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Kenya Uses Social Media to Mediate Electoral Process; Infant Functionally Cured of HIV; How to Fight Food Waste
Aired March 05, 2013 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN ANCHOR: As we begin this March 5th edition of CNN`s STUDENT NEWS, we`re heading to the African nation of Kenya. It`s home to a population of 43 million people. Kenya`s government is a republic where its citizens elect their leaders and that`s what they did yesterday.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This comes after a new constitution was passed on 2010 and is the most complex election in Kenya`s history. People will be voting for member of county assembly, governor, senator, women`s member of national assembly, member of national assembly, and finally president.
AZUZ: Part of the reason why Kenya`s constitution changed was the violence that followed the country`s last presidential election. The results were challenged. Supporters of different candidates fought each other. More than 1,200 people were killed. The changes to the country`s government were designed to make future elections more peaceful.
ROBERTSON: People have been turning out to vote in the polling stations like this one in the poor city of Mombassa since before 6 in the morning when the polling stations opened. Some places we visited had lines half a mile long. And that`s despite fears of the possibility of tribal violence.
AZUZ stations. There was a stampede at another voting site. And some police officers were attacked. Some Kenyans were preparing for this kind of thing before the election and they were planning to use social media to help reduce violence on election day. Nima Elbagir explains how.
NIMA ELBAGIR, NAIROBI, KENYA: During the violence that marred the 2007 elections here, citizen journalists were crucial in helping to pinpoint the worst effected areas, and none more than Ushahidi which means witness in Swahili.
You have been working on different ways to ensure that this election is transparent.
DAUDI WERE, USHAHIDI: What you see here is a team of digital humanitarians. The people who deal with the data that we get into the system. Uchaguzi (ph) the Swahili name for "election" is the name of the platform we are deploying for this election. We have partners across the country sending us information, but also verifying the information that we get. And the second tool that we use is a technology platform (INAUDIBLE) and the various apps that go along with it.
ELBAGIR: Because the apps are really cool. You`ve got one on your phone right here. So people go online, they download this app, and then anywhere in the country if they see something they have concern about they go onto the app and they report it, or they tweet it, or they take a picture and it reaches you immediately.
WERE: You have the power in your hands (ph) to protect your vote and that`s what we`re doing at Ordinary Citizens - working together to protect our vote and our electoral process.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is this legit? Women with HIV can pass the virus to their children during pregnancy.
This is true. Infected mothers can infect their babies during pregnancy, delivery, or nursing.
AZUZ: HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It affects the body`s immune system, and it can lead to AIDS. There`s not an official cure, but researchers say a 2-year-old girl from this Mississippi hospital was the first child to be functionally cured of HIV.
That`s an important difference. Functionally cured doesn`t mean the virus is gone completely. It means that the virus` presence is so small that standard tests can`t find it, and the patient doesn`t need lifelong treatment.
Here`s how it happened. The baby`s mother has HIV. Within 30 hours of the birth, doctors started treating the baby for HIV. The baby was on HIV drugs for about 15 months, then for whatever reason the mother stopped giving the baby the drugs. She was off them from 8-10 months. When doctors saw her next, no signs of HIV. She was functionally cured.
DR. HANNAH GAY, UNIV. OF MISSISSIPPI MEDICAL CENTER: That`s still a possibility and we`re going to be following the baby for a while to make sure that the virus does not come back. However, at this point, she`s been off medicines for quite some time and there has been no return of the virus. This is quite unique. We`ve not seen this in other cases before.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today`s shoutout goes to Ms. Jaeger`s U.S. government class at Spring Valley High School in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Which prefix is the Latin word that means "field?" Here we go. Is it tapo, agri, pharma, or tera?
You`ve got three seconds, go.
Agri is Latin for "field" and agriculture is the culture of the field, like raising crops and livestock. That`s your answer, and that`s your shoutout.
AZUZ: A huge amount of the food the world produces, up to half of it in some places, is wasted. And this is what we mean by that. What you didn`t finish from your meal at a restaurant and what you don`t take home to eat is thrown out - it`s wasted. When you buy food at the store but wind up trashing it later, wasted. When grocery stores don`t sell all the fruits and vegetables they have in time or when they won`t accept farm produce that doesn`t look fresh but actually might be, that can go to waste.
It`s a problem worldwide, but there are some solutions to it. One is not buying more food than you can eat or share. CNN`s Erin McLaughlin found another at a store in England.
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Vegetables lie rotting in an English field. It`s not bad weather that`s done it. It`s not insects or pests that have made it inedible. The farmers in charge of this field say they had to reject all of this cabbage because it didn`t look right.
TRISTRAM STUART, FEEDING SK: Here we have, look at that. A couple of weeks ago, this was a beautiful head of broccoli. Lovely sprouting broccoli. It`s one of my favorite vegetables. And as you can see, we have half an acre of rotten broccoli here. It breaks my heart.
MCLAUGHLIN: Tristram Stuart and his team collect food that would otherwise go to waste. They`re here to salvage what`s left of the cabbages.
STUART: You can see the outer leaves have been pecked by pigeons. That means that the supermarkets don`t want them, even though no one eats these outer leaves and the heart of this cabbage is perfectly good, fresh, delicious, nutritious food.
MCLAUGHLIN: According to a study, up to 30 percent of the UK`s vegetable crop never leaves the field as a result of such practices. But it doesn`t have to be this way. Here at The People`s Supermarket in central London, chef Arthur Potts Dawson sees beyond imperfection.
The People`s Supermarket accepts produce from the field that would have otherwise gone to waste.
ARTHUR POTTS DAWSON, THE PEOPLE`S SUPERMARKET: Well, we actively went out and sought it. You know? We really, really looked for it. I would go into the field and there would be pulling out tons and tons and tons of potatoes every hour, but there was a byproduct. About 30 percent of it, misshapen, a little bit crushed, was just discarded. I said, well what are you doing with those? And they said, you want them? And I said, I don`t just want them, I will pay you for them.
MCLAUGHLIN: The result, a colorful array of vegetables. Imperfect avocado, kale, and artichoke.
How has the consumer responded? Do people come in here? Do they notice some of the imperfections? And do they buy?
POTTS DAWSON: People have already been trained by decades of supermarkets now to only buy the perfect, you know, the perfect leek. But the imperfect leek, if they don`t buy it, I`ll take it.
MCLAUGHLIN: And they practice what they preach here. There`s a full kitchen at the back of the supermarket, complete with a chef who uses the produce customers don`t buy to make ready-made meals to be sold in the store. Proof that looks don`t necessarily matter when it comes to making delicious food. Erin McLaughlin, CNN, London.
AZUZ: A new report from Facebook says that teenagers may be getting sick of Facebook, and heading to other social media apps and sites. What do you think about this idea of Facebook fatigue? If you`re still on Facebook, talk to us about it on Facebook.com/cnnstudentnews.
Joseph Brunell (ph) is an eighth grader at Vickery Creek Middle School in Forsyth County, Georgia. He loves basket ball, but Joseph has a medical condition called Spina Bifida. It restricts him to a wheelchair, so he can`t play on the Vickery Creek team. At least, that was true until one recent game.
MICHAEL CHEEK, HEAD COACH, VICKERY CREEK BASKETBALL TEAM: It`s going to be a surprise. It`s going to all about Joseph Brunell (ph).
AZUZ: For the fourth quarter, they gave Joseph a jersey and brought the game to him. Players on both teams have been secretly practicing in wheelchairs so that they could make Joseph part of this game. One of his teammates said they did this for Joseph because of what he taught them.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: We learned to never give up, and always try our best in every thing we do.
AZUZ: Fantastic story. It`s March, we may be a little early for the madness, but this video makes a great warm up. High school section championship. Team in-bounding the ball is down two with three seconds to go. Crosscourt pass, stolen, Ball thrown in the air to run out the clock, but the guy who threw the in-bound pass gets his hands on it, and heaves up a desperation shot. Makes it. 55-foot shot at the buzzer. Watch it play out in real time.
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AZUZ: A last second shot that nets a ton of attention. That was definitely a buzzer-beater. Teachers, your feedback, our homepage, perfect match. Tell us what you thought of today`s show and we`ll meet you back here tomorrow for more CNN STUDENT NEWS.
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