A talk by Anna Kapellas, First Secretary (Political Affairs) at the Canadian High Commission was hugely informative. Anna spoke very eloquently about the various programmes that the Canadian Government is supporting in Afghanistan, and helped us to better understand the approach that Canada is taking to assist the people and government of that country. Being in the UK, we tend to hear much more about the British and European efforts in Afghanistan, and although we can follow the Canadian press online, hearing from Anna helped to put Canada's role, principally in the Kandahar region, into perspective.
In particular, Anna highlighted the programmes that are aimed at helping women in Afghanistan, including micro-finance programmes to help women entrepreneurs, and it was interesting to hear that discussing the rights of women and children directly with Afghan men could be as effective as speaking directly to the women themselves.
Anna has suggested that if you have an interest in this area, there is a new monthly publication, called Focus on the 'Canada in Afghanistan' website. You can see it and subscribe here. She highly recommends this website canada-afghanistan.gc.ca as an excellent source of information on Canada's activities in the country.
We are very grateful for Anna's time - and wish her all the best with her work in the future.
We were also delighted to see the beautiful award winning photographs by Canadian Lana Slezic currently on view in the Canada House exhibition area. The exhibition, 'Forsaken' (shown in the photo) runs until February 20th - and is free to visit. You can read more about Lana's work on her website. Having initially gone to Afghanistan for six months, working for CIDA, Lana chose to stay another two years, travelling the country with an interpreter and taking some truly remarkable pictures of the women and girls. Her book of these images, Forsaken, Afghan Women can be purchased on Amazon. There's also a fascinating exhibition of photographs in the main lobby area of Canada House, highlighting Afghanistan women who work in the media.
We also heard briefly from Brendan Griggs, Head of Public Programmes with the Canadian High Commission. Brendan and his staff are responsible for the exhibitions that are run in Canada House. Future exhibitions will highlight Nunavut and the Canadian Arctic. The High Commission's website is a useful source of information for Canadians based in the UK.
