Showing posts with label Children. Show all posts

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Putting The Arts First

Schools everywhere are making cuts to save money, all too often at the expense of the arts. Below is an excerpt from the website of an organization that believes "arts education is essential to children's academic and social success." Spreading its impact to three different continents, ASTEP continues to expand on its mission to teach kids to use creativity as a tool to improve their lives.

"ASTEP was conceived by Broadway Musical Director Mary-Mitchell Campbell and Juilliard students to transform the lives of youth using the most powerful tool they had—their art. Today, ASTEP connects performing and visual artists with underserved youth in the U.S. and around the world to awaken their imaginations, foster critical thinking, and help them break the cycle of poverty.

From improving reading comprehension to advancing creative thinking, from teaching problem solving to fostering collaboration, arts education brings about significant improvements in children’s educational and social development.

We collaborate with our partners to tailor each program to address the specific risks youth face in their communities, such as substance abuse, gender inequality, HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, gang violence, and teen pregnancy."

More information at www.asteponline.org

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

EcoFuel Africa: Made By Locals, For Locals

Walking home one day, Moses Sanga passed his twelve-year-old sister on a road near their home. She was sobbing, incredibly disappointed at having missed school to walk twelve miles and collect firewood for the family's stove.

About eighty percent of Uganda's citizens use firewood as fuel. This has led to a myriad of social and environmental problems: rapid deforestation, death from smoke inhalation, and education deprivation for the women and girls who gather the wood. So Mr. Sanga took action. He left his job, sold all his belongings including his bed, and invested his life savings in his own project that ultimately culminated in the development of something superb. The technology Mr. Sanga created allows families to convert farm and municipal wastes into a revolutionary fuel that burns longer, cleaner, and costs far less than firewood. As a result, the forests have a chance to recuperate and the girls a chance to learn, uninhibited by the dire need for such a harmful source of energy.

Local man turned incredible innovator, Moses Sanga's business endures: EcoFuel Africa. Learn more details about this amazing story at www.ecofuelafrica.com.

(We apologize that this website is currently down. You can, however, find many stories detailing the organization online at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/arts/design/cleaning-up-the-african-kitchen.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 or http://fellows.ted.com/profiles/sanga-moses).

Monday, January 21, 2013

Born, Married, and Divorced, All in One Decade

This Yemeni girl's autobiography conveys the misery of forced early marriage, an all-too-common occurrence in many parts of the world. In a rural village where women with voices, much less girls with voices, is an utterly foreign concept, Nujood moves for a legal divorce, hoping to be liberated from the custody of her terrifying and abusive husband. Resilience seeps through every word of every page of this story.

Gender Preference in India: An Implicit Custom

Though no longer endorsed by the government, gender preference (and subsequently female infanticide) has its roots deep within the foundation of India's culture. A small and fairly new non-profit, The Shanti Project is composed of a nickel's worth of activists doing a world's worth of good, fostering the empowerment of marginalized Indian women and children through community meetings and discussions. Get a taste of their work through this excerpt from their website, and visit them at theshantiproject.org.

Female Infanticide in Jaisalmer

Pinkie, a month old, lies out in her crib in the sun for eight or so hours a day. She has scabs on her head and a rash on her entire body. Upon offering to help take her to the hospital, we were informed that the government hospital has horrible conditions. Bimla (Pinkies mom), said she wouldn’t take her there. So we went to investigate the hospital conditions.Once there we saw Bimla’s reasons for not wanting to visit. The hospital was overcrowded and understaffed. To get medical attention most have to wait hours or even days.We were told that another baby is another mouth to feed and Bimla said when we were holding her daughters: “You take home with you, I already have two girls.”

          We gathered this is the general attitude many young moms have towards giving birth to girls. With this, female infanticide in Jaisalmer is on the rise. In a July report, The New Delhi Times cites there have been 38 female infanticides in Jaisalmer in the last 3 months; and this is only the reported deaths. There are numerous others that may be unreported. The 2012 international male to female ratio at birth is 1.07 males per female. The rate in India, according to a 2009 report is 1.12 male(s)/female.
           In the villages surrounding Jaisalmer the situation is worse because of lack of governance. A week ago the leg of a newborn was found after being picked by a dog. The body was found near the village being eaten by dogs. Then another July incident found the body of a newborn girl thrown in the open. Both of these cases were unreported “According to unofficial estimates, nearly 2,500 cases of female foeticide or female infanticide take place in the state of Rajasthan everyday and it does seem that an apathetic government is standing by and watching the story of this silent genocide. According to the central scheme, the Janani Suraksha Yojana, a sum of Rs.1400 is given for every baby delivered in a government hospital. Introduced four years ago, this scheme has gone horribly wrong in this district, where women deliver daughters in hospitals, take their entitlements and go home. Within days the newborns disappear.” (Preeti Choudhry for India Times) In villages where there is the most infanticide the youth are told: “The water from our wells only produces boys.”
           Fortunately, there is a government sponsored program called “Save the Girl Child” that is taking preventative measures. The Shanti Project is working towards providing resources and access to education and tools that will lessen the infanticide in the community.