Archive for 'Zimbabwe'
As we approach World AIDS Day 2012, on the 1st of December, I have paused to reflect on some of the country visits that I have made this year, which have highlighted the on-going impact of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) on ordinary people's lives. My visit to Malawi (here, [...]
My two year secondment to the European Union (EU) Delegation in Zimbabwe has flown by and once more I am packing my bags, this time to drive up to Tanzania - to support the DFID education programme from Dar Es Salaam. Living and working in Zimbabwe has been immensely rewarding, it's been a pleasure to see [...]
This month sees the 19th Biennial International AIDS Conference being hosted in Washington DC - it's great to see a return to the USA of this major event, following the lifting of visa restrictions for HIV positive people. Thankfully the stigma against HIV/AIDS infected people is declining and it is great to see steps being taken to [...]
Tuesday morning found me sitting on the proverbial 'dock of the bay', waiting for a speedboat to emerge from the calm blue horizon of Lake Kariba - a massive man-made lake formed 50 years ago by damming the mighty Zambezi river. We waited for Mr Melendro - our senior regional European Commission manager from Brussels, who [...]
Having spent some time in Zimbabwe (since 2010) I have certainly become relaxed and really appreciate this beautiful country. I feel relatively safe, in comparison to many other cities. Arriving at Harare Airport, one is met with helpful staff and no hassle in getting a cab - where else is this the case on the African continent? [...]
Can you remember starting school? I have vague recollections of going to St. Margaret's CoE Infant School, Durham in the early 1970s with my elder brother, when free school milk was still provided in little glass 1/3 pint bottles. Leading my eldest daughter as a toddler into Clapham Junction Asda Creche is a much more [...]
Trapped in my office at dusk, yet another heavy rainstorm sweeps over Harare. I make a start on this post, until the electricity fails and the room is plunged into darkness. Travel is risky: last week, trying to get to a meeting during a storm, I passed two vehicle shunts; and the large gum trees [...]
Sitting down for dinner in the Bulawayo Club (est. 1895) in southern Zimbabwe, one feels that one has been transported back to a gentlemen's club in fin de siècle Mayfair. One is immersed amongst Greek colonnades, oil portraits of colonial expeditions and the cult of Cecil Rhodes; of how this 'wild west' was won for [...]
In a repeat of last year's 'Textbooks For All', I found myself once more at a huge logistics warehouse on the edge of Harare, in a marquee filled with dignitaries to launch the second phase of the Education Transition Fund programme (ETF). The UNICEF procurement people had driven such a hard bargain with book publishers that [...]
My first year in Zimbabwe has flown by and spring is once more in the air as the jacaranda trees lining Harare's streets burst into bloom once more, in a riot of regal purple. The beauty of the garden suburbs is deceptive. Despite the steady economic recovery of the past 24 months, the levels of poverty [...]
