Prize for electricity-free fridge
A 22-year-old Leeds student has been named one of the Women of the Year after inventing a “sustainable” fridge.

However, I have seen similair inventions before.  Shaykh Google revels:

• A fridge that needs no electricity – The Times of India
• A Low-cost Clay Fridge
• Inventor of no-electricity refrigerator wins Rolex award – Boing Boing
• Pot-in-pot refrigerator – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Treehugger has the best article describing this ‘reinvention’

Solar Fridge Invented (Again) by UK Student

I hope my invention of a circular disc, that can spin on on its axis and can be used for efficient horizontal motion will be viewed kindly by commentators.

I was thinking about what to write for blog action day, but the truth is I wouldn’t know where to start

Would I start with this week – where in my work for an ngo I was on flight to Glasgow for a meeting with the ultimate aim that we could continue to secure funding, so in three years time money could still go overseas…

Or last month, when someone asked about orphan sponsorship and I was having a flashback to when my own father died, age 28, and how difficult it was then, and how horrific it must be if the same thing happens when you are eight…

Or last year, when I spent three hours re-reading a tragic story about blood feuds in Albania, where two small boys were expected, when they were older, to avenge their fathers deaths – each killed by the family of the other.

Or was it two years ago when I had a robust discussion with a colleague about international standards on showing extreme imagery from disasters, when we were comparing the relative shock value of different photos: trying to sanitize death.

Or maybe three years ago, when editing case study after case study on the sad stories of children abroad, I burnt out, and became cynical about most things, the last straw being a story about an AIDS orpan in Soweto who could not survive to her teens without drugs.  I don’t know if she is alive today or not.

Or would it be four years ago, when on a visit to Afghanistan, we heard the story of a boy in an orphanage, yearning for a simple future, with scant chance of achieving it.

Or possibly  five years ago, when my first week in my new job was over, I realised what a privilege it would be working where I was, something I feel to this day.

Or was it seven years ago, when I left the opportunity to work in international finance, leaving a decent manager nonplussed as to why a young man would walk away from a chance for big money others would kill for.

Or maybe it was twenty four years ago, when seeing Michael Buerk reporting on the Ethiopia famine, I apparently burst into tears and started sobbing…

Writing about poverty would be too personal for me, and I wouldn’t know where to start.

Haroon Kash from Islamic Relief tells how his faith has influenced the development and relief work he has done in some of the worlds poorest countries.

The total devastation and the mass loss of life is always going to affect even the most seasoned aid worker, and can strain your ability to do your job to the best of your ability. I find that in these situations being strong in my faith allows me to overcome these emotions and to focus on my work.

Suffering
Deborah Orr from the Independent visits Afghanistan, in an Islamic Relief sponsored visit.

Afghanistan has had its rugs of war, and now it needs rugs of peace. The Shortepa district drug rehabilitation clinic is a modest step in the right direction. It is a wise, humane enterprise, run by the people of Afghanistan, and for them. If it closes, a little chink of hope will shut down with it, for Abdul, for Fatima, for Abdul-Hamid, and for every single one of the 31 million people who call themselves Afghans.

Check out the photo gallery with the article.

Perservering
Islam and HIV:� Fantastic issue of the Islamic Relief magazine ‘Partnership’ [pdf].

�Hopefully the religious leaders can change the mindset of people by not asking �how did you contract HIV?� But asking �how can we help you?�