From taking this class I have found out that many people are uneducated about the harsh realities that are going on Africa. The only way we can stop the misunderstandings and stop being a people so involved in things that only concern us directly is to become an educated people. Although educating someone at the college level is good, why does it have to wait until the college level? Many people say that the most impressionable students are the students in a K-12 classroom because they want so much to be accepted and find out who they are. My Africa unit plan is not only designed to help students learn something about Africa but it is also an attempt to get students to think outside themselves and see a world bigger than the one they know. It is an attempt to get students to hopefully gain a small perspective on the issues they might face and the issues that a child their own age faces everyday in Africa. This unit is not just about Africa, although the students will be educated on events and issues in Africa, but this unit is about me possibly being a naïve upcoming teacher and hoping that even if what I am trying to get across to the students affects only one student, that maybe that one student may affect another person, and that I made a difference.
I found this organization while doing my last blog so I thought I would stick with it. The Virtue Foundation is a "public charitable and nongovernmental organization with special consultive status to the United Nations. The Foundation's mission is to increase awarenes of prevalent global issues, to inspire people to action, and to render humanitarian assistance through healthcare, education, an empowerment initiatives." They do programs and charities all over the world. A few of their most recent projects and efforts in Africa are The Burundi Healthcare Initiative, and The Child Soldiers Project. As searching through their website I noticed that they rely on a lot of celebrities to help get the word out and campaign for their cause. One video found on youtube is shown below.
We have been talking throughout this semester about the heartbreaking things that have been happening in Africa. A few times we have addressed the issue of what can we do? How can we make things in Africa better? And should we help? I think at this point everyone has a pretty good idea what a child soldier is, and some facts about child soldiers. So instead of researching about child soldiers I thought it would be better to take a look at ways people can help, how people can make a difference, and what is being done to put hope into Africa.
Invisible Children Website:www.invisiblechildren.com Who are they? "We are storytellers. We are visionaries, humanitarians, artists, and entrepreneurs. We are individuals part of a generation eager for change and willing to pursue it. As a non-profit we work to transform apathy into activism. By documenting the lives of those living in regions of conflict and injustice, we hope to education and inspire individuals in the Western world to use their unique voice for change."
Virtue Foundation Website: www.virtuefoundation.org Who are they? "Virtue Foundation is a public charitable and nongovernmental organization with special consultive status to the United Nations. The Foundation's mission is to increase awarenes of prevalent global issues, to inspire people to action, and to render humanitarian assistance through healthcare, education, an empowerment initiatives." You can find out more about their attempts to stop the growth of child soldiers by clicking on Initiatives and then on Other Projects.
Amnesty International Website:www.amnesty.org Who are they? "Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights for all." You can find information on child soldiers by typing child soldiers in the search bar on the website.
Although we feel as though we are so far away, and feel as though there is nothing we can do, there are many organizations that can use our help. Recently my church collected pencils, erasers, pencil holders, and other simple school supplies to send to a part of Africa. To the children who used them these items were like diamonds to them, whereas to us, we may take them for granted. So although these websites may ask for money to help, there are many other things you can do that are very inexpensive that will make a huge difference in Africa.
Africa is facing a large problem called desertification. Desertification is an increase in the desert like conditions in arid or semi-arid lands, or more easily said, the spreading of the deserts. It can be caused by the climate, humans, and animals.
Climate causes desertification because Africa goes through droughts which makes it pretty much impossible for vegetation to survive, thus, creating desert like conditions. Humans continue to expand their area, cutting down trees and building buildings which is again killing of vegetation but also ruining the environment of the animals that may live in that area pushing them farther out and leaving them with less to eat. Which brings in the problem of overgrazing. Because there isn't a whole lot of vegetation it is causing animals to continue to eat over and over the vegetation that is available which is not giving the vegetation enough time to grow back.
The Sahara desert which is located in Africa is the largest desert in the world. Currently it is increasing in size by 1 km per year and has not slowed down any. With this increasing problem of desertification will Africa end up being a complete desert one day?
For some reason The Bleeding of the Stone just didn't do it for me. I couldn't really tell you why I wasn't a big fan of it but I wasn't. However, the character Cain was someone that I had strong feelings towards. I can tell you that I REALLY didn't like him. Although Cain's curse of his need for meat was a curse, his selfishness and pure evil that came out of him was disturbing and disgusting. It was said that he was born with this curse, and it was a curse that caused his father and mother to die and later his foster parents to die and later for him to crucify an innocent bedouin in the desert. Like I said before his representation of evil was disturbing and disgusting and could leave no one with any passion for pity for him.
As we have been discussing in class, Africa is facing a large amount of government corruption. This corruption has been leading to increased poverty all over in Africa. In many of the articles I read online about the corruption of Africa, many of them spoke specifically of Nigeria and the corruption caused mainly by the greed of those wanting a part of the oil money.
What specifically caught my eye is the corruption in education. One website in particular focused a bit on this topic, www.globalpolicy.org. It said that the problem with those in poverty is mostly that they have no mobility in the social classes. This is because education is one thing that can bring them out of their poverty, but that many teachers take bribery for grades, therefore, many who are in poverty cannot pay the bribery in order to receive passing grades. Therefore, they are stuck in the same place they were. When reading this I thought of two things. One is, for someone who is becoming an educator I do not understand how you could become an educator for something other than wanting to help and impact your students in the most positive way possible. But the other led me to remember that Dr. Ogbomo had talked about when a new goverment takes office those in charge find their friends to become things, such as, the Minister of Education. So they are not necessarily in it to help the students, but rather to help themselves. Instead of the benefits of the wealthy trickling down to help all in Africa the only thing that seems to be trickling down is corruption, everyone is looking out for themselves and a piece of the pie.
The picture to the left represents the peoples confidence in their government fighting corruption in the country. Although this a little older, many articles I read online did say that Kenya has been making great strides in the past years to eliminate corruption. But notice how the people of Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Mozambique feel.
After reading Waiting for an Angel by Helon Habila it really got me thinking about the title of the book and its relation to the story. Africa's political unrest, poverty and disease has left the African people's hope for peace and a rescue in an angel. With so many problems happening in this country and literally not being able to trust anyone in power because of the fear of what they may do with that power the African people are left to walk in the shadows in silence or face death.
It seems that everything we've read so far has brought me into a situation to make me stop and think about my own freedoms and how I, and many others like me, take for granted the fact that I live in a free country. A country where I can practice whatever religion I feel necessecary, a country where I have the right to free speech, a country where I can elect government officials and a country where I have choices and options. I don't have to be a silenced shadow if I don't choose it, I have the right, the choice, and the ability to be and do whatever it is I want to, unlike those in Africa.
