Radio Nederland Wereldomroep

Development, and the many ways people are striving to improve their lives, were the central themes of Radio Netherlands Worldwide's long-running series A Good Life.

Listen to the most recent edition of A Good Life:
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Produced by Anna Yeadell, the programme featured people who are endlessly resilient and inventive in their efforts to deal with the obstacles they must overcome to make life better.

A Good Life came to an end at the close of 2006, but you can still hear many of the programmes and read the accompanying articles on this special archive page.

 

Goodbye to A Good Life

"More than ten years and 600 editions of A Good Life!" exclaims Ginger da Silva. "It had a good run!" RNW marks the end of the popular development series.

 

Coffins made in Haiti

Making caskets in Haiti. Not exactly your run-of-the-mill business for a Dutchman and a Belgian entrepreneur, who settled in the Caribbean nation a quarter of a century ago.

 

Protecting cultural property

Is there a link between human rights abuses and cultural destruction, and is the international community doing enough to protect the world's heritage?

 

Come hell or high water: the fight against cultural destruction

When disaster strikes the international community rallies and aid pours in to provide food, clothing and shelter. But there are many experts who believe culture is a basic need and we should attend to this in times of crisis, too.

 

Childbirth in Haiti

Haiti has the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the Western Hemisphere. The Dutch branch of MSF or Doctors without Borders is trying to help pregnant women in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

 

Cultural priorities in times of crisis

Cultural heritage needs rescuing in times of natural or man-made disaster, but how exactly do you go about deciding what has to be protected in times of crisis?

 

Cultural emergencies

When disaster strikes or conflict rages, just how much should we care about saving our cultural treasures? A new series about cultural destruction examines cases of emergency in Iraq, Palestine and Sri Lanka.

 

Restavèks – Haiti’s child slaves

One in ten children in Haiti is a restavèk or domestic worker, a polite term for child slave. Everyone, including the government, is aware of the problem, but virtually nothing is done to help these children.

 

Restavèks - Abraham Lecot

"I had to wake up at around four o'clock in the morning every day to fetch water with a five-gallon bucket. It was two or three kilometres away. If I didn't come back quickly, I would suffer," says Abraham Lecot, a former child slave in Haiti.

 

Restavèks - Bernadette Luon (60)

"My mother died when I was six years old. My father couldn't take care of me so he placed me in a family. I experienced a lot of hardships." - the story of Bernadette Luon, a former child slave in Haiti.

 

A sea-change for the Saami?

Climate change is not simply a threat to the environment. For the Saami of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Northern Russia, the threat is to their economies, their cultures and their very way of life.

 

Snapshot from Papua New Guinea

The clash of cultures in the colonial period may be over, but today young Papuans have new influences to come to terms with. Globalisation and technology are transforming their society once more.

 

Botswana's last Bushmen?

"The land itself which we've been holding is our mother. So if you separate us from her, what is going to happen with us?" Today, as the Bushmen are once again forced to fight for their ancestral ands, their future is in doubt.

 

River Peoples fight for recognition

Although Brazilian law provides for the protection of indigenous land rights only half the tribal lands in the country have been demarcated.

 

Adapt to survive

Indigenous societies are among the most vulnerable in the world. The challenges they're facing range from re-claiming their cultures and traditions to climate change to fighting for their very survival as a people.

 

African women of words

Well-travelled and well-versed, Ghanaian poet Ama Ata Aidoo and Taban Lo Liyong from Sudan share their thoughts not just on poetry but on the politics that influence their work.

 

Reuniting families in Angola

Nearly three decades of civil war in Angola displaced millions of people and tore families apart. Since peace took hold in 2002, the International Committee for the Red Cross has helped people try and trace their lost relatives.

 

Bangkok's Mercy Centre

The Mercy Centre is the main AIDS hospice in the biggest slum in the Thai capital. Established in 1993 by a Catholic priest, the centre has managed to overcome initial slum-dwellers’ fears.

 

Uniting Sri Lanka’s divided children

The Butterfly Peace Garden in Batticaloa brings together Muslim and Hindu Tamil children in an attempt to unite the divided community. It's an oasis of reconciliation and healing amidst ever-present ethnic tensions.

 

Will ‘blood’ diamonds burst Botswana’s bubble?

Implicated in the financing of bloody wars in West Africa, diamonds have lost some of their shine in recent years. But in Botswana, the gems can claim credit for the country’s peaceful development.

 

A matter of national survival

The Botswana government's response to the spread of HIV/AIDS has been swift and strong. Yet there's a considerable variation in the kinds of support and treatment available across the country.

 

Better factories for Cambodia

The International Labour Organisation is running a unique programme in Cambodia to improve working conditions in the country’s garment industry.

 

Salt kids

Over 4,000 children work in hazardous conditions in the salt fields of southern Cambodia. Efforts are underway to eliminate this form of child labour.

 

Doses of hope

Support for charities is growing and you don't need to be rich to make a contribution. Many women refugees from war-torn countries are finding ways of raising money and send it back home.

 

Galle - a photographic impression

A special gallery of photographs showing aspects of Galle, Sri Lanka, as it rebuilds for a new future and looks to its past for inspiration.

 

Galle - the past as a road to the future

Severely damaged by the 2004 tsunami, the Sri Lankan town of Galle is also looking to its past as it strives to build a brighter and better future.

 

Mexico's Mother Teresa

Sister Olga Sanchez runs a hostel for what she calls the "kamikazes of poverty", illegal immigrants from Central America who have risked life and limb on their way to a better life in the land of opportunity.

 

Low-profile foreign affairs training

Somewhere in northern Thailand, young Burmese refugees are taking a course that is helping them learn about history, geography, democracy and how to speak and think for themselves.

 

The door is open

Please step inside, says Dutch Development Cooperation Minister Agnes van Ardenne, outlining her five-point strategy for developing the private sector in Africa.

 

Setting up shop the African way

Ati Kaffa from the Netherlands has recently opened an Internet café in Guinea Conakry. "I was surprised at how easy it is to make things happen here."

 

Importing Nigerian food and drinks

"I felt the need to help improve the perception of Nigeria across Europe", says Mustafa Ahmed. "Not all Nigerians are crooks, not all Nigerians are bad."

 

Holland House of Hope

Distressing images of destruction following the 2004 tsunami prompted a Dutch woman to travel to Sri Lanka and set up an orphanage. It offers children a safe home and helps them deal with their trauma.

 

From Communist benefactor to EU donor

Prague is reassessing its role in international development assistence now that Communist ideology no longer determines who receives the Czech helping hand.

 

Could science hold the key to Africa’s future?

Science and technology are essential to Africa's development, according to 13 African scientists and a Knight Bachelor who met recently in Amsterdam.

 

A Buddhist lesson in pet care

There are up to 100,000 stray dogs and cats in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, but a group of volunteers is trying to rescue them.

 

Female deminers in Cambodia

Over 100 women in Cambodia are helping to clear the millions of mines that were left in the country's soil. Since 1979, 40,000 Cambodians have had to be amputated as a result of landmine accidents.

 

Thailand's Dr Death

Dr Khunying Porntip is Thailand's best-known forensic pathologist. She has purple spikes in her hair and three best-sellers to her name. Often she finds herself at loggerheads with the authorities.

 

Keepers of African culture

African literature is catching the world's attention. A new generation of writers is emerging in Africa and in the diaspora and they are bringing a whole new dimension to the continent's old tradition of storytelling.

Archive

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