If things are very bad in Jordan they are even worse in Lebanon, I discovered when I visited the Bekaa Valley. In the few short months since I was last there there has been a palpable rise in tension caused by the burden on the local community of so many refugees streaming across the border, producing increased competition for work and accommodation.
But of everything I have seen it is the fate of the children which most affected me. Everywhere I went I saw them and while they were all in good spirits I must confess for me, as a grandmother, this is the hardest part to deal with. The prospect of these bright-eyed kids not just losing their childhood but facing a future without hope is heartbreaking. Read the full entry
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Today we celebrate Europe’s Day, but these days there seem to be few reasons to celebrate in Europe. The crisis is still biting hard, youth unemployment is a daily reality for 5,6 million Europeans under the age of 25, and growth seems a distant prospect. 
Just as the EU’s new climate adaptation strategy was being launched I was visiting the Siti Zone in Ethiopia’s Somali Region together with my colleagues Connie Hedegaard, the Commissioner in charge of climate action, and Dacian Ciolos, the agriculture Commissioner. It was a sobering but also uplifting experience to meet with communities living at the frontline of a changing climate in north eastern Ethiopia.
Witnessing the tragedy that is the Syrian civil war unfolding over the last two years has at times seemed like watching an episodic television series which you can duck in and out of, turn on or tune out, without losing the narrative thread. While the storyline is unremittingly grim it flickers at the back of our consciences, sometimes providing more gripping drama and therefore grabbing more headlines – only to fade to grey once more.
