Amanda George
Amanda George is media relations officer at the British Red Cross. She has worked in communications for the voluntary sector since 2003, after giving up the exciting world of travel writing for something slightly more lucrative and equally exciting. She is in the middle of an MA in Environment and Development Studies at Kings College London.
Internal migration in Kyrgyzstan
It is easy to underestimate the Kyrgyz citizen registration system, a remnant of the Soviet Union created to control population movement. Being a registered citizen of any location back then would give you a host of benefits in tow: a right to education, social security and medical treatment. However in modern times, with thousands migrating to cities in search of a better life, the system of registration still exists but has become a hindrance rather than a help, blocking access to vital services. This is why the Kyrgyz Red Crescent, supported by the British Red Cross and working in partnership with other local NGOs and institutions, is advocating for the abolition of this system that causes unimaginable damage and makes citizens feel like intruders in their own country. Women are particularly badly affected by this system. ...
From early warning to early action in Bangladesh
Shukoda was in her twenties when the cyclone of 1970 ravaged the coastline of Bangladesh. As she pours a glass of fresh coconut water she recalls how it once saved the life of her whole community in Subarnachar, in Bangladesh's southern Noakhali district. "When the cyclone of 1970 hit our community, everything was destroyed. We had no safe drinking water, and food did not reach us for three days. We managed to find a knife that was too heavy to be swept away with the cyclone, and cut open the coconuts that had fallen to the ground in the storm. This is how we survived." ...
Tackling the stigma of TB in Kyrgyzstan
Rassoha, 31, and her son Rachid, 13, live on the fifth floor of a Soviet apartment block in Kara Balta. Poor living conditions, coupled with poor working conditions, have made Rassoha prone to a weak immune system. It's not surprising she contracted tuberculosis (TB). In the impoverished neighbourhood where she lives it isn't uncommon. Despite this, Rassoha doesn't want people to know about her "condition". ...
Urban migration in Mongolia: risk or reward?
Three little girls play house in the dirt behind their ger home on the edge of Ulaanbaatar. Although they have no toys they make do with rocks, laying out the foundation of their imaginary palace and talking in whispers among themselves. Around them the impoverished district of Bayanzurkh sprawls haphazardly - a magnet for migrants who head to the city in search of a livelihood, or because they have no other choice. ...
Mongolia's ex-herders struggle for survival in the city
A small, hungry cat is tied up next to the door of this family's ger. It meows incessantly and seems eager to be free as it strains at the cord around its neck. Animals often reflect their owners. The family who live in this small ger in a slum on the edge of Ulaanbaatar were forced away from their nomadic herding lifestyle to the capital in 2005 when all of their 500 livestock were killed in a "black dzud", the Mongolian term for a snowless period of extreme cold, with temperatures dropping to minus 50 degree Celcius. ...
