For A Change articles from June 2005

For A Change archives from June 2005

Language challenge.(2008 Beijing Olympics preparations)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympics continue at full pace. Along with developing the transport infrastructure and sprucing up the parks and famous tourist sites, there is a huge drive to improve the English language proficiency of every...

Mini United Nations.(EAR TO THE GROUND)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Matching the valiant attempts of the locals to learn English, growing numbers of foreign nationals are coming to Beijing to study Mandarin. The area where I am based feels like a mini United Nations, with over 90 nations represented at Beijing...

Turn that noise off.(EAR TO THE GROUND)(music education)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Nevertheless, my own attempts to introduce dub music into the classroom have been less successful. With its clear Jamaican influences, dub seems (to me at least!) a perfect example of how the UK has successfully absorbed some of the musical...

Beijing reds.(football fans excitement on their teams China visit)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... If dub music has yet to take off in China, English football certainly has. Every week, a number of Premiership matches are broadcast live to hundreds of millions. Although Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea all attract interest,...

World away from Beijing.(EAR TO THE GROUND)
June 1, 2005... With over 2,000 high-rise buildings currently under construction, a population of around 14 million and approximately 63,000 taxis, Beijing is not a place for the faint-hearted. Fortunately, Greater Beijing also boasts some of China's most...

What a waste.(FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK)(Editorial)
June 1, 2005... After guiltily throwing away a half used carton of soup last night, I woke up this morning to the headline that Britons discard 20 billion [pounds sterling] worth of food every year. Between a third and two-fifths of all produce is...

After the tsunami: how are people in Galle, Sri Lanka, picking up the pieces following the disaster in December?(Cover Story)
June 1, 2005... Sunlight sears through the open car window as I travel down the Galle Road on Sri Lanka's southern coast. Houses rest silently in the shade of coconut trees guarding the roadside; the landscape whispering secrets of beauty and mystery, as we...

Tearing down the walls.(Building Bridges For Peace)
June 1, 2005... 'IF YOU want to see the face of a potential suicide bomber, just look at me.' With these words a young Palestinian greeted her fellow participants in the Building Bridges For Peace (BBFP) programme. Her father had recently suffered a heart...

Building confidence in Sierra Leone.(PEOPLE MAKING A DIFFERENCE)(Kadi Fakondo, an Assistant Inspector-General )
June 1, 2005... KADI FAKONDO, an Assistant Inspector-General of the Sierra Leone Police (SLP), speaks her mind and gets things done. Her job involves overseeing complaints from the public, community relations, and discipline and internal investigations. ...

Sweeping changes.(PEOPLE MAKING A DIFFERENCE)
June 1, 2005... THE SWEEPERS of India have traditionally been looked down on by the rest of society. Now however they are at the centre of a revolutionary initiative by the Indian Government to upgrade their status and make them feel proud of what they...

John Graham: a lifetime of sticking his neck out: it took a shipwreck to turn John Graham into a giraffe. David Allen talks to an adventurer, peacemaker and risk-taker extraordinaire.(PROFILE)(Biography)
June 1, 2005... I studied the rugged outdoorsman and ex-diplomat sitting before me in the small coffee shop in Langley in the state of Washington in the US Pacific Northwest. On the surface, I felt I already knew the essential details of the life of the...

Norah Cook: a hand on her shoulder: Stan Hazell meets a nonagenarian whose latest book is a surprise hit in Britain's prisons.(book)(Book Review)
June 1, 2005... Retired Classics teacher Norah Cook is pretty much housebound these days. But her mind, in her nineties, is as sharp as ever and her heart embraces a needy world. These faculties have made her one of the driving forces behind an inspirational...

A heart and a soul for Europe: Europe will not find the way forward by avoiding conflict, but by transforming it, maintains Brian Walker.(ESSAY)
June 1, 2005... The soul of Europe will be built upon its diversities, its qualities and its aspirations,' wrote Robert Schuman, one of the fathers of the European Union, in 1963. Must differences always divide? How do we build community, respectful of...

A very extended family: Ann Rignall meets Pete and June Pemberton, who have fostered 360 children over the past 40 years.(LIVING ISSUES)
June 1, 2005... Fifty thousand children and young people in England and Wales live in foster homes for anything from a few days to some years. The aim is always to return them to their own families, so however attached the foster parents may get, there is...

Reasons for hope.(NEWS DESK)
June 1, 2005... FEBRUARY'S Reasons for Hope conference in Liverpool, UK, focussed on healing history, the power of honest dialogue, and how the skills of asylum seekers and refugees could be used for the benefit of all. It was organized by lofC's Hope in the...

Connecting communities.(Connecting Communities Fellowship Program)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... 'WHEN I came here on Friday, I didn't have any white friends,' said a participant at the end of the first module of the 2005 Connecting Communities Fellowship Program in Richmond, Virginia, USA. 'Now I do.' The Connecting Communities...

Take five.(National Young Leaders Conference)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... EVERY YEAR thousands of high schoolers from around the US come to Washington DC to learn how government really works. They meet with congressional leaders, listen to top academics, hold mock legislative sessions, and participate in training...

Building relationships.(Cambodian parent-child relations management)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... YOUNG CAMBODIANS have launched an initiative to build bridges with young Vietnamese, archaeology graduate Phlong Pisith told a recent Life Matters course run by lofC in Melbourne, Australia. 'We are the younger generation of Cambodians,...

Caux conferences 2005.(NEWS DESK)
June 1, 2005... This summer's conferences at the Initiatives of Change centre in Caux, Switzerland, will run from 7 July to 20 August. 7-13 July Service, Responsibility and Leadership--values to bridge social and generational gaps, organized by young...

No 151's bid for freedom: Melville Carson tells Paul Williams about his 'great escape' from guilt and bitterness.(TURNING POINT)(Interview)
June 1, 2005... WHEN 200 prisoners of war tried to break out of Stalag Luft III during World War II, Melville Carson was number 151. The attempt was discovered before his turn came. As told in the classic war film, The Great Escape, most of the 76 who got out...

A long way.(60th anniversary of World War II)
June 1, 2005... Australian poet Michael Thwaites served throughout World War II in the North Atlantic. In the first months of the war he wrote: No drums they wished, whose thoughts were tied To girls and jobs and mother Who rose and...

Create answers: step three to remaking the world.(REFLECTIONS)
June 1, 2005... 'THERE IS no limit to what we can achieve if we don't mind who gets the credit.' I read that on a poster somewhere and began to dream of what it would mean in international diplomacy, in politics, in business, in colleges, in research...

How I remember John Paul II.(GUEST COLUMN)(Column)
June 1, 2005... I will never forget. It was not my first encounter with the Pope but it was an exceptional one, since John Paul II rarely gave private audiences to journalists. In 1999, when I entered the Pope's office, he looked a little bored for a second...