How could I have missed this: World Sight Day
[Loband: Object Removed -]
October 8th was World Sight Day... and I missed it. Let's catch up:
45 million children and adults are blind worldwide, two-thirds being women and girls… and every year between 1 and 2 million more will lose their sight.
What makes these facts even more upsetting is that 75 percent of cases could have been prevented, or their eyesight restored, if only people had access to proper eye care. Unless steps are taken now, it is estimated that by the year 2020 blindness will affect more than 76 million people!
As one of the organisations trying to do something about it, ORBIS carries out programs onboard its Flying Eye Hospital and at hospitals in developing countries to help the blind see. While they are in these countries, ORBIS also trains local doctors and nurses in the latest sight-saving techniques so that they may gain the tools and knowledge needed to carry on the work that is done.
MSF's Top Ten Humanitarian Crisis
At the end of the year, MSF (Doctors Without Borders) used to publish their "top 10 under-reported crisis". Now, their hit list is called plainly "Top 10 Humanitarian Crisis".
No "under-reporting" this year. Guess there were sufficient press spotlights turned to the humanitarian aspect of any crisis:
Myanmar's cyclone emergency was an excellent opportunity for the West to wedge some cracks in the Generals' totalitarian regime and the press was present.
Zimbabwe got its fair share due to the West's tendency to collectively sideline 'no-longer-wanted' leaders from African countries. And the press was present.
Somalia got floodlights due to the piracy plague. Sexy subject, and the press was present.
I still think a full blown crisis was avoided in DRC when the media jumped onto the plane direction Goma real fast. Fast enough for the different warring parties to sit around the table and go chest-thumping. A million people affected by the crisis.
So no "under-reporting" this year. MSF still wanted their top 10. And no surprises as to who got listed. Some of them have been in there for years: Somalia, Ethiopia, DRC, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Sudan and Iraq. With a special emphasis for TBC/HIV co-infection and malnutrition. (Full)
Picture courtesy Sven Torfinn (MSF) Read the full post...
Picture of the day: Famine in Ethiopia
famine in ethiopia[i-famine in ethiopia]
Ethiopian women left their village in search of food and water. Milk is used as a substitute for food, but animals that have not already perished produce only a fraction of what they would if healthy. (Full)
More Pictures of the day. Check also the posts on Ethiopia and hunger.
Picture courtesy Nick Danziger/Oxfam
Rumble: Back from Addis
A view from the office[i-A view from the office]While I work for an aid organisation, the past years I was based in Dubai and Rome. Made me quite fortunate compared those based “in the field”, in the places where we do the actual work. Quite challenging also, as it is difficult to stay in tune with the real work we do, the work that matters.
It has been a while since “I have been to the field”. Sure enough, I spent a total of probably 3-4 months in Brindisi, our emergency depot in South Italy, but one can hardly call that “the field”.
Back in 2006 I went on missions to Khartoum (Sudan) and Kinshasa (DRC). Some people would rightfully argue this is “not the real field”. Enrico wrote an interesting story about “what is the real field”. But still, it was good to get my feet wet for a few days in Addis Abeba, this week. It was nice to feel the real buzz of the operations, certainly in one as active as the Ethiopia programme.
It was also a good reality check of our life back in Europe. The small annoyances that make a difference. The confusion of the pickup when I arrived, having a hotel room with mildew all over the wall, the problems paying with credit cards (“Sorry sir, but it is raining, the telephone line does not work”), the erratic mobile phone coverage, toilets without toilet paper, limited Internet connectivity (I have better and faster connectivity at home than the whole office has),... All very small inconveniences...
The new Addis airport[i-The new Addis airport]On the positive side, I had not been in Addis since 1999 and was pleasantly surprised to see the big changes in the city. The new airport building, all of the construction and business which started since then, the major upgrade they have done on the economy…
It also reminded me what a wrong concept people often have of Africa: the images of the heat, the drought, the savannah or jungle... At least that is what I had in mind when I came to Africa for the first time: Angola in 1994. How I thought to work in the bush villages, by campfire, looking at the stars, hearing the lions roar in the background.
Instead, then, I was housed in a small apartment in Luanda, with the only noise I could hear at night was the machine gun fire and exchange of rocket propelled grenades as the civil war raged on in the street.
Instead, now, I was in the middle of town, and it was cold, gloomy and rainy.
At least that, we did not have here in Addis. Streets were safe and the only risk you run, is getting hit by a car...
Rumble: Ten random things I hate about travelling.
ETHIOPIAN[i-ETHIOPIAN]
In many posts on The Road, you will see I am an addicted traveller. I love travelling, even for the sake of travelling. But there are things I hate about travelling. Last night's flight (leaving 01:00 AM) from Rome to Addis on Ethiopian Airlines reminded me of them.
Ten things I hate about travelling:
1. Have to check in two hours before departure, only to have to wait and wait.
2. Red-eye flights: leave tired, arrive tired.
3. Flight attendants who wake you up each time they pass by with (make your choice) a hot tower (which stinks anyway), the menu, drinks, food, newspapers, a hot towel (again), immigration leaflet, a headset.
4. Non-reclining seats. (Where the hell was the time where Ethiopian Airlines were the best in Africa? This plane sucked. Dirty floor cover, dirty seats, most of the seat covers half dismantled...)
5. Seats which have little or no legspace.
6. "I am sorry, we have run out of headsets"
7. Having to sit around an airport after midnight with all shops, restaurants and pubs closed. And to top it off, with the wireless Internet connection failing after you only used 10 minutes of your 120 minutes subscription you just paid online.
8. Stepping onto a plane, stopping over, with passengers picked up from the previous airport. Getting in the air smelling of 300 people stuck in a confined area for three hours.
9. Sitting by the plane's emergency exit, which is that cold and draft-y, you think your hair is going to freeze against the wall as your head leans over while falling asleep.
10. Being happy you get through customs and immigration in a whizz (only handluggage, yuuuhuuu!), but then having to wait for 90 minutes for your airport pick-up. Only to find out that a. your hotel courtesy van claims to have been there all the time, b. the office driver thought it was tomorrow, c. another office driver had left one minute before you arrived.
11. Ok, here is an 11th: Checking into the hotel to freshen up after an overnight flight. Just as you are getting undress, the office calls and the reception guy knocks on your door stating "we will move you to another room, as we realized the toilet in this one is not flushing".
They move you from a 15 m2 room with huge windows and a wonderful view, into a 5 m2 room with a 0.2m2 window, with mold on the walls. And while moving you, the porter did not notice your bag was already unzipped (no matter how many times you say: "don't worry, I will take care of that"), and spreads your underwear, electronic gadgets, toiletry all over the corridor.
Dah. I guess it all starts with a 01:00 AM flight. It just puts me in a bad mood.
Picture of the day: Ethiopia in food crisis - once more
ethiopia hunger[i-ethiopia hunger]
A relative carries the body of four-year-old Michu Mohamed who died of malnutrition near Sheshemene, southern Ethiopia.
Recent crop failures, drought conditions and the current high price of food have plunged Ethiopia into another food crisis, reminiscent of the famines of 1984-85 which killed over 1 million. People have become so desperate for food, they are eating their next harvest's seeds. 4.5 million Ethiopians are in need right now. (Full)
More Pictures of the Day on The Road.
Picture courtesy Radu Sigheti (REUTERS)
News: Ethiopia's forgotten war
ogaden-transhumance_w[i-ogaden-transhumance_w]
Ridwan Hassan Sahid awoke under a pile of corpses to a pricking sensation on her face. Ants were biting her eyelids and the inside of her mouth.
The pain, however, brought relief to the 17-year-old. "I thought, 'I'm alive,' " she thought as blood oozing from rope burns around her neck. Fearing that the Ethiopian soldiers who had left her for dead in a roadside ditch would return, she brushed away the ants and shut her eyes, then slipped back into unconsciousness.
The brutal assault and her escape mark a chilling story to emerge from an unfolding but hidden tragedy in eastern Ethiopia.
Ever since exiting colonialists arbitrarily stuck a triangle-shaped wedge of land with 4 million ethnic Somalis inside Ethiopia's border, violence and suffering have plagued the region. Now, many of them have been caught up in a nasty war between the Ethiopian government and a separatist group known as the Ogaden National Liberation Front, which gets little media attention. (Full)
Picture courtesy Cristina Alaman (Interaction.org). Source: International Aidworkers Today
News: Today's News Headlines? Do We Still Care? Do We Really?
Sri Lanka: Fighting intensified in the war-wracked north as the government asked Parliament for a 20 percent increase in military spending. There were conflicting accounts of casualties by the government and the rebel Tamil Tigers. Government officials have said that they plan to open a major offensive soon against the Tigers’ northern mini-state in an effort to destroy the group.
link[i-link]Somalia: Insurgents dragged the bodies of dead Ethiopian soldiers through the streets of the capital Mogadishu after another flare-up of fighting that killed at least 21 people and sent thousands fleeing the volatile city.
Ethiopia/Eritrea: The continuing tensions between the two countries, the failure to resolve their longstanding boundary dispute and the military build-up along their common border are causes for serious concern.
Picture courtesy AFP
For updated humanitarian news, check out The Other World News
