Whether they’re lifelong philanthropists or newcomers, the following public figures have all captured the media spotlight at one point or another, drawing attention to humanitarian causes in unique and exceptional ways. Here are the top five most viral humanitarians.
1. Casey Neistat
Despite being one of the newest faces in advocacy, filmmaker Casey Neistat has a well-established fan base of YouTube followers. He also has an eclectic filmography including work for HBO, The New York Times, Nike and Mercedes. Casey’s most recent hit was a December 2013 viral video titled “What Would You Do with $25,000?”
Twentieth Century Fox offered Neistat $25,000 to produce a promotional video for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, but instead he used the funds for a typhoon relief mission in the Philippines. In the short six minute video, he documented his trip every single step of the way—from his arrival, to buying provisions, to renting a bus to transport goods to typhoon victims. The relief effort and the video were a huge success, garnering close to three million views.
2. Romeo Dallaire
Romeo Dallaire is a retired Lieutenant-General of the Canadian Army and current Senator from Quebec who was at the frontline of the Rwandan Genocide in the early 1990s. As the Force Commander for the UNAMIR peacekeeping operation in Rwanda, Dallaire saw the nation descend into genocide between the Tutsi and Hutu ethnic groups. Accompanied by a minimal peacekeeping group with few resources (as well as direct orders to stay put and not to engage) Dallaire’s reports of the escalating violence were lost amidst the bureaucracy of United Nations leaders and U.S. government officials.
His 2003 memoir, Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda, brought the issue to light for the whole world and was later accompanied by both a documentary in 2004 and a feature drama in 2007 of the same name. Since then, Dallaire has developed the Will to Intervene (W2I) Project for the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies at Concordia University.
The project provides governments, journalists and NGOs with policy recommendations for dealing with future potential crises. Dallaire has kept up appearances through annual university tours across Canada. He was played by Nick Nolte in Terry George’s Hotel Rwanda, which deals with the genocide from the perspective of local hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina.
3. Bill Nye
Most of us know William Sanford Nye as “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” the adorably goofy yet informative character from Disney and PBS’s television show. The show, which aired for five seasons from 1993-1998, is still viewed today in grade school classrooms throughout the country. Essentially, Bill Nye is like the Mr. Rogers of science, and perhaps the only celebrity to hold both a list of Emmy Awards and Honorary PhDs.
Bill Nye’s 2005 project The Eyes of New targeted an older audience and went beyond the actuarial sciences to tackle issues such as population growth, nuclear energy, race, and climate change. His wide range of media appearances include stints on “Dancing with the Stars,” “Larry King Live,” “N3mbers,” and a highly anticipated debate with Ken Ham—not to mention last year’s very viral death hoax, and this year’s presidential selfie.
Recently, he brought his brand of “edutainment” to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with a short video dispelling popular poverty myths as part of the #StopTheMyth movement. Nye’s mix of fact-based research and humor has made him one of the most talked about scientists of today and a true viral humanitarian.
4. Jason Russell
Jason Russell’s Kony 2012 campaign is what happens when a video goes too viral too fast—as well as how easily a personal incident can bring scrutiny upon a humanitarian effort. Invisible Children is an organization founded by Jason Russell in 2004 to raise awareness about Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, a group that has since become synonymous with child soldiers and war crimes.
The Kony 2012 short film, dedicated to bringing Joseph Kony to the International Criminal Court, was met with widespread, unprecedented support from social media networks and young people across the globe.
First posted on March 5, 2012, the video currently holds almost a 100 million views. But amidst all the criticism, financial scrutiny, stone-throwing, and lampooning, what few people realize is that Russell’s efforts were overwhelmingly successful at bringing Joseph Kony to the forefront of media attention.
Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) all participated in a bipartisan resolution to place a bounty on Kony just weeks after the video’s release. A year later, the U.S. put up an additional $5 million bounty as part of the War Crimes Rewards Program, just as the AU and Uganda called off their own search efforts. Moreover, the film brought a surge of interest into U.S. foreign policy toward Africa and the workings of the International Criminal Court.
5. Bill and Melinda Gates
Bill and Melinda Gates are very savvy with the internet—which shouldn’t be surprising considering Gates’ Microsoft helped make online culture into what it is today. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, founded in 1997, is an expansive organization that focuses on global health, agricultural development, family planning, vaccines and disease.
Recently, the philanthrocapitalist duo released their annual letter addressing “3 Myths That Block Progress for the Poor”. A summarized version of the letter was published by BuzzFeed last month as “9 Reasons The World is Better Than Ever”. From their #StopTheMyth hash-tagging project to their clever GIF demonstrations, the two show impressive diligence in informing the millennial internet culture.
What’s important to note is how the above figures draw attention to causes in very new and unconventional ways. The philanthropists of yesterday used the power of Hollywood and the prestige of the music industry to advocate their causes. Today, they fight for the support of internet communities and social media users rather than viewers and listeners. Whether it’s Jason Russell’s aggressive viral sharing, Gates’ Reddit AMA’s, or Neistat’s hands-on charity work, they’ve reached new crowds with new media, making significant change along the way.
– Dmitriy Synkov
Sources: Casey Neistat, Parliament of Canada, W2I, Bill Nye CV, Invisible Children, Politico, Gates Foundation
Photo: Glass Door
Education in Cambodia Grows with Foreign Aid
Cambodia is making strides to enhance the standard of its education system. In an attempt to do so, Cambodia’s Education, Youth and Sports Minister, Dr. Hang Chuon Naron, has reached out to Malaysia and the United States in an attempt to improve their ties and promote a relationship based on education in Cambodia.
Naron recently met with Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to come to an understanding on the importance of education.
Many Cambodian students study in Malaysia, where education is a “number one” priority, according to Muhyiddin. Their mission is to raise the quality of life in both Cambodia and Malaysia by focusing on education; after the meeting, both Muhyiddin and Naron signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) agreeing to work together.
Muhyiddin stated, “I hope that the MoU…would spell out more areas that Malaysia and Cambodia could work together in the education sector as well as increase the number of Cambodian students studying in our country.”
The MoU will further the growing ties between Malaysia and Cambodia and aims to raise the quality of education in Cambodia, starting at a pre-school level and extending to both private and public schools.
On February 15, Cambodia also hosted an education exhibition consisting of over 30 U.S. universities and colleges in Phnom Penh to encourage Cambodian students to further their education. Cambodian students were able to discuss degree opportunities, scholarships and what they needed to do to apply to U.S. colleges and universities, with college admissions representatives.
A U.S. embassy press statement stated, “The fair highlights U.S. government support for efforts to enhance the quality of education and expand educational and career opportunities for Cambodians.”
So far, Cambodia has approximately 100,000 high school graduates who are interested in applying to college.
– Rebecca Felcon
Sources: National News Agency of Malaysia, Shanghai Daily
Photo: Cambodia Mathematics Curriculum Development Project
Thailand Deports Rohingya Muslims Back to Myanmar
Rohingya Muslims are a stateless people.
Their homeland is in dispute; some argue that it is Bangladesh and others argue that it is Myanmar. The sitting government in Myanmar’s organized persecution of the Rohingya has caused hundreds of thousands to flee to other countries in any means that they are able.
A great number have fled to nearby Thailand assuming that they would be safe from deportation back to a state that does not recognize or want them; however, they were wrong.
The situation in Thailand for the Rohingya is not a welcome one. Since the early 2000s, the Rohingya have been fleeing persecution in Myanmar to any country that is close at hand. However, Thailand is not the sanctuary that it used to be for the Rohingya, according to Abdul Kalam, a Rohingya who has lived in Thailand after escaping forced labor in his home.
Kalam is the head of the Thailand’s Rohingya national organization. The plight of the Rohingya in Thailand is not widely known save for a brief international spotlight in 2009, when media captured boatloads of Rohingya refugees being towed back out to see by Thai naval ships.
The Rohingya are trapped in vicious circle.
Thailand is one of the few countries in the world that has indefinite imprisonment terms and due to this unusual fact, this is often the fate of those being detained by Thai authorities. A group of reporters filmed the appalling conditions that many Rohingya face while being indefinitely detained in Thailand.
The conditions that the Rohingya were found in are deplorable and it is a travesty that such treatment of human beings is still occurring. The cells that were being used as holding areas were designed to house just 15 men each, yet Thai authorities had placed 276 Rohingya men in them. The Thai government should be aiding the Rohingya in their escape from persecution; however, Thailand does not recognize the Rohingya as refugees.
The troubling news for the Rohingya in Thailand is compounded by the fact that reports document how the Thai government has been secretly selling Rohingya to human trafficking camps deep within the Thai jungle. Reuters found evidence of these camps and reported on the plight of the Rohingya trapped in them. Reuters presented one of Thailand’s highest police officials with the evidence that was uncovered about the camps and when asked, police Major-General Chatchawal Suksomjit, Deputy Commissioner General of the Thai Royal Police gave the startling reply that he indeed knew about the camps, but called them “holding cells.”
The plight of the Rohingya is known to the world, but little is being done by the United Nations or any other international aid group. The persecution that the Rohingya face at every turn in their struggle to cement their lives somewhere should be considered one of the most flagrant abuses of human rights in the 21st century.
There are many pressing issues occurring around the world every day, but people can exist in a world free of persecution for any peoples regardless of ethnic or religious status.
– Arthur Fuller
Sources: BBC, Fox, Time, CNN, Reuters, IRIN, Human Rights Watch
Photo: Press TV
The World’s Largest Election
On April 7, the world’s largest democracy begins what is being hailed as the world’s largest election. India, a country of various cultural and geographic distinctions, plans to continue a tradition of free, fair and incredibly large elections. Eight hundred and fourteen million eligible voters make decisions on the 543 members of the Lower House of Parliament.
The election is too large, however, to occur in one fell swoop. The process will consist of nine phases. In all, the elections will cover 543 constituencies, four main political parties in addition to dozens of marginalized ones, and thousands upon thousands of candidates.
The size of the country and the corresponding number of candidates necessitates the lengthy election, slated to conclude on May 12 in time for winners to be announced on May 16. Due to an exponentially growing Indian population, 97 million voters have been added to the list of those eligible since the 2009 general elections. That means almost 12% of those capable of voting between April and May will experience this enormous process for the first time.
The Election Commission, in charge of the entire process, has taken on a lofty challenge in organizing what is to be the most important and largest election since 1977. While individual candidates are permitted to spend no more than an equivalent $120,000 in Indian rupees, the Commission is expected to spend almost $600 million supervising the event.
Because they have determined that no person should have to travel more than two kilometers to cast a vote, the Commission will be setting up 930,000 polling stations across India’s vast territory. Everywhere from Rajasthan in the desert to the heights of the Himalayas, voters will have convenient access to polling stations.
In 2009, an isolated temple caretaker in Gujarat got his own voting booth.
India prides itself on free and fair elections, and regularly has a high turnout among the country’s poor. This year in particular, two parties have run on platforms catering to this demographic. The Bharatya Janata Party campaigns on good governance and national development, and the Aam Aadmi Party campaigns with an emphasis on anti-corruption.
These positions have rendered fervent support among those less privileged and should contribute to a continuation of a high voter turnout for the world’s largest election.
– Jaclyn Stutz
Sources: Forbes, New York Times, Wall Street Journal
Photo: NVO News
Top 5 Most Viral Humanitarians
Whether they’re lifelong philanthropists or newcomers, the following public figures have all captured the media spotlight at one point or another, drawing attention to humanitarian causes in unique and exceptional ways. Here are the top five most viral humanitarians.
1. Casey Neistat
Despite being one of the newest faces in advocacy, filmmaker Casey Neistat has a well-established fan base of YouTube followers. He also has an eclectic filmography including work for HBO, The New York Times, Nike and Mercedes. Casey’s most recent hit was a December 2013 viral video titled “What Would You Do with $25,000?”
Twentieth Century Fox offered Neistat $25,000 to produce a promotional video for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, but instead he used the funds for a typhoon relief mission in the Philippines. In the short six minute video, he documented his trip every single step of the way—from his arrival, to buying provisions, to renting a bus to transport goods to typhoon victims. The relief effort and the video were a huge success, garnering close to three million views.
2. Romeo Dallaire
Romeo Dallaire is a retired Lieutenant-General of the Canadian Army and current Senator from Quebec who was at the frontline of the Rwandan Genocide in the early 1990s. As the Force Commander for the UNAMIR peacekeeping operation in Rwanda, Dallaire saw the nation descend into genocide between the Tutsi and Hutu ethnic groups. Accompanied by a minimal peacekeeping group with few resources (as well as direct orders to stay put and not to engage) Dallaire’s reports of the escalating violence were lost amidst the bureaucracy of United Nations leaders and U.S. government officials.
His 2003 memoir, Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda, brought the issue to light for the whole world and was later accompanied by both a documentary in 2004 and a feature drama in 2007 of the same name. Since then, Dallaire has developed the Will to Intervene (W2I) Project for the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies at Concordia University.
The project provides governments, journalists and NGOs with policy recommendations for dealing with future potential crises. Dallaire has kept up appearances through annual university tours across Canada. He was played by Nick Nolte in Terry George’s Hotel Rwanda, which deals with the genocide from the perspective of local hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina.
3. Bill Nye
Most of us know William Sanford Nye as “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” the adorably goofy yet informative character from Disney and PBS’s television show. The show, which aired for five seasons from 1993-1998, is still viewed today in grade school classrooms throughout the country. Essentially, Bill Nye is like the Mr. Rogers of science, and perhaps the only celebrity to hold both a list of Emmy Awards and Honorary PhDs.
Bill Nye’s 2005 project The Eyes of New targeted an older audience and went beyond the actuarial sciences to tackle issues such as population growth, nuclear energy, race, and climate change. His wide range of media appearances include stints on “Dancing with the Stars,” “Larry King Live,” “N3mbers,” and a highly anticipated debate with Ken Ham—not to mention last year’s very viral death hoax, and this year’s presidential selfie.
Recently, he brought his brand of “edutainment” to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with a short video dispelling popular poverty myths as part of the #StopTheMyth movement. Nye’s mix of fact-based research and humor has made him one of the most talked about scientists of today and a true viral humanitarian.
4. Jason Russell
Jason Russell’s Kony 2012 campaign is what happens when a video goes too viral too fast—as well as how easily a personal incident can bring scrutiny upon a humanitarian effort. Invisible Children is an organization founded by Jason Russell in 2004 to raise awareness about Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, a group that has since become synonymous with child soldiers and war crimes.
The Kony 2012 short film, dedicated to bringing Joseph Kony to the International Criminal Court, was met with widespread, unprecedented support from social media networks and young people across the globe.
First posted on March 5, 2012, the video currently holds almost a 100 million views. But amidst all the criticism, financial scrutiny, stone-throwing, and lampooning, what few people realize is that Russell’s efforts were overwhelmingly successful at bringing Joseph Kony to the forefront of media attention.
Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) all participated in a bipartisan resolution to place a bounty on Kony just weeks after the video’s release. A year later, the U.S. put up an additional $5 million bounty as part of the War Crimes Rewards Program, just as the AU and Uganda called off their own search efforts. Moreover, the film brought a surge of interest into U.S. foreign policy toward Africa and the workings of the International Criminal Court.
5. Bill and Melinda Gates
Bill and Melinda Gates are very savvy with the internet—which shouldn’t be surprising considering Gates’ Microsoft helped make online culture into what it is today. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, founded in 1997, is an expansive organization that focuses on global health, agricultural development, family planning, vaccines and disease.
Recently, the philanthrocapitalist duo released their annual letter addressing “3 Myths That Block Progress for the Poor”. A summarized version of the letter was published by BuzzFeed last month as “9 Reasons The World is Better Than Ever”. From their #StopTheMyth hash-tagging project to their clever GIF demonstrations, the two show impressive diligence in informing the millennial internet culture.
What’s important to note is how the above figures draw attention to causes in very new and unconventional ways. The philanthropists of yesterday used the power of Hollywood and the prestige of the music industry to advocate their causes. Today, they fight for the support of internet communities and social media users rather than viewers and listeners. Whether it’s Jason Russell’s aggressive viral sharing, Gates’ Reddit AMA’s, or Neistat’s hands-on charity work, they’ve reached new crowds with new media, making significant change along the way.
– Dmitriy Synkov
Sources: Casey Neistat, Parliament of Canada, W2I, Bill Nye CV, Invisible Children, Politico, Gates Foundation
Photo: Glass Door
Ending the Practice of Female Genital Mutilation
Female genital mutilation (FGM) or female circumcision, has been occurring for hundreds of years in mostly sub-Saharan and northeast African regions. The term “female genital mutilation” encompasses every procedure where partial or total removal of the external female genitalia occurs, as well as any general injury to those organs without a distinct medical purpose.
The practice of FGM is internationally seen as a violation of human rights for women and young girls because it emulates the inequality between genders and represents extreme discrimination against women. On top of this, the following rights are also violated: the right to security, physical integrity, health, freedom from torture and from inhumane treatment–especially when the procedure can result in death.
There are four general classifications of FGM: clitoridectomy, excision, infibulation and an “other” category. Clitoridectomy entails the removal of part of or the entire clitoris and is one of the most common types. Excision is where they remove part of or the entire clitoris and labia minora, and this can be with or without cutting the labia majora. Infibulation includes the reduction of the vaginal opening by cutting and repositioning the labia majora to make a covering, with or without removing the clitoris. The “other” category classifies any other harmful procedures to a woman’s reproductive organs in a non-medical way.
FGM is in no way beneficial to a woman’s health, and in fact, it is harmful in several ways. Short-term effects include hemorrhage, severe pain, tetanus and urine retention. Long-term effects include cysts, recurrent urinary tract and bladder infections, infertility, childbirth complications and newborn deaths. This kind of procedure is mostly done to newborns or girls around 15 years of age that are going through puberty. Today, over 125 million women and girls in the Middle East and Northern Africa have been circumcised. By 2030, it is estimated that a further 86 million young women around the world will experience this procedure as well.
Many officials at UNICEF disagree with the practice of FGM and state it is not necessary in Islamic countries. They say it is a very old practice, traced back to the Egyptian pharaohs, and that the Koran says how humans were created in the perfect way, so changing them is not justified by religion.
Fahma Mohamed, a 17-year-old student that leads the Guardian’s campaign to end FGM, has acquired over 212,000 signatures in her petition against the issue. She has even gotten recognition from the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, who has made it a priority to end FGM because of how it threatens the empowerment of women.
There have been progressive signs in the worldwide campaign to end the practice of female genital mutilation with multiple countries like Kenya, Uganda and Guinea-Bissau adopting laws against it. The girls themselves understand the risks of being circumcised, and mothers who have dealt with the ordeal are fighting more and more to protect their daughters from the same fate. Schools can be directed to address the issue so that the people in these countries can learn about the issue and how to shield their young women from it.
– Kenneth W. Kliesner
Sources: The Guardian (1), The Guardian (2), World Health Organization
Photo: Girls’ Globe
What Can the U.S. Learn From Foreign Education System?
The U.S. public education system focuses on a century-old model that was originally designed to educate factory workers. While American public education has made many reforms throughout the years, student performance has remained stagnant.
The National Center on Education and the Economy suggests that the U.S. should look abroad for inspiration to fuel education reforms, including expanding national standards for curriculum, administering smarter and fewer tests and improving teacher quality and salaries.
U.S. Ranks Low in Test Scores
Students from the U.S., China, South Korea, Finland, Australia and many other countries took the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) to measure their skills in reading, math and science. The test is administered to 15-year-olds every three years by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Among the 65 participating countries, the U.S. ranked 15th in reading, 23rd in science and 31st in math.
The U.S. average scores in the three testing sections have not changed much from previous testing years. On the other hand, Shanghai, for example, has turned itself into an education powerhouse in three decades. The biggest focus in Shanghai and other top education performing countries is the quality of teaching.
Finland and Shanghai Inspire Higher Standards
The country with the most rigorous standards for teachers is Finland, closely followed by Shanghai. In Finland, one in ten applicants for teacher training programs are accepted. The training programs take five or more years to complete, and you must have a master’s degree to be considered for the program. In Shanghai, teachers must have a degree in the field they wish to teach, even at an elementary school level.
Teachers in Shanghai are mentored from the beginning of their career, by a master teacher. Throughout their career, teachers continue to meet with their mentors to improve their professional development.
Teacher Quality
While it is important for students to learn in a structured environment, it is equally important for teachers to have a structured environment in which to improve their teaching. Teachers in Shanghai can expect to be observed 20-30 times each year – a facet of teacher training that may seem daunting to teachers in the West.
The education system in Shanghai does not succeed based on any of the sole factors, but rather by a combination of all of these factors. The system still has its drawbacks, but the U.S. can learn a lot from the Shanghai education system.
If the U.S. puts as much money into teacher training as it does into reducing class size and creating charter schools, the country will improve its scores and be among European and Asian students who are currently outperforming U.S. students.
A sample of the PISA test is available here.
– Haley Sklut
Sources: San Jose Mercury News, Parenting, National Center for Education Statistics, Forbes
Photo: The Week
Facebook Offers Online Education in Rwanda
Facebook plans to bridge the digital divide by connecting the remaining two-thirds of the world without Internet to the growing web of information. As a leader in this “knowledge economy,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg partnered with other industry giants to provide access to those who cannot afford it.
He continues to collaborate with leading companies in the technology field: Ericsson, Nokia, Qualcomm and Samsung. These prominent members formed Internet.org to offer connectivity to more than five billion people. In developing countries, his Internet.org initiative aims provide the following:
More affordable access
Collaborative efforts between industry titans, such as Samsung and Nokia, will expand mobile access. To decrease the cost of delivering data, companies seek to develop low-cost smartphones and partner with internet providers to broaden the reach.
More efficient use of data
Global partners also plan to invest in products to limit the necessary amount of data. Along with “data compression tools,” these products may offer the enhancement of network capabilities and mobile frameworks designed to reduce the data use of applications.
Assist businesses in increasing access
These companies plan to incentivize the development and manufacturing of affordable devices for developing countries. The partnerships also aim to “localize services,” offering more languages on mobile devices.
Education Online: SocialEDU
Internet access alone cannot address underlying issues in developing nations. Zuckerberg, as a result, will apply Internet.org to education inequities.
Referred to as SocialEDU, this program offers open online courses to students through a mobile application integrated with Facebook.
With a Facebook account, young Rwandans could learn from professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard. Facebook prepares to combat the digital and educational barriers these students face and expand online education in Rwanda.
This social media platform partnered with “the Rwandan government, a telecom company, a device manufacturer and an educational content provider.” Such collaboration allows the for the following:
For one year, Airtel plans to provide the education content at no cost to participants.
Christian de Faria, the CEO of Airtel Africa, understands education drives social and economic growth. As a local carrier, Airtel will fuel this growth by offering a data subsidy.
Nokia has also joined this corporate collaboration, offering affordable smartphones to the region. This improves access to the Internet, enabling more students to join the open online classes.
The Nokia Vice President of Mobile Phones, Timo Toikkanen notes, “Our affordable smartphones help people make the transition from simple mobility to more sophisticated experiences. Playing a role in helping students get access to these experiences, such as social education through the SocialEDU initiative, is truly an honor.”
To promote further corporate innovation, the Rwandan government offers:
In support of corporate social responsibility, the government plans to expand its Smart Kigali program. This offers free wi-fi on college campuses and as a result, more students can access the multi-media SocialEDU content. The government will further support this initiative by adapting course materials to the needs of local students.
These educational apps require a large amount of bandwidth. To combat this, Facebook promises to provide technical assistance and support the app in a low-bandwidth region. Partnering with Ericsson, the company must test the app capabilities in a 2G environment.
Tailoring services to meet the needs of regions across the globe is but one part of the equation. Through such innovation and corporate cooperation, the digital divide gradually closes. With the expansion of online education in Rwanda, Facebook and its global partners will propel the country into a knowledge-based economy.
– Ellery Spahr
Sources: The Verge
Photo: PCI Podium
International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day has been observed since the early 1900s, when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights. Since then, women have made great progress, but there is still a long way to go. International Women’s Day celebrates the political, economic and social achievements of women.
Education
Ramatou Sambo, a 12-year-old girl in the West African country of Benin, escaped a forced marriage to continue her education and build her leadership skills. With the help of her friends, Ramatou said no to dropping out of school for marriage. The girls asked for help from the Students’ Mothers Association; Ramatou is currently enrolled in school and planning to continue her education. She has the blessing of her parents, who publicly renounced their plan to marry their daughter at such a young age.
Voice
A Yemeni woman, whose name was withheld to protect her identity, goes to great lengths to have a say in her government. She spends one night per week walking through mountainous terrain to make sure that her government does not neglect her opinions. In a country where women are only half as valued as men, it is extremely brave for women to take a stand to make sure their voices are heard.
Growth
From a young girl playing barefoot in an Ethiopian village to the first black Miss Israel, 21-year-old Yityish Aynaw has taken the world by storm. After losing both of her parents, Aynaw moved to Israel to live with her Ethiopian Jewish grandparents.
Aynaw had always wanted to model but it was her friend who signed her up for the Miss Israel competition. When she won, Aynaw was invited to dine with one of her role models, United States President Barack Obama. Aynaw herself is now a public role model to not only the 125,000 Ethiopian immigrants in Israel, but also to women everywhere.
Community
Another beauty queen is using her celebrity status to help underprivileged children and women in her birthplace, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC.) Noella Coursaris founded the Georges Malaika Foundation, which sponsors the education of young girls who have been abandoned or sexually abused. The Foundation financially supports the girls’ school, food, orphanages and uniforms.
Coursaris believes that educating DRC’s young girls will help the entire country progress. “We believe that showing the culture and the creativity of the Congolese orphans and girls through education they will know how to manage themselves — they will have an education, they will have work one day and they will be able to have a voice politically, economically, socially,” she says.
This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is “equality for women is progress for all,” emphasizing the importance of gender equality, empowerment of women, human rights and the eradication of poverty. Women are powerful agents of change in today’s society; in some countries, International Women’s Day is celebrated similarly to Mother’s Day.
– Haley Sklut
Sources: International Women’s Day, Care, United Nations, CNN, CNN, Care
Photo: CSMonitor
Olympic Youth Development Center Celebrates Third Year
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) thinks sports are the answer to improving life in developing countries. The IOC’s “Sports for Hope” program provides communities with better opportunities to exercise and learn about the values of Olympism.
The organization believes practicing sports in a safe and welcoming environment has the power to bring hope and positivity to developing countries. Sports have the ability to foster cognitive development, social interactions and community integration. The program involves building multi-functional sports facilities in developing countries.
Besides improving the health of those who participate, the program will also help young athletes actively develop their minds. Other goals of “Sports for Hope” include offering athletes professional training opportunities, organizing sports competitions and providing health services.
The pilot project for the program is in Lusaka, Zambia. In addition to the Olympic Youth Development Center, the project provides community development services, Olympic education, health services and sports administrators’ seminars. The Olympic education covers girls’ empowerment and civic education.
The Center, costing a total of about $10 million, includes outdoor sports fields, indoor multi-purpose courts, a boxing arena, a gym, classrooms, administrative offices, locker rooms and storage rooms. The IOC partnered with the Government of the Republic of Zambia and the National Olympic Committee of Zambia to bring the center to the people of Zambia.
Now in its third year, the Center welcomes about 10,000 children and teenagers each month. The facility offers opportunities for young athletes to train in 16 different sports.
Following the success of The Center in Zambia, the IOC is currently building its second Olympic Youth Development Center, this one in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The Haitian Center will feature large shaded areas to protect athletes from the heat of the region.
The Centers offer educational classes, including HIV/AIDS programs. Zambia has one of the world’s most devastating HIV/AIDS epidemics; at least one in every seven adults in the country live with HIV. Woman and girls aged 15 years old to 24 years old are most vulnerable to the disease with double the prevalence of men in the same age group. The educational programs on female empowerment focus on positivity, including safe sexual practices to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS.
Zambia’s Olympic Youth Development Center is an example of how a sports complex and sports in general, can be so much more than what meets the eye. Zambian Olympian Samuel Matete says, “As an Olympian myself, I look forward to using the Center to provide great opportunities for young people to achieve their dreams.”
– Haley Sklut
Sources: Olympic, Olympic, Olympic Youth Development Center, Avert, YouTube
Photo: Asian Wave Mag
The World’s e-Dumpsite
When you were little, you may have wondered where the souls of your deceased pets went, but have you ever wondered where defunct or discarded electronics go? After all, they have to be disposed somewhere. In the Ghanaian capital Accra is the Pearly Gate—or perhaps more appropriately the limbo—of the electronic dead.
Agbogbloshie (altogether now, come on: uh-g-bog-blo-shee), a suburb of the capital, is the world’s largest e-dumpsite. Here, many scrap dealers—mainly economic migrants from the poorest parts of Ghana—are busy toiling their days away dismantling non-figurative tons and tons of gadget remains. When their day at work is over, they return to nearby shantytown called Old Fadama whose sobriquet is—and I kid you not—“Sodom and Gomorrah.”
There are around 80,000 residents in this shantytown of around 3, 000 square feet. In order to retrieve metals and other sellable materials, children and young adults smash and burn these toxic. Operating without any safety equipment, most workers laboring in this horrendous condition die from cancer within their 20s. For many who work on the dumpsite, if they were to get injured or ill, medical care would be beyond their means, translating to s shortened life expectancy.
As for the living condition in “Sodom and Gomorrah,” which is the country’s biggest slum, they are appallingly precarious. Aside from being located adjacently to the world’s biggest e-dumpsite, the community also lacks basic sanitation such as running water, waste collection, and medical care. It is also estimated that around 49% of the inhabitants of this slum do not have any education at all.
Furthermore, due to the infamy brought with extreme impoverished, the district and its inhabitants are highly stigmatized in the Ghanaian society. Perhaps due to this attitude, this poisonous shantytown has long suffered negligence from the society at large. Despite the fact that there is pressure to relocate its inhabitants, an endeavor for which the Ghanaian government has allocated almost $13 million (in USD), this effort has been met with strong resistance from its targets. It is evident that the dwellers view the government’s effort as forced eviction rather than an attempt to improve their living standard.
The case of Old Fadama is not the only instance of extreme poverty and destitution in Accra. The People’s Dialogue on Human Settlement estimates that around 80% of the city’s residents live in slums—though with varying degrees of material inadequacy.
The situation in Agbogbloshie also raises the question of the responsibility that consumers all over the world must take with regard to their electronic consumption. Even though dumping their broken or unfashionable apparatuses in Ghana may provide the residents of Old Fadama with paltry incomes, their health and wellbeing are greatly compromised.
Where then should these electronic devices be disposed? By whom? And, perhaps, the most important questions of all in the cosmos of consumerism—what will be the cost and who will pay for it?
–Peewara Sapsuwan
Photo: Trade 2 Save
Sources: Think Africa Press, Think Africa Press, The Guardian, e.tv Ghana, GhanaWeb