided to stop importing ingredients for the production of African beers. Heineken teamed up with EUCORD to ensure the key ingredients for many of its brands were grown locally.

You can read the story here: http://www.theheinekencompany.com/sustainability/case-studies/new-burundian-beer-demonstrates-value-of-local-sourcing

[worldsbestnews]

17 signs the world is already changing for the better

Great infographic helping us tell the main message of "The World's Best News":

There is loads of great stuff happening, all around the world. (And you rarely hear about it in the media)

[worldsbestnews]

"If you have hope, everything is possible"

In this beautiful short film Rwandans tell the story of how hope and confidence in their country have grown.

Many people in Ireland only know Rwanda through the genocide that took place in 1994. But since then, Rwanda and the Rwandans have experienced a huge, positive change.

- Life expectancy has increased by almost 31 years - the highest increase in the world. - Maternal mortality has declined by almost four fifths. - The economy has quadrupled in size since 2000.

Have a look!

[worldsbestnews]

One of the most important graphs. 

Ever. http://ourworldindata.org/data/health/maternal-mortality/  

[worldsbestnews]

Famines are fewer, but armed conflicts threaten food security

Historic change suggests starvation could be brought to an end across the globe by 2030

It’s a shift that has taken place slowly and without fanfare, but in the past 50 years the worst types of famine have become dramatically less frequent.

Calamitous famines – those that cause more than a million deaths – have been eliminated, reports the Irish Times.