I asked a colleague in Freetown to translate ‘Send your children to school, this is for change’ and the result, in Krio, is the title of this blog. I spent eight days in Sierra Leone, which is currently going into its 10th year since the end of the devastating conflict that affected most of the population.
I was in Democratic Republic of Congo recently and met a young man, Jean Claude (not his real name), who is living with HIV. We are starting a new programme in DRC that’s responding to HIV, and I was very keen to have people living with HIV involved right from the beginning, so we invited some people who are open about their HIV status to join us for our start-up workshop.
Today, we are in Mumbai – by the way, Indians still call it Bombay, its only the English and officials who use its new name. Had a short flight from Jaipur to here early in the morning, and after a quick catnap and lunch, we were off once more.
Quick tonight, I’m absolutely knackered. Been another intense day, but a real eye opener! Visited a school in a Muslim dominated area, and that’s when I made my first bobo.
Busy, busy days. Today, I’ve been discussing funding opportunities for projects in Goma, a city in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, written to people in London about internal bulletins, magazines, publications, media visits and donor visits, called Kinshasa and Dakar and discussed communications strategies.
What day is it???
11.05.2010… exactly 1 month till the start of the World Cup. Election? What election? From here on in it is definitely World Cup mania!
Forget about winners and losers, there’s only one outcome I want from this year’s World Cup, and that’s Education for All.
That’s why I’m supporting 1GOAL and I want you to do the same. This is an opportunity we can’t miss. The world is coming together to watch the World Cup; so enjoy the games but support 1GOAL!
If that’s not enough you can wear your shirt to work as a show of solidarity for the campaign (and your favourite team), you can get your friends and family to sign up too and send your forms back to us.
If you want to know more about the issues download our latest report: The Future is Now or you can read about what’s happening around the globe in support of 1GOAL – there’s loads going on!
Follow us on twitter for more news
Teaching children in a languages they don’t use at home is causing big problems with school dropouts, exam failures and pupils not achieving their potential, particularly in rural areas of developing countries. Find out what’s being done to tackle the issue and add your voice to the debate on what should be done to stop language being a barrier to learning for millions of children.
I am a very nosy person. What could be a more legitimate excuse for delving into the fascinating life, letters, unpublished novels, houses, bottom drawers, last will and testament… of someone who intrigues you, than writing their biography? Aware of the potentially invasive nature of the role, I once described it as psycho-stalking, and was duly ticked off by a more established writer.
Venture just 15-minutes out of leafy, downtown Harare and you will find some of the capital’s oldest and most neglected suburbs. Today they are home to those displaced by Operation Murambatsvina in 2005 and bear living testimony to the real state the country is in.
We started the February distribution of food aid this morning. The distribution I visited was in the vicinity of one of the schools I had visited yesterday. When I got out of the vehicle I met the lone teacher who was on duty yesterday. He had come to ask if he and his family could be included in the feeding programme because, as he had told me before, he has not been able to pick up his paltry pay for months.
