It would be hard for anyone living in the U.S. to have missed the debates, ad campaigns, telemarketing calls and everything else that is part of the lead-up to this year’s presidential elections. It’s a big national – and even international – story.

But for those of you covering local communities (and we hope you do!) keep in mind that election season isn’t just for the top-tier journos at The New York Times or Politico. All those in-depth stories on how much candidates are spending on their campaigns? The maps and numbers and details? You can do that, too, for every person running for public office, whether it’s Mitt Romney running for president of the country or the local businesswoman running for mayor of a small town.

Note: We do our best to make our content and educational materials relevant to all of UPIU’s student journalists, but this post is especially for those of you based in the U.S.

There are more resources than ever before to help journalists track campaign finance information, background details on candidates, and much more, thanks to organizations that have streamlined the process of culling public information.

But before you navigate around those sites, here’s a quick refresher course on how to get the information yourself. 

The Federal Election Commission is a government agency charged with ensuring that elections are conducted fairly. Anyone running in a federal election (including seats in the House, Senate or for President) is required to file with the agency and report all campaign donations and expenditures. (Political action committees, known as PAC’s, are also required to register.)

That means that we can find out how much, for example, Newt Gingrich has spent on telemarketing, or whether Arnold Schwarzenegger has donated money to Mitt Romney’s campaign. Is a local businesswoman running for a congressional seat? You can find out whether she’s hiring local college students to help out during election season. And if your state’s longtime senator prefers to hire only Washington, DC-based businesses to handle his ad campaigns, you’ll be able to tell.

Here’s an example:

On the FEC home page, click on information about presidential elections. Hover over each state to see how much money has been donated to various candidates.

If you click on the state of Oregon, you’ll quickly see that most campaign donations come from the area of Portland, that state’s largest city – and a liberal bastion. But overall, the state’s residents have donated about $100,000 more to Republican candidates than to Pres. Barack Obama, the only Democratic candidate. And among the Republicans, Romney has taken the lion’s share of the money.

But here’s where the real fun starts. Once you’ve selected a candidate from the list (we’ve chosen Obama) on the left, click “Export OR Contributor Data” on the right. You’ll get a text file that’s easily imported into an Excel worksheet (don’t know how to use Excel? Keep your eyes peeled – we’ll offer a tutorial soon.)

Once imported, you find what journalists love: Names, dates, dollar amounts and more. So far, more than 3,700 people have donated to Obama’s campaign. Of those, more than 1,300 are retired, and nearly 500 are self-employed. Someone named Tom Spettel, a garden associate and loader at The Home Depot in Eugene, OR, is a fan of Obama – he’s made 16 donations in increments of no more than $30, for $160 total.

Once you have the data, eyeball the spreadsheet for interesting tidbits: Is a candidate heavily supported by university professors? Could that have something to do with the candidate’s position on whether educators should earn more money? Look for important names. Is the mayor of your town a supporter? If you want to get really nasty, see if any journalists from your competing news organization have donated. Or, see if your university’s president supports a candidate.

Most states have similar Web sites. For example, in Ohio, the Secretary of State’s site has pages with information on local campaign finance data. Florida’s Division of Elections holds the information in that state. Do some Googling and find out where candidates in your area must report their numbers.

If you’re not ready to do the spreadsheet work yourself, check out one of the many Web sites that handles the data for you. Open Secrets has options to search by state or even zip code for campaign donations, earmarks and other information. Influence Explorer has tons of great information about people and organizations.

When you find a story, post it to UPIU.com!

The team also took some time out to introduce dishes they specially selected for the training: clip of UPIU mentors introducing their dishes

Dorian Merina (Los Angeles, California, US): “California fusion sushi (in honor of being in Los Angeles these days) – avocado, cucumber and some type of fish I forget!” (Dorian also had some “California water!”)

Karen Welsh (Hilo, Hawaii, US): “I feasted on a Kilauea Loco Moco, a hot combination of rice, meat and bean chili, and little smoked sausages, all topped with two over-medium eggs. True to its volcanic name, it erupted with flavor! It was a deal at $5.95! I also enjoyed a sampling of both an Island Girl and Hilo Boy plate lunch specials featuring tempura shrimp, teriyaki beef, our infamous potato mac salad, and green curry stew. I finished with fresh slices of sweet local grown sunrise papaya and a small apple banana.”

Audra Ang (Berkeley, California, US): “I had Chinese take-out. The dishes I chose were more southern Chinese/Hong Kong — salt-and-pepper pork ribs, e-fu noodles with crab, and fresh cuttlefish with yellow chives.”

John Krich (Bangkok, Thailand): “Despite eating camel’s paw and other delicacies for years as a roving food critic, I ate some Quaker Oats oatmeal in an effort to reduce my blood sugar. A former spaghetti carbonara and bibimbap addict put out to pasture. Afterwards, I did indulge in some chicken chili basil with a fried (incinerated) egg on top, a local speciality in my Bangkok alley.” (In the picture John is holding up his newly-published book, a compilation of his travel writings.)

Bronwyn Curran (Sydney, Australia): “I brought a delicious spinach and ricotta cannellonni dish with passata from a local deli, and added my own salad of growers’ market-purchased cherry tomatoes, butter lettuce, sunflower seeds and some very fruity and fragrant Australian olive oil. As our Skype meal conference constituted a late lunch for me, I had polished it all off before the photo was taken.”

Harumi Gondo (Tokyo, Japan): “Japan has a strong convenience food and bentobako (lunch box) culture, so I bought nikujaga (traditional Japanese meat-potato dish) at a bento store, and my dessert (the donut in the picture!) and a green tea latte from a convenience store. All for the very neat price of $6!”

This semester the team will be mentoring journalism students at:

Peking University (China), Beijing Foreign Studies University (China), Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media (India), Panjab University (India), American University of Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan), Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Malaysia), University of Peshwar (Pakistan) and National Taiwan University (Taiwan).

One student from each school will be nominated for UPIU’s conflict reporting fellowship (be on the lookout for more details!).

The Asia team will also be creating and running an investigative journalism workshop for Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman; the workshop will be available for other universities that do not offer investigative reporting courses.

A fence separates Golan Heights from Syria. (Elena Roda)

It wasn’t long before Elena discovered that the proposal process was the easy part. Her story (along with a video) was published on UPI.com on Friday.  The final product doesn’t hint at the challenges Elena faced: A (very!) tight travel schedule, a language barrier, financial constraints and more. She shared with us how she overcame these hurdles. Read on:

UPIU: You traveled to Golan Heights with UPIU’s reporting grant. Like most reporting grants, there wasn’t enough money to do everything you could want on this trip. How did you prioritize expenses?

Elena: First of all, I looked for a convenient flight even though I couldn’t take the cheapest one because of my schedule (classes at the university I couldn’t miss). Then, I spent some money for the cab from Tel Aviv (where I landed) to Golan Heights. I couldn’t avoid taking the cab as in Israel after 3pm on Friday (when I got there) public transportation shuts down for the weekend. I used public buses and trains on my way back, though. I spent as little money as possible for food and accommodation.

You didn’t have much time on the ground in the Golan. How did you manage your schedule to make the most of your time?

I planned everything in detail before leaving. I contacted people and set times for my interviews. I had clearly in mind what I wanted to know, people I wanted to meet with and interview, places I wanted to go to. The most important thing is to have a detailed plan and follow it as much as possible. Journalists are always dealing with uncertainties, though. That’s for why I tried to be as much flexible as possible when something unexpected occurred.

Did you use a fixer or interpreter while in the Golan? 

Luckily, most of the people I interviewed could speak English. I also met with somebody who couldn’t speak the language. In that case my source in the Golan, a guy who I met in Istanbul two years ago during a Youth Congress I participated in as a journalist, helped me by translating. It’s always better knowing the language of people you interview, but sometimes you cannot avoid using an interpreter. I do think looking for an interpreter at the very first stage of your report planning is better than looking for him/her while on the ground.

Were you concerned about safety while in the Golan? 

I felt safe while in the Golan. I’ve just tried to spend as little time as possible right on the border with Syria where minefields are.

Describe your writing process. What did your mentor require of you?

I started writing the first draft, a really long piece with everything I collected while I was in the Golan. Then I started polishing it. After having worked on the structure I started focusing mostly on quotes and I reintegrated some parts I had dropped in the previous drafts. It has been a very interesting process where my mentor was asking me to rework on my piece and polish it step-by-step. I followed his advice, trying to improve my piece as much as possible.

What did you learn from the editing and mentoring process that you will use for your next big project?

I did learn a lot from this process. Now, thanks to my mentor, I know how to structure a big project, how to put all information, quotes and facts in a structured piece that could be understandable, clear, and interesting for a large audience. It was important to work with a mentor who actually helped me thinking about my piece in a critical way.

You also produced a video. What gear did you use on the ground? Did you encounter any unexpected challenges?

Before leaving to the Golan I bought a video camera and a microphone. I made a video about a music band from Golan Heights. All worked out well except for the time. I had planned to meet the band earlier in the afternoon but then it turned out that they were not available before 8 p.m. I encountered some challenges while shooting in the dark.

What advice do you have for other new journalists who want to apply for similar grants?

The most important thing is to have your project clear in your mind. It is important to thinking about everything before pitching a story for a reporting grant. You should know exactly what you want to look for and what you want to analyze. It is important to pre-research the subject, contact people you want to interview, and test the feasibility of your project. After that, look at your subject from different points of view and choose the most interesting and original angle to tell your story.

What advice do you have for other new journalists who want to produce a big reporting project?

Big reporting projects are always a big challenge. Don’t panic if something is not working in the beginning. Plan your reporting, write your schedule, ask for advice. When you get to the ground, multitask: Look at people, places, ask questions, record voices, take pictures, and shoot. It seems a little bit difficult but it’s not impossible! If something not planned occurs, just be flexible and come up quickly with a back-up plan.

Both students are pursuing in-depth stories on religion and politics in their countries, and we’re excited to see how they turn out! Andrew and Mohammed have submitted preliminary story outlines and are discussing reporting strategies with UPIU mentors right now.

Andrew Ford

Andrew Ford is a long-time contributor to UPIU, and a journalism major at the University of Florida. He’s also a creative writer with poetry, essays and plays to his credit. UPI.com published a story of his last year profiling a 71-year-old grandmother who is one of the hottest nightclub DJs in Europe.

He’s now working on his freelance piece about a controversial church whose preacher is pursuing not only worldwide salvation, but also the presidency of the United States.

Mohammed Raja Mohammed

Mohammed Raja Mohammed is new to UPIU, and studying journalism at the American University in Iraq. He’s participating in a media club, which is doing workshops with UPIU for the first time this semester. He has worked as both a reporter and editorial editor for the university’s Voice newspaper.

He’s now pursuing a story about the role religious leaders, particularly mullahs, play in the political process in Kurdistan.

These two intrepid j-students are off and running with their freelance assignments. Deadlines are in just a few weeks, so watch UPIU and UPI.com for their finished stories!

Real world experience can radically affect your choice of career.

“Sometimes after years of university study, students discover that the job they’ve chosen isn’t quite what they’d anticipated. I was interested in a career as a lawyer, until I got an after school job working for one. I realized then that being a lawyer isn’t always as exciting as portrayed on television! The job, while I enjoyed it immensely, helped me see that  journalism was a better fit for me.”

Internships offer intensive training, opportunities

“My company, United Press International, takes interns on a limited basis. We think it’s important to take interns because we want to train the next generation of journalists in an environment where we know they’ll learn strong journalism ethics. Interns bring a fresh perspective to our office. Often they think of strategies and ideas that the regular staff wouldn’t imagine.”

As an intern herself, Krista “worked as much as I could. That time paid off. By the time my internship was over, I’d been honored with an investigative journalism award, and I had a job offer in hand.”

Internships put you a step ahead in your first job

“Without an internship you are crippled in your job search. You won’t have as much experience on your resume as those who took internships and when you finally get that first job, you’re starting from behind when compared to those who have had internships. Classroom activities are important but they can’t compare to real world experience.”

Two weeks later, the Kenyan army invited journalists to join its forces on the Somali battlefront. John Ngirachu, a writer with Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper was one of the few reporters, cameramen and technicians who were embedded with the Kenya Defense Forces. For 20 days, Ngirachu and colleagues slept in the bush, survived bouts of malaria, and tried to break new frontiers as the first Kenyan journalists to report from a war zone.

Recently he talked with UPIU contributor Abdi Latif Dahir about his experiences in Somalia, from the reception journalists received to possible plans for his team to return to that war-torn country.

Q: In your regular job, you cover parliament for the Daily Nation. But all of a sudden you were embedded with the army and reporting from a country you have never covered. Plus, there was the threat of Al-Shabab. With that in mind, how would you describe embedded journalism?

A: It is a painful necessity in the sense that it is difficult for this company [Nation Media Group] to send journalists to Somalia. It is not a place that you can just walk to and start talking to the villagers. They might be al-Shabaab, and al-Shabaab would be very glad if they were able to get hold of a Kenyan journalist.

I am calling it a painful necessity because you need to go there. For a long time, since that operation started, we didn’t have photographs, we didn’t have real stories [from] people who were on the ground.

Now, to go with the military, it means you are [limited by] their conditions. There are photos you can’t take; there are soldiers … whom you can’t identify closely because they can become targets. It is difficult in that sense. It is also difficult because before the operation, the military never had contact with journalists, so they are afraid of you, and getting information can be a problem.

Q: What was going through your mind as you crossed into Somalia?

A: With the border you can actually see there is a cut line, there is a road. When you cross over the border from Ishakani in Kenya, the first town you go to is Ras Kamboni. It is like a mythical place. [T]here are fears: you might cross over and you run into al-Shabaab and they [might] shoot at you. It wasn’t like a big moment, but it was quite something getting into Somalia and being able to say, “OK, we’ve gone to the place where we were sent and here we are.”

Q: At the heart of every story are the people. How was the reception? How did the Somali people react to you?

A: We had the disadvantage of going there while dressed as army guys. In fact, [we wore] a green helmet, our black bullet-proof vests, and … boots for that assignment. So, the only difference between us and the army was that we were in civilian clothes and they were in uniform.

But people were receptive – they would talk. Naturally, they really wanted to speak about the problems they were experiencing. For instance, Ras Kamboni is a fishing town – so for now, they can’t fish and cross over to Kenya to sell their fish.

When you ask about more sensitive issues like al-Shabab, they get uncomfortable. [For example,] we had heard that there were some women who were married by force by al-Shabaab and who left the village. It is a very interesting story. You know [people saying] ‘My sister was taken by force.’ We were told even some people’s wives were taken by force.

We thought it was going to be a fairly easy story. But when we asked them they shut up. They couldn’t talk about it.

Q: So, there was some adventure during your trip: malaria, bad food, and more. How would you describe the experience now?

A: When you are in such a situation, you miss the very small comforts, like a comfortable seat, cold soda, clean, good water, because as much as you take the water that has been brought to the camp, you see it is in a jerry can. It has the smell of clay, or it might have been put in a tank that used to have fuel, and it might have a faint taste of paraffin or jet fuel.

It gets very hot. As you wear a bulletproof vest … you are sweating all the time. You even sweat as you bathe. But it was worthwhile – you get a chance to live a different kind of life.

Q: How did you prepare psychologically for reporting from a war zone?

A: The whole preparation involves psychological preparation. And I found that you have to tell people that you are going to war. So, I told my father, my girlfriend, and I told my father to tell my mother after I had left, because she would panic immediately.

We got boots, sleeping bags, raincoats, torches, spare batteries, and then we got the dog tags. We got the bulletproof vests the Sunday before we left on Monday. Getting them makes you think it is real. You are wearing it because somebody may decide to shoot you. That brings the reality of it to mind. But I found myself thinking about people who would worry about me when I am gone.

Later on, I wondered, why didn’t you think about it or why didn’t you hesitate? Probably because I am young, no family, no issues, and nobody to consider if I need to go.

Q: Is there a plan to send back more journalists now that Kenya has joined the African Union’s peacekeeping mission in Somalia?

A: Joseph Odindo (the executive editor) was asking me when we are going back. There is a plan to go back and we do want to go back, whether it is with AMISOM or whoever. But we want to go back when there is movement. As [the army] moves, there are going to be stories about the fighting, and [possibly] surrendering of Al-Shabab.

Q: How would you describe the Kenyan military’s relationship with the journalists on the ground?

A: At first they seemed cautious – you don’t want to go speaking to journalists carelessly. But eventually, they got used to us, they stopped fearing us, and we stopped fearing them. By the end, we were on very good terms. We established a good relationship with them, although there are still boundaries.

UPIU Freelance Reporting Contest

Here’s how it’s done: Pitch a solid story (text, video, audio, photo – whatever your specialty!) on a topic we choose, and you could win intensive mentoring from one of UPIU’s professional journalists, a UPI.com byline, and a $200 paycheck.

Want to apply? Here are the details:

Religion has been a major topic in the news lately. Religious tensions underlie many of the simmering conflicts in Africa and the Middle East. Questions about women in leadership, homosexuality in church, and other ticklish topics led the headlines in 2011.

So, what’s the story about religion, and its influence in your area? Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Religion and politics go hand in hand. Political candidates often tout their religious affiliations, but are just as often excoriated for them. Is there a religious agenda affecting politics, elections or leadership in your area?
• Religious tolerance is changing. Are there problems in your area with people being able to worship freely? For example, even 10 years after the Sept. 11 attacks, Muslim-Americans say it remains difficult to openly practice their faith. But in countries like Malaysia, being Muslim is literally the law of the land, and Christian converts take their lives in their hands. How do religious differences play out in your country? Is there perhaps a new religious tolerance growing in your area? Tell us about it.
• Religious leaders are under tremendous media scrutiny these days. They’re under the microscope because they often wield tremendous power, influence and money. Their scandals can affect not only their own lives (and careers), but also their congregations, and even their entire denomination. Is there a story to be told about a religious leader in your area that have overstepped his or her bounds, committed crimes or otherwise stepped outside their faith?

Once you have your story idea, write it up in about two clear paragraphs. Tell us what the story is, and why readers around the world should care. Tell us who you’ll talk to, and how you’ll produce it. Will you include any photos? Will this be a video story?

Up to three story ideas will be chosen. If your story idea is among them, you’ll hear from a UPIU mentor who will provide in-depth support throughout your reporting and production process. Your mentor will ask you to do some pre-reporting, then create a story outline. Once your story is completed and meets approval of UPIU mentors, we’ll send it over to UPI.com. Editors there will decide whether to publish it on UPI.com.

If UPI.com accepts your story, we’ll send you $200.

As you prepare your story idea, keep in mind a few important details:

• You must have be a journalism student and have a UPIU account to be eligible for this contest. Professional journalists and people without UPIU accounts are not eligible.
• If we discover that you have a conflict of interest regarding your story, we’ll discontinue your intensive mentoring, even if you’ve already started working. A conflict of interest exists when a reporter has a personal investment in a story. For example, if you’re writing about a farmer who pays you to help out every weekend, that’s a conflict of interest. If you write about a company at which a close friend or relative is an employee, that could be a conflict of interest. If you’re not sure, ask us BEFORE you start reporting.
• If you miss a deadline (see deadline details below), we won’t submit your story to UPI.com, and you won’t earn a byline or $200. If you think you’ll be too busy to meet the deadlines, don’t apply.
• We’ll ask the students whose story ideas are selected to give us their contact information, including cell phone numbers and email addresses. If you don’t provide working contact information, we won’t be able to provide you with mentoring.
• As always, plagiarism is unacceptable. If we discover plagiarized material in your story, you’ll no longer be eligible for UPIU mentoring. If you have questions about our plagiarism policy, please contact us.

Important dates:

• Story ideas are due by 12 p.m. EST on Fri., Jan. 20. Email story ideas to UPIU Program Manager Sara Waldrop Jackson at sjackson@upi.com.
• Students whose ideas are selected will be notified on or before 5 p.m. EST, Tues., Jan. 24, and will be required to immediately provide their mentors with appropriate contact information.
• Preliminary story outlines will be due to mentors by Tues., Jan. 27.
• Story drafts will be due to mentors by 5 p.m. EST, Wed., Feb. 8.
• Final stories will be submitted to UPI.com on Fri., Feb. 17. Students who do not complete their stories by this date will not be eligible for a UPI.com byline or the $200 paycheck.

Good luck!

Named sources add credibility to stories, we argue. By peppering news stories with real names and documents, a journalist is far less likely to make errors and get into legal trouble.

We still believe all that. But the trouble is that we often wind up with stories that read something like this:

Restaurants around the university have been serving beer to underage students, Student Affairs Director John Smith said.

“The restaurants aren’t worried about getting caught,” Smith said.

It’s common for university students to try to find ways to drink alcohol, said Jane Doe, a third-year student.

“It’s one reason we enroll at university,” she said.

The story is technically fine, but a little boring. The set-up, quote, set-up, quote framework is more likely to put readers to sleep than engage them.

To kick things up a notch, it’s important to learn how to write with authority. This means that you as the reporter and writer knows enough about the topic that you can confidently make statements that illuminate context.

The New York Times published a great example of writing with authority on Dec. 1. Reporter Alissa J. Rubin wrote about Gulnaz, an Afghan woman who was charged with adultery after she reported having been raped. The woman was pardoned from a prison sentence, but then told that she should marry the man who raped her.

Take a look at these statements, pulled from throughout the story:

“(The announcement that she should marry her rapist) revealed the ways in which even efforts guided by the best intentions to redress violence against women here run up against the limits of change in a society where cultural practices are so powerful that few can resist them…”

“The problem for (women in Afghanistan) is the deeply held belief that women uphold their family’s honor. Thus any attempt to expose abuse is so humiliating to the family that a woman who speaks out often becomes a pariah among her relatives, ending up isolated as well as abused.”

“Gulnaz’s case shows the power of cultural norms…”

None of the statements above are clearly attributed to a source via the standard “..he said” or “…she said” or “…according to a report by…” method. Yet the statements have weight, and are unlikely to be challenged.

Why? Because Rubin crafted a story with a strong framework of incontrovertible facts. A cursory skim of the story might suggest that Rubin is drawing her own conclusions instead of allowing readers to make their own judgments (another of UPIU’s big no-no’s), but that’s not what’s happening in this story. In fact, Rubin is utilizing quotes and facts that appear in the story, in addition to her expert knowledge of Afghan culture, to build a story that is multi-layered, honest and, most importantly, accurate.

Read the story. Take a careful look at the sentences in which Rubin writes with authority.  Each time, the statement is an echo of a quote or fact – but the statements help the reader dig below the surface of what sources are saying. Each statement can be traced back to a quote or fact.

Moreover, Rubin has reported from Iraq and Afghanistan extensively over the past 10 years. She didn’t show up in Kabul one day and write this story the next. Rubin has a deep understanding of Afghan culture.

Meanwhile, Rubin did NOT attempt to draw conclusions that might reveal a personal bias about the situation. For example, she did not write, “Afghan men don’t love their wives,” or “Afghan families treat their daughters like property.” Especially when writing about other cultures, it can be easy to make assumptions about people and practices because we don’t recognize ourselves in them. But while it might be true that SOME Afghan men don’t love their wives, and SOME Afghan families treat their daughters like property, it would have been a gross assumption – and a grave error – to make such statements in the story. None of the quotes or facts suggest either statement is true.

Often, when we review UPIU stories, we’ll ask, “How do you know this?” We expect that you’ll be able to answer quickly that you know something because a credible source told you, or that you saw something with your own eyes. In many cases, we’ll want to see the name of that source in your story. But not always. When sourcing, think about building a story that will allow readers to dig deep into an issue. Take them below the surface – don’t settle for quotes that trivialize or over-simplify the issue.

At the border fence between Israel and Syria. (Photo by Elena Roda)

Elena won UPIU’s first-ever reporting grant. With $1,000, she planned a trip to the region to report on young activists. The Golan, as it is commonly known, is controlled by Israel, but is home to people of Syrian descent.

It was a quick, intense trip. Elena landed in Tel Aviv and grabbed the first car headed to The Golan. Here’s what happened, in her own words:

November 25, 3 pm: I’ve just landed in Tel Aviv, ready to start my adventure. Destination: Golan Heights.

It’s my first time in Israel. The taxi driver points and describes what we pass.

“Look at that village,” he said. “It’s an Arab village, there are fences everywhere, impossible to get inside from here.”

He’s Israeli but he speaks Arabic as well.

“I’ve been in Lebanon for few years,” he tells me.

We stop at the gas station, and he speaking Arabic with the attendant.

“The guy is from the Arab village we have just passed and he comes here to work,” my driver said.

I’ve only been in Israel for half an hour, but I can already feel the complexity and the instability this country experiences every day.

Majdal Shams, with Syria in the background. (Photo by Elena Roda)

I get to Golan Heights, to Majdal Shams, the biggest Druze village in the region. I’m only a few kilometers from the Israeli village of Kiryat Shmona, but here the buildings and the landscape are totally different. I feel I’m entering a new country even though there is no border between the two. The only border in the area is the line that divides The Golan from Syria – an international boundary since the Israelis took over the region.

Aamer, a young activist from Golan, drives me to the border.

“More than 20 people were killed here last June as they tried to cross the border,” he said. “I was here, it was terrible.”

The border fence is huge, but I can see through it. On the opposite side is Syria. It’s dangerous to walk along the fence, Aamer tells me.

“Mines are everywhere,” he said.

Not far from the border fence is Damascus, where Syrians are revolting against their government.

*  *  *

It’s Saturday morning.I am at Oud El Na’na’ cafè. Here people from Golan gather to talk politics. Mostly, they are well-educated: Professors and university students who are supporting the revolution against the Assad regime.

Oud El Nana Cafe. (Photo by Elena Roda)

Ronan has lived for seven years in Syria and now is back in Golan. I sit at my table, sipping coffee. Ronan looks out the window toward Syria.

“There is no freedom over there,” he says. “You can talk only to people you really trust in, otherwise you really get in trouble.”

In Golan Heights, there’s more opportunity to discuss what’s going on, he says.

“But I would still (rather) be there with the people, fighting for democracy,” he says.

Revolution, democracy, occupation, freedom, dictatorship, religion, tradition: Before my trip to Golan I’ve never thought it would have been possible to experience all of these together.

* * *

Want to read more from Elena Roda? Watch UPI.com for her stories from Golan Heights, which will be published before the end of the year!