Farewell to the Documentally blog.

All going to plan, this will be the last post on www.documentally.blogspot.com.

I am not stopping my podcast (although these long absences may give that impression), I am just consolidating all of my personal blogs podcasts and business stuff on to one page. Brave or stupid?.. time will only tell.

That one page is www.OurManInside.com and at the time of writing it is still a work in progress. You should still be find your way around to all my previous content.

Thanks for hanging around here. My podcast feed should stay the same but please change all of the blog feeds of mine you may be subscribing to.. to http://feeds.feedburner.com/OurManInside

Thanks again..

Christian

Iraqi Refugees - Life In The Shadows

The fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War is upon us, and there is speculation that the engagement may continue yet another five years, if not more. To date, approximately 4,000 American soldiers have been killed in combat.

While the loss of combat troops is certainly tragic, even more stunning is a recent World Health Organization report based on Iraqi Health Ministry figures which estimates that 151,000 Iraqi civilians were killed between March 2003, the start of the invasion, and June 2006.

Many of the reports of civilian deaths are disputed. What cannot be argued, however, is another grave consequence of the Iraq War: the displacement crisis as a mass exodus of Iraqis flee the instabilities and ever-increasing sectarian violence at home, tearing their families apart.

In mid-January 2008, with the support of the United Nations High Commission For Refugees (UNHCR), I traveled to Amman, Jordan to photograph and record a few of these families trapped in a no-man’s land; asylum seekers looking for refuge, too afraid to return to their blood-soaked country.

Here are a few of their stories:



For more information please check out.. The UNHCR Jordan Website

www.OurManInside.com

Well I am back from Austin Texas and the amazing SXSW. A little jet lagged, a little sleep deprived but inspired and energised all the same.

If you missed out on our live feeds and updates while we were there, most of the content me and Phil Campbell have produced is on live.rezpondr.com

We are currently looking for sponsorship so we can attend next years event so please get in touch if you feel you are in a position to assist.

Should you want to catch up on any of my other content/pix/words please pop over to my 'Normal' site at www.OurManInside.com

Meeting Bill

How cool is this..?

Thanks to the wonders of blogging and the fact there are people that do actually read my blog on OurManInside.com Bill a podcasting friend from the Florida Soap Box and also the Progressive Podcast Network (PPN) managed to hook up with me for a brief hello at Texas airport where we were getting picked up by our friend Kity Kity aka Susan.

For each of us it is the first time we had met a member of the PPN in the flesh and a great welcome for me to see a familiar face and hear a voice I have listened to for ages.

Myself and Phil Campbell are the guests of Kity Kity in Wylie, Texas before we head down to the interactive extravaganza that is South By South West (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, about 3-4 hours south of here.

Make sure you check out Bills blog at http://filthandthefury.blogspot.com/
You can also follow/add bill at Twitter

He is a really decent guy and I hope we can grab a beer together soon!

p.s. I recorded a podcast on the plane over.. I will try to get it online as soon as.. :)

Episode 41 - Two Clips

Whilst feeling a little bit guilty for not having posted a (self-made) podcast in a while I decided that I would paste a couple of random recordings together and stick the outcome into my feed. Forgive me if it is a little rough around the edges..

It's not my normal fare.. but it is what it is.

If you have not subscribed to the podcast (free) in Itunes already, you can listen to the mp3 here

Episode 40 - An interview in Jordan

Well here is a turn up for the books.. And a handy one at that as I am bowled over with my various projects at the moment so i am posting this interview with me in my feed to not only save me some valuble editing time but also to introduce and thank a British podcaster who lives in Canada called David Bailey.David Phoned me up whilst i was working In Amman Jordan and we had time for this quick interview. David's content can be found at http://dfbmbe.wordpress.com and more of my other updates can be found at www.OurManInside.com

You can also stream the podcast here.. DFBMBE Blog

Many thanks to Dave in taking the time to call me in jordan and for making the interview available as a podcast.

correction: During the interview i should have said... It is the largest refugee crisis to hit the Middle East in 60 years. We must not forget Afghanistan.

Project Update.

My flight is booked and in a few days I fly to Jordan. Although I am still to get my hands on a D3 I am satisfied that I have the use of the new D300 for at least a month. Thank you to those that humoured me in my testing of the website chipin.com. £40 was donated, before i pulled the widget. I really appreciate the gestures and that money is safely put away and will be put toward other savings when they accumulate.

The unexpected death of my Mother over the holidays has not only allowed me to re-evaluate my goals in life but also meant the luxury of a new work tool will have to wait as my savings have been put towards her burial and send off.

My next assignment will be dedicated to my Mother Liala.

On the podcasting front I still have a backlog to get through but as you can imagine these have been unusually difficult times. I promise to do more podcasts in the future. So please sit tight and stay subscribed. I was going to pop all this in a podcast but thought those that subscribe may well read this blog too.

I am not one to look forward to much as i feel living in the moment is the best bet. Still. I am open to all kind of possibilities this new year and feel strangely optimistic for the future.

Cheers guys.

christian.