Women’s role in development

Posted on May 18, 2013 by drh-norway

In Saudi Arabia, in May 2013, women are allowed, for the first time, to practice as lawyers. It is a very important achievement for Saudi women but it draws attention to a shameful situation; in the second decade of the 21st century, in many countries in the world, women are still seen as second-class citizens.
A sustainable environment, the eradication of poverty, better healthcare and full literacy cannot be achieved when half of the world’s population has no or limited access to the means and methods of development.
Whether is African women learning solar engineering in India, Kyrgyzstan farmers selling milk to other villagers, or Saudi women defending their rights in court, women are in an unique position to better their lives and the lives of their families.
It is said that if you educate a girl, you educate a community. As the main care-givers, women will pass on the knowledge to their children, ending the cycle of poverty. Healthier women will give birth to healthier children, bringing a reduction to child and birth mortality; healthy infants can live longer, develop better, mentally and physically.
Fafoune Kontao, from a small village in Mali, became a community leader, with the help of a UN program. She is very proud of the developments she helped create:
“Men are less violent and they contribute to the family expenses, they go the town hall to establish birth certificates for their children and register their marriages. Women are coming to pre- and post-natal consultations. Girls are no longer willing to go abroad to be used as housemaids in big towns. The religious leaders think twice before deciding to celebrate early marriages and young girls are shy when they contract early pregnancy. They therefore have more opportunity to continue their education and develop normally both physically and mentally.”
Women from rural areas don’t know their rights and entitlements. In Moldova, Bureaus of Services and Information offer support and funding on issues from job-seeking to land ownership. It has helped women make informed choices and earn money.
Making markets safer in Fiji, creating support groups in the villages of Tajikistan, providing better cooking stoves in Ghana, teaching women farmers irrigation techniques in China, these are just a few examples of ways in which women can play a more important role in development.
As Dilma Rousseff, president of Brazil, said :
“For many, we women are ‘half the sky’. But we also want to be half the earth with equal rights and opportunities, free from all forms of discrimination and violence.”

More information: http://www.unwomen.org/, http://www.un.org/womenwatch/
Photo-essays(at the bottom of the page): http://www.unwomen.org/2012/10/the-role-of-women-in-rural-development-food-production-and-poverty-eradication-2/
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Posted on May 13, 2013 by drh-norway

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What is a child-soldier?

Posted on May 3, 2013 by drh-norway

Any person below 18 years who has been recruited or used by an armed force or armed group as fighter, cook, porter, messenger, spy, for sexual purposes etc. It does not refer only to a child who is taking or has taken a direct part in hostilities.

The most important issue when it comes to child-soldiers is prevention. It’s not enough to help them recover and reintegrate in society. The international community has to make sure, first, that children are protected from recruitment in armed forces.

It is not a modern issue. Children have always been involved in armed conflicts, whether directly or indirectly. During the medieval ages, boys served as squires to knights, learning from them how to fight (and how to kill).

Children represent an easy target for propaganda. They are more easily convinced by mere words and can reach more easily a state of fanaticism. During the second world war, German boys (enrolled in the Hitler Youth) and Russian boys (recruited in the Red Army) were sent to fight; usually they were the most willing to sacrifice their lives. Even democratic countries, like United Kingdom, recruited, in times of war, children of 15-16 years of age. The forces involved in the civil wars in Uganda and Sierra Leone, and the khmer rouge regime in Cambodia made extensive use of child-soldiers.

There is no way of knowing how many child-soldiers there are in the world. According to Human Rights Watch, in 2012 they were in at least 14 countries, among them: Afghanistan, Burma, Central African Republic, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo (UN’s estimation for this country is 30.000 children at the height of the war),  Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen.

Although there are a number of factors (political, socioeconomical, cultural) that push children to enroll in armies, it is usually recruitment, most of the times, forced, that accounts for the biggest percentage of child-soldiers.

According to international law, the recuitment of children under 15 is a war crime. But how many other war crimes have been commited without the people involved receiving any kind of punishment?

There are, of course, many treaties and protocols and conventions prohibiting, in very strong language, the use of child-soldiers. They will remain nothing more than pieces of paper with words on them, as long as governments, armies, and organizations disregard the well-being of children; as long as today’s society closes its eyes to its most serious crime; as long as ordinary people ignore the issue.

Sources and links for more information: amnesty.org, hrw.org, icrc.org, crin.org, un.org, warchild.org
Picture source: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/389381.html

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Landmines

Posted on April 25, 2013 by drh-norway

Antipersonnel landmines are explosive devices designed to injure or kill people. They lie under, on or near the ground until a person or animal triggers their detonating mechanism.  Made of plastic, metal or other materials, they contain explosives and some contain pieces of shrapnel.
The blast causes injuries like blindness, burns, destroyed limbs and shrapnel wounds. Sometimes the victim dies from the blast, due to loss of blood or because they don’t get to medical care in time. Those who survive and receive medical treatment often require amputations, long hospital stays and extensive rehabilitation.

Antipersonnel mines were first used on a wide scale in World War II. Since then they have been used in many conflicts, including in the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the first Gulf War. A key characteristic of the weapon is that it’s designed to maim rather than kill an enemy soldier. The logic goes that more resources are taken up caring for an injured soldier on the battlefield than dealing with a dead soldier.
After a while, antipersonnel landmines began to be deployed on a wider scale, often in internal conflicts and started being aimed at civilians. They were used to terrorise communities, deny access to farming land and restrict population movement.
In the past, more than 50 countries have produced antipersonnel mines, both for their own stocks and to supply others. Cheap and easy to make, it was said that producing one antipersonnel mine costs $1, yet once in the ground it can cost more than $1,000 to find and destroy.

According to Landmine Monitor, 66 states and seven areas not internationally recognized are confirmed or suspected to be mine-affected.
Thirty-nine nations have now stopped production, and global trade has almost halted completely. None of the 156 States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty produces landmines anymore. Unfortunately, 12 states not party to the treaty continue to produce antipersonnel mines: China, Cuba, India, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, South Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam. Of those, only three were actively manufacturing antipersonnel mines in 2009: India, Myanmar and Pakistan.
The vast majority of victims are civilians and not soldiers. Year after year, Landmine Monitor has reported that civilians account for 70 to 85 percent of casualties. This is not just during a conflict – most of the countries where casualties are reported are at peace.
Once planted, landmines don’t go away unless they are cleared away. Landmines from the First World War are still causing death and destruction in parts of Europe and North Africa. The only way to prevent long-term damage is to stop any landmine use altogether and devote resources to clearing minefields and helping mine victims.
It is estimated there still are around 10 million landmines in the ground.

http://www.un.org/disarmament/convarms/Landmines/

http://www.the-monitor.org/index.php/cp/display/region_profiles/

http://www.icrc.org

http://www.hrw.org/topic/arms/landmines

http://www.icbl.org

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Report from Eva and Lili’s first month in Botswana

Posted on April 12, 2013 by drh-norway

 

Introduction of our team:

Eva: 59 years old, Hungarian teacher, graduated in Pedagogy and specialized in early childhood children’s – age between 3 and ten, and had 37 years experience in pre-school, in primary school and in pedagogical institute.

 

Lili: 19 years old, Hungarian, finished the secondary school and graduated in 2012. She worked with children as an au-pair.

We are living and working inBotswana, in theKalahari desert’s capital,  Ghanzi.

This report is sent April 9th 2013.

Our travel from Hornsjo to Ghanzi 

After celebrating the finish of our theoretical & practical studies with a “Good-by party” we left Hornsjo and we stayed over the night in the Lillehammer Hostel. Then in the early morning we took the train to Oslo with three big luggage for each of us. From the Gardermoen Airport we took a plane to Heathrow. There we had to wait eight hours for the connection flight. We enjoyed watching the different kind of people, visiting the shops and studying the life of the biggest European airport.

At 9 p.m. we took a big plane from Heathrow to Johannesburg. The plane flew during the night, and we were lucky, because we could sleep all night. We arrived at 9.30 am to the modern international Airport of Johannesburg. There was a man waiting for us, who picked us up.

Next day we continued our trip by bus to Gaborone, to the capital of Botswana. It was already dark, when we arrived. However we were happy to see people from HPP, who were waiting for us. They helped carrying the packages, and reserved a room for all of us in Gaborone.
We spent there six days. During this time they helped arranging our visas, they showed us the city and we got some piece of information. Before we left Gaborone they gave us the “food-money” of March. After that we took the bus for almost 750 km to Ghanzi through the Kalahari-desert.

Our experiences about Botswana’s environment, and our accomodation:

We experience every day the fast development of the country. They are building new houses, modern hospitals, schools and community buildings.Botswanahas a well-developed road network.

Generally people are friendly and polite. There is no starving.

We got a house in the Morama district of Ghanzi, which looks like the same as other houses in the town. It has two rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom with electricity and running water. The house is located two km-s far from the city-centre.

After our arrival in Ghanzi we bought foods and experienced that the PULA1200 “food-money” per capita in one month is hardly enough, because in Ghanzi there isn’t local market. The people buy meals in the Spar or in the Choppies (in other shopping centre).

We try to live healthy: we cook the different kind of foods ourselves and we walk 4-6 km every day.

Our work in the project of Child Aid:

On the first working day – on Friday – we went to the office of HPP. The stuff was very friendly, polite and kind. The first program that they wanted us to be invited was an HIV/AIDS action for youth held on the next day. After that we agreed on of the work for next week. We said that we wanted to know the locations of pre-schools and the primary schools specially focused on the vulnerable kids.

Next week (between 18-22 March) we visited two primary schools and five pre-schools where we observed the kids and their environment. This week we made some research about the education system of Botswana in the Library of Ghanzi and we too had an overview of the situation in the settlement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our informations and conclusions:

Botswana’s Government abolished primary school fees in 1987. However partially-payment of school fees were reintroduced starting from January 2006. The consequence is that most of the poor people will be unable to cover these extra costs.
These days the NGO-s help the vulnerable street children’s learning in the primary schools in Ghanzi.
Other problem: in Botswana there is lack of the pre-school education.

There are two public and five private pre-schools in the city. Less than 30% of 2-6 aged kids attend the pre-school. More than 70% of children don’t participate in the development of skills before they start the primary school. They go into the primary schools  without development of skills and motivations. The pre-schools are facilitated in small houses, and there are not a lot of toys. The preschool-teachers organize for the children compulsory programs: physician education, dancing, singing and telling stories. The children learn writing, reading and counting one time per week. The free play-time for them is too short.

After our visits in the primary- and pre-schools we realized that we have to help in the pre-schools. We have set up a three month plan which will be too huge to put on the blog here (it is in form of a schedule for when we will do what, but we can mention some of the activities):
* Organize play sessions with children in preschools where they learn and play
* Produce some educational materials for the preschools
* Organize the cleaning campaigns with preschool students and teachers
* Train the Pre-school teachers
* Organize Child Aid Olympic Games where the Pre-schools are involved.
* Arrange an Open day in the Pre-schools
* Make an action to mobilize parents to send their children to Pre-school.

Next thing we did was to chose the tree pre-schools we would work with:

  1. The Morama Pre-school, because in this place there are a lot of children (between 2 and half and 7 aged).
  2. The Fundation Pre-school, because we noticed that, here is the least the free play-time for the children.
  3. The Baby Care Pre-School, because there are the youngest kids with only one teacher.

In the following weeks we worked in the field. We prepared materials for the development of children’s manual skills. After that we visited the Pre-schools and worked with children. The kids painted with different colours, drew eggs, chickens and hens before Eastern.

In the Baby Care we talked to some parents about development of move and cognitive skills of the kids. In this place we made colourful decorations in the children’s bedroom.

Conclusion and Opinion about March:

The pre-school-teachers appreciate our work and the children like our games. They began to know us, and  they are greeting us when we meet with them on the street.

So far our impression is, that we made a good job; and we believe that our work will be useful and beneficial for the Pre-school’s development as well.

We have a good work-relationship with the staff of Child Aid Ghanzi.

That is all for now :)

 

 

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Posted on March 21, 2013 by drh-norway

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‘Unity is a piece of us’ by Tudor

Posted on March 17, 2013 by drh-norway

Do you know what unity represents? Do you know where does it come from and what it is used for?
What is better- To live in a community group or to follow your path all by yourself?
We all have the tendency to deepen ourselves into a pragmatic selfishness that maybe we are not even aware of, that is dictated by our own will and by the involuntary lead of the system we are living into.

I was working in the night shift at the cafeteria. There was a group of over 50 tourists; all of them hungry and all of them eating at least two kinds of food. In the kitchen it was a total mess. Dirty plates , food pots, dirty dishes, other food pots, glasses and cutleries all together were lying everywhere . When you are working in the night shift at the cafeteria, the dishwashing is one of your main tasks. We all know –or in the case you didn’t know, you just find out that my right hand is having a rest time in a plastic housing, a kind of modern plaster of nowadays period. I broke my hand when I fell off my bike in the trip to Lillehammer. I don’t feel any pain because it stays unmoved, but it is completely forbidden to subject it of effort or to make it wet. Considering  these imposed conditions, how can I have ever succeeded to fulfill my tasks?( by the way, taking into account the mess that was over there, I doubt that I could have ever managed to complete all my tasks even with both hands in a perfect condition, but this is another story).

Even if I didn’t pray to God to help me, I hoped that a miracle would happen and I searched for solutions to achieve my wishes. So, I left my job for some moments and I went to explore what was happening in the school. The classrooms were quiet. No one was typing to his computer, no one stayed in the library, just around two people were watching a movie. But they seemed like on the point of falling asleep, so I left them alone. Finally, I found everyone. They were at the pool, playing polo and enjoying their time. They were having fun and all seemed very happy.

I tried to explain the problem that I had to deal and I waited for solutions. Around two began to make fun of me, others sprayed me with water, some even suggested me to throw all the dishes in the pool and other jokes that made me smile. Then, the majority of my colleagues jumped out of the pool as it they got an unseen command and in some minutes, they were already in the kitchen working all together to the cleaning. The kitchen was sparkling clean in less than half an hour and the glasses were all at their place. I just couldn’t believe my eyes. A bunch of people that were under no obligation to me left their fun and worked together to help a colleague who was strongly need help.

This constitutes a simple example of what unity is all about. Maybe it happens pretty rare to others, but in our case, this happening is like ordinary. We are accustomed to this and we live in a unity.  That is because a team can go together on a way faster than if everyone chooses to take its journey individually.

Unity is a piece of us! Everyone belongs to the team and the team is a part of each of us. Together we are heading towards the targeted goal and we are sure that we will succeed to achieve it.

Tudor Enea

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March Team 2013 went to Auschwitz by Iosif

Posted on March 13, 2013 by drh-norway

For a few days our team decided to take an open weekend to Poland. Six months passed since we arrived here in Norway. Only now, “escaping” for a few days into a world most of us left behind for some time, we realized what actually happened during these months. For this I found Poland at least interesting. We decided also to visit the museum at Auschwitz. It is useless to describe what we saw and heard there. It is not taboo, but it’s not what I want to say. The thing is, I found myself asking myself how things like those in Auschwitz were possible to happen?! Why did God allow such things? Every thing that happens has its reasons… that is what I always thought. But can somebody find a reason for what happened to the Jews around the world? And my main question was: why did people not invest the same energy in making something good instead of being so evil? And than I realized that such examples are not few. So it is up to us to decide on which part we are. So once more I promised me to try to be always on the good side. I do not why but being on the bad side seems more easy. But easy things are somehow not complete! So that is all… once more the good side won!

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Old GAIA team going to Warsaw

Posted on March 13, 2013 by drh-norway

The GAIA/pre-course for the 14 participants at the “old” GAIA team are now finished which means they have saved up money to start at the 2 year’s program next week. As a celebration of the result, they decided to take a weekend of going to Warsaw. They found cheap flight tickets from Rygge Airport outside Oslo and decided to hitchhike all the way from Lillehammer to Rygge. Unfortunately as we live on the top of a mountain a snow storm closed the road during the night. So we had to clear it with a tractor before anyone could take off. As far as we know, they all reached their flight to Warsaw in the evening. Here you can see Josif and Vlad prepared for the hitchhiking to Oslo.

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Eva and Lili prepared for Africa

Posted on March 10, 2013 by drh-norway

Thursday evening and Friday morning we had quality control for Eva and Lili, followed by a goodbye party in the conference hall. Quality control is an institution we have every time a team is prepared for leaving to Africa.  All students, teachers and headmasters meet for a morning assembly, where the Development Instructors present their skills required at the project they will work at in Africa. Eva and Lili are going to work at “Child Aid Ghanzi” in Botswana. This means their focus will be at children’s development, and they will teach parents a number of necessary skills required in raising a child. Eva has worked with this for more than 30 years and has a lot of experience, Lili, who is only 19 years old is a good listener and a fast learner – and from our experience the last half year we are sure they will do an excellent teamwork.
Thursday was a secret day. Eva and Lili sealed the door to the common hall, and nobody was allowed to enter. When we finally were allowed in the evening the whole common hall was changed into a playground with games and plays. The important thing to think about when preparing playgrounds in villages is that it is hard to get materials, so everything needs to be very simple, made by wood or paper, plastic bottles etc. This Eva and Lili had fully understood and they had been very inventive. In this way, they fully fulfilled the requirements (by the way we can mention that even we are adults we played the whole evening which everybody enjoyed a lot :)
The next morning there was again quality control in the common hall. The common hall had been changed back to normal. Eva and Lili had made large posters and showed a PowerPoint presentation about their upcoming project. They plan to make programs for children aged 4 to 7, children aged 7 to 12 and adults.  Children will learn during games about “Sunshine and rain”, “My family”, “The life in the reservation”, “The wind and the sand”, “Shopping in the market”, “The traffic in Ghanzi” and then of course “The monkeys like the bananas”.
Adults will learn about prevention of diseases, personal hygiene, children’s clothes, early childhood, food for children, importance of vitamins and varied food – and there will also be space for cultural programs for the adults, old men who can tell traditional stories and tails, singing local songs and dancing with the family. If you have a fast Internet connection, you can see the posters Eva and Lili made full-size with many details.

After the quality-control we concluded that Eva and Lili were prepared to go to Botswana, working at the project for the next half year.  The same evening we therefore arranged a goodbye party for them. Unfortunately Eva and Lili got stuck in the snow on the way back from Lillehammer. Luckily a snow scooter past them, bringing Lili back to the school to require help, and we sent a tractor to rescue Eva and the others waiting on the mountain, thereby delaying the party so it started late and lasted to long after midnight. As the school has a non-alcohol policy you might believe that we are not able to make real parties, but as you can see on the photos we managed very well without alcohol. Last week Eva and Lili will get the last vaccinations and this week they are on their way to Botswana. We look forward to hearing from them and receiving photos from their project.

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