These batiks are collection of Guruh Soekarno Putra, the youngest son of the first President of the Republic of Indonesia.

In this fashion show, Guruh has also reintroduced and popularized the plaid motif batik.

Guruh has applied this increasingly popular plaid motif batik to a wide range of shirts, clothing, gloves, pants, etc.

Ever since batik was recognized as part of Indonesia's cultural heritage by UNESCO in October 2009, Guruh is one of the fashion activists who popularizes batik in the latest fashion trend.

[Guruh Soekarno Putra, Batik Fashion Designer]:
"Yes I wanted anything in Indonesia… for example, now plaid motif has become popular, so we make batik in a plaid motif. If the flower motif becomes popular, we also make batik in a flower motif."

[Meutia Hatta, Former Minister of Women of the Republic of Indonesia]:
"He popularizes the plaid motif batik for younger children, and this is great. We can see in the middle of plaid motif, there are kawung batik motif, parang batik motif, and many others."

To own some of this plaid motif batik, you can visit the Guruh Soekarno Putra Boutique in Kebayoran, South Jakarta.

NTD News, Jakarta, Indonesia

[Yaniv Fieldust, CEO, "The Solar Garden"]:
"When presenting each of the disciplines we touch first on the existing status, examine its problems and how we can improve the situation by changing the way we make use of resources and by using technologies."

Water can be used more than once, perhaps even countless times.

In this facility the water from the fish pond goes to a green basin where vegetables are grown.

Tiny germs living on the sea shore turn fish manure into a fertilizer, and this way the water, too, is purified.

From there the water returns again to the fish pond, so that the fish always have clean water.

Learning occurs through experiencing and by using all the senses.

[Yaniv Fieldust, CEO, "The Solar Garden"]:
"Children need to learn by touching, through the senses: through the sense of smell, the sense of hearing, the sense of taste."

Nothing goes to waste. The children learn how to recycle paper, how to manufacture new sheets of paper.

And what have the children learned in the various workshops?

[Noam Shapira, Student of Sharet School, Pardes-Hanna]:
"We took an old bottle and cut it in half, and then we made half a circle and got a sort of a ping-pong paddle. We made balls from old newspapers and then we could actually play."

[Sasha Abramovitz, Student of Sharet School, Pardes-Hanna]:
"What I liked best was to burn the wood with the help of the magnifying glass. It's like the sun took its rays, as if its heat reached the magnifying glass and the glass burned the wood."

In the solar garden one can also learn how to manufacture electricity by using coal and oil, and there is no end to the imagination.

[Guy Raphaelovitz, Student of Sharet School, Pardes-Hanna]:
"You make electricity from such a boat, and it is transferred to that wheel that turns around, and then it goes to the electricity of the poles."

In making flutes out of reeds, as our forefathers have done in different cultures, the children acquired an additional value: working in cooperation with each other.

[Yaniv Fieldust, CEO, "The Solar Garden"]:
"Once the children take that knowledge home with them and pass it on to their parents, the parents change their behavior as well. They start recycling bottles; It starts with bottles."

Hopefully, the next generation will be prepared for saving the natural resources which are running short, and for making use of renewable energies.

Reporter:Aviva Grunpeter     Photographer:Anat Markram
NTD News, Israel

The women have decided to change their lives, step out of their old world, and turn over a new leaf.

The Organization is providing them with a chance to reintegrate into society.

The women are now studying at design school once a week, learning sewing and fashion design.

Studying design is not a simple process - each dress symbolizes its designer's struggle.

We speak to the manager of ‘Turning the Tables’:

[Lilach Tzur Ben-Moshe, Manager, NGO ‘Turning the Tables’]:
"One of the women designed a dress in which she tried to give expression to the roughness, the difficulty and the pain of living on the streets, with the drugs, oppression and humiliation, and on the other hand, give expression also to the new start she was beginning to experience and feel, such as the beauty and the elegance of the clothes she could now wear. The dress has unstitched brims."

One guest of honor at the event was Israeli parliament member, Ms Zehava Galon, who has initiated a number of laws; among them the prohibition of human and organ trafficking.

[Zehava Galon, Israeli MP]:
"In my view, prostitution is sexual violence and the usurping of women's rights, and I have legislated a line of laws that ban the trading of human beings which offer help for women to get out of the circle of prostitution."

Seven women came forward to support the event - a television anchor, a journalist, lawyers, fashion models, and human and woman’s rights activists.

The women took to the stage modelling the dresses, and gave words of support and encouragement to the designers.

The audience was equally supportive, showing full enthusiasm during the show and listening to the effort that went into their creation.

Reporter: Lee Rom , Photographer: Michael Ash
NTD News, Israel.
 

NTD News, Benyamina, Israel

This 73-year-old lady spends her retirement days behind a DJ console watching people dance to her rhythms.

Wika Szmyt plays disco, rumba or samba for a mostly elderly audience because she feels she is giving them a new lease on life.

[Wika Szmyt, DJ]:
"I think that retirement is like second life and we should organize this life in some way. There is nothing worse than standing in one place. For me, it's because I love music, I have always had a connection with art, cabaret, poetry."

[Tadeusz Lipiec, Pensioner]:
"I come here to spend the last days of my life in a pleasant way, because we don't have much left to live."

[Krystyna Dudzinska, Pensioner]:
"I come here pretty often for some time, every Wednesday. There is a group who likes to dance and it's great gymnastics."

Wika says dancing changes people’s outlook on life.

[Wika Szmyt, DJ]:
"Dancing changes their mood for the better, more fun. They don't think about passing, about preparing a gravestone and planting flowers on it. They think about life, and that's what music gives you. That's what music gives you."

The former youth counselor decided she can still share with others even after she retired. She learned how to use sound mixing gear by herself and says even experienced—and much younger—DJ's give her respect.

DJ Wika plays in a Warsaw club three days a week but has also been involved in other musical projects, including parties where she plays for a younger and more demanding audience.

A paralyzed puppy, left beaten and abandoned on railway tracks in central Poland, has been rescued by an animal shelter, nursed back to health and given a specially adapted wheelchair trolley enabling it to run about as any puppy would.

The four month old dog, very similar to an Alsatian, was spotted by a train driver who saw it lying on train tracks with two other puppies. The man called the animal shelter after repeated attempts to raise the alarm with authorities failed.

Shelter staff said that for days trains drove over the stricken animals, beating them to a state of paralysis. Only one of the three dogs survived.

The dog has been named Ciuchcia, which in English translates as Choo Choo, as in ‘choo choo train’. She was nursed back to health and given a custom-made wheelchair trolley. She now runs about the yard chasing and playing with the shelter's feline residents.

Maria Mrozinska, who works at the shelter, said that Choo Choo’s story brought a wonderful response from the public.

[Maria Mrozinska, Animal Shelter Worker]:
"We are very happy that she's made it, that she's got her trolley. People have big hearts–we receive letters from all over the place, even from America. We get calls from people who are very happy that we have managed to help this dog. These people show us the good in society and we are all very happy."

Benefactors have even offered to pay for any treatment that could help the paralyzed puppy regain use of her legs. Choo Choo is booked for an M.R.I scan in September to see if there is any chance she might walk again.

Regardless of the outcome, Choo Choo's story has a much better chance of a happy ending now, with at least two offers of adoption already registered.