Foreign Travel
Lending a Dollar in a City of Diamonds
After a weekend in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, I traveled to see a Save the Children program in Mbuji Mayi, a city about 600 miles into the interior of the country. On my way to the office, I was amazed by the number of diamond trading outlets along the main […]
On the Streets of Kinshasa, Finding the Path Back to Childhood
Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is as busy a place as any in the world. There are swarms of people, crowded streets and traffic jams. The streets of Kinshasa are always bustling—but for a child growing up on the streets, it is one of the toughest places I have […]
Can Pakistan Help its Children Really Succeed?
There were shy looks and even a few tears from the children when the group of strangers entered the small room and plopped ourselves on the floor. It wasn’t surprising. I got the feeling that the children probably didn’t see too many foreign visitors in their town, a remote village in the cornfields of
Linking Hunger and Economic Impact in Pakistan
During my visit last week to see Save the Children’s work in Pakistan firsthand, I was able to introduce the launch of an important series of papers by the prestigious journal The Lancet, following up on initial research done in 2008 by Drs Robert Black and Zulfigar Bhutta. That original series first defined the link […]
Empowered Mothers Take Charge
As we sat and spoke with women at the counseling session on a warm day in Pakistan last week, it was clear to me that these women knew what they wanted—for themselves, for their families, and especially for their children. About 20 women, some in bright shalwar kamaz and others in dark burkas, sat under […]
With No Way to Return Home, Syrian Refugees in Iraq Live in Limbo
The boy standing in the cement block doorway called to us to take his picture. We couldn’t resist his bright smile in the bleak and dust of the refugee camp. We went over and snapped a few shots and he looked at them proudly on our cell phones. His uncle, who was hovering close by, […]
In This Case, Second Place Isn’t Something To Celebrate
Early this month I took my first trip to Abuja, Nigeria. Despite visiting almost 60 countries with Save the Children, I had never been to the West African nation. It is a country of over 162 million, one of the most populous in the region and seventh most populous in the world. With an average […]
In Refugee Camps, Basics Become Luxuries
The Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan is home to more than 100,000 refugees who have fled the fighting in Syria, but it’s unlikely that any of the camp’s residents consider this place—cold, crowded and under resourced—“home.” I traveled to Za’atari last week after the launch of Save the Children’s recent global report, Childhood Under […]
Finding Hope in Haiti
I expected to be disappointed. Disappointed that more had not been done; disappointed that there were still families living in squalor in tent cities; disappointed that there was still no education or health system; disappointed that there wasn’t more progress. And while I saw things that made me frustrated and angry on my fourth trip […]
Ready and Able in Vietnam
Today’s entry is a guest blog from Le Thi Bich Hang and Nguyen Van Gia, my colleagues in Save the Children’s Vietnam Country Office. I met Hang and Gia during my last trip to Vietnam when, alongside Country Director Huy Sinh Pham and
