By Chandara Tith.

“I am Powerful!”  What does it mean? Is it a political action? No, it is a new brand of CARE, a campaign that put the focus on women`s empowerment.

The CARE campaign "I am powerful" portrais women from different contries. Here a Cambodian woman shows that with her vegetable garden she can feed the family. (Photo:CARE Australia)

It really caught my attention. Since the beginning of my internship, I saw it many times, both on the CARE website and in many information leaflets.

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By Thomas Schwarz.

This is my last blog from Pakistan, at least for now. It has never been harder for me to leave, to go back home. This is due to many things.

A man is standing in front of his destroyed house in Charsadda (photo: CARE/Schwarz)

But mostly to the fact that I feel like I have not finished this job yet. However, there is work waiting for me in Germany. (more…)

By Chandara Tith

I have never imagined how advanced the media in Germany is.

I was trying to experience in the WDR TV studio to see how I look if I appear on TV. (Photo: Sina Stach)

I was trained to be a professional journalist by German teachers. In my university in Phnom Penh I used media equipment made in Germany, but I have never imagined how enchanting the real technical system and the media studios in Germany are. (more…)

By Thomas Schwarz.

Islamabad: Shortly before 7 p.m at Jinnah Market in the centre of the Pakistani capital.

Thomas Schwarz is currently in Pakistan (photo: CARE)

The crows are creating such a noise that even the cars that are trying to find a parking space cannot be heard. There is an astonishingly quiet atmosphere here. Usually people, voices, cars and loud small motorbikes are swarming around here. Not to mention the signal-horns. But now, in these minutes, it’s calm all over this market place. (more…)

By Melanie Brooks

Melanie Brooks is Media and Communications Coordinator for CARE International’s Emergency Response Team in Geneva, Switzerland.

Two images of Shirley flash intermittently back and forth in my head: one, of Shirley smiling, laughing with tsunami survivors in Indonesia; the other, of a bloodied Shirley, slumped against the door of a bullet-riddled car in Afghanistan. I never saw the second image, but it’s in my head anyway. For the past two years, it hasn’t left. (more…)

Von Thomas Schwarz.

The room is much too big for just one person. I  live here during my stay in Islamabad. When a Pakistani friend came to see me he said: “There would be room for more people.” He’s right.

These people have survived. They have been rescued by a boat from the flood. (Photo: CARE/Schwarz)

Thinking of the living conditions of those affected by the flood, I ask myself why I live in such a big room. I take some comfort in the thought that I travel a lot. Just to appease my guilty conscience.

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By Thomas Schwarz.

The Taliban help the victims of the floods and glorify this exploit. That’s what I read in the news.

That is the way most people in Punjab live now. (Photo: CARE/Schwarz)

Giving interviews Journalists ask me if it is correct that Islamic Taliban distribute relief goods and bless themselves for this help. I say, yes they do so. Of course they do. Everybody does, who do good deeds to others. However, is it really an important question at the moment? Should we really discuss this topic now? In my eyes: no!
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By Chandara Tith.

One day after work, I went down the street to the city of Bonn. Just off the central station, I saw a spot of orange color – a group of people wearing T-Shirts in the typical CARE color with the logo showing a circle of hands.

The team talks to the people in a very smooth and joyful way. When I saw them, I remembered the time I volunteered for fund-raising in Cambodia. (Photo: Chandara Tith)

They were standing in front of a booth full of pictures. They were talking to pedestrians and showed them a small box which resembled the CARE Package and a book with pictures. I wondered what they were doing, but I guessed they must be doing some kind of social activity.

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By Thomas Schwarz.

When we started early this morning from Islamabad, I didn’t exactly know what would be awaiting me in the region of Mardan.

There is still water in the streets and the victims are waiting for support. (Photo: CARE/ Schwarz)

I had seen many reports on TV, read the papers, listened to the radio and had spoken with my CARE colleagues. The whole weekend I had met UN representatives as well as other international humanitarian organisations.

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By Thomas Schwarz.

This week is a very special one in the flooded nation that is Pakistan. August 14 is the national Day of Independence.

Pakistan struggles against the flood. At the same time the Islamic month of fasting, Ramadan, starts. (Photo: CARE/Schwarz)

On August 14, 1947, the British colonial rulers granted independence to their former colony. At the same time as India, by the way. But on top of the national Day of Independence, Pakistan’s majority Muslim population will also begin the holy month of Ramadan this week, which includes praying and fasting.

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