May 31
The European Journalism Centre is running an online photo competition highlighting change around the world. They’re inviting users to submit photos and vote for the best. I’ve submitted a few entries myself – if you like them, please vote for them!
Here are the links to my photos:
Oct 11
Uncategorized article, Asia, disaster risk reduction, Indonesia No Comments
A women's group taking part in training - CC-Attrib / Elsje Fourie
The newspaper editor who had commissioned this article from me changed his mind with the explanation that “stories on development don’t sell” (!), so I let it gather dust for a while. But after an estimated 1100 died in the tragic Sumatra earthquake of September 30th, this piece–about working with lndonesians to prepare for natural disasters–suddenly seemed very relevant again. My heart goes out to those who lost their lives or loved ones in the quake, and I hope that the Indonesian authorities will take disaster risk reduction (DRR) more seriously than it does at the moment. Amidst the horror, the hopeful story of a town where careful planning prevented a single death, emerged this week to show that DRR does work. However, the scale of the destruction shows that Indonesians need help from the international community and their own government so that the lucky villages are not as few and far between…
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For those who do not live above the world’s tectonic faultines, it is difficult to imagine: one morning you realize the lamp hanging from your ceiling is swaying, before the floor begins to roll underneath your feet like water. Or you are told to leave your home for three months, not knowing whether all you leave behind might be covered by a blanket of lava upon your return.
This is the reality for most in Indonesia, however. Situated almost entirely on the famously volatile Ring of Fire, Indonesia has 220 active volcanoes and suffers an average of 7000 earthquakes a year. Four months of heavy monsoon rains, aggravated by deforestation and erosion, causes flooding and hundreds of landslides each year. Forest fires, tornadoes and tsunamis add to the chaos. According to the UN, more disaster-related deaths occurred in Indonesia than in any other country in 2006.
Sep 23
Culture, Society article, Asia, skin whitening, women 3 Comments
© Yinyu Mao - Creative Commons 2.0
This is a newspaper article I wrote a while back, but never got around to finding a publisher for. What better place for it than my second ever blog post:
She’s fresh out of university, talented, and longs to be a journalist. Yet she’s getting nowhere: “Just before my fourth interview, I realised that the obstacle to obtaining my dream job was my skin”. Ten seconds into this television advertisement, many viewers might be able to identify with the plight of this young woman trying to overcome discrimination in the workplace. One month later, however, she’s reporting live from a tent in the Egyptian desert and surrounded by admirers. (See the video here).
Has she campaigned to draw attention to unfair recruitment procedures, or taken her employers to a labour tribunal? Her solution is simpler: she has used a product by Indian cosmetics brand Fair and Lovely to lighten her skin and achieve “total fairness”.
Sep 20
Culture, Modernisation, Society, Travel about me, introduction, light traveller, steampunk 2 Comments
Hello world. I see so much that is chaotic, beautiful and intricate as I drift above you, observing the goings-on below. Not that I feel I am ‘above’ you, not in that way. But I feel like a light traveller, never resting in any one place for long, going where the breeze takes me.
I didn’t always travel this way. When I was growing up as the daughter of a diplomat, I used to get very attached to the various places we were posted. I remember, as a nine-year old, standing in our backyard and singing a teary goodbye to the grey British skies I was being forced to leave behind. My father had heard we had a week to leave the country before the government kicked us out, and the next day at the school I’d just begun to feel comfortable in was going to be my last. But that’s another story for another post…
Since that day, I have lived in eight countries and had the chance to travel to many, many more. I rarely stay in one place for longer than a year or two. I’m not the only one to do this—us global nomads are a rapidly-growing species. Nor is it always easy, as I long, at times, to settle somewhere and put down roots. But I do feel I’ve had the chance to see a little of this world and to do some interesting things in it, so I’d like to use this space to explore some of it.
This isn’t really a travel blog, though. More
