But today in Greece, gay rights are not as accepted. Special correspondent Lynn Sherr and producer Megan Thompson examine the state of marriage equality in Greece.

• Read an interview with Georgia Trismpioti of Amnesty International’s Greek division: Activists in Greece agitate for greater rights for gays
• Listen to Worldfocus Radio on LGBT politics and gay asylum
• Watch related signature videos from Jamaica: Violence and venom force gay Jamaicans to hide and Gays in Jamaica worship in underground church

In this exclusive behind-the-scenes tour at the new museum, Director Dimitris Pantermalis shows Lynn Sherr the beauty of the original sculptures — and the modern plaster replicas that serve as stark reminders of what has been lost.

Below, take a tour of the new museum with Pantermalis. Hover your cursor over the video to watch him discuss

Worldfocus special correspondent Lynn Sherr and producer Megan Thompson report on Greece’s efforts to recover the precious statues.

Also, view extended interviews and an interactive tour of the Parthenon Frieze in the Acropolis Museum.

Lynn Sherr speaks to a group of students at the American College of Greece, who believe passionately the sculptures should be returned to their homeland.

Sherr also interviews Dimitris Plantzos of the University of Ioannina, who says that the issue is about Greek identity, not scholarship — and holds the view, unusual in Greece,  that the sculptures don’t need to be returned.

The Worldfocus signature series on Liberia’s Long Road Back featured uplifting stories on African women making a difference.

Though a common saying about news is “if it bleeds, it leads,” Martin Savidge shares some of the more cheery stories that have uplifted the world recently, including Worldfocus’ signature series on Liberia’s Long Road Back. 

When times are bad we all yearn for good news.

This week had plenty. Two stories in particular dominated: A courageous crew and a singing Scot.

The actions of the crew of the Maersk Alabama — and particularly the selfless offer of Captain Richard Phillips to be taken hostage to protect his ship from Somali pirates — inspired many of us. We followed the drama and his daring rescue. For days, network news programs tracked the crew’s return and swarmed to exclusively interview them. Now, a similar quest will no doubt spoil the weekend of many reporters as they head to Vermont to try and get the first words from the captain himself as he arrives back home.

For many people, the shots of the Navy snipers were welcomed, seen as the first concrete action after months of frustration as the pirates hijacked ship after ship. It went down the way many Americans prefer: Fast and precise, with only the bad guys getting hurt. Unfortunately, those are not likely to be the last shots in this conflict at sea. In fact it may well trigger a new level of violence…but let’s stick with the good news.

Then there was Susan Boyle of Scotland. I dare anyone to watch that clip of her on YouTube from “Britain’s Got Talent” and not get teary. Thanks to the Internet, the woman who proclaimed she had never been kissed is now loved by many throughout the world. I think I’ve watched her song half a dozen times, and each time I cheer.

When she first walks on stage, we see so many of life’s knock-downs and stigmas reflected in her. Though we are raised to “never judge a book by its cover,” we did. She was a middle-aged, plain Jane who seemed a bit quirky. In our modern-day zeal to instantly peg a person, we had her nailed…until she sang. Her first notes shamed us and the rest lifted us to our feet.

I saw those two stories everywhere.

But only on Worldfocus did I see a week long series by Lynn Sherr from Liberia on the triumphs of women who are working to lift that once war-torn country.

From President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected female leader, to the market women who spawned a movement that helped to force former dictator Charles Taylor into exile, to the former girl soldiers and sex slaves of the civil war now are trying to forget their past and start new futures. Lynn introduced us to all of them, and in doing so, taught us much about a continent we thought we knew.

Most Americans think of Africa as a land of endless disease, war and famine. Our signature stories showed that this stereotype is wrong. Liberia inspires and teaches that the United States does not lead in all areas. In fact we ranked 56th of 130 countries [PDF] in the World Economic Forum’s 2008 survey of female political empowerment — trailing behind Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania.

These are the stories we love to bring to viewers…they inform and uplift.

It’s good news, and we know there’s a whole world of it out there.

- Martin Savidge

Some of the biggest victims of that era were young women who were often taken prisoner and forced to fight, or made into sex slaves. As Worldfocus special correspondent Lynn Sherr and producer Megan Thompson report, many of them are now struggling to recover and struggling to forget.

For more on the rehabilitation and reintegration of child soldiers, watch PBS Wide Angle’s film on child soldiers in Uganda, “Lord’s Children.”

Worldfocus special correspondent Lynn Sherr and producer Megan Thompson venture to Liberia and meet some women on the front lines of what’s become a war on sexual violence.

Watch more videos from this series and read blogs from the field: Liberia’s Long Road Back.

For more on efforts to combat sexual violence in Africa, watch Rape as a weapon of war in DR Congo.

While producing the the signature series “Liberia’s Long Road Back,” Worldfocus producer Megan Thompson had a chance to witness the holiday at a cemetery in Monrovia.

Over the past several decades, women politicians have made strides in Africa. The share of parliamentary seats held by women increased from 7 percent in 1990 to 17 percent in 2007.

The Rwandan parliament is a world leader in terms of female political participation, with 56 percent of its seats held by women. Liberia now has Africa’s first elected woman president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Watch Worldfocus’ signature story and an extended interview with Sirleaf: Africa’s first elected female president lifts Liberia.

But this heightened gender equality in government has not necessarily translated into equality in everyday life for the majority of African women, who still face disproportionate poverty, violence and challenges in accessing education.

Worldfocus.org’s weekly radio show explored the political, economic and social implications of the rise of women power players in Africa.

Thank you for your questions. Worldfocus anchor Martin Savidge hosted a panel of guests:

Micheline Ravololonarisoa is the chief of the Africa Section at the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). She has more than 25 years of experience as a sociologist, feminist and activist specializing in African development and women’s issues. Micheline began her activist career with a student movement in her native Madagascar and was forced to leave the country in 1974 because of this work. She has served as program director at the Agency for Cooperation Research and Development (ACORD) and remains a member of several African and international women’s networks, including Akina Mama wa Afrika and ABANTU for Development.

Lynn Sherr is an award-winning journalist and author who has contributed to Worldfocus reports from Liberia, Guatemala, Mexico and Nicaragua. She is a former correspondent with ABC’s “20/20″ and covered a wide range of stories, specializing in women’s issues and social changes, as well as investigative reports. Lynn is the author of “Failure Is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words” and “Tall Blondes.”

Aili Mari Tripp is a professor of political science and women’s studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the director of the Women’s Studies Research Center. Her research has focused on women and politics in Africa, women’s movements in Africa, transnational feminism, African politics (with particular reference to Uganda and Tanzania), and on the informal economy in Africa. She is co-author of “African Women’s Movements: Transforming Political Landscapes” and author of “Women and Politics in Uganda” and “Changing the Rules: The Politics of Liberalization and the Urban Informal Economy in Tanzania.”

See related Worldfocus videos and blogs:

Women rank high in Rwanda’s government

Africa’s first elected female president lifts Liberia

Liberian summit celebrates African women with laughter

Women’s movement transforms post-war Liberia

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producers: Nicole E. Foster and Katie Combs

Worldfocus special correspondent Lynn Sherr and producer Megan Thompson report on a movement that helped to drive a dictator from power and gave women the kind of opportunities they could never have dreamed of.

For more from Lynn Sherr, listen to our online radio show on African women in power. 

Watch more videos from this series and read blogs from the field: Liberia’s Long Road Back. 

Also watch for PBS Wide Angle’s showing of “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” next year.

Liberia was settled by freed American slaves, and now, as Worldfocus special correspondent Lynn Sherr and producer Megan Thompson report, Liberia is trying to shape an identity it can call its own.

Watch an extended interview with the U.S. ambassador to Liberia: An impatient Liberia confronts high expectations, sacrifice.

Halfway into her first term, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf — an economist educated at Harvard University who won the presidency at age 67 — is leading that recovery.

As Africa’s first elected female head of state, she has taken on corruption, gotten some of Liberia’s debt canceled and rebuilt the army with the help of the U.S.

Worldfocus correspondent Lynn Sherr and producer Megan Thompson report on one extraordinary woman trying to remake life in war-torn Liberia. Tune in for Worldfocus’ four-part signature series on Liberia airing the week of April 13.

In this extended interview, Sirleaf discusses the position of women in Liberia, the country’s recovery and relations with the U.S.

Lynn Sherr also interviews Sirleaf at The Daily Beast: Africa’s Powerhouse Prez.

Read producer Megan Thompson’s blog from the field: Liberia rebuilds but fragments of the fighting remain.

Read correspondent Lynn Sherr’s blog from the field: Liberian summit celebrates African women with laughter.

Read more about Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s memoir, ”This Child Will Be Great.”

Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected female head of state.

Worldfocus correspondent Lynn Sherr is in Monrovia, Liberia, reporting on how the country is faring following its long civil war. She writes about attending the lively International Colloquium on Women. 

Who says feminists don’t have a sense of humor? The laughter was liberating today in Monrovia, Liberia, where a two-day International Colloquium on Women opened with appropriate pomp, ceremony and wit.

That Liberia could even contemplate such an event in the wake of a 15-year civil war that destroyed the country’s government and infrastructure, and nearly its future, sounds like a very bad joke all by itself. More than 200,000 people died in the fighting; several million more were displaced. The roads are barely passable; bullet holes still make major buildings uninhabitable.

And when one American guest arrived at our downtown hotel past midnight this morning, she was stunned to be escorted to her pitch-dark room by a fellow toting a rifle. She was, of course, perfectly safe.

Still, the rooms are clean and spacious, and the band at the rooftop bar plays a mean rock tune.

After all, Liberia has had a new president since 2006 –- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected female head of state, who has brought a new sense of promise to this West African nation and to the entire continent. It is she who dared to convene hundreds of women from around the world to help inspire her own countrywomen.

In the process, she’s made them smile, which is no small feat in this post-conflict country.

During the opening ceremonies, a young Liberian girl participating in a pageant of famous women in history charmed the house with her portrayal of Rosa Parks, the American who woman whose refusal to sit in the back of the bus helped start the civil rights movement.

Another Liberian participant brought down the house when she announced herself as “the richest woman in the world.” Who knew Oprah Winfrey would show up?

Actually, it wasn’t a house at all, but a leafy-roofed, open-air shelter in the center of SKD (for Samuel Kay Doe, one of Johnson-Sirleaf’s less beloved predecessors) Stadium, a recently refurbished arena that seems to be tolerating the foreign guests reasonably well. No plates in the lunch line? No problem; they’re washed and dried in just a minute. No spaces in the conference? Stand by –- a stack of chairs is brought in.

Plenty of stacks were needed for a riotous session late this afternoon during which two teams of extremely distinguished female African dignitaries entertained the packed hall with a tongue-in-cheek debate on whether we really need all those women in public office. The debaters –- elected and appointed officials from Sierra Leone, Ghana, Zimbabwe and other countries –- maintained a spirited dialogue, whose tone was set by moderator Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, co-founder and executive director of the African Women’s Development Fund.

“Throwing shoes is acceptable,” she announced at the start of the festivities, “as long as they are size tens and Manolo Blahniks.”

Tomorrow, it’s down to more serious business. If, that is, there is anything more serious than being able to laugh at yourself.

- Lynn Sherr

Watch for Worldfocus’ upcoming series on Liberia in the coming weeks. 

Photo courtesy of Flickr user World Economic Forum  under a Creative Commons license.

In the state of Chiapas, Mexico, about 25 percent of people don’t speak any Spanish. Rather, they speak a host of indigenous languages, many of which originated in ancient Mayan times. Some organizations, like the Intercultural University of Chiapas school in San Cristobal, work to keep these dying languages alive by teaching them to the next generation.

Worldfocus special correspondent Lynn Sherr and producer Megan Thompson highlight Mexico’s attempt to preserve the past by speaking ancient languages in the present tense.

Below, learn about other endangered languages across Latin America and listen to audio samples courtesy of the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America.

There are more than 600 indigenous languages still in use across Latin America, though hundreds more have disappeared over the last several centuries and still more face imminent extinction. Below are a few examples of endangered languages across Central and South America.

Achuar: Used by communities living near the Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador and Peru, Achuar is a potentially endangered language spoken by a few thousand people. Listen to a ceremonial visiting conversation: Click

Iquito: Iquito is a highly endangered language spoken in parts of Peru. Many of its native speakers died of malaria in the 1990s and there are only 22-26 elderly speakers still alive. Listen to the story of a man who imitates the call of a frog: Click

Kawésqar: A language spoken primarily in Chile, Kawésqar is spoken by less than 100 people, many of whom are bilingual and speak Spanish. Listen to a love song: Click

Pipil: The Pipil are an indigenous group of El Salvador. The language was outlawed in the 1930s and only a handful of people speak it today. Listen to a guitar song: Click

Rama: Native to Nicaragua, there are only about 24 people who speak Rama left. Listen to the song “Our Oyster Shells”: Click

Yanomami: The Yanomami are a large indigenous tribe living mostly in Brazil. With about 11,000 speakers, the language is considered partially endangered. Listen to Yanomami women sing: Click

For more on disappearing languages, see The National Geographic’s Enduring Voices project.

Information courtesy of the Encyclopedia of the World’s Endangered Languages.

Worldfocus special correspondent Lynn Sherr and producer Megan Thompson visited the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.

Venture to the first stop on the train line in Chiapas, and meet several Central American immigrants Waiting for northbound trains out of Mexico’s south (web original video).

But times change, and Nicaragua is now promoting itself as a business-friendly country, and more and more Americans are traveling — or even moving — there. Worldfocus special correspondent Lynn Sherr and producer Megan Thompson were a few that ventured to the Latin American country.

The Cold War ended and Nicaragua faded from public view. Worldfocus special correspondent Lynn Sherr and producer Megan Thompson recently traveled to the Central American country of 6 million people.

They talk baseball and politics and discover that Nicaraguans are hoping for closer ties with the new Obama administration after years of frosty relations during the Bush era.

The majority of deaths are preventable, with access to sufficient medical care — a challenge for many Guatemalans, particularly those in remote areas.

Worldfocus special correspondent Lynn Sherr reports from the mountain community of Huehuetenango, Guatemala, where the “Casa Materna” center has helped 50,000 women and their children since opening — but tragedy lingers.

For more information on global maternal health, see below.

One of the United Nations’ Millenium Development Goals — a set of global goals to achieve by 2015 — is to improve maternal health and reduce maternal mortality by three-quarters.

Read about the state of maternal health in Latin American countries.

A chart, courtesy of PBS Wide Angle, details those countries with high and low rates of maternal mortality. Also, listen to public health experts discuss worldwide efforts to improve maternal care.

While vaccines, early testing and treatment have reduced the effects of cervical cancer on women in the U.S., the disease is the number one killer of women in Latin America and kills over 33,000 women in Latin America and the Caribbean each year.

Though the disease can be prevented with a vaccine (for human papillomavirus or HPV, which causes cervical cancer) and is treatable if detected early, access and affordability are challenges to communities in Nicaragua.

Now, Nicaraguan women are finding hope in coffee — the country’s top export. The “Grounds for Health” program brings low-cost treatment to coffee-growing communities like Jinotega, one of the country’s top coffee producers. The nonprofit group is supported by international coffee companies and also works with Soppexcca, a cooperative of coffee producers in Nicaragua, to fund and execute testing.

Worldfocus special correspondent Lynn Sherr and producer Megan Thompson travel to Jinotega, Nicaragua, where coffee has truly become the nectar of life for some women.