FEAST OR FAMINE

Overseas tourists to Australia rose from 5.6 million in 2009 to 5.9 million in 2010. Over half of the tourists came from New Zealand, the United Kingdom, America, China and Japan. However, only one percent of tourists visited the capital, Canberra. With renovations to the Canberra Airport and the focus on attracting overseas visitors, it is expected that the number of visitors will increase. In 2009, there were 58,000 international visitors to Canberra, which increased to 60,590 in 2010. Nevertheless, the domestic tourism market is healthy in the nation's capital. The National Visitors Survey indicated that in the last quarter of 2010, overnight domestic visitors increased by 12 per cent compared to the last quarter in 2009. For the whole of 2010, there were 2.03 million domestic overnight tourists, up by almost 14 percent on 2009 figures. It was the highest domestic tourism figures of any state or territory in...

The Measure of a Man (2000) begins on Cat Island in the Bahamas in an environment of extreme poverty and lack. Poitier’s childhood lacked electricity, radios, televisions, refrigeration, telephones, running water, toilets, cars, education, and money. But what he lacked in material wealth, he gained from “a quiet and simple atmosphere of my childhood” that enabled him to “focus down to the level of the subtle body language”—to know and understand the communications and interactions of people, by watching nature and human nature. At the age of 12, he watched his first cowboy movie and declared to his sister that he wanted to go to Hollywood to be a cowboy, believing that cattle ranches and the “wild west” were, in fact, in Los Angeles. By the age of 15, he was living in Florida, and at 16 left for New York, the furthest he could travel from Florida on his meager income from washing dishes. At 18, an advert calling for actors by the American Negro Theater (ANT), led to the br...

In January 2011, southern Sudanese voted almost unanimously to secede from the mostly Muslim, Arab north. A new country will thus emerge. From the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between north and south Sudan in January 2005, to the referendum for secession or unity in January 2011, southern Sudan has had six years of autonomous government. In that time, government ministries have been established and regional local governments have been formed. Six years of working toward a stand-alone government have paved the way for their transition to becoming a new country. Yet, there are many challenges ahead, just as there are for any new country. Below are my ten challenges facing the new Sudan: (1) The Name of the Country – whether the new country is known as South Sudan, or by any other name, it will evoke ownership, loyalty, patriotism, and nationalism amongst its people, and therefore it should be a name in which all residents can proudly say: I am XXX, just as...

South Sudanese, in January 2011, voted overwhelmingly to secede from the north, effectively splitting the largest country in Africa in two. The divide is largely, but not solely, between the mostly Christian South with the mostly Muslim and Arab North. They did so with patience, humility, and to date, without the outbreak of widespread violence. It was a civil election, voting for the respect of their country. When the pronouncement of a new country is disseminated it will change the country irreversibly. The lessons learned in aspiring for democracy, optimism, independence and freedom have, it appears, overlooked two of the fundamental factors that could have established a model for a united Sudan: religious tolerance and religious coexistence. A condition of the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in January 2005 was for both Parties to work toward making unity of Sudan attractive. When I interviewed northern (Khartoum) government representatives ...

My second novel will be released next week! Novel Explores Walking a Cultural Tightrope Between East and West What was it like for a Western woman to work in Kashmir following 9/11? Kashmir on a Knife-Edge is an intriguing novel that balances fact with fiction. Jorja is an Australian consultant working for the Ministry of Education in the capital of Kashmir, a Pakistan-administered state. Her life takes a precarious turn following the terrorist attacks on September 11, as she tries to continue working during an extremely tense period in Pakistan and India relations. Separated from her boyfriend back in Australia, Jorja is caught in a society that balances love and isolation with danger at every turn. Peek into the picturesque, yet troubled Kashmir area, a land caught between two conflicting nations. “This is a seductive work. One also falls in love with Kashmir itself and its people, both of which are brought vividly to life. A wealth of detail about the history, cul...

A few months after ascending the throne of Egypt, the new Pharaoh, Cheops, declared that he did not want a pyramid erected for him. This news was a catastrophe to his kingdom, for what would the people do if they did not spend the next umpteen years building a mausoleum for their king? Seeing the distress of his courtiers, Cheops decreed that a pyramid would indeed be built and it would be the highest and most majestic of them all. This is the story of the Great Pyramid  in Giza; the pyramid of Cheops, written in 1998. It chronicles the feat of the great construction. It tells of the series of expected and unexpected deaths – from stone slippages; exhaustion; murders; whippings; and sunstroke. One foreman, Unas, was sacked because he allowed the legs of two sculptors trapped during the laying of a stone to stay where they had been amputated from the weight of the rock as it fell on top of them. Long hooks were used to scrape the crushed legs out from under the stone...

In Herat, Afghanistan, milking cows are housed in a family's home - inside a separate stable that keeps them protected from the weather. Previously, they roamed the house, creating unhygenic conditions for both the household and the cows. In addition, farmer now work together to sell their milk instead of selling it independently at the market. Some 585 farmer households participate in seven dairy clusters that collect, store and deliver milk. At the Nawin Sufleh Village Collection Center (VCC), boys and men were seen bringing the morning’s milk to be tested and then collected in a steel storage container. Milk buckets were covered, as required, and the VCC was in a cool and clean plastered mud room on a small side street. The log book of milk collection and payments were up-to-date, testing equipment was working, and VCC board members—all volunteers—supervised the operation. The milk collector’s salary is paid from the milk sales. Cows are kept in the stables o...