5 Links to Start the Week

Published September 14, 2009 @ 10:54PM PT

Granted, it's late on a Monday night - at least on the west coast - but never too late for five interesting links to help start the week. Or at least provide a little procrastination.

- Good news from the fine folks at UN Dispatch, who report a 28% decline in child mortality over the past eighteen years. Proof that there is, in fact, reason to be optimistic. At least occasionally.

- Tales from the Hood Re-Asks Some Basic Questions about the aid-world, including - does the NGO system still work? Has the day of the international NGO passed? And, of perpetual interest, does size perhaps sorta kinda matter after all? Of NGOs, size of NGOs.

- Reuters AlertNet explains the Problems of Aid Work in Afghanistan.

- Harry Rud on Becoming an Ex-Expat. According to the inestimable Mr. Rud, adjusting to life back at home has been a wee bit difficult: "I dumped my dirty clothes in a corner. Two days later and they were still there! I couldn’t for the life of me think what the cleaner was playing at, but she seemed to have disappeared." Alas, alas.

- In a similar expat vein, Mo'dernity, Mo'problems patiently explains that "Third Eye Blind is the soundtrack of the Eastern Congo." To see why, read A Day in the Life of an Expat in the Congo.

(Bonus - my favorite Third Eye Blind song. Admit it, you actually perhaps sorta kinda like this song.)

[Photo of Goma in the Eastern Congo from america.gov's photostream on flickr - Creative Commons, Attribution]

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Author

Michael has worked for NGOs in Afghanistan, across east and central Africa, and Iraq. Prior to going overseas, he worked on a project providing assistance to the United Nations on the application of International Humanitarian Law to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.