peoplemovin is an amazing website that visualises population movements throughout the world.

I don’t normally post here about education (“you don’t normally post,” I hear you quip) but I thought that these 26 Amazing Facts About Finland’s Unorthodox Education System were fascinating.

For a long time I’ve wondered if the UK is really doing a good job at educating it’s young: the pressure is on from the age of 7 when they have their first exams; pupils are divided up based on performance (regardless of the fact that performance can ebb and flow throughout development); and there’s such a heavy emphasis on traditional subjects that may form a child’s academic understanding, but doesn’t prepare them for the multifaceted and fast-changing world of adulthood.

In the face of this, Finland appears to be doing something right:

• Kids don’t start school until they’re 7
• They’re not put through formal assessments for the first 6 years of school
• There’s less performance-based division
• Educational performance is among the highest in the world

Read more here

Here’s a trailer to a documentary, The Finland Phenomenon, that gives an overview of this intriguing school system…

Be warned, however, that it doesn’t offer any explanations for their dodgy death metal scene!

This is a beautiful video from Amnesty about the Power of Letters. Of course, they’re trying to encourage people to support their campaigns, but it reminded me of how much I love writing and receiving real, hand written messages myself. It’s far more pleasurable than opening an email.

Being back in Cape Town has reminded me of the letters I used to write Sofia when we were apart for 6 months during our courtship. I always felt like my letter writing did more justice to what I was thinking and feeling than did my emails or Skype conversations.

I’ve just finished reading A Deadly Misunderstanding, which documents the spiritual journey of former US congressman, Mark D. Siljander, as he is transformed from a Muslim-hating Evangelical into a Qur’an-reading, Muslim-loving follower of Jesus.

It’s a book that inspires real hope: hope for personal transformation that can lead to national and international change. It demonstrates that in-depth study of the Qur’an and the Bible, combined with a commitment to the life and teachings of Jesus (Isa), as revealed in both of these books, can create a peaceful foundation on which people from different backgrounds can build relationships.

At the outset of the book we find a man who is convinced that Islam is evil and diametrically opposed to his Christian faith and culture. He storms out of a prayer breakfast in which someone reads from the Qu’ran, and later chastises its organisers for allowing it. Before a speaking engagement he is informed by CIA agents that he has received a death threat from Yasser Arafat and asked to wear a bullet proof vest.

Eventually, a friend challenges him about some of the assumptions he has about his faith, and he is inspired to study the Bible in Aramaic, and the Qur’an in Arabic.

The journey that unfolds through his rigorous study and research is fascinating, and leads him to conclude that Muslims, Christians and even Jews have far more in common than the majority of us realise.

He begins with the basics, asking: who are Muslims talking about when they refer to Allah? What does the Qur’an mean when it describes Isa (the person we call Jesus) as The Spirit of God, The Word of God, or The Messiah? And leads on to questions that have been the subject of many a disagreement: is the Trinity Biblical? What does it mean to be begotten?

On many occasions He finds major linguistic discrepancies between the Aramaic scriptures and how their ideas have been translated into English, and then into Evangelical dogma. These discrepancies have led to misunderstandings, which over time have led to violence and hatred.

As Siljander finds answers to his questions he shares them with politicians, academics and Muslim and Christian leaders and finds that they come as a breath of fresh air, a bridge over which wounds can heal and friendships form.

Order the book here, or visit the website here.

Adbusters recently published this article about the bloodthirsty conflict over diamonds in Zimbabwe.

Robert Mugabe’s ruling party, Zanu-PF, has recently renewed its interest in diamonds. Diamonds are a valuable asset for foreign exchange, especially when a government has been cut off from the international community by sanctions.
Late last year the military moved into Chiadzwa and began confronting and arresting independent miners. A helicopter attack in December left 200 dead and there are assertions that the military has claimed more victims. Zimbabwe’s opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), for example, says that hundreds more miners are buried in mass graves.