Avert.org

There is an organization that is helping with the genocide of so many Africans that is the HIV/AIDS crisis. I found this organization while doing research for my final projects and one of my blogs. I have been interested in HIV/AIDS since I was forced to take an AIDS test a few years back that was the scariest thing in my life. It started to have me wonder how many people are living with this disease. This organization helps world wide and here is a little information about them

-There website is www.avert.org
-It is an international HIV/AIDS charity based in the UK
-Has projects in countries where there is a particularly high rate of infection such as Sub Saharan Africa
has number of projects in South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, and Uganda
-2 main source of funding donations, and through a private donation
-there contact info is info@avert.org
-There are many quizzes and educational material that can be downloaded for free.

This website is so nice. You can click on any country and learn about the HIV/AIDS rate and the prevention methods that are in effect for that country.

Envrionmental Issue in Africa

I went to a site called www.panda.org and I type in Uganda and found some interested information on the environmental crisis that is going on there. It an organization called WWF that goes around to different countries and continents trying to solve the environmental issues. Here is what I found for Uganda:

-A majority of Uganda's resources are reliant on natural resources to survive
-Forest provide firewood and cleared land frees soil for agriculture
-the availability of water is also a problem
endangered species such as the mountain gorilla are suffering
Lake Victoria has suffered a serious decline in water quality because of soil run off from the land

I know that the information was small but it was intresting. They also have on the website ways that people can help with their organization.

The Bleeding of the Stone

The Bleeding of the Stone, is a tale of the choices that we have to make in life. We all have crossed a bridge where we had to make choices that compromise so kind belief, moral, or religious conviction that we have. What choice do we make so we don't find our self in a struggle with our inner self.

One time I made difficult choice was concerning abortion. I got pregnant 6 years ago, and before I was pregnant I always knew that i would never get an abortion. I swore on it. Once I found out I was pregnant it seemed like everything I believed in went out the window. The only thing that I could think of being a single mother and struggling to make it through school, struggling with paying bills, just the everyday struggle. I just knew n my heart and soul that I could not have the baby. I don't know why the abortion rule just applied to everyone else except for me.

Once I sat and thought about I knew I couldn't do it. Of course I made the choice to keep my baby. At one point in time I put aside my religious convictions and my moral convictions to make a choice. I would never know how that choice will affect me in the long run, but it is a choice that many women struggle with.

Making the right choice in life i something that everyone struggles with. Whatever choice we do make in life we will always benefit from. It will makes us stronger and better in the long run.

I feel that was what The Bleeding of the Stone was about to a point. It gives us insight of how people will make the choices that they do.

Waiting for an Angel

Waiting for an Angel, was a good book. I like the way it started off in the prison scene. As a reader I assume everyone that goes to prison has did some violent crime. My mind doesn't even react to someone going to prison for being a journalist. All they are doing is writing about what is going on in their community, village. It is amazing to me that people take the risk to do something that they feel passionate about. I decided to look into the prisons in Africa. If a fictional book could display the horrors of the jail it makes you think how is it really in there for the prisoners. I got this information from www.iht.com

Lilonge, Malwai
-A man named Lackson Sikayenera has been in jail since 11-10-1999. He is accused of killing his brother.
-In the prison there are a dozen of iron roof barracks set on yellow dirt and hemmed wire
-eats one meal a day of porridge. He spends 14 hours a day in a cell with 160 other men. The water is dirty and the toilets are foul.
-The charges that are against him have not yet reached the court and probably will never reached the courts

Equatorial Guinea, Black Beach prison
-food is scarce

Congo Prison
-have housed children as young as 8 years old

Uganda's prison
-2/3 of the prisoners have not been tried yet.
-many inmates sit in cells for a lack of bail that can be less than $10 or $20

Xala

Xala was very different. It plays on the magic of some African cultures. This book was published in French in 1973. It is about a man name El Hadji who is a wealthy Muslim business man and he believes he was cursed so he couldn't perform for his wife in bed. Then it reveals the beggar put the curse on the man and to remove the curse everyone had to spit on the man twice while he stood there naked.

This book was hard for me to get into because I don't get into curses and people getting spells on them. As Muslim we don't believe in anything else but the oneness of God. To put a Muslim man as the main charchter puts culture and religion head to head.

Something I found on Western Michigan's website was a dialogue created where it was said this man was the victim of western influences this was a result of Europe coming over to Africa and made people change the way they think and to forget about their culture. I thought that was quite intresting. Overall the book was alright.

Healthy Children-Why are children still going hungry

Hungry families around the world is upsetting. We see images on tv of children that have not had enough to eat while we sit on our couches and stuff our faces. When we think about most of this society is one pay check away from being homeless. Why now is it a privilege just to feed our families? Especially in Africa and the United States. These two countries have the resources to make a difference in families lives and they don't. There are many organizations that aid in the fighting of hunger in many under developed countries. One organization is Care and Care has reached 65 million people in 71 countries. Another organization is mongabay and on their website mongabay.com there was some facts concerning the hunger rate in many poor countries:

-hunger and mal nutrition kill nearly 6 million children a year and more people are mal nourish in sub Saharan Africa this decade than in 1990.
-many children die form treatable infections diseases like diarrhea, pneumonia,malaria, and measles.
-hunger and mal nutrition root causes of poverty
-In 2004, estimated 852 million people worldwide were under nourished
-Around 75 percent of the world's hungry and poor people live in a rural areas in poor countries.

As we look around in America and how the welfare lines are getting longer and the benefits are not there for the families. The only people that are in the middle of this are the children. The can't go out and work to get food they only depend on their families. It is a sad site to see. Many images that we have seen in Africa are of the children with the big stomachs.

Africa- rich soil poor land

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa was a eye opener when looking into Africa. Before studying about the continent the only image a person see is poor, Mal nourished people, living in a village. As a reader from another part of the world, you wouldn't think that Africa was rich in oil and that it wa such a profitable business. This business that makes so much money, but yet it leaves people so poor and leaves a country at war. I found some quotes from the Boston Globe newspaper www.boston.com it talks about how the oil has damaged the Africa continent.

30% of the world's newly discovered oil reserves come from Africa's West Coast. But in the serpentine creeks and boggy coast lie daunting obstacles to the promise of oil revenue, corruption, violent youth militias, and environmental catastrophes.

Resource riches could help West Africa climb out of poverty by funding better education, health care, roads, and other essential services.

Because of wars, dictatorships, and thieves Angola and other oil rich African nations have failed so far tot urn their natural wealth into better lives for their citizens.

These quotes just is an eye opener for the world that Africa does have the resources to get their people out of poverty and get them the medical attention they need. There are so many people dying of HIV/AIDS but many of these countries are sitting on a gold mine and will not share the wealth. Greed will kill thousands of people and that is sad.

King Leopold's Ghost

King Leopold's Ghost was an intresting history story of King Leopold and the mistreatment of the Africans in the Congo. There was one man that stood up to the King sort of speak and made it known that Congo was a free state. His name was George Washington Williams I found some intersted facts from Wikipedia about this man.

George washington Williams
Born October 16, 1849 and died August 2, 1891
American Civil War Veteran
He was known for the saying of King Leopold treatment "crimes against humanity"
Born in Bedfrod Springs, PA
went to Mexico to joined the Republican army
attended Howard University
1st African American to graduate from Newton
Founded the Commoner
1889 granted an informal audience a look into the actions of the King

Just knowing the actions of King Leopold was sicken. This was genocide against people that did not deserve to die. After reading so many stories that have lost their lives to greed it seems as if it will numb the soul after reading so many stories, but it doens't. Each new case is like a new family member getting killed.

Johnny Mad Dog Victim or Monster?

After reading Johnny Mad Dog, it crossed my mind whether he is a victim or just a cold blooded monster. I know that people are responsible for their actions, but after studying child soldiers can someone put the blame totally on these kids. These kids are taken from wherever they are and put into situations where they are trained to kill and do crazy acts of violence. It is like a child they grow up in a house where the parents are racist and the children are trained to behave the same way do we blame the child or the parent.

I am not taking up for Johnny I am just looking at it from a different view I am trying to see all angels of this. It is sickens me that their government does not protect the children, but instead almost promotes this and no one is held accountable. The scene I just keep replaying in my mind is the scene from Blood Diamonds where the boy is blindfolded and is told to shoot and when takes off his blindfold he has killed a man. Then when he meets up with his father his mind is so far gone that he doesn't distinguish from right or wrong.

Are these children responsible for their actions or is it the adults who take the children from their natural surroundings and turn them into monsters. I almost feel kind of sorry for him, because he was probably young got recruited and starting his life of torturing these people. What if he was never a child soldier would he be this heartless?

Final Project-Aids in Africa

My final project was to take a trip to Uganda and study AIDS in Africa. I began to become interested in AIDS when I was forced to take an AIDS test. While I was in the room with the nurse I fell apart while waiting for the result. When my test came back negative I was relieved, but I almost felt sorry for people that are too scared to get an AIDS test. It is a scary thing, and there should be a way to help people overcome their fears also provide opportunities for people to take an AIDS test.

I picked Uganda because they have had success in their AIDS prevention campaign. My trip will consist of starting her at the local high schools taking a survey and hold an assembly to talk to the students about AIDS. Then my trip will start with me getting my passport, documentations, and vaccines.

While I am in Uganda I am going to visit the hospitals and talk to some patients and hear their stories. I didn't want to come back with a bunch of numbers because they are human and they should be heard instead of being represented by a number. During my 2nd week I want to go to the organizations that help with prevention of AIDS. We are going to sit around a come up with plans that I can take back to America and ways to make Uganda's programs better.

Once I leave Uganda my plan is to start rapid AIDS testing site in high schools and at local religious organizations. These sites need to be accessible to people. Most people that do not get AIDS test is the poor. We need to take the stigma away for AIDS it is a horrible disease but it is manageable like diabetes, cancer. It is okay to take the test it is not a death sentence.

My trip will be financed by my dad. I know that sounds strange, but it is true. My dad will be willing to finance my trip. He has been to Africa and once I express interest in going he will be ready to send me there in a heartbeat.

I just asked that if anyone has not gotten an AIDS test please do and encourage others to get tested. Especially minorities. It is the number cause of death for black women. Right now black women are becoming extinct. If you go to a rapid AIDS testing site it takes 20 minutes to get your result. Be aware the nurse doing the test will ask you a lot of questions like What if you do have AIDS? How will you tell your family? It is worth it.