African Education Initiative: 600 million dollars enough?

Knowledge is the most important tool to have.  Knowledge is, in most cases, obtained through education systems.  I am passionate about having knowledge and learning more, and this is the primary reason I wanted to research some of the African education systems.  I went through many different websites, and it is clear that African people do not have the high caliber education resources to gain the knowledge that other people have access to in other parts of the world.  The most helpful site I visited was this one; the author really focused on Sub-Saharan Africa and their typical education systems there.

The African Education Initiative (AEI) is a program that has just recently awarded 600 million dollars to the Sub-Saharan area of Africa.  This is exciting to know, because with more education tools the students in Africa are finally able to receive the knowledge to compete with the rest of the world.  Apparently, this large sum of money is going to go to scholarships, clubs, textbooks, and other educational tools.  In fact, the site pointed out that “AEI also seeks to strengthen and extend development partnerships between the United States and Africa by actively engaging African leaders and educators, the international development community, and U.S. interest groups.”  This is huge for the development of education. 

AEI is working to also get Africans more literate on the wide spread HIV/AIDS disorder and the program is also working on getting parents involved in youngsters education.  Not only is this organization reaching out to adults, but they are also reaching out to youngsters who are living very unfortunate lives.  They are working to educate orphans, homeless, and those who have educational disabilities.  I think these ideas are a must have as well, but it seems very difficult to change so much so fast.  

600 million dollars seems like a huge sum of money to most people.  However, I still wonder is this enough money to save the education crisis over there?  There is so much work and advances to make with the education system, and once 600 million dollars is split between so many different areas of education and different countries I do not think enough money will be left to make a significant impact.  I think the overall idea of reaching out and giving money to these countries is an education need and must have, but I think reaching out for more support is needed.  

Sub-Saharan School Children

http://www.avert.org/aids-picture.php?photo_id=928

Sub-Saharan map where money is distributed

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sub-Saharan-Africa.png 

Sahara Desert: Hot, Dry, Unlivable!

I have been to one desert my entire life, which is why I decided to do some research on the Sahara Desert. To learn more information about this particular landmark, I went to this website. California Academy of Sciences did a wonderful job of giving some major facts and other interesting information about the Sarah Desert and the characteristics it possesses.

I had no idea that this desert was as large as it is. It is actually 3.5 million square miles and is almost as big as The United States of America. Imagine if America was all one humid, dry, sand area; I highly doubt that there would be a large population or people or animals. I have learned from the article that the people of Africa really have to work with the resources and land that they have in their continent. In Africa many of the different populations choose not to live in the Sahara Desert, but since it is such a large area many have to travel around or into it, and that is why they have oases (places in the desert where there are sources of water and areas for rest), but sometimes a traveler may encounter one only every few days of travel. Therefore, I would highly suggest taking a couple water bottles if you want to make this voyage.

The site also pointed out other key features of this remarkably grand desert. Living in Iowa, I thought 100 degrees was hot and unbearable; I strongly dislike the hot and humid days and choose air conditioning on those days in the summer. There are times that the Sahara Desert has reached temperatures around 136 degrees F; that seems like deadly temperatures without water! Not only is the Sarah hot, but it is also very dry. In fact, places in the desert only see up to three inches of water per year. In Iowa we can see that amount sometimes in a couple days!

Whenever I thought of the desert I always thought of old western movies where it was all flat ground with no cohabitants and many dust storms. In reference to the Sahara Desert, some of this is true, but the site I reviewed pointed out many distinct features that surprised me. Most of the Sarah is flat dusty planes, but this desert is also characterized by high rocky plateaus and sand dunes. I never would have thought that there were high elevations in the desert! This desert does see more wind than many areas of the world. This site actually pointed out the names they give wind in the Sahara. Haboob is wind that very wild and blows much sand. Khamsin is wind that lasts for sometimes 50 days between the months of March and May.

Sahara Desert: Map

http://elesciab7w2008.blogspot.com/

The Land

http://questionshaveanswers.blogspot.com/2009/09/why-does-sahara-constantly-change-shape.html

Oasis

http://www.naftali-hilger.com/naftali/pages_ir_en/stock_list/stock_list/stock_list.php?stock_int=libya

Ebola...Death strikes many!

Ebola

Going into a healthcare field, I find different viruses that are or have attacked different areas of the world interesting.   I once heard of a virus called Black Death in one of my health classes, but I was not able to learn much about it except that it originated from Africa.  Therefore, I thought it would be interesting to investigate this Black Death further.  When I was researching, I stumbled upon this site with an immense amount of information.

The site gave good information on the overall background of the virus and gave the possible causes and symptoms of the Black Death.  After reviewing the site I found out that the real name for Black Death is Ebola, and it is a virus that you would never wish upon anyone.  The mortality rate of those affected by Ebola is 88 percent, which is one of the most fatal viruses on the Earth!

Africa is the only place where Ebola has been spotted, and that is how everyone should want to keep it.  The virus can spread rapidly and is commonly spread by person- to- person contact.  I think it has appeared only in Africa because of the current and past living conditions.  Africa is a continent where supplies are harsh, health is declining, and resources are just not as readily available.  I think with the installment of universal precautions in their healthcare settings  would be very beneficial, but it is obviously unrealistic.   

There were many key points in the article that I found to be interesting.  For example, the site pointed out that it usually attacks and takes over the body in a time frame of 7 to 14 days, and it damages several different tissues while the person affected is still alive.  It is a stage 4 pathogen, which apparently ranks higher than AIDS, and there is no known cure and no vaccination to prevent Ebola from attacking.  The most recent cases of Ebola have been spotted in Congo, and while the virus can be isolated it apparently cannot be stopped, because the reservoir is still unknown!

Here is a map of Africa with the latest cases of Ebola in 2007 in Congo.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sciencenews.org/view/download/id/38794/name/NEW_EBOLA_OUTBREAK&imgrefurl=http://www.sciencenews.org/view/access/id/38794/title/NEW_EBOLA_OUTBREAK&usg=__k9fHimt_ac-agUpYFjs21Pp7L7w=&h=385&w=445&sz=41&hl=en&start=47&zoom=1&tbnid=plwIenDFpih5yM:&tbnh=162&tbnw=187&prev=/images%3Fq%3Debola%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1362%26bih%3D502%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C1549&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=411&vpy=113&dur=3572&hovh=209&hovw=241&tx=173&ty=190&ei=vsKWTO-xAYX_ngfm14jBCA&oei=icKWTKOmG8GengfOsISXBw&esq=2&page=5&ndsp=11&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:47&biw=1362&bih=502

Here is a picture of the bacteria responsible for this deadly virus.

http://mrbarlow.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/ebola.jpg




Here is also a video I found about a recent outbreak. 


http://uk.reuters.com/news/video?videoChannel=2603&videoId=66368