Only A Game, NPR
Sixteen teams from Austrailia to Zimbabwe are in the West Indies for the 2007 Cricket World Cup. St. Kitt's, where cricket reigns, will host six of the matches. Judith Ritter recently visited the tiny island and thinks they are ready to handle the hysteria of over 150,000 fans.

Marketplace
Four-month-old bistro Robin des Bois has already made its mark on Montreal's trendy restaurant scene — by catering to the rich and giving its profits to the poor. Judith Ritter has the story.

World Vision Report
The tiny Dutch Island of Curaçao is just 35 miles off the coast of Venezuela. Everything about it is sweet: the sweet warm tradewinds, the candy pastel colors of the 18th-century Dutch architecture, the delicious handmade coconut and brown sugar candies sold by vendors in the outdoor market. One of the prettiest sights is what is called the "Floating Market." Boatmen, called barcqueros, from nearby Venezuela sell produce and fish from the edge of the dock. It's a colorful scene: the boats, the stacks of bright tropical vegetables and fruits, but behind the vibrant scene, there is another story...one not so picturesque. Judith Ritter spent time with one of the workers.

Marketplace
Only those in the know can navigate their way to Hong Kong's clandestine hot spots. Reporter Judith Ritter takes us on a tour of the city's unmarked, unadvertised, underground eateries.

Marketplace
Hong Kong's famous roadside noodle stalls, once the backbone of blue collar Hong Kong economy, are fast becoming an endangered species. The stalls were cheap eateries for laborers, and an entrepreneurship opportunity for the poor. Now, with post-SARS concerns for hygiene and rampant urban development, many little food stalls have bitten the dust.

Only A Game, NPR
First came the extraordinary story of the 1988 Olympic bobsledding team. Now, Jamaicans have taken snow-less snow sports even further. Judith Ritter has the report on the Jamaican Dogsledding team.

Only A Game, NPR
Hockey players on unicycles! Need we say more? Well, maybe a little. Judith Ritter reports from Hong Kong on one team of one-wheeled pucksters.

Marketplace
People who are savvy in the boardroom but a little more rusty with manners are turning to business etiquette classes to brush up. Well-mannered reporter Judith Ritter sat in on a Palm Beach class.

Marketplace
Overfishing has devastated much of the world's fishing hatcheries. Fish farming is one solution, though not all sea critters are amenable to that; Conch was considered a long shot. Judith Ritter reports from the Turks and Caicos islands on one man who liked the odds.

Marketplace
The people of India often feel at the mercy of mother nature. Each year they hold their breath to see if the monsoons will bless the farm economy. Its not uncommon for farm folk to give up and head to the cities in search of a better life. But with only rural skills, many find themselves in the slums. That doesn't mean there can't be opportunities. In South Delhi, there's a local program called Project Return. As Judith Ritter reports, the idea is to try to make rural skills pay off in the big city.

Marketplace
Street kids in India struggle daily; having a savings account might seem like a luxury. But some are getting the chance to put their earnings away. Judith Ritter reports.

The Savvy Traveler
Who doesn't dream of Paris: its cafes and great museums and monuments? People come to Paris for cafes, croissants and the Eiffel Tower, usually. But Judith Ritter went to Paris with something else on her mind: a taste of Africa.

CBC Radio, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Montrealer Robert Larouche knows a lot about the meaning of home — the deepest meaning. He has spent most of his life making homes, creating a sense of family for adults and children with intellectual disabilities. CBC Radio reporter Judith Ritter visited Larouche in the living room of one of the homes he has created in Montreal.

CBC Radio, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Some people might say you can make a home for yourself anywhere. Well, how about in a prison cell? Reporter Judith Ritter talked to CBC host Anne Dowson about how one inmate in the confined quarters of an Archambault prison cell made a home behind bars.

CBC Radio, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Maison Crossroads is a halfway house, one of 10 homes in Montreal for federal offenders who are released on parole. Reporter Judith Ritter talks to CBC host Anne Dowson about just what “home” is like for people whose last home was a prison.

Marketplace Money
Jack and Jill went up the hill…to talk to Congress. On today's "A Day In the Work Life" -- our weekly look at how folks trade time for money -- we go to Capitol Hill with a lobbyist.

Marketplace Money
In this episode of A Day In The Work Life, Judith heads out to the racetrack to meet a horse trainer.

Marketplace Money
In this episode of A Day In The Work Life, Judith clambers over broken appliances to chat with a fix-it man who says he can fix everything but broken hearts.

Marketplace Money
In this episode of A Day In The Work Life, Judith takes the heat to spend some time with a glassblower.

The Savvy Traveler
About 16 million people live in Bombay, or Mumbai, as it is now called. About half of them live on the street or in slums. But Mumbai is also a city of some glamour -- it's the home of "Bollywood," the largest film industry in the world. Recently, reporter Judith Ritter brought daughter Devorah, 19, and her friend Yael, 16, to this city of contradictions. The teens knew at the outset that this wasn't going to be a few weeks of leisure -- they were going to work.

Only A Game, NPR
Dragon Boat racing, a 2500 year old Chinese event, is now reputed to be the fastest growing water sport in the world. Paddlers cut through the water in long, narrow wooden boats decorated with ferocious heads and tails. This weekend almost 2000 paddlers from around the globe are competing in Shanghai for the World Championship. Earlier this year, Judith Ritter went to Hong Kong to witness the sport, and she has our report.

Only A Game, NPR
The Olympics, the Super Bowl, and the World Cups of both cricket and soccer are just a few of the world's really big sporting events. But last September, Judith Ritter attended something much, much bigger, and she has this report.

Only A Game, NPR
This weekend, teams from all over the U.S. are competing in the National Goalball Championships in Colorado Springs. Goalball was a highlight of the Paralympics in Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney and Athens. The game is played by blind and visually impaired athletes, but now the sighted are seeing what all the excitement is about. Judith Ritter saw...and heard...the reigning Paralympic champions at a recent practice, and she has this report.

Only A Game,NPR
Those who wish to learn wicket wizardry can do so at the largest croquet facility in the world, to which reporter Judith Ritter recently paid a visit.

The Savvy Traveler
My first trip to Singapore was almost two decades ago. I was lured by the heat and by tales of Joseph Conrad and Somerset Maugham. But when I was there, I slipped into shopping euphoria -- calculators, watches and perfume. I saw huge container ships -- not wooden schooners. Heard rock 'n' roll -- not chanting. But still there was something that drew me in -- the contradictions.

The Savvy Traveler
In the US we have baseball. India loves cricket. Italy and France go wild over soccer. And in Thailand, the national passion is Muay Thai (MOE-ay TIE): Thai Boxing. Other than outlawing biting and head butting, it's no-holds barred, hand-to-hand combat that involves kicking, punching, kneeing and elbowing opponents anywhere on their bodies. The matches are noisy, colorful and sometimes bloody. Once confined to Thailand, Muay Thai is becoming known abroad and some Westerners are actually spending their vacations in Thailand trying to learn the sport at a Muay Thai training camp. Others, like Judith Ritter, are curious enough to take in a match at one of Bangkok's Muay Thai stadiums.

The Savvy Traveler
Sitar teacher Bian Misla sits cross-legged in a closet sized room in front of sari clad, Amy Kinneman. It's over 100 degrees and perspiration is dripping off her forehead. Her red glass bracelets jangle as her fingers struggle with the strings of the polished wood sitar in her lap. The lesson is basic and difficult. Sitar takes years to master and Kinneman has never studied any kind of music before.

The Savvy Traveler
In Fiji, white-haired, grandfatherly Richard Evanson runs an inn -- and his inn is an island. This island-owner and innkeeper makes it his mission to contribute to the local community. Reporter Judith Ritter visited Richard’s very exclusive and tiny resort, Turtle Island, to see how he’s making life better for many people.

The Savvy Traveler
Set out right here on the street are about 15 beat up, round plastic tables covered with piles of yellowing Mahjong tiles, each tile painted with delicate red and black Chinese characters. Green bamboo flourishes, wiry, gray haired men in strappy undershirts and flip-flops sit in the nearly 100 degree heat. They're smoking, laughing and slapping the tiles on the tabletops. Some of the players are just in for a hand or two, others settled in for as long as it takes to be a winner.

The Savvy Traveler
Elephants in the wild are slowly vanishing. Thailand, which only 50 years ago had 50,000 wild elephants, now has only a few thousand roaming the forests and a few thousand tame creatures. That the elephant is still the symbol of Thailand is bittersweet. While the actual population dwindles, the affection most Thai people have for the elephant is unchanged. Judith Ritter went to Thailand to experience this once revered and dignified beast first hand.

CBC Radio, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
As part of our continuing series on people with passions, reporter Judith Ritter brings us Tony the butcher, someone whose hobby is more than just a hobby, it's his own doorway to nothing short of transcendence. Here is the story of Tony's Boats.