Evening sunshine

National Girl Child Day, Bangladesh

Since 2000, 30 September has been National Girl Child Day in Bangladesh. It is one day in the Child's Rights Week, with action organised at both national and local levels.

Nationally there are rallies and marches, but locally an effort is made to ensure rural communities, the vast majority of the population, are involved by Hunger Project volunteers leading celebrations in every area.

Dr. Badiul Alam Majumdar is President, The Girl Child Advocacy Forum, has written what I think is an excellent article on the consequences of gender discrimination in The Daily Star, much of which concerns girls and women all over the world.

The main points he makes cover:

• The "missing girls" caused by foeticide and infanticide causing population imbalance primarily in India and China.
• During childhood, 20% of girls in developing nations do not finish primary education and only 43% attend secondary schools.
• Adolescence brings on many other problems such as child marriage and premature parenthood leading to greater death rates for mother and baby; sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking.
• In some countries the rate of HIV/Aids is up to 6 times higher for women, partly for physiological reasons but also because of lack of education, knowledge of risk factors and protection, and not having the right to say "no".
• Motherhood - 99% of maternal deaths occur in developing countries.
• During old age women often suffer double discrimination. Although they tend to live longer than men, in many countries they have little control over family resources and no inheritance rights so may face poverty at a vulnerable age.

It really is well worth reading the article in full.

PhotoHunter: original

Some original papers we found in this house

I think probably these should have been entered last week, and last week's entry would have suited this week, but never mind, these are originals.

Above are a driving licence, a receipt for rental, and a hunting licence, all dated 1938.

These papers are letters written 1945 - 1947, again all found in this house. They are interesting because they mention the hard times in France just after the war.

One is from the archbishop saying he was going to be in the area, and did any of the parishioners have eggs or similar produce to spare because they were having difficulties managing - he asks if they can give anything "for the sake of our future priests".

Another is from Guadaloupe saying that they had been looking for chocolate and vanilla to send over, but couldn't find any. They could buy coffee at a ridiculous price, but there was no sugar whatsoever.

I didn't crop the second one quite so much, so that you can see the original floor tiles in the house.

Find players: PhotoHunt

A customised partner?

I find myself almost at a loss for words. Intel have a site in French where women can choose their computers, using little quizzes with questions such as:

To please me, it (he) has to be

• charming
• intelligent
• powerful
• organised
• cultivated
• artistic

My partner is like me:

• Curious
• Active
• Generous
• Trendy
• Friendly
• Multi-talented

With him (it) I feel:

• stronger
• irresistible and comfortable with myself
• at one with the world
• always up to the minute
• perfectly confident
• free, independent, adventurous

A superb basis for choosing your computer, don't you think. According to Des infos sur les femmes en France et dans le monde, Intel have said that women don't ask for the same things from their computer systems as men do.

Don't they? I certainly would prefer not to be asking for Intel.

Incroyable.

Uxmal and the Yucatan peninsula

We've been to Mexico three times, the first about 12 years ago when I was fortunate to have a Mexican colleague who was over in the UK for a year. He kindly mapped out a suitable touring route for us for a circuit around Mexico City.

Our second trip in 1998 was when he had returned to where he lived in Yucatan, so we were able to visit him.

The Yucatan peninsula was once the home of the Mayan civilisation 3000 years ago which has left some wonderful architectural sites, one of which is Uxmal. I particularly like Uxmal because of the trees and shrubbery around it. Somehow it was easier to visualise it when populated than some of the more stark and severely cleared sites.

The photos are all from our pre-digital days so I'm afraid they lack clarity.

The most striking thing about the Uxmal site id the Magician's Pyramid. You can just see the people climbing up the steps in the view.

Another view.

The Nunnery Quadrangle.

The Governor's Palace.

An iguana we met on the way up to the Governor's Palace.

A detail from some of the wonderful carving to be seen all around the site.

The House of Doves (remains of) in the trees.

Another excursion we took was to the coast. The beaches of Cancun and similar places don't particularly appeal to us so we headed off to a wild life area for a boat trip.

As we set off I asked what that pink was over on the other side of the water (never having seen flamingos before).

We headed into the mangroves.

We did see a lot of wild life but the old camera didn't manage to capture very much!

This was a fresh water spring where it would, apparently, be lovely to swim. We didn't try.

We stayed, for the last few days, at the Hacienda Katanchel, possibly one of the best places I've ever visited.

There are plenty of haciendas in the area, many converted into hotels. This one hadn't long opened and we and another couple were the only guests. It was wonderful.

It had once been a sisal plantation.

The buildings have been converted into dining rooms, lounges and so on.

Even a little bus to take you around the grounds.

This post is part of Lifecruiser’s Cyber Cruise. You’ll find everything about it on Technorati.

You might like to visit another post in the series: TorAa's From Summerhouse to Chalet in Norwegian Mountains

Burkina Faso succeeds in reducing female genital mutilation

From AFP

In 1996 Burkina Faso banned female genital mutilation when it was estimated about 80% of girls were subjected to the procedure. Now, ten years later, the prevalence is estimated at 45%.

While there is still a long way to go, and 45% of girls is still a very large number, it is remarkable progress in such a period of time, far less than a generation. Excellent news for once, and demonstrates what can be done.

PozzoGhana

Photo courtesy of Architect Magazine

From Modern Green Architecture in Accra

PozzoGhana is a new sustainable material being used in a new development in Ghana. It is a mixture of palm kernels, lime and local clays and will reduce the cost of imported cement forming the outer structure. It helps too, to insulate against sound.

There will be wide and deep balconies to provide natural ventilation but solar panelling if air-conditioning is needed. Bamboo will make up balcony railings, adobe plaster will be on the walls, and recycled oil drums will provide facing for the sides. Responsibly harvested native woods will provide wall panelling.

It is hoped that the first PozzoGhana factory will be built in 2008 and that the product will be sold throughout West Africa.

IT support

When you work in IT it is expected:

• that you are the first person to ask if your friend/neighbour/spouse wants to buy a computer or software.

• that you will know how to fix or advise about anything from a printer, to the fax, to the heater in the corridor, to the toaster, to a mobile phone. Anything in fact that plugs into a wall, has little lights or makes whirring noises.

• that, even if the email system is down, you will nevertheless be able to receive and reply to emails saying "the emails don't seem to be working".

• that you'll know how to use every conceivable software package without any training, even ones you've never seen or heard of.

• that you don't expect everyone to follow the (important) instructions you send out because they don't really apply to them and anyway can be interpreted haphazardly with random variations as desired.

• that you are always there, late in the evening, early in the morning, even on days off.

• that you can see over a telephone line or know instinctively what the error message says without being told.

I'm feeling a little jaded - bad day today!

African gold

In this case I'm not talking about gold in South Africa, instead they are gold from agriculture.

According to New Agriculturalist, the shea nut is worth its weight in gold, and is called "women's gold" in Burkina Faso. In the past it was primarily used as an alternative for cocoa butter in chocolate and exported unprocessed. Now however, its main use is as a moisturising ingredient in cosmetics, and increasingly it is being exported in a processed form, which increases the profit, though the situation is changing with demand for the beans increasing.

It grows on trees found only in Africa, north of the equator and between the Sahara Desert and the tropical rain forest. The trees live for 300 years.

Photo from USAID

The ripe nuts are boiled, dried and shelled, then roasted and pounded into a paste with water.

Photo from USAID

Some of the producers in Burkina Faso have registered with the Fairtrade Labelling Organisation which increases profitability.

The second gold is white gold in Malawi. Dairy cows have helped smallholders out of poverty through the Heifer Loan Scheme. A family who receives an animal is expected to pass on the first female off-spring to another family in need who is also require to pass on to the next. The cows provide enough milk for the family and excess can be sold to proved other needs. The scheme has since progressed so that the recipient of the cow pays a contribution as ownership and commitment.

Photo from USAID

At present, there are 6,376 members of dairy farmers' cooperatives, about half of whom are women.

The Face of Paris

Some friends of ours have recently moved house and found a box of old English books in their cellar. Knowing I can't say no to a book, they have passed them on to me.

There's a great mixture but they all seem to date roughly from the thirties and forties, and include copies of Othello, various ones by Dickens, and one called The Face of Paris which was published in 1933.

It consists of 14 walks in Paris and five drives in the outskirts. I am delighted with it because I spent a lot of time walking around Paris when we lived there, and it has some lovely illustrations. The one above fascinates me - almost no women. Was it not acceptable for women to go to cafés?

So I'll be spending a few happy hours looking through them. I'm hoping there may be some interesting snippets about pre-war Paris, though some things have barely changed.

Taking the sun

Tiring, but it has to be done.

Photohunt: Paper

This print came to us from my husband's family.

It was made by my husband's uncle, an artist, over 60 years ago I believe. He hadn't liked the results, had crumpled them up and thrown them away. Somebody in the family retrieved them from the rubbish, flattened them out as much as possible, framed and kept them.

If you look carefully you can see the creases still in the paper.

There are two reasons it is propped up against the books end: first, because I wanted the light to shine in a way that would show the creases; but secondly because, try as we might, we cannot get it to stay on the wall - it keeps falling off! A message?

Find players: PhotoHunt

Mellow fruitfulness

Tonight we will have the ceremonial eating of the grape harvest. Two each and I hope we don't fight over who gets the little one.

I'll let you know when we eat the pear.

Lightly poached

I've made the decision to leave my current job. It's becoming more and more stressful as I try to keep everyone happy - and "everyone" expanded from 50ish people to 80ish just at the time when I had decided to cut my hours. I've been juggling with that for the last 3/4 years with no help and little thanks, so the time has come.

I'm moving on to work for the man I mentioned in an earlier post, which will be something of a leap of faith. It's a totally new venture and if it fails, at my age, I'm never going to find anything else.

So my notice (three months) will be going in on 1 October, so January can't come soon enough. My name will be mud because they are going through a reorganisation and they have absolutely no contingency plans for anything happening to me.

And I'll have to work for the new job, intermittantly but often enough, over the time of my notice.

Women's Reading Clubs in Malawi

I've had the BookAid logo in my sidebar for a long time now. BookAid promotes literacy in developing countries by creating reading and learning opportunities, working mainly in sub-Saharan Africa.

Malawi is one of the 10 poorest countries and it is estimated that 54% of women there cannot read. Additionally 14% of 15-49 year olds have HIV/AIDS.

The Malawi National Library Service runs the groups to encourage newly literate women. Through the clubs women can access information on health, education, family welfare and training.

Books are provided in Chichewa, Tumbuka and English. Cash is provided for the purchase of books in Chichewa and Tumbuka while BookAid provides reading matter in English from their stocks of donated books.

The benefits to women are:

• they read and learn about managing small businesses, income generating activities as well as cooking and sewing
• some pick up their education again
• they learn about HIV/AIDS, both its prevention and the care of people who are infected
• they gain some measure of independence
• they gain confidence and camaraderie

A slideshow is available here, which should be embedable but every time I try, the window closes and I have to start all over again!

Les Gorges du Tarn

Some of these pictures are scans of postcards, others taken at different times and with different cameras.

The river Tarn, in the south-west of France, has gouged a deep chasm through the limestone resulting in some spectacular scenery which no photography can represent properly. It's an area where we often break our journey on our way south to visit our sons - it takes our breath away every time.

A rather narrow road runs alongside the course of the river most of the way, so I can't imagine how it must be during the height of summer. Off season though, it can be very quiet and many places are shut. Once upon a time there must have been a much larger population because there are small villages and extensive terracing everywhere.

The buildings here and there are being restored.

The rock formations are amazing too.

We stay normally at the Chateau de la Caze.

I walked along the river and took another shot which shows I think just how high the sides of the river valley are. The chateau is not a small building.

You can just see the chateau behind the trees. The other building is the annexe for extra bedrooms. All the rooms are lovely and all have superb views but the ones in the chateau are extra romantic!

As I was at that spot on the river, I noticed the river suddenly swirling and bubbling. I kept not-quite-seeing what was happening out of the corner of my eye. I took several shots trying to catch the currents, but it wasn't until I got home and looked at the photos that I saw this:

Do you see what I mean? It's a face and the currents of water were coming from its mouth - was it trying to talk to me? SPOOKY!

I tried to take a shot of the stones on the bank to show the black slate-like stones which seem to be used as roofing material. Then I noticed the long stone of the right just under the black one had the imprint of a shell - a fossil! I was delighted.

I think to appreciate the area fully, you have to leave your car and go around by canoe, bicycle or on foot, otherwise you miss so much.

This post is part of Lifecruiser’s Cyber Cruise. You’ll find everything about it on Technorati.

Other posts in the series I have found interesting:
Drottningholm Palace Church from Captin Lifecruiser
Mountain Life – The Spirit of the Norwegian Soul from RennyBA's Terella, a wonderful blog all about Norway
Skara Brae from CaledoniaHiking away from maremagnum

Excuse me...

...while I mess about with the template :)

Have you ever wished you hadn't started something?

A walk around town

....in the centre of rural France, unexceptional but typical.

The church square. I believe the Tour de France went through here some years ago, when it was rapidly spruced up for the occasion. A little like the sudden face-lifts when the queen comes to visit?

The church

Down beside the church is the secondary school for ages 11-16, in a lovely building with this spiral staircase in a tower.

More or less across the road from the school is this wonderful house.

And down a side road is another house with a tower. Towers must be part of the local tradition. I want one!

Along the road to the market.

The markets in rural France are struggling a little - competition from the supermarkets.

A stall devoted to garlic and onions. What would anyone do with a sack of garlic? I love garlic, but that seems excessive ;)