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Casualties at Camp Bastion - British Army Field Hospital Saves Lives in Afghanistan
The most advanced hospital in southern Afghanistan is housed in a tent in the middle of the desert and provides life-saving treatment to the injured personnel of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, Afghan government troops, Taliban fighters and the innocent civilians caught in the middle of the conflict.
by Marco Di Lauro
Covering Maternal Death in Afghanistan
Living in Afghanistan for almost one year since the summer of 2006, I've been covering various women's-rights issues such as education and politics. However, I did not realize that Afghanistan has the second highest maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in the world, only after Sierra Leone, as of February 2007.
by Jean Chung
Nurture - Sacred Food/Blessed Food
I would like to describe a ceremony that takes place in Iran during the commemoration of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet, and his 72 companions during the month of Moharram.
by Nasim Goli
Tornado Town - Notes From Greensburg, Kansas
On May 4, 2007, an F5 tornado ripped through Greensburg, Kansas, and leveled the town. An F5 is the most destructive level of tornado.
by Sarah Shatz
Update:
Still A Secret War - Part II
In late December 2006 I flew to Fresno, Calif., to witness Hmong New Year celebrations and meet a CIA legend – Hmong General Vang Pao. I was nervous and excited.
by Roger Arnold

EDITOR'S NOTE:

For August we present four dispatches and one update by photographers Marco di Lauro, Jean Chung, Nasim Goli, Sarah Shatz and Roger Arnold. The first two deal with very different subjects in Afghanistan. Di Lauro shows the bloody reality of an outpost British military hospital that treats soldiers and wounded local people as well. Jean Chung, whose story about the shockingly high number of maternal deaths during childbirth in Afghanistan (one district alone lost over 60 percent of its mothers) was seen around the world and in the American edition of Newsweek, writes of her experience with the women and one family in particular. Photographer Nasim Goli decides its time to show the world a national family tradition of generosity, while Sarah Shatz takes us to Kansas where a tornado in May nearly wiped one town off the map.

"Update" is back this month with Roger Arnold's continuing account of the brutal suppression of the Hmong in Laos, more than 30 years after America left these stalwart soldiers of the CIA's "Secret War" stranded in the face of the communists. Please see his October 2006 dispatch. http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0610/dis_arnold.html

Marianne Fulton
Dispatches Editor
fultonaustin@yahoo.com



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