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Dispatches: March 2014

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Stories about the development business. I was waiting at the gate at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo international airport, computer in my lap, pleased that I’d found a place to sit close to the check-in desk, where there was already a small group of people hovering anxiously next to the sign for priority boarding. I’d been comfortably seated there 30 minutes earlier, when they called us up for a special security check—something they were doing for all the flights headed to the United States. The security chec...

lindsaydispatches.blogspot.com

Dispatches: December 2014

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Stories about the development business. Early morning, and I’m sitting on the patio at Dedza Pottery Lodge, staring at a cluster of thick gray-white clouds hovering motionlessly over the mountain just south of us. In the chill of morning, it looks almost like an alpine scene, wintry, even though it’s January in Malawi. Summoned by Johanne, our driver, we pack up our computers, water bottles and cans of Pringles, and load into our Toyota Hilux. Twambilire, our colleague from the Ministry of Health, is...

lindsaydispatches.blogspot.com

Dispatches: April 2010

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Stories about the development business. But instead of subsiding after an hour or so, it grew stronger and harder, and the drops became thicker and denser, until there were sheets of rain, and the sky was as white as snow and seemed to hover right on top of us. A colleague and I stared out the window in wonder until it was so blurry with water that we could no longer see through it. How will the city cope with the extra traffic it will bring, plus the rain? Meanwhile, we were informed that piped water in...

lindsaydispatches.blogspot.com

Dispatches: February 2010

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Stories about the development business. There’s a scene in. Where Meryl Streep and Robert Redford are trekking across the Kenyan wilderness, tracking lions, when one of them suddenly bursts out of the bush with a ferocious growl and charges them. Streep instantly lifts her rifle and shoots it dead, then turns to Redford and watches in stunned silence as he comes to her side and gently wipes the blood from her mouth, where she had bit her lip in exhilarating terror. Further along the road began to change&...

lindsaydispatches.blogspot.com

Dispatches: December 2010

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Stories about the development business. If You’re Ever In Juba. (A Patchwork Restaurant Guide for Travelers in Africa, West Africa Edition). See the original guide, with recommendations for Bujumbura, Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, Addis, and of course, Juba,. This open, breezy rooftop restaurant is a sharp contrast to the hot mugginess of the dusty streets below. A great place to unwind—good pizza and beer—to the sound of ABBA in the background (what is it about ABBA in Africa? If you are forced to leave Monro...

lindsaydispatches.blogspot.com

Dispatches: January 2010

http://lindsaydispatches.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html

Stories about the development business. Returned to Dar. City is quiet. Empty roads, empty cafés. After three weeks away, I’m one of the first of my friends to come back to the city. Expats take long holidays. I met with a World Bank colleague when I returned. He reminded me that he’s leaving Tanzania in March—his contract is up. He’s thinking of heading to Vienna, or maybe even Kabul of all places, for another gig. 8212;You’re leaving so soon, I said. We were just getting to know each other! And because...

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Dispatches: March 2015

http://lindsaydispatches.blogspot.com/2015_03_01_archive.html

Stories about the development business. Night at the Cathedral. Lent is a rebirth I always seem to need. You don’t have to be a religious type to find the idea appealing. Redemption, new life. Pretty compelling stuff. I’m not giving anything. This year. Self denial is not one of my strengths. Century, including three rose windows, those very large, lovely circular windows you often see in Gothic cathedrals. They are beautiful works of art, something worth traveling long distances to see. Telling of the s...

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Dispatches: Intimations

http://lindsaydispatches.blogspot.com/2015/01/intimations.html

Stories about the development business. This is the first of several posts telling some of my story of belief and doubt, about whether change is possible - in my own life, and in the global poverty business, which is built around the idea that it's possible to help change other peoples' lives. Dar es Salaam January 2010. Who knows how long you stared into the dark. Maybe an hour. At least an hour. Now, in the bright light of the morning you feel safe again, the ghosts are gone, blown away. One night, fee...

lindsaydispatches.blogspot.com

Dispatches: January 2015

http://lindsaydispatches.blogspot.com/2015_01_01_archive.html

Stories about the development business. This is the first of several posts telling some of my story of belief and doubt, about whether change is possible - in my own life, and in the global poverty business, which is built around the idea that it's possible to help change other peoples' lives. Dar es Salaam January 2010. Who knows how long you stared into the dark. Maybe an hour. At least an hour. Now, in the bright light of the morning you feel safe again, the ghosts are gone, blown away. One night, fee...