There is nothing like a half hour run to start the day full of energy. The sun peeks through the low hanging clouds and the sky looks different every morning. At moments like that I am totally in touch with my primal feelings: running across the savannah instead of staring at a computer screen. My …
Sustainable Development Goals
This year is going to be very exciting. The United Nations (meaning all of us) will go around the table to determine development goals. Do you remember the Millennium Development Goals? The logos will probably ring a bell. For years, this has been the framework of development work. But a goal always comes with a …
Perceptions of Islam
Today there was a manager at the office who has recently spent a lot of time in Nigeria. The conversation turned to the situation in the northeast of the country. Boko Haram is overtaking more and more cities, leaving a trail of destruction. In April last year, there was the abduction of 276 schoolgirls, which …
New Year’s Revolutions
Our Christmas holidays were great and full of visitors. The last days of 2014 were sunny, with the moon as a white watermark on the bright blue sky. We celebrated Christmas at church and at home with crackers and ‘boughs of holly’. We have been to Rochester and London. In the Victoria & Albert museum …
Peace on Earth
A little candle for peace on earth. Peace means that children don’t have to be afraid. That they do not learn to hate another group. Peace for the children in Pakistan, Nigeria, Gaza, Israel, Ukraine. Freedom to dream about the future and to be able to go to school. Just before Christmas it seems further …
A voice for children
Today, Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai have received the Nobel Peace Prize. I watched their speeches. A small impression. Let us globalise compassion. Not passive compassion, but transformative compassion that leads to justice, equality, and freedom. Mahatma Gandhi said, “If we are to teach real peace in this world… we shall have to begin with …