Saving Uyghur culture, school for female shepards, local farmers reforesting Timor-Leste

Elizabeth Jacyshyn-Owen | Posted on March 8, 2021 |

Photo: Sean Chiu/Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

In today’s edition of Squirrel News, we’re talking about young members of the Uyghur religious minority fighting to protect their history, a school for female shepherds in Spain, and local farmers taking the reforestation of Timor-Leste into their own hands.

Young Uyghurs are rallying together to protect their culture

With ongoing human rights abuses committed against the Muslim minority group threatening every aspect of their lives, young Uyghurs are fighting to preserve their culture.

Source: Yes! Magazine

School for female shepherds aims to restore balance in Spain’s countryside

As more women leave rural areas for cities, course forms part of drive to revive villages.

Source: The Guardian

Local farmers making Timor-Leste greener with community forestry projects

Social enterprise WithOneSeed hopes to address environmental degradation through reforestation whilst helping build a sustainable economy.

Source: The Planetary Press

An intensive immersion programme is reviving the Cherokee language

Participants are paid $10 per hour to attend a 40-hour-per-week course for two years, with the classes aiming to boost the number of fluent speakers.

Source: Reasons To Be Cheerful

French senior citizens link up with language students in lockdown

ShareAmi scheme aims to combat the isolation felt by many older people during the pandemic.

Source: The Guardian

San Antonio’s teachers are going door to door to engage with absent students

With many students struggling with the switch to online schooling, teachers from Rawlinson Middle School are conducting mental regular health checks on their pupils.

Source: Texas Tribune

HIV positive woman is helping those with the disease have “a good death”

Thembi Nkambule’s work is greatly improving end-of-life care in Eswatini, a country where one in four people have HIV.

Source: BBC News

Germany’s tallest wooden tower is coming to Berlin

The 98-metre-high building will have 29 floors, with the architects focusing on social and climate sustainability.

Source: Arch Daily

Shining through: Dutch artist paints farming in a new light to boost crops

With the help of botanists, Daan Roosegaarde has created a ‘light recipe’ for a field of leeks to help the plants grow better.

Source: The Guardian

Critically endangered toad species successfully bred in captivity for the first time

Scientists from the Manchester Museum, a part of the University of Manchester, have successfully bred one of the world’s rarest toads: the variable harlequin toad.