fat africa - dick in afrika

sorry, again a post for those germans. 

there was an interesting article in  ZEIT magazin about a unknown and neglected topic. People beeing fat in Africa, party because of wrong nutrition, partly because of untreated, unrecognized diabetes. This article is a report from Uganda, describing the problems that all health institutions and donors are focussing on the 3 big ones: malaria, tB and HIVAids, whereas people suffering from overweight

Sanaa at Zollverein

from fog to sunshine: i spend my free day at Zeche Zollverein, World cultural heritage. I just must say that i am a "child of the Ruhrpott", enjoying the coal mines, industrial sculptures transefered now into museums, offices, restaurants. Imagening all the dust, sweat and hard labour from former times, while it is now a calm, wonderful place to stroll around. especially in sunshine.

The recent addition to the area, and one reason for my trip, is the new Zollverein school of design, which was designed by japanese architecture duo SANAA. From the distance it looked unfitting, but coming closer it does suddendly match with the strict and minimal lines of zollverein. You start to feel like exploring the building, with lots of rough concrete and a big open forum space. and especially the distributed arranged windows, which looks from the inside just like a gallery full of photographs.

foggy

essen nebel am hirschlandplatz, originally uploaded by inainchina.

having incredible luck with sunny winter weather so far, last night it suddenly became cold and foggy. i like this atmosphere of indefinition, soft shapes and gloomy lamps. sort of scary but likewise adventure land.

the president is not the queen

in addition to the presidents visit which finished yesterday with a galadinner, i found his speach given at the state banquet. (sorry its in german) Seems our german pres got some good humour:
"Ich freue mich sehr, heute bei Ihnen in Uganda zu sein. Meine Frau und ich danken Ihnen herzlich für Ihre Gastfreundschaft, auch im Namen der gesamten Delegation. Wir haben in Deutschland viel über das außerordentlich erfolgreiche Commonwealth-Treffen (CHOGM!) vor wenigen Wochen gehört. Deutschland ist zwar nicht im Commonwealth - und ich bin nicht die Queen. Umso mehr weiß ich aber die Ehre zu schätzen"

aha, Herr Koehler ist also nicht die Queen...... und ich bin nicht die Mama :)

NACHTRAG: fotos von meinem Delegations einsatz von meinem kollegen Dietrich 

- beim Empfang am Flughafen.

zeig ich hier schon 

Koordinatorinnen-Qualitaten? 

 - vor dem gala-dinner

- beim Gala dinner mit meiner "begleitung" Tina

state visit of the german president in Uganda

its really a stressy time for me right now, but i spare you all the details. What came as the cream on the cake, is the 3 days visit of the german president Dr. Horst Koehler and his wife to Uganda. And i was assigned to be the delagation of the delegation. to be more specific for the 35 press dudes. (from ARD, ZDF, BILD, Bunte, VANITY Fair, spiegel, etc...). mr. VOlker schloendorf (famous director) and Wolfgang Niedecken ( cologne famous singer) are also in.
So we met yesterday afternoon, and a huge convoy started to the entebbe airpot. Blinkers and all. the town is flagged in red-black-yellow (likewise also the colours of uganda) and pictures of Mr. Koehler. So that was the fastest ride to the airport i ever had. Mr. president arrived in his airplane, and the we drove to the state house. a huuuge white house style building, where military reception was held. with 20 gunshots. boom. today i continue to accompany during varous dates at Makere University, high court etc...
Its really interesting to see behind the scenes of such a state visit. security wise, protocoll, and all the excitement and confusement of the helpers. (including me...) and i enjoy the nice food.

and Mr. Koehler is a really nice, charming and very open person. And: he is relly interested in Africa and the topics. Asking professional precise questions and listenst.
I like the photo, cause it shows his enthusiasm and happyness even after a long flight and strict protocoll.

- its nice to be important, but its more important to be nice