What distinguishes one culture from another? For the last few years, I have worked routinely with people from other cultures and backgrounds. Usually this has gone well, and the cultural differences my colleagues and I notice about ourselves are interesting and enriching. However, sometimes things have gone wrong; and it’s not always easy to work…
Today, I spent the afternoon with this year’s participants in the Mosaic International Leadership Summit. This was part of a programme that aims to develop leadership skills, inspire thinking about global issues, and equip young people to become involved in their local communities. It lasts for 12 months, with 80 international delegates aged 25-35 taking…
The Award in Barbados is fifty years old this year. Fifty years of giving young people the opportunity to give service to their communities, learn new skills, get fit and discover more about themselves as they work in small teams to undertake their adventurous journeys. Fifty years of equipping young people for life. So…
It is true that I do spend quite a lot of time on the road. As many of my friends prepare to travel abroad over the summer, here are some top tips… Please do add your own at the bottom! 1. Roll your clothes rather than folding them. They crease less and take up less…
It is the season of speech days and prize-givings in schools in England. Summer afternoons are punctuated by the sounds of parents’ applause as young people are called to the stage in their school’s assembly hall, shake hands with a guest speaker, receive a certificate, book or trophy and return, embarrassed but rather proud,…
Fatima has just turned 14 years old. She is small for her age, still waiting for the adolescent growth spurt which will propel her towards adulthood. Her hijab is bright blue and her new teeshirt, emblazoned with the logos of both the El Hassan Youth Award and The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award is snowy…
My five year old nephew, Jack Patrick, came to lunch today. He brought his mum and dad, his little brother and his grandma with him, but, as he helped me microwave the frozen peas and lay the table, it did feel as though it was him I was entertaining rather than anyone else. “I…
Never go back. That’s what they say; whoever ‘they’ may be. I’ve taken that advice for thirty years, but a few weeks ago I decided to go and visit the school where I spent my adolescence. I hadn’t visited since I left there a month before I turned eighteen and have never…
Babar Ali lives in Murshidabad, West Bengal. He attends the Raj Govinda School, a 10km auto-rickshaw ride away. He is the first person in his family to go to school. He is 16 years old and he is a model student. But it’s not what he does at school that is so extraordinary. It’s…
