Mexican comedian brings stand-up to female prisoners

Best known for her Netflix shows and stand-up tours, Sofía Niño de Rivera is one of Latin America's leading comedians.

The 35-year-old from Mexico City has long been making audiences laugh, but she recently embarked on a more serious mission: supporting vulnerable women in Mexico's notoriously dangerous prisons.
In a bid to help female inmates overcome frustration and depression, Sofía gave 10 stand-up workshops in the Mexican capital's vast Santa Martha Acatitla penitentiary over the summer.
The project came about after her cousin, Saskia Niño de Rivera, asked her to do a benefit gig to raise funds for Reinserta, a charity she runs to improve conditions in Mexican jails.
The comedian accepted but wanted to do more than just raise money. They agreed that stand-up workshops could help inmates to use comedy as an emotional release for the benefit of their mental health.
"Stand-up is a really cathartic psychological tool. It has helped me a lot in my life," Sofía says at a hotel in Guadalajara, the morning after a sold-out public performance.
"Women in prison don't have a lot of tools to help them handle emotional issues," she adds. "I think stand-up is something that can help them."

A tough crowd

Women account for just 5% of Mexico's 211,000 prison population, but they receive fewer visits and are more likely to be abandoned by their families than male inmates, according to a Reinserta survey.
Saskia, a lawyer and philanthropist who founded Reinserta in 2013, says inmates rarely have access to psychologists and find therapeutic lessons difficult to put into practice when in "survival mode" in their cells.
The combination of her cousin's public profile and Reinserta's experience working in jails helped convince the prison authorities to back the project, but it proved tougher to persuade inmates to participate.
"It was very difficult because stand-up is a relatively new concept in Mexico," Saskia says. "The women in prison didn't know who Sofía was or what stand-up was, so it wasn't easy to introduce this activity."
Instead of giving stand-up performances herself, Sofía taught the inmates to laugh about their own experiences.
She also invited other Mexican comedians to perform specially tailored sets with jokes that inmates could relate to about life behind bars.
At first the women were reluctant to open up, but Sofía gradually began to win their trust.
"It's very hard to show them stand-up but it's been so interesting to learn their stories and watch them try," Sofía says. "It's a tool they didn't know they had."
While she encourages inmates to make light of their difficult surroundings, Sofía warns they must be careful to choose the right moment.
"It's not something they can use very publicly," she says, noting that one woman was transferred to a cell with stricter conditions for mocking the way a guard spoke.

'Unsafe' inside

Sofía and Saskia are currently working on a documentary to increase awareness about the conditions in Mexico's overcrowded and unsafe prisons.
A recent government survey revealed that almost half of inmates share their cell with more than five prisoners, nearly a third feel unsafe in prison, and one in five feel unsafe in their own cells.
One in three prisoners was a victim of illegal conduct last year, including theft, injury, extortion, threats and sexual assault. And four out of 10 inmates have suffered from corruption, with guards charging them to receive visitors, bedding, food, drinking water or medical attention.
Violent prison riots are common. More than a dozen inmates died in clashes at a prison in Nuevo Leon state last week.
 She also works with children living inside the prison.

Hazael Ruíz, the undersecretary for Mexico City's penitentiary system, says the stand-up workshops have helped ease tensions in Santa Martha Acatitla.
He's now planning more sessions in another women's prison and possibly a male facility.
"The girls that participated have shown a very positive change in attitude," Mr Ruíz says. "Through stand-up they found the tools to channel the negativity that they've experienced into comedy."
"They make daily life enjoyable," he adds. "They get along with less tension than the others and their new outlook on life is contagious."
Sofía is encouraged by this progress but warns that Mexico must do more to generate more humane conditions in its jails.
"Mexico would benefit if people inside a prison could really rehabilitate and go outside and not do drugs or be killers," she says.
"Prison is just like a little Mexico and every time I go in there I think: 'This country has a lot to change and it has to change fast.'"

BBC News

By Duncan Tucker, Pachuca

REDUCED GROUPS

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7 Nov  - C	9 Nov  - D
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12 Dec - D	14 Dec - A
19 Dec - B

What's the stupidest thing a nation has ever done?

Absolutely weird cases!

Michael Bloomberg has some skin in the Britain game: his ex-wife is British, his daughters have our passports. So he was saying it as a friend when he commented this week that he thought Brexit was “the single stupidest thing any country has ever done” (aside from electing Donald Trump, he added, of course).
True, it is hard for Bloomberg to imagine why people might vote against a system that worked perfectly well for billionaire captains of industry. And whatever follows may knock a few points off the GDP. But is it really the stupidest thing any country has ever done? Here is some Bloomberg News for Mike: the competition is stiffer than he thinks.

The Trojan horse

“What’s that?” “A giant wooden horse the Greeks inexplicably left after a 10-year siege.” “Right. Shall we run it through the X-Ray machine before we drag it in?” “Nah.”

King Vortigern’s mercenaries

King Vortigern, fifth century ruler of the Britons, had a problem. Pictish invaders were up to their usual invading tricks. He needed an easy way to repel them. Solution? Saxon mercenaries. Lots of them. But it turned out that cheap foreign labour has its issues: seeing the glories of England, they sent for their friends, and took over Vortigern’s country.

Myanmar’s nines crisis

Stalinesque Burmese president Ne Win had a favourite number. Don’t we all? He was a bit more serious about his. In 1987, he abolished at a stroke all bank notes that weren’t divisible by it. This left only the 45 and 90 kyat notes in circulation. That’s right, mathematicians: his favourite number was nine. In this inverse monetary bingo, anyone whose life savings were differently denominated was instantly bankrupted. National chaos ensued, and the national resistance movement headed by Aung San Suu Kyi was born.

The Confederacy’s cotton ban

At the outset, the south was widely predicted to win the US civil war. These, after all, were the heartlands of a still overwhelmingly agrarian economy. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a people who had pegged their historical mantle on the right to keep slaves, the south then chose to enact another colossal face-punch. Attempting to force diplomatic recognition from the European powers, they placed a ban on the export of their No 1 crop, cotton. Their already faltering economy shrunk like a cashmere jumper in a hot wash.

The Maginot line

“Let’s spend half our defence budget on a country-long line of state-of-the-art interlocking fortifications on the German border.” “Right. But do you think they’ll come through Belgium?” “They won’t.” “You said that last time.” “Exactly. So why would they do the same thing again?” “Fair point.”

                                                                      Gavin Haynes, The Guardian

Joshua Boyle and Caitlan Coleman: The couple taken by the Taliban

Canadian Joshua Boyle and American Caitlan Coleman were rescued this month after being held captive for five years by a Taliban-linked insurgent group. But what were two Western backpackers doing in Afghanistan in the first place?

"Looking back, I think it was two years before we saw any proof they were alive," recalls Joshua Boyle's friend Alex Edwards.

"I had assumed that they were probably dead, and tried to make peace with that."

Joshua Boyle and Caitlan Coleman were kidnapped in Afghanistan in 2012 after venturing into one of the most hostile regions of the war-torn country.

The last email from Boyle, sent to Coleman's parents on 8 October of that year, said they were in a part of Afghanistan he described as "unsafe".

The two were held in captivity for five years, suffering violence and abuse. Boyle says one of the children they conceived during the ordeal was killed by their captors.

Edwards says when he first heard his friend had travelled to Afghanistan with Coleman - who was seven months pregnant at the time - he couldn't understand how they had "done something so appallingly dangerous".

Family and friends have described Boyle and Coleman as naive idealists - a couple with strong convictions and humanitarian inclinations.

In interviews following their release, Boyle said he and Coleman travelled to Afghanistan to help people. He called himself a "pilgrim" on a mission.

He told reporters he went to help "the most neglected minority group in the world. Those ordinary villagers who live deep inside Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, where no NGO, no aid worker and no government has ever successfully been able to bring the necessary help".

What exactly the couple intended to do to help is a question that hasn't been answered.

To continue reading, click here: bbc_news

Sold for a song

For all those who love birds and bird songs.

Visit this BBC news webpage to see what is going on in Java's forests: Sold for a song

Conjoined twins survive gruelling journey to separation

An amazing story!

Conjoined twins born in a remote village in the Democratic Republic of Congo have survived a 15-hour journey on the back of a motorbike to be separated.

They were then flown to the capital, Kinshasa, where they were operated on by a team of volunteer surgeons.
In total, the one-week-old girls had to endure an 870-mile (1,400km) round trip across jungle, on treacherous roads and by air.
The twins are now being monitored.
The babies - Anick and Destin - will return to their village in three weeks. They were born at 37 weeks in August, were joined at the navel, sharing some internal organs.
About one in every 200,000 live births results in conjoined twins and their survival is never certain, especially in remote areas where no medical help is available.
But to the astonishment of doctors, these twins were born naturally in the village of Muzombo, in the west of the African country.
Realising that the babies needed surgery, their parents Claudine Mukhena and Zaiko Munzadi wrapped the babies in a blanket and set off on an epic journey through jungle to their nearest hospital in Vanga.
Without the equipment or experience to carry out the complex separation surgery in the small hospital, doctors transferred them to a hospital in Kinshasa more than 300 miles away.
To get there, the family was flown by MAF, a humanitarian airline which operates in remote regions, rather than risk another long journey over dangerous roads.
Dr Junior Mudji, who is now caring for them at Vanga Evangelical Hospital, said he was delighted.
"At 37 weeks, conjoined twins born naturally - it's unheard of," he said.
"They are doing fine, they sleep well and eat well. In general, they are doing well.
"We will keep them here for three more weeks to be sure everything is normal."
Dr Mudji believes the operation was the first to separate conjoined twins in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

BBC News



 

May is not clear about the Brexit

Theresa May refuses to say if she would vote for Brexit in fresh poll 

 Prime minister repeatedly avoids question during radio phone-in where she struggles to give clear answers on Brexit issues

Theresa May has refused to say if she would vote for Brexit if another referendum were held today, saying instead she would have to “weigh up the evidence” before deciding what to do in the current situation.
The prime minister, who voted to remain in the EU in last year’s poll, struggled to give clear answers on Brexit issues during an LBC radio phone-in on Tuesday, and admitted there was no plan for what would happen to EU citizens living in the UK if no deal was agreed with Brussels.
May initially said she would not deal with hypothetical questions, but when repeatedly pressed by the presenter, Iain Dale, on how she would vote if there was a fresh referendum, she gave a series of long responses to avoid answering the yes/no question.
“I voted remain for good reasons at the time, but circumstances move on … you’re asking me to say how would I vote in a vote now against a different background, a different international background, a different economic background.”
Pressed again, she said: “I could sit here and I could say ‘Oh, I’d still vote remain or I’d vote leave’ just to give you an answer to that question. I’m being open and honest with you.
“What I did last time round was I looked at everything and came to a judgment and I’d do exactly the same this time round.”
Opposition parties said May’s responses showed she was not fully committed to the Brexit she was promising to deliver.
Jo Swinson, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, said it was “staggering that even the prime minister isn’t convinced by the government’s approach to Brexit”.
Former Labour Europe minister Chris Bryant said her responses showed May “clearly doesn’t believe in Brexit in her heart of hearts, [which] makes her hard Brexit policy all the more irresponsible”.
Within the Tories, May is under pressure on all sides after a disastrous Conservative party conference speech and faltering talks with the EU.
While the hard Brexit supporters fear she is veering towards a relationship too close to the EU, the soft Brexit wing are concerned the government is putting more effort into preparing for the possibility of no deal being reached.
Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, said earlier on Tuesday that the EU and the UK may need to start planning for such a scenario if negotiations do not speed up.
He ruled out any chance of “sufficient progress” on the financial settlement, citizens’ rights and the Irish border being made by the time of a council summit on 19 October, which would have allowed wider trade talks to begin, as originally planned.

Click here to read more: The_Guardian

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