Peabloggy

“Where is the country of Taliban located?” a high school girl asked me in class one day, after watching part of the movie Osama (which, incidentally, is about a girl living in Afghanistan during the Taliban’s reign in the ’90’s).

I quickly realized that this student (and many others) were confused by the historical events in Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, which we are reading right now. I devised activities on Afghanistan’s history; I brought in movie clips of more moderate madrassas; I explained the different forms that Islam can take. Tomorrow, however, my students have a chance to learn about these things first-hand.

One of the strengths of a large school district like Nashville Metro lies in its diversity. Yes, it can lead to racial and ethnic tension in school, but it also enables classroom discussion to be that much richer. Four older students will be visiting tomorrow to participate in a panel on being female, Muslim, and Middle Eastern. They come from Iran, Iraq, and even Afghanistan itself.  My classes have prepared questions to ask, and I have as well.  I hope that my students’ horizons, as well as my own, will be stretched out just a little further after tomorrow.

–Katie Harris

Anne Lamott, author and activist, wants to propose a revolution. But not your typical revolutionary show of military force or government takeover. In an article for Salon.com, she expresses her frustration with the current political climate in the US. Regardless of political leanings, I think her suggested tools for revolution are worth consideration. She writes:

“In this revolution, there will not be any positions except kindness. And libraries. We will not even have a battle cry, as that can lead to chanting, and haranguing…We would simply look one another in the eyes, shake our heads, and say, “This just can’t be right.”

I consider Lamott’s thoughts on revolution in light of widespread frustration with things like the No Child Left Behind act. I think about her words alongside those I read over the break from Promoting Reading in Developing Countries by the International Reading Association and Vincent Greaney - accounts of countries where the literacy rate for women is practically 0% and areas where some of the most compelling reading material is a discarded owner’s manual for US-made vehicles - written in English, a language few to none of the local children speak.

And I thought about libraries. I remembered how excited I was as a child when I got to pick - I got to PICK - a book from the library to take home. I think of my current life as a grad student on a budget, and how grateful I am for the stacks and stacks of books available to me with the click of a button - from local libraries, and even distant ones through elaborate loan systems.

We cannot underestimate the power of ideas, and I’m experiencing renewed gratitude for the easy access I have to so many of them. So how can we provide wider access to more and better reading material for communities that currently lack it? I’m wondering where I sign up for Lamott’s revolution.

- Rachel Bowers

(I recently posted a blog about the conditions in Darfur, Sudan.  If you haven’t read it, please refer to it in relation to this post.)

 Lifting for Lives is an event that I attended this week.  It was dreamed up by a guy that has a heart for the Sudan and does not want to sit around doing nothing about it.  He trained for months on bench press and took pledges by the pound for a lift-a-thon where the funds raised would go to the Sudan.  Peoples’ pledges ranged from 10 cents a pound to $4.00 a pound!

He did the lift and was able to bench press 405 pounds!

I think it is great that one individual assessed what he had (in this case: muscles) and used it to contribute to the Sudan.  This individual inspired me.  I do not need a lot of money to make a difference in the world.  I just need to use the resources that I do have to be creative and dream big. 

There are kids in the Sudan that are dying because of starvation, unclean water, and no protection from the violence that surrounds them.  Luckily, I know of a way to help them.  If you are interested in learning more please check out thesudanproject.org

-Anna Oparah

“In Darfur, Sudan, 300,000 people have died over the past three years as a result of civil conflict, lack of food, and disease. Two million children,women and men are refugees, with little food, drinkable water, protection or hope. The U.N. has identified Darfur as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today.”

In December 2004 my home church in Tipp City, OH led by head pastor Michael Slaughter decided to do something about what is going on in the Sudan.  Slaughter challenged the 4,500 + congregation to see Christmas not as their own birthday, but as Jesus’ birthday.  He said whatever amount you spend on Christmas, to bring in the same amount to the give to the Sudan.

“The first year resulted in $317,000, which Ginghamsburg Church immediately used in partnership with the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) to establish a self-sustaining agricultural project. This project put 5,208 Sudanese families back into the farming business in 2005 and resulted in a successful harvest that has now expanded as of 2007 to feed 65,000 people in five internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Darfur. The program also strengthened the region’s economy as local blacksmiths created the tools, area threshers assisted with the harvest, and resultant seed was packaged for selling at local markets. The second year’s offering resulted in $530,000, which Ginghamsburg deployed in partnership with UMCOR to initiate the five-year child protection & development program. The first year’s results included 190 teachers trained, 90 classrooms constructed or rehabilitated and 15,000 children receiving educational materials.”

This year the church is focusing on raising money to not only continue what has already been started (crops, child protection & education), but also to establish an initiative to build 10 water yards to provide safe water and sanitation. 

What is so unique about what we are doing is that this is not a hand out, it is a hand up.  The church is not raising money just to send supplies to the Sudan, which would cause more problems because they would have to figure out a way to divide them and disperse them without conflict.  Rather, the church is partnering with the Sudanese to allow them to farm again, have education opportunities, have protection, have clean water, and best of all have hope. 

 I don’t know about you, but when I read about the current conditions of Sudan in the History books of my future children, I want to know that I did something about it. 

If you are interested in learning about the crisis in Sudan or the Sudan Project of Ginghamsburg Church please go to: thesudanproject.orgYou can get information about the status of the project as well as watch video updates of actual footage of Darfur, Sudan from when the Ginghamsburg teams have gone there to build relationships and see the fruit of the seeds planted. 

There are many ways that you can become part of solution.  Please check it out.

-Anna Oparah

I just went to hear the founder of the “Not for Sale Campaign” speak.  He wants to end slavery in our lifetime.  You might think, “what?  slavery ended a long time ago with President Lincoln” but slavery still exists.  It is weird, isn’t it?  People don’t talk about it.  I didn’t learn about modern day slavery in grade school or high school.  I would think it should be part of the materials that should be taught today in school and talked about at the coffee station at work. 

Today, 27 million people are enslaved.  It is incredibly widespread.  It ranges from people working in sweatshops all day with no pay making nice jewelry for Americans to buy to young women and girls being kidnapped to be whores against their will at under cover brothels all over the United States.  I just mentioned two examples that are directly connected to the US.  Slavery is in every country! 

I think people need to know.  I think something needs to be done. To learn more about modern slavery and what you can do about it visit the website: www.notforsalecampaign.org

-Anna

Editor’s note: On Wednesday, June 6, the UN’s education wing, UNESCO, released a report by Jacques Hallak and Muriel Poisson on corruption in international education, “Corrupt Schools, Corrupt Universities: What Can be Done?” (Press release here; PDF of report here.) We asked Steve Heyneman, professor of international education policy, if he’d care to comment. Professor Heyneman is currently traveling in Armenia, but he e-mailed and pointed us to a couple of additional resources. Here’s what Steve said:

This publication of the International Institute for Education Planning represents an emerging global interest in the problem of corruption in education.

At Vanderbilt we have been working on these issues for the last seven years. Two publications are attached here as examples of our work. The first appeared in 2004 in the International Journal of Education Development. This one defined corruption in the education sphere, explains why it is important, and lists possible interventions meant to solve the problem.

The second one will appear next fall in the Comparative Education Review. It is co-authored with Kathryn Anderson and Nazym Nuraliyeva.

This is the first attempt to estimate the economic cost to corruption in higher education.

Steve’s articles:

• Education and corruption, International Journal of Education Development: doi:10.1016/j.ijedudev.2004.02.005
• The cost of corruption in higher education (manuscript, PDF), Comparative Education Review (forthcoming, 2007)