Who even cares

You may be asking yourself why do I need to care about the AIDS crisis, displaced children, starving civilians, poverty, and genocides that occur in Africa when you have enough problems on your own plate.  I get that everyone has trials and tribulations but can you even phantom having to deal with all of these problems all at once?  For most of the population in Africa the sad truth is that on a daily basis they deal with every single one of these problems.  Sometimes I think a lot of people in America often take their life for granted and blow little issues that they have to deal with into a huge catastrophe.  Our society has become very egocentric in the ways we deal with issues.  Often times, we will only do things that will benefit us in the long run.  I want our society to stop thinking this way and I want America to open their eyes and see the horrible conditions that Africa has to go through.  We take things for granted way too much and whine about the stupidest thing but in reality we should not even let it bother us because just 8,562 miles away people are dealing with much worse conditions.  I really think as a society we are capable of so much more than what we are actually doing now to change the world.  My intent for this blog was to get the word out about the horrible things going on in Africa.  When I read my blog comments I noticed a lot of people saying how they never heard of a certain issue I was talking about and it made me feel as if my purpose was met.  I want people to open their eyes and realize how fortunate they are and they should advocate and lend a helping hand for those who are not as fortunate. 

Invisible Children II

Last week I talked about the background of these “invisible children” and this week I want to tell you about horrific attacks and abductions that involve the LRA, so you can get a realistic view of this problem. 

ATTACKS:

·        In January of 1997, the LRA attacked a village called Lamwo, in Northern Uganda. They killed more than 400 and 100,000 people that were mostly children were either displaced or forced to fight in the LRA’s army. 

·        In June of 1998, it was estimated that 10,000 children were abducted in 1 year alone.

·        In May of 2002, the LRA attacked Eastern Sudan and killed 450 innocent people.  The LRA killed many of the civilians by forcing them to walk off a cliff.

·        In 2007, The UN reported that 2,000 people had been killed and 2,500 people had been abducted in a year alone, in Uganda.

·        On Christmas of 2008, the LRA went into a Catholic church called Faradje where many people were celebrating Christmas and massacred 189 people and abducted 120 children.  The next day the LRA attacked three other communities in Uganda killing 336 more innocent civilians. 

·        On December 28 of 2008, The LRA attacked a church in Doruma, Uganda.  LRA soldiers went into the church and began hacking people to death.  It is estimated that 45 people were killed but exact numbers where not know because the bodies were so badly damaged.

·        On September 21^st, 2009 3 aid relief members from COOPI were killed by LRA soldiers.

·        In February of 2011, a town of Bandangana feel victim to the LRA.  They went through the town damaging every house and sparing nothing.  A 14-year-old girl is reported to be still barely alive after being shot in the chest.  In all 8 people were killed and 30 abducted.  The saddest thing was there were aid agencies their but they evacuated because they felt as if they couldn’t do anything, and the residents were left to fend for themselves. 

·        In 2011, the LRA has intensified their attacks but more so in the Oriental province.  It is estimated that so far 35 people have been killed and 104 abducted.  If that is not enough 17,000 people are displaced from their homes in fear that they will be killed next. 

These are just some of the many attacks and abductions that are happening in Africa.  I would just like to point out that a lot of the LRA’s soldiers were abducted from their own homes and are forced to fight by joseph Kony.  Many of them don’t want to fight but are scared for their lives.  In one documentary I came across a little boy that use to be a solider in the LRA’s army was saying he was addicted to the sight of blood and if he didn’t see it for a day or so he would actually get headaches.  I seriously can’t even phantom this but the LRA’s officials literally brainwash the people they abduct and make them do horrible things. As I began to research this blog I was honestly dumbfounded because I didn’t know all of this was occurring.  It was shocking to me was that I have never heard about any of this on the news which is sad.  There are many things you can do to help this issue. There are many websites you can go on and donate money and I recommend invisiblechildren.com. You can buy products that children in Uganda make and the money received goes to that particular child. The biggest thing you can do however is just get the word out. 

I recomende everyone to watch this video, it is very powerful!

Invisible Children I

Have you ever had to commute at night to find a safe place to sleep, because your home is unsafe?  Have you ever been scared for your life and wonder if you will see your family again in the morning?  Have you ever had friend’s disappear at night and never to be heard from again? Today, I want to open your eyes to an issue which is still very much an issue today. This issue is the issue of Children Soldiers in Uganda, Africa.

It all started in 1988, when Alice Lakwena, a self proclaimed profit, said she received a message from the Holy Spirit that the Acholi people could defeat the government by using witchcraft practices.  Her practices prompted, Joseph Kony, to start a revolution in Uganda.  He told people he was a medium and it was rumored that he was possessed.  He had a lot of followers who practically worshiped him and later on became his solders in the revolution. Joseph would preach to his followers many weird things and one was that if they put a cross on their chest with oil it would protect them from bullets.  Joseph called his army the lord resistance army also commonly referred to as the LRA.  It may shock you but his army was considered a Christian militia.  He wanted to add more people to his army so that they could take over the Uganda government, however, not many people wanted to be involved in the war.  That is when he started to do the unthinkable, and take children from their homes at night.

Joesph Kony in the middle

The LRA would go from home to home at night and take children from their homes and force them to kill. Many times the LRA would take the children and make them kill their parents as initiation into the LRA’s army. Honestly can you even phantom this? It’s horrible enough they are forced against their will to fight but then they have to kill their parents! Overall 30,000 children have been abducted by Joseph Kony and his troops. In fear of being abducted, children would actually go into the town together and sleep in the open so that they wouldn’t be taken. Can you imagine that you can’t even sleep in your own bed because you might be taken captive? The thing that is most shocking for me is that this is still a problem in Uganda. There is currently a seize fire, but still many children go missing ever night. If this happened in America there would be an amber alert out and authorities’frantically searching for the child but it’s totally different on the other side of the world.

Today I want to take time to address a problem that mostly everyone knows about which is, the AIDS crisis in Africa. We have all been taught about it whether it be in schools, our parents, or even church fundraisers.  We all know that it is an issue that Africa has been dealing with for a while, but I don’t think we know the severity of it.  I can honestly say as I was looking information up for this blog I was shocked.  I had no clue how bad this issue was.  I thought this issue was getting better, but it honestly is only getting worse.  Readers brace yourself for these sobering statistics. 

Statistics:

·        Between 1999 and 2000 more people died of AIDS in Africa than in all the wars on the continent

·        In 2000, 24 million Africans were infected with the AIDS virus.  All of these people will die by 2010 because of the absence of medicine.

·        Each day, 6,000 Africans die from AIDS while each day, an additional 11,000 are infected by AIDS.

·        In 2008, 33.4 million people where living with HIV in Africa.

·        2 million people died in one year due to the AIDS crisis in Africa.

These statistics are truly shocking and I had no clue that this was such a big issue.  I really do feel like America did try to help Africa with this crisis, but it is such a big problem.  Everyday more people become affected with it than the amount of people who die from it.  At that pace it is hard to get the amount of people who have AIDS to decrease. Poverty in Africa is also a factor for why this problem keeps on evolving.  The majority of the population who gets AIDS do not have the means to treat it.  It is a very sad situation that seems almost defeating.

What can you do?

·        There are many places where you can donate money to help this crisis.  I would recommend donating money to globalissues.org.

·        Another thing you can do is just keep these individuals in your thoughts and prayers.

Poverty

Have you ever woken up in the morning and wonder if you will eat today or if you will even have a decent meal this week?  Have you ever had to wonder if you will make it to the next month?  Have you ever had to do anything possible just to get a paycheck in your hand?  I’m sure many of you said no to these questions, but to many civilians in Africa these are the very question they ask on a daily basis.  Many Americans do not fully grasp how horrible the conditions are in Africa and I want to help put it into perspective for you.

Poverty is when someone lacks the basic human needs and is faced by difficulties and struggles.  Africa is the continent that is the most povershied nation in the world at this time.  To help you gasp how much Africa is in poverty I wanted to tell you some statistics I found shocking.

Statistics:

·         In 2006 34, of the 50 nations on the UN Human development in poverty were in Africa

o   This means that 68% of the world that is in poverty currently is in Africa.  This is a crazy thing to think of.  It makes me wonder why we aren’t doing more to help this nation.

·         The average yearly capita in Africa is $200 dollars per year!!!!

o   Can you even begin to imagine what it would be like if a family of four had to live off of only $200 for a year?  I can’t even imagine going a month with $200 for myself.  This is truly a sobering statistic and makes you think of what you can do for these families.

·         3,000 people die each day because of AIDS in Africa because they could not afford treatment.

o   Can you imagine being diagnosed with a disease and knowing you’re going to die from it soon because you don’t have money to prolong it?

 

These are just a few of the sad statistics I found that really put it into perspective how much this nation is suffering.  When I go on with my daily life task I rarely think of how good I have it and I rarely have to worry about anything.  I can honestly say I have never had to worry about when I would eat next or where I would be sleeping at night.  Next time you sit down with your family at supper make sure you thank them for all they do for you and be grateful for all you have.

If you want to help poverished nations get food you can go to freerice.com  For every question you answer right they will give rice to poverished nations.

Genocide

Genocide

When you hear the word genocide what do you typically think of?  Many think of the horrific genocide of Jews by German Nazis which took place not too long ago.  We have been taught in many history classes about this event but have you ever stopped to wonder if there were any other events like this? I’m here to tell you there are more genocides that have occurred, and one in particular is the genocide of a group called Tutsi’s in Rwanda, Africa.

 Background

  In Rwanda there are two groups of people which are the Hutu and the Tutsi.  The Tutsi was in control of Rwanda until 1962, when the Hutu overthrew there government and began to rule.  The Hutu government was more of a dictatorship and the people had less of a choice.  Once in rule they began to kill many Tutsi especially those who were in control.  The Hutu went to extreme measures and made everyone get ID which said whether they were Hutu or Tutsi on it.  This generated many problems and generated many hate crimes which led to the genocide.

Genocide

In 1994, the Hutu government decided that it would be a better place if they wiped out the Tutsi population by killing them.  Can you believe that?! They take it upon themselves to decide that a whole population of people should be wiped out just like that.  In only 100 short days 1,174,000 people’s lives were taken AWAY from them.  Families were torn apart, children put in orphanages, and wives left widowed.   10,000 people were murdered on a daily basis. The Hutu would kill no matter gender or age.  Children and woman were sacrificed on a daily basis with no mercy.  Many Tutsi women were raped by Hutu soldiers and humiliated.  The soldiers would rape them in public to make scene out of them.  Many of the women would get HIV and die from AIDS.  It is said that 70% of Tutsi woman who survived had AIDS because they were raped.

One of the worst massacres occurred on April 12, 1994.  1,500 Tutsis sought refuge in a catholic church because they got word that Hutus were coming to kill them.  The church was locked and barricaded to insure the Hutus couldn’t get in.  However the Hutus had another plan of action and used bulldozers to knock down the church building.  The Tutsis tried to escape in horror but the Hutu stopped them and killed every person who tried to escape with machetes and riffles.  Mostly everyone was killed in this horrific event.  Things like this happened on a daily basis and the Hutu held no mercy.

The Tutsi people were finally fed up with the Hutu and on July 4, 1994 they reclaimed victory. They knew they were the minority but they felt as if they had no other choice.  The odds were definitely against them but they came through and proclaimed victory.

Through the whole civil war these two groups had little help.  The UN came to ad at the begging but they left shortly after they came because they said the situation was too unsafe.  I think this is ridiculous, I can’t believe that everyone saw this going on and just let them fend for themselves.  I think our society is really good at blocking out what they don’t want to see or hear.  I think that we need to make it an effort to look at whats going on around us and help out those in needs.  Maybe if more people lend a helping hand and opened their eyes less events like this would happen.

- If you want to get more insight to this event I would highly recomenede you to watch the movie hotel Rwanda.  It is very factial and tells the story of what Tutsi's had to go through.

Eastern Africa Food Crisis

Did you know that as we sit down and eat our three meals a day there is a Food Crisis going on in Eastern Africa?  They are currently experiencing the harshest drought they have had in recent decades. 

In Kenya alone 3.5 million people are in desperate need of food.  A thought provoking perspective easily shown is; the population for a state in the United States, Connecticut is 3.5 million people.  Can you imagine if the population of Connecticut was being swept out by a famine? What would the US do for them? But there’s more, in all 13 million people are affected by this terrible drought.  The three areas where the drought is most prominent is Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia. My heart breaks for the people who are starving literally to death.  Could you imagine if you could not fulfill your hunger every time your belly grumbles?

This drought is said to be the worst drought in 60 years.  Before this famine was even declared it is believed that tens of thousands of people have died due to starvation. The estimate is that 15% of children are severely malnourished.  This means if they do not get food within a couple of days; death could result.  The region of Turkana has been hit the hardest by the famine.  Their malnutrition levels are exceeding 37%. 

I want to ask the question why we have heard nothing about this in the news and why it is not being broadcasted as much as it should be.  It’s sickening to think that 1/3 of the American population is obese, while this nation is starving.  I think as a nation we need to OPEN OUR EYES to what is going on around the world and stop overfilling our needs and to help others. 

To help with relief efforts you can go onto the website http://worldrelief.org/ and donate money.

Open Your Eyes Up

I want to tell you a story, a story of struggles, famine, and perseverance.  A story about a place that has so many hardships but always strives to see them through.  This story is about a place dear to my heart, this place is Africa.

DID YOU KNOW?

·         Did you know there are 54 countries alone in Africa and half of them have a starving population?

·         Did you know that in these countries there are 370 known tribes and many of them don’t get along?

·         Did you know there are over 2000 languages spoken in Africa, which causes a barrier for communication between individuals?

·         Did you know that the population of Africa is 654 million and one person dies every minute?

QUICK HISTORY

Over the years Africa has drastically changed and it has not been for the best.  In the 80’s was when Africa stated to show signs of digressions.  Brittle children suffering from hunger became more prominent especially in Ethiopia, Sudan, and Somalia.  Civil wars began to break out between neighboring countries.  In the 90’s it only got worse especially when the AIDS epidemic broke out and families were torn apart by deaths.  If that wasn’t bad enough Africa economic status began to decline and the African government was running out of money to help there people.  Africa in its current state is still affected by many hardships and is only getting worse.  I think the reason why it is getting worse is because people are giving up that Africa will change.  Many people have been very gracious to this grief stricken country but little progress has been made.

FUTURE FOR MY BLOG

In my future blogs I want to make my readers aware of the horrific things going on in Africa.  As I began researching upcoming blogs I could possibly do, I became guilt stricken because I feel as if I’m doing enough to help this country.  I was also angry because a lot of the topics I was reading up on had never been in the news.  I think it’s sad that Americans know more about celebrities than the crisis going on around the world.  In a sense though it made it real to me why I was writing this blog; I am writing it to get awareness out and advocate for Africa.  Some of my future blog topics are going to be about poverty, famines, DRC, Child soldiers, AID crisis, and Rwanda.  I hope that when my blog comes to an end that I have opened people’s eyes to what is going on just 8,562 miles away.