The P & O Aurora moored opposite the President's Jetty on Bodu Thakurufaanu Magu, Male'
Is the craft dead?
5 months ago
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
A ship the size of an island
The P &O liner Aurora arrived off Male' last night. At almost 900' long, it's bigger than the next door island of Funadhoo.
It's not a pidgin
There's a road close to the hotel called Filigas Magu (Filigas Street). At the end of it is the only petrol (gas) station on Male'. Initially, I wondered if it was pidgin but it turns out to be just an amusing coincidence. Filigas is a kind of tree. Fili is also the name given to the 'squiggles' above and below the main characters in dhivehi, which represent the vowel sounds.
Not pidgin
Pigeon
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Meanwhile back on the database...
Latest news from the project is that I added another 800 islands to the database yesterday and lost 200 health centres in the process.
The project plan for phase 2 has been redesigned and considerably slimmed down with only two more trips planned and an official launch on May 10'th which is Maldives Childrens' Day.
More meetings with social workers and Dept of National Planning to discuss reporting requirements.
When not in meetings I've spent the last two days finishing the end of project report for phase 1, rather than finishing off the project. I do believe I may have fallen into the unicef way of life.
Coast Guard boat sailing between Male' and Dhoonidhoo
For no other reason than it's one of four streets on Male' I know the name of
The project plan for phase 2 has been redesigned and considerably slimmed down with only two more trips planned and an official launch on May 10'th which is Maldives Childrens' Day.
More meetings with social workers and Dept of National Planning to discuss reporting requirements.
When not in meetings I've spent the last two days finishing the end of project report for phase 1, rather than finishing off the project. I do believe I may have fallen into the unicef way of life.
Coast Guard boat sailing between Male' and Dhoonidhoo
On another note, the restuarant staff at the hotel have exhibited another bout of haplessness at lunchtime when the beef fried noodles I ordered arrived as beef fried rice, apparantly destined for another diner. I wonder if he got my chilli sauce as well since what I got was plain old tomato ketchup!
For no other reason than it's one of four streets on Male' I know the name of
Circular reasoning
Currently, mosques are the only places of worship in Maldives. I read in a newspaper here from last week that there was a proposal to permit places of worship for other faiths to be built in the country.
However one muslim leader noted that as Islam was the only religion in Maldives it wasn't necessary to allow this, which rather neatly brings closure to the subject.
A mosque on Male'
However one muslim leader noted that as Islam was the only religion in Maldives it wasn't necessary to allow this, which rather neatly brings closure to the subject.
A mosque on Male'
Abuse of a different kind
This time, it's abuse of the English language.
I was sitting in the unicef office yesterday and Latheef says to me, "Tony, can you explain what this means"? From the look on his face I could see he felt some disquiet in what he was reading. It was World Aids Day yesterday and he had found the following on an HIV/AIDS website. As soon as I read the second line I could see the cause of his concern.
While male to male sex is often discouraged from a moral or religious point of view, from the public health perspective it is desirable to engage men having sex with men in an attempt to help them reduce HIV transmission; not only between men...
It was the use of the term engage which has been adopted in recent years by many people as a replacement for a much simpler word, talk. The closest definitions of the word engaged for the meaning intended in the about sentance are
To attract and hold the attention of; engross: a hobby that engaged her for hours at a time.
To draw into; involve: engage a shy person in conversation.
But how much clearer it would have been to just write 'talk to'. Somehow by engaging with people it conveys more importance in the engager and what they are saying. I think it is probably meant to suggest that a two way discussion will take place but there is no guarantee that the engagee will actually be engaged.
What of course it does not mean in the context of the above is encourage men to become engaged to other men!
Unicef engaging the wider community
I was sitting in the unicef office yesterday and Latheef says to me, "Tony, can you explain what this means"? From the look on his face I could see he felt some disquiet in what he was reading. It was World Aids Day yesterday and he had found the following on an HIV/AIDS website. As soon as I read the second line I could see the cause of his concern.
While male to male sex is often discouraged from a moral or religious point of view, from the public health perspective it is desirable to engage men having sex with men in an attempt to help them reduce HIV transmission; not only between men...
It was the use of the term engage which has been adopted in recent years by many people as a replacement for a much simpler word, talk. The closest definitions of the word engaged for the meaning intended in the about sentance are
To attract and hold the attention of; engross: a hobby that engaged her for hours at a time.
To draw into; involve: engage a shy person in conversation.
But how much clearer it would have been to just write 'talk to'. Somehow by engaging with people it conveys more importance in the engager and what they are saying. I think it is probably meant to suggest that a two way discussion will take place but there is no guarantee that the engagee will actually be engaged.
What of course it does not mean in the context of the above is encourage men to become engaged to other men!
Unicef engaging the wider community
Child Sexual Abuse Act
There was a new child sexual abuse act passed recently in Maldives.
The act contained many good things to help protect vulnerable children, in particular young girls.
However one article was included which stated that if a girl is married under sharia law all the other articles in the act no longer stood because she is no longer considered a child but an adult.
I think under Sharia law in Maldives the age of consent is12. It might have been increased more recently by legislation in the parliament, but the general feeling here is that the new act may do more harm than good.
The act contained many good things to help protect vulnerable children, in particular young girls.
However one article was included which stated that if a girl is married under sharia law all the other articles in the act no longer stood because she is no longer considered a child but an adult.
I think under Sharia law in Maldives the age of consent is12. It might have been increased more recently by legislation in the parliament, but the general feeling here is that the new act may do more harm than good.
So this is one of the reasons we are here and this place is where we doing it from.
Whilst checking on the age for marriage on the web, I stumbled upon this item in another blog
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Outraged and Rubbish
I learnt an interesting fact from one of the unicef guys today. It's 20 years since the introduction of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, commonly referred to as the CRC. See http://www.unicef.org/why/why_rights.html.
Since that time every country in the world has signed up to the charter except two. Somalia was one and they signed on 20'th of this month. So the only country which has yet to sign is... The United States of America. For a nation which will go to war in the name of democracy it beggars belief that they are unable to formally acknowledge basic human rights for children.
Rant over*
Otherwise, we have inched forward again today. Still hoping to meet with the head of one of the lead agencies. I'd feel happier if I knew we had some 'senior managemnet buy in' - to use the parlance of the commercial world.
We have a workshop planned for tomorrow where I would like to come away with some agreement on the codes we are going to use in the database and then Jim and I are off on a two hour boat ride to Eydhafushi. The plan was to install a test system with the social workers who I met there last month. We learnt today that they have been posted to an island in another atoll, so we have new people to meet and hopefully they will be enthusiatic enough to want to act as testers and provide feedback. I also want to check if the internet connection speeds are going to be adequate out there, the suggestion being that they may be quite slow.
Jim is working through spreadsheets of codes and there are a few changes to the system going to be needed as a result. We've dropped about 3 pick lists and gained at least one new one. This is living the agile development dream.
The local dust cart, which coincidentally is called Ufili (u fili up, we empty out). Anyway, today, I for one am feeling rubbish.
* In the spirit of citing both sides of the story, the following link offers an explanation of why the the US haven't ratified the charter http://www.unicef.org/crc/index_30229.html
Since that time every country in the world has signed up to the charter except two. Somalia was one and they signed on 20'th of this month. So the only country which has yet to sign is... The United States of America. For a nation which will go to war in the name of democracy it beggars belief that they are unable to formally acknowledge basic human rights for children.
Rant over*
Otherwise, we have inched forward again today. Still hoping to meet with the head of one of the lead agencies. I'd feel happier if I knew we had some 'senior managemnet buy in' - to use the parlance of the commercial world.
We have a workshop planned for tomorrow where I would like to come away with some agreement on the codes we are going to use in the database and then Jim and I are off on a two hour boat ride to Eydhafushi. The plan was to install a test system with the social workers who I met there last month. We learnt today that they have been posted to an island in another atoll, so we have new people to meet and hopefully they will be enthusiatic enough to want to act as testers and provide feedback. I also want to check if the internet connection speeds are going to be adequate out there, the suggestion being that they may be quite slow.
Jim is working through spreadsheets of codes and there are a few changes to the system going to be needed as a result. We've dropped about 3 pick lists and gained at least one new one. This is living the agile development dream.
The local dust cart, which coincidentally is called Ufili (u fili up, we empty out). Anyway, today, I for one am feeling rubbish.
* In the spirit of citing both sides of the story, the following link offers an explanation of why the the US haven't ratified the charter http://www.unicef.org/crc/index_30229.html
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