Because they are human
It’s been 2 months since I was last in Zimbabwe. A lot has changed since then. The financial crisis here in the UK has started to have a real impact in some people’s lives– hardly a day goes by without …
Humanitarian
We are a pool of workers that support DFID programmes when disasters or conflict strike. We assess the crisis areas and recommend which partners to work with and what projects to fund. We tend to zip around at short notice. Recently our bloggers have been to the Philippines, Central African Republic, Niger, Zimbabwe and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
The dead lizard and I
Last night, I had to abandon my room - it was just too hot inside. So I set up on a mattress outside the door under a mango tree. It was a busy night. There was a party on in town. …
The boxes have gone
‘Where’s Rwanda, then?’ asked Terry the packer as he loaded my seven cardboard boxes into his red van. We looked at a map of central Africa and found the small landlocked country, wedged between its giant neighbours the Democratic Republic …
The power struggles around Paoua
I was thinking again about that local official in Paoua. He has another constraint – he can’t even get to see the area he administers. It's quite in contrast with my own role - I am traveling right across this …
Despatch from Paoua
As I flew in to the north west of the country today, the plane banked sharply and circled as it came in to land. On the ground, on the bumpy, dusty bit of cleared bush that acts as a runway, …
Cutting sausages in CAR
Bangui in the Central African Republic has not got much in common with Hollywood, except the imposing sign on the hill above the city. City? Well, not really. 10 minutes of driving takes you from one edge to the other; …
A slice of life in N’Djamena
I am standing on the bridge over the Chari, the river which forms the border between Chad and Cameroon. I came here as a sort of a pilgrimage – one year ago today, this bridge was a jostling mass of …
Going downtown in Basra
I’ve been downtown twice in the last couple of weeks now, so I thought it might be interesting to set down some impressions of the city (as well as some photographs). Now that security has improved, we’re out and about …
When the aid provided leaves people divided
A few rapidly snatched possessions, some sketchy shelters made from branches and grass and barefoot children being herded out of sight by fearful parents. You have seen it before on TV: another population fleeing from a vicious low-level war. But …
Pots, pans and protests: the fight for natural resources
Last Sunday morning, N'djamena city rang with the sound of thousands of clashing pots and pans. It was a few minutes of noisy defiance in Chad's capital, an indoor expression of rage. Indoors, because when women demonstrated in the streets …
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