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Articles in the Portfolio Category

In search of a place to call home
By Poornima
Posted in Featured, Multimedia, Portfolio, Sustainable living on 3 April 2010
Stats: and 62 Comments

“Obviously we have no money, We are going back. We cannot staying here anymore,” Jabbar Sattar said in a tired voice. Jabbar a former Iraqi translator for the US military procurement unit embedded at the Iraqi Defense Ministry in Baghdad came to the US 14 months ago with his wife and two sons. In 2006 [...]

From child combatants to symbols of hope
By Poornima
Posted in Featured, Portfolio, South Asia on 3 April 2010
Stats: and 113 Comments

By Poornima Weerasekara in Ambepussa “Kindness will help you make friends,” the bold print hung on a lime green wall is the first thing that grips your attention as one enters the administration building at the Ambepussa rehabilitation centre for ex-child combatants. Tucked away in a lush green alcove, in Wahawita Ambepussa, about two and [...]

City in tug-of war with downtown businesses over development
By Poornima
Posted in Portfolio, Sustainable living on 3 April 2010
Stats: and 2 Comments

MENLO PARK – Mayor Richard Cline recently said that a group of downtown business owners have launched a “silent but stealthy cold war” on two key development projects in the city. Downtown businesses and property owners that have dominated the cityscape for decades are resisting high density office and real estate development along Santa Cruz [...]

The Bay Area – a new home for Myanmar refugees
By Poornima
Posted in Featured, Portfolio, South Asia on 21 February 2010
Stats: and 152 Comments

There has been a rapid influx of Burmese refugees into the US since 2008 after the Department of Homeland Security decided to ease the regulations on “political asylum seekers” from Burma in late 2007. Earlier they settled in New York, Minneapolis and even Fort Wayne, Texas. But in recent times, more Burmese refugees are being [...]

Shelterless Tsunami victims take over government offices in Eastern Sri Lanka
By Poornima
Posted in Featured, Journalism, Portfolio, South Asia on 10 February 2010
Stats: and 143 Comments

The story brought the plight of 400 tsunami affected families from the East coast of Sri Lanka who were thrown out of their temporary shelters. The families, that had occupied the government administrative building in the area were demanding for permanent housing that was promised to them an year ago. Immediately after the story was [...]

UN calls for demilitarized administration in Lankan refugee camps
By Poornima
Posted in Portfolio, South Asia on 9 February 2010
Stats: and No Comments

During the last stages of the military onslaught into rebel held territories in Sri Lanka, in a bid to end Asia’s longest running civil conflict, almost 300,000 people were displaced. The international community was critical of the military administration of camps for the internally displaced, due to fears of human rights violations like extra-judicial killings [...]

Warning signs on the energy Crisis
By Poornima
Posted in Portfolio, South Asia, Sustainable living on 6 February 2010
Stats: and No Comments

Sri Lanka has been battling with both the World bank and the IMF, in a bid to push urgent energy sector reforms to the back-burner. The article explores how this “populist procrastination strategy” has threatened the energy security of the country. Warning signals on the energy crisis

Key watershed area in Eastern Sri Lanka threatened by unruly development
By Poornima
Posted in Journalism, Portfolio, South Asia on 6 February 2010
Stats: and No Comments

This investigative article exposes how a corrupt government minister is attempting to override the county’s national flora and fauna protection legislation in a bid to allocate state land, that is designated as a protected sanctuary to a private developer. The land is a key watershed area to the primary source of drinking water to the [...]

The silence of deaf cricket
By Poornima
Posted in Journalism, Portfolio, South Asia on 5 February 2010
Stats: and No Comments

Cricket has unified and inspired Sri Lankans across ethnic boundaries irrespective of religion, gender or age. Yet, an invisible line divides those who are deemed “able” vs. “differently-abled” even in this game. The article explores the silent hopes of deaf Sri Lankan school cricketers who aim to play at the deaf cricketing world championships. Silent [...]