How do people from different places around the world look at the contested World Cup soccer game in Qatar? I interviewed Senegalese sports journalist Babacar Khalifa Ndiaye about how the Senegalese think about human rights violations and deceased migrant workers. To read his insights, click here.
Climate activists from Somalia want to share the children's perspective
Life in Somalia’s largest camp for climate refugees is tough. Here, in the south of Somalia, nearly 360,000 displaced people live in 500 locations around the small town of Baidoa. And that number keeps on growing: every day, new IDPs or ‘internally displaced people’ come to Baidoa to seek shelter, medication, food and water.
Yet for Shukri (14), Mohamed (14) and Fadumo (17), this has been their home for years. They all came here during previous droughts, and have never returned to their original homes. To let people know how children are impacted by the effects of climate change in Somalia, which is going through the worst drought of the past 40 years, they have decided to team up and become climate activists.
Shukri: "I wanted to understand what is happening to Somalia, to know why our country is facing this heat. I then found out that the climate is changing, not only because of the cutting of trees, but also because of pollution of cars and factories. I have also learned that in our country, we don’t even have that many dirty cars and factories compared to the rest of the world. This makes me sad. It feels very unfair to me that we are facing the consequences of climate change. We are paying the price for something we have not caused."
Mohamed: "The drought affects us all and the drought is here because of climate change. We had to leave our homes and come to this settlement. Even here, the heat is sometimes too much. At times, it is so hot we cannot stay in our classrooms, and we have to go outside. When the winds are coming, even our houses that are made of fabrics are not providing enough shelter. There is sand everywhere, it is hot and it can hurt your face, your eyes. There are many children that have to work for their parents to earn some money. They do odd jobs like collecting firewood, or washing other people’s clothes. That is also a result of climate change, as people have lost their livelihoods."
Fadumo: "As Somali children, we don’t get a platform to share our perspective. We can never raise our concern, it’s like our voice doesn’t matter. Parents or teachers often make decisions for children, even without consulting them. I believe that change can come if we raise our voice and come up for our own rights. That’s why I want to share my stories about how climate change has affected me and other children like me. I believe that through my activism, change can come for the children of Somalia."
Read the full story (in Spanish) here, on the website of newspaper El País.
Youths are regreening their Nairobi neighborhood, one park at a time
In Nairobi, I spent some time with Evans Otieno who used to be a gangster of Dandora, making money with robberies and muggings. Now, he is a successful entrepreneur and a pioneer in community-led projects. I talked to him about his transformation, and how he now transforms his neighborhood by collecting garbage, recycling, planting trees and creating lush public spaces for his community members. You can read my reportage story for De Volkskrant here.
On 'climate adaptation': an interview with Ban Ki-moon for De Volkskrant
Africa hardly contributes to climate change, but is severly hit by its negative consequences. At a climate adaptation summit in Rotterdam (skipped by most European leaders), African heads of state asked for Western support, because there is an increasing gap between the money available to limit and prevent the consequences and the amount that is actually needed. For De Volkskrant newspaper, I answered five questions (and interviewed former secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon).
New work for The New York Times: a story about how the drought in Somalia is affecting kids
For the first story I have written for The New York Times, I followed Abdulkadir (8) and Amina (10) in the camp for internally displaced people in the south of Somalia. With 30,000 other people, they live in a settlement near Luglow, where the conditions are dire. You can read the full story below, or click here to buy the August edition of The New York Times for Kids, of which my piece is part of.
The New York Times: Kids in Somalia are facing a water crisis
Amina Yonis Abdinur, 10, was one of the lucky ones. She didn’t have to walk for days to get to the camp near Kismayo, a city in Somalia in eastern Africa. She had lived nearby in a small village, with her mother and five siblings, until drought forced them to move. Others had to travel for miles, taking only what they could carry on their backs. ‘‘People have told me horrible stories,’’ Amina says.
Somalia is experiencing an awful drought, which is an extended period when there’s little or no rainfall. Typically, the country experiences two rainy seasons every year. But climate change is making them less reliable. The droughts have become so long and frequent that farms have dried up completely. ‘‘There was no grass left for the animals to eat,’’ Amina says. Her family lost 50 cows and 150 goats. Once all the food was gone, they had no choice but to leave.
Amina is a climate refugee, or someone who has had to leave their home because climate change has made it unlivable. In her camp of 30,000 people, aid organizations give out food and water. People live in shelters made of tarps, fabric and sticks, and outside kids play soccer in the dusty, rocky soil. This camp is one of many in the region: The United Nations Refugee Agency estimates that more than 750,000 Somalians have had to leave their homes this year because of the drought.
The camps are helpful, but life is still hard. Many kids don’t get enough to eat, says Abdulkadir Ismail Bilal, 8. In the camp, there’s only enough food for him to eat one plate of rice each morning. ‘‘At the end of the day, I’m quite hungry,’’ he says. Mohammed Ahmed, who works for the aid organization Save the Children, says that there aren’t enough funds and supplies to help everyone. He doesn’t know what’s going to happen next.
The problem is much bigger than just this village, or Somalia. Linda Ogallo, a climate scientist, says that all of eastern Africa is experiencing extreme weather, and that it will only get worse over time because of climate change.
Amina has seen it firsthand. ‘‘The land has dried up,’’ she says. ‘‘The small plants are dying, then the trees lose all their leaves.’’ After the rains, Somalia used to be green. ‘‘But the last two years, everything is orange. There is only dust. It’s getting hotter and hotter.’’ And for her and hundreds of thousands of other kids, the heat is becoming inescapable. ◊
Odinga goes to court: what does he want? New work for De Volkskrant and VPRO
ODM opposition leader Raila Odinga has gone to court to challenge the result, describing it as "fraudulent", as he alleges there was a pre-planned effort to alter the outcome. Four of the seven electoral commissioners refused to gather behind the outcome of the elections, saying that the way the final results were tallied was "opaque".
What happens now? How do Kenyans feel about Odinga’s move? And what proof does the ‘opposition veteran’ and his legal team have? That’s what I’ve tried to explain to Sophie Derkzen, host of NPO Radio 1’s radio programme Bureau Buitenland - click here to listen to that conversation. For more on the Kenyan elections, you can also read my latest article written for De Volkskrant.
New work for The Guardian: how the Russian war in Ukraine is pushing up the price of emergency food
Frontline medical workers say the latest impact of the war in Ukraine is a dramatic price rise in an emergency treatment used to save the lives of starving children. A high-calorie peanut paste called Plumpy’Nut is used by medical staff across the world as the first response to save a severely malnourished child.
But rising prices, scarcity of ingredients and problems with distribution mean that the red and white bags are becoming increasingly expensive just as need is rising, with millions of children facing hunger in east Africa alone.
Read more about the paste and the challenges of producing it (even within Africa) in my latest piece for The Guardian. A Dutch, more in-depth version of the story appeared in newspaper De Volkskrant.
Interview: how Vanessa Nakate fights for 'climate justice'
Although Africa is only minimally responsible for global warming, the continent is disproportionately affected by the climate crisis, says Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate (25). As Europe is looking for oil and gas in Africa, African leaders have a major asset in hand, she says.
“They have to ask themselves: If I let the Germans drill for gas in my country, what does that mean for the people who live in my country?”
Read my interview with Nakate here in Dutch, on the website of De Volkskrant.
William Ruto is declared as Kenya's new president, but the battle may not be over
In a chaotic gathering hosted by the Kenyan electoral commission IEBC, William Ruto was declared as the fifth president of the Republic of Kenya. But just a moment before the announcement of the IEBC’s chairman, four of the seven members of the electoral commission said in a statement that they do not support the presented results. How the East African country will progress from here onwards, is yet to be seen. Read more in our latest for De Volkskrant here.
Election time in Kenya: will it be Odinga or Ruto?
Kenya has decided, we just don’t know yet who has won - will William ‘Hustler’ Ruto (pictured above during a rally in Karatina), or opposition veteran Raila ‘Baba’ Odinga be the next president of East Africa’s second largest economy? I’ve tried to answer that question in this piece for Dutch daily De Volkskrant, which also focuses on why this time around, the ethnic factor might be less important. In addition, you can listen to this radio segment with Met Het Oog Op Morgen presenter Chris Kijne, which was aired on NPO Radio 1. I also answered some questions about how Kenyans have prepared for Election Day, in this small online piece for De Volkskrant’s website.
A reportage for De Volkskrant: how Masai are evicted from their land in Northern Tanzania
In northern Tanzania, 165 thousand Maasai herders are driven from their land. After a violent crackdown by the Tanzanian police, at least 2,000 Masai are said to have fled across the border to Kenya, where they are taken in by other herders. "This is an untenable situation."
You can read the whole story in today’s edition of De Volkskrant, or click here. Alternatively, you can listen to this NPO Radio 1 interview with Simone Weimans in Met Het Oog Op Morgen.
For De Volkskrant: my profile of the best soccer player of Africa, Sadio Mané
For the second time in his carreer, Sadio Mané has been named the best African footballer of the year. In Senegal, where the soccer player is born thirty years ago, the 'silent, smiling assassin' is mainly known as a sober do-gooder.
For De Volkskrant, I wrote a profile about the shy but generous soccer player, who has transformed Bambaly - from the millions he makes, hundreds of thousands of euros went into the village he grew up in, in the south of Senegal. You can read the piece by clicking or tapping here (in Dutch).
New work voor de Volkskrant: an interview with Arie Kievit about mica mines in Madagascar
In southern Madagascar, children get mica from handmade mines, photographer Arie Kievit saw when he was there with children’s rights NGO Terre des Homes. Plate mica as a raw material is indispensable for our cars and electrical appliances. I interviewed Kievit for today’s edition of De Volkskrant.