World Humanitarian Day is commemorated each year on
19th August and gives special recognition to all humanitarian, UN and other personnel who have worked in the promotion of the humanitarian cause. The day is a collaborative global celebration of humanitarian aid work joining the United Nations and over 500 national and international NGOs, aimed at engaging and inspiring the general public to get involved.  It especially commemorates those who have lost their lives in the cause of duty. It marks the day on which the then Special Representative of the Secretary-General to Iraq, Sérgio Vieira de Mello and 21 of his colleagues tragically lost their lives in the bombing of the UN Headquarters in Baghdad on 19 August 2003.

Google’s doodle for India’s Independence Day which is shown on
Google’s main search page for the country depicts the Red Fort in Delhi. As a recent visitor to Delhi, I was awed by the magnificence and size of the building.  When you think this was built early to mid 1600, during the reigns of James I and Charles I in the UK, rather puts the achievement into perspective.

As someone who has spent many interesting and happy moments in
Beirut, I was delighted to be signposted to a website showing the world’s largest collection of postcards and photos of the Old Levant region depicting a century in the life of the region – The Foad Debbas Collection.   It’s surprising to contrast the life then and now and reflect that most of the photos were taken less than 100 years ago. The photo here was taken in 1929.

I expect some interesting photos, experiences and cross-cultural
insights while following the Journey On Two Wheels to Istanbul on the blog One Hell Of A Ride. You might want to join me virtually on this trip. Our intrepid motorcyclist comments on Day 2: After some riding across Georgian towns with a lot of Armenian markings, captions and labels, I arrived at Posof border crossing [with Turkey]. Huge Turkish flags, everyone acted extremely professional and there was this feeling after Georgia of somehow entering Europe…

‘Would You Take Tea With Tyrants?’ is the question that journalist
Lyse Doucet put to politicians, diplomats and activists around the world. In an interesting article for the BBC she gets people who have dealt with the worst tyrants in modern history to open up about how they separate emotion from the need to conduct business and asks whether engagement is always the right thing to do. Ambassadors and envoys often talk to people they see as tyrants or terrorists. But why do they do it? Former Finnish President, Marrti Ahtisaari, a Nobel Prize winner advises, “You don’t need to love the people you talk to but you have to talk to everybody whose assistance you need to solve the problems.” Listen to the programme or read the article. Comments Norwegian Envoy, Jan Egeland.

If you want to make a difference where human rights are most at stake, you have to meet them”

Google is always featured at the end of my talks
as one of the few ‘cultural superhero’ global organisations of this world. I know that my own Google homepage often has a Google Doodle especially for their UK clients.  But, it’s not often I get to see some of the other doodles that are created for other nations.  Here’s Google’s Doodle to celebrate Pakistan’s Independence Day.  So, Happy Independence Day to All!

Bloggers in Africa have are having a riotous time writing tongue-in-

cheek articles with headlines like: Africa to send troops, food parcels to UK as riots spread. I came across an article by Ndesanjo Macha sharing African perspectives on the riots in the UK with a good dose of humour. However, one blogger, Nana Wireko, reminds us about the unpleasant things the British press were saying in the run up to the South African World Cup saying: “When your neighbor is down, don’t kick him but rather help lift him up. The UK press should take a cue from this. It’s a lesson. A very important one!”

Read the views on the USA of a 25 year-old girl from Taiwan, whose
first experience of ‘abroad’ was as a student in Michigan. A lot of cross-cultural differences between those two cultures! Mindy (Min-Yi Chang) is now back home and reflects on her time in the US. Here are the two extracts I found the most interesting – from the blog post on Pocket Cultures which is always an enjoyable and insightful read.

Najwat Rehman winning logo design

International Youth Day celebrates the experiences and voices of young people between the ages of 15 to 24 years. They represent one sixth of the world’s population. Established by the UN in 2000, the purpose of the day is to draw our attention to youth issues world wide in the 10 areas of: starvation, poverty, education, employment, health, drug exploitation, childhood felony, recreation events, the child and young women, environment. Every year has a different theme and 2011’s theme is: “Youth should be given a chance to take an active part in the decision-making of local, national and global levels.”

Today is the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People.
The 9th August each year offers the world community an opportunity to reaffirm the principles of respect and protection of minorities. Created by the United Nation General Assembly in 1994, this year’s commemoration theme is: “Indigenous designs: celebrating stories and cultures, crafting our own future”.