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Case Study: Bait al Azani
Bait Al-Azani is a very old, established village of around 2,700 people. It is a high altitude village, producing sorghum, maize, beans, qat, tomatoes and potatoes under irrigation and rearing cows and sheep. Some rainfed crops are grown, but the area is suffering from drought and is vulnerable to soil erosion and floods. The agricultural resources are not enough to meet the needs of the population; up to 60% households have employment outside the village.
The village was mined around 1980 during the conflict between north and south. The presence of both anti-vehicle and anti-personnel mines brought insecurity and accidents including several deaths and loss of livestock. Bait Al-Azani was classified as a low impact village in the LIS. Two male survivors were met; one injured in 1982 the other in 2000. Both were interested in compensation and medical treatment.
Village services and communications are reasonably good and the village is within medium distance of a market in the district centre. A strong local cultural association, founded by members of the village, played a useful role in facilitating the work of the demining teams. Demining was carried out in 2004 and 2006, but some un-cleared areas still remain. One incident occurred after 2000, but none since the start of demining. Mine clearance was said to have saved lives and made people feel safer, but they still experience some fear. The main benefits have been the opening of roads and increasing the area for animal grazing, collection of firewood, fodder and stone. No one has yet planted on the cleared land.
The opportunities identified for the demined land, were a water supply project to extend irrigation and ploughs to cultivate the land. Another idea was for a community project such as a sports ground or garden. Road safety could be improved through warning signs, bridges and pavements. They would like demining of the whole affected area. For the wider village, a drinking water project was prioritised. Other ideas were a medical unit, a mosque, renovation or construction of a school, especially for girls; a literacy campaign and extension centre.
Benefits and impacts of demining for the women of Bait Al-Azani
What assets have been made available by mine clearance?
Roads for cars, pastures for animal herding, fuel and areas for cutting wood, fodder collection, stones
Who is using the freed assets?
Most freed assests are used by the entire community. However, only 3-4 houses have use of the new areas for cutting wood and gathering fuel; the land from which stone is gathered is privately owned and only the landowners are allowed to collect stones from it.
What is the freed asset used for?
The road makes communication with other villages and access to urban centers much easier. While the grazing land is used by all households of the village to graze their sheep, cows and goats. Wood and other fuels are used for cooking, fodder is fed to animals, and stone is used in house construction.
What is the socio eco-nomic return from use of the freed assets?
The new road has resulted in residents feeling much more secure. The previous road was narrow and dangerous.
Since stones and fuel are now available in much greater quantities locally, the village is less reliant on products from outside the village. Households thus save money by paying lower prices locally.
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Bani Bahlool District, Sana’a Governorate, Joab
Joab is a medium-sized, high altitude village of approximately 5000 people (about 400 households). Of these 1000 are old, 2000 middle aged and 2000 children. Approximately 90% are classified as poor. All are farmers (even if they have other jobs). 200 are in the military and another 100 have other employment (e.g. school teachers etc).
The village is an agricultural village, despite being only half an hour from Sana’a. Only 10% of the villagers have salaried employment; the rest are land/livestock owners and/or laborers (working for cash) or share-croppers (working for a proportion of the production). Agriculture is limited by lack of water and, previously, by the presence of landmines. No production problems with either crops or livestock were reported. Both animals and crops are important, with crops being predominant. Only 30% of staple food needs come from their land and the remaining 70% is purchased.
Crop land (including that in the cleared/mined mountain areas) has private land titles that go back over generations and each person knows his land. Grazing area is communal. Thus all have access to grazing land, but only a portion to crop land. Surprisingly, 10% of the households own all the large livestock.
The village is a medium impact village according to the Landmine Impact Survey score. Of the 7 minefields, 2 are cleared, one is in the process of clearance, 4 are yet to be started. Village people themselves cleared some of the mined land (they had no training), and made tracks through that land to get to terraced crop land.
Benefits of demining for the farmers of Joab
Land:
Land cleared by de-mining is now 100% in use. It is being used for farming, herding, cutting wood for fuel, and gathering stone. The village as a whole reported Savings on the cost of fodder for 2000 head of live-stock, a 30% savings on the cost of cereals, 10% savings on the cost of fuel wood, and general savings on butane gas which it was no longer necessary to purchase in large quantities due to the availability of fuel wood.
Water:
De-mining has freed much needed water resources. The newly freed resources are being used by the entire village for drinking water for animals and people as well as irrigation of agricultural land. Villagers credited the additional water resources with dramatically improving in the quality of livestock and crops.
Roads:
The ability to use the roads has dramatically reduced the loss of life among livestock. In the past herders use to herd their animals through narrow, mine free paths. Livestock often wondered off the path and were killed by mines as a result. Additionally, the roads have made it much easier to transport stone, giving the stone cutting industry a significant boost.
Back again for another Sleep Study ... had some issues on my previous lab testing ... so David, the Sleep Tech, is here to help make things run more smoothly 8-) 💖😴💤 #MrSandman #MisterSandman #RonsiPhone #RonsiPhoneVideo #Sandman #iPhoneVideo #SleepApnea
Video advertising. Yet another shot taken in Piccadilly Manchester. This project actually started out as a series about advertising, but cctv cameras kept getting in the way. Although some people characterise the proliferation of cctv as evidence of a 1984 big brother society, the reality differs in a fundamental way. Rather than an all pervasive state – cctv is largely controlled by private companies – particularly shops. Rather than being about surveillance, it’s more to do with protecting goods and profits. Indeed cctv was pioneered in retail, but its use in this sector is developing more in the direction of studying consumer habits than security. Some shops have experimented with cameras that record when people look at particular goods.
A bit of a 'slow news day' so I did a bit of messing around with this one.
The original was one of those types, not good enough to be 'good', but not poor enough to be 'absolutely terrible'. When you're running out of photos, and need to get out and shoot more, you clutch at whatever straws you can.
So, I've tried to squeeze all I can out of it.
It's black and white, with tone mapping and 'dodge and burn'.
That, my friends, can turn 'c-r-a-p' into 'a-r-t'.
An infographic designed to clarify the different kinds of clinical studies researchers use, to explain why researchers might use them, and to touch briefly on each type’s strengths and weaknesses.
More information: www.nih.gov/institutes-nih/nih-office-director/office-com...
Credit: National Institutes of Health
The temple complex is located on the site of the so-called Grove of the Heart. Fierce battles for the city of Voronezh were fought at this place during the Great Patriotic War, many fighters died defending our Homeland. The grove was so named because it resembled the shape of a heart and was located about a kilometer from the city. Among the soldiers, another name for the grove was fixed - the grove of death. Our soldiers called this place the grove of death among themselves.
The central cathedral of the complex was built in honor of St. Xenia of St. Petersburg and resembles a ship in its shape.
The Orthodox Church celebrates the memorial Day of St. Nicholas.Xenia on February 6th. This saint, who lived in St. Petersburg in the middle of the XVIII century, is known for her feat of foolishness: she devoted the rest of her life to a single task: to beg God's forgiveness for her husband, who suddenly died without repentance. To do this, she disguises herself in her husband's uniform and for 45 years wandered around the city in such an outfit, posing as her dead husband, posing as his name Andrei Fedorovich. Many considered her insane, but the examination did not reveal any abnormalities in the unfortunate widow. She distributed her husband's remaining belongings to the suffering. The feat of Blessed Xenia is a model of sacrificial love, humility and meekness. It is no coincidence that Xenia of St. Petersburg is one of the most revered and beloved saints in Russia.
The church was created in the traditional Old Russian style by architect A.B. Logvinov. It is crowned by nine gilded domes. The height of the temple is about 30 meters.
The lower church was consecrated in honor of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the upper one in honor of Blessed Xenia of St. Petersburg with side chapels in honor of the Vladimir and Pochaev icons of the Mother of God.
St. Xenia's Church is loved by Voronezh residents and pilgrims coming from other cities.
People who visit or once visited this church note its majesty, beauty, magnificent decoration, well-groomed and landscaping of the nearby territory, surrounded by greenery and flower beds in summer, on which monuments to Saints Xenia and John of Kronstadt are located. Pilgrims speak positively about the staff and clergy of the monastery.
The Liturgy is celebrated daily at 7 a.m., the beginning of the evening service at 15.30. The current schedule of services can be found on the official website of the temple complex here.
The sacraments of Baptism, Wedding, Unction (Unction), as well as the funeral rite are performed in various temples of the complex: Baptism on Saturdays and Sundays at 11.00 in the church of the Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky, Unction in the lower church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (during Lent they are unction on Saturdays (March 30, 6, 13, 20, 27 April) and on Great Wednesday (May 1) at 17.00). The wedding takes place in the church of Blessed Xenia. For all questions, please contact the church shop.
Before the Baptism, conversations are held with the child's future godparents and his parents (on Thursdays at 5.30 pm in the Sunday School building), before the Wedding - with the bride and groom.
The temple implements the project Social Assistance Center. There is a canteen where the needy are fed free of charge, a bakery is also open where bread is baked and distributed to people on weekends, training is organized for children from large and low-income families who want to learn baking skills. Within the framework of the project, there is a sewing workshop, which also provides charitable services for sewing various products. Here you can also learn the basics of sewing for families in need: children and their mothers.
In the social network in contact there is a page of the complex where you can find not only information about the services, but also the latest news. The youth community Youth Group of the Church of Xenia of St. Petersburg has been created separately, which contains up-to-date information regarding participation in Orthodox events (conferences, forums, festivals, etc.), holding various meetings with clergy, interesting speakers.
There is a Sunday school "Rodnik" at the temple. Classes are held on Saturdays from 15.00 (for preschoolers) and Sundays from 9.00 (for middle and high school age children). The children study the Law of God, the Old and New Testaments, Hagiography, Orthodox worship, the Basics of spiritual morality, the Basics of choral singing and the Church Slavonic language.
The clergy of the temple participate in missionary activities: they hold various thematic talks in secondary and higher educational institutions of the city (about family, spiritual and moral values), take part in conferences, competitions, and in the defense of research projects.
Designer: Literacy Office of the Political Work Group of the Revolutionary Committee of Shanxi Province collective work (山西省革命委员会政工组文教办公室供稿)
Early 1970s
Struggle to realize Chairman Mao’s great call that “agriculture studies Dazhai”!
Wei shixian Mao zhuxi “nongye xue Dazhai” de weida haozhao er fendou! (为实现毛主席“农业学大寨”的伟大号召而奋斗！)
Call nr.: BG E15/493 (Landsberger collection)
More? See: chineseposters.net/themes/dazhai-study
The economic benefits of mine clearance in Yemen far exceed the total cost of demining.
Case studies illustrating how individual areas gained from demining:
Am-Jarba (Lahij governorate): The minefield was in the middle of an urban area. After demining in 2005, people started utilizing the area for building houses, as a road, a playground and for herding animals. The land is privately owned, and the landlords have plans for building houses, with a rental value of 3 million YR per year. This can be compared to the landmine clearance and land release costs of US$104,085 (20.4 million YR), suggesting that the costs would be covered after about 7 years.
Al-Farsi (Aden governorate): The main beneficiary of clearance, is a large housing estate (2,600 houses) under construction for the Aden Refinery Company, with an estimated value of $US11 million. This compares with an estimated landmine clearance and land release cost of US$382,994, which is only 3.5% of the value of the completed houses and facilities. Without landmine clearance the houses could not have been built.
Al-Qafleh (Al Dhale governorate): Since the access roads have been made safe, 20 terraces of qat have been estab-lished, with a net income of about 7 million YR per year. This compares with an estimated landmine clearance and release cost of US$196,007 (38.4 million YR), which suggests that the total cost of clearance and land release would be covered by 5-6 years of good qat crops.
Al-Jafinah (Sana’a governorate): 30 families have benefited from cultivating approximately 5,000 libna (approximately 22 hectares of cleared land). The value of the land before demining was 25,000$ but after demining it increased to $1.25 million before development, while the value of developed land was around $3.75 million. The estimated net income from growing grapes and qat on this land is around $75,000 per year. This compares to the combined landmine clearance and land release costs of $125,234. Thus the cost of clearance and land release could be recouped after 2 years.
Al-Sharaf (Dhamar governorate): All 7 families in Al-Sharaf have benefited from using the cleared land (around 25% of the total village cultivable land) for grazing their animals. They also collect stones from the land for house construction. Two small areas, formerly the site of the army camp, are cultivated by two households, with an estimated gross value of food crop production of approximately 54,000 YR or US$276. If the community could (by itself or with help from YEMAC) overcome their fear of culti-vating the rest of the cleared land, the annual gross income from crops alone could potentially be around 2,700,000 YR or US$13,776, compared with costs of clearance of US$9,667.
Bait Al-Ra’aee (Ibb governorate): The net revenue from cutting stone is considerable (960,000YR per year), and has been of benefit to the majority of households in the village. This revenue compares to the estimated cost of landmine clearance and release of US$7521 (1.47 million YR). This suggests that two years revenue from stone cutting would pay for the combined clearance and land release costs.
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Demining also created opportunities for follow-on investments in housing and land improvements for agriculture in a number of other communities, as is illustrated in the graphs on the original page pictured above. The economic returns from demining (either alone or in combination with follow-on investments) vary widely among communities, but in some cases are extremely high. A convenient way of summarizing the economic benefits is to calculate the internal rate of return (IRR – roughly equivalent to the annual rate of interest earned on an investment). IRR’s results for demined communities range from 66.8% to minus 0.4% (weighted average of 19.9%).
These are very solid rates of return, and it must be emphasized that they represent only a partial accounting of the benefits stemming from demining – for example, they do not include the important benefits of (i) reduced landmine deaths and injuries and (ii) an enhanced sense of security for residents in these communities. The size of the costs and benefits also varied significantly among communities. Of the communities for which we were able to do a full cost-benefit analysis, the benefits were particularly large in Al-Jafinah.
The net economic benefits (i.e. after deducting the costs of demining and the follow-on investments) accruing from these four communities amount to almost $3.5 million. This represents about 41% of total demining costs for the 25 communities included in the survey. Based on this very partial accounting, the total benefits stemming from Yemen’s demining program almost certainly exceed the costs by a wide margin.
The most straightforward example is from Al- Jafinah, in Sana’a Governorate where an investment in demining of about $125,000 led to an increase in the market value of the land of $1,225,000. It also created the opportunity for follow-on investments in the range of $1.25 to $1.7 million to develop the land for crops (qat and grapes). These follow-on investments led to a further increase of $2.53 million in the market value of the land.
i've taken up painting again, this time on canvas instead of paper. these are small color studies, each 6x6; the smudges are from my fingers, which i use just as often as brushes. if you're in the beacon area this weekend, stop by my studio-on-the-go (a.k.a., a u-haul) as part of beacon open studios. i'll have these and several matted and framed (and matted-only) photographs for sale.
Day 8 / 365: tomorrow I have my first exam... Business Ethics...
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This week I am going to be returning to university. For the next 2 years I will be studying part time for an MA in Brazilian Studies. Am really excited about it and since I got no teaching work this week I popped down to the library for some light reading on Brazilian history, culture and politics. All fascinating stuff.
And the added bonus was that we actually got a bit of sun today!!! About time too!
Tenuous Link: 'leaf'ing through a book
aristotelis is the annual opening ceremony of the study year of the university of latvia that i had the opportunity to photograph for the second time. more photos coming soon!
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