From Our Own Correspondent - 23/09/2010

The young generation that is Afghanistan's hope of a better future. We board a train at dawn, and follow Chinese traders into the depths of Africa. A correspondent decides to leave journalism, and become a priest. And in Kenya, a black mamba snake bite brings a brush with death.... There's no shortage of bad news from Afghanistan. We often hear of mounting violence and corruption. But the picture is not relentlessly bleak. Last weekend's parliamentary elections were far from perfect. But millions of Afghans did participate -- casting their ballots despite Taleban threats of violence. And Lyse Doucet saw some hope for Afghan democracy in the number of young people who were ready to get involved.... The collapse of Communism utterly transformed Russia. It's become a very much more open place in countless ways.... But all the same...even now....it retains a rather enigmatic quality. It's not always easy to read. Outsiders watch and wonder....and sometimes worry....about just where the country might be heading. And that is exactly what Steve Rosenberg has begun to try to figure out on his return to Moscow as a correspondent.... As never before in its history, China is now reaching out into the world. It has to. It needs to secure vast amounts of raw materials to fuel the boom that is transforming its economy. And in its search for resources in Africa, China's helped to revive one of the old colonial trade routes into the heart of the continent....Justin Rowlatt has just travelled up it, and seen what the coming of the Chinese might mean for Africa's people.... Eventually, all reporting careers come to an end. And I've watched BBC colleagues move on to all sorts of new lives. But I can't remember anyone taking the path that Christopher Landau has chosen. He's leaving us to become a priest. And as his time as a religious affairs correspondent draws to a close, he's been reflecting on the tensions between his personal faith, and his journalistic pursuit of the truth... It's not surprising that snakes have few friends. In many of us they provoke almost irrational levels of fear. But actually, few of them are really dangerous. Lots are harmless, and they all have a part to play in the natural world.... In Kenya, Annie Caulfield came across a man who's dedicated his life to defending snakes, and persuading people to try to think of them a little more kindly....