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The advertisement, which depicts a black child in the role of a dog (to make the point that some animals in South Africa are better fed than some children), drew widespread criticism.

A pretty blonde lady gives a crumb of food to a black child who sits begging by her feet.

That's one of the images in a fund-raising video from the nonprofit group Feed A Child South Africa, which depicts the youngster in the role of a dog to make the point that some animals in South Africa are better fed than some children.

The video has now won an award — though it's a dubious honor.

Each year, a group in Norway gives the Rusty Radiator to the charitable fund-raising video deemed most offensive or most stereotypical in its portrayal of the developing world, particularly Africa. Feed A Child is this year's winner (or loser).

The group that issues the award, the Norwegian Students' and Academics' International Assistance Fund or SAIH, runs projects related to education and international development. Here's how it explains the rationale behind the award.

"For decades now, we've seen the same stereotypical images of Africa in both the media and in fund-raising campaigns. It reinforces the image of Africans as an 'exotic other.' We believe that these images create apathy, rather than action." To bolster its point, SAIH cites a study by Oxfam showing that three out of four people had become apathetic to images of hunger, drought and disease.

The SAIH statement goes on to say that many videos give people a warped view of both the causes of poverty and the best strategies to combat it:

"[The ads] are constantly feeding us to believe that we — the 'Westerners' — are the ones who can save the world ... without looking into the real reasons and structures which uphold an uneven world ... debt, responsible investments, worker rights, tax havens, climate politics, tourism and trade policies."

Discussing this year's pick, the judges wrote: "The poor are already depicted as incapable of their own rescue, now they are being compared to dogs. What next?"

Feed A Child later "retracted" the video (while noting that this is effectively impossible to do once a video has gone viral).

"We acknowledge the fact that the advert could be seen as insensitive or distasteful and we take heed to the fact that many perceived the advert as racist. This was most certainly not the intention, and again we apologise," says a statement on their website.

But a videotaped apology from the organization's president also defends the video, suggesting that it could have motivated people to donate money to a worthy cause.

Here's a runner-up video from Concern Worldwide, a UK-based aid organization:

The SAIH judges were not impressed by the video, which was shot in Chad. "What mother would put their suffering kid in the middle of the sun and just sit there? This is straight-up staged, with shocking images of children in HD," they wrote.

Radiator Award runner up was produced in Chad.

Concern Worldwide responded with an emailed statement from spokeswoman Sarah Molloy: "The footage used reflects the harsh reality of life for those people and for the 3 million children who died last year from hunger-related causes. We strongly feel we need to show a balance: some of the imagery we use is positive and some isn't."

SAIH doesn't just point the finger. It also celebrates videos that inspire people to give without resorting to clichd or potentially offensive images through its Golden Radiator award. Here's this year's winner, from Save the Children, an international aid organization that focuses on childhood health.

The SAIH judges write: "You feel for the little girl as if she was someone you knew next door or your children went to school with. It emphasizes the universality of suffering and empathy, and breaks racial stereotypes about who suffers."

The awards are only in their second year but are already gaining steam. A mock video about volunteering in Africa, as well as this spoof in which Africans send radiators to Norway — both produced by SAIH – have been shared thousands of times on Facebook. And both organizations that I contacted about their Rusty Radiator awards were well aware of the dubious distinction.

All of this means a group of Norwegians just might be influencing the way we see the developing world.

Golden Radiator award winner, 2014.

fund-raising

Rusty Radiator

videos

Africa

A version of this story was originally published on Dec. 23, 2011.

If you happen to spend Christmas Eve in Canada — especially Quebec — you might be lucky enough to be invited to a festive dinner after midnight Mass. The feast is an old tradition from France called reveillon, and it's something to look forward to after a long day of fasting.

"They'll have a huge feast, with sweets and lobster and oysters, everything," says Thomas Naylor, executive chef to the Canadian ambassador to the U.S. "But in Quebec, at least, you'll always have tourtiere. It will be the center of the reveillon."

NPR's All Things Considered visited Naylor in the kitchen of the ambassador's residence in Washington, D.C., to learn how to make tourtiere.

Naylor knows about this Christmas Eve custom because many years ago, it traveled with French emigres across the Atlantic to Canada (and to New Orleans). The tourtiere is a savory, spiced meat pie, which both French- and English-speaking Canadians love to serve around the holidays.

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This is the third in a series of stories exploring the rich diversity of Christmastime edibles around the world, and the stories behind the food.

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About This Series: The 12 Days Of Quirky Christmas Foods Around The Globe

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The Salt

A Holy Land Christmas Porridge Honors A Damsel In Distress

The pie is so beloved in Canada that it has spread far beyond Quebec. "The recipe has been altered so many times," he says.

Along the coast, it's made with salmon. And even within Quebec there are different variations, Naylor says. There's a ground pork version in Montreal, while some in Quebec City prefer game meats. Even within a family you might find different recipes.

I have been at events with Canadians around Christmastime where there can be a little tourtiere competition, and everyone brings their own. Naylor agrees: "It's like hockey rivalry."

One thing that's usually the same is the four spices: cinnamon, clove, allspice and nutmeg. Naylor likes to add savory and rosemary to his pie. "It's a very festive flavor," says Naylor. "The use of spices goes back to medieval times. They used to serve them along with sweets."

But the first step in creating a perfect tourtiere, says Naylor, is to make a buttery, flaky pastry shell.

Then Naylor moves on to the meat mixture — he adds pork, water, onion and celery to a pan. Then he adds the spices.

Naylor lets that mixture simmer for an hour and a half. At the end he mixes in a cup of rolled oats, which binds the meat and makes it easier to slice a piece of the pie later on. Once the meat filling has cooled, he spoons it into the pastry shell and covers it with a crust. Then it's time to decorate with some of the leftover dough.

Once the tourtiere is ready, says Naylor, it is usually served with some kind of tasty condiment or sauce. It could be cranberry sauce, pickled beets, something sweet and sour, or "something with a kick to it to pair with the spiced meat and flaky crust." (I like to serve a chili sauce with my tourtiere; you can find Naylor's recipe and my chili sauce recipe here.)

All in all, it's a memorable dish. And it's "one of Canada's better contributions to the culinary world," says Naylor.

tourtiere

Christmas foods

Holidays

Christmas

When Mohammed Taha Yaseen recalls the day that Islamic militants swept through Iraq's northern city of Mosul this past summer, he chokes up.

"The army ran away," he says, and pauses to gain control of his voice. "We didn't run, the police stayed and fought ISIS."

Yaseen, an officer in the Mosul police force, tells his story at an isolated training camp in northern Iraq, less than 20 miles from the front lines with ISIS, also known as the Islamic State.

More than 4,000 officers of Nineveh Province security force are based in the training camp, including a 250-man Swat or Special Forces unit.

The forces are gearing up with the aim of retaking Iraq's second largest city, seized by militants who have declared Mosul the capital of a so-called caliphate.

These police officers want to lead that fight. The future role for these officers, mostly Sunni Arabs, will say a lot about the political future of Iraq, a country deeply divided between Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.

The self-proclaimed Islamic State is already preparing for the counter attack. The group recently cut phone lines. Bridges into Mosul have been mined, according to Kurdish officials. In a return to a tactic of ancient war, the militants are digging a moat around the city. They know the attack is coming, but not when.

Iraqi officials and U.S. advisers aren't sure either. There are differences over when the Iraqi army will be trained and ready. There are debates about who will be armed to join the fight.

Training, But No Weapons

For now, the Mosul officers live in tents with dirt floors, and train without weapons. On the day I visited the camp, they sloshed through rivers of mud for a meal of steaming rice and chicken ladled out of aluminum pots from the back of a pickup truck.

On one row of tents, the word "SWAT" is written, in English. The Special Forces teams are housed together. It is also a reminder of better times, when the U.S. spent billions in a multi-year program to strengthen the Iraqi police. These men worked alongside Americans to kill or capture Islamist militants in Mosul.

"All the police of Nineveh trained with the coalition at the time," says Gen. Wathiq Hamdani, the head of Nineveh Security Forces until 2008, now with Iraq's Ministry of Defense. "In this camp, about 4,375 men, all of them had trained with the coalition forces at that time."

For these men the fight against ISIS is personal, they say, because the militants have targeted their families.

"All of these police officers, Da'esh killed some of their family members," says Hamdani, using the Arabic term for ISIS. "They killed my son." He quickly looks down to scroll through his phone to find a picture of a smiling young man killed by the militants last year.

SWAT members, shown here at mealtime, live in tents with dirt floors and train without weapons. Deborah Amos/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Deborah Amos/NPR

Now, he adds, the militant group is holding his brother.

The other men in the room say they were targeted, too. A detective, who says his name is Major Mohammed, chief of Interpol in Mosul, rolls up his sleeve to show the scar from a bullet and points to his leg.

"They shot me, 2005 and 2008," he says.

Waiting For The Americans

They are angry at the loss, frustrated that the battle for Mosul is on hold and that Baghdad has failed to support them. In the meantime, they have backing from the Americans who have visited this camp and offered to start training soon.

"Maybe in the next week. Maybe," says Hamdani. But the Americans have made no promises to provide the weapons Hamdani says he needs. "The weapons come from Baghdad."

For many of the men, including Gen. Wathiq Hamdani, the fight is personal. ISIS killed the Iraqi defense official's son and is still holding his brother. Deborah Amos/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Deborah Amos/NPR

So far, Baghdad has delivered one small shipment of 1,000 Kalashnikov rifles and 30 heavy machine guns. It's not nearly enough, says Hamdani, against a dangerous enemy that is well-armed with U.S. weapons seized in Mosul when the Iraqi army collapsed in June. The fleeing Iraqi army left behind millions of dollars worth of U.S. armaments.

Why can't the police get proper weapons?

Hamdani believes it's a matter of trust, another example of the Sunni-Shia divide in Iraq.

The Mosul Police force is mostly Sunni, which is a plus in any battle for Mosul, a majority Sunni city.

But the central government in Baghdad is dominated by Shiites. They accuse Sunnis of welcoming the Sunni militants of ISIS, joining the movement as they swept across north and central Iraq.

Overcoming Mistrust

Shiite officials in Baghdad are reluctant to arm Sunnis, even these officers, for fear they will join ISIS or sell their weapons to the militants. The government suspended police salaries in June.

But Hamdani points out that the Mosul police force is diverse. Major Mohammed adds that the force reflects every community in Mosul and they all volunteered to fight.

"You find Christian, Muslim, Kurdish and Arabic officers," he says. "We have Shiites from Mosul in the police," says Hamdani. He introduces two Shiite Muslims from Mosul who fled south to Najaf in June, and have now arrived at the camp to rejoin their police unit.

Outside Hamdani's office, men in uniforms huddle inside the tents to shelter from the rain. They sing traditional Iraqi songs, clap, drink sugary tea, and smoke.

They keep up their spirits on a cold and soggy day. They've served together for years and now wait for attitudes in Baghdad to change.

"When they voluntarily come to fight, that means they are credible," says Dr. Rafea al-Eissawi.

He is a former deputy prime minister, a Sunni Arab doctor who practiced in Fallujah, in the western province of Anbar. His mission is to get Sunni fighting forces recognized by the central government.

"They have to pay for them and give them really good weapons in order to fight against Da'esh," he says. "Without arming the Sunnis, nothing can move."

The Iraqi army and government-backed Shiite militias are distrusted and feared by the Sunnis. The Mosul police and Sunni Arab tribes have street knowledge and ties to the local communities. But Baghdad remains reluctant.

Good News From Baghdad

At the police camp, a phone call to Hamdani signals a small shift in Baghdad.

The Interior Minister has agreed to re-start salaries for the Mosul police. Hamdani beams as he announced the news.

"Very good," he says as the room erupts in congratulations and the laughter of relief.

"Now, the government has changed, it's not like before. That is a good for us," says Major Mohammed. "For example, the minister of defense, he is from Mosul."

"The people of Mosul are waiting for us," he says. "I know the people and how they think."

He is convinced they will only turn against ISIS when a Sunni force comes to liberate the city.

But even as these officers savored the turnabout in Baghdad, there was no word on weapons deliveries, or an order to begin preparations for the battle for Mosul. The longer it takes, the better the Islamic State militants can prepare for the assault.

Iraq

By a 44-5 vote, Chicago's City Council set a minimum-wage target of $13 an hour, to be reached by the middle of 2019. The move comes after Illinois passed a nonbinding advisory last month that calls for the state to raise its minimum pay level to $10 by the start of next year.

The current minimum wage in Chicago and the rest of Illinois is $8.25. Under the ordinance, the city's minimum wage will rise to $10 by next July and go up in increments each summer thereafter.

The legislation includes several findings of a focus panel that examined the wage issue in Chicago earlier this year.

The bill states that "rising inflation has outpaced the growth in the minimum wage, leaving the true value of lllinois' current minimum wage of $8.25 per hour 32 percent below the 1968 level of $10.71 per hour (in 2013 dollars)."

It also says nearly a third of Chicago's workers, or some 410,000 people, currently make $13 an hour or less.

The timing of the vote reflects a political reality, as Emanuel and other Chicago leaders are maneuvering ahead of the next election cycle.

"Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to pre-empt state action on local minimum wages," Northern Public Radio reports, adding that among those who approve the pay hikes, "Officials are worried business groups will push for Springfield legislation that prohibits municipalities raising their minimum wage higher than the state's."

As NPR's Marilyn Geewax reported after the midterm elections, voters in Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota approved binding referendums that raise their states' wage floor above the federal minimum.

Chicago

minimum wage