The Road to the Horizon The Road to the Horizon Short stories about travelling to remote places, working in unusual places, life as a humanitarian aid worker, expeditions and sailing. But mostly about enjoying the road more than reaching the destination. Articles
News: Bush on Global Food Crisis: "Indians eat too much"
2008-05-29 18:38:00 George W. Bush , in a press conference in Missouri on May 2, touched the subject of the soaring global food prices (taken from the official transcript):"Worldwide there is increasing demand. There turns out to be prosperity in developing world, which is good. It's going to be good for you because you'll be selling products into countries - big countries perhaps - and it's hard to sell products into countries that aren't prosperous. In other words, the more prosperous the world is, the more opportunity there is.It also, however, increases demand. So, for example, just as an interesting thought for you, there are 350 million people in India who are classified as middle class. That's bigger than America. Their middle class is larger than our entire population. And when you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food. And so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up. (Full) More About: News , Indians , Food , Global
News: Aid Shame
2008-05-29 18:16:00 A report called ?No One to Turn To,? released by U.K. charity Save the Children, highlights the sexual abuse by humanitarian aid workers and UN peacekeepers in impoverished, war-torn countries.The report is based on 38 focus group discussions with a total of 341 people living in chronic emergencies in Ivory Coast, Southern Sudan and Haiti, and meetings with 30 humanitarian, peace and security professionals.The interviews revealed instances of rape, child prostitution, pornography, indecent sexual assault and trafficking of children for sex.Allegations and investigations into UN peacekeepers? sexual abuse of international children and teenagers have been circulating for more than a decade, beginning with U.N. soldiers in Cambodia in the 1990s. (Full)Even though the report is only a fragmentary snapshot, does not distinguish between "factual" and "hear-say" observation, and is a partial repeat of earlier reports (which I quoted before on the Road), abuse of any kind can not be highlig... More About: News , Shame
News: US presidential candidates united in support of Darfur
2008-05-29 02:37:00 There don't seem to be many issues that the US presidential candidates Clinton, Obama and McCain agree upon, but one which caught my eye: their stand against Sudan and the genocide in Darfur.Extract from their statement:After more than five years of genocide, the Sudanese government and its proxies continue to commit atrocities against civilians in Darfur. This is unacceptable to the American people and to the world community.We deplore all violence against the people of Darfur. There can be no doubt that the Sudanese government is chiefly responsible for the violence and is able to end it. We condemn the Sudanese government?s consistent efforts to undermine peace and security, including its repeated attacks against its own people and the multiple barriers it has put up to the swift and effective deployment of the United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force. We further condemn the Sudanese government?s refusal to adhere to the terms of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) th... More About: News , Presidential , Support
Picture of the day: Survivor
2008-05-26 21:36:00 A quake survivor tries to make the most of what is left of his home in Yinghua, China . The earthquake on May 12th killed 65,000 people and left 5 million homeless.More Picture s of the Day on The Road.Picture courtesy Oded Balilty (AP/Times) More About: Survivor , Picture of the day
Picture of the day: Violence in South Africa.
2008-05-26 00:41:00 Violence in South Africa 's townships against foreign nationals has claimed 42 lives and displaced 22,000 people. (Full)The incidents are mapped at United for Africa.More "Picture s of the Day" on the Road.Picture courtesy Joao Silva (The New York Times) More About: South Africa , Picture of the day , Violence
News: Bangladesh trees to stop cyclones and floods
2008-05-25 22:15:00 Over 49.8% of Bangladesh 's 144 million people live below the poverty line. 84% live off less than US$2/day. 41.3% live off less than 1 US$1/day. With those demographic poverty figures, not much is needed to push Bangladesh's poor over the edge.Natural calamities, such as floods, tropical cyclones, and tidal bores occur almost every year. Most parts of Bangladesh are less than 12 metres (39 ft) above sea level. If the sea level would rise by one metre (3ft), it is believed 50% of the land would be flooded. No wonder the yearly cyclone season is a season of despair and disaster for many Bangladeshis.Last summer the country was hit by two major floods while Cyclone Sidr tore through its coastal districts in November, killing at least 5,000 people and leaving tens of millions homeless and desperately short of food. Environmentalists said the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest, stood as a "green bastion" against the cyclone. If it were not for the Sundarbans, the death to... More About: News , Trees , Stop , Floods
Rumble: Recruiting in the 21st century
2008-05-25 12:56:00 Many bloggers like myself use Feedjit widgets to monitor and track traffic on their blog.This morning, I was reading the Feedjit blog and found this recruitment ad: Feedjit is Hiring -- February 27th, 2008 We?re hiring!! Feedjit is based in Seattle in Pioneer Square - home of the worlds best coffee shops. We?re interested in chatting to Rock-Star ModPerl (2.0) developers and Ubuntu/Debian ops folks with cluster management experience.The encrypted string below is derived from an email address. If you can crack it, send an email to the address with your resume and we?d love to chat over coffee!aa5jCQfLReMvQClue: The salt is ?aa? and the username matches ^[a-z0-9]{4}$ Reminds me of 2003, when we recruited out of our old Al Quoz office in Dubai, "where the streets have no name"... We would explain interviewees only once how to get to our office. If they don't find it, or did not make it on time, they could not work for us...Actually it was an effective method to make the first selec... More About: Recruiting , Century
Rumble: Internet is older than we think - the evidence
2008-05-25 12:54:00 I came across this post on Shoutwire, a social bookmarking site. The post seems to be published 733,130 days ago. According to my calculations, this must have been around year 0, the year Christ was born...This must be the proof the Internet is older than we think.So where does Al Gore stand with his claim to have invented Internet? Or would Al be as old as Christ? Maybe Al is nobody else but JC, "the man"? Cool! Would that make "global warming", a "divine warning", like one of the prophecy thingies those dudes make? Who needs scientific evidence, hey?Ah.. the revelations, the signs, the unbearable lightness of insights...Ok, dear listeners, that concludes our programme of "The Nutcase" for today. More About: Evidence
Rumble: Recommended: The Reluctant Fundamentalist
2008-05-25 00:40:00 Excuse me, sir, but may I be of assistance? Ah, I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard: I am a lover of America.Thus starts the monologue of "Changez", the principle character in "The Reluctant Fundamentalist " by Mohsin Hamid.Seated at dusk at a Lahore cafe, Changez tells his story to a stranger, an American. A story of a Pakistan i who studied in the US, found work in a prestigious company, met a girl and became singled out after 9/11. Gradually he starts question his path of life and how different he was from the people around him, in a Western country.The story is told with a light, almost frivolous, sometimes ironical English, jumping between the subjects of love, culture, religion, prejudices and the war on terror. Despite the weight of the topics, the story remains so light it almost starts to resonate with irony or sarcasm without giving away any hint of the faith both Changez and his American acquaintance will face towards the end of the book.Very well wri...
News: Saudi Arabia becomes major UN donor
2008-05-24 22:30:00 The UN appealed for US$755 million to cover the high costs of food and fuel which have risen dramatically since June 2007, hampering the world's most vulnerable nations in the global food crisis.31 countries responded in donating a collective US$460 million. Saudi Arabia now close the gap with a US$500 million donation.The half-billion dollar contribution puts the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the forefront of the large-scale, high-level, multilateral UN action by the global community. (Full)Picture courtesy Tom Haskell/WFP More About: News , Middle East
News: Ugandan UN Peace Keepers accused of selling arms in Somalia
2008-05-24 22:14:00 A report by the UN monitoring group on the Somali arms embargo says Ugandan peacekeepers in Somalia have been selling arms to insurgents.It cites one incident in which a group of Ugandan soldiers allegedly received $80,000 for a transaction. Some peacekeepers are accused of setting up an arms trading network through translators. The soldiers received a wish-list of weapons from arms dealers and the weapons were then supplied from stores of equipment seized from insurgents. The monitoring group says the weapons find their way back to the insurgent group they were captured from in the first place.The Ugandan army has already dismissed the accusations as "absolutely ridiculous." (Full)More posts on The Road about UN Peace Keeping operations.Source: International Aidworkers TodayPicture courtesy Gambia News Community More About: Selling , Africa
News: UN Peace Keepers muffle negative inspection report
2008-05-24 22:06:00 I wrote before about the BBC and the Human Rights Watch reports on abuse by UN peace keepers in Congo , smuggling gold and drugs out of the country in exchange for weapons they gave to the rebels.The UN decided that "in the absence of corroborative evidence" its investigators "could not substantiate the allegation" that Pakistani peacekeepers supplied weapons or ammunition to the militia.The New York Times just published an article by Matthias Basanisi, the UN's deputy chief investigator in Congo at that time. He reveals nothing short but an orchestrated cover-up of the scandal:I was the investigator in charge of the United Nations team that in 2006 looked into allegations of abuses by Pakistani peacekeepers in Congo and found them credible. But the investigation was taken away from my team after we resisted what we saw as attempts to influence the outcome. My fellow team members and I were appalled to see that the oversight office?s final report was little short of a whitewash.The ... More About: News , Peace , Report , Negative
News: Humanitarian airlift to Myanmar
2008-05-24 16:01:00 I am back in Brindisi .I am sure you have seen the news of humanitarian relief goods being flown into Myanmar to assist with the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. I bet all of that footage was on the Myanmar side...Those first relief flights actually all originated from here, from the UN Humanitarian Response Depot in Brindisi.Here are some pictures from the first relief flights into Myanmar on May 10th. This particular flight had cargo from OCHA and Irish Aid, containing water purification units, moskito nets, blankets, kitchen sets, tarpaulins and water storage containers.View the picture slide show of this airlift.Pictures courtesy Fulvio Pirato (UNHRD/WFP) More About: News
News: Tough hurricane season coming up.
2008-05-24 11:15:00 According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the approaching 2008 Atlantic hurricane season is likely to be above normal, with 16 named storms and up to five major hurricanes.NOAA attributed the above-average outlook to the lingering affects of La Nina. The agency has urged residents of hurricane-prone areas to be prepared for the season, which begins on June 1 and will run until 30 November. (Full)Atlantic-born hurricanes threaten the Caribbean, Central America, Southern US and Northern Latin America every year. In 2007, there were 17 named storms, of which hurricanes Dean, Felix and Noel, and tropical storm Olga wrecked the most havoc.Picture courtesy ThinkQuest NYC More About: News , Season , Tough , Hurricane
News: Humanitarian airlift to China
2008-05-22 17:04:00 The boys and girls from the UN Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) have been busy the past weeks.There were several airlifts of relief goods into Myanmar, and since a week, relief agencies requested for the shipment of humanitarian goods to China , in support of the earthquake disaster.Yesterday and last night, an Airbus 310 from Skycargo (Emirates Airlines) was loaded with relief goods from the Italian Civil Protection. Contrary to the normal practices, the plane was parked on the civilian side of Brindisi airport, so all goods had to be trucked to other side of the airport. All stuff is fixed on special pallets before being weighed and loaded onto the plane.The cargo consisted of family tents and a full field hospital from the Italian Civil Protection, one of the agencies that stores their goods at the UNHRD depots in Brindisi.The loading crew was ready at 2 am and the plane took off a few hours later. Next stop: China earthquake zone.Pictures courtesy Lucien Jaggi (WFP/UNHRD) More About: News , Italy
Rumble: Race for the Cure
2008-05-21 09:44:00 Last Sunday, we participated in Rome's Race for the Cure , an advocacy and fundraising walk/run for the benefit of breast cancer research.Despite the rain and wind (which cleared up the moment the walk finished), I would guess over 10,000 people showed up!Tnx to "E" for the picture. More About: The Cure
News: Cutting agricultural aid research or how to dig your own grave...
2008-05-18 21:56:00 Giving people fish or teaching them to fish?A few years back, I had a meeting with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai, Prime Minister and Vice President of the UAE.I told him of the humanitarian work we did. He listened attentively, and kept a silence after my explanation. Then he said candidly: "You know, you are giving people fish, instead of teaching them how to fish. Give a person a fish and he will eat for a day, teach him how to fish and he will have food for the rest of his life!"I was quick to respond: "Your Highness, when people are starving, they are not interested in being taught how to fish. If we give them fishlings for their pond, they will eat it, rather using them for breeding. Our organisation gives people the fish, so they are not starving anymore, and have the energy to be taught how to fish, and to fish themselves. Other organisations we work closely with, teach them how to fish, how to breed fishlings. After that, others come in and teach ... More About: News , Research , Grave , Agricultural , Cutting
News: From Cyclone Sidr to Cyclone Nargis - an aidworker's perspective
2008-05-18 13:08:00 An aidworker from Oxfam explains how the immediate effect of the cyclone devastation is only the beginning of misery for those affected.Those on the ground (in Myanmar) are estimating that at least 100,000 people were killed by the storm. The numbers are devastating, each one of them painfully reminding me what a difference an investment into disaster preparedness and early warning systems ? like those that have been implemented in Bangladesh ? could have made for the families in Myanmar.Surface water that people are used to drinking is likely to be contaminated not only by dead bodies and livestock carcasses, but also human and animal waste spread by floodwaters and overflowing latrines. The weather forecast for this week predicts more heavy rain, and even a new storm approaching the cyclone-affected area. With people?s resistance to disease already weakened after days of living in overcrowded conditions without food and proper roofs over their heads, the children and elderly are l... More About: News , Perspective , Cyclone , Nargis
Picture of the day: Desertification
2008-05-18 12:10:00 Desertification is the degradation of land into arid (desert) areas. Caused primarily by human activities and climatic variations, desertification is on the move. We loose fertile land and nature's biodiversity at an alarming rate.The Sahara is expanding south at an average rate of 30 miles per year. In Nigeria desertification overtakes about 1,355 square miles (3,510 km²) of land per year. More than 80% of Afghanistan's land is subject to soil erosion and desertification. In Kazakhstan, nearly half of the cropland turned intow wasteland since 1980. (Source)More "Picture s of the Day" on the Road.Picture courtesy Reuters (Der Spiegel) More About: Picture of the day
News: US politics, commercial interests, war and humanitarian aid. A danger
2008-05-17 23:54:00 US president Bush recently laid out a detailed budget request for $70 billion.It includes $45.1 billion for combat operations for the war efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq, $3.7 billion to help expand the Afghan forces and $2 billion for Iraqi troops.Also included are $2.2 billion for projected increased fuel costs for military and intelligence operations and $2.6 billion to transport and maintain Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAP) used for US forces in Iraq.This will bring the total allocation for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to more than $800 billion.Oh, and the budget request also covers $770 million in additional food aid donations, including food vouchers, seeds and purchases in the developing world. (Full)Oh, and the Bush administration also slipped a controversial ingredient into the $770 million aid package, adding language that would promote the use of genetically modified crops (GMO) in food-deprived countries... (Full)Picture courtesy ickypeople.com More About: News , Politics , Commercial , Danger , Interests
News: US immigration - sense or senseless?
2008-05-17 22:59:00 Pictures this:Him: Domenico Salerno, a carefree Italian with a recent law degree from a Roman university, in love with:Her: Caitlin Cooper, from Virginia (US), raised across the road from George Washington?s homeTheir romance: sparked by a 2006 meeting in a supermarket in Rome, Domenico frequently visited Caitlin in Alexandria, Va., where he was welcomed like a favorite son by the parents and neighbors of his girlfriend.Them: on April 29, when Mr. Salerno, presented his passport at Washington Dulles International Airport, a Customs and Border Protection agent refused to let him into the US. And after hours of questioning, agents would not let him travel back to Rome, either. On the contrary, he was sent to a rural Virginia jail where he remained for more than 10 days, locked up without charges or legal recourse.The authorities said they (mis-)understood Mr. Salerno's English and thought he was seeking asylum (from Italy eh?). (Full story)Regular readers from The Road know I have a ... More About: News , Sense , Immigration , Senseless
News: Myanmar - begging to aid or forcing to aid?
2008-05-17 21:34:00 From the UN press briefing in Geneva on May 13:The UN Secretary-General registered his deep concern ?and immense frustration? at the unacceptably slow response to the grave humanitarian crisis in Myanmar . They were at a critical point, and unless more aid got into the country ?very quickly? the people faced an outbreak of infectious diseases that could dwarf today?s crisis. The Secretary_General called, in the most strenuous terms, on the Government of Myanmar to put its people?s lives first. It must do all that it could to prevent this disaster from becoming even more serious.From the same briefing:Rupert Colville of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, responding to a question on the fact that it was strange that the Human Rights Council would be holding a Special Session on the global food crisis, but not on the current situation in Myanmar, said (..) there had been discussion to some extent on the possibility of talking about Myanmar, but the Council had a very ... More About: News
Picture of the day: Urbanisation
2008-05-17 20:02:00 The proportion of people living in towns, rose dramatically from 13% (220 million) in 1900, to 29% (732 million) in 1950, to 49% (3.2 billion) in 2005. By 2050 over 6 billion people, two thirds of humanity, will be living in towns and cities.More "Picture s of the Day" on the Road.Picture courtesy chickencrap.com More About: Picture of the day
News: "Clinton, Obama or McCain" and the UN
2008-05-17 14:03:00 The US has a critical a role (and responsibility as 'world citizens') in defining the UN's agenda and actions. At the same time, the relation between the UN and US have been strained and frayed.Whether Republican or Democrat, whether Obama , Clinton or McCain, the new US administration will have to pay early attention to repairing and revitalising its relationship with the UN.How do the three candidates compare on international issues for which the UN, for good or for bad, is the only global forum? Well, this article from the Hindu Times compares the three candidates.Picture courtesy Boston.com More About: News
News: Bloggers unite against human rights.
2008-05-15 23:47:00 According to CNN, over 7 million bloggers unite to raise awareness on human rights issues, supporting Amnesty International's campaigns. Are you a blogger, or trying to make a difference on human rights issues? Check here.More posts on The Road about human rights. More About: News , Human , Rights , Human Rights , Bloggers
News: Who profits from the global food crisis?
2008-05-15 23:03:00 The prices of wheat, corn and rice have soared over the past year driving the world's poor ? who already spend about 80 per cent of their income on food ? into hunger and destitution.While the poor are getting poorer, the rich are getting richer:Monsanto last month reported a doubling of its 3 months' net income over the same period in 2007, from $543m (£275m) to $1.12bn. Its profits increased from $1.44bn to $2.22bn.Cargill's net earnings soared by 86 per cent from $553m to $1.030bn over the same three months.Archer Daniels Midland, one of the world's largest agricultural processors of soy, corn and wheat, increased its net earnings by 42 per cent in the first three months of this year from $363m to $517m. The operating profit of its grains merchandising and handling operations jumped 16-fold from $21m to $341m.The Mosaic Company, one of the world's largest fertiliser companies, saw its income for the three months ending 29 February rise more than 12-fold, from $42.2m to $520.... More About: News , Food , Global , Profits , Crisis
Picture of the Day: Trapped in China
2008-05-14 09:34:00 A rescuer holds the hand of a trapped student at Wudu Primary School on the outskirts of Mianzhu, in Sichuan Province, China . Rescue workers across southwestern China struggle to reach the tens of thousands of people who remain buried in the aftermath of the earthquake, as the death toll climbs above 13,000. (Full)Picture courtesy of Chen Jianli (Xinhua via Reuters) More About: Picture of the day
Rumble: Translator of Nightmares
2008-05-13 12:27:00 I read hundreds of articles and blog entries about Darfur. Few have impacted me as much as this article, covering a book, "The Translator : A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur" written by Daoud Hari.Daoud Hari is a Dafur tribes man who assisted journalists travelling in his region as a translator. A translator of horror stories.Sleepless during nights of exile in Chad, Daoud Hari stared at cracks in his room's mud walls. The lines formed random shapes that reminded him of drawings from thousands of years ago -- of horned beasts, of women, men and children. He had seen them in the cool mountain caves of Darfur, where he played as a boy. They triggered an urge to sketch scenes of the savagery and starvation he had witnessed in the once-tranquil lands of his childhood.During those uneasy nights, he picked up pencil and paper to turn his torment into tolerable numbness.He drew the woman who had hanged herself from a tree with her shawl because she could not feed her children. Hari had found... More About: Nightmares
Picture of the day: Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar
2008-05-09 15:09:00 Almost a week after Cyclone Nargis inundated Myanmar ?s densely settled coast, wiped out villages and left untold tens of thousands dead and hundreds of thousands homeless, the first two United Nations flights carrying relief supplies arrived in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, on Thursday. (Full)More "Picture s of the Day" on the Road.Picture courtesy Andy Newman (New York Times) More About: Picture of the day
Rumble: Venice, the conclusion of a weekend.
More articles from this author:2008-05-08 23:48:00 Just to conclude this series about Venice , here are the last photo impressions I wanted to share:View the slideshow of all my Venice pictures.Check out other posts on the Road about Venice. More About: Weekend 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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