http://www.cowsinthefield.com/stories daily 0.75 2015-06-08 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54075782e4b06b763c2d8a7b/t/540a2217e4b06b4ddeba8ef6/1409950230996/ Stories - Meet Dayanara Dayanara, a woman from Nicaragua, came out to her family as transgender when she was a teenager. Ostracized by her parents and siblings, and thrown out of her home, Dayanara became a sex worker to support herself financially. She lived on the streets for years, developed a drug addiction and ended up in prison, where she was raped repeatedly. When Dayanara was released, she learned about the Association for Transgender Nicaraguans (ANIT), an organization supported by AJWS that primarily advocates for the rights of trans women—people like Dayanara who have been viewed by society as men but understand themselves to be women. Many trans women in Nicaragua are HIV-positive and have faced relentless discrimination and bigotry from their families, schools, employers, health care providers and religious communities. Dayanara connected with ANIT’s leaders who encouraged her to get tested for HIV. After learning that she tested positive, she made a commitment to turn her life around. Directed and Produced by Carmen Elsa Lopez and Evan Abramson Cinematography by Evan Abramson Edited by Carmen Elsa Lopez and Evan Abramson For American Jewish World Service Learn more: webelieve.ajws.org https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54075782e4b06b763c2d8a7b/t/5575b0c6e4b01287f8b76578/1433776328816/Abramson_Legatum_Haiti_04.jpg Stories https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54075782e4b06b763c2d8a7b/t/540f3d5ce4b059d633f3c329/1410284892984/ Stories - When the Water Ends For thousands of years, nomadic herdsmen have roamed the harsh, semi-arid lowlands that stretch across most of Kenya and Ethiopia. Descendants of the oldest tribal societies in the world, they survive thanks to the animals they raise and the crops they grow, their travels determined by the search for water and grazing lands. These herdsmen have long been accustomed to adapting to a changing environment. But in recent years, they have faced challenges unlike any in living memory: As temperatures in the region have risen and water supplies have dwindled, the pastoralists have had to range more widely in search of suitable water and land. That search has brought tribal groups in Ethiopia and Kenya in increasing conflict, as pastoral communities kill each other over water and grass. Directed by Evan Abramson Produced and Edited by Jennifer Redfearn Cinematography by Evan Abramson Executive Producers: Roger Cohn for Yale Environment 360 and Brian Storm for MediaStorm More information: http://mediastorm.com/clients/when-the-water-ends-for-yale360   https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54075782e4b06b763c2d8a7b/t/540a2082e4b0c611ff486ff6/1409949826930/ Stories - Last Stand on the Island a film in production by Carmen Elsa Lopez and Evan Abramson In the remote bayous of Louisiana, a Native American community struggles to survive on a land that is vanishing into the Gulf of Mexico. But survival does not mean the same thing to everyone, and confronted with disaster, strong convictions are spiraling into conflict that is driving the tribe apart. More information: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/evanabramson/last-stand-on-the-island-a-documentary-film https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54075782e4b06b763c2d8a7b/t/540a2208e4b06b4ddeba8ecb/1409950216977/ Stories - Meet Teresa Teresa, a Nicaraguan woman, married her husband when she was 19 years old. She agreed to follow him anywhere he wanted, including the community of San Rafael, a very remote, rural area. She had six children with him—three sons and three daughters—and lived on four acres of farmland nestled in the mountains. For 30 years, Teresa suffered relentless abuse by her husband. He molested all three daughters as they “became women” and insisted on having his own bed very close to theirs. Often, he would wake up at night to rape them as they slept. Teresa’s oldest daughter tried to protect her younger sisters, and warned Teresa not to leave the girls alone at home with their father. She told Teresa that her husband was not a good man. But for a long time, Teresa was afraid to challenge her husband. In the community of San Rafael, people tend to believe that women consent to sexual abuse, and many villagers believed that Teresa had condoned the rapes of her own daughters. Terrified of what might happen if she spoke out, Teresa stayed with her husband even though the violence persisted. She had no means to support herself independently, and her home and land were registered in her husband’s name, not her own. One day, Teresa was listening to the radio and heard about an organization called the Association of Entrepreneurial Women of Waslala (AMEWAS)—a Nicaraguan grassroots group supported by AJWS that seeks to decrease violence against women, girls and youth by educating women about their rights, promoting gender equality and expanding women’s access to the judicial system. With encouragement from her friends and one of her brothers, Teresa decided to seek AMEWAS’s help. Directed and Produced by Carmen Elsa Lopez and Evan Abramson Cinematography by Evan Abramson Edited by Carmen Elsa Lopez and Evan Abramson For American Jewish World Service Learn more: webelieve.ajws.org https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54075782e4b06b763c2d8a7b/t/540a2093e4b0c611ff48701f/1409949843071/ Stories - Carbon for Water Life is Precious. Water Shouldn't Be. Winner of nearly two dozen film festival awards, Carbon for Water has inspired audiences and policymakers across the globe with the story of one company's innovative solution for improving the health of millions of Kenyans and the environment in which they live. At dawn, nine-year-old Anzelma walks for miles in search of firewood. Many in her village have died from drinking dirty water, and firewood is a valuable commodity, used to boil water to make it safe. Anzelma’s small body bends under the heavy loads of wood balanced on her head, but she won’t stop. She knows her long journeys into the forest are crucial for her family’s survival. Unsafe water claims more lives than war. In Kenya, water insecurity is a life-threatening reality, and the population is expected to leap from 40 million to 60 million in the next twenty years. Most of the country still depends on wood and charcoal for household energy, and forest cover is dwindling. At the same time, the climate is changing: rainfall is decreasing, river levels are low and water contamination is on the rise. In the fierce competition for shrinking resources, the most vulnerable are women and girls, who are responsible for finding water and fuel for their families. Vestergaard is attempting to change this by providing 900,000 water filters to the people of Kenya’s Western Province, for free. LifeStraw Carbon for Water is the largest household water treatment program in the developing world, and it’s being financed with carbon credits earned through the reduction in use of firewood. If successful, it will cut carbon dioxide emissions by 2 million tons per year for a decade or more. But it requires changing the habits of 4.5 million people first. Directed and Produced by Evan Abramson and Carmen Elsa Lopez Edited by Evan Abramson and Carmen Elsa Lopez Cinematography by Evan Abramson Aerial photography from the movie HOME by Yann Arthus-Bertrand Sound Mix by Alex Noyes Animation and Motion Graphics by Pixeldust Studios Learn more: carbonforwaterfilm.com https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54075782e4b06b763c2d8a7b/t/540a2224e4b06b4ddeba8f10/1409950244414/ Stories - Karen Women's Organization For decades, Burma's military regime has brutally attacked ethnic minority groups, including the Karen people. More than 400,000 refugees have fled Burma, and 100,000 Karen people currently live in Thai refugee camps. Karen Women's Organization (KWO) works to defend women's rights in the camps by supporting survivors of gender-based violence and training women to become leaders. These women are speaking up for human rights, advocating locally and internationally for a peaceful future in Burma. American Jewish World Service supports KWO and other organizations around the globe that empower people to free themselves from violence and oppression. Directed and Produced by Carmen Elsa Lopez and Evan Abramson Cinematography by Evan Abramson Edited by Carmen Elsa Lopez and Evan Abramson For American Jewish World Service Learn more: webelieve.ajws.org https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54075782e4b06b763c2d8a7b/t/54e107efe4b0902efd5f1ab9/1424033777308/02_LGBTQuiet_MG_5700.jpg Stories https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54075782e4b06b763c2d8a7b/t/540a2a03e4b0240505763855/1409952259350/ Stories - Orphan Nation Before January 12, 2010, there were more than 10,000 humanitarian and charity organizations registered in Haiti. Billions of dollars of donations later, the international presence is stronger than ever. Yet six months after the earthquake, 90% of the rubble still had not been removed and women and children were being raped on a nightly basis, across the street from the government palace. One must wonder: Are the voices of Haitians being heard? Are their needs being met? Haiti appears to be caught between states: of destruction, of rebuilding, of progress, of upheaval, of normalcy. This video documents the growing sense of disenchantment among Haitians caught between disaster and the promise of healing. 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