The Bagram Air Base is an American Oasis in the middle of the Afghan desert. Troops can shop, have a burger and even have a massage. But soon the mall will be shut down to make room for new troops.
The Kabul we know from the news is a dusty, broken cityscape…But just an hour's drive north, 20 000 US soldiers bask in the creature comforts of the Bagram Air Base. Gaudy signs offer ‘Burger King’, ‘Harley Davidson’ and ‘Karaoke’, and you could easily forget you’re in the middle of a war zone. “For a lot of people, this is a slice of home”, says Lieutenant Koczera, joining the long queue for Burger King. He’s grateful for the opportunity to get a souvenir for his loved ones, free from the constant fear of fire: “going off the base is not the time to really shop”. But with more American troops on the way, space is getting tight. The commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General McChrystal, has ordered the more indulgent services to close. Many of the 4,000 civilians from Russia, India, and Pakistan who work on the base face an uncertain future. “They say if you are not Afghan, you are going to be closed”, says one. McChrystal wants his soldiers focused on the main game now more than ever. And whilst the soldiers here admit that the shops are a bonus, they know they’re here to fight, not to shop.
SBS
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India - Banking On Change
- 12' min 00'' sec [8 March 2010]
Microfinance improving the fate of women worldwide
J.S Parthibhan is a bank manager with a difference: he’s interested in people, not numbers. Through micro loans, he helps villagers in rural areas develop a sense of entrepreneurship and self-respect.
Travelling on his moped to isolated villages, Parthibhan has made it his mission to bring his bank to the people, not the other way around. For him, reforming the system should happen at the most basic level: face to face. "It is about more than just dealing with money. It is dealing with people, with their aspirations." These villagers need a loan for a new kiln. He educates them about money and talks them through the process of opening an account. "If I were a doctor I would care for the people coming to me the same way as I do now." In the past years, he’s successfully backed countless similar ventures: “You can talk about financial crisis, but the importance is cultivating people. If you do that, everything falls in to the right place". Now here’s a role model for bankers from Wall Street to Tokyo.
Andrew Hinton
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Thailand - The Price of Labour
- 9' min 32'' sec [8 March 2010]
Thailand has become the assembly-line for the world’s electronics and textiles industries. Long hours, little pay and unfair dismissals are standard fare, and workers are taking to the streets in protest.
Half a million Thai people are now employed in Thailand’s booming electronics sector. At this factory supplying Sony, HP and Dell, 12 hour shifts are standard fare, and salaries are less than 100 euros a month. “Most of the workers are young, unmarried women”, says a journalist. To encourage investment, new companies in Thailand are exempt from taxes for several years. After this exemption period, factories close, and re-open under a new name, hiring new staff. Workers across Thailand are now demanding unpaid wages and preventing the management from starting again with cheaper labour. “It was a thorn in the side of the managers that we had organized ourselves”, they say.
ORF
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Portugal - Elegy To Silence
- 25' min 00'' sec [8 March 2010]
For the Carthusian monks, a life of solitude and self-denial is easy to bear for their religion. With exclusive access, this unique report lifts the veil from the monks' mysterious daily lives.
“Solitude gives us time to be with God”, explains Father Lopes. He decided to become a monk at the age of 20, whilst at university, and now spends 20 hours a day in his cell and eats only two meals a day. “I rowed and swam until the age of 20 but not since then…I have not seen the sea since then”. But the greatest sacrifice is being away from family: “we won’t ever visit our relatives and they wont come to visit us here.”
SIC TV
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Pacific Ocean - The Real Treasure Island
- 5' min 57'' sec [20 January 2010]
A Robinson Crusoe playground for the rich and famous, this tiny island has been converted into a holiday resort with treetop suites providing a beautiful haven for its super-rich guests.
Previously owned by Huglio Iglesias, this idyllic paradise cost over $23 million to create. “I think it is better to use this wealth for projects that are helpful to our society, rather than trying to become even richer.” It’s nature driven design and exotic sands formulate a truly amazing private holiday retreat for celebrities and billionaires wanting to get away from it all.
Yves Trevalec Productions
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