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The humanity of humanitarian work

Posted by: Colum Wilson, Posted on: 18 August 2010 - Categories: Humanitarian

What’s this then? A whole day dedicated to humanitarian workers? Don’t they get enough air time as the face of disasters, recounting tales of untold suffering on our TVs? Well, no, actually. The sad fact is that regardless of how …

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The dead lizard and I

Posted by: Colum Wilson, Posted on: 3 March 2009 - Categories: Africa, Humanitarian

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. …

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Of money, mice and men in Paoua

Posted by: Colum Wilson, Posted on: 26 February 2009 - Categories: Africa, Economic Development, Girls & Women

We are in the shanty side-streets of Paoua, where crumbling buildings patched with tin crowd in on dusty alleys, and where skinny cats patrol. I am sitting with a group of thirty women, and their attention is focussed on two metal …

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The power struggles around Paoua

Posted by: Colum Wilson, Posted on: 20 February 2009 - Categories: Humanitarian

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 …

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Despatch from Paoua

Posted by: Colum Wilson, Posted on: 19 February 2009 - Categories: Africa, Humanitarian

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, …

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Cutting sausages in CAR

Posted by: Colum Wilson, Posted on: 9 February 2009 - Categories: Africa, Humanitarian

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; …

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On this blog DFID staff share their personal experiences of helping to eliminate extreme poverty across the developing world.

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