China just this past weekend decided to pledge $60 billion to aid Africa's development, primarily in South Africa, but all over Africa, which is great. The reason behind this pledge is that China promises to help nationals become industrialize and also to" elevate its relationship with the continent beyond one centered on the extraction of raw materials."(Onishi)
China's president Xi Jinping decided to triple the amount at the last meeting which was a China-Africa summit. He wanted to reassure the audience of China's commitment amid an economic downtown whose effects have actually reverberated this year across Africa.
China's president stated how "China has the strong political commitment to supporting Africa in achieving development and prosperity.”(Onishi) Trading also seems to happen between Africa and China, so this new change would bring in goods to the Chinese and Africans would get some goods in return as well.
Today in Cameroon, activists are working on putting an end to "gender-based violence" which is "part of the global campaign 16 days of activism that ends in December 10."(Kindzeka) These rights groups are advocating against traditional practices that are harmful and unlawful to women. Cameroon is home to three hundred ethnic groups who each recite their own traditional practices.
What kind of traditions/rituals are occurring?
For example according to Voice of America news, author Moki Edwin Kindzeka stated how"In Ngomedzap village just south of Yaounde, village notable Essomba Eloundo said that as part of a cleansing ritual for a woman who has lost her husband, he feeds her millipedes and asks her to walk on her knees. He beats her with banana leaves and washes her with muddy water early in the morning.The 60-year-old man said this is a tradition they inherited from their forefathers and they will continue it.The point of the ritual is to prove that a woman did not kill her husband or conspire in his death." Yet their are other other stories of other rituals that are done to women, that are much more disturbing than this one.
Another story that stood out to me was how a twenty-four year old women stated how she and three other women had to go through a ritual when they lost their husbands in a car crash a few years ago. She stated how they had to shave their heads after being locked in a small room for a week.During this week they were fed through a small window, which makes them feel like they were prisoners or animals. Other than being locked in a room, they were not allowed to take showers and they were asked to do many rites just to prove their innocence. After the ritual was over, the main women who had started this ritual with the other women, was forced to marry her late husband's younger brother. It's shocking to know how other women around the world are getting mistreated a lot. These rituals are harming them physically, emotionally and last of all mentally.
Demanding Change:
Cameroon women have had enough of these rituals and also practices such as female genital mutilation, which still occurs in some parts of the country. Wives often get abused by their husbands. Overall women aren't being respected and don't have any rights in Cameroon. This event the first year that women right advocated are raising awareness in Cameroon about these traditions. It is actually the fourth year. Yet change is occurring within Cameroon, due to the lack of awareness within Cameroons political world and also because of education, which many Cameroon women don't happen to have, since when they are young, they stay at home and do household chores, whereas the boys go to school. This just shows how inequality is still an issue within Cameroon, and as time goes on; hopefully these traditions will start to decrease, and no longer be a harm for Cameroon women.
2.) How does Christianity play a big role in the novel "The River Between"? Did it influence those villages in central Kenya?
3.) In the novel " Things Fall Apart" the author explains the lifestyle of a Nigerian tribe that was connected to nine other villages. What was the daily lifestyle of those men who belonged to these tribes? How were women treated then?
4.) In the novel "Kaffir Boy" the author explains the living conditions during the apartheid years in South Africa. What did these families have to go through? And how harsh was the South African government to it's people?
Earlier today their was an bomb explosive that hit a bus carrying presidental guards in Tunis, Tunisia that kiled at least 12 people.
Where it happened:
The explosion happened at a bus stop where the presidential guard picks up and drops off its staff, which is near the former headquarters of the party of deposed President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.Also roads in the city were already flooded with heavy rain, when the explosion hit. Also it seems as if the bomber might've detonated explosives in the vehicle.
Aftermath of the incident:
Following the incident, according to BBCNews.com they stated how "President Beji Caid Essebsi has declared a 30-day state of emergency and the capital is under curfew."
This incident left Tunisians shocked and also bewildered due to the bombers getting close to cilvilans also especially getting super close to the members of the presidental guards. Where the bombing occured which is the tree-lined Mohamad V Ave. is not only a walking distance of many well-guarded ministeries, but it also close to cinemas, shops and then also cafes.
Also the area was busy when the blast had occurred, with pedestrians and cars heading home. Their has been incidents like these in Tunis earlier this year and they had changed their security to a much more advanced one but just today a bomb had killed several people. Their has been no group that has been found guilty for this incident, it has yet to be determined. It is such a tradegy how all of these bombings keep occuring all within Africa and also the bombing that had tooken place in Paris, France about two weeks ago.
Nigeria has been having severe fuel shortage for the past few months and it has become a bigger issue this month. This shortage is affecting their daily lives, and their jobs, due to the government putting an hold on the payments for the petrol, even though Nigeria is known as Africa's main oil importer, but they don't handle the process of turning it into petrol.
The root of this issue:
According to aljazeera.com they stated how "The crisis started weeks before the March 29 elections, with oil suppliers were hit by tightened credit lines and halved international oil prices, a slump in the naira currency, and unpaid government debts the suppliers claim amount to nearly $1bn."
In May 2015, a new president came into power in Nigeria known as Muhammadu Buhari. Ever since he came into power the severe fuel shortage went even more downhill. Previous governments used to pay the wholesale fuel sellers without parliamentary approval. Whereas with President Buhari, he wanted to do things the right way.
According to BBC News.com, they stated how "…President Buhari is trying to stick to the law by refusing to release such a large sum of money without parliamentary scrutiny."
This fuel that has been put on hold, is imported at a subsidised price under a scheme operated by the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC). Just earlier this month, the government approved the payment of $2.1bn(e1.4bn) to the importers, or wholesale fuel sellers, to settle the subsidy claims, Yet this payment has been delayed because parliament has not approved it.
Today:
Many petrol stations have closed due to the shortage of petrol and they don't know when the payments will be approved. People are now being forced to buy fuel in the black market because the government won't pay the oil suppliers to manufacture the oil, so they can turn it into petrol and therefore it could be distributed back to Nigeria, from where they manufacture it.
Also their is long lines of cars waiting at petrol stations from sunrise to sunset. Their are cases where people are staying there overnight, so they can have a better chance at being the first to receive petrol if they receive some.
Their are also some places within Nigeria, where some petrol stations are giving out petroleum to people who they have connections with, which isn't okay. Hopefully this issue gets resolved soon, so Nigerians can get back to their normal routine's and go back to work.
For decades illegal gold mining has been occuring within West Africa. From Ghana to Burkina Faso and Mali, these three have succeeded within the illegal gold mining industry. This type of job is very dangerous and hundreds of African die from it ever year. They risk their lives everday so they can have a better life and have the money to carry on with their education. Ghana Illegal Gold Mining: Ghana is known to be the one country who benefits the most from this type of industry and is the best at it. It is also another hot spot for illegal gold mining. According to www.takepart.com they stated how "A 2013 studyfound that the West African nation, which is the world’s second-largest gold producer, faces an environmental crisis as a result of illegal mining. “Illegal miners have caused and continue to cause irreparable havoc to the environment especially water bodies which serve as sources of water for domestic, industrial and irrigation purposes,” wrote Amankwah Emmanuel, a researcher at Ghana’s Wa Polytechnic university, in the paper, which was published in the Journal of Earth Sciences. They also stated how “Pollution of soil and water bodies with mercury, sludge and other chemicals, destruction of farms and farm lands, degradation of land and vegetation, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, encroachment of forest and game reserves among others have been the order of the day due to illegal mining" within Ghana.
Therefore illegal gold mining in Ghana is hurting the environment, and causing alot of damage within Ghana.
Mali Illegal Gold Mining: Maili is Africa's third largest gold producer. Yet the country still remains poor, and scraps that illegal miners manage to dig up are few. According to Makula Dunbar from www.afkinsider.com she stated how these miners "... arrive at 6 A.M. and stay until 6 P.M.,” Mali gold miner Awa Keita told CCTV Africa. “That’s what we do: there are times when we don’t even eat. Personally, I’ve worked so hard that my back aches. The work is very difficult.” Therefore even though illegal gold mining is occuring within Mali, these minors are risking their lives everday to make some money, that can help them live a better life.
Burkina Faso Illegal gold mining: Burkina Faso, is the third country in Africa that has illegal gold mining. Everyday dozens of people arrive to Burkina Faso's low-tech artisanal gold mines, in order to find employment. They work in poor conditions just like the other two countries and it's also dangerous as well. These minors in Burkina Faso, can go months without an income. Their has been cases where some of the minors have made a huge profit from gold mining, and can afford to buy luxury cars and motorcycles. Yet for the majority of the miners, they still live in poverty and don't make alot of profit. They make about seventeen dollars a week, which is a little bit. Even though these miners aren't making much on a daily basics, they perfer mining over farming.
Putting an end to illegal gold mining: Due to the growing rate of illegal gold mining, it has been hard to put an end to this issue. Ghana, Mali and Burkina Faso government have been trying to decrease it, but it is nearly impossible to do so.
What has been happening? South Africa's university students are standing up for their rights and want college tuition's rates to not increase. It is already becoming expensive as it is. White minorities are the only ones who seem to be able to afford universities, whereas South Africans are struggling to afford to go to universities. Higher education is now being seen as a luxurious things, and all these students want is for universities to be more affordable so anyone can earn a degree and be more successful in life.
According to CNN News.com, authors Basani Baloyi and Gilad Isaacs stated how "An unprecedented movement of student activism has been sweeping South African university campuses and cities, culminating in a march on the historic Union buildings on Friday 23 October, the seat of the South African government. Not since the Soweto Uprising of 1976 have this many youth arisen to demand the right to quality and accessible education." Why are South African students struggling in general? South Africa is seen as being the most unequal society in the world. Many people are struggling to get by. Their youth also faces many problems. First of all, a third of their young people who are aged from 15-24 are either not employed or higher education. Also their unemployment rate for the youth is at 50%. Set aside from university students, primary and secondary students are also experiencing problems. Many aren't finishing high school. Also schools that are located in black townships and in rural areas tend to have the least access to quality education. Many of these students who are protesting didn't come from poor background but they all have one thing in common, which is that fees represent access, which leads to higher education and to better life, one filled with success. (Baloyi&Isaacs) Why are students protesting? Students are seeing the fee as something that will lead them to a lifetime of debt, which is what they don't want. Many students find themselves in the middle as in not being poor enough to qualify for National Student Financial Aid schemes, and then also not being wealthy enough to afford the rise in university fees, which is devastating.(Aliki Saragas) Due to these sudden changes, many students are protesting and feel upset because they can't believe how expensive universities will become and will continue to become, as the years go by. Soon higher education will be for minorities, and not for everyone.
Also the protests and student demands are not only about access but about the nature of higher education. "Academia in South Africa remains a white, predominantly male space. In 2012, white academicsmade up 53% of full-time permanent academic staff. That is a staggering amount when you consider that white people make up only 8% of the population"(Baloyi&Isaacs). What has occurred after these protests? "The students have won their demand of a 0% increase in tuition fees, with planned fee increases of up to 11.5%, at the heart of the protests. However, as ongoing demonstrations prove, the students' demands have been deeper than this. They have called for the "decolonization" and "transformation" of higher education institutions, the insourcing of outsourced workers (mostly cleaning, security and support staff, often the most vulnerable workers), and the release of their classmates arrested earlier in the week"(Baloyi&Isaacs). On October 23rd, in President Zuma of South Africa announces no increase in tuition fees due to the student protests. In Conclusion These students proved that change can happen. All you need to do is speak your mind and stand up for your rights. This is only the first step to a better education system for all these students, and they plan to stand up for their rights. 1st article link:http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/27/africa/fees-must-fall-student-protest-south-africa-explainer/index.html 2nd article link: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2015/10/south-african-students-protest-education-fee-hike-151025113254387.html YouTube video:
Child prositution is very common in Madagascar with young girls, and teenage girls, even though it is illegal. Many brothels in Madagascar have minors working in them and even young girls wander around cities at night and don't belong to a brothel.
Why young girls?
Young girls are the main target, becuase they are virgins when they begin. Most of these girls are as young are between the ages of 8-17. Instead of these young girls staying in school and getting an education they are pulled out of school to make money. Many of these young girls come from poor families, who are in desperate need of money.
In some cases, parents even put their children into prositution which is very wrong for a parent to do, but when they are struggling day to day, they need any type of income in order to survive. Young girls could either make alot of money at first or make a little bit of money, becuase they are new to the prositution world. Their is also cases where young girls mothers also are prositutes and thats the way they live their lives, as in it passes from one generation to the other. It is seen as being an easy way to make money.
What has the child prosiutution done for Madagascar as a whole?
Many clients of children who are prositutes are foreign tourists and older men. According to Aaron Ross from www.minnpost.com he also stated how "Foreign sex tourists account for much of the demand. In 2011, the last year for which official figures are available, 225,000 tourists visited Madagascar, a 15 percent increase over the previous year. Fifty-eight percent of those were from France, the former colonial power. And while most undoubtedly came to enjoy the country’s pristine beaches and lemur-filled forests, significant numbers arrived with less wholesome intentions".
Also child prositution occurs in the resort islan of Nosy Be; and other big cities like Toamasina, the capital, Antananarivo and many other cities and also in mining towns like Ilakaka in the south.
What can we do, to put a stop to this?
Their is not much being done to somewhat allievate this issue. Many families within Madagascar are okay with child prositution and don't view it as being something unlawful or bad, which is what I don't understand. It's never okay to be involved in prositution especially child prositution and the fact that parents within Madagascar are okay with it and even pushing their kids into this type of indsusty leaves me feeling speechless.
The governent has done anything to resolve this issue or decrease it. They will not even address the issue and even ignore the issue becuase it provides a source of income with their economy needs, since many families within Madagascar live in poverty.
I feel like an issue like this is something that everyone should be aware of and address, it may bring income to many families, but it is not okay to to make your daily income in an industry like this. Children should be in school, getting an education and keep growing in a postitive way, and all of these families are leading their children or are supporting their children not in the right way, which is leading them down the wrong path in life.
Child brides are very common in Africa. Many young girls marry at the age of nine years old, which is horrible. Aside from young girls, boys also marry young, under the age of 18. Child marriage is common primarily in rural areas and it's also mainly the poor who marry young. Within Africa, 42% of girls were married by the age of 18.
Health Problems:
Child brides are more likely to die young due from health problems. They experience premature pregnancy, which is when child brides usually bear children before they are physically or emotionally ready to do so. Also they can experience maternal mortality because they are younger than 15, and are five times more likely to die during child birth or pregnancy than older women. They are also prone to inherit HIV/AIDS from their husbands.
Physical, Verbal Abuse and Mental Health:
Child Brides can also experience physical abuse from their spouse, and experience torture from them. Also verbal abuse is common as well. Mental health wise, child brides can experience post-traumatic stress and depression from the violence and abuse that they face from their marriages.
Isolation&Abandonment:
They are often isolated from their peers and they can be easily abandoned id they develop health problems. One in particular is Fistula.
Education:
Child brides are all illiterate due to being pulled out of school at a young age and because they live in poverty.
Niger:
Niger has highest rate of child brides within Africa. The lowest rate is Zambia. They are struggling to stop the practice of child marriages. According to BBC News.com they stated how within Niger, "About 24% of girls will be married by the time they are 15. That rises to nearly 80% by the age of 18. It is a social phenomenon that affects all significant ethnic groups in Niger, including the majority Hausa community"(http://www.bbc.com). Also the main reason as to why Niger has the highest rate of child marriages is because they suffer from economic issues.
If a family is living in poverty and a wealthy Nigerian man approaches them and wants to marry their daughter, they will immediately give their daughter away because it is one less person to feed, and they also need the money to survive. Many wealthy Nigerian man pay up to thousands of dollars for a wife, and it all depends on her beauty.
Also child marriage is often protected by religious leaders, because child marriage is something normal within Niger and Africa itself. Their has been cases where the Nigerian government tried to introduce laws that would give more protection to girls, but it faced strong opposition from prominent clerics in it's Muslim country.
UNICEF:
The United Nations Children's Fund has been campaigning for change. They want child marriage and child brides to decrease and eventually have nothing of it left. They carry out awareness programs in tows and villages within Africa.
Unfortunately the world's poorest countries have the highest rates of child marriage and Africa is one of them. It's so tragic how families give away their daughters or in some cases their sons, to older partners for marriage, due to living in poverty and they are in need of money. The position that these families have to face everyday in their lives is depressing. I would never give away my children for money, but it's the only choice these families who live in poverty have within Africa, and primarily in Niger, if they want to continue living.
Their should be more awareness of child marriage and it should be put to an end. Education should become more important within Africa, and many religious leaders, should change their way of thinking when it comes down to child marriage. Poverty should be reduced as well. I hope that child marriage decreases over the next several years.
Child Labor,Slavery&Human-Trafficking Within the Chcolate Industry in West Africa
Have you ever wondered where our chocolate comes from? How is this chocolate manufactured? And who is doing all the labor? Unfornatley as we enjoy chocolate on a daily basics, the children who harvest it, dont get to enjoy it. The Chocolate Industry, where is it located? According to Foodispower.org they stated how most of the chocolate industry resides in "Western African countries, mostly Ghana and the Ivory Coast,supply more than 70% of the world’s cocoa.The cocoa they grow and harvest is sold to a majority of chocolate companies, including the largest in the world"(Foodispower.org).South america is also another country where the chocolate industry also exists. Some well known companies that buy their supply of cocoa from Ghana or the Ivory Coast are Hershey's, Mars and Nestle.
Child Labor: "In recent years, a handful of organizations and journalists have exposed the widespread use of child labor, and in some cases slavery, on cocoa farms in Western Africa.Since then, the industry has become increasingly secretive, making it difficult for reporters to not only access farms where human rights violations still occur, but to then disseminate this information to the public"(Foodispower.org). Some interesting facts about child labor that occurs in these farms within Ghana and the Ivory Coast are that these children are "…surrounded by intense poverty, and most begin working at a young age to help support their families, Some children end up on the cocoa farms becuase they need work and traffickers tell them that the job pays well. Other children are "sold" to traffickers or famers by their own relatives, who are unaware of the dangerous work environment and the lack of any provisions for an education. Often, traffickers abduct the young children from small villages in neighboring African countries, sucha s Burkina Faso and Mali, two of the poorest countries in the world. Once they have been taken to the cocoa farms, the children many not see their families for years, if ever"(Foodispower.org). These children work everyday for about two dollars a day harvesting this chocolate meanwhile America, and Europe gets to relax while eating chocolate. They are between the ages of twelve and sixteen, and many of them are as young as five years old. Also forty percent are girls, who stay for a few months, while others end up working on cocoa farms through adulthood. Typically a child's work day would consist of working from 6 am and their work day ends in the evening. While they are working, they tend to use dangerous equipment, such as chainsaws to clear the forest down, and even climbing the cocoa trees to cut bea pods, by using a machete. They are also exposed to agricultural chemicals within the cocoa farms. These children also work in a tropical environment, which leads to having a insect population. They usually have to spray the pods with large amount of industrial chemicals which can cause health problems for these young children. Many farm owners give children the cheapest food that they have available such as banana's and corn paste. Most of the children don't attend school, which is depriving them form their education. So when they reach adulthood, that'f if they continue to work on cocoa farms, they will continue to live in poverty, which is unfortunate. I find it to be quite unbelieveable how within the choclate indsutry, their are laws that state that their shall be no child labor or slavery involved in the production of harvesting chocolate, but many farms still continue to have child labor and slavery and human trafficking within their farms, and the fact that many well-known companies are buying cocoa from them after knowing this is horrible. Slavery/Human-Trafficking: The reason as to why these children are seen as living a life where they are slaves is due to many of them working without pay. They are also victims of physical abuse and are often whipped for working slow or if they try to escape. In many cocoa farms, children and adults are locked in at night, becuase their bosses are scared that they may escape. Whenever a child or adult decided to escape, if captured they are severly beaten. This is quite shocking for me to read about. I know that racism, and child labor still exists in today's society, but I had no idea that slavery still did. I don't understand why this world still continues to live this way. It's devestating to hear how young children are working in farms, and are treated horribly. After all that had happened in our world's history the same events still tend to occur. Big companies that get their cocoa from many Ghana and Ivory Coast cocoa companies should adress this issue of child labor, slavery and human trafficking, but rather to adress it, they act like they have no idea what is going on in these cocoa farms. Also unfornatley the people who run these cocoa farms have no choice to to obey these big companies orders. So they can't do much to change how these cocoa farms are runned or else they will lose profit and their farms. I hope that one day, this will change, and kid's and adults who work for cocoa farms, won't have to suffer anymore. Children should be going to school,and not be working at cocoa farms. The same applies to the adults who also work at cocoa farms. Both children ad adults, shouldn't have to deal with modern day slavery. These children shouldn't have to deal with physical abuse and neither should the adults. Quite frankly, we live in a world where our lives consist of enertainment, and wealth, and technology, but we never happen to worry about what is truly going in within our world. We shouldn't be worrying about celebrities lives, we should be worrying about normal people's lives, and how much people are struggling with the same issues that we put an end to in the past, but truth is we never did. I pray that this issue gets resolved soon, and that these children go back home and go back to school, and that the adults find new jobs, where they treat them as civilians and respectfully and pay them. 1st article link: http://www.foodispower.org/slavery-chocolate/ 2nd article link: http://www.thenation.com/article/your-favorite-chocolate-product-child-labor/ Youtube video:
Thursday, October 1, 2015
South Sudan's Bloody Civil War
Imagine being taken away from your family, and putting your education on hold and not being able experience a normal childhood or have a normal teenage life. This is the lifestyle that thousands of children are living right now in Africa, specifically in South Sudan, where they are still fighting their on and off civil war. According to Human Rights Watch. com, they stated how "“Despite renewed promises by both government and opposition forces that they will stop using child soldiers, both sides continue to recruit and use children in combat,” saidDaniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “In Malakal, government forces are even taking children from right outside the United Nations compound". Unforntatly South Sudan's government and it's opposition aren't doing much to stop this, which is a war crime if the child is under 15. Opposition forces still continue to recruit thousands of children who reside in refugee camps and take them even if the children doesn't want to go. Also many children are forced to fight, right away without being trained. Their has also been cases where young adults get recuited along with children. Many rebel commanders who are part of the oppositon forces, who are known to be the bad guys, use child soliders as personal assistants. They make them cook, carry water and also carry ammunition with them, which is dangerous. When being forced to train, if they resist to do so, they get beaten heavily. Also, the UNICEF stated "around 70% of an estiminated 11,00 child soldiers are serving with rebel groups, including the notorious White Army, known for sending thousands of Children into battle"(Burridge). Yet their has been some improvment of putting an end to recruiting child soldiers. In 2011, the Sudan people's liberation army had become independent from Sudan, which meant that they had made progress of using child soldiers. In December 2013, child recruitment resumed. The reason why it had resumed was becuase government forces that president Salva Kiir and opposition forces led by Riek Machar began to recuit children, due to the conflcits they had with eachother. By this time thousands of children had fought in the war on both sides. Their is also cases where children volunteer to fight. According to BBC.com, author Tom Burridge stated in a news article how "The United Nations says the recruitment of children in South Sudan's on-going civil war is "rampant". It estimates that there are 11,000 children serving in both the rebel, and government armies"(Burridge). Children who reside in villages or even in refugee camps, are prone to get recruited by the oppositon forces and by rebel groups.When taken, many children manage to escape and find their way back to refugee camps and are then forced to stay. They are not permitted to leave the camp, becuase they will be at risk of getting recuited once again by the oppositon forces or by the governement. Even though their has been attempts to stop the use of child soldiers, which was once going away a couple of years ago, the war once again came, which meant that children are being recruited once again. It's unforunate how young children from the ages of thirteen to seventeen are being taken away from their villages and refugee camps and are being forced to fight in a war that they have nothing to do with. Instead of being educated at schools, their education is being taken away from them regardless due to rebel groups stationing at villages schools. The South Sudan government and the opposition forces and other rebel groups should be held accountable for their wrong doing, and they should put an end to recuiting children for the war. A war shouldn't be fought by young children. 1st article link: https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/02/16/south-sudan-government-forces-recruiting-child-soldiers 2nd article link: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29762263
