Inspiration For The New Year – The Shoeshiner, The Boda-Boda Rider, And The President’s Shiny New Bikes
I thought I’d end off the year by telling you about Charles Bucumi and Gerard Bukuru. They’re from Burundi and we met them at the Tour of Rwanda. Burundians Charles Bucumi and Gerard Bukuru at the Tour of Rwanda They looked nothing like cyclists. In a sea of skinny, leggy lads, Charles and Gerard stuck...
And So Another Story Goes Untold
For months, we told them we’d be back. “To tell the blind musician’s story!” We said. For months, they waited. We badly wanted to return. Ustad Afzalur Rahman and his two visually impaired daughters had in June this year, treated us to an afternoon of amazing music. We couldn’t stop talking about them. The old...
Their First Big Race
“The Shortest Man In The Village Who Can Soar Like An Eagle” is our current passion project. You can read about it, and watch a trailer here. Guess where we’ve been? In January, we went to Eldoret. Spent New Year’s Day trying to find a bike race that didn’t actually exist. Visited Langgas. Hung out...
Vui Kong’s Story – The Hearing
UPDATE on Dec 11, 2009: Vui Kong’s appeal hearing has been set for March 15, 2010. He looks a little less tired than when we first saw him. Still pale. Still as skinny. Still dressed in his standard-issue orange prison garb and grey jacket. He seems more relaxed today. Even manages a semi-wave at a...
The Story Of Yong Vui Kong
We’re back from Rwanda with plenty of photos and stories to share. But all that will just have to wait. Because right now, there’s something far more urgent we have to tell you about. It’s about the imminent death of a boy called Yong Vui Kong. You might have already heard his name. Read his...
Off To Kigali
We’re leaving tonight for Nairobi, then catching a teeny weeny plane to Eldoret, then hopping on a bus that will take us through Uganda and to Kigali. Why? Because something major is happening in Rwanda this week. We’ve been planning this trip for nearly a year now. It’s going to be amazing. Updates whenever we...
Before… And… After
Remember that hovel in District 9? For months, dozens of Chinese migrant workers lived in filth in the middle of Singapore’s poshest neighbourhood. And then, one very brave man decided to say something. His little video triggered outrage on the internet. It even led to a petition for better living conditions for ALL migrant workers...
J Is For Justice… And Journalist… And Just Go Away
We were watching Waltz With Bashir when the message arrived. It was Mohsin, the journalist who had worked with us on The Human Trade and Migrant Dreams. He had been beaten up by four manpower agents (one of them, Rahim, appears about 7 minutes into The Human Trade). Could we please come now? We ran...
October 18
I wish I could say 18 October 2009 was a brilliant day for all of us at Team Hope. Everything was in place. Sparkling blue skies. Music. Laughter. An amazing sense that finally, after months of fundraising and planning, our little project was taking off. I wish I could say everyone left on a high,...
By Popular Demand – More From Our Shoot In North Korea
Street advert, North Korean style. Misty morning along the Taedong River. The structure in the distance is the Juche Tower, built in 1982 to mark Kim Il-Sung’s birthday. Pyongyang has its own Arc de Triomphe. Apartment block. Young ladies on a school excursion. We had a great time chatting in sign language. At the Korean...
Happy World Habitat Day – Let’s Visit A Hovel In District 9
Location, they say, is everything. And in Singapore, living in District 9 means you’ve got it all – posh condo, swanky car, cushy job. You know, all the good things life has to offer. The guy who made the video below should know. He left China for a job here. And his boss was kind...
