i have been working on chapter 2 for the past two months. usually i produce hundred pages in a weeks time, but for some reason, chapter 2 has been giving me so much headache! chapter 2 haunts me through the week at work, is always in the back of my mind and on the weekend i dread the moment, i have to open the pages and weed through the written work of chapter 2 and give it some structure. but, then, each time i get to that point, i think of all that chapter 2 stands for. and that gives me a boost...what is chapter 2? it is all about Machel Report. for those who do not know the name Graca Machel, take a minute of solitude from your hard, busy day, and google in the name. wife of Nelson Mandela and avid advocate for rights of children, Machel has vested much in the report presented to the United Nations General Assembly back in 1996. she was called to investigate the situation of children in the conflict areas, or even better conflicting world. world full of riches and beauties and yet jammed with hungry, hurt and abused children.... chapter 2 goes beyond the report itself. it actually looks at the recommendations in that report, and attempts to set up methodoogy for the case analysis. it looks at programmes and activities being conducted in efforts to fulfil the DDR (disarmament, demobilization and reintegration) aspect of peace building and sets up a new formula for DDR.
in the process of doing such, i read through many reports and books and look through many files and photos and documentaries witnessing of violations of children's most unique trait - innocence. there is only that much one can read and write about the evils in this world. i sometimes walk outside and feel like it's a miracle to see a child smile with pure joy chiseled in his or her face. and so chapter 2 haunts me. and for each smile i steal from a face of a beautiful child of Vienna streets i think of one child whose smile has been forever erased. and then i want to have that silly chapter 2 finished so i can move on, move on to action rather than writing.
