Algeria

With a population of 32 million, Algeria is the second largest country in Africa. People groups are divided north/south: Berbers/Arabs in the north and Tuareg in the south. Officially, 96.68% of the population is Sunni Muslim but many are non practising.

Algeria is emerging from a decade of civil war and new opportunities are opening up; there are now more than 80 recognised indigenous evangelical churches, mainly in kabyle villages and about 1 million believers making up the fastest growing church in the Muslim world.

Bolivia

Situated in the mid-west of South America, Bolivia ranges in elevation from sea level in the rainforest lowlands to over 17,000 feet in the Andes region. It contains proportionately more land above 10,000 feet than any other country in the world.  La Paz is located in the middle on the western side and is surrounded by high peaks on the Altiplano, roughly two miles above sea level.

Bolivia has a rich history and many outstanding citizens.  It is divided into nine departments, and 60%of the population of 9 million in Bolivia resides in urban centres.  Approximately 50% of its population is under 18 years of age, leaving Bolivia with the potential to become a relatively wealthy country.   However, many of the country’s young people have become disillusioned or discouraged through poverty and lack of opportunity and many try to emigrate.  The development of the petrol industry is a promising new source of income for this poor country.

Burma

Situated in the mid-west of South America, Bolivia has a rich cultural history. La Paz is situated in the Andes mountains, about 70 kilometres from Lake Titicca, the highest nagivable water in the world.

It has many important natural resources: oil, gems, coffee and timber, but bad roads make exporting difficult and the lack of financial inversions makes industrialisation even harder.

Approximately 50% of its population is under 18 years of age, leaving Bolivia with the potential to become a relatively wealthy country. However, many of the young people have become discouraged through poverty and lack of opportunity

China

Estonia

Estonia is the smallest of three Baltic states. It is sparsley populated country of 1.5 million people, 35% of which are Russian. Estonians have suffered 700 years of foreign rule, more recently under the USSR until 1991. Since then things have moved forward rapidly and Estonia is increasingly becoming like many Western European societies.

Living conditions remain difficult in the rural areas (where the Brereton's live) but since joining the EU in 2004, the possibility of a higher standard of living is causing many to seek work abroad.

Ethiopia

Unique among African countries, the ancient Ethiopian monarchy maintained its freedom from colonial rule, with the exception of the 1936-41 Italian occupation during World War II.

In 1974 a military junta, the Derg, deposed Emperor Haile SELASSIE (who had ruled since 1930) and established a socialist state. Torn by bloody coups, uprisings, wide-scale drought, and massive refugee problems, the regime was finally toppled in 1991 by a coalition of rebel forces, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).

A constitution was adopted in 1994 and Ethiopia's first multiparty elections were held in 1995. A two and a half year border war with Eritrea ended with a peace treaty on 12 December 2000.

Final demarcation of the boundary is currently on hold due to Ethiopian objections to an international commission's finding requiring it to surrender sensitive territory.

France

In a population of 60 million, 1 in 6 is an immigrant. France has about 4.2 million Muslims from North Africa. Islam is the second religion of France after Catholicism

Kenya

An East African country on the equator that is one of the most developed countries of Africa.

It has a long and colourful history, a land of many contrasts. In 1895 the British government declared East Africa a British Protectorate. In 1907 Nairobi became its capital. In 1920-1923 the country became a Crown Colony. Between 1950-1960 a Mau Mau terror campaign took place by Kykuyu nationalists seeking independance.

In 1963, independance was gained with Jomo Kenyatta as prime minister; a year later the country became a republic. 1974 Kiswhali became the official language.

2005 sees the capital as having a population of 3 million but there is an increasing gap between the "haves" and the "have nots".

You can be in a shopping Mall one minute and the next in a shanty town.

Aids continues to be a massive problem as well as the bigger killer, Malaria.

Malawi

Established in 1891, the British protectorate of Nyasaland became the independent nation of Malawi in 1964.

After three decades of one-party rule under President Hastings Kamuzu Banda the country held multiparty elections in 1994.

Increasing corruption, population growth, increasing pressure on agricultural lands, and HIV/AIDS pose major problems for the country.

Mozambique

Almost five centuries as a Portuguese colony came to a close with independence in 1975.

Large-scale emigration by whites, economic dependence on South Africa, a severe drought, and a prolonged civil war hindered the country's development. The ruling Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO) party formally abandoned Marxism in 1989, and a new constitution the following year provided for multiparty elections and a free market economy.

A UN-negotiated peace agreement between FRELIMO and rebel Mozambique National Resistance (RENAMO) forces ended the fighting in 1992.

In December 2004, Mozambique underwent a delicate transition as Joaquim CHISSANO stepped down after 18 years in office.

His newly elected successor, Armando Emilio GUEBUZA, has promised to continue the sound economic policies that have encouraged foreign investment.

Nepal

Republic of the Philippines

About 80 million Filipinos, predominantly Roman Catholic, live on 1000 of the 7000 islands of the Philippine Archipelago.  The islands are in three groups, Luzon in the north, Mindanao (mainly Muslim) in the south and the Visayas in between. There are wonderful mountains, rivers, plateaus and valleys plus a number of volcanoes, some active. The climate is tropical with an average temperature of 27° C and high humidity. During the rainy season there are numerous typhoons.

The Philippines is a democracy and administratively there are 17 regions and 79 provinces. La Union, the province where the Peggs are based, is a narrow coastal strip in the west of north Luzon. San Fernando is the provincial capital and also the administrative centre for Region One.

The country’s agriculture is based around rice, livestock, poultry, coconut/copra and corn. The major industries are mining and manufacturing, but one of the major ‘exports’ is the OFW, the Overseas Foreign Worker. Most families have, or have had, a member who has worked abroad, sending home the bulk of their earnings to pay for education, a house or transport at home.

Romania

The principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia - for centuries under the suzerainty of the Turkish Ottoman Empire - secured their autonomy in 1856; they united in 1859 and a few years later adopted the new name of Romania.

The country gained recognition of its independence in 1878. It joined the Allied Powers in World War I and acquired new territories following the conflict. In 1940, it allied with the Axis powers and participated in the 1941 German invasion of the USSR.

Three years later, overrun by the Soviets, Romania signed an armistice. The post-war Soviet occupation led to the formation of a Communist "people's republic" in 1947 and the abdication of the king. The decades-long rule of dictator Nicolae CEAUSESCU, who took power in 1965, and his Securitate police state became increasingly oppressive and draconian through the 1980s.

CEAUSESCU was overthrown and executed in late 1989. Former Communists dominated the government until 1996, when they were swept from power by a fractious coalition of centrist parties.

In 2000, the center-left Social Democratic Party (PSD) became Romania's leading party, governing with the support of the Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR). The opposition center-right alliance formed by the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the Democratic Party (PD) scored a surprise victory over the ruling PSD in December 2004 presidential elections.

The PNL-PD alliance maintains a parliamentary majority with the support of the UDMR, the Humanist Party (PUR), and various ethnic minority groups.

Although Romania completed accession talks with the European Union (EU) in December 2004, it must continue to address rampant corruption - while invigorating lagging economic and democratic reforms - before it can achieve its hope of joining the EU, tentatively set for 2007.

Romania joined NATO in March of 2004.

Singapore

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands, in the Southwest Pacific, is an archipelago of more than 1,000 islands, about 360 of which are inhabited.  The population is only about 500,000, mostly Melanesian, with minority Polynesian and Chinese groups, most of whom live in traditional villages.  There are over 100 local languages and dialects. Honiara, where the Skinners are based, is the capital.  It is always warm and terrain varies between mountainous islands and low-lying coral strands and atolls.  Travel and communications are slow-paced; it is an ocean country with almost no roads outside the townships.

The country is classified as Least Developed, with the lowest national income in the region, though there is much greater potential, given its natural resources.  Literacy is very low, and education and health services are sparse.  While the government is democratic, it has not been very stable.  For many, Christianity is practised within a formal denominational setting and is often mixed with animistic and spiritistic belief.  Much Christian ministry now focuses on true reconciliation with God and neighbour following a period of great civil unrest (1999– 2002).

Tanzania

Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world with many of its population of 38.4 million living below the World Bank poverty line. Unlike other African countries, Tanzania has few exportable minerals and is heavily dependent on agriculture, which involves 90% of the workforce.  There are about 120 people groups and there is little internal strife.  Perhaps the greatest differences are religious, with 35% Muslim, 30% Christian and 35% Animist.

Northern Tanzania is the home of some of the world's most spectacular wild life and Africa's highest peak, Mt Kilimanjaro; these attract a large number of tourists, which has both positive and negative effects. Ecotourism is a booming business and benefits many rural areas with the provision of schools, clinics and water supplies. However, rural cultures, such as the Maasai, are also inevitably affected by this invasion as confidence in traditional community structure and customs is eroded.

I.M.P. has a fund especially for famine relief.

Thailand

A unified Thai kingdom was established in the mid-14th century. Known as Siam until 1939, Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country never to have been taken over by a European power.

A bloodless revolution in 1932 led to a constitutional monarchy. Thailand is currently facing armed violence in its three Muslim-majority southernmost provinces.

United Kingdom

Zimbabwe

The UK annexed Southern Rhodesia from the South Africa Company in 1923. A 1961 constitution was formulated that favored whites in power.

In 1965 the government unilaterally declared its independence, but the UK did not recognize the act and demanded more complete voting rights for the black African majority in the country (then called Rhodesia).

UN sanctions and a guerrilla uprising finally led to free elections in 1979 and independence (as Zimbabwe) in 1980.