Humanitarian News - AidWorkers blog posts

A moment of inspiration

AidBlogs — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 17:50:21 PDT

Last night, I was talking to a couple of the older Blue Dragon boys about their dreams for the future. One of them, "Han," has been with us for about 6 years now. He's 18 and has a steady job, but when I first met him he was living on the streets, hanging out with gangs, and getting into all sorts of trouble. When he told[...]

ISD Sports Awards 2012 - Mariama & Bella Bah win awards

AidBlogs — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 13:50:53 PDT

ISD Sports Awards 2012 - Mariama & Bella Bah win awards [...][Published in AidBlogs - Read the original article]

Come Hang Out in DC This Week

AidBlogs — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 05:40:28 PDT

Right now I should be touching down in BWI and will then make my way into DC for the week. I am co-hosting a tweet up/meet up/event/happy hour with ICT4Drinks on Tuesday evening at the Circle Bistro. There is already a great list of people who are planning to attend. If you are in town,

#153 The Hash Run

AidBlogs — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 03:50:58 PDT

Submitted by Greenelm

Gigglingbob's Weekly Twits

AidBlogs — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 23:11:06 PDT

RT @solomonking: RT @iHub: "There's the law and then there's business sense! If you create something, act like you own it!" #

Gigglingbob's Weekly Twits

AidBlogs — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 23:11:06 PDT

RT @solomonking: RT @iHub: "There's the law and then there's business sense! If you create something, act like you own it!" #

Aushwitz

AidBlogs — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 08:40:20 PDT

Auschwitz I (Stammlager or base camp)

Images of an ending.

AidBlogs — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 02:50:15 PDT

School’s just about over, and so the kids had an Olympics. Immediately[...]

The way

AidBlogs — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 00:40:09 PDT

Over the years, Blue Dragon has tried many approaches to helping kids in need here in Vietnam. We've met them on the streets; built houses for their families; rescued them out of factories and brothels; paid their school fees...

Signs and Directions

AidBlogs — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 00:00:07 PDT

Bringing Bottom Up Development to TED

AidBlogs — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 10:10:18 PDT

I had the chance to speak with Lara Crampe, Development Officer for IIRR. She has proposed to give the talk titled 'Sex, Slacktivism, and How Not to Change the World' at TEDxUChicago. The proposal is one of the many entries participating in the

Microfinance as an allegory for aid

AidBlogs — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 03:20:26 PDT

Microfinance has been touted as a ‘bottom up solution’ to poverty. The Nobel Peace Prize 2006 was awarded jointly to Muhammad Yunus[...]

And sometimes skies are blue…

AidBlogs — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 03:00:26 PDT

ToonsEAWL: Data Visualization

AidBlogs — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 02:50:16 PDT

The Bogeymen

AidBlogs — Thu, 31 May 2012 22:10:18 PDT

Having trekked across town on a warm day we arrived at our planned destination, a newly opened cafe. Nodding our approval to each other at the set up and decor, we sat down and opened menus. Literally, two minutes later we spotted a page of “Special[...]

UID's errors, trials and reality checks

AidBlogs — Thu, 31 May 2012 21:40:06 PDT

UID has apparently refurbished its system, fixing some pretty serious-sounding technical glitches. Some of the issues that have now[...]

Hope

AidBlogs — Thu, 31 May 2012 15:31:11 PDT

Last Friday morning started with an unexpected phone call: a Chinese policeman rang Van, the Blue Dragon Lawyer, asking for assistance. The policeman had 2 Vietnamese girls with him, both of whom he had rescued from a brothel. They were just 15 years old. The girls were terrified, and he asked Van to comfort them over the phone[...]

Back on the African continent and switching gears

AidBlogs — Thu, 31 May 2012 11:22:07 PDT

Thankful Thursday

AidBlogs — Thu, 31 May 2012 05:11:05 PDT

I am thankful for city water being back after a few weeks!!! I am also thankful for this…

This Is Africa

AidBlogs — Thu, 31 May 2012 03:56:46 PDT

Starving kids, their skeletal ribs pressing against dry brown skin, taut as a drum’s. Orange dust blows off a parched landscape in swirling ribbons while flat-topped[...]

Give Flickr the flick or celebrate its genius?

AidBlogs — Thu, 31 May 2012 01:21:24 PDT

The pic above turned up in an online magazine this week and when I contacted them to point out its “non[...]

Edge-Notes Day 3

AidBlogs — Wed, 30 May 2012 12:51:28 PDT

Third day, third camp. Each has its own subtle unique atmosphere, a combination of it's age and size perhaps, or of the NGO which "runs" it. Today's camp is the purview of MSF, and is one of the larger ones. More spread out, more space, a bustling market. Humans are humans, put 150 thousand of them together and they will begin selling things to each other. The[...]

Chart of the Day: Hunger and Food Waste

AidBlogs — Wed, 30 May 2012 11:31:32 PDT

Snapshots- more Malindi/Mombasa pics

AidBlogs — Wed, 30 May 2012 06:10:27 PDT

Here are two more pics from our trip to Malindi/Mombasa that give you a glimpse into the beauty we get to enjoy here in Kenya.

Policy Brief on Female Police Staff Associations and Gender Sensitive Police Reform

AidBlogs — Tue, 29 May 2012 21:20:16 PDT

The North-South Institute has a policy brief out on Female Staff Associations in West Africa and their contributions to Gender Sensitive Police Reform called

Islamic Relief for Child Welfare in South Africa

AidBlogs — Tue, 29 May 2012 15:41:06 PDT

Yesterday I visited Osizweni- a Zulu name meaning “place of help”- is Islamic Relief South Africa’s community Day care centre helping the orphans and vulnerable children in Ennerdale, approx 45km from Johannesburg. This day care centre facilitates over 80 orphan’s aged birth-6 years. It provides aftercare for older orphans with no safe home. Hot meals are served to all of[...]

Edge Notes Day 2

AidBlogs — Tue, 29 May 2012 08:40:18 PDT

The bougainvillea and acacias whisper in the evening wind as light fades and the dust and heat of the day slip away. I am just back from a walk through D-b town with Luke. Not sure it would have occurred to me that we could leave our UN-zone bunker but it did, of course, occur to him. No one objected. After being herded and jostled from base to camp to base, it was[...]

Al Jazeera Takes on Voluntourism

AidBlogs — Tue, 29 May 2012 08:30:15 PDT

The past week has seen voluntourism looked at with a magnifying glass by Al Jazeera. The Stream (above) discusses voluntourism in the context of the recent People and[...]

Oxford University Africa Conference [Videos]

AidBlogs — Tue, 29 May 2012 07:20:19 PDT

Think Africa Press have just posted a bunch of videos from the Oxford Africa Society conference a few weeks ago. The highlight for me was a quote from Nigerian Central Bank Governor Sanusi Lamido Aminu Sanusi. [paraphrased from[...]

Where is the Bono for migration?

AidBlogs — Tue, 29 May 2012 06:50:22 PDT

Given that the overwhelming explanation for who is rich and who is poor on a global scale isn't about who you are; it's about where you are and immigration restrictions are probably the greatest preventable cause of global suffering[...]