Education in Africa

I am sure I was not the only American that as a child dreamed of not having to go to school any more and counted down the days to Christmas and spring break. Education is something that we take for granted here, in America. We do not realize how lucky we are to be forced to go to school. In other countries, such as Africa, children’s biggest dreams are to be able to go to school and be educated. Which is something most children in Africa do not get to experience. There are over 46 million children in Africa that have never even been in a classroom and 40% of school aged children do not attend school. How can this be you may ask, it is because a lack of classrooms, teachers, supplies, and ultimately monetary funds.

While education in Africa is not as good as it should be, it is much better than it was. Recently there has been a large initiative toward increasing the amount of children who attend school. Many countries, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund have all increased aid to African countries for educational purposes. There are also many private donations, for example Oprah Winfrey has built a school for girls in South Africa.

Even with the building of school houses there is still a problem of educating the students. Since most people in past generations were not educated it can be hard to find teachers. The low amount of teachers and high amount of students makes the student to teacher ratio 44-1, on average. In some areas the student teacher ratio is as high as 126-1. The Africa Education Initiative is helping to increase the amount of teachers; in 2003 they trained over 8,000 new teachers and over 16,000 existing teachers.

The education system in Africa is not hopeless though. As Africa continues to develop the education system will develop with it and also help Africa develop from having better educated citizens.

Source Links:

http://www.usaid.gov/locations/sub-saharan_africa/sectors/ed/index.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/world/africa/29iht-mali.4051275.html

Poverty--Not just one definition.

Defined in the Websters Dictionary, poverty is "the state of one who lacks usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions." This definition seems simple, but in reality it is much more complex. In order to understand the aspects of poverty it may be helpful to look at two extremes: one of the wealthiest nations, America, and the absolute poorest, Sub-Saharan Africa.

Even though America is a wealthy nation, poverty is still present. According to the US census about one in eight live below the poverty line-- which means an annual income of about $20,000 for a family of four. About thirteen percent of the United States population is living on this budget. Many of these people are out living on the streets begging for someone to help them.

Even though poverty is America is a very real issue, it seems to have a more extreme case in the Sub-Saharan Africa. One poor African gives the perfect definition for poverty in their culture...

"...Poverty is not going empty for a single day and getting something to eat the next day. Poverty is going empty with no hope for the future... Poverty is watching your mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters die in pain and in sorrow just because they couldn't get something to eat... Poverty is watching your own children and grandchildren die in your arms but there is nothing you can do... Poverty is when you hide your face and wish nobody could see you just because you feel less than a human being. Poverty is when you dream of bread and fish and you never see in the day light... Poverty never sleeps. Poverty works all day and night. Poverty never takes a holiday."-- One Poor African

This is something Americans do not and will not experience. The Sub-Saharan culture is completely different than the Americans. So when poverty is talked about there are two different aspects to this simple name. There are many different explanations for why this society is so poor. Many feel they have not become "westernized" enough. Their technology, courts and other aspects that are necessary to maintain a stable society have not been established. This problem leads to another possible reasoning for their extreme poverty; they are unable to compete with these more industrialized nations. No matter what happens there are always nations that are stronger and contain more international power than Sub-Saharan Africa has. The question is what can be done to solve this dilemma? Is there anything that is able to resolve this extreme poverty-- or is it a lost cause?

www.nacsw.org/Publications/Proceedings2006/RoeKSSAandextremepovertyE.pdf

www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/bg1713.cfm

In the Spotlight for AIDS is Sub-Saharan Africa

One of Africa's most severe problems is the overwhelming presence of AIDS. In fact, an astounding 67 percent of the world's population with HIV reside in sub-Saharan Africa. This amounts to over 22 million people spread throughout the region, being the countries south of the Sahara. The 2008 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic reported that an estimated 1.9 million people were newly infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa in the previous year. It is obvious that this is a large scale issue easily grabs the world's attention. One would hope that it receives much aid along with this.

AIDS Orphan Relief Effort

There is strong evidence for the cruelty of this disease. In some of the sub-Saharan countries, the life expectancy has fallen below 40 years but without the effect from AIDS, it would still be above 60 years. As a result, millions of children are orphaned. In a larger view, these deaths have awful effects on communities and economies.
Thankfully, the world is responding. The two largest organizations are the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria and PEPFAR, which is by the United States. PEPFAR has called for 15 billion dollars from the U.S. government to go towards AIDS relief, and therefore will greatly benefit sub-Saharan Africa. The funding works to prevent 12 million new HIV infections, provide care for 12 million already infected people, including 5 million orphans, and to train at least 140,000 health care workers.
This demonstrates America's support of sub-Saharan Africa. As a region in need, it is relying on countries such as the U.S. for help.

References:
HIV Insight.
http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/global?page=cr09-00-00

Avert. Averting HIV and AIDS
http://www.avert.org/aids-africa-questions.htm

Rituals of Sub-Saharan Africa

Spiritual beliefs have always been an interest of mine, as mentioned in my previous post, so I thought it would be interesting to discuss the beliefs of Sub-Saharan Africans.
Africans, like many other civilizations, have a way to deal with “tough times” and understand the meaning of life. This process or belief is known as divination for Sub-Saharan Africans. The origin of this belief originated from China during the twelfth century BCE. Divination has many different forms, but all forms of practice have the same central idea, the search for the meaning of life and understanding suffering and death.
Much like many forms of religion, divination is practiced on a regular basis. For many Sub-Saharan Africans, divination is a daily aspect of their lives. Diviners or friction oracle are the religious leaders who individuals may bring questions and concerns to.
The difference in the form of divination comes to play when looking at what or who is involved in worship. For instance, the Azande of southern Sudan confront benge to address questions of adultery or sorcery and confronting iwa to determine if witchcraft has been used against them. Among the Luba people, the friction device known as kakishi (a small, carved wooden object held by the individual and diviner) is used. The movements of the object provide answers to the individual’s questions. Also, in the Luba culture, a form of divination involving the sacred gourd is used. In this instance, the diviner would mix a variety of natural and manufactured objects together and interpret the configuration formed by the objects. Animals are also used in divination. In a few cultures, mice and spiders are observed, and the random movements will answer the individual’s questions.
Visit http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/oracle/essayPemberton.html to read more about the divination previously mentioned and other forms of divination. The website also contains links that display interesting artifacts and objects that are used in divination.