Funerals, Bamboo trains and flooded tuk tuks
I’m preparing for the drive back to Siem Reap today, which will take about three hours. I am very much hoping the heavy downpours will hold off until after I arrive back. Travelling anywhere in Cambodia is difficult enough but it becomes much worse when trying to drive through endless floods. It is incredibly hot with the [...]
Cambodia blog: The call of the Gecko
At eight a.m. I walked out of the apartment where I am staying into a sudden blast of hot air, smoke and the strong smell of frying pork. It is rush hour. I manage to hail a local tuk tuk driver and ask him to take me to the children’s hospital. He looks at me [...]
South Africa roundup
I have so many Africa-related stories in tabs on my laptop that my whole system is slowing down. You know what that means: Here are a bunch of stories that have caught my eye, with commentary, much drawn from my recent trip to South Africa, as apt. This is the South Africa edition (a more general [...]
SHORT STORY: Patience
READ IN PDF ‘Patience’ I was born in Soweto. You might have heard about it. It’s a township in the south of Gauteng. I used live in Dube with my drunkard father, spineless mother and absent brother. Some people think they know the sort of people that live in such townships. They have read about [...]
The mango tree
Christmas: a period of reflection. As a Christmas great, we give you an almost extinct story from the book ‘Parabels van Grote Spin’ (Parables of Great Spider) by Bob Papeland. The book is not available anymore. The key question in this narrative is: ‘who is teaching who?’ And: ‘what does the story tell us about [...]