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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By Thomas Schwarz.

On a cable TV network I can watch the recorded world cup match between Germany and Uruguay. Football.

The TV shows football, the reality shows a disaster. Pakistan faces the worst floods since centuries. (Photo: CARE/Savawon)

It’s a draw right now. I switch to DAWN-TV, a Pakistani TV channel: Two anchormen talking about food support activities in their mother tongue Urdu.

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by Chandara Tith.

My friend Manika who came from Cambodia with me asked an interesting question: “Does the climate change people’s habits?” She noticed that people in Germany get up and go to sleep later than people in Cambodia do and that the sun in Germany sets later, too.

My friend, Michael said that in front of the University of Bonn, there are often many people sitting around, sun bathing, but now it looks so quiet. (Photo: Chandara Tith)

When I walked to the city with my friend Michael, he told me that the park in front of the University of Bonn was always full of people sun bathing during the summer. But now, less people go there. He wondered if it is too hot for people to do so.

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By Chandara Tith.

The United Nations-backed war crime tribunal for the Khmer Rouge Regime has pronounced its first verdict on July 26, 2010. The former leader of the Toul Sleng prison in Phnom Penh, Duch will be sent to prison for 19 years.

Kaing Guek Eav alias Duch in the court on 26 July 2010 (Photo: Courtesy of Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC) known as the Khmer Rouge tribunal deals with surviving senior leaders of the regime. People believe it helps to support reconciliation after the enormous sufferings during the Khmer Rouge regime.   (more…)

22 year-old Chandara Tith is a journalism student from the Royal University of Phnom Penh. He spends the summer of 2010 doing an internship in the CARE press office in Bonn. He previously worked for the United Nation Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat) as an intern and as a freelance reporter for the LIFT Magazine of the Phnom Penh Post Newspaper in Cambodia. In his blog, he writes about his experiences in Germany as well as his views on Cambodia and the world.

By Chandara Tith.

Here we go... Dara's first walk around Bonn (photo: private)

It is not the end of the world: a 22 year-old Cambodian guy travel abroad for the first time to do an internship and live independently in a student dormitory. He temporarily sets up a new life in Bonn/ Germany. (more…)

by Sandra Bulling

South Africa: I think of orange-tinted sunlight spreading across vast grasslands, animals lounging around in the heat, brightly-coloured cities, people whose passion for football is second to nothing.

Blue skies, football fever - this is how we imagine South Africa to be (photo: CARE/Bräutigam)

South Africa: I land at Johannesburg airport and what I see is: rain, nothing but cloudy skies. I wonder if the aircraft didn’t circle above Europe for 10 hours and then drop us off accidentally in Cologne again. But suddenly I catch a glimpse of some footballs and Vuvuzelas in the arrival area. Indeed, this must be South Africa.

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by Sabine Wilke.

Standing in the middle of the dusty parking lot surrounded by huge trucks, I find myself right in hustle and bustle of the logistics centre supporting CARE’s emergency response.

The CARE warehouse is bordering on Cité Soleil (photo: CARE/Sabine Wilke)

Planes are roaring over the site every couple of minutes – Port-au-Prince’s airport is only a couple of blocks away from the warehouse. (more…)