The Road to the Horizon

Rumble: The Girl Effect

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:41:01 -0500

• Today, more than 600 million girls live in the developing world.
• More than one-quarter of the population in Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa are girls and young women ages 10 to 24.
• The total global population of girls ages 10 to 24—already the largest in history—is expected to peak in the next decade.
• Approximately one-quarter of girls in developing countries are not in school.
• Out of the world’s 130 million out-of-school youth, 70 percent are girls.
• One girl in seven in developing countries marries before age 15. 38 percent marry before age 18.
• One-quarter to one-half of girls in developing countries become mothers before age 18; 14 million girls aged 15 to 19 give birth in developing countries each year.
• 75 percent of 15- to 24-year-olds living with HIV in Africa are female, up from 62 percent in 2001.

And yet:
• When a girl in the developing world receives seven or more years of education, she marries four years later and has 2.2 fewer children.
• An extra year of primary school boosts girls’ eventual wages by 10 to 20 percent. An extra year of secondary school: 15 to 25 percent.
• Research in developing countries has shown a consistent relationship between better infant and child health and higher levels of schooling among mothers.
• When women and girls earn income, they reinvest 90 percent of it into their families, as compared to only 30 to 40 percent for a man.

Source: The Girl Effect

News: An 8 yr old, a pilot and an attorney on the terror watch list.

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:19:13 -0500

What do an eight year old, a commercial airline pilot licensed to carry a gun into the cockpit, and a US attorney have in common?

Well for one, they can not check in for a flight like the rest of us.
Why? Well, because they need special screening.
Why? Well, because their name is on the terror watch list.

Their name, they also have in common. And that is the root of all problems: all three people are called James Robinson. And "James Robinson" needs to be watched. Apparently no matter which James Robinson.

So each time James Robinson -the third grader-, James Robinson -the ex U.S. attorney and an assistant attorney general, and James Robinson -the retired National Guard Brigadier General and commercial pilot-, want to fly, they are questioned.

Even though they have learned how to bypass the security screening system by booking tickets as Jim Robinson or J.K.Robinson or J.Pierce Robinson... We can only hope the one and only Jim Robinson, the suspected terrorist, does not find out. (More)

Pictures courtesy CNN

Rumble: October 15th - Blogger Action Day on Poverty

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:59:42 -0500

Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day.

Their aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion. The day is October 15th.

This year's topic is "Poverty", a subject taken at heart on The Road to the Horizon. So stay tuned, more to come.

Meanwhile, if you are a blogger, get get involved. Already over 2,000 blogs are registered to participate, gathering over 4 million readers.

News: Let us not forget - August 19th 2003

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:47:11 -0500

Today, five years ago,
the UN headquarters -Canal Hotel- in Baghdad was viciously bombed.

Today, five years ago,
we lost 22 of our colleagues. Over a hundred were wounded.

Today, five years ago.
Let us not forget.

Rumble: Brussels Airport: "Kiss and Drive!" and a bad luck logo...

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:42:40 -0500

I am at Brussels airport, waiting for my flight back to Rome. After six weeks with the family, we are off on our own again. The kids go off to sports camp, Tine starts working in Belgium and I am off to Italy, back to saving the hungry in the world.

Hey, they have new roadsigns at the airport, saying "Kiss and Drive", meant to guide people to a passenger drop off zone.
I am not sure if the combination of kissing and driving is really safe, but I am all for it. However, maybe "Park and Kiss" would have been more appropriate!

So far for the smileys.

At check-in it seems they have changed the system for self check-in: you will need your reservation number. You can't check in via your name, passport scan (as in Rome), or credit card swipe. No, you need your reservation number. Damned if I would take out my computer, boot it up, and check my email for it. Damned if I would print it out on paper before I come. Thought eTicketing was all about paperless and effortless booking and checking in? Not so with Brussels Airlines, it seems. Nope you need your reservation number, sir!.

Ok, so I try to check in at the "Express check-in", thinking "I only have hand luggage, so I guess this is 'express check-in' "? Not so. A young man stopped me asking for my boarding pass. I told him "No, I am checking in, and am following the signs." He said: "No checking in here, you need to follow that line", and pointed to another row of check-in counters.
I told him this was confusing. He just shrugged his shoulders and looked the other way, ignoring my comments. He told a colleague who approached me to explain and said: "Ignore him, difficult customer!"
He then turned to someone else, who wanted to do the same thing as I: check in through the express check-in. And another, and another.. Soon enough we were standing with 4-5 people complaining about the confusing signs. I just stood by and smiled. Ah the sweet taste of a little revenge! Life can be so sweet...

So, I am checking in. They ask to weigh my hand luggage, which is a compact trolley with my computer bag in it. In the bag some small chargers, my laptop and a book: 9.6 kg.
"Sorry sir, you are only allowed 5 kg handluggage, you will have to check it in", she said.
Dah. Checking in a computer bag? To Rome? Rrrrright. *If* it would arrive, i'd have to wait for 90 minutes at the luggage belt.
"Nope", I said, "I can show you one kilo of handluggage and then shop and buy 50 kgs of duty free goods, and you would not even know. So..."
She let me go... I *am" a difficult customer!

Anyways, last thought of the day: Did you know the Brussels Airlines logo originally had 13 balls on it. People said it would bring bad luck, so they added a 14th ball at the last minute. Some planes were already painted with 13 balls, so the 14th came with some expense. You don't believe me? It is true, as it was in the papers!"! ;-)

Rumble: Seychelles fauna and flora

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 06:07:33 -0500

The Seychelles feature a lush vegetation with a large variety of different plants, flowers and trees, some unique to these islands. Everywhere we went during our trip, we were presented with colours and scents. No wonder earlier settlers described the Seychelles as 'the true Garden of Eden'

A view at the Vallee de Maie on Praslin.
Lusher than this, it does not get.

In the Vallee de Maie on Praslin.

Giant Coco de Mer palmtrees are unique for the Seychelles, and one of their national symbols. More about this tree in a later post.

Mangroove forest on La Curieuse near Praslin

Hannah loved collecting these frangipani flowers.

More frangipani flowers

Lana took this interesting close-up from an orchid we found growing in the forest.

More flowery bushes along the road.

Reminded us of Hawaii

You can almost smell them, can't you?

The name, I don't know, but we surely enjoyed them!

Ditto.

And more!

And more!

And more!

The variety of flowers we found, just did not stop.

We did not have to go far to step into the "jungle", as the girls called it... A view from the back hotel room...

You wanted more?

Guess I should stop now, hey?

Bamboo too!

More posts on the Road about the Seychelles.

Rumble: Seychelles animals

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 13:12:38 -0500

The Seychelles feature an amazing variety of wildlife. We snapped a few:

A Small Seychelles Day Gecko interested in literature.

A pigeon interested in our breakfast crumbs

Another visitor, this time at the dinner table at Anse Lazio on Praslin

Hannah with one of the giant land turtoises on La Curieuse

A couple of fairy terns on Cousin island. Fairy terns are mates for life.

A small chick on Cousin island

Hannah with a small land turtoise on La Curieuse

A close-up from a baby land turtoise on La Curieuse

Lana and Hannah checking out a small land turtoise on La Curieuse

More posts on the Road about the Seychelles.

Rumble: Sights of the Seychelles

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:27:41 -0500

The Seychelles is one of the most beautiful countries we ever visited. Here is a picture impression of the beaches and coastlines:

Anse aux Courbes on Mahe

Anse d'Argent on La Digue, said to be the most beautiful beach in the world.

Union Reserve on La Digue

Granite rocks on the North of La Digue

St.Pierre Islet near Paslin

Anse aux Courbes on Mahe

Anse Takamaka on Mahe

Port Glaud on Mahe

Boats in the lagune near Port Glaud on Mahe

Sunset on Anse Beauvallon on Mahe

Near La Passe on La Digue

Our boat at Anse Lazio on Praslin

Pulling a dinghy into the water at Cousin Island near Praslin. And yes, we had some pretty cloudy and windy days!!

Having lunch at Anse Volbert on Praslin.

Granite rocks near La Reserve on Praslin

Our dinghy on Anse Volbert near Praslin. Not shown: Raoul, the guy who had to sit near the dinghy ensuring no-one would run off with parts of the engine.
PS: Raoul still owes me 20 Euro!

Light beacon near La Reserve on Praslin

Lagune near Port Glaud on Mahe

More posts on the Road about the Seychelles.

Rumble: Seychelles, hey?

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:28:41 -0500

I guess before we post more about the Seychelles, we should start from the beginning: Where the ^$$££! are the Seychelles?

Look at the red dot on the map below. That's where. In Indian Ocean, just South of the equator. About 1,000 miles East from Africa. It is far away from anything.

Although the Seychelles cover an immense area, most of it is water. 1.4 million km2 of water, with only 455 km2 of land condensed into about 115 coral and granite islands, many of them not much bigger than your backgarden (figure of speech).

While from the North-East to the South West, the Seychelles spans about 1,000 miles (top left corner of the below map), during our holidays we only visited a small area (follow the red line on the lower right corner on the map).

We stayed for one week in Beauvallon on the main island of Mahe, then sailed to the islands of Praslin, Cousin, Curieuse and La Digue for two weeks, followed by another week on Mahe.

As for many of the islands in the Caribbean we sailed in the past years, the history is intriguing. In the next days, I will publish some of the highlights (or political lows), here is a short rundown (with some help from Wikipedia):

While Austronesian seafarers or Arab traders may have been the first to visit the uninhabited Seychelles, the first recorded sighting of them took place in 1502, by the Portuguese Admiral Vasco da Gama, who passed through the Amirantes and named them after himself (islands of the Admiral). The first recorded landing and first written account was by the crew of the English East Indiaman Ascension in 1609. As a transit point for trading between Africa and Asia, they were occasionally used by pirates until the French began to take control of the islands starting in 1756 when a Stone of Possession was laid by Captain Nicholas Morphey. The islands were named after Jean Moreau de Séchelles, Louis XV’s Minister of Finance.

The British contested control over the islands with the French between 1794 and 1812. Jean Baptiste Quéau de Quincy, French administrator of Seychelles during the years of war with the United Kingdom, declined to resist when armed enemy warships arrived. Instead, he successfully negotiated the status of capitulation to Britain, which gave the settlers a privileged position of neutrality.
It is said that as soon as the Brits left the island, de Quincy used to raise the French flag, until a new British vessel arrived back in port. In a way, this to-and-fro between French and English flags kinda explains why the islands are still melting both cultures and languages, with a fair mix of African and Asian ingredients.

Britain eventually assumed full control upon the surrender of Mauritius in 1812 and this was formalised in 1814 at the Treaty of Paris. The Seychelles became a crown colony separate from Mauritius in 1903 and independence was granted in 1976, as a republic within the Commonwealth. In 1977, a coup d'état ousted the first president of the republic, James Mancham, replacing him with France Albert René. The 1979 constitution declared a socialist one-party state, which lasted until 1991.
The first draft of a new constitution failed to receive the requisite 60 percent of voters in 1992, but in 1993 an amended version was approved and President René announced a return to the multiparty system of government.

Today, the Seychelles is a stable country with 81,000 souls, mostly of a mix European, African and Asian origin. Their mothertongue is Creole, but both English and French are also official languages, spoken by all.
The currency is the Seychelles Rupee, which trades about 11 Rupees to the Euro. In most restaurants and hotels, foreigners need to pay in USD or Euros. You can change currency in the banks, but you get 50% better rates on the streets. And there is no lack of people asking to change money. When we were there, the best rates we got for Euros was 18 Rupees. The best Dollar rate was 12 Rupees.

Little is produced in the Seychelles whose economy is mainly based on fishing and tourism, so most things are imported. And expensive. Very expensive. Very very very expensive! In the shops, four small limes went for about US$10. A 1/4th liter bottle of Evian went for US$3. A bottle of (the cheapest) South African wine: US$25.
Shopping to provision our boat before we took off, reminded us when we lived in Uganda back in the nineties: we had to do many different shops to find the basic stuff we needed. Eventually we had to drive around for two hours to find large plastic bottles of drinking water...

Partially because of the high prices, even for basic produce, but more as a concious strategy, the Seychelles chose for elite-tourism rather than mass-tourism à la Gran Canaria, Benidorm or Croatia. We had difficulties finding rooms less than US$700 a night. Prices in some of the more exclusive resorts (of which there were plenty), often went over US$1,500 per night.

More selective tourism makes it easier for the government to keep control over the negative impact of 'the invasion of the masses'... This we could see easily: the islands were clean. The smaller the islands, the cleaner they were. The roads - even the remote ones, were well maintained. The waters and beaches - even on the main tourist beaches - were clean and clear. People were friendly and welcoming.

More posts on the Road about the Seychelles.

Rumble: We're back!

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:29:51 -0500

We're back home in Belgium after one week in Italy, four weeks in the Seychelles, and a couple of days of Italy again.

After the initial shock of landing on a typical Belgian summer's evening (it was 12°C at 7 pm, yak!) after five weeks of living in 25-35°C and finding out they disconnected my mobile phone (Proximus/Belgacom mobile, ha!), disconnected my pandora.be Email account (Telenet, ha!), and that the car had a flat battery, we are unpacking our bags.

As we are sorting through the dirty laundry, the shells we collected, the small sea-turtle fridge magnets, the snorkeling fins and masks, our sailing gear, the wooden model ship and painted fish we bought, the memories come back.

Sunday evening I am off again to Rome, and Monday work starts again. Transiting between family, holidays, exotic locations into aid work, I am resisting to start thinking of the crisis in Georgia, famine in Ethiopia and staff evacuations in Darfur. I want the holiday feeling to stay for a some more days, so before going back to battling hunger out of the world, in the next days I will entertain you with some more holiday stories.

Bottom line: The Seychelles is one of the most beautiful countries I have ever been to. Nature and the scenery is postcard perfect (even under the heavy cloud cover we had almost all the time), people are enjoyable and friendly (even though they broke into the boat and stole all of our cash), and the weather is warm and comfy (even though we had plenty of strong wind and rain during our sailing weeks). Oh, and it is expensive. But worth it.

More posts on the Road about the Seychelles.

Rumble: The fortune we had... (21)

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:42:00 -0500

Shell Beach at Gustavia in St.Barths (2007).

Rumble: The fortune we had... (20)

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 16:39:01 -0500

Would you not want to stay here forever? A beach on Anguilla (2007).

Rumble: The fortune we had... (19)

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 16:36:11 -0500

Hannah's castles on Baie Orientale in St.Martin (2007).

Rumble: The fortune we had... (18)

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:33:23 -0500

A view at a bay in St.Kitts (2007).

Rumble: The fortune we had... (17)

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:31:30 -0500

Our anchorage at Road Bay - Anguilla (2007).

Rumble: The fortune we had... (16)

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:29:00 -0500

A morning at Oranjestad - Statia (2007).

Rumble: The fortune we had... (15)

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:27:00 -0500

Sandy Island - Anguilla (2007).

Rumble: The fortune we had... (1)

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:25:00 -0500

Shell Beach in Gustavia - St.Barths (2007).

Rumble: The fortune we had... (13)

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 16:21:00 -0500

Sandy Spit at the British Virgin Islands (2006).

Rumble: The fortune we had... (12)

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 16:19:00 -0500

Mustique in the Grenadines (2005).

Rumble: The fortune we had... (11)

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:17:01 -0500

Our anchorage near The Pitons - St.Lucia (2005).

Rumble: The fortune we had... (10)

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:15:00 -0500

A look from our boat, at Tobago Cays - Grenadines (2005).

Rumble: The fortune we had... (9)

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:13:01 -0500

Anchored close to Beef Island - British Virgin Island (2006).

Rumble: The fortune we had... (8)

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:11:01 -0500

Our boat anchored at Anegada - British Virgin Islands (2006).

Rumble: The fortune we had... (7)

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Casier) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 16:07:00 -0500

A view from the boat, anchored at Anegada - British Virgin Islands (2006).