50 percent of pregnant women in developing countries lack proper maternal care, resulting in 240,000 maternal deaths annually from childbirth.3
1 out of 6 infants are born with a low birth weight in developing countries.4
Poor nutrition causes nearly half (45%) of deaths in children under five – 3.1 million children each year. That is 8,500 children per day.6
A third of all childhood death in sub-Saharan Africa is caused by hunger.5
66 million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world, with 23 million in Africa alone.6
Every 10 seconds, a child dies from hunger-related diseases.5
The Hunger Project firmly believes that empowering women to be key change agents is an essential element to achieving the end of hunger and poverty. Wherever we work, our programs aim to support women and build their capacity.
HIV/AIDS and other Diseases
35 million people are living with HIV/AIDS.7
52 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS are women.7
88 percent of all children and 60 percent of all women living with HIV are in sub-Saharan Africa.7
6.9 million children died in 2011 each year – 19,000 a day- mostly from preventable health issues such as malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia.5
Launched in 2003, The Hunger Project’s HIV/AIDS and Gender Inequality Campaign works at the grassroots level to provide education about preventative and treatment measures.
Poverty
1.4 billion people in developing countries live on $1.25 a day or less.8
Rural areas account for three out of every four people living on less than $1.25 a day.9
22,000 children die each day due to conditions of poverty.10
Rural Hunger Project partners have access to income-generating workshops, empowering their self-reliance. Our Microfinance Program in Africa provides access to credit, adequate training and instilling in our partners the importance of saving.
Agriculture
75 percent of the world’s poorest people — 1.4 billion women, children, and men — live in rural areas and depend on agriculture and related activities for their livelihood.11
50 percent of hungry people are farming families.11
In each region in which we work, The Hunger Project provides tools and training to increase farming production at the local level. In Africa, our epicenter partners run community farms where they implement new techniques while producing food for the epicenter food bank.
Water
1.7 billion people lack access to clean water.12
2.3 billion people suffer from water-borne diseases each year.12
12 percent of the world’s population uses 85 percent of its water, and none of the 12 percent lives in developing countries.13
The Hunger Project works with communities to develop new water resources, ensure clean water and improved sanitation, and implement water conservation techniques
SHORTLY after the birth of her sixth child, Mathilde went with her baby into the fields to collect the harvest. She saw two men approaching, wearing what she says was the uniform of the FDLR, a Rwandan militia. Fleeing them she ran into another man, who beat her head with a metal bar. She fell to the ground with her baby and lay still. Perhaps thinking he had murdered her, the man went away. The other two came and raped her, then they left her for dead.
Mathilde’s story is all too common. Rape in war is as old as war itself. After the sack of Rome 16 centuries ago Saint Augustine called rape in wartime an “ancient and customary evil”. For soldiers, it has long been considered one of the spoils of war. Antony Beevor, a historian who has written about rape during the Soviet conquest of Germany in 1945, says that rape has occurred in war since ancient times, often perpetrated by indisciplined soldiers. But he argues that there are also examples in history of rape being used strategically, to humiliate and to terrorise, such as the Moroccan regulares in Spain’s civil war.
As the reporting of rape has improved, the scale of the crime has become more horrifyingly apparent (see table). And with the Bosnian war of the 1990s came the widespread recognition that rape has been used systematically as a weapon of war and that it must be punished as an egregious crime. In 2008 the UN Security Council officially acknowledged that rape has been used as a tool of war. With these kinds of resolutions and global campaigns against rape in war, the world has become more sensitive. At least in theory, the Geneva Conventions, governing the treatment of civilians in war, are respected by politicians and generals in most decent states. Generals from rich countries know that their treatment of civilians in the theatre of war comes under ever closer scrutiny. The laws and customs of war are clear. But in many parts of the world, in the Hobbesian anarchy of irregular war, with ill-disciplined private armies or militias, these norms carry little weight.
Take Congo; it highlights both how horribly common rape is, and how hard it is to document and measure, let alone stop. The eastern part of the country has been a seething mess since the Rwandan genocide of 1994. In 2008 the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a humanitarian group, estimated that 5.4m people had died in “Africa’s world war”. Despite peace deals in 2003 and 2008, the tempest of violence has yet fully to subside. As Congo’s army and myriad militias do battle, the civilians suffer most. Rape has become an ugly and defining feature of the conflict.
Plenty of figures on how many women have been raped are available but none is conclusive. In October Roger Meece, the head of the United Nations in Congo, told the UN Security Council that 15,000 women had been raped throughout the country in 2009 (men suffer too, but most victims are female). The UN Population Fund estimated 17,500 victims for the same period. The IRC says it treated 40,000 survivors in the eastern province of South Kivu alone between 2003 and 2008.
“The data only tell you so much,” says Hillary Margolis, who runs the IRC’s sexual-violence programme in North Kivu. These numbers are the bare minimum; the true figures may be much higher. Sofia Candeias, who co-ordinates the UN Development Programme’s Access to Justice project in Congo, points out that more rapes are reported in places with health services. In the areas where fighting is fiercest, women may have to walk hundreds of miles to find anyone to tell that they have been attacked. Even if they can do so, it may be months or years after the assault. Many victims are killed by their assailants. Others die of injuries. Many do not report rape because of the stigma.
Congo’s horrors are mind-boggling. A recent study by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and Oxfam examined rape survivors at the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, a town in South Kivu province. Their ages ranged from three to 80. Some were single, some married, some widows. They came from all ethnicities. They were raped in homes, fields and forests. They were raped in front of husbands and children. Almost 60% were gang-raped. Sons were forced to rape mothers, and killed if they refused.
The attention paid to Congo reflects growing concern about rape in war. Historically the taboo surrounding rape has been so strong that few cases were reported; evidence of wartime rape before the 20th century is scarce. With better reporting, the world has woken up to the scale of the crime. The range of sexual violence in war has become apparent: the abduction of women as sex slaves, sexualised torture and mutilation, rape in public or private.
In some wars all parties engage in it. In others it is inflicted mainly by one side. Rape in wars in Africa has had a lot of attention in recent years, but it is not just an African problem. Conflicts with high levels of rape between 1980 and 2009 were most numerous in sub-Saharan Africa, according to Dara Kay Cohen of the University of Minnesota (see chart). But only a third of sub-Saharan Africa’s 28 civil wars saw the worst levels of rape—compared with half of Eastern Europe’s nine. And no part of the world has escaped the scourge.
The anarchy and impunity of war goes some way to explaining the violence. The conditions of war are often conducive to rape. Young, ill-trained men, fighting far from home, are freed from social and religious constraints. The costs of rape are lower, the potential rewards higher. And for ill-fed, underpaid combatants, rape can be a kind of payment.
Full article: http://www.economist.com/node/17900482
Do you believe it’s possible that SOMETHING created the universe and all existence? Is it possible that a power greater than the universe exists?
-“yes, God is the creator of all existence, God alone commands all…”
-“How did the universe come into existence? That’s a hard one, but evidence suggests that the giver of life is controlling the universe, which makes it a greater power than the universe.”
-“SOMETHING HAD to have made life!! Louis Pasteur disproved spontaneous generation of microorganisms, life doesn’t arise from nothing. The universe too, didn’t arise from nothing. The SOMETHING that brought the universe into existence is what most people in America refer to as GOD. The universe came from SOMETHING. That something is a power greater than the universe and what is known to mankind.”
-“How did we get here? I think the answer is so BIG that we would have difficulty wrapping our minds around it.”
-“I definately believe it’s possible. At our core we are but the light of consciousness. A power gives life to that light.”
-“Our people believe that the power that gives life is alive and we communicate with it and we give thanks for life and all the blessings of life. We live our lives in thanks and gratitude. It is a power that is greater than the universe…”
-“יהוה alone gives life to the universe. יהוה alone has power over all.”
The whole purpose of education is to educate. Therefore it is for educators to focus on EFFECTIVE methods of instruction. If teachers are not providing adequate instruction, then the students will not receive the guidance they need. Accurate and properly presented instruction is essential. This review will briefly touch on implementing instruction and models of instruction, and it will include my thoughts and reflection.
There is always a way. This holds true in all areas of life. Sometimes the way is hidden and unknown, but there is always a way. In order to find the way, one must open one’s mind to all possibilities. When planning instruction, we need to be sure the information is accurate and we need to be sure that the manner in which our instruction is presented is one that is designed to maximize the students’ ability to learn.
Conducting class takes great care and precision. It begins with a pure and loving heart that genuinely wants to help everyone. With this nature and intention, we need to be sure we are extra patient and extra focused and extra disciplined.
We need to do everything we can to help the students help themselves. In the grand scheme of things, it is up to every individual to accomplish for one’s self. As educators, we need to help our students in every way we can to learn, grow, and evolve. It is not for educators to just regurgitate information to the students without feeling. Part of being human is being emotional and sensitive. Therefore, as educators, we need to understand the human psyche and acknowledge that people are steadily “awakening” to greater depths of consciousness. We need to be aware of this reality when teaching and adjust for it accordingly. A two year old baby is in a lesser developed state of consciousness than a forty year old adult whose state of consciousness (under healthy conditions) is much more developed. With that said, we can understand the gradual expansion of consciousness over time. With these factors and more, we need to present our instruction in a manner that will provide the best results and help the student in the best way possible. This should be the goal of every instructor of knowledge.
If one wishes to improve one’s health, there are many things one can do. One may choose to eat more fruits and vegetables in order to improve health and nothing more. This WILL improve health (as long as the fruits and veggies are fresh and pure, ideally organic, and free of pesticides and other toxins). Another person may choose to do the same AND include drinking more water, taking vitamins, herbs, and “superfoods” such as, raw organic honey, goji berries, cocoa, cordyceps and more. This too will improve one’s health, even more than only eating more fruits and veggies. THEN there’s the person who chooses the same healthy diet with all superfoods AND this person chooses to do push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups and squats everyday along with weightlifting. This person, when exercising properly (in a healthy and balanced manner), will be EVEN MORE healthy than the first two people! The next person then decides to take it to the next level and do all the things the third person did and adds to it, Tai Chi, Yoga, Chi Gung, meditation, and running. With this example, we can see how some people put in greater effort than others. Successful educators work hard (with great effort to do the best) to teach every student with care and precision, which yields greater success.
Honey, that delectable condiment for breads and fruits, could be one sweet solution to the serious, ever-growing problem of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, researchers said in Dallas today.
Honey could be one sweet solution to the serious, ever-growing problem of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, researchers said in Dallas* today. Medical professionals sometimes use honey successfully as a topical dressing, but it could play a larger role in fighting infections, the researchers predicted.
“The unique property of honey lies in its ability to fight infection on multiple levels, making it more difficult for bacteria to develop resistance,” said study leader Susan M. Meschwitz, Ph.D. That is, it uses a combination of weapons, including hydrogen peroxide, acidity, osmotic effect, high sugar concentration and polyphenols — all of which actively kill bacterial cells, she explained. The osmotic effect, which is the result of the high sugar concentration in honey, draws water from the bacterial cells, dehydrating and killing them.
In addition, several studies have shown that honey inhibits the formation of biofilms, or communities of slimy disease-causing bacteria, she said. “Honey may also disrupt quorum sensing, which weakens bacterial virulence, rendering the bacteria more susceptible to conventional antibiotics,” Meschwitz said. Quorum sensing is the way bacteria communicate with one another, and may be involved in the formation of biofilms. In certain bacteria, this communication system also controls the release of toxins, which affects the bacteria’s pathogenicity, or their ability to cause disease.
Meschwitz, who is with Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I., said another advantage of honey is that unlike conventional antibiotics, it doesn’t target the essential growth processes of bacteria. The problem with this type of targeting, which is the basis of conventional antibiotics, is that it results in the bacteria building up resistance to the drugs.
Honey is effective because it is filled with healthful polyphenols, or antioxidants, she said. These include the phenolic acids, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid and ellagic acid, as well as many flavonoids. “Several studies have demonstrated a correlation between the non-peroxide antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of honey and the presence of honey phenolics,” she added. A large number of laboratory and limited clinical studies have confirmed the broad-spectrum antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties of honey, according to Meschwitz.
She said that her team also is finding that honey has antioxidant properties and is an effective antibacterial. “We have run standard antioxidant tests on honey to measure the level of antioxidant activity,” she explained. “We have separated and identified the various antioxidant polyphenol compounds. In our antibacterial studies, we have been testing honey’s activity against E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, among others.”
*This study was presented the 247th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
Eating organic food protects from pesticide exposure
Filed Under: Pesticides Organics Health Children
Children who switched to eating organically-grown food greatly reduced their exposure to organophosphate insecticides. Scientists from Seattle and Atlanta just published the results of their study which linked pesticides in children’s urine to pesticide residues on food. Scientists worry that organophosphates might harm children’s developing nervous systems.
Children who switched to eating organically-grown food greatly reduced their exposure to organophosphate insecticides. Scientists from Seattle and Atlanta just published the results of their study which linked pesticides in children’s urine to pesticide residues on food. Scientists worry that organophosphates might harm children’s developing nervous systems.
Twenty-three elementary-aged children participated in a 15 day study which was divided into three parts. First the children ate their usual diet of conventionally-grown food for 3 days. Then they were switched to organically-grown substitutes for 5 days. For the final 7 days, they switched back to conventional food.
The organic substitutes were mainly fruits, vegetables, juices, and grain products (such as wheat) because these foods are often contaminated with organophosphates.
Urine samples were collected twice a day for each child. Researchers tested the urine for signs of pesticides.
In the case of two organophosphate insecticides — malathion and chlorpyrifos — the results were startling. Signs of these two chemicals were found in the urine in the first part of the study. Almost immediately after the children switched to an organic diet, these chemicals could not be detected. The chemicals showed up again when the children switched back to their normal diet.
The researchers said “We were able to demonstrate that an organic diet provides a dramatic and immediate protective effect against exposures to organophosphorus pesticides that are commonly used in agriculture.”
More information on chlorpyrifos
The organophosphate family of chemicals damages the nervous system (which includes the brain), so scientists are particularly concerned about children’s exposure because their bodies are still developing. Chlorpyrifos is one of the many insecticides in this chemical family.
In 1999, the Environmental Protection Agency decided to start cancelling some uses of chlorpyrifos, in part because of some disturbing animal studies. For example, newborn rats were much more susceptible to toxic effects of chlorpyrifos than adults. Also, even low doses of chlorpyrifos caused structural changes in the development of the brain.
While chlorpyrifos has been greatly restricted for uses in and around homes, it is still widely used in agriculture. The study described above makes it clear that children are still exposed to chlorpyrifos from residues on food.
The following article takes a look at motivation and it’s relationship to learning. Motivation is a powerful factor influencing learning and achievement. “Motivation” is defined as the “process whereby goal-directed activity is instigated and sustained.” Herein, we will examine the use of motivation in the classroom.
Motivation is usually classified into two broad categories, extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsic motivation is is often engaged in by students who just want to do an assignment for the sake of getting it done. Intrinsic motivation is motivation to be involved in an activity because one wants to be involved. Sometimes one can be extrinsically motivated and in this process become intrinsically motivated. Some factors that influence motivation are whether or not the topic evokes curiosity and/or promotes a challenge, or a topic that is outside the bounds of reality as it is perceived.
Quality educators want the students to learn. They want the student to be interested and find what is being taught useful. In order to acheive this, many different approaches are taken to motivate the students. Inspiring students is the core of the intention. Encouraging them through positive reinforcement can help to motivate the students. Trying to get the students interested impacts our ability to motivate. The student has to WANT to learn in order to be motivated to do so and to stay motivated.
Finding the “motivational zone of proximal development” can increase a students desire to learn. When a student understands the topic of study and is interested in learning more, then the student can make great progress. This is the ideal situation.
An educator needs to be genuine and honest. A quality educator seeks to inspire all with the same equal care. This is refered to as “unconditioned positive reward.” Our needs, our beliefs, our goals, our interests, and our emotions, all influence our motivation to learn. A student in my high school class was intelligent and capable of attaining straight A’s. He did so for years until he lost his drive and motivation. He ended up getting bad grades and he failed many classes. When he wanted to learn, he did great, but when he didn’t want to learn, he failed miserably. This shows the spirit of motivation. As educators, we want to get our students to WANT to learn. We craft our teaching approach with this intention and we teach in a manner that aligns with the students interests.
The ability to study well aligns with our need for competence. When we are studying a topic that we are interested in, we are generally able to focus harder and do better. When we are studying for the sake of situational interest, then more motivation is generally needed. Being able to alter our environment to meet the needs of our ideal atmosphere can help us focus harder on our studies. Most people want to do good, for themselves, for their families and loved ones, and also in order to avoid anxiety fueled humiliation in class.
When people awaken to life and come to appreciate the power that gives life to the universe, motivation will flow without ceasing. However, when focusing on a specific content area, such as Biology, one needs to work to get the students interested. This involves more than just talking about the content, it involves managing the classroom in a manner that is comfortable for the students and it is up to educators to work to inspire interest. This is an ongoing challenge, but with care and love and precision, inspiration will eventually manifest.
Behaviorism is a theory that explains the process of learning, which is defined as a change in observable behavior patterns as a result of life experience. Behaviorism focuses on observable behavior. The following review will summarize the two major components of behaviorism: classical conditioning and operant conditioning.
Classical conditioning is a component of behaviorism that explains how people learn involuntary physiological and emotional responses that are similar to instinctive or reflexive (unlearned) responses. We can apply this to a social setting as an example. We are conditioned to dress and behave in a manner that is acceptable in a specific context. If a student in America shows up to class wearing only a rag to cover his privates like Tarzan, then everyone would stare at him confused as to why in the world he is dressed like this. Therefore, as a result of being conditioned to society’s expectations, the student dresses accordingly, in a manner that is accepted by the majority.
Ivan Pavlov, a Russian scientist, reflected on animal behavior which led him to open the field of classical conditioning. After seeing the same person come with food to feed the dogs over and over, the dogs responded the same even when the person did not have food because they were conditioned to associate food with that person and they expected it. This led to an exploration into the psyche of humans after comparing similar responses and behavior patterns exhibited in animals.
Failure can traumatize people sometimes. When we fail, we can develop fear-based anxiety associated with our failure. This can continue to play out every time we attempt to repeat whatever it was that we failed at. The failure is an unconditioned stimulus caused by an unconditioned response (fear-based anxiety). Associating this with the context within which it happened causes a conditioned response to what was formerly a neutral response to a neutral stimuli. This response can continue to plague one with fear-based anxiety if one doesn’t work to correct the problem. If one works to succeed and does so and continues to do so, then one can transcend this negative response to failure. When the conditioned stimulus occurs over and over without the unconditioned stimulus occuring, then extinction will occur and it will no longer elicit the conditioned response. It pays succeed and it pays to work hard and overcome failure with earned success.
Operant Conditioning describes learning in terms of observable responses that change as a result of consequences. For example, being punished for an offense will often times create a paradigm shift that will lead to one to prefer to avoid repeating the incident. Reinforcers play a major role in human behavior patterns and are a major area of study when analyzing operant conditioning. Positive and negative are often regarded as two charges, such as those of a magnet, or two electrical charges. However, in human society, we refer to a positive environment as one that is safe, harmonious, peaceful, and balanced. If someone is really positive, then their outlook is optimistic, happy, motivated, and upbeat. If one is negative or if the environment is negative, then it is generally dark and unloving, unhappy, and when manifested in a person’s consciousness, it can be miserable and even hateful.
As educators, we seek to offer positive reinforcement to all, knowing that the more positive one is, the happier one will be, and the more motivated and inspired one will be. We know that positive reinforcement can only help and heal and produce good results, so we seek to positively reinforce as much as possible. Negative reinforcement is defined as the process of increasing behavior by removing or avoiding an aversive/negative stimulus. Negative “reinforcement” is the terminology used, but I wouldn’t say reinforcement, but instead negative removal. In order to maintain a balanced and harmonious consciousness, as one sees fit, one seeks to remove what is perceived to be the negative stimuli.
As educators, the Premack principle should be employed often, in my opinion. Students will sometimes not be too motivated about certain assignments, so in order to motivate them, we can use a positive reinforcer inspire the student to focus harder on the assignment. For example, an educator could say, “as soon as you are done with this assignment, we will have free time (or whatever activity the educator decided will elicit a positive response that will motivate the student to do the assignment knowing a “reward” of sorts will be the result)”. Shaping is a term used in educational psychology to describe how a teacher, for example, may continue to reinforce a student’s outlook on life by continuously and systematically working to help the student develop a positive outlook through patterns in the frequency and predictability of reinforcers to create a desired behavior.
A student’s self-esteem, perception of life, and overall state of consciousness plays a major role in learning and development. Therefore it is important for a teacher to be aware, as much as possible, and as appropriate as is expected, of a students state of consciousness in order to help the student reach the pinnacle of human consciousness evolution. Ultimately, every human should, ideally, be extinct in ego, and at peace to the depths of all being, which lies at the core of consciousness. We can’t expect everyone to achieve this because it is difficult to achieve in this world. Even more so, if one does achieve this, how long can one maintain this state of equanimity? As educators, we need to recognize that humans are complex beings that are emotional and in need of support. When we genuinely care and genuinely want to help all people with equal love and care, then we will make leaps and bounds. As educators, we need to be trained thoroughly in this area so we can understand what is happening and how to improve the classroom environment in order to make it a more productive learning experience for the students.
derekcheyyim 