Mali - We Care!
“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little,” said Franklin Roosevelt. Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world facing many economic and political challenges. Only one in three adults are literate - an education crisis that makes developing high-skilled workers for the 21st century a herculean task. Education is a fundamental human right we take for granted, yet children in Mali face considerable barriers to basic education. Why should Americans care about this? Education is a potent catalyst for social change. Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the
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Resolving the precarious state of affairs in Mali requires global leadership. In a globally connected world it would be onerous to ignore the appalling learning crisis. Leading poverty analyst, Professor David Hulme in his book, Should Rich Nations Help the Poor? explains why helping the world's neediest communities is vital - if rich nations want to take care of their own citizens' future welfare. A stable and prosperous Mali means a safer America which is imperative in light of the terrorism curse plaguing America. An impoverished Mali is a recruiting haven for ISIS as more than 50 percent of the population are children. Islamists have been able to recruit Malians (94.4 percent of whom are Muslim, as per a Pew poll released in 2015) [1].
Research shows that giving makes you happier. So it’s not just altruism but “enlightened self-interest.”
Americans are the most charitable people in the world. But why focus on distant Mali and not on America first? Bill Gates enlightens us that a mere dollar can help a hundred more people in a poor country than it can help someone in a rich country. So that dollar has so much more impact and is a hundred times more effective at helping someone in Mali.[2] We should see the inspiring success stories to
Although the !Kung San of southern Africa differ greatly from the people in the west African nation of Mali, both areas share similar problems. Both suffer from diseases, illnesses, malnutrition, and having to adapt to the ever changing and advancing cultures around them. What I found to be the most significant problem that is shared between both areas is that the people suffered from a lack of education. In the book Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa by Katherine A. Dettwyler, there is a lack of education in proper nutritional practices, taking care of children and newborns, and basic medical knowledge and practices. The Dobe Ju/’hoansi have recently started putting in schools to help children receive an education to help them have better success with the surrounding peoples and culture, but there is a lack of attendance in these schools. There are also many education issues in proper sexual practices that would help stop the spread of HIV and AIDS, in a place in the world were theses illnesses are at surprisingly high levels.
Nelson Mandela once said “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. It is the very same “legacy of change” that Nelson Mandela used that inspires what Malala Yousafzai does today. At the age of 15, Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating for girls’ education. Since this appalling incident, Malala has gone on to be the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize, start the “Malala Fund”, that funds education in developing countries, and is currently the figure of women’s rights. Malala has been constantly speaking, advocating and helping women and children acquire the rights they deserve. In her powerful speech to the U.N, she opened the world’s eyes to the truth about education
There are about 60 million school aged children in the world who are not in school, according to the article “Education”. Educated children have more opportunities compared to non-educated children, however, it is not just educated children that get more opportunities, but also educated adults. It does not matter how old someone is when they get their education, but that they are getting an education at all. This is portrayed in the excerpts “Me Talk Pretty” by David Sedaris, “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society” by Jonathan Kozol, and “Learning to Read” by Frederick Douglass. Education leads to individual success and empowerment.
The United States is one of the leading suppliers of Foreign Aid in the world, and even though the US gives billions, European countries give aid money to the same countries, this causes many areas of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia to be almost fully dependent on foreign aid. This means that without aid from other countries, they would not be able to support themselves at all. Foreign aid is meant to help countries that are struggling with civil unrest, disease, or natural disasters, it is not meant to help keep the country out of debt, but that is where more and more of the US and The EU’s foreign aid budget is going. The question is, does all this money actually go where it is intended? It should be going towards the government and to help the people, but in many cases, the countries government does not have the resources to properly track the flow of money. The countries in most cases have poor infrastructure and corrupt or oppressive leaders, not always at a national level, but in the towns and cities. So this means there is almost no way to oversee the flow of foreign aid through the country, all we can see is that their situations aren't getting any better and the countries are still impoverished. If this is the case, where are the millions of dollars going? Countries like Afghanistan and Iraq receive the most money from American foreign aid and European aid, yet they are still under oppressive governmental rule and there is still an extreme difference between the rich and poor. Garrett Harding’s theory of “Lifeboat Ethics” exemplifies how not giving aid to others will allow the strongest of society to thrive, while teaching the impoverished to help themselves. He believes that giving aid to poor countries will only make ...
Eggs came first. Millions of years before mammals, eggs existed, their hard shells unlike her mammalian sister who waddles around, heavily crippled with the burden of her womb. Eggs conferred evolutionary advantage.
Imagine being involved in so much pain and misery, pharmaceutical tests, vaccine tests, Military experiments and training and brain experiments. 125,000 primates are imprisoned in US laboratories every year. In order to take the Primates at a young age from their natural habits, trappers will shoot the mothers from the tree, shock the animals with dart guns and capture the babies who are still clinging onto their dying mother. Do animals not deserve to be cared for the same way people care for other people? In laboratories, primates go through series of experiments that lead up to their death. 90 percent of primates in laboratories develop psychological issues. After being taken from family, Primates are locked in a small steel cage and left to be alone. At most the primates are given cheap plastic toys, scratched mirrors and occasional fresh fruit such as an apple or banana. Primates will eventually begin to
Over the past five years, Uganda’s education system has proved both effective and successful. Although in the process of further development, it has nonetheless served as a model for many developing African countries. The Ugandan government, with President Yoweri Museveni at its forefront, has determined primary education to be one of the major channels toward poverty eradication and as a vital resource for economic and social development. The Ugandan government has made a national commitment to eradicate illiteracy and educate its citizens through the 1997 initiative, Universal Primary Education (UPE). All levels of government, the private sector, grass-root organizations, local and international non-governmental organizations (NGO’s), community and church leaders, international aid agencies, and international governments have been major players in Uganda’s universal primary education policy and continue to structure the policy in ways to benefit Ugandans, while simultaneously protecting their own interests. Unfortunately with such an enormous national commitment and the underlying interests of the many contributors, there were many shortages in the realistic policy as experienced by Ugandans. I argue that these shortages, which ultimately affect the quality of primary education, can be linked to inadequacies in the deliberations, monitoring, evaluation, and feedback of Ugandan education policy; once these areas are reformed, a more comprehensive education system can be re-established.
High school education is for students to learn the basic information that is needed to prepare them for college. It is critical for students to feel that it isn’t a waste of time for them to wake up and go to high school everyday. Is it right for students to not come to school because they feel high school is a waste of their time? Majority of students has also felt that the courses they are attending aren’t giving them enough information that will be useful beyond high school. Shouldn’t students be in classes that will benefit them in the future? Should students be able to know what might be their strengths, and weaknesses in the courses that are required to be taken for a certain major? High schools should offer useful courses because it
Poverty has conquered nations around the world, striking the populations down through disease and starvation. Small children with sunken eyes are displayed on national television to remind those sitting in warm, luxiourious houses that living conditions are less than tolerable around the world. Though it is easy to empathize for the poor, it is sometimes harder to reach into our pocketbooks and support them. No one desires people to suffer, but do wealthy nations have a moral obligation to aid poor nations who are unable to help themselves? Garrett Hardin in, "Lifeboat Ethics: The Case Against Helping The Poor," uses a lifeboat analogy to expose the global negative consequences that could accompany the support of poor nations. Hardin stresses problems including population increase and environmental overuse as downfalls that are necessary to consider for the survival of wealthy nations. In contrast, Peter Singer's piece, "Rich and Poor," remarks on the large differences between living conditions of those in absolute poverty with the wealthy, concluding that the rich nations possess a moral obligation to the poor that surpasses the risks involved. Theodore Sumberg's book, "Foreign Aid As Moral Obligation," documents religious and political views that encourage foreign aid. Kevin M. Morrison and David Weiner, a research analyst and senior fellow respectively at the Overseas Development Council, note the positive impact of foreign aid to America, a wealthy nation. Following the examination of these texts, it seems that not only do we have a moral obligation to the poor, but aiding poor nations is in the best interest of wealthy nations.
Gates’s idea regarding philanthropy due to the fact that upon setting up his foundation in 2000, he already was aware of the widespread criticism of existing programs to help the less fortunate. Moreover, successful programs, such as the Green Revolution, were overshadowed by growing awareness of their negative side effects on the environment and local cultures. Mr. Gates had growing awareness of such limits sparking new ideas on how businesses could approach poor countries. However, there is little evidence of benefit from the $2.3 trillion given in foreign aid over the past five decades. For example, all the aid given to Africa over the years has failed to stimulate economic growth on the continent. One might argue that there are just as many needy individuals in America, why not try to critically think of way to innovate to embody the struggling Americans, rather than poor countries around the
Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” The importance of an education is repeatedly shown through past and present events. Those who can’t afford an education do whatever it takes to try and learn. They know that it will lead to a better future for them. An education will not only lead to a job with more money, but it will also expand people’s minds. They will be able to create new ideas and inventions. The best way for us to change the world is through educating our youth. With a better education, they can become inspired to invent new things. Some could grow up to find cures to diseases. Educating the youth is the key to changing the world. The children of today are the leaders of tomorrow. The best way for us to give a good education to our youth is by refining our school system. We need to redefine the term ‘education.’ Teachers in classrooms change the world because they are teaching the future generation that will one day lead. If we want to change the world for the better, educating the youth is th...
Dei S., Schooling and Difference in Africa: Democratic Challenges in a Contemporary context. Toronto, University of Toronto Press: 2006. Print.
Others who vanish for weeks on end, helping their parents with the year-end harvest. Still others who never come back, lacking the money to pay for school uniforms and school supplies. Such is the daily dilemma faced by many young people in the developing world as they seek to obtain that most precious of all commodities, education. With the global economy relying more than ever on brainpower and innovation rather than raw materials and manual labour as generators of wealth, a good education has become the key factor determining who will succeed and who will be left behind.
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world;” this simple statement by South Africa’s first democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela, expresses a fundamental truth of the world- something as simple as education can change everything. A constantly changing geopolitical environment has continued to place increasing amounts of emphasis on obtaining a post-secondary school education. Despite this, as many as 16% of all Americans ages 16-24 drop out before completing a secondary school education and obtaining a diploma.(1) The question which few dare to consider, which I now find myself faced with, is simple: how my education is the key to a successful future. To completely grasp the extent which my education may impact the future, in a positive manner, two things must fall into consideration- how education will ensure a successful future for myself, and how it may enable me to ensure a successful future for those around me.
Nelson Mandela once said,“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. Education is the process of gaining information about the world. Education gives us knowledge of the world around us and changes it into something even better. Access to education is the foundation of a democratic society, because it provides an opportunity for all to achieve the American Dream, ensures equality and justice, and allows for our country to compete globally for a prosperous future.