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Toilet Hackers

A total of 2.5 billion, or about 40 percent of the world’s population, go through their daily lives without toilets and without satisfying basic sanitation needs. For lack of access to sanitation, one out of every three girls in sub-Saharan Africa drops out of school when they start menstruating, and a child dies every 17 seconds as a result of unclean water and poor hygiene. The members of Toilet Hackers have made it their mission to revolutionize the way people experience hygiene all over the globe.

Toilet Hackers is a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing and implementing successful sanitation projects in regions that lack adequate access to toilets. Their ultimate goal is to provide, in 10 years, a network of 10 million toilets worldwide.

In their first year, Toilet Hackers provided toilets in Kenya, Rwanda and Peru. In their second year, they provided toilets in Colombia, Uganda and Mumbai. In their third year, they have provided toilets in Brazil and Pune.

Additionally, Toilet Hackers clearly outlines how each donation impacts their cause. Their chart features three sections: cost, impact and system. For example, $12.50 impacts one child and can fund a hygiene scholarship, while $10,000 can fund hygiene training and 10 public latrines for up to 800 children and students. For donations in between, $50 can fund a ventilated latrine pit for a family of seven and a donation of $5,000 can fund a sanitation entrepreneur that will provide a village with education, training and access to better sanitation. Moreover, a donation of $1,000 can provide one public toilet with integrated hygiene training for 80 kids or people in a community.

Organizations such as UNICEF, Sprint, Water for People, Expedition Everest, MAMA Hope, Gensler, Falcon Waterfree Technologies, International Medical Corps, Second Muse, Random Hacks of Kindness and the Water and Sanitation Program have all partnered with Toilet Hackers to help them achieve their goal.

— Jordyn Horowitz

Sources: Huff Post, Gloabal Citizen, Toilet Hackers
Photo: WordPress

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Food for the Poor, Inc.

Food for the Poor, Inc., or FFP, is a Christian-owned and operated nonprofit community dedicated to feeding the poor in Latin America and Caribbean countries.

The nonprofit believes in the power of prayer and donations or gifts to help feed starving children in 17 different countries in order to make their lives better one day at a time.

FFP’s ministry reflects their belief in God’s unconditional love; they inspire trust and faith, and embrace all people, regardless of race or status. It is their belief that Christ is alive and well in their ministry, and that they can best serve him by assisting those in greatest need.

FFP began their work in Coconut Creek, Fla., and it is their current headquarters where they hold daily prayer services. They encourage all members and volunteers of the nonprofit to pray for those in dire need daily because prayer is a fundamental part of their ministry.

The nonprofit also sends out monthly devotionals and weekly prayers in order to set their volunteers and members on the right path as to who has the greatest need. They take prayer requests through the postal service, by telephone and by email in order to best serve the people for whom they pray daily.

FFP addresses issues such as starvation, deforestation, lack of education and many other hardships that may be detrimental to the well-being of the countries they serve.

The nonprofit uses donations and the prayers and faith of their members to help put an end to the largest issue of global poverty. Through donations of gifts, people can help someone eat, get out of poverty or stop deforestation of the rainforests in Latin America.

The charity is in good standing and has great ratings on nonprofit tracker websites. According to Charity Navigator, they put nearly 96 percent of all gifts or donations received toward programs to put an end to global poverty, deforestation and more.

Through the power of faith, donations and prayer, FFP provides a fresh new perspective on how to go about providing aid to those in need.

— Cara Morgan

Sources: Food for the Poor, Charity Navigator
Photo: Empire Press

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Nutrition in Sierra Leone

Of the deaths of children under 5 in Sierra Leone, 57 percent are the result of malnutrition, and both the ministry of health and government officials in Sierra Leone have begun work to reduce this horrifying statistic by joining Scaling Up Nutrition and by signing the Nutrition for Growth agreement.

As Sierra Leone recovers from its civil war, which ended in 2002, officials are attempting to shift the focus from malnutrition treatment to malnutrition prevention. Officials have been tracking the correlation between sanitation, education and malnutrition in order to improve prevention techniques.

In an interview with The Guardian, Aminata Shamit Koroma, the director of food and nutrition at the ministry of health in Sierra Leone, noted that women with a higher level of education were more likely to have access to adequate sanitation and less likely to have malnourished children.

In his efforts to prevent malnutrition in children, Koroma has been centering her campaign on breastfeeding and emphasizing to mothers the importance of breastfeeding their infants during the first six months of life. She has been spreading awareness through radio commercials and mother support groups.

Koroma has also been encouraging grandmothers to attend these mother-to-mother support groups so that they can impart their knowledge of child nutrition onto new mothers who might not be aware of the nutrients their children need. The Sierra Leone National Food and Security Food Policy of 2015-2016 also targets fathers so that they support their wives in breastfeeding. Besides emphasizing the future health of their children as a motivating factor, the initiative informs the families that if the mother is breastfeeding her child, they do not have to buy extra food for the child during the first few months of life.

The nutrition policy will also regulate the marketing of supposedly comparable and superior breast milk substitutes in order to ensure that mothers are not tricked by false sales promises. While Koroma knows it is unlikely that infant malnutrition will be eradicated within the next year or two, she recognizes the importance of the steps she is taking as she encourages the people of Sierra Leone to begin to change how they view infant health.

— Jordyn Horowitz

Sources: The Guardian, WHO, ACDI VOCA, Scaling up Nutrition
Photo: Mission News Wire

Super Bananas Could Help Millions

Decades ago, a new variety of rice featuring a golden hue was introduced into Asia. Developed by researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the University of Freiburg, the modified rice was created to boost vitamin A levels.

Supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Australian researchers have now done the same with bananas. The super bananas, and the rice before it, are infused with alpha and beta-carotene — the hydrocarbon that both gives carrots their deep orange color and the body vitamin A.

By isolating the genes responsible for beta-carotene production found in a non-edible variety of bananas, researchers were able to transplant  and increase expression of the gene in the common variety of banana. This allows the bananas to produce more beta-carotene in order to fight vitamin A deficiency in these regions. Peeling back the skin of a genetically modified banana reveals a golden hue, similar to the modified rice.

Around the world in developing countries, vitamin A deficiency causes 650,000-700,000 child deaths and another 300,000 children to go blind each year. The modified banana is intended to be a feasible means of easing the problem. The banana is a staple food in East Africa despite its low levels of vitamin A and iron. Rather than shipping thousands of carrots to developing nations,which faces difficult logistical problems, researchers believe growing the food locally is a more feasible approach. Since bananas are a staple crop in the region already, researches need only to introduce the new variety to farmers who know the cultivation process.

Researchers are about to conduct their first human trials as the bananas are shipped to the United States where they will also undergo a six-week trial intended to measure their effect on vitamin A levels.

The plan is for the genetically modified bananas to be growing in Uganda by 2020. Once the bananas are approved for commercial cultivation in Uganda, the banana can be expanded to other countries including Rwanda, parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and Tanzania.

In West Africa, where the cultivation of plantain bananas is more common, researchers have said the technology could easily be transferred to that variety as well.

The modified banana has the potential to save millions of lives in developing nations where vitamin A deficiency is a real threat. The genetically modified banana is just another way that scientists have been able to improve different regions’ staple crops to provide more and better benefits to those struggling to survive.

— William Ying 

Sources: Discovery, ExtremeTech, The Telegraph, Cnet
Photo: Flickr

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Will Narendra Modi Protect the Adivasis?

A great deal has already been written, discussed and predicted about India’s newly elected leader, Narendra Modi, and his Bahratiya Janata Party. A tremendous amount of implications arise from his election, but one that has slid under the radar has been his and his party’s policies toward the indigenous population — the Adivasi people.

Many of the laws currently in place in India already fall short of international standards regarding human rights and indigenous persons. This problem is only compounded by the nationalist platform adopted by the BJP, and has caused concern for people both inside and outside of India’s borders.

While on the campaign trail, Modi took several opportunities to debunk claims from the opposition Congress party that he would take advantage of the Uniform Civil code to take away rights of Adivasis. Furthermore, Modi went on to claim that BJP rule in states with prominent Adivasi populations has already helped protect their rights and increase their living standards. But as is natural with most political campaigns, what is said on the campaign trail does not always match up with reality.

The indigenous population of India has historically had a negative relationship with the state and companies based in the country. Amnesty International has already called for Modi to bring to justice those who have committed prior crimes against Adivasi population, referencing riots that took place in 2002 and 1984. While there have been acts of violence against the indigenous population, the most common crimes have been committed against the Adivasi’s rights to give businesses the free reign they need to make a profit. This information is particularly frightening considering that one of the central components of Modi’s platform was reinvigorating the Indian economy.

So the question remains — are the Adivasi people about to find themselves in the crosshairs yet again? Recent legislative efforts indicate this might not be the case. However, many of these need to be passed by Parliament in order to be ratified into law.

One recent draft bill proposes that in order to use land on constitutionally protected indigenous territories, you would need the consent of village assemblies. However, this draft bill still needs to get passed before becoming a law. The recent Parliament also passed a temporary law making wrongful possession of Adivasi land a criminal offense. But similar to the draft bill, this law will expire unless it gets passed within six weeks of Parliament reassembling.

While these laws and bills certainly are a step in the right direction, more work still needs to be done. One of the main criticisms lobbied at the bills is that while they protect the Adivasis from private companies, there is very little mention of intervention done on behalf of the state. But before more comprehensive bills can be written and laws can be passed, these important first steps need to survive the political process. It is now Parliament’s turn to take action. With any luck, they will make the right decision and protect India’s indigenous population.

— Andre Gobbo

Sources: Amnesty, Indian Express, The Guardian
Photo: Forbes

Underwater Gold Mining Threatens Filipinos

Investigations spanning from the beginning of the year have surfaced a unique gold mining practice in the Philippines. However, the nature of the dangerous work has raised concerns over the lack of labor regulations and the safety of the workers, especially since children are involved.

The people of the coastal province of Camarines Norte, about 200 miles southeast of Manila, are practicing an underwater mining technique called “compressor mining.” It involves teams of miners who dig holes in shallow bay water to dig and sift for deposits of gold trapped in ore. One team member is the digger and spends two to three hours at a time below the surface of the murky water, handing buckets of mud up to another team member.

The buckets are then passed back to the final members who mix in mercury so that the gold will bind to it. Once they’ve maximized the gold-to-mercury ratio in the mixture, they squeeze it out so that it solidifies into an amalgam lump. The final step is to take a blowtorch to the lump so that the mercury evaporates, leaving gold to be collected.

The technique is called compressor mining because the worker under water breathes through a tube connected to a makeshift compressor. The compressor is often fashioned out of an empty beer keg and connected to a diesel motor that pumps air through the tube.

From start to finish, the technique poses a number of severe health and safety risks. The holes dug by the miners are unstable and any wrong move could cause a collapse, trapping the worker. Spending long hours in the water exposes entire teams to bacteria and parasites as well. There is also the issue of toxins entering the lungs regularly through breathing tubes and mercury fumes poisoning those extracting gold.

In interviews with the laborers, Richard Paddock of the Center for Investigative Reporting states that those he talked to were completely unaware of toxic exposure, and many were reluctant to believe him.

There are at least a few thousand people involved in the operation, and many of the teams are comprised of families with children as young as 5 years old. Since underwater miners make more money, 12 and 13-year-old boys and girls are attracted to the position in hopes of raising money to safeguard their future and their family’s future.

According to Thomson Reuters, in 2012, the Philippines was the 18th largest supplier of gold in the world. Yet, like in many developing nations, the retrieval of gold from deposits is dangerous work and workers have very little choice when they need to provide for themselves and their families. Even still, these Filipino gold miners only make $5 average per day, up to $20 on a good day, and sometimes go home with nothing.

There’s no way to track the supply of gold coming out of the Camarines Norte area; once it enters the world gold supply, it is impossible to trace.

 — Edward Heinrich

Sources: PRI, PBS, Pulitzer Center
Photo: Pulitzer Center

Success of Education in Djibouti

Compared to surrounding countries, the educational system in Djibouti is flourishing. Though illiteracy remains a problem in the small country in the Horn of Africa, the government has made significant progress in the last decade to make education accessible to a greater percentage of the population. For many reasons, the future of education in Djibouti looks even brighter.

1. Modeled after French educational system
The French educational system has consistently been considered one of the strongest in the world. It separates schooling into three levels (primary, secondary and higher education) and focuses on ensuring that all children enter primary school at a young age. The structure of Djibouti’s educational system is modeled after the French system, and the African country maintains the tradition of trying to enroll as many children as possible in the first years of primary education.

2. Not exclusively French
Although Djibouti follows France’s example, education is not exclusively available to those that speak French. In the past, education in Djibouti was somewhat of an elitist concept. People that spoke the native language could not attend the schools because the lessons were taught in French. Fortunately, this idea has been abandoned and schools readily accommodate the various languages spoken in Djibouti.

3. Number of schools
Djibouti is a small country. Approximately 846,000 people inhabit its less than 9,000 square miles. Given that most of these people live in the capital city, the number of schools in Djibouti is impressive in comparison to other developing countries. In terms of public schools, there are 81 primary schools, 12 secondary schools and two vocational schools. There is also a university.

4. The University of Djibouti
The University of Djibouti is the only institution of higher education in Djibouti, but its effects on the educational system seem much greater. The university offers arts, science, law and technology instruction. The professors are qualified to teach their respective subjects and frequently communicate with professors outside of their own country. The university highlights education on topics related to current affairs in Djibouti, such as the economy, to guarantee that its students graduate with comprehensive knowledge about the market and the “real world” that they will enter.

5. Gender equality
Truthfully, more boys than girls go to school in Djibouti. However, compared to many developing nations, the ratio reflects an improved sense of gender equality. The drop-out rate for females is 1.6 percent, while it rests just below 1 percent for males. At the start of schooling, however, the Ministry of Education in Djibouti takes care to establish equal educational opportunities for boys and girls.

6. Government attention
The government recognizes the importance of education, and has taken steps to make the educational system a primary focus. The country’s national budget allocates more than 20 percent to education and has done so for the majority of the 21st century.

7. Rising enrollment
Due to the government’s high attention to education and the tradition of French education, Djibouti works to increase enrollment rates of children in primary schools. In 2002, 43 percent of primary-aged children were enrolled in formal schooling. That statistic increased to 66 percent in 2006 and 71 percent in 2009. The enrollment rate has been increasing steadily since then.

Most of the progress in education in Djibouti has occurred in the capital city, also called Djibouti. The more secluded and rural areas of the country still need to see improvements in accessibility and quality of education, like many other developing countries.  However, the attention to educating citizens of all ages proves that the government of Djibouti is one of the most proactive in encouraging the growth of academics.

— Emily Walthouse

Sources: Maps of World, UNICEF, Study Lands, Africa Africa
Photo: Vimeo

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The Effect of Unhealthy Lifestyles in Global Health

“Unhealthy diets are now a greater threat to global health than tobacco,” said U.N. Special Reporter on the Right to Food, Oliver De Schutter. “Just as the world came together to regulate the risks of tobacco, a bold framework convention on adequate diets must now be agreed.”

In May, 2014 at the 67th World Health Assembly in Geneva, WHO Director General Margaret Chan announced the creation of a Commission for Ending Childhood Obesity.

In 2012 alone, over 40 million children younger than 5 years old were considered to be overweight. Thirty million of these children live in developing countries. In addition, about 3.4 million adults die due to obesity each year. Furthermore, 7-41 percent of specific cancers and 44 percent of diabetes cases are due to obesity.

Around 1.7 millions deaths are due to low consumption of fruits and vegetables. Eating enough fruits and vegetables has been linked to reducing the chances of heart disease and stomach and colorectal cancers. In addition, compared to the recommended intake of five grams of salt per day, the average global consumption of salt is between nine and 12 grams, thus greatly increasing the chance of heart diseases.

In developing countries with growing economies, citizens have developed a less-active lifestyle and less healthy eating habits.

Schutter offered five potential solutions to the growing epidemic of obesity and unhealthy lifestyles:

  • Imposing a tax on unhealthy foods
  • Imposing regulations for foods with high contents of saturated fats, salt and sugar
  • Restricting advertising for unhealthy foods
  • Eliminating subsidies on agriculture that make some foods cheaper than others
  • Supporting production of local foods

By simply taxing sweet beverages in India, the amount of diabetes would drop by 3-4 percent.

While the focus of the public is often on a lack of access to food and starvation, it is also important to note the negative aspects of unhealthy lifestyles on nations around the world.

— Lily Tyson

Sources: Asia Sentinel, Fox News, SRFood, WHO
Photo: The Guardian

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UNICEF and the World Cup

This year, UNICEF has been utilizing the global platform that the 2014 World Cup provides as a method to boost advocacy.

While it is true that the competition brings people together and has many positive effects on the nations involved, the World Cup will unfortunately also result in the rise of more sinister practices.

For example, global sporting events like the World Cup almost always result in a significant boost in human trafficking.

Judy Harris Kluger, an affiliate of the nonprofit Sanctuary for Families, describes this phenomenon: “On the most basic level, any location that sees an exponential increase in large numbers of men traveling for entertainment will receive a proportion increase in those who purchase sex.”

In Brazil, where this year’s World Cup is being held, prostitution for those over 18 is legal. Unfortunately, many of the people on the streets selling sex are children, and UNICEF is trying to do something about it.

In order to combat child trafficking, UNICEF Brazil has created an app called Proteja Brasil that allows users to report incidences of exploitation or abuse. Witnesses can use the application to document the time, details and location of incidents. This information is sent directly to the authorities who can respond immediately.

In addition to reporting the exploitation of children, the app contains detailed information about exactly what constitutes child abuse, leaving users better educated and more able to protect youth from harm.

Despite the fact that the World Cup means remarkably high numbers of people will be exploited in sex trafficking, UNICEF still sees the tournament as having the potential to create positive change, saying, “The FIFA World Cup is not only a great sporting event, but a powerful opportunity to share messages about the profound and positive difference sport can make in the lives of children. It provides a chance to focus positive public attention on the special risks children face in host countries like Brazil and around the world and the special efforts we can take to protect them from those threats.”

Hopefully UNICEF’s efforts to protect children during this year’s World Cup will be effective. The tournament is essentially a massive world stage which the United Nations is trying to use to for good.

The U.N.’s Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon attended the first match of this year’s World Cup and released a statement that  highlights the tournament’s significance: “Sport has a unique ability to unite us, and to show us what we have in common…[The World Cup] is an occasion to celebrate the best values of sport: teamwork, fair play and mutual respect.”

— Emily Jablonski

Sources: Huffington Post, UN, UNICEF
Photo: UNICEF USA

Fighting Sexual Violence in the DRC

Since military conflicts erupted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in the 1990s, rates of sexual violence have increased significantly and become a major issue across the region. Though conflict in the DRC officially ended in 2003, fighting has continued and taken more than 5 million lives since the war began almost 20 years ago.

Sexual violence in the DRC, along with related crimes, have been called the worst in the world, particularly in the eastern region of the country. A study from the American Journal of Public Health states that in the DRC, 1,152 women are raped every day, and an estimated 12 percent of the female population of the DRC has been raped at least once.

Research has shown that many of the sexual attacks are related to armed conflict, and thus, the United Nations Development Program is helping the DRC strengthen its military justice program to make it fair, just and constructive in helping sexual violence victims.

Across the regions, trials are taking place following years of conflict and acts of violence in the DRC. Many soldiers have not been punished for their actions due to their special treatment in the military system, but the civilian courts are working their way through cases with the support of the UNDP. Thirty-one convictions and 9 investigative missions into serious war crimes under the International Criminal Court have resulted from UNDP support.

“It was important that the case be tried here because it is the exact location where the incidents [of rape and murder] occurred,” said Captain Magistrate Bienvenu Muanansele, from the Tribunal Militaire de Garnison de Goma. “These trials held before the people of Bweremana show the people how justice does its job. The law prevails, even for the military.”

The UNDP is also supporting the DRC military in training soldiers to understand the law, the consequences of violent attacks against civilians and human rights. A total of 2,432 soldiers and officials have gone through this training process.

In addition to these steps to reduce violent acts by soldiers, many organizations are working to provide support and community for female sexual violence victims. Masika is a rape victim and founder of a rescue center for sexual violence survivors. After being exiled by her parents in-law, she decided to offer community and support to other women who had experienced sexual assault. Following an army attack in the nearby marketing town of Minova, 130 rape victims came to Masika’s camp.

The stigma against rape victims in the DRC is so severe that in many cases, women are exiled from their families and ostracized. However, women support groups are beginning to provide community as rapists are being brought to justice.

An organization called SAMWAKI, or A Voice to Rural Women in Swahili, works to provide information and training for rural women through community radio. The group aims to increase women’s knowledge on topics from health to farming, and provides listening groups for victims to share their experiences.

Similarly, AFEM (L’Association des Femmes des Médias du Sud Kivu) offers journalism training and a space for women to be a voice for sexual violence survivors. Founded by young journalist Chouchou Namegabe, the organization aims to increase women’s representation in the media.

While sexual violence in the DRC continues to be one of the worst cases in the world, both international and domestic groups are working to end the normalization and prevalence of rape. Gradually, soldiers and sexual assailants are being brought to justice, and women are coming together, speaking out and finding community.

— Julia Thomas

Sources: UNDP, The Independent, The Guardian, Washington Post
Photo: ICMHD