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AS IT IS

Recovering Objects of War Helps to Heal Wounds

March 25, 2019

Argentine war veteran Jorge Altieri stands for a picture with the blood-stained helmet that saved his life in 1982 during the Falklands war, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

Jorge Altieri touches a helmet with old bloodstains on it. The device saved his life in 1982, when Britain and Argentina fought a war over the Falkland Islands.

The helmet, recently returned to Altieri, had been lost on the battlefield many years ago.

"I look at it and I get teary-eyed from all the memories," he said.

Argentina lost the war after its troops invaded the Falklands, a group of islands in the South Atlantic. In all, 649 Argentines and 255 British soldiers died in the fighting.

Argentina still claims ownership of the islands, which it calls the Malvinas. British officials call them the Falklands and say they are self-governing and under British protection.

Relations between the countries have improved recently. A deal permitting a team of experts to recover and identify the remains of Argentine soldiers is one example.

Today, the soldiers who fought and relatives of those who died say recoveries of helmets and other objects seized after the war have helped them heal.

Diego Carlos Arreseigor is an Argentine military veteran. This month, he announced that he is planning to return the helmet of British soldier Alexander Shaw to his family. Shaw was killed in battle at the age of 25.

The helmet is expected to reach Shaw's sister Susan in April or May.

Arreseigor said he found the helmet with other equipment and hid it from a British soldier. He kept if for 37 years, thinking of it as "a trophy of war" that made up for "the loss and pain of so many fallen friends."

Shaw died just hours before a cease-fire took effect. Arreseigor said the British soldier's story moved him. "It's sad like all war stories…. I just turned 60 and I demand our sovereignty over Las Malvinas, but I also pay homage to those who died – Argentine and British – because I think that's the way to rebuild."

For Altieri, seeing his helmet again helped him find similar closure. "I can't stop looking at it, thinking about what it did to stop the bomb shrapnel blowing my head off," he said.

Altieri lost an eye and part of his brain in a blast during the battle for Mount Longdon on June 12, 1982, two days before the fighting stopped.

After the cease-fire, a British soldier took Altieri's helmet to London. After the soldier died, his family kept the helmet until it was put up for sale four years ago.

Altieri offered to buy it, but a British man offered to pay twice the amount. Altieri could not persuade the man to sell it back to him.

Recently, however, the helmet went up for auction on eBay, an e-commerce website. The asking price: about $13,000. Altieri feared he had lost it, until he heard the news: an Argentine businessman had bought it for Altieri.

"All the memories of what I lived in the Malvinas came back to me," Altieri noted.

He hopes to display it at home before giving it to a Falklands war museum. "I want people to see it and see what happened to us there," he said.

I'm John Russell.

The Associated Press reported this story. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.

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Words in This Story

helmet – n. a hard hat that is worn to protect your head

teary-eyed – adj. having eyes that are wet with tears

trophy – n. a prize or award; using the equipment of a defeated army as a memorial of victory

sovereignty – n. the power of a state or area to govern itself

homage – n. something done to honor someone or something

closure – n. a feeling that a bad experience has ended and that you can start to live again in a calm and normal way

auction – n. a public sale at which things are sold to the people who offer to pay the most

AS IT IS

UN: Yemen Has World’s 'Worst Humanitarian Crisis'

March 25, 2019

Men deliver U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) aid in Aslam, Hajjah, Yemen, Sept. 21, 2018 (File photo).

This week marks the fourth anniversary of the Saudi-led campaign to force Houthi rebels from parts of northern Yemen.

The fighting has caused what the United Nations calls "the world's worst humanitarian crisis.”

About 24 million Yemenis -- about 80 percent of the population -- are in need of humanitarian assistance. Millions more have been displaced by the fighting in Yemen.

UN officials say the conflict has led to many civilian deaths and created food shortages. They also say it is destroying the health and education of an entire generation of Yemeni children. The UN estimates that about 10 children die every day from preventable diseases caused by hunger.

Collapsing healthcare

A UN report says Yemen has experienced a sharp jump in the number of suspected cases of the disease cholera.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Monday that 100,000 suspected cases were found from the beginning of the year until March. It claimed that over 190 people have died from the disease in 2019.

In the capital, Sanaa, Doctor Saddam al-Azizi said more than 50 cholera cases were reported every day last week at al-Sabeen, one of Yemen’s largest hospitals. He told The Associated Press that most of the cases were acute watery diarrhea. He added that 20 percent were confirmed cholera cases.

Yemen has experienced two outbreaks of cholera and acute watery diarrhea since 2016. There have been over one million suspected cholera cases and some 3,000 deaths reported nationwide since the fighting began. UN agencies began sending cholera vaccines to limited areas in Yemen since May of 2018.

Cholera is caused by eating unclean food or drinking water. UN agencies have been working to support water safety, cleanliness and health services in Yemen. The aid agencies said that the outbreaks are the result of the country's collapsing health system after four years of conflict.

The rise in cholera cases usually takes place during rainy seasons in Yemen.

It is Yemen’s children that suffer the most. In Sanaa, boys wait at a burial ground every day hoping to get money for helping to bury the dead.

"If no one has died, we just hang around the graves and play around," said 13-year-old Ahmed al-Hamadi.

Fifteen-year-old Yasser al-Arbahi attends school for about three hours in the morning. He says he spends the rest of the day looking for work.

About 2 million Yemeni children have stopped attending school since 2015, according to the United Nations. UNICEF, the UN’s children’s agency, said many schools are damaged, not in use or have becomes shelters for the displaced.

About 2,500 boys have joined the fighting. More than half of Yemeni girls are married before 15.

Rights group Save the Children estimates that 85,000 Yemeni children under the age of 5 may have died of starvation.

I’m Jonathan Evans.

VOA’s Zlatica Hoke and The Associated Press reported this story. Susan Shand adapted their reports for VOA Learning English. The editor was George Grow.

Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

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Words in This Story

diarrhea –n. an illness that causes you to pass waste from your body very frequently and in liquid rather than solid form

acute– adj. requiring short-term medical care; lasting a short time

outbreak– n. a sudden increase in activity

according– adv. as stated

AS IT IS

Kenyan Science Educator Receives $1-Million Teacher Prize

March 25, 2019

Kenyan teacher Peter Tabichi, center, reacts after winning the $1 million Global Teacher Prize in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, March 24, 2019.

A Kenyan teacher who gave away most of his monthly earnings to poor people has won a $1-million prize.

Peter Tabichi was named the winner of the Global Teacher Prize on Sunday at a ceremony in Dubai. Australian actor Hugh Jackman presented the award.

Tabichi teaches science to high schoolers in the village of Pwani, Kenya. The public school where he teaches has just a single computer and has problems connecting to the internet. It also has no library or laboratory.

Almost one-third of children in Pwani are orphans or have only one parent alive.

Tabichi is credited with helping many of his students not only stay in school, but also take part in international science and engineering competitions and go on to college.

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After his win, the teacher told the Associated Press, “I feel great. I can’t believe it. I feel so happy to be among the best teachers in the world, being the best in the world.”

He said he plans to use the prize money to improve the school and help feed the poor.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said in a statement that Tabichi’s story “is the story of Africa” and of hope for future generations.

In his acceptance speech, Tabichi explained that his mother died when he was 11 years old. He said his father, a primary school teacher, raised him and his brothers and sisters by himself.

Tabichi invited his father, who was in Dubai for the award ceremony, up on stage. The crowd cheered loudly when Tabichi asked his father to hold the award.

The Global Teacher Prize is awarded by the Varkey Foundation. That group’s founder, Sunny Varkey, established the for-profit company GEMS Education, which operates 55 schools in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Qatar.

Tabichi was chosen from 10,000 applicants in 180 countries.

His teachings are not limited to the classroom. To help his community prepare for droughts, Tabichi offers villagers guidance on how to grow famine-resistant crops. He calls such knowledge “a matter of life and death.”

Now in its fifth year, the Global Teacher Prize is the largest of its kind.

Last year, a British art teacher won the award for her work in one of the most ethnically diverse places in Britain. Her efforts were said to help students feel welcome and safe in a neighborhood with high murder rates.

Past winners include a Canadian teacher for her work with indigenous students in an Arctic village where suicide rates are high, and a Palestinian teacher for her work in helping West Bank refugees affected by violence.

I’m Ashley Thompson.

The Associated Press reported this story. Ashley Thompson adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

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Words in This Story

library - n. a place where books, magazines, and other materials (such as videos and musical recordings) are available for people to use or borrow

orphan - n. a child whose parents are dead

stage - n. a raised platform in a theater, auditorium, etc., where the performers stand

applicant - n. someone who formally asks for something (such as a job or admission to a college) : someone who applies for something

indigenous - adj. produced, living, or existing naturally in a particular region or environment

AS IT IS

After Report on Russian 2016 Election Interference, What Is Next?

March 25, 2019

Special Counsel Robert Mueller walks past the White House after attending services at St. John's Episcopal Church, in Washington, Sunday, March 24, 2019.

Many people around the United States are wondering what will happen next, now that a report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election has been completed.

Special Counsel Robert Muller gave the report to U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Friday.

Barr, who was appointed by President Donald Trump and approved by Congress last February, then released his outline of the report’s main findings on Sunday. In his summary, Barr said, “The report does not recommend any further indictments.”

Barr also wrote that the special counsel’s office made no secret charges that have yet to be made public.

His office continues to study the report to see how much of it can be released to the public.

Russian interference

The report, Barr said, was divided into two parts. The first part looked at Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. It found that a number of Russian nationals and organizations used the internet to spread disinformation and to incite social conflict. It also found that Russian government actors hacked into computers in the U.S. to gather or spread information to influence the election.

Barr explained that investigators also aimed to understand if anyone connected with Trump’s campaign committed a crime by joining Russian efforts to influence the election.

Barr quoted the report as saying: “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”

Obstruction of justice

Barr said the report also looked at concerns that Trump had obstructed justice – in other words, attempted to block legal investigations.

On this question, the attorney general said the report did not say the president was guilty, but it did not say he was innocent, either. Instead, it “sets out evidence on both sides of the question.” Then the special counsel wrote that “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

However, Barr said he, the deputy attorney general, and other top Justice Department officials, had concluded that the special counsel did not provide enough evidence to charge the president with a crime.

Reactions

Many different reactions to the completion of the report and Barr’s comments were voiced over the weekend.

Supporters of Trump said the report showed that the president and his campaign were not guilty of what has been called collusion — a secret agreement — with the Russians.

Trump tweeted on Sunday that the result meant that he did not hide anything, block anything and was cleared of wrongdoing.

Opposition members critical of the president have called for all of the report to be released to the public. They also point to other investigations of Trump, his family and associates.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, both Democratic Party leaders, released a joint statement. It said Attorney General Barr’s letter raised "as many questions as it answers.”

They also said Barr was not fair or objective in his findings.

Democratic Party Representative Jerry Nadler of New York said he would call for Barr to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on the issue.

History of the investigation

The investigation has been the subject of fierce debate between the political parties in Washington. It also has brought into question the fairness of news reporting on the issue and proved deeply divisive in areas like social media.

Acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein ordered the investigation into Russian interference in May 2017. The timing of the move raised questions because it happened soon after Trump fired former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey.

Rosenstein has remained as the deputy attorney general but has said he will step down soon.

Defenders of Mueller’s investigation say he has carried out the order fully. The special counsel received nearly 500 search orders, requested evidence from 13 foreign governments and questioned about 500 witnesses.

As a result, Mueller charged 25 Russians with wrongdoing related to interference. He also brought charges against six aides and advisors to the Trump presidential campaign. Trump’s first national security advisor, Michael Flynn, resigned and admitted to lying to investigators. Trump’s one-time campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was found guilty of avoiding taxes and lying on bank statements.

On Monday, the Trump administration signaled that it is up to Barr and the Justice Department to decide what details of the investigation can be released to the public.

I’m Mario Ritter Jr.

Kenneth Schwartz and Masood Farivar reported this story for VOA News. Mario Ritter adapted it for VOA Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

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Words in This Story

hacking –n. secretly getting access to a computer system to get information or to cause damage

conspire – v. to secretly plan with someone to do something that is harmful or illegal