Past Articles by John Burnett
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Two Decades Later, Some Branch Davidians Still Believe Twenty years ago, federal agents clashed with David Koresh's Branch Davidian community near Waco, Texas. The standoff ended with a raid and fire in which some 80 children, women and men perished. It's remembered as one of the darkest chapters in American law enforcement. |
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Evangelicals Try To Soften Hearts On Overhauling Immigration The evangelical movement, historically, has not been supportive of overhauling immigration. But that stance is changing. The Evangelical Immigration Table has united a diverse section of religious groups — from the social justice organization Sojourners to the Southern Baptist Convention. |
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Evangelicals Try To Soften Hearts On Overhauling Immigration The evangelical movement, historically, has not been supportive of overhauling immigration. But that stance is changing. The Evangelical Immigration Table has united a diverse section of religious groups — from the social justice organization Sojourners to the Southern Baptist Convention. |
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Thousands Trek To New Mexico Chapel On Good Friday Every year thousands of people make a pilgrimage down the state highway toward the Catholic shrine in Chimayo, N.M. They gather there to pray for forgiveness and healing. |
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As Islam Grows, U.S. Imams In Short Supply The more than 2,100 American mosques are facing a challenge. There aren't enough imams, or spiritual leaders, to go around. |
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Juarez Priest Finds 'Hand Of God In The Midst Of Mayhem' The Mexican border city was the epicenter of the drug cartel wars, and it's still a violent place. Some 800 people were murdered last year, but that's down from 3,000 a couple years back. A priest who has lived through the worst of it says things are getting better. |
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Juarez Priest Finds 'Hand Of God In The Midst Of Mayhem' The Mexican border city was the epicenter of the drug cartel wars, and it's still a violent place. Some 800 people were murdered last year, but that's down from 3,000 a couple years back. A priest who has lived through the worst of it says things are getting better. |
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Newtown Tragedy: Would A Good God Allow Such Evil? In the aftermath of tragic events like the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., people often question why an all-powerful God would allow such evil to happen. Throughout human history, different faiths have attempted to reconcile belief in a benevolent God with the inevitability of human suffering. |
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From A Life Of Crime To Designing Jewelry, All In A Nairobi Slum Zakale Creations is a jewelry-designing operation that employs 30 young people — former thieves and prostitutes. The Nairobi-based operation is the brainchild of John Mucheru, himself a former mugger. |
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From A Life Of Crime To Designing Jewelry, All In A Nairobi Slum Zakale Creations is a jewelry-designing operation that employs 30 young people — former thieves and prostitutes. The Nairobi-based operation is the brainchild of John Mucheru, himself a former mugger. |
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Nairobi Film Depicts Crime And The City For the first time, Kenya has a film in the hunt for an Academy Award for best foreign language film. Nairobi Half Life chronicles a young man's misbegotten migration from a rural village to the crime-ridden capital. The surprise hit film is helping Kenyans better understand Nairobi's crime culture. |
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A Battle For The Stolen Childhoods Of Kenyan Girls Early marriages and the sex tourism trade are grave threats to girls growing up on Kenya's Swahili Coast. Families often sell their daughters into marriage; others push them into prostitution. A coalition of educators, religious and traditional leaders is fighting back. |
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A Battle For The Stolen Childhoods Of Kenyan Girls Early marriages and the sex tourism trade are grave threats to girls growing up on Kenya's Swahili Coast. Families often sell their daughters into marriage; others push them into prostitution. A coalition of educators, religious and traditional leaders is fighting back. |
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Somali Chef Seizes The Chance To Return Home London-raised Ahmed Jama won't give up on Mogadishu, Somalia, even though his restaurants have been attacked by suicide bombers more than once. In fact, he's leading the city's cultural revival, one dish at a time, by offering residents and visitors a taste of authentic Somali cuisine and hospitality. (This piece initially aired Nov. 26, 2012, on Morning Edition.) |
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Tanzania's Albinos Face Constant Threat Of Attack For many albinos — born with a partial or total lack of pigment in their skin, hair and eyes — life is difficult, and that is particularly true in Tanzania, where they are attacked for their flesh, the result of superstitious beliefs. More than 100 albinos have been assaulted since 2006. |
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Tanzania's Albinos Face Constant Threat Of Attack For many albinos — born with a partial or total lack of pigment in their skin, hair and eyes — life is difficult, and that is particularly true in Tanzania, where they are attacked for their flesh, the result of superstitious beliefs. More than 100 albinos have been assaulted since 2006. |
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At His Own Risk, Somali Chef Creates Gourmet Haven In War-Weary Mogadishu London-raised Ahmed Jama won't give up on Mogadishu, even though his restaurants have been attacked by suicide bombers more than once. In fact, he's leading the city's cultural revival, one dish at a time, by offering residents and visitors a taste of authentic Somali cuisine and hospitality. |
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At His Own Risk, Somali Chef Creates Gourmet Haven In War-Weary Mogadishu London-raised Ahmed Jama won't give up on Mogadishu, even though his restaurants have been attacked by suicide bombers more than once. In fact, he's leading the city's cultural revival, one dish at a time, by offering residents and visitors a taste of authentic Somali cuisine and hospitality. |
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At His Own Risk, Somali Chef Creates Gourmet Haven In War-Weary Mogadishu London-raised Ahmed Jama won't give up on Mogadishu, even though his restaurants have been attacked by suicide bombers more than once. In fact, he's leading the city's cultural revival, one dish at a time, by offering residents and visitors a taste of authentic Somali cuisine and hospitality. |
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Aid Workers Struggle To Provide Services In Congo Fighting between rebel and government forces in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo has set off a humanitarian crisis. In one small refugee camp, workers from international aid groups are doing what they can to try and help some of the roughly 100,000 Congolese displaced by the fighting. |
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Aid Workers Struggle To Provide Services In Congo Fighting between rebel and government forces in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo has set off a humanitarian crisis. In one small refugee camp, workers from international aid groups are doing what they can to try and help some of the roughly 100,000 Congolese displaced by the fighting. |
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Rebel Advances In Congo Send Civilians Fleeing Rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo made big gains this week on the country's eastern border. As has happened many times before in the area, the fighting touched off a mass exodus of civilians seeking safety. |
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Rebel Advances In Congo Send Civilians Fleeing Rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo made big gains this week on the country's eastern border. As has happened many times before in the area, the fighting touched off a mass exodus of civilians seeking safety. |
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Rebel Takeover Of Congo City Humiliates Government In eastern Congo, the city of Goma was captured by rebel forces. But on the streets, life appears normal and people are not particularly fearful. Many say that the rebels have humiliated their national army and UN peacekeepers. Even some wounded government soldiers in the military hospital seem in a conciliatory mood. |
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Elated Kenyans Revel In Obama Win Kenyans celebrated nationwide as the U.S. election results rolled in Wednesday morning, Kenyan time. President Obama's father was Kenyan, and many in the East African nation consider the president one of their own. |
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Elated Kenyans Revel In Obama Win Kenyans celebrated nationwide as the U.S. election results rolled in Wednesday morning, Kenyan time. President Obama's father was Kenyan, and many in the East African nation consider the president one of their own. |
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In A Tanzanian Village, Elephant Poachers Thrive In an impoverished country, elephant poaching is a quick way to make big money. A pair of poachers explain how they track and kill elephants in one of Africa's top game reserves. |
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Poachers Decimate Tanzania's Elephant Herds Tanzania has one of the largest elephant populations in the world. It also has one of the biggest poaching problems. An estimated 10,000 elephants a year are being slaughtered for their tusks, many of which are shipped to Asia. |
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As Somalia's War Ebbs, Mogadishu Dares To Rebuild Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, is experiencing a rebirth. It may still be fragile at this stage, but after two decades of war and anarchy, the Indian Ocean city is coming back to life following the expulsion of Islamist militants. |
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Forest People Return To Their Land ... As Tour Guides In 1991, the Batwa forest people of Uganda were evicted from their land to make way for gorilla conservation. Like other displaced Central African hunter-gatherers, when they lost their forest, they lost much of their identity. A new program is trying to help them earn money and reconnect with their roots. |
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Uganda's Leader: 26 Years In Power, No Plans To Quit The man who seized power in Uganda decrying other African leaders who overstayed their welcome has now been in office for 26 years. As the country turns 50, more and more Ugandans say their president has grown autocratic as he clings to power. |
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Gorillas And Guerrillas Share The Troubled Congo Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo is home to 200 endangered mountain gorillas, about a quarter of the world's total. In recent months, a new insurgent group has taken over gorilla habitat. Despite it all, the gorilla population has been rising. |
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Yet Again, Congo Faces The Specter Of Civil War The Democratic Republic of Congo has been awash in rebel groups for nearly two decades. An emerging force, M23, controls a large swathe of territory in Congo's troubled east. |
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Ugandan Gold Medalist Returns To Fame And Fortune Stephen Kiprotich came out of nowhere to win the gold medal in the marathon at the London Olympics. His rags-to-riches story has buoyed spirits in his impoverished homeland. Now, he is grappling with his newfound fame and fortune, while eagerly anticipating the return to his great love, running. |
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In South Sudan, Cows Are Cash And Source Of Friction In South Sudan, a man's worth is measured by bovine wealth, and ever-increasing dowries are paid in cows. Cattle-rustling is an age-old problem. But recently, these raids have become markedly more violent, and the new nation is having difficulty stopping them. |
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On The Road To Olympic Gold, Kenyan Marathoners Fuel Up On Carbs Kenya's winning marathoners mainly fill up on high-carb vegetarian dishes like ugali, a cornmeal mush, and githeri, boiled corn and kidney beans. It's a bland diet, but it seems to help them excel at middle- and long-distance running. |
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Summer Nights: Cuban 'Jubans' In South Sudan In Juba, the capital city of South Sudan, there's a small corner of Havana. A number of Jubans who studied in Cuba have tried to recreate some of the atmosphere of the Caribbean island in their southern Sudanese homeland. |
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Kenya's Youngest 'Outcasts' Emerge From Shadows Children with disabilities - estimated at more than 1 million - are shunned in Kenya as curses from God, shut away and largely neglected. Some nonprofits are helping these children and their families. But such programs are just a drop in the ocean given Kenya's paucity of basic human services. |
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At Age One, A Tattered Reputation For South Sudan South Sudan's former rebel commanders are now government officials who are allegedly fleecing the national treasury. Impoverished citizens are angry, and efforts to recover stolen funds have not been successful so far. |
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How Kenya Builds The Fastest Humans On Earth Many of the world's best marathoners come from a highland region where they run along mountainous dirt roads at 8,000 feet above sea level. They're competing for Olympic gold, but real gold inspires them, too. |
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Kenya's Free Schools Bring A Torrent Of Students Kenya, like other countries in East Africa, has dropped many of the fees that kept poor children out of public schools. More kids are now attending, but there's a desperate shortage of books, teachers and other basic needs. |
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Texas Seeks New Water Supplies Amid Drought Ranchers endured a tough time during the seven-year Texas drought in the 1950s. But last year was the hottest, driest period in the record books. As the state braces for another arid summer, it is getting more serious about finding new sources of water. |
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How One Drought Changed Texas Agriculture Forever Texas farmers were boggled in the 1950s when rain refused to fall for seven years. Crops and livestock suffered from the drought, which later spurred water planning initiatives so the state could survive in the event of another dry spell. Some growers still recall what's colloquially called "the drouth." |
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On This Stage, Jesus Is A Robber; The Devil's A Rapist The Angola Prison Drama Club performed a play unlike any other in the prison's experience. Seventy inmates took part in The Life of Jesus Christ. For the untrained actors, this production held special meaning, as they saw pieces of their own lives revealed in the characters they played. |
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Mexican Crime Reporters Risk Becoming The Story Four Mexican journalists who covered the police beat in crime-ridden Veracruz were recently killed, adding to the long list of slain reporters. Critics say government efforts to protect journalists have been ineffective. Amid the fear, self-censorship is on the rise. |
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Firm Leaves Miss. After Its Prison Is Called 'Cesspool' One month after a federal court ordered sweeping changes at a troubled juvenile prison in Mississippi, the company managing the prison says it's pulling out of the state. The Justice Department describes "systemic, egregious and dangerous practices" at Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility. |
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Tulsa Mourns Man Who 'Never Met A Stranger' Bobby Clark, 54, was one of three people killed in Friday's shootings in Tulsa, Okla. Friends and family say Clark, a resident of the city's Northgate neighborhood, was a well-liked musician who enjoyed sharing his music with others |
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Company Ties Shoes And Ethics Together Gideon Shoes makes handcrafted hip-hop sneakers inspired, designed and marketed by young people at a youth center in a tough suburb of Sydney. But the company is struggling to balance its values with the brutal realities of production and competition. |
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Company Strives To Tie Shoes, And Ethics, Together Gideon Shoes makes handcrafted hip-hop sneakers inspired, designed and marketed by young people at a youth center in a tough suburb of Sydney. But the company is struggling to balance its values with the brutal realities of production and competition. |
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Lone Star State Of Mind: Could Texas Go It Alone? They say it's like a whole other country, but in 1836 it really was one. Now, 167 years after Texas achieved statehood, NPR is re-liberating the Longhorn State. From big-hair foreign policy to laissez-faire economics, this is what a modern Republic of Texas might look like. |
