Haiti

Part A: Children’s life in Haiti

Economic situations have worsened in Haiti after the earthquake. Many people died from the earthquake and most people are situated in poverty. Due to this, many innocent children had to live in orphanages, some because their parents were dead and others because their parents couldn’t afford to raise them. The problem from this situation is that many of these orphanages aren’t habitable. Many children are living in lack of education, food, and medical care. In Haiti, children are growing up with no rights of survival and education.

There are several reasons why Haiti is struggling to recover from the earthquake. One of them is that the buildings were too weak. Economic situations in Haiti did not permit people to build secure houses, which caused many buildings to fall, taking many people with them. Another reason is because people are turning their attention away from problems in Haiti. Not much media is dealing with problems of Haiti nowadays, which makes people think that there aren’t many problems in Haiti now. This would probably have made the amount of donations decrease by a lot.

Just because there was a crisis in a country, it doesn’t mean that the country can’t recover. For example, Germany and Japan stood up as one of the top countries after loosing the World War 2. In Haiti, this isn’t happening. There are several reasons for this, and they are politics, technology they had before the crisis, and support from other countries.

After the war, Germany was supported by USA to make their economy get better. Although this was purely to stop communism, it helped Germany get back on their foot. Haiti also got some support from other countries, but their economy is trembling. This problem is originated from the politicians.

In many countries that are economically behind, there are rotten politicians (for example, North Korea). When other countries try to help them by lending the country some money, they would take much of it, and the country will have to suffer from interests. These things did not happen in Japan or Germany after World War 2.

Another reason Germany and Japan could recover was because of the technology they had before loosing the war. After the war was over, both countries were able to start making their products. Since their technology was better then the other countries, their products were sold and the profits helped the country’s economy. As for countries like Haiti, they didn’t have much technology of making products, so their products weren’t sold well, requiring much more time in order to help the economy.

To survive, Haiti will need some honest politicians and some better orphanages. Also, they will need to get the attention of the media, in order to get more support.

Part B: Ayiti the cost of life

1. What was it like playing the game?

The game was pretty hard. It thought me how I needed to sacrifice some things, such as education, in order to survive.

2. What was the game about and how would you describe it to a friend?
It was about a family in Haiti trying to survive. I would tell them it was hard

3. Which ‘primary objective’ did you choose, and why?
Money, I didn’t really have a reason.

4. What types of decisions did you have to make about the family members while playing the game and trying to achieve your objective?
I hade to make decisions about if they had to go to hospitals or not

5. What strategies did you use? For example, did you combine work and school, or did you send anyone to school? Which worked? Which did not?
First, I sent everyone to work, and earned much money. Then, with that money, I sent some to school, and some to hospitals. Then, I sent them to better works, with the education, Then I earned more money and the cycle went on.

6. Why would parents choose to devote so much effort sending their children to school?
Because they could get jobs that are easier and gives more money.

7. What obstacles did you face in trying to keep the children in school?
I sometimes ran out of money.

8. How do the situations and options in the game compare with those in your own community / country?
My family don’t require me to work.

9. Why is access to education a huge challenge as LEDC’s try to develop?
It costs a lot, and people have different languages, not letting teachers from one country teach children from another.

10. Why is it vital to a country’s development to educate its people – especially women?
To make the speak for their rights, to let them have better jobs and not go bankrupt.

11. Suggest some ways that countries could prioritize education, even for women, even in the countryside. How can they do this?
Make people pay fine for not educating their children, making education totally free, building more schools

12. Think back to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Look at the 8 targets. Look at how Haiti is doing so far. What will the targets be in the next 5 years for this country? Look at the MDG ‘Progress So Far’ website and search for Haiti to get the latest information.

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Image from

http://behindblondiepark.com/2010/01/13/haiti-earthquake-damage-haiti-population/

Shark's fin soup

Sharks fin soups are one of the most popular soups to chinese people, because they are believed to stop them from having illness, and are representing wealth.

Thanks to the 1.3billion people of china who enjoy chickensoup with ear floating in it, 90% of shark population have decreased in the last 3 decades, and every year, over 100 million sharks are killed.

When sharks are cought and brought out on to the boat, fishermen will cut thier fins on the spot, and throw the still breathin creature out to die. The sharks loose thier ablility to swim along with thier fins, and are left to die on the bottom of the sea.

If the sharks go extinct, it will effect the ocean life in a harmful way. If sharks are gone from the sea, population of their prey will increase rapidly. They will eat up their prey, and when they run out of food from over eating, they will be extinct. None of the ocean life can excape this, including the planctons. People may not care about the small creatures, but they, due to their great number, produce most oxigen in the world. Without them, global warming will accelerate and we might find our skin melting because of sunlight sometime in our lifetime.

My images won't load.

Shark fin soup awareness

Last Thursday, our global issues class gathered in our classroom during lunchtime. We made cookies were in the form of a shark fin soup with red color on the bottom to represent how it was violently cut off. We sold cardboard that looked like shark's fin that had "STOP THE KILLING" on it. We made games representing the survival and death of sharks. Also, during the whole of the lunch time, we showed videos about the genocide of sharks.

We, by doing this, made people aware of the massacre taking place out in the ocean. Our action, hopefully, would stop our visitors from every eating shark's fin soup, and make them tell others about the Massacre, and stop them from eating shark's fin soup.

I think we succeeded to raise awareness as the whole class, since many people bought the cookies and saw the movie. But my group seemed to have failed this. Although people payed for our game (for some reason), we didn't seem to have explained to them that their cap represented a shark trying to escape the murderous fishermen and their long lines.

If I could do this kind of thing again, I would tell the costumers the situation they are, in order to raise more awareness. Also, I would get some red-painted fin-looking objects, and if the die, I would tell them that they were the only parts left of them, and the other parts were thrown out to the sea, left to be eaten by others.

From this, I learned how ignorant people were about sharks that were killed, and that these sort of campaigns are nessecary.

Image from : http://naturescrusaders.wordpress.com/2009/09/14/for-a-bowl-of-soup-we-alter-the-ecosystem/zzzshark-fin-soup/

Global Issues- Malaysia Week

This year for Malaysia Week I went to Endau Rompin. On the way there, I could see some serious global Issues. The first was the palm tree plantation. After the bus ride, we needed to ride a jeep to go through non-asphalt road. During that ride, I saw that the road was nothing but orange dust, and only life I could find on the way was palm trees. Every time the Jeep in front of ours moved, it was gone behind a thick layer of orange cloud. The next was seen about an hour later, when I saw a big area of land covered with ashes. I just thought there could have been a forest fire, but I saw a fire still on and a person just staring at it. That's when I realized that the person intensionally burned down the trees of the forest, turning it in to Carbon-dioxide.

http://www.uoregon.edu/~donovan/favorite.htm

Poverty

In our Global Issues class, we watched a video raising awareness of poverty. It showed a picture showing a scene of poverty, and a person in a civilization of wealthiness holding a paper with a fact about poverty.

I think what made this video have a strong message was that most people in the scenes of poverty is staring towards the out side of the photo. This let their sadness be shown through photo. Also, the information written on the papers shown in the video made me look back on how I lived. They told me that while I was throwing away food, water and money for my comfort, many were dying from lack of them.

I think we can make a video like this, to raise awarness of many serious global issues taking place in the world this second. No matter what problem we face, we can solve it, if we, all human beings, are aware of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOBmstGTYsw&feature=player_embedded

Picture from HERE

Poverty

1. Who is the World Bank?

World bank is a bank made of many other banks. It is linked to UN, is assisting countries to develop, and is trying to end Poverty

2. Why is it important to collect data from 73 countries?

World bank researched people in 73 countries to know how many people are under poverty line. This was imporant, because by doing this, the world bank could get many different perspectives of many people, living in different enviroments with different prices of things. Also, this could show disparity of wealth.

3. What is poverty?

Poverty is having unsatisfied basic needs.

4. What is the difference between poverty ad extreme poverty?

Extreme poverty could cause many deaths and could make people powerless.

5. What is a poverty trap?

Poverty is three generations in poverty

6. How does the World Bank define poverty?

The world bank defines poverty ans not having enough income to meet the most basic human needs (under $1.25)

7. How many people live under the poverty line in the world?

1.4 billion people are under poverty line.

8. How are the numbers showing improvement in the situation over the last twenty years?

Because the poverty line got higher, but less people are under it.

9. Can you suggest some things / organizations that could be helping the situation and explain why there is an improvement?

In order to solve this, I believe that higher taxes should be put on the rich and the poor should receive that money.

10. Write a short snapshot of a time when you witnessed poverty. Where, when, why? How did it make you feel? Be as descriptive as possible.

I've seen a sight of poverty 2 years ago in Malaysia. There was an old, armless man,sitting and begging for money.

Global issues

Global Issues are things happening around the world that are making people suffer. Some of these Issues are stopping people from getting their most basic needs; food, water, shelter and clothing. Some of them are stopping them from using their right to live. Some of them are threatening every lives of human on earth. We, human beings, create most of these problems. We, human beings, are able to fix these problems. But our greed and short-term thinking is not allowing it. We, human beings, must get through our barrier of greed and proceed to the end of all global issues. For others sake and for our sake, we must help whoever was in a crisis, help people out of the downward spiral, end poverty, end AIDS, End HIV, help the ill, stop pollution, save the environment and reduce everything we use. We mustn’t forget that nowhere is safe and any thing could happen to us. We mustn’t forget that we, ours selves could fall in to the downward spiral. We mustn’t forget that we could get ill. We as people should help the poor get secure source of money, clean water, and medical treatment when they are ill. We will have to live ethically and stop sucking money out of the poor, stop throwing away trash, and stop using too much resources.

In this class, we are learning about how to take care of others. we are becoming more aware and more responsible about our behavior and the environment. The environment is not just plants and animals, but the social environment as well. And even the economy. Global issues may be huge, but we are leaning to start small.

What it means to live in Poverty

What does it mean to live in Poverty? Many people on the earth knows, since 1/4 of people around the world are in extreme poverty at this moment.

People in extreme poverty are starving while we, the people rich enough to buy computers, take more than enough and throw away anything left. They sell their own children in to torture for their food and survival, knowing that the buyer will take and sell the child's organ, cut his arm off, and make him beg for money without giving him anything to eat. People in extreme poverty don't have a source of clean water. They will have to drink knowing the sickness it could bring, while some of us wast clean water by refusing to turn off water while brushing their teeth. People in extreme poverty are not able to afford medical care. If they get sick from their dirty water or thier labor, they will have no choice but to die in agonising pain. People in extreme poverty don't have accese to education. They live wanting to know and get out of all disadvantages that come from ignorance, while some of us sleep in and talk in class, making nothing out of the oppertunity others are wishing for. People in extreme poverty have no rights or voice. If they get involved in crime as a victim, they will not have money to get a lawyer and loose the trial. No one will speak out for them, for there is nothing that could come from poor people.

1/4 of people around the world are in extreme poverty, felling pain. If we, the people who can and have the right to live, let go of our greed and selfishness, we could end poverty. So why don't we?

3rd world farmer

3rd World Farmer- about game and strategies
3rd world farmer is a realistic game showing the hardship of poor farmers in 3rd world. You will start with $50 and plant seeds on your land. You have choice of corn, wheat, cotton, and peanuts. If you use your money and do whot you want to do, you will be able to go to next year. Some events will take place. You could have splendis havest, some harvests might fail, one of your family member could fall ill, a corrupt official could came and rip you off, an angry mop may rise and take everything you have, a well that you spent $120 on might be gone, refugees could come and take all your livestocks, a civil war could break out and break down some of your properties, a fire could burn down all your barns and sheds, and so on.

If you have a brain and at least a single eyeball, you whould have realised that only two of these many events are posetive. To live through these life treatening events, there are some parts of the game that you must know. First is information about importence in medical treatment. To get your family healthy, you need to pay for your medicin. Some people might think this an unneccecary spending, but it is not, for how much you earn in a year has direct relationship with your family's health. If people are unhealthy, their work capacity goes down. This, in this game, makes your income lower.

The second thing you must know is that the balance and stableness is the most importent. If you invest all money on a single crop and it fails, you will die. If you don't have an insurence of a well and a dry season comes to visit, death will visit you too, soon enough. If you invest all your money on elephants and elephant poachers comes to visit, you will loose everything.

The third thing you must realise is that if you take offers from people, it could lead to great disadvantage. If you take the offer of the drug plantation of millitary camp, a gerilla force will come make a visit. If you sell your children, your work capacity will fall and you won't be able to make the best out of the money you got by sacrifising your shild. If you let people use some of your land to keep chemical wast, your family will get sick and you will need to pour more money than you got payed to make your family healthy.

In this game, the beginning is the most importent. If you do something wrong or if some horrible event takes place, you will be just about dead. To survive, you will need to plant wheat and corn, the same amount each that you could afford . This is nessecary, because sometimes, a single type of crops fail. Since these two have the lowest possebilyty to do so, you will probably be fine. Also, If one fail, the other won't. After that you will have to keep planting corn and wheat together. If you earn more than $200, you must buy a well, since the most deadlyest event that could happen in the beggining is the dry season. If you don't have a well, you won't get any income at all from crops. But if you do have a well, your crops will earn you enough money to live. After making a well, buy some tools, such as a Scythe of a plow to make your income increase. Earn money and support a trustworthy representative, who will block gerilla and corrupt officials from taking your property. Then, buy the crop insurence and plan all of your fields with peanuts. Although peanuts have high chance of failing, it is sold at a high price and will bring you wealth, especially with the crop insuence, wich will let the worries of crop failure and dry seaon dissapear. If you do these things, you will earn alot of money soon. If you have enough money, sell any tools you have, and buy four harvesters, with will increase your yeild per crop increase by alot. After that, buy 6 barns (leave your well) and buy 8 elephants. If you do this, you will earn thousends, even tens of thousends every year. After this, buy all things under the light bulb section, and win the game!

I think the theme of this is game is to keep your self out of the downward spiral, by thinking creativly about what an event could lead to. If you don't and take offers, you will loose money. If you don't give medicin to your family without thinking about the consequences, you will loose. If you are able to think about concequences of yoour actions, you will be able to survive the third world farming.

What is global issues?

Global issues are problems around the world, mostly coming from people who thinks in short term instead of long term. They are also from global relationship, such as European countries invading weaker countries, and sucking everything out of them. They are problems that could be solved with empathy and long term thinking. We should care about these issues, because some of these could affect us, and take our lives.