"...and when the women came they brought with them abandoned dreams 

of a future they had yet to create."   

--S.H.

There are numerous development programmes and projects aimed at empowering women who are, at most times, the most vulnerable group (along with children) during periods of political, social, environmental and economic unrest and instability. For some, the additional stigma against them, due to health-related problems, adds to their vulnerability and further marginalisation from society. This is even more so for women suffering from HIV or AIDS. However, emerging from their silence comes new opportunities for their voices to escape the thick veils that suffocate their progress. One such opportunity is the Nedan Foundation's Weaving Destination Project. 

Chocolate. There's nothing like it. Deliciously sweet and punishingly bitter, the perfect pick me up and a devilish treat. Nothing illustrates chocolate's delectable dicotomy like Kum-Kum Bhavnani's documentary Nothing Like Chocolate. At once enraging and utterly inspiring it tells the compelling stories of activist chocolate maker Mott Green, founder of The Grenada Chocolate Company Cooperative, and independent cocoa farmer, mother of seven, and all-round superwoman Nelice Stewart. Both stories offer an uplifting antidote to the harsh reality of cocoa production in Côte d'Ivoire where enslaved child labourers, a symptom of corporate greed and low cocoa bean prices, often work to bring cheap chocolate to our supermarkets. Click below to read more and watch the trailer.