March 2012
5 posts
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Our CEO's personal blog on Syria →
‘We can’t say we did not know’…
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Children and Armed Conflict: Where is the LRA... →
childreninwar:
The LRA has not been operational in Uganda since the cessation of hostilities in 2006. Most of the LRA combatants are currently in the eastern Central African Republic around the Zemongo Reserve and in Haut and Bas Uele in northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as along the border…
February 2012
5 posts
14 tags
Annual War Child Brits Show
We threw our annual Brits gig fundraiser on Sunday and it was AWESOME! We were so, so, so lucky to have the support of so many phenomenal musicians for this year’s annual Brits fundraising gig. We had a fantastic line-up this year, including Ed Sheeran (and his merry crew of cameos!), Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon (who played a BRAND NEW BLUR SONG!), Fatoumata Diawara, and Dry the...
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December 2011
4 posts
What does War Child actually do?
What does War Child actually do? Whilst all this talk about mechanisms, protection, mental health makes a lot of sense, what do we actually do to remedy the problems? War Child has found that for the majority of conflict-affected children, there is a pedagogy which is less labour intensive or stigmatizing, than targeted mental health programmes. Our mantra is LIFE-SKILLS. Life-Skills is...
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Living with conflict
Living with conflict
In periods of insecurity, normally protective systems such as the family, community and religious institutions and rule of law can breakdown or mutate. With this erosion, the problems of social injustice, inequality, and marginalisation can become even more pronounced, yet there are fewer functioning mechanisms to help address them.
The impact of this societal breakdown can...
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The psychological effects of war
The below is a blog based on a talk the War Child UK Programme Director gave to a group of NGOs specialising in child poverty in November 2011. In the following posts we will try to add more colour to the ways in which conflict affects a child’s mental health and social coping mechanisms.
Conflict in the World
War Child UK (WCUK) operates in the worst conflict-affected places in the world. The...
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November 2011
9 posts
Rift in Paradise - National Geographic Photo... →
As the global population soars toward nine billion by 2045, this corner of Africa shows what’s at stake in the decades ahead. The Rift is rich in rainfall, deep lakes, volcanic soil, and biodiversity. It is also one of the most densely populated places on Earth. A desperate competition for land and resources—and between people and wildlife—has erupted here with unspeakable violence. How...
“The identity of an individual is essentially a function of her choices, rather...”
– Amartya Sen, The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian History, Culture and Identity
Vulture fund 'sues' DR Congo for $100m →
Forgive my language, but this is monumentally f****d up.
Ben.
37 stunning photos of Afghanistan →
These are well worth 5 minutes of your time…
Rwanda visit - Day 7
Day 7
The car that was supposed to take us to the airport actually didn’t turn up in time, not an encouraging start! But we made our flight by the skin of our teeth as the airport was a few meters wide and luckily did not take long to navigate!
Over fifty hours travelling, seven days and a draft strategy later…we are back on UK soil to be met with our War Child staff in head office and hundreds of...
Rwanda visit - Days 5 and 6
Day 5 and 6
Kate
I came back into our small strategy room full of energy today after the inspiration of taking the field trip. It’s an intense day of mass analysis…
Amanda
We should say something about the weather. At the moment there is torrential rain with thunder and lightning. The view of the lake is obscured and we cannot see the DRC side. This morning had been fabulous, the sun was...
Everest basecamp diary #1
[War Child fundraiser Nicola Morgan blogs for us about her fothcoming trek to Mt Everest Base Camp…]
Everest Base Camp Here I Come
5 MORE DAYS !!!
Its 250 days since I decided in a moment of madness to trek to Base Camp Everest. In those 250 days I have trained for 127 hours, I think I have done more sit ups than in all the previous years of my life put together and as for the...
Rwanda visit - Day 4
Day 4 – Field Trip
Amanda
Its fine, the cases and teddies have been re-united with us. However, today Kate and I have been separated. Kate went to see a project in the hills outside of Bukavu with some other colleagues. The DRC Field directors of War Child Holland, Frederick and War Child UK, Michel and myself went to see a project in Bukavu town.
Taking a break from the Advocacy meeting,...
Amanda and Kate's visit to Rwanda & Congo - Day 3
[After a few internet connection issudes which prevented us from updating the blog from withing Rwanda… we’ll bring you the rest of the daily story of Kate and Amanda’s trip:]
Amanda:
Jacque, who is from Kigali was our driver for the day, was waiting for us at 07:30 as planned. We were going to drive to Kamembe, where the rest of the team was for the workshop. It was...
October 2011
16 posts
Once Upon a Time in Afghanistan... →
With the clocks going back this weekend, it makes me wish that time could go back in Afghanistan too. Take a look at these photos of what Kabul used to look like in the ’50s and ’60s. A completely different world to what it’s like today…
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Amanda and Kate's visit to Rwanda & Congo - Day 1
Let’s start at the end of Day Two where we are still looking for one of Kate’s bags. We do not know which bag has been found, it could either be the pink suitcase with the usual travel stuff, or it could sadly be the 40 knitted teddies and puppets that are due to be used in one of our DRC young children’s programme.
Going back to the beginning of Day One. I, as the relatively new Programme...
“It’s easy for us in the industry of partying to get a fairly skewed view of the...”
– Tom Rio - Bristol club night promoter who is donating some of the proceeds of his club night to War Child http://www.bristolinmotion.com/index.php/news-blog/the-history-of-the-ramp-rave
mandala house: hearts & minds people. hearts and... →
mandalahouse:
hearts.
it is wednesday. this means i teach yoga at maison gahinja.
unlike maison marguerite, where the ‘teach the teacher’ training is happening, this place functions mostly as a day facility for street kids.
boys.
180 of them.
aged 5-15.
going by that description alone, you’d think…
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Lenny's Goma diary
Lenny from the NGO charity Mandala House is in Goma, D.R. Congo visiting our projects there. She’ll be teaching yoga and relaxation skills to the vulnerable young women we’re working with. Many of them have lived through some extremely traumatic experiences involving rape and sexual violence. The yoga lessons will complement all the psycho-social support we’re providing to the...
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'Shaped by War' photo exhibition at the Imperial... →
This major new exhibition examines the life and work of one of Britain’s most critically acclaimed photographers.
Over 200 photographs, including a number previously not seen on public display; films; objects; magazines and personal memorabilia provide a unique opportunity to understand how Don McCullin’s life and work has been shaped by war and how his work has shaped awareness of ...
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Afghan girls sold as child brides →
10 years since the start of the war in Afghanistan, it remains one of the most dangerous places to be a child…