Breathe in, breathe out: from best to worst

This blog usually looks at ways of learning about the world without having to get on a plane. But this time let's compare air pollution in the world's cleanest country, Solomon Islands (once my home) and London (now my home). Words from Nicola Baird.

Guardian story here. The worst countries for toxic air were India,
with 133.7 deaths for every 100,000 people blamed on air pollution,
and Mynamar, where the rate is 230.6 deaths. 

From the Guardian:

People in the UK are 64 times as likely to die of air pollution as those in Sweden and twice as likely as those in the US, claims the World Health Organisation. 

 Britain, which has a mortality rate for air pollution of 25.7 for every 100,000 people, was also beaten by Brazil and Mexico – and it trailed far behind Sweden, the cleanest nation in the EU (a small irony as in Jan 2017 the Swedes were claiming that Stockholm's air pollution was as bad as Beijing). The US rate was 12.1 for every 100,000, Brazil’s was 15.8 and Mexico’s was 23.5, while Argentina was at 24.6.

This is my screensaver - a rural Solomon Island scene
about a 40 minute walk from the capital, Honiara's city
centre. Note that in the humid tropics even Londoners
like me walk slowly - and in the Solomons few people
can afford to own a vehicle (or are old enough to drive).

Good air v bad air
Years ago - when I was 26 - I spent two years working in the wonderful Pacific island country, Solomon Islands for Voluntary Service Overseas (the best thing I've ever done!). The country was gorgeous - dubbed "as beautiful above as it is below" thanks to its tropical forested islands, sunny skies, fresh trade winds by the coast, biodiversity and vibrant, fish-packed coral reefs. On working trips away from the capital, Honiara, I often saw dolphins, wild white cockatos, huge butterflies and flocks of fruit bats.

Solomon Islanders are rightly very proud of their country's bounty. I remember at one point the Prime Minister Solomon Mamaloni suggested bottling their tropical forest oxygen and selling it to richer countries. The idea never came off, because air is air...

See this piece in the New Scientist from 27 Jan 1996.

But 25 years or so have past and now everyone's talking about dirty air - even me on the Jerry Vine show when he did a special broadcast this week from the Nags Head Market, Islington. And I'm currently working on two clean air projects for clients. Dirty air talk is hard to avoid when you live in London which is packed with diesel vehicles emitting particulates that are damaging everyone's health. Killing us slowly...

So what's Solomon Islands like? Few people drive in the Solomons, and there aren't many roads. There are no trains and a rare haphazard (private) bus service (more like the occasional truck) on the country's main islands. This means that people tend to cram into vehicles, go by boat or - more likely - walk. As a result on 18 May, 2017 the local media were able to announce something amazing:

It’s official: Solomon Islands has the cleanest air in the world (SIBC, Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation)

The World Health Statistics 2017 report released by the World Health Organisation found the country has the lowest concentrations of “fine particular matter in urban areas” in its air in the world.

The Solomons had a rating of 5.0, ahead of New Zealand (5.2), New Brunei Darussalam (5.4) and Australia (5.8).

It's not all good news for the Solomons: SIBC's report added: "Despite having the cleanest air, the country still falls behind on other development indicators, particularly in areas such as life expectancy, improved access to proper sanitation and rates of cancer.

• The average life expectancy of Solomon Islanders is 69.2 years, below the global average of 71.4 years. 
• Out of every 1000 babies born, WHO said its data showed 114 would die –though it was better than the global average of 212 deaths per 1000 babies born.
• The Hapi Isles has 22.1 health professionals for every 1000 people, well below the global average of 45.6 per 1000 people.
• WHO estimates 26.4 per cent of Solomon Islanders aged between 30 and 70 will die from either cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease or respiratory disease, above the global average of 18.8 per cent.

And perhaps WHO should add thanks to climate change some of the country's 1,000 cays, atolls and islands are at risk of... disappearing. What will that mean for Solomon Islanders?

Stay calm

Learning to breathe calmly - smell the soup, cool the soup - is a central tenet of modern wellbeing gurus. Just as campaigning to clean up our air has become a key ingredient of modern town planning. And dare I say it, ignoring the consequences of climate change, sea level rise etc.

If there's a lesson from the Solomons then it's make your cities, towns and villages places where walkers rule. Except that's not quite how it felt even when I lived in Solomon Islands... Anyone who's ever been to Honiara recently will know that its one road along the seafront is completely traffic-choked, and not made easy for pedestrians to cross. But it's not a big country, or a big city, and it's only one road: and so the Solomons wins the clean air prize by default. It's fantastic the Solomns has the cleanest air in the world, but it's certainly not thanks to good city planning.

But here's hoping that crazy idea to bottle tropical forest oxygen might be suitable for gimmicky sales now. It's a lot better than selling natural sources like wildlife or trees. At least I think so - I'm slightly confused by the most recent episode of Dr Who which I watched last weekend which played around with this theme, and I don't want to ruin that plot twist.

When it comes to how to get clean air, what the Solomons does right (or not at all) is something we all need to start doing.

Lola (left) and Nell (right) with talented custom dancers
back in 2011 in Solomon Islands.

A little extra

"I can now picture the globe and all the countries and think about their different climates and realities. I learnt that in the Solomons the sky is much clearer, that might either be because of less pollution or where it is positioned. I found that it is a lot easier to breathe in a hotter place if you have asthma which is incredibly annoying as I do not like hot climates – they are too hot." Nell, 10 years after two months in Solomon Islands.

Because of climate change my family decided to stop flying. We decided that a return flight every 10 years would be a way of doing this. Our last flights were in 2011, when from June-September we took our daughters out of school and went to Solomon Islands for several months (via Australia). In the final post about that trip the girls summed up what they thought of that travel experience - lessons that have definitely taken them through GCSEs and A levels. The older, Lola, is now on a gap year learning French in Paris (reached by train) and plans to study politics at uni in September 2017. And over dinner it's not unusual for both girls to argue about who will be PM first: I don't think it's going to be a job share! Have a look at this post here, where Nell's quote above is taken from (clearly she figured out Honiara was less polluted than London).

Autumn tastes: durian love it or loathe it?

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. We do this in a bid to be less polluting and tackle climate change while at the same time keeping a global outlook. Climate change still causes disagreement, but not nearly as much as wether you are a fan - or not - of the tropical life-saving, strong-smelling fruit durian. Words from Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).

Frozen durian is a way to try this distinctive fruit without suffering its intense (unpleasant?) aroma.

I'm a cautious gastronomie - after all I don't eat meat and rarely eat fish. Occasionally I've eaten an insect for the novelty, not the calories. So when a friend comes over bearing durian I know I have to try this horrible-tasting fruit again.... Maybe I'll love it this time?

I wish i did because durian is a super star vegetable, and because it stores so well can save lives during times of hunger. I first tried it in the Solomons where it has traditionally been stored in pits ready to use in the hungry gap when crops have been destroyed by a cyclone and new supplies have not yet arrived, or been grown.

But - and it's a big but - durian stinks. More precisely it smells like rotting rubbish which however attractive to flies and pollinating insects is not a great attraction to me. In fact in Malaysia it is quite common to see signs banning durian fruit - especially in hotels.

Frozen durian is the way forward then.

My former work colleague, Christian, is a big fan of durian, which he especially likes from Malaysia, and he is determined to convert me. This time he brings a durian grown in Thailand and purchased in London's China Town.

When we open the frozen lid the smell gently wafts out. It gets stronger when he then unwraps the clingfilm around it... suddenly I recognise that distinctive smell of the supermarkets in China Town.

Whatever it smells like, the taste is meant to be a LOT better. He describes it as a roasted onion flavour ice lolly which is right, except durian has such a curious taste that in our party of four it's only my friend who enjoys scoffing it!

And durian repeats on you too - expect burps, though fortunately small, polite ones.

Over to you
So, are you a durian fan? In a worst case scenario can you imagine yourself eating it?

Saying goodbye like a Solomon Islander

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No. This post is an obituary for a former boss of mine when I lived overseas in the South Pacific for two years. Travel is always an education - but how people say goodbye to their friends and family, enemies even, can be a way to remind those of us still living to live better. The last time I saw him was in 2011 in his daughter's home. We ate cooked bananas and chatted. What I remember most from that time was his articulate intelligence and a face wreathed in smiles. He was also the first person I worked for who rarely wore shoes. Words from Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).

A wonderful man has died - Abraham Baeanisia, from Malaita in Solomon Islands (the south pacific). He mixed his custom knowledge and intellect to live well and work for his community. When he was alive he completely inspired me with his super simple messages for rural development. Hearing the news that he's died reminds me to peel back the clutter and focus on what's important. Grieve well, live well.

I was lucky to work for Abraham at Solomon Islands Development Trust (and an equally inspiring colleague John Roughan, who also died recently) back in 1990-92.

Many times I listened to Abraham talking to a group about how we could only develop society if our basic needs were met - that's water, food, shelter. He'd lull you into a false sense of security (well maybe just to non islanders) talking about the view from the cliffs. Let's imagine it. It's a beautiful day and it all looks lovely out at sea - there's even a man paddling a canoe. Maybe he's fishing. Wouldn't you like to be in that canoe, not at your desk, out fishing? 

But do we know what's really happening to that lucky man out fishing on a work day. Is it a battle of life and death against the currents?

Taking it bigger: are we powerless to help or do we not want to help? Do we see what's going on?And if we do, do we understand? Do we act? Do we ignore? You did see, didn't you that he was in trouble?

It's good stuff: learn to think. Learn to ask questions. Be sure to act so it doesn't happen again, or again.

Obituary

Abraham Baeanisia at his home by Matt Young

This picture above isn't mine to pass around - and I remember a younger man - but how wonderful it is. Abraham built his own leaf house on Abalolo, the island he built in the Langa Langa lagoon.

This obituary from another friend who worked in Solomon Islands, Chris Chevalier, tells his association with Solomon Islands Development Trust: 

Abraham Baeanisia[Chris Chevalier interviewed Abraham for his forthcoming biography on Solomon Mamaloni and have also learned some details about the history of SIDT while writing an obituary for the Journal of Pacific History (forthcoming).] 

Abraham Baeanisia died on 14 June 2014 aged 75, just eight months after the death of John Roughan, his great friend and colleague, Abraham suffered a severe stroke and was unable to attend John’s funeral in October 2014, which was very distressing for him. I saw him in Honiara several times in hospital and at home and he was immensely frustrated by his loss of speech and movement. For someone formerly so articulate and active, his death therefore must have come as a welcome release. 

Born in 1939 in the Langalanga lagoon on the west coast of Malaita, Abraham was one of the first post war generation to complete a modern education. He went to Catholic schools first in Malaita and then attended St Joseph's School at Tenaru on Guadalcanal in 1957, where he was part of the first group of Standard 7 students. In 1958-59, he completed form one and two and became a teacher. Just before Independence in 1978, he went to the University of Papua New Guinea and completed a Bachelor of Education degree in 1982. On his return, he worked for the Shell Oil Company until he crossed the road from the depot to join John at the SIDT office at Mission Place in Honiara. They became lifelong colleagues, close friends and, like two disciples, spread the word of good development. 

Abraham was highly respected throughout the Pacific, best known for his many years as Director of the Solomon Islands Development Trust (SIDT), the first indigenous development NGO in the country. SIDT was started by John Roughan in 1982 with funding and support from the Friends of the People of the South Pacific (FSP), the Australian High Commission, and later on, International Humanitarian Assistance Program (IHAP). Many of SIDT’s ideas and types of projects were strongly influenced by Catholic social justice teachings and John’s studies in the politics of development at the University of Hawai’i in the 1970s. SIDT became a cornerstone of the civil society movement in Solomon  Islands, and arguably the Pacific. 

Abraham and John were both highly articulate and skilled advocates. John’s piercing intelligence and innovative ideas were combined with Abraham’s quiet charm and cultural sensitivity. Both were also inspirational mentors and influenced many young people and volunteers, local and international, who have worked at SIDT over 30 years. SIDT had the philosophy of People First development and using natural and human resources responsibly to ensure that everyone benefited, especially rural villagers. In the early years, SIDT focused on training and mobile volunteers but was always an advocacy organisation. It provided an indigenous critique and alternatives to large-scale unsustainable exploitation of logging and marine resources. SIDT started a sustainable logging project to provide timber for houses and eco-exports, and also promoted eco-tourism with some success. 

SIDT was not afraid to be political and condemned the increasing overexploitation of natural resources from the 1980s by corrupt logging and fishing companies, landowners and governments. In the 1990s, SIDT public opinion surveys and critiques of corrupt businesses, politicians and the public service raised the ire of Prime Minister Solomon Mamaloni who wanted to deregister SIDT in 1994. Abraham’s response was to invite government officers to come and meet with him and five SIDT officers. The talks were tape recorded but nothing further happened to the threat of deregistration.Abraham and John were also instrumental in the formation in 1984 of the Development Services Exchange, an umbrella organisation for NGOs in Solomon Islands. Both men also helped to establish the Pacific Islands Association of NGOs (PIANGO), which was officially launched until 1991. Abraham was a superb ambassador and advocate for People-First development, travelling widely overseas in his role with DSE and PIANGO. Despite many uncertainties and changes in the funding landscape, both organisations have survived until today, testimony to the values and networking principles of their founders. 

Abraham's life was dedicated to education and People First development. He and John Roughan touched countless lives and have left behind enduring organisations that continue to fight for sustainable development and social justice. Abraham will be remembered as a co-founder of SIDT and this is his enduring legacy. Both men are greatly missed and we will be very unlikely to see their like again.
Vale Abraham.

Readers of this blog won't know this amazing man - indeed you might wonder why there's a post on a travel blog about a death. But if I hadn't lived in the Solomons, or met Abraham Baeanisia or John Roughan - I wouldn't have learnt to question or look hard and unpick what we do because everyone does it.

In the Solomons - a tropical country - when someone dies the family and friends gather around and properly grieve. The women keen (wail); they tell stories and then night passes and the next day the body is buried. It's painfully swift. 

In the UK the time lapse between death and burial is agonisingly slow as if time has stopped but in our speed-crazy world (the developed world really) it is so hard to find uninterrupted to say our own goodbyes. So often that means we don't. For all of you with absent friends and family here's a virtual hug. If you haven't already done this, give yourself permission to say thank you and goodbye and then do it remembering the good, and the bad, and how this person you've lost has shaped your own life.

If you are a Solomon Islander you know the ancestors live anyway, so really this is just a leave-taking from one sphere to another. Like going for walkabout. It doesn't stop the pain of the parting, but it helps keep that person's memory live rather than just sacrosanct. And that's what makes all the difference.

Over to you
Do share tips on how to say goodbye around the world.

Romancing secret gardens

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No. This post is about the ways icy winds and snow flake flurries makes me think about gardens offering proper atmsophere. Words from Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).  

First dog violets of 2013.

Botanical gardens are some of my favourite places - perhaps because they seem such secret treasures oftenlocated by really busy streets. There's a lovely one off Oxford High Street (the oldest in Britain); a deer-filled one just three miles from Aberdeen (Cruickshank) and a jungle with a collection of rare trees just behind the prison in Honiara (Solomon Islands). But if I'm honest my favourite "place" in the world is The Secret Garden. 

Nell and friends ready to head off to see the musical of The Secret Garden as a birthday treat.

Yes, I know it's a book about coming to terms with grief and yourself, but the way Mary, Colin and Dickon wake up the locked garden just off the Yorkshire moors turns me irresistibly towards what to do about spring. And it's a longing/love that I've tried to pass on to my daughters and their friends (see pic above).

Every year the season I wait and wait for catches me by surprise. It's only February and already I've had a wish on the first snowdrops, comfrey, primroses, daffodils and dog violets. In a month's time I suspect my habit of wishing when I see the first of the year's plants will be impossible to maintain as new green shoots pop up and bloom so fast once the soil warms up.

Which is why I took my family to Cornwall's famous Lost Gardens of Helligan in deep winter. It was uncrowded and the endless Victorian walled gardens made it irresistible. A special delight is being able to explore it all - and there are acres (including a Lost Valley and a Jungle, see pic below) so leave yourself a lot of time - and then sit quietly in the Italian Garden. The Italian Garden is the first one the Lost Garden creators restored back in 1990 and even if you missed the BBC documentary about how the gardens were restored to full productive force you can see the film at the site. When John Nelson and Tim Smit first started to breathe gardening life back into this garden, the ornamental pond from the 1920s was just a plinth; the statue of Putto with a Dolphin missing; the gate on its hinges and the whole area a knotted mess of laurel and bramble. Oh but it's beautiful now with sunlight, olive trees and herbs - an evocative spot that rushes you to the Mediterranean (even in winter!).

If you go in the right season you should be able to see pineapples growing (they are hot housed using tonnes of manure), melons and some plants like camellias and rhododendrons which could be the oldest in the UK.

It's steep, wet-slippery and seems
overgrown - proper jungle, but
it's found in Cornwall.

Who will you find in the lost gardens?

The Lost Gardens of Heligan are a place of wonder and fantasy. You can fixate about how they were restored, get lost in the acreage, daydream or bird spot in the shepherd's hut that's been parked by the lakes at the garden's far end, or just play travel games as you get lost - and find yourself again - in the many walled gardens. Mystery, peace, history... just some of the feelings this journey to a secret garden offers.

The Lost Gardens of Heligan at Pentewan are open daily (except xmas day and boxing day) from 10am. There is a direct bus from St Austell train station (takes 20-30mins). More info see www.heligan.com or tel 01726 845100.

More posts on gardens - see guest post by Pete May of Joy of Essex about Warley Place, Essex
More posts on Cornwall - see Eden Project.
Books about gardens - Sleeping Beauty, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Tom's Midnight Garden by Phillipa Pearce, Atonement (it's where Ian McEwan starts the action and misunderstandings).

Over to you
What's your favourite garden that tricks you into thinking you've left the UK thanks to atmospheric planting and paths?

Can anyone - even you - do good travelling?

Nell coping without a watch...

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No. This post asks if travelling does anyone any good? Words from Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).  

Nell, 11, is upset that at the start of the summer holidays her watch stopped. Seemed symbolic to me, but it's easy to replace the battery, especially as the shop owner of Raymonds in nearby Highbury Barn loves fiddling with watches. It's his original trade, the one he learnt in India. Seeing the lifeless watch he seized his magnifying glass, prized off the back and located another battery. "That's £5," he said. "all this money, all the watch money goes to charity. To an Indian charity that feeds blind people. The £1 is so strong that this brings about 80 rupees - that can give four people dinner, a lot of food."


As my own children and relatives get older I seem to see more appeals for help with overseas projects, like this one my cousin Nick sent from his pet project in Sierra Leone. What's agreed is that everyone needs money, the question is, how to give it? Does it involve going to a country, or can the money be sent in more imaginative ways? Offering up a skill - as a friend say helping to install an app or cut a hedge, or as I did 20 plus years ago as a volunteer working in Solomon Islands for VSO - is definitely generous.

Or is it? The early VSOs were unskilled school leavers, often on a gap year before university (although they have been skilled experts willing to pass on knowledge for years now). But I know a 14 year old who is doing wonderful fundraising (odd jobs, babysitting and saving her own birthday money) to travel to an African country and help with building projects. Even so I don't think she is old enough to be able to help. And even if she was I think it would be much better if local people were given that training in their own locale. Keep these UK kids out of it.

I know that what I got back from the experience of working for a NGO (Solomon Islands Development Trust) overseas was surely greater than what I put in. Just a quick calculation includes a new language, friendships that have really lasted, a new way of thinking that's more cooperative (sort of the pacific way, but not quite), a love of having children around, ideas for my novel Coconut Wireless. That's a big list, if I hadn't gone to the Solomons my life would have been considerably less rich in experiences.

My watch-loving newsagent takes this further: "People in India have nothing, and expect nothing," he says. "That's why they sleep. They sleep soundly, anywhere, even in the street. But here in the UK everyone's worried, so worried they can't sleep. They have everything but they need pills to sleep. You can be happy with nothing."

Over to you
I've noticed that people with strong Hindu beliefs often come to a similar conclusion - but for me it's another rich reward for just popping into my local shop for a battery. My question is do you listen more because you've travelled? Or is this an age thing? Of course travelling is a lot of fun, but do you think it does anyone - but the traveller - any good?

Oceania at Greenwich

Festival vibe: rug, snacks, anticipation.

Greenwich is a spider trap for tourists and day-trippers. But so well-deserved, and with the DLR taking you into Cutty Sark, where this famously fleet tea clipper (ship) has been quite beautifully repaired after the burning incident, Greenwich is a treat. Even more so on 21-22 July 2012 - the first weekend when the sun shone all day for what seems like months.

Best of all the BT River of Music has one of its six free stages, all along the River Thames here - which look set to entertain half a million people. The Americas and Europe stages were fully booked instantly; the Africa, Asia and Oceania were a bit slower to "sell" out. Nowadays even free concerts seem to involve buying a ticket - for a £3 booking fee.

Narasirato from Solomon Islands in London.

Tangio tumas
Show stealers for Lola and Nell's first festival were -of course - the bamboo pipe band from Solomon Islands. The group are from 'Are 'Are lagoon, a wonderful place in Malaita (it's where I learnt to speak Pijin, paddle a canoe, etc). It's also where Gary Barlow thought erroneously he was going to be eaten, but enough of that. The band, Narasirato, have two albums and a history of touring big music festivals (including New Zealand and Japan. The pan pipes are made from bamboo, it's all very traditional but the extra oomph comes from the Solomon Islanders' staggering energy on stage - they just keep on dancing; and the drums (also made from bamboo pipes but whacked with rubber similar to a flip-flop) seem to give it a rocky sound. If you missed this, you can see them at Womad 2012.

Get this party started
We heard George Telek from Papua New Guinea, then bands from Milne Bay, also PNG, the Marshall Islands, Guam, East Timor and the Aborigine musician Frank Yamma sedately from a picnic rug (the same place for New Zealand's Hollie Smith). It was like being in an issue of the world music magazine, Songlines. But when Narasirato picked up their pan pipes half the audience rushed to the front or got up and danced. It was marvellous, and later we had a quick chat with the band while they munched on chicken and chips.


Pete actually stayed on our picnic rug so watched -with some incredulity - his family at the front of the stage dancing along when focus-on-the-crazy-members-of-the-audience were flashed on to the big screens. In 2011 during our long stint in Solomon Islands I insisted we went to several hotel "tourist" dances in the hopes that we'd see the famous pan pipe entertainers. We never did - it was mostly Kiribati sashaying of the hips or Belonna stomping (although the latter was fab). As the proverb says, "good things come to those who wait". There's never any reason to rush off around the world, nearly always the world comes to you... so it was with BT's River of Music festival at the Oceania stage.

Pete and Nell try a Greenwich sofa.

Go see Greenwich
On the way home, we were distracted by more of the things Greenwich has to offer - a street market of delicious food (flat white coffee, vegetarian burgers brazenly named after their ingredients (carrot, greens), Scotch eggs served with a runny egg and a sprinkle of celery salt, at bearable prices, located just by the Old Royal Naval College. We then ate these on a vast atro-turf covered sofa surely designed to give you an Alice-in-Wonderland feel.


Over to you
Have you discovered free events thanks to the Olympics? Or has the Olympics tempted to you to find out about another country's cultural heritage? And have you seen a Gamesmaker yet in their bright purple jackets?

Tasty Congo meal

Hamburger and hot chocolate, Greek pitta, Congo veggie meal with raw salad, yellow rice and cassava leaf stew.

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No. This post offers delicious tastes from Congo, Rwanda and Liberia - all served up at a London park festival in June. Words from Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about my books and blogs).    


At the Green Fair in Regents Park, London (June 2012) it's obvious that people who like green stuff also seem to love international flavours - especially music and food.

Top of the food stall choices Lola, Nell and I picked out was the Congo veggie meal - a huge pot of cassava leaves cooked slowly with coconut and cauliflower then served with saffron-coloured rice and a raw salad. It was not what I expected Congalese food to be like. The raw salad was gorgeous including plantain, fruits and grated carrot with a moreish sauce. The woman serving it said you can find packets of dried cassava leaf in markets that specialise in African food, for Londoners Brixton would be a good choice. In Africa cassava leaf (fresh and dry) is also used as animal fodder and to fatten up tilapia (fish).

Here is a recipe I found on the web for a similar dish (from Liberia).

Dried Cassava Leaf Soup: This is a traditional Liberian recipe for a classic stew of meat and fish with cassava leaves that's flavoured with red palm oil. In West African markets you can buy big 500g packs of finely-chopped dried or semi-dried cassava leaves. My wife often buys these as a base for soups or as an addition to palm butter soups or palm oil soups. This is a fairly simple dish that focuses on the cassava leaves themselves and is characteristic of Liberian cuisine. 

Ingredients: 500g ground or chopped dried cassava leaf 4 bonnies (or any firm white fish, cut into steaks) 3 dried bonnies (or any dried fish or smoked and dried fish) 500g meat, cubed 4 whole hot chillies (eg Scotch bonnet) 2 onions, chopped 2 tomatoes, chopped half chicken, cut into serving pieces 2 Maggi (or bouillon) cubes 1 tbsp black pepper 1/8 tsp baking soda salt 400ml red palm oil (or groundnut oil with 1 tbsp paprika) oil for frying (groundnut oil or soy oil) 

Method: Begin with the pepper paste. Add the hot chillies to a pestle and mortar along with a handful of onion and pound to a paste then add the tomatoes and pound in. Wash the dried fish thoroughly then break into pieces, removing as many bones as you can. Add the oil to a pan and use to brown the meat and chicken then set aside. Add the fish steaks and fry until coloured then set these aside. Add the onions and fry for about 5 minutes, or until soft then add half the chilli mix and fry in. Now add the meat back to the pan along with the dried fish, the pepper and Maggi cubes and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer then cook for about 40 minutes, or until the meat is tender. Now add the cassava leaf, the remainder of the chilli paste and the baking soda and bring the mixture back to a boil. Cook, uncovered until almost all of the liquid has evaporated. Pour the palm oil into the soup, stir to combine then return to a boil, reduce to a low simmer and continue cooking for about 10 minutes. Serve hot with rice.
Read more at Celtnet: http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/miscellaneous/fetch-recipe.php?rid=misc-dried-cassava-leaf-soupCopyright © celtnet

Until trying this dish I'd assumed food in the Congo was either meaty, or extremely plain like this recipe for Mikate (donuts) which are also served in Rwanda (taken from a school cookbook, downloadable).

Congo donuts (mikate)
Mix together enough self-raising flour, eggs, milk, sugar and oil to make a thick porridge. You should be able to cut it with a spoon, then fry donut-sized chunks in hot oil. Repeat until all the mixture is used.

Tip: if you want to spark this up a little a trick VSO volunteers used when on trips in rural areas (in Solomn Islands) was to use the syringe supplied by the British Council to shoot store bought jam into our homemade doughnut. It made them taste delectable!

Over to you
Have you tried dried cassava leaf? Where did you find it, and what did you cook with it?

Try Solomon time for lunch...

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No. Here's how a wet March weekend turned into a Sol fest with authors Will Randall and Rosie Millard - plus the Pacific Islands Society of UK and Ireland. This post is by Nicola Baird (see www.nicolabaird.com for more info about books and blogs).   Pix show Afu, Sara and me (that's for you Jenny Wate!), and then a lunch group taken by Nell and her friend Fernanda. 


For reasons entirely due to Michael Tuhanuku of Honiara this song makes my family think of the humid, beautiful Solomons. So you can read this post listening to it if you want! It's Soul Sister by Train. 

SATURDAY: First organise a Pacific Special Book day and tempt some wonderful writers to give a talk in front of afficanados and islanders belonging to the Pacific Islands Society over in Earls Court, London. We were so lucky to get Will Randall who wrote the yet to be bettered book about the Solomons, Solomon Time. Years of teaching has left him an expert public speaker too. He gave a fabulous talk filled with humour and bon mots (well, he does live in France now).

Nell had been asked to talk a little about Solomon Islands Development Trust which does such important development education work - and both Sara and I worked for years ago. Mali (Sara's university student daughter) and Lola (mine) also gave a powerful advert about why the Tetepare Descendants Association needs support, making their respective mums proud. Then Rosie Millard read with pezzaz from her entertaining book Bonnes Vacances: a crazy family adventure in the French Territories which took her through the South Pacific via New Caledonia. Who would have thought this would spring so many tough questions, and none about trying to work and travel with four small children?

SUNDAY: If it's too carbon intensive - and expensive -to get ourselves back to the Solomons (15,000 miles away), then the answer is to tempt those people who love the Solomons around to your house. You do this by never mentioning we are vegetarian - instead we quickly become pescatarian when I'm thinking up a menu that is UK seasonal but includes fish (eventually settled on a cod-like white fleshed fish from Cornwall which the fishmonger said was called Poutin after what Posh Spice does. Name is still a mystery, but it does cook easily.

Result: lunch was enjoyed (I hope, I was too busy gossiping to notice how the food went down) by Afu, temporarily working here in an extremely high-powered job (she's meeting the Queen next week!), Sara and Peter who were part of the early team that helped allow people today call Tetepare "the largest uninhabited island in the Pacific" and provide an alternative to logging. Will joined us - and then there was Pete who has a chapter on the Solomons in his book, There's A Hippo in My Cistern which recounts his slight inept ability to cope with sleeping in a cave in Belona or master a bush knife or catch and gut a fish... And I've got Coconut Wireless, a whole novel about love, life and gossip based in Honiara (which you can download for FREE if you go to www.smashwords.com/books./view/29742  and use the code NP86T before 2 April) or just pay £1.92 off amazon.

Great Britain campaign for 2012

I love these ads, they seem to  pick out some British highlights.

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No, not with these ideas to get the world celebrating Great Britain 2012. This post is by Nicola Baird 


PM David Cameron (don't ya just want to sit him down and give him a fierce talking to?) went to New York in September, and while there found the time to launch a boost British trade campaign. I love these cheesy posters (see pix) and look forward to stumbling across them in mags and on billboards. It's a great reminder that we are lucky to live in a country (well countries) with such amazing history. And things to boast about - from the good looks of Henry VIII to the entrepreneurial genius of Richard Branson.


For the past month I've felt so homesick for my other country, Solomon Islands, and really don't know how to feel better - that place just gets under your skin. I asked a friend, who moved last year from Sao Paulo to London with his Brazilian wife, how he coped being back home seeing as he loves being an expat, and adores hotter weather and, dare I say it, the way they wear clothes in Brazil. 


But he was positively animated by the things that make London an exciting place to live - the history, the way the pubs were used by Dickens (admittedly not really a Londoner), and Pepys; the clues to the Fire of London or the blitz or the shrapnel marks on the V&A. He loves the food from all round the world. The vibe. The way the power is always on and the rubbish gets sorted into recycling. The multiculturalness of London got a big thumbs up too.


There's no reason for me to be in a giant sulk. With the internet you don't need to be at your cultural home to be working - if I really wanted to, I could be sitting in an office with the best view in the world (say, blue skies and an island not far off) plugged into broadband...(ah dream on).


However it seems Cameron is keen for 2012 to turn Britain into a honeypot. If nothing else there will be 17,000 competitors and officials at the Olympics. It feels churlish not to try and support him, it is after all supposed to be a pleasure to show people around your home. Besides, time's moved on (and we've had this amazing hot start to autumn with blue skies and climate changing temperatures) so I'm feeling better. Ready to look forward to planning for 2012. Here's some dates for the diary:


2012 dates 
2-5 June The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Weekend 
27 July-12 August the Olympics
29 August-9 September, the Paralympics

Using locals to speak a new language

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. This post is by Nicola Baird 


What's the easiest way to learn a language? I reckon it's necessary to listen very hard to become fluent, and then to try the words and phrases, day after day. I think it is much easier if you can let your subconscious - that bit of your brain that demands habit (mine likes coffee when I wake up) -  kick in. But I don't find learning languages very easy.


"Quel'qu'n"  this may not be spelt right, but I distinctly remember learning the phrase "is anyone in there" after staying for a couple of nights in a Paris apartment with a French family. Because the apartment was crowded there was a serious danger of walking into someone using the bathroom, so the phrase took on ridiculous importance.


In the same way hearing "mira" being repeatedly said by a babysitter dandling my baby daughter helped me learn the Spanish word for look.


Now that my 13 year old has learnt a second language (due to travelling out of the UK all summer, shh not to mention much about this on this blog and besides it was a one-off, and it's Solomon Islands pijin which very few people speak in the UK) I'm trying to encourage her to use the same listen and try techniques to get herself a Spanish GCSE. She actually made the fluent breakthrough after six weeks in the Solomons, and then one rainy day spent making baskets and toys out of coconut leaves (see pic above). And if you ever want to visit that place (the largest uninhabited island in the Pacific), know as Tetepare, see the info here.


Spanish is a fab language, I wish I spoke it. But my efforts over the years mostly in the UK - evening classes, tapes, plus short visits (pre-children & pre-blogging days) to Mexico and also Spain - have probably helped. But my know-how is very weak, so I cannot help my daughter build up her Spanish voccab, essential to get that GCSE which will give her a ticket to uni...


But there's a clever trick you can do too, whatever language you want to speak - use visitors to the UK.


Here in London there are loads of Spanish speakers so I've arranged for Lola to meet up with a Chilean family and help mum cook supper for the two boys one evening after school. 


Hopefully she'll hear phrases like "is anyone in the loo"  or "would you like some more" (all in Spanish!) that will never leave her brain. Actually I'd like to learn like this, but would prefer to go to a tapas bar, so somehow haven't got around to sorting out my language needs. 


If anyone's got any ideas about non-classroom ways of learning a language at home please share them here... Thanks.