Shrouds of the Somme

I was able to go to this very poignant Exhibition of the Somme, there were the list of the soldiers that had died and had no memorial but an artist had model of each soldier, which was an artist who had had an accident and couldn't use his hands, and felt he needed to portray these individual soldiers.
The names of each of these solders, were read out as you moved round the "Shrouded" figures, there was a large queue by the artist, he saw me trying to wobble over to him and walked over and I was able to shake him by the hand and congratulate him on what he had achieved.
An amazing afternoon. One I will remember all my life.

What is happening in Yemen?

Orla Guerrin is the only journalist allowed into Yemen and able to report on the conditions that the populations are putting up with! This has been highlighted on the television this week, It was said that this could be the World's worst tragedy this century with young children dying of starvation whilst the first world has plenty of food. There is in Yemen a lady called  Moza  who is educating children in that area as there is a whole generation that have missed their education at school.

In America, unfortunately Trump is stating that those families who have nowhere to go will be fined and removed from US soil. These families have nowhere to go. And felt they will be persecuted if they went home.

In Britain even "Sure Start" has been axed there seems to be no money for it. But those who live in the UK most have a meal during the day, what a horrible feeling that there are parts of this world where a lot go hungry and this seems to get worse and worse. What can we do about it? Let Governments know we shall not put up this for much longer.

Elizabeth Kendall - the modern Freya Stark

On September 20th I went to a fascinating talk by a Lady called Elizabeth Kendall talking about that little known and misunderstood country of Yemen. The reason that it is misunderstood is because nobody is travelling there and we are told that it is not advisable to do so.

Elizabeth travels frequently and can speak Arabic and is protected by a large band of Yemeni tribesmen with whom she has made good friends. The Civil war in Yemen has been going on for years and the population is now in a state of not seeing a way out. Those that are perpetuating this conflict are the Saudis and there are not enough people that are brave enough to travel and see what’s going on! How do you start? It’s difficult - one has to have contacts in the country and a genuine concern for the place. I have lived in Oman as a teacher and got to feel very much for that country and I am very concerned about what happens in that region. These travels will expose those countries that are keeping these wars continuing and those countries that are being helpful!

Plastic still a Problem

What can we learn from Kenya as they fine the population for using Plastic bags? Still the problem with plastics hasn't gone away and we hear that plastic pollution has even got to the South Pole and whales have been affected, some things are positive though. The people of the town of Penzance have all decided to all pick up plastics on a walk.
They have encouraged the children to get involved.

But a Gentle man from Iceland said that there were mixed messages from the supermarkets saying that there were no "Plastic Free" aisles in the Supermarkets and most of our plastics went into Land Fill sites! How can this happen? How do we get rid of the Plastics?

Some of the third world countries fine their population for using plastics, Kenya is one of these.
Very well-intentioned people are doing the best that they can. But it is unreal that we are losing the battle against the supermarkets. How do we rid ourselves of Plastic and we are told things that are untrue by the sellers? 20 years ago we didn't have this problem so what has changed, the use of plastics indiscriminately. It is similar to those things that you wish hadn't been invented but had so you have to make the best of them! Unfortunately Plastic was a great advance, So what do we do about the removal of this?

We all have to put our heads together and come up with a solution.

India's hidden FGM ladies

Last night a lady was brave enough having had this treatment in India and saying how it effected her. I have a daughter and that thought makes my blood run cold! She was saying that a trusted lady led her into a room and took this knife and held her Vulva between her fingers and cut it off. The pain was indescribable. Her mother was next door! What a tradition that needs to change. But as this has been going for such a long time and this lady who has been talking about it has been threatened by some members of the public who feel that she has let down those traditional members.

Here is a link to a blog one of our interns did on my behalf on the issue of FGM here in the UK:
 https://nextcenturyfoundation.wordpress.com/2018/08/01/fgm-in-the-uk-how-to-prevent-this-tragedy/

Boko Haram

Boko Haram had five Female suicide bombers who  killed more than 31 a few days ago at Damboa, 31 in the Government area.
Following the attack they concentrated on those who were celebrating Eid al Fitr holiday.
Then the bombers turned a rocket propelled grenade onto the crowd that had gathered after the killings! Boko Haram has been quiet for a couple of months and now we see what is happening, they are consolidating their group in Nigeria. What happened to all those girls that were kidnapped all that time ago? Are they going to start that again? Life for a female in Nigeria is not a good prospect!   What happened to the marches last year of Free our girls! It is concerning that they have decided on female suicide bombers. Back in the old days in Libya, Gaddafi had female soldiers in the bad old days. But they were not fanatics like this! 

Summer in a Vincent Square garden.

Spring has been and gone and summer is well and truly with us but the birds are still being fed in the garden. I listen to the sound of a little coal tit being fed by its parents. We have a large hedge opposite where the birds are feeding.  There is a lot of activity in the garden at the moment. The coal tit is interesting as it bears a similarity to a great tit, but there is a white mark on its darker black crown. We have more robins now. I saw a young robin being fed by a parent. It was very young and its feathers were very fluffy.  I had recorded no robins at all at the time I submitted our annual RSPB bird report earlier in the Spring though there were lots of dunnocks. The young wrens have flown the nest; it is amazing how such little birds have such a loud song.

There was a pair of green finches here today and the gold finches are back which is very exciting (we had thought they'd gone); along with the coal tits being fed, there was a lot going on.  However we have lost the long tailed tits, and the great spotted woodpecker seems to be missing! We usually have chiffchaffs on our patch too! Some people let out their cats first thing in the morning,  which may be why some of the nesting birds in our gardens have become scarce. We sometimes have parakeets in the garden but not as many as some other people in the area.

We didn't have the mass of foxes this year. Last year we found them standing by the front garden gate late at night! A big fox still comes into the back garden; it walks along the wall and jumps into the garden from the side. We are overrun by squirrels, which the dog likes to chase but no way can she catch them!  We still have quite a challenge trying to stop the squirrels eating the peanuts we feed to the birds. We have bought a squirrel proof nut holder to feed the birds but the squirrels still have great fun eating the fat balls.

The rambling rose is tumbling down the hedge on the one side of the garden and the lilac has just finished. The pear blossom is over now but it seems as if its lovely perfume lingers in the garden. There is a maraschino cherry tree with a very sour fruit much loved by the birds next to the rose.
We have no grass. We tried putting turf down on the "lawn" but a huge tree sucks all the water out of grass. The neighbour next door finds the tree annoying but it's hers not ours! AstroTurf is something that a friend of ours tried and could help but it is expensive and most people don't have that sort of money.

This is proving to be one of the loveliest summers.