Andrew Mude, the man behind an innovative livestock insurance program, reflects upon the scheme’s successes so far – and its future potential.

Check out DW’s interview with Andrew Mude.

Here’s more about the International Livestock Research Institute.

What kind of unique insurance program would your community need? Share your thoughts!

Four years ago, Katie Davis was homecoming queen at her high school in the United States. Today, the 22-year-old is a single mother of 13 girls in Uganda and feeding hundreds of hungry children every day.

Adoptive mom in Uganda provides food and love to 13 girls

In 2008, Davis started a non-profit organization called Amazima, which means “truth” in the Lugandan language. With help from donors, Amazima sponsors 400 orphaned or vulnerable children to go to school. It also assists them with food, medication, and school supplies to ease the burden on their parents or relatives and ensure that the children can be raised by Ugandans in Uganda. The job of director supports Davis and her foster daughters in Uganda.

When she’s asked if 13 girls are too many to care for, Davis is adamant that she can handle it and says the courts in Uganda agree. For each girl, a judge has ruled that Davis’ guardianship is in the child’s best interests. Davis still needs to gain legal guardianship of some of the girls, which costs $3,000 in legal fees. She’s authored a book to be released in October, called “Kisses from Katie,” to raise the money.

A child welfare official in Uganda, Caroline Bankusha, says 13 girls in one foster home isn’t ideal, but concedes that so many children in Uganda suffer from poverty and lack of care that exceptions must be made.

While Davis wants to adopt the girls, she’s too young. Under Ugandan law, adoptive parents must be 25 years of age, and at least 21 years older than the child to be adopted.

“I think that’s definitely something that I was made for, and God just designed me that way because he already knew that this is what the plan was for my life, even though I didn’t,” she said.

Check out Katie’s blog here.

Giant sea turtles in western Africa are threatened with extinction. But Miguel from Cape Verde faithfully patrols the beaches to keep them safe while they lay their eggs.

Miguel rescues Cape Verde’s endangered giant sea turtles

DW reporter Carla Fernandes on meeting with Miguel in Cape Verde:

Boavista island on Cape Verde has lovely beaches! When I went there that was all that came to my mind. But this beauty became much deeper when I realized the meaning it has for the balance of an animal species like the marine turtles. Marine turtles prefer sandy beaches to make their nests. So looking at the white sand gain a new meaning: life. It was impressive to see a sea turtle laying her eggs on the sandy beach of Curralito and I was much more moved by this experience than I thought I would be.

Visit the Turtle Foundation’s website.

Here is the Turtle Foundation’s blog on its work on Cape Verde.

Ivan comes from a poor city in Mozambique, but one that is rich in cultural history. He founded a tour organization that takes tourists off the beaten path and helps preserve the hidden cultural treasures in his home.

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When Cornelius, 23, returned home to Liberia after 10 years in a refugee camp, he decided to do his part to rebuild the post-war country. He’s breaking barriers and changing lives by talking about sex on the radio.

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Kades, from one of Nairobi’s largest slums, plays DJB in Shujaaz, a comic book series and weekly radio show. Shujaaz is capturing the imagination of young Kenyans and inspiring them to take charge of their own futures.

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Omar was just 17 when he embarked on the treacherous journey from Senegal to start a new life in Spain. Now 23, he shares his story in a theater project aimed at sensitizing locals to the plight of refugees like him.

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