It seems as if all we ever hear is how Africa is struggling when it comes to the health field. They don't have the money to put up these facilities to help take care of the people living in these areas. Well times have changed now and they are taking little steps to improving their healthcare systems. Instead of those who live hours away from a hospital or clinic, they are now just a couple of minutes away, especially for those who are living in the Malawi Villages these days.
Those who live in the lakeside village have traveled up to sixteen hours away just to get the needed help for either an emergency, or just being so sick. Now they don't have to worry about traveling that far, just a couple minutes away, and for some just out their back doors. These people would travel by canoes just to receive the needed care, and not all of the time were they able to make it whether it be because of rain, facing crocodiles, or their not being enough water in the lake to get them from one destination to the other. The Malawian people live in major poverty, and make less than a dollar a day. When many of them found out about the new clinic being built in their village they were all very happy because no longer will they have to travel those long distances and worry about how much things will cost and if they will even have enough for the procedure.
This ship is going to do many wonders for the Malawian people! It will provide them with the healthcare services they will need, and will also provide some of the people with many job opportunities as well! I think this is a wonderful idea and I would really like to travel to the Malawi Villages someday!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Tanzania: An Early Pregnancy, Bane to Education
Once I found this site I couldn't believe how incredible it was. I have recently just finished a class called Environmental Science, and in this class we discussed about how in Africa many of the girls have started taking contraceptives so they don't become pregnant becuase they don't have the money, food, or shelter to raise a child in. Their living conditions are very poor, and the rate for malaria is very high. Reading through this site they discuss how many of the young women who are obtaining contractptives don't realize that it does not prevent against HIV/AIDS. In this article the writer discusses the various studies that have been done and how having a child in awful iving conditions really affects the child, but not only the child, it also affects the mother.
Researchers have shown in various studies that teenage women that have given birth to children at young ages are more likely to commit suicide over a teenager that has not given birth or ever been pregnant. It's so sad to hear things like this and to even read about them. In Africa women who have been abused or surrounded by drugs are more likely to become pregnant in their teenage years, and are at a higher risk of treating their child how they were treated. The low poverty level and with the fact of teens/kids dropping out of school at younger ages are all factors that lead to the idea of teens becoming pregnant. This is heavily occurring in Tanzania, Africa, and becoming a major concern for those government officials.
In order for these teens to go to school they have to rent a house basically, far away from where their family lives because there are no schools located around or near the family house. Since their is no adult supervision around these teens, they go crazy when out on their own, and just don't really care about anything. This is why pregnancy levels are sky rocketing in places like Tanzania. This is why various ages of teens are finding local health clinics to provide them with the information and the contrnaceptives that their families are unable to provide. Overall, it's a process and I don' like to hear about things like this because it makes me want to go over their an educate these kids more, just so they have a general idea of what in the world is really going on!
Researchers have shown in various studies that teenage women that have given birth to children at young ages are more likely to commit suicide over a teenager that has not given birth or ever been pregnant. It's so sad to hear things like this and to even read about them. In Africa women who have been abused or surrounded by drugs are more likely to become pregnant in their teenage years, and are at a higher risk of treating their child how they were treated. The low poverty level and with the fact of teens/kids dropping out of school at younger ages are all factors that lead to the idea of teens becoming pregnant. This is heavily occurring in Tanzania, Africa, and becoming a major concern for those government officials.
In order for these teens to go to school they have to rent a house basically, far away from where their family lives because there are no schools located around or near the family house. Since their is no adult supervision around these teens, they go crazy when out on their own, and just don't really care about anything. This is why pregnancy levels are sky rocketing in places like Tanzania. This is why various ages of teens are finding local health clinics to provide them with the information and the contrnaceptives that their families are unable to provide. Overall, it's a process and I don' like to hear about things like this because it makes me want to go over their an educate these kids more, just so they have a general idea of what in the world is really going on!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Michelle Obama Meets With Nelson Mandela in South Africa
One topic that has been hitting the news hard recently was about Michelle Obama visiting Nelson Mandela in South Africa. Her two daughters were along with her for the week long trip to South Africa. They to were invited to Mandela's house to visit and chit-chat with Mandela himself and his wife. This site was very interesting to me because it talked a lot about Mandela's accomploishments and everything he had to do to get to be President and to where he was today. Mandela went into detail about how he spent twenty-seven years in prison because of his movement aganist apartheid. Reading further down in the story the journalist Mackenzie C. Babb talked to a presidental adviser, Ben Rhodes, he talks about how certain areas in Africa have prospered and became more democratic because women are taking over them and running those areas.
This site really draws in the readers attention because it's current. We are constantly wondering what our First Lady of the U.S. is doing. Seeing this makes you want to read about it to find out more on what she is up to right now. The first half of the article discusses Mandela's journey and all the criticism he had to go through to get Africa the abolished system of racial seperation. From this article I also learned that Mandela was the First Black President for his country from 1994-1999. He has gone through some really tough times, rough times, and even hard times, but he stood his ground and got exactly what he wanted to accomploish done.
Another thing that caught my attention from this article is how Michelle Obama is trying to make a difference in other countries. She gave a speech at a Young African Leaders Forum trying to encourage those women to get out their and make a difference. They can do just as much as the men in their country, if not more. By doing this the First Lady is fulfilling her husbands goal of advancing the democracy over in Africa. She is taking on many tasks while gone, but she sticks to her schedule and does what she thinks is right and needs to be done.
This site really draws in the readers attention because it's current. We are constantly wondering what our First Lady of the U.S. is doing. Seeing this makes you want to read about it to find out more on what she is up to right now. The first half of the article discusses Mandela's journey and all the criticism he had to go through to get Africa the abolished system of racial seperation. From this article I also learned that Mandela was the First Black President for his country from 1994-1999. He has gone through some really tough times, rough times, and even hard times, but he stood his ground and got exactly what he wanted to accomploish done.
Another thing that caught my attention from this article is how Michelle Obama is trying to make a difference in other countries. She gave a speech at a Young African Leaders Forum trying to encourage those women to get out their and make a difference. They can do just as much as the men in their country, if not more. By doing this the First Lady is fulfilling her husbands goal of advancing the democracy over in Africa. She is taking on many tasks while gone, but she sticks to her schedule and does what she thinks is right and needs to be done.
Swaziland asks South Africa for Money
After reading this article from BBC News my head was spinning. Swaziland is Africa's poorest country, but yet when they turn and ask the surround countries around them for money they are denied. Why? I don't understand why and how these governments don't want to work with eachother to help the country as a whole. They say it's because Swaziland is ran by a monarch, and their undemocratic. I realize it may make them think twice about helping, but why can't they lend them something to get them out from this big hole of poverty that they dug themselves deep into? Due to this financial crisis that Swaziland is facing, politicians of this country have seen a ten percent cut decrease from their salaries. This obviously will make many of the people from this country mad and upset, which could and may even lead to wars between the countries for not helping one another out.
One thing I found kind of funny about this article was the idea that King Mswati, the leader of Swaziland, was told to cut back on some of his expenses due to the financial crisis. I laughed when I read that part because it makes me think that he is using what should be money used for the country to satisfy him and he isn't putting any of it towards helping his country out. Another thing I read that I found intersting/funny/weird was that King Mswati has thirteen wives. So obvioulsy the money that should be used for the govenment and country to help aid them is going towards the king, all of his wives, and I'm sure the children he has with these wives as well. Not only did those few facts fascinate me but also the fact that Swaziland is the third largest sugar producer in the world. You would think since they are way up their in producing sugar the country wouldn't be hurting that much, but I guess the government doesn't know how to spend money and manage it. If I was a citizen of that country I would try to get King Mswati out of their and find someone to replace him before we get in a bigger hole than what we already are.
As you can see, this article was just a weird one because one I don't understand why the other countries in Africa won't help Swaziland out and two you would think that some type of initative would be taken to better aid the country from going downhill.
One thing I found kind of funny about this article was the idea that King Mswati, the leader of Swaziland, was told to cut back on some of his expenses due to the financial crisis. I laughed when I read that part because it makes me think that he is using what should be money used for the country to satisfy him and he isn't putting any of it towards helping his country out. Another thing I read that I found intersting/funny/weird was that King Mswati has thirteen wives. So obvioulsy the money that should be used for the govenment and country to help aid them is going towards the king, all of his wives, and I'm sure the children he has with these wives as well. Not only did those few facts fascinate me but also the fact that Swaziland is the third largest sugar producer in the world. You would think since they are way up their in producing sugar the country wouldn't be hurting that much, but I guess the government doesn't know how to spend money and manage it. If I was a citizen of that country I would try to get King Mswati out of their and find someone to replace him before we get in a bigger hole than what we already are.
As you can see, this article was just a weird one because one I don't understand why the other countries in Africa won't help Swaziland out and two you would think that some type of initative would be taken to better aid the country from going downhill.
African Children Demand End to Child Labour
This was a really interesting site! I was just surfing the internet on news about Africa and came across this site that had a list of all the countries in Africa. I clicked on Uganda because of the headline that followed it. The headline talked about how children in Uganda are putting their two cents in and trying to put an end to child labour. This story came from a newspaper called "The Monitor," which is a paper published in Uganda. This article was wrote by a Ugandan News Reporter by the name of Ephraim Kasozi. This was an interesting story because their a statistics that are provided, which helps to give a better idea of how many it really is. In the article it was stated that the number of children ages fifteen to seventeen working in terrible working conditions, doing jobs and tasks only a professional or adult should be doing shot up twenty percent within the past few years. These children should be doing "light" work, not hard overbearing work.
This article had some great information and statistics in the reading, but what really stood out to me was the idea that the parents are the ones forcing their children to drop out of school and to go out and work so that they can help provide for the family. I know that money is scarce over their, but if I was a parent and my child had to option of going to school to receive an education, I would make them do it! I wouldn't want my child to have to live the same life I had to. I would want better for my child, even if it wold mean cutting back on a particular food item of some sort. Just as the article states, it's the lack of awareness, and no one really pays attention to those more poor, smaller countries across seas. I feel that if we are capable of ending child labour here, we should try to help end it their. We can help the country out, and get those children out of that hard labour.
In America almost all of our parents and other adults went to school and were able to get some sort of education. In Africa, not many of the parents their are capable of doing so, which leads to many of them being illiterate. Since this is how they grew up they don't really know any other ways and just assume their way is the best option. This is not so, these children need that education these days so they are able to go forth in the world and receive better jobs. Their is no need for a fourteen year old girl/boy to be out working construction or being a maid when they can be receiving an education. These children want to learn, they don't want to work. They may not mind going out and trying to sell something small on the side of the road so they can have dinner on the table that night, but that's not want they want to see themselves doing everyday for the rest of their lives.
This article had some great information and statistics in the reading, but what really stood out to me was the idea that the parents are the ones forcing their children to drop out of school and to go out and work so that they can help provide for the family. I know that money is scarce over their, but if I was a parent and my child had to option of going to school to receive an education, I would make them do it! I wouldn't want my child to have to live the same life I had to. I would want better for my child, even if it wold mean cutting back on a particular food item of some sort. Just as the article states, it's the lack of awareness, and no one really pays attention to those more poor, smaller countries across seas. I feel that if we are capable of ending child labour here, we should try to help end it their. We can help the country out, and get those children out of that hard labour.
In America almost all of our parents and other adults went to school and were able to get some sort of education. In Africa, not many of the parents their are capable of doing so, which leads to many of them being illiterate. Since this is how they grew up they don't really know any other ways and just assume their way is the best option. This is not so, these children need that education these days so they are able to go forth in the world and receive better jobs. Their is no need for a fourteen year old girl/boy to be out working construction or being a maid when they can be receiving an education. These children want to learn, they don't want to work. They may not mind going out and trying to sell something small on the side of the road so they can have dinner on the table that night, but that's not want they want to see themselves doing everyday for the rest of their lives.
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