i was the jungle calais when it was dismantled this is what i saw
Click here for more photos from the Jungle.
A glimmer of hope within the gates of hell
How a boy of 27 manages to bring hope to a place where people are losing their dreams for the future.
Visiting a refugee shelter where no one wants to stay
A severe shortage of medicine, a neglected building. I visited a run-down refugee shelter in Sofia, Bulgaria, where 800 people are hopelessly counting their days.
How your donation for a refugee ends up in Google's till
Update: Following a response from Refugee Council, I decided to do further research on this issue. I jumped to conclusions at a few points. As a result, the picture I painted, combined with the example I gave, does not hold up. An update to this article will follow after my research.
Venezuela braces for judgment day
Tomorrow the opposition in Venezuela has announced a large demonstration in Caracas. It is demanding a referendum to depose current President Maduro. As the opposition prepares for the demonstration, Maduro is bracing himself. Military checkpoints are being thrown up, "phone jammers" can be found throughout the city, activists are being arrested and state television is calling [...]
How I unexpectedly found myself in a coup d'état
I was halfway through my delicious dessert -a Kunefe- when the first reports of a coup came in. I had spent the hours before just outside the center of Gaziantep talking with two doctors about health care in Turkey. Mainly that for the more than 3 million refugees Turkey is currently hosting. Go back to your hotel [...]
Column: The Purmerend of Spekkers of June '16
Last week we had Reuring. What a small town can be big at. Great, a wonderful festival it was. I was surprised, in my mind Reuring was no more than one stage on the koemarkt but in the meantime it turned out to have grown into a true event with multiple stages in different locations.
How I got a criminal journalist arrested
It is early afternoon, two hours ahead of schedule, that I walk into the Dutch embassy in Kiev. Three hours earlier I landed my flight from Amsterdam and in between I have arranged for a hotel, a Ukrainian SIM card and some other basic necessities for the coming days. A tweet with [...]
Stefan Huijboom again in controversy
Yesterday a warning about Stefan Huijboom appeared on the Kiev expat Facebook group. Yanka Dudenko warned the over a thousand members of the group about Stefan's practices, and many others responded. But what happened? 'Could you call my lawyer to ask what I should do, should I still be [...]
From nothing to something (5): more for less
It is cold as I walk from the shelter toward the Albert Heijn supermarket. The almost regular rhythm - getting a free cup of coffee at the supermarket - is beginning to irritate me. As I walk on, I begin to feel frustrated by the setbacks of the past few days. After two months in the night shelter, I had finally [...]
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