In the run-up to the elections, the BHC team in Freetown was boosted by the arrival of colleagues from around the world to help manage the extra workload generated. Tim Moody joined us from Pretoria for a week and has agreed to share his thoughts on the experience. Not your average Monday morning… I recently swapped Pretoria for Freetown in Sierra Leone for 10 days to help the small but … Read more »Guest blog from Tim Moody, Science and Innovation (SIN) officer for South and Southern Africa
“Every election is determined by the people who show up” – Larry J. Sabato, Academic and pollster
On November 17 Sierra Leoneans will choose their leaders for the next five years. Campaigning has begun. Boisterous crowds chant and sing, wave placards and dance behind their candidates. Walls are plastered with posters. Newspapers admire this candidate, assail that one. TV and radio bustle with comment, criticism and analysis. When the winners are known they will celebrate and the losers will commiserate: until next time, when the process will … Read more »“Every election is determined by the people who show up” – Larry J. Sabato, Academic and pollster
“We need diversity of thought in the world to face the new challenges.” – Tim Berners-Lee (the British inventor of the World Wide Web)
Out and about in Freetown I meet a wide variety of people and am pleasantly surprised by the number telling me they follow this blog. Recently I had the pleasure of chatting with young Sierra Leonean volunteers working with counterparts from the U.K. I was very impressed with their sense of commitment to their different assignments and their determination to make their country a better place. For their part they … Read more »“We need diversity of thought in the world to face the new challenges.” – Tim Berners-Lee (the British inventor of the World Wide Web)
“Let’s stop “tolerating” or “accepting” difference, as if we’re so much better for not being different in the first place. Instead, let’s celebrate difference, because in this world it takes a lot of guts to be different.” – Kate Bornstein
The closing ceremony for the 2012 London Olympics was spectacular. Some of those watching TV in my living room that night had suspiciously moist eyes. And that’s high praise indeed from worldly wise, stiff-upper-lip Brits. Now that the razzmatazz is over, the colour has faded and the fireworks smoke has cleared the 2012 Olympic Games seem don – don… or are they? Far from it! In a couple of days, … Read more »“Let’s stop “tolerating” or “accepting” difference, as if we’re so much better for not being different in the first place. Instead, let’s celebrate difference, because in this world it takes a lot of guts to be different.” – Kate Bornstein
“One thing I believe to the fullest…
…is that if you think and achieve as a team, the individual accolades will take care of themselves. Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships” – Michael Jordan Last week I joined billions of people around the world watching the incredible opening ceremony for the London Olympics. I was delighted to see the Sierra Leone team marching proudly beneath the national flag. And I thought back to another, … Read more »“One thing I believe to the fullest…
“A free press can, of course, be good or bad…
…but, most certainly without freedom, the press will never be anything but bad.” – Albert Camus (1913-1960) French novelist, essayist and dramatist. As Sierra Leone prepares for November’s election I’ve blogged about the wide variety of the organisations that will help to deliver effective democracy here. Democratic institutions like the National Electoral Commission (NEC), the Political Parties Registration Commission (PPRC) and the Independent Media Commission (IMC) will hold the ring … Read more »“A free press can, of course, be good or bad…
“Justice denied anywhere diminishes justice everywhere” – Martin Luther King
This morning Mr Justice Lussick, the Presiding Judge in a courtroom in The Hague, sentenced Charles Taylor to 50 years in prison for “some of the most heinous crimes in human history”. Taylor has thus become the first former Head of State to be convicted of war crimes since the Nuremburg trials seventy or more years ago. And this sentence, if upheld, means that he will in all probability spend … Read more »“Justice denied anywhere diminishes justice everywhere” – Martin Luther King
The Olympic Torch begins the long journey to London.
Thursday 17 May was a rainy day in Athens’ Panathinaiko Stadium as the Olympic Torch passed from the people of Greece to the British organisers of the 2012 London Olympic Games. That afternoon the President of Greece and HRH the Princess Royal represented their respective countries on the very spot in Athens where the Olympic Games were first revived in 1896 after slumbering forgotten for over two millennia. Behind them, … Read more »The Olympic Torch begins the long journey to London.
World Press Freedom Day
“We must ensure that both online and offline innovation and free flow of ideas, information and expression are protected” – William Hague Yesterday, 03 May, marked World Press Freedom Day (WPFD). WPFD commemorates the right of members of the fourth estate to self expression and gives an opportunity to celebrate and to honour the work of all those who strive to defend this fundamental right. It also serves as a … Read more »World Press Freedom Day
‘In the end, the game comes down to one thing: man against man. May the best man win.’ Sam Huff
Next Wednesday marks one hundred days until the razzmatazz and glitter, strain and glory of the 2012 London Olympic Games. Nations of the world are gathering to celebrate peaceful (but strenuous!) sporting competition and achievement. They will also celebrate innovation and progress: young people will take up new sports: entrepreneurs will snap up opportunities; designers will find inspiration; all because while visiting London we will all have an opportunity to … Read more »‘In the end, the game comes down to one thing: man against man. May the best man win.’ Sam Huff