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Ukraine Rocketing from Both Sides

While the Ukrainian government has denied any use of Grad rockets — a high explosive rocket that can reach up to a range of 20,000 meters — a recent Human Rights Watch investigation proved both government and separatist forces have used the rockets in recent attacks.

According to Human Rights Watch, the Ukrainian government has killed more than 15 civilians and wounded numerous others in at least four separate attacks between July 12 and July 21. Separatist forces aren’t so innocent either. According to a statement made by the Pentagon last week, Russian forces were planning to transfer “heavy-caliber multiple-launch rocket systems” to Ukraine separatist forces. The rockets, which are in the 200mm+ range, pose as a looming threat for a country already proliferated with terror.

The use of unguided rockets in populated areas is a breach of international and humanitarian law and could result in war crimes. According to HRW, these crimes could be faced by both government and separatist forces. While the report certainly condemns government and separatist use of these rockets, it further criticizes separatists for not taking proper measures to avoid encamping in densely populated areas.

Senior Emergencies Researcher for Human Rights Watch, Ole Solvang, condemned commanding officers on both fighting sides for using the rockets, claiming that “[G]rad rockets are notoriously imprecise weapons that shouldn’t be used in populated areas.”

These most recent accusations come just a few weeks after the July 17 downing of the Malaysian Airlines Jet, MH17, in Ukraine. The crash, which was caused by a “massive explosive decompression” from a rocket, resulted in 298 deaths. The downing, which is still under investigation, was immediately addressed by the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, who hinted her suspicion that the attack may have been a war crime by the separatists.

More than 1,129 people have been killed and at least 3,442 others have been wounded as a result of the Ukrainian conflict since mid-April. The anti-government protests, which came as a result of former President Yanukovych’s failure to partner with Europe over a trade deal, have resulted in increased division among the country.

Fighting in Ukraine has only further exacerbated the country’s economic problems. With many families forced to vacate cities in major turmoil, displacement has caused an inevitable increase in unemployment and, predictably, poverty. One such city is Lugansk, which — at once a city of 420,000 — now occupies less than half of its original population.

Those left in the city are faced with an incredible lack of medical supplies, lighting and electricity. Those still living there, including retirees or families with small children with hardly any money, are basically trapped. Lugansk — and other Ukrainian cities — citizens are forced to endure inhumane conditions of fighting, violence and medical neglect. While a cease-fire from both ends is the country’s primary solution, Ukrainian citizens will continue to suffer until the violence is halted.

– Nick Magnanti

Sources: Huffington Post, SOS Childrens Villages, RT
Photo: WN

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Malnutrition Plagues Children of Rural China

China became an economic superpower in only a matter of decades. Forbes Magazine’s annual rich list reported that China has had 152 billionaires this past year. The once struggling nation has shown promising improvement. According to the World Bank, the number of impoverished people living in China dropped from 683 million in 1990 to 157 million in 2009. This improvement is a result of the rapid urbanization in China in recent years. Greater economic opportunity and government assistance is now available in cities. However, children in rural villages are stuck in a seemingly unbreakable cycle of poverty.

The children of rural China face a variety of challenges that are virtually nonexistent in the cities. Among one of the most glaring is the struggle against malnutrition. UNICEF estimates that there are 12.7 million stunted children in China; this life-long condition that results from severe malnutrition plagues children most during early childhood.

In addition to malnutrition, anemia takes a tremendous toll on rural Chinese children. Stanford University conducted a test on 1824 babies in China’s Shaanxi Province. Forty nine percent of the babies tested were anemic and 28 percent were near anemic. Furthermore, of all the babies tested, 40 percent displayed cognitive or motor problems.

Why are rates of anemia so high? Stanford reports that while the parents were generally willing to spend additional money on food for their children, they were uninformed on what type of nutritional value the food should have. Many micronutrients, such as iron, were missing, indicating that fresh fruits and vegetables were consumed infrequently. Additionally, further investigation revealed that mothers stopped breastfeeding after six months. From that point on, the child would typically eat rice porridge or soups.

Misinformed parents are often responsible for their children’s poor health. Parents often do not introduce solid food into children’s diets until they are 12 to 18 months old, though it is recommended that solid food make up half of a one-year-old’s diet. Many parents believe myths that babies cannot digest hard foods or that particular foods, like rice, are better for cognitive development.

Treating anemia and replenishing nutrients is actually quite easy. Stanford researchers state that simply taking iron supplements can counter anemia. To address the rampant malnutrition in China’s poor, rural provinces, UNICEF has begun to distribute a nutrition supplement called Ying Yang Bao. Ying Yang Bao is a small packet of powdered vitamins, minerals and proteins that can be mixed into solid foods like porridge.

Many rural Chinese families cannot afford to buy fresh fruits, vegetables and proteins like beef. Dairy products are also expensive and difficult to access. Often, noodles, porridge, rice and starches like potatoes constitute meals. Fortunately, the micronutrients in Ying Yang Bao are easily dissolved in porridges and soups.

UNICEF reports that, between 2008 and 2011, more than 30,000 rural children received Ying Yang Bao. After consumption, anemia levels were cut in half. A long-term solution to malnutrition is still in the works. While aid from UNICEF and other organizations is improving the health of rural children, education is a key issue to be addressed. Parents are misguided by myths and superstitions, which has led to the silent suffering on many children. A public education program has not been officially instituted, but would be another component of China’s long-term solution for malnutrition.

– Bridget Tobin

Sources: UNICEF, Stanford, World Bank, CNBC, The Guardian
Photo: China.org

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ChildFund International

ChildFund International works to help more than 400 million children all over the world who live in poverty. ChildFund was founded by Dr. J. Calvitt Clarke who started the “child scholarship” and who introduced and used seven innovative methods in order to reduce child poverty.

The first innovation, the aforementioned “child scholarship,” depends on a sponsor providing donations for one child.

The second innovative idea is “working with families,” where ChildFund helps run orphanages in addition to working with families to help them create better conditions for their children.

The third innovative idea involves encouraging “local communities to run local programs” in order to show the community how to foster the emotional and social needs of young children.

The fourth innovative idea impacts ChildFund itself. ChildFund promised to operate on a “Code of Fundraising Ethics;” it therefore follows this pledge by operating with honesty and integrity.

The fifth innovative idea was the creation of the “emergency action fund,” where an emergency response team will be available to provide immediate relief in situations of violence and in the face of natural disasters.

The sixth innovative idea was the creation of “child-centered spaces,” which are areas children can go in order to recover and escape.  The goal is to provide children a safe place to be and to learn in the midst of war and other types of violence.

The seventh innovative idea was establishing “a new approach to program development” that involves listening to children explain how poverty impacts them and then specifically responding to their comments in order to remedy the situation.

One of ChildFund International’s most recent projects is dedicated to helping families who have members afflicted with HIV to “build a future beyond HIV.”  The program tries to ensure that families have a safety net so that they may continue living a relatively normal life.  This “safety net” includes the following: health care services, protection if a family member dies, psychosocial support, food and nutrition, education, and economic empowerment.”

– Jordyn Horowitz

Sources: ChildFund International 1, ChildFund International 2, ChildFund International 3, BBB Wise Giving Alliance
Photo: ChildFund International

New Smart Toilet For Disaster Relief

After a disaster, outbreaks of cholera and other diseases often plague suffering communities due to the absence of proper water sanitation. Natural disasters and war can destroy toilets and sanitary systems, and when refugees flee their homes, they often move to camps without adequate sanitation. However, Damir Brdjanovic and a group of Netherland scientists at UNESCO’s Institute for Water Education have developed an emergency Sanitation Operation System to try to alleviate this problem.

Though the eSOS is currently only an experimental prototype, it is set to be tested in September in a refugee camp in the Philippines. The development of this smart toilet was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s SaniUP project, whose goal is “stimulating local innovation on sanitation for the urban poor in Sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia.” The toilet was developed in collaboration with FLEX/The INNOVATIONLAB and SYSTECH.

The eSOS includes a series of techniques to provide sanitation: the smart toilet itself, a “smart transport” system, a way to dislodge the toilets, the treatment of feces and urine, “the safe disposal of materials, like dry sludge, which is pathogen free” and the development of clean water from urine that can be reused in the system.

New membrane bio-reactor technology can turn urine into water that can be used for toilets, irrigation and horticulture.

The smart toilet system is lightweight, which makes it easier to transport, and it has a set of tools that provide information to officials about the community. It includes an S.O.S. button, “an energy supply unit, a GPS sensor, and a monitor that keeps track of waste accumulation.” The information is send to an emergency coordination center to help officials determine what aid needs to be sent.

Testing in the Philippines will be supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and the Asian Development Bank. Dr. Fiona Zakaria, a fellow at UNESCO-IHE, will carry out the testing with relief agencies.

With the development of new technology, scientists may be able to use inventions like the eSOS to provide crucial relief and disease prevention to threatened communities.

– Kimmi Ligh

Sources: UNESCO, Voice of America
Photo: UNESCO

Cob Homes in Developing Countries

A natural building technique called cob is emerging as an alternative home construction method in developing countries. Cob building has many advantages, including more readily available materials, less environmental impact and decreased expenses.

Building with cob involves mixing sand or clay with local subsoil and straw. This creates a stiff substance that can be molded and smashed together into small loaves (cobs). These cobs are then stacked to form the walls and foundations of buildings.

The practice of cob building has its roots in historic techniques, such as adobe and wattle-and daub construction.

“A sculptural technique, which lends itself to curved organic shapes, cob requires minimal tools and can be built by young and old alike,” according to Joseph F. Kennedy of the National Buildings Colloquium.

Unfortunately, cob is very labor intensive and building walls can take up to a year to complete.

However, cob structures are incredibly sturdy and able to withstand a wide variety of climatic conditions, including fires and earthquakes.

Cob can absorb large amounts of water without softening, and it is naturally insulated so it will stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

Cob buildings in the British Isles have withstood centuries of harsh weather and still remain in use today. Five hundred year old cob houses in England have recently been discovered in near perfect condition.

Cob is also preferable to other commercially available materials. Brick and concrete blocks are often too expensive for developing countries, while the materials needed to make cob are all locally available.

Additionally, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that the production of concrete is the third largest source of greenhouse gas pollution in the United States. Making one ton of cement results in the emission of roughly one ton of carbon dioxide.

Cob homes are the cost-effective, environmentally friendly alternative to concrete structures.

Cob buildings are currently going through code-testing procedures in the U.S., and have experienced a major revival in England, where homebuilders are turning to cob as a natural, sustainable construction strategy.

Natural methods of building also have a growing future in humanitarian aid efforts abroad. At the U.N. Habitat II conference in Istanbul, volunteers and local labor built a domed prototype house from compressed earth blocks in a week.

Buildings constructed with this natural, cost-effective and environmentally friendly technique could be the future for aid efforts that provide shelter for those in need.

– Grace Flaherty

Sources: Network Health, Bare Foot Builder, Scientific American, MIUN
Photo: Yahoo

Internet Could Solve Poverty in Colombia


The range of wealth in Colombia is vast. The richest people are six socioeconomic brackets higher than the poorest, and a fraction of the size. 88 percent of the population belong to the lower half of the pyramid.

The Colombian government wants to erase the gap between the wealthy and the poor and they want to use the Internet to do so. The plan is to connect 63 percent of the population to the Internet by 2018.

When the initiative began in 2010, 2.2 million people were connected to the Internet. Today, Colombia’s Ministry of Information and Communication Technology’s Live Digital Plan (Vive Digital) has increased that number to 8.8 million.

Diego Molano is Colombia’s minister for information and communications technology. He attributes the 2.5 million people lifted out of poverty in Colombia in the past three years to the program.

“When we connect, for example…a small school in the middle of the jungle to the Internet, those kids…have effectively the same opportunity to access the whole of information society—just like any kid in New York, London, or Paris,” Molano explains.

Molano recognizes, however, that connecting people to the Internet is not all that is needed. The Internet, he explains, is designed for the wealthy. It does not have applications for the rural shop-owner. “If you tried to sell Internet to them today…they say, ‘Why?’…no applications that impact their daily cash flow.”

The challenge becomes finding a way to provide Internet to Colombia’s poor rural populations as well as make it useful for them. To help with the challenge, Colombia has reached out to U.S. tech companies such as SAP, Google, Oracle and Facebook.

“Colombia is the perfect lab for them because poor people are already connected in this country,” Molano says.

One major issue, Molano has not addressed is that of electricity. In order to have Internet there needs to be access to electricity, and many parts of the country do not have that. An anonymous employee of Vive Digital told Colombia Reports that while he has delivered many computers to schools, a substantial portion have not been used because there was no access to electricity.

Colombia’s Internet initiative sees the equalizing power of the Internet, but is also finding challenges in its application.
“When you connect a potato grower in the Andean mountains, and he doubles his income thanks to Internet, you are reducing inequality,” Morano says, describing the ideal situation.

– Julianne O’Connor

Sources: Colombia Reports, Washington Post
Photo: Elespectador

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Global Poverty & the Economy

Humanitarian work is intuitively selfless; it is an opportunity to positively impact a stranger’s life without any expectations that he will return the favor. Although this makes a certain amount of sense, the sentiment is not entirely true.

In fact, when federal government agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development invest to eliminate global poverty, they see huge economic returns. Global markets expand and jobs are created. Financial gain should not necessary be the sole motivation for aid, but humaneness and generosity are not always the federal government’s prime movers. Boosting the economy makes for a good supplement.

The process, from foreign aid to market expansion, works like an investment. The investor, the one providing the aid, is essentially buying consumers who will then in turn spend money on foreign goods.

“From an economic perspective, what happens in one country has ripple effects throughout the world,” says Christopher Policinski, the CEO of Land O’Lakes.

The ripple effects starts like this: a small investment is made in a poor overseas community. Maybe this money provides clean and accessible water, maybe it champions education, or maybe it funds electricity and energy projects. In every possibility, it begins to raise the community out of poverty, making consumerism more viable.

The working poor, for example, may have money for apples, soaps, toothpastes and wheat. Middle to upper classes may now have money for plane tickets, clothing, technologies and cars. These goods are purchased from the United States and from other industrialized countries, boosting their economies.

Current data backs this theory. Here are some statistics you will find on the Borgen Project website:

1.

One out of five U.S. jobs is export-based. This means that one out of five U.S. jobs relies on global markets to succeed. Investments in foreign, impoverished communities expand these markets by creating new buyers of U.S. products, bolstering U.S. export-based business.

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Developing nations receive 45 percent of our country’s exports. This is important because it shows how much the U.S. really does rely on foreign communities that are still “developing.” Aiding those people in those markets will likely produce strong economic benefits in the U.S.

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The list of the countries with the fastest growing gross domestic products (GDP,) according to their annual average GDP increase percentage, may be surprising. The list goes: Angola (11.1,) China (10.5,) Myanmar (10.3,) Nigeria (8.9,) Ethiopia (8.4,) Kazakhstan (8.2,) Chad (7.9,) Mozambique (7.9,) Cambodia (7.7) and Rwanda (7.6.) In comparison, the U.S. GDP growth rate in 2013 was 1.9 percent. Investing in countries like Angola is smart business.

History backs this theory as well.

“From Germany to South Korea, nearly all of the United States’ top trading partners were once recipients of U.S. foreign aid,” reads the Borgen Project’s “Global Poverty & U.S. Jobs” page.

There is a lot of reason to promote foreign aid for its economic benefits, but it is important not to forget that at its core it is a humanitarian act. People are not only consumers. If Congress needs to think otherwise to secure bipartisan support and increase generosity in development projects, which it could stand to do, then so be it. It could be for the best.

– Adam Kaminski 

Sources: The Borgen Project, Bloomberg Businessweek
Photo: Bloomberg Businessweek

10 Worst Tsunamis


Tsunamis have occurred frequently throughout human history. Although they are seen in every ocean on Earth, 80 percent of the worst tsunamis occur in the Pacific “Ring of Fire.”

As a tsunami wave approaches shallow water over land, the wave slows, causing the much quicker traveling water to pull up, extending the wave vertically. Reaching the shore, these waves can then be over 100 feet with multiple waves occurring in succession. Discussed below are the 10 worst tsunamis in history based on fatalities since the year 1700.

 

The 10 Worst Tsunamis in History



1. Indian Ocean Tsunami – The earthquake that caused the infamous Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 registered a 9.1 in magnitude and was said to have the energy of 23,000 atomic bombs. This extreme rupture caused massive tectonic plate movement, which caused other secondary faults to occur and expose an entirely new oceanic trench. These secondary faults elevated the height and speed of the generated waves.

According to some scientists, the amount of energy released was so great, the Earth’s rotation was slightly altered and wobbling of its axis occurred by 2.3 cm. The Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 killed more than 283,000 people. It produced waves 50 m tall and reached 14 countries. 

2. Messina, Italy Earthquake and Tsunami – On December 28, 1908, an earthquake, lasting for less than a minute, shook the cities of Messina and Reggio. The earthquake registered a 7.1 and caused severe damage to the cities. Only a few moments after the shaking, 12 meter tsunamis inundated nearby coastal areas, destroying almost all of the structures and killing 70,000 people. It was proposed that the tsunami was not caused by the earthquake itself, but rather by an undersea landslide which was caused by the earthquake. In total, 100,000 to 200,000 people lost their lives.

3. Portugal-Morocco Tsunami – The morning of All Saints Day in 1755, Lisbon, Portugal and its surrounding areas were ransacked by a nearly 9.0 earthquake which lasted for several minutes. The earthquake was felt in Africa, Greenland, all the way through Finland and in the Caribbean.

In the center of Lisbon, it opened fissures 15 feet wide. Survivors of the quake rushed to open spaces only to see the waters recede and reveal the sea floor. After 40 minutes, three large tsunami waves inundated the area, forcing people to flee for their lives. In other areas, fires engulfed buildings and raged for five days. The waves then spread out to many surrounding areas in the Atlantic Ocean, including Morocco, where an estimated 10,000 people lost their lives. The total life claim of the earthquake and tsunami was as much as 60,000 to 100,000 people.

4. Tsunami in South Chinese Sea, 1782 – The destructive force of this tsunami lands it on this list. It traveled 120 km into the Chinese mainland, killing over 40,000 people in the process. The tsunami itself was caused by a tectonic earthquake on the ocean floor and it destroyed many crops and farming areas. Other outside information concerning the damage done is unknown.

5. Krakatoa, Indonesia Tsunami – In a series of massive explosions accumulating over August 26-27 in 1883, the eruption of Krakatoa occurred. The sounds produced by this volcanic eruption are considered to be the loudest sounds ever heard in modern history, spreading 3,000 miles from the island chain. Three volcanic peaks erupted over that two day period, unleashing energy four times the strength of a Tsar Bomba (one of which is more than 13 times the force of the Hiroshima, Japan explosion). Devastating tsunamis then spread over the islands, killing an estimated almost 40,000 people.

6. Tokaido-Nankaido, Japan Tsunami – A earthquake of 8.4 magnitude which caused 25 meter waves to engulf the coastal regions of Kyushyu, Shikoku, Honshin and Osaka in 1707. The waves of the tsunami extended several kilometers inland and as many as a dozen occurred over a one hour period. A total of 30,000 people died as a result of the tsunami.

7. Sanriku, Japan Tsunami – The Sanriku earthquake of 1896 was one of the most destructive earthquakes to ever hit Japan. It registered an 8.5 in magnitude and caused two large tsunami waves which caused 27,000 deaths. The waves of the Sanriku event reached 25 meters and swept away everything they came into contact with. Different seismologists have declared that the resulting tsunami waves were much more devastating than they should have been, given the estimated seismic magnitude.

8. Southern Chile Earthquake and Tsunami – Possibly the largest earthquake in recorded history occurred on May 22, 1960 off the coast of Chile. The earthquake registered 9.5 on the Richter scale and sent 80 foot waves pounding into the shore of Chile only 15 minutes after the earthquake occurred. The waves stretched towards Hilo, Hawaii 15 hours after the earthquake and then towards Japan 22 hours later. The tsunami also affected the Philippines, eastern New Zealand, Southeast Asia and the Aleutian Islands. The amount of damage ranged from US $400- 800 million and caused up to 6,000 deaths.

9. Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami – The 2011 earthquake of Tohoku was the most powerful earthquake to have ever hit Japan, and the fifth most powerful earthquake in recorded history.

It registered a 9.0 in magnitude and was preceded by large fore-shocks and hundreds of aftershocks. The main quake lasted several minutes, producing seismic energy that could provide a busy city like Los Angeles power for an entire year.

The resulting tsunami produced record high waves of over 30 meters and inundated several hundred kilometers of land. 15,884 people lost their lives in the resulting tsunami and also in the nuclear disaster of Fukushima. The Tokoku tsunami was the most expensive natural disaster ever recorded, costing the US equivalent of $300 billion.

10. Ryukyu Islands Tsunami – The earthquake that occurred in Ryukyu Islands, Japan in 1771 registered a 7.4 in magnitude. The tsunami that resulted claimed a third of the population (over 12,000 lives), with reports that the waves it produced were 40 to 80 meters high (although there may have been confusion in the original measurements). There was also a claim that an entire islet disappeared as a result of the event, but this has never been verified.

– Ashley Riley

Sources: Potiori, Australian Geographic, Random History, CNN, Some Interesting Facts, World History Project, Berkeley
Photo: Meljay

What Plagues Poverty in Palestine?

For years, the conversation on Palestine and its territories has almost exclusively focused on the relationship between Palestine, Israel and Egypt. For the 1.1 million Palestinians that live in poverty as a result of high unemployment, lagging wages and harmful inflation rates, Israel’s recent military actions in the Gaza strip have hardly encapsulated the extent of Israel’s effect on Palestinians.

Official statistics from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics reveal the poverty rates to be 25.8 percent in the Palestinian
Territory, 17.8 percent in the West Bank and a staggering 38.8 percent in the Gaza Strip for 2011, the last year for which statistics are available.

While these rates sound high, there’s more to the story than the statistics suggest.

In a sobering July 2013 report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, it was reported that “the Palestinian Authority suffered its most serious fiscal crisis since 2006” because of less foreign aid and “Israel’s withholding of Palestinian revenue.” In 2012, Palestine’s growth was halved from the previous two years to just six percent due to structural barriers imposed by Israel and the international market.

Israeli restrictions on the movement of Palestinian goods, for example, meant less money returned to the pockets of Palestinians, severely reducing growth and worsening already high rates of poverty. Furthermore, the illegal expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank left Palestinians with fewer options to physically export their goods, and many were simply incapable of accessing the same productive resources because of aggressive Israeli settlement expansion.

In the Jordan Valley, Palestinian workers are forced to take longer roads and go through checkpoints. These actions imposed by Israeli officials increase costs and decrease Palestinian competitiveness in the international market, ultimately reducing employment opportunities and deepening levels of extreme poverty.

Of course, not all of Palestine’s economic woes can be ameliorated with less aggressive Israeli policies. Low labor productivity contributes to poor Palestinian economic performance and leaves less money in the coffers of government officials, who spend large portions of the government’s budget on social spending. Illegal smuggling of economic goods is also a major drain to the taxable actions of Palestinian officials.

Overall, those living in poverty in Palestine make up a significant portion of the population, which consists of about nine million citizens.

While no World Bank data exists to detail the number of individuals living on two dollars a day or less in Palestinian-controlled territories, the research conducted by the United Nations and the statistics compiled by the Palestinian government provide a distressing picture of the state of the poor in Palestine. These poor are large in number, and if international donors do not pledge aid to assist Palestinians or if Israel adopts less-aggressive economic policies in the West Bank, the number of impoverished living in Palestine will surely increase.

– Joseph McAdams

Sources: UNCTAD, PCBS, Reuters
Photo: GIJN

Amped for Education

Since discovering the need for functional schools in Nicaragua, Jeff Pluta has been inspired to combine his love for education and desire to impact the developing world.

In 2009, Pluta started “Amped for Education,” a volunteer organization based in Massachusetts that works with Nicaraguan communities to facilitate the continuation of education beyond the primary level. Five years later, Amped for Education has completed and is working on various projects to improve education in Nicaragua.

Where does “Amped for Education” get its name? Aside from being a catchy tagline, “amped” is a play on words according to Pluta.

In Spanish, “ampliar” is a word meaning “to expand.” Pluta’s organization does just that; it expands educational opportunities in Nicaraguan villages. “Amped” implies the organization’s mission and the founder’s excitement for the projects.

Amped for Education aims to eradicate poverty in Nicaragua through education. Like many other organizations of its kind, Amped believes that education provides people with the tools needed to improve sustainability, create a more competitive job market and integrate into the global economy.

Education to do all of these things cannot happen at the primary level, though.

In Nicaragua, students are required to attend six years of school only. In other words, students only have to complete primary education. Amped for Education’s programs make secondary and tertiary education more enticing to citizens of rural Nicaraguan villages so that they will learn the material necessary to lift themselves out of poverty.

There are several ways to contribute to Amped for Education’s cause. The website includes a link to sponsor a Nicaraguan student.

Many students cannot attend school in Nicaragua because they cannot afford essentials such as backpacks, supplies, uniforms and books. By donating $185 per year, sponsors can send a child in Nicaragua to school with these essentials and dental and eye examinations as well.

Amped for Education asks sponsors to commit to five years of donations so that they can send the same student through the full five years of secondary education. In return, donators receive updates about their students’ grades, photos and letters. Sponsors also have the opportunity to travel to Nicaragua with one of the organization’s service trips to meet their individual students.

Teachers in the United States can donate without having to give any money. The website also provides a link for high school teachers to create lesson plans for teachers in the Nicaraguan schools to use. Because many of the teachers do not have the same degree of training as teachers in the United States need, the lesson plans are very helpful for the secondary schools in Nicaraguan villages.

Amped for Education leads service trips for volunteers to travel to Nicaragua to complete projects and meet the community members. The organization realizes how important tourism is to the Nicaraguan economy and, therefore, attempts to combine tourism with volunteer opportunities. Volunteers may help build secondary schools, create roadways to make the schools more accessible and experience the more typical tourist attractions in Nicaragua.

Pluta is a full-time high school teacher and baseball coach in Massachusetts. As a result, a good number of volunteer trip participants are students from his school. In July, students from his school and surrounding schools traveled to Nicaragua to build houses and play baseball with locals. The students learned from observing the severity of the poverty levels in Nicaragua and carried their knowledge and experiences back to Massachusetts.

The next baseball and volunteering combined experience will take place in February of 2015. Participants will build a new learning center with Amped for Education and play games against teams from Granada and the Corn Islands.

The Nicaraguan educational system has great potential, but it needs support to make the most of that potential. Organizations like Amped for Education can provide necessary support to rural areas of Nicaragua while raising awareness within the United States.

– Emily Walthouse

Sources: Amped for Education 1, Amped for Education 2, MassLive, WGBY
Photo: MassLive