Economy

Sonali Kudva, Pulitzer Student Fellow

Riga's main daily newspaper Diena ran a front page graphic -- covering the entire page -- on May 12 stating that there has been an 18% drop in Latvia's GDP in the first quarter of 2009.

Until recently, Latvia has not seen any anti-government protests and riots since the end of the Soviet Union in 1991. After entering the E.U. in 2004, Latvia posted Europe's highest growth figures, fueled by access to cheap credit and domestic consumption enabled by a spike in private debt.

The car came to an abrupt stop. "Get out," the driver said. My friend and partner in journalism Tim Patterson and I stumbled in the moonless night through an uneven, bulldozed field toward the sound of a river. When we reached the river, we crossed a creaky bamboo footbridge and scrambled up a loose-dirt hill to an older SUV with its lights off.

"Welcome to Free Kachin," our contact said, smiling broadly.

Sonali Kudva, Pulitzer Student Fellow

We set out at 9.30 a.m. in a Scorpio. The Scorpio was driven by Dhananjay Sardeshpande, former editor of the newspaper where I worked and mentor to me, and my old friend Prachi Patwardhan. Prachi's a social worker by profession, but is currently a professor teaching social work to students. She was there to provide another perspective on the project.

Sonali Kudva, Pulitzer Student Fellow

After speaking with and trying to arrange a meeting with Mr. Gogre, Chief Engineer in charge of the Nira-Deoghar for the last two days, I finally met him today. The venue wasn't ideal but Mr Gogre asked to meet close to his house. So Chaturshringi temple it was.

We met at the juice bar at the base of the hill and sat down. I took out my notepad to write my notes down as he wrote and I filmed. However, he took custody of my notebook and pen himself and illustrated his points for me on them.

Kristina Rizga, for the Pulitzer Center (Photos by Akim Aginsky)

Sonali Kudva, Pulitzer Student Fellow

Kristina Rizga, for the Pulitzer Center (Photos by Akim Aginsky)

Kristina Rizga, for the Pulitzer Center (Images by Akim Aginsky, for the Pulitzer Center)

This blog entry was reprinted at World Focus and The Huffington Post