The power of an internet without borders

1:19pm Thursday 3rd April 2008

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You have probably heard of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) www.doctorswithoutborders.org or Teachers Without Borders www.teacherswithoutborders.org. But did you know a global virtual freedom of speech online day was launched by Reporters Without Borders, www.rsf.org last week? Many peoplel choose to bite their tongues, choose to remain silent, choose to walk away - but for some that behaviour is not a choice, but a matter of survival. This event opened the door to freedom of speech in a way only the Net can do.

According to RSF reports, more than 5,000 people protested online - that's compared to the 2,500 websites, blogs and forums shut down or blocked last year. Censorship is a big issue on the Net. The idea was to give those who are not allowed to gather in public and speak freely - China, Burma, Cuba - a place to protest peacefully.

But it's not just professionals who have set up these fantastic groups, who provide help where needed, ignoring traditional boundaries. Mothers Without Borders, http://www.motherswithoutborders.org/, was set up by a woman after her experience in Romanian orphanages. This is a superb example of how the Internet can bring people with a common interest together, from around the globe, without issues around their ethnicity, social status, language, religon or culture getting in the way.

"It is our mission to offer hope to the orphaned and vulnerable children of our world by nurturing and caring from them as if they were our own." Their projects range from a Northern Uganda Child Rescue to Sudan Street Girls Safe House to micro-loans. There's a world of opportunity out there to help others in far away places - and, if you choose, you can do it from your computer.

And if actions speak louder than words, then Words Without Borders, http://www.wordswithoutborders.org/, the online magazine for international literature, is definitely practising what they preach. Translation is their passion - they work on the "dangerous imbalance when, today, 50 per cent of all the books in translation now published worldwide are translated from English, but only six per cent are translated into English". They see "literature as a passport". Have you read a book by a foreign author lately? Watched a film with English subtitles? This site will definitely inspire.

Behind these movements, quietly working in the background, is the Word Wide Web. So it stands to reason that there would be a Technology Without Borders organisation, http://www.technologywithoutborders.org/. They use a remote workplace model to help non-profit organisations and educational instutions use technology. TWB has no political or governmental affilitions and it can move around the globe providing help. And it focuses on developing human and technological resources within post-conflict and developing areas.

If your current job isn't giving you the satisfaction you really want, maybe a Without Borders' group - and there is one for just about every profession - can provide just the opportunity you need. TWF quote in the Vision section: "We Make a Living by What We Get; We Make a Life by What We Give."

If you have an experience without borders' that you'd like to share, get in touch. Kendal's Pat Wright has spent her retirement working with Cherynobyl children in the Ukraine, in her New Homes, New Beginnings project. Watch her video on Video Nation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cumbria/videonation/archive/w/pat_wright/index.shtml.

Read about it: Search for Pat Wright on thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk Other ways to be heard online: l Become a community correspondent.

l Post a comment on a story or blog.

Join a forum.

Create a blog or social networking page.

Start a campaign online.

Support a charity.

Put a link to organisations you support on your website.

For more information contact the Web Editor, kate.whiteside@kendal.newsquest.co.uk.