3rd July 2017 Kolkata, India
We now have the ability to surround ourselves with images that we record on our mobile phones. But the best images remain in your head. The monsoon rains have arrived in Kolkata. I was in my official car travelling through the city in the middle of a heavy storm last week. We passed an old […]
15th June 2016 Dhaka, Bangladesh
It was a hot summer’s day; the temperature was surely pushing 35 °C. My colleague and I reached a village nearly 200 kilometers away from Dhaka where we had come to visit a 17 year old British girl. We were sitting in small dark room, with no windows and a ceiling fan which was doing […]
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31st March 2014 Washington DC, USA
Diaspora – from Greek, “scattering, dispersion” Identity can be a complicated thing. What does it mean to be part of a diaspora? Do people always carry the old country with them or do they gradually leave it behind? You could read Zadie Smith or Jhumpa Lahiri for some answers. This isn’t a fictional question for me. Over […]
2nd July 2013 Kingston, Jamaica
I’ve always liked the word ‘diaspora’, which comes from Greek and means scattering or dispersion. Before I came to Jamaica I thought of the Diaspora as referring mainly to the worldwide Jewish community. And indeed, that community is represented here, with its roots in the immigration from Europe of those forced to convert to Christianity […]
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20th July 2012 Nairobi, Kenya
And so to Hargeisa for the Hargeisa International Book Fair, an inspiring gathering of artists, authors, poets and more. Established by Jama Musse Jama and organized by the wonderful Ayan Mahamoud and her excellent team, the Book Fair is now in its fifth year. Hargeisa may have no theatre, no permanent library and no cinema, […]
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19th May 2011 Nairobi, Kenya
I’d like to welcome you to my first blog as the UK Senior Representative to Somalia and the first-ever one on behalf of the new British Office for Somalia. My name is Matt Baugh. You will find a link to my biography elsewhere on this page, in case you would like to know a […]