Deworming Haiti

Deworming Haiti

Deworming Haiti
By Nesrin Ahmed

With broken homes and lack of sanitation, the Haitian society has been rebuilding their communities and life's after the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake in 2010. Children of Haiti are suffering the most, coping with the aftermath of the traumatic natural disaster. They are suffering from poor diets and  homelessness. Children are suffering with anemia and are consuming meals which are contaminated with parasites. However, Aaron Jackson, a native from Florida has brought the awareness of these conditions through his deworming project, called Stomp the Worm. His organization Planting Peace, has helped over millions of children around the world and has formed secure homes for children in Haiti and India. In 2011, he has dewormed 8 million children. In addition his goal is to deworm 1 million children per month. Deworming is the supplying  of anthelmintic drug to get rid of intestinal parasites. Jackson believes that with the importance of deworming, “You can see hungry children eating three times a day, and if they're not dewormed they're still lethargic, have high rates of anemia. They're slowly wasting away.” Making the world a better place, Aaron Jackson has been honored as a CNN hero.

Don't Judge A Book By It's Culture.

When you look at someones appearance you automatically say "oh she's probably white, black, or hispanic, etc." But if you're just going off of looks how would you really know someones ethnicity til you ask them? I go through this kind of stuff all the time. People assume that because I am dark and I don't have straight hair that I am automatically just African-American... Wrong ! there's more to me then meets the eye. My mom is Filipino but how would people know unless I wore a sign that said that. Our world likes to judge and assume when they don't know anything but in a way we were kind of taught that unconsciously when we were young. Because I am mixed I see things different and I don’t automatically assume that someone is this or that just because of the way they look because some people can take that into offense. So the next time you see someone Don’t Judge A Book By It’s Culture
-Robin Sanders

Severe Kidnappins in Somalia

Somalia, in the eastern part of Africa, is suffering from an immense deal of social and personal suffering. Civilians and incoming outsiders are getting kidnapped left and right; and the numbers keep increasing. People now don’t only have to worry about their lives being affected by the dysfunction in the economy, but they are concerned with their safety. Some of the kidnappings unfortunately turn into far more than the being held in captivity, some people are led to face their untimely death through the hands of these callous individuals. Consequently, Somalis trying to receive help from outside aids are not able to receive the help needed; this issue with the kidnappings can be seen as a spark of new issues waiting to arise in Somalia.

The Somalia government does not seem to have many resources to put an end to the situation. They have been unstable since the early 90s—not having “a central government for more than 20 years”; and until recently was a government formed. Ken Menkhaus (an expert on Somalia) and Amnesty International refer to it as “a government on paper only” and “a caricature of a government.”But how can this said government do anything about protecting its people, if it is not viewed as an official government?

Their social dynamics need to change; the government has to gain some power over the republic. At the moment the kidnappers are holding the power over the country. They demand outrageous amounts of money for the return of people’s loved ones, yet they are in a state of poverty. According to the AKE, the ransoms are “averaged between $250,000 and $600,000”, extreme amounts when the “average income is less than $2 a day”.   The people of Somalia who are committing these despicable crimes have no mechanical solidarity; it is obvious that no one sharing the same beliefs, especially in safety, as other Somalis would commit such barbarities. 

This article can be found at: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/01/hold-why-do-people-get-kidnapped-in-somalia.html 

By: Vanessa Torres

The Future of Twitter

Twitter is forward free speech. The site is supposed to let people tweet whatever they want but government in other parts of the country want to be able to censor tweets when they are against the law. People in the society using Twitter have used it to organize in the protests like the Arab Spring Up rise and the Occupy Wall Street. There are people that don't agree with censoring the tweets because Twitter is supposed to be able to let people write what they want. Free speech activists are defending Twitter. They are doing what they can to support free speech and also be able to have the people continue using the site for communications. If the tweet violates other countries laws they people that are employed will risk arrest and prosecution.
This article connects with sociology because it is talking about the way that society reacts to things. Twitter might just be a social sight were you can post what you feel but it also affects other countries. Other countries have different laws and react to things different.



http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-twitter-censors-20120128,0,7728865,full.story

By: Elizabeth Cruz

Tanzania's Hadza group sheds light on ancient social networks

This article is very interesting it is about how people in Tanzania have similar social networks just like us without and the absence of cellphones, internet etc. A  researcher named Coren Apicella traveled to regions of Tanzania to study members of a tiny group of hunter-gatherers known as the Hadza. The Hadza group live as ancient humans in the Pleistocene. They have values such as no agriculture, carrying few or no possessions, setting up camp to forage and hunt, and relocating every four to six weeks after stripping the bushes and baobab trees within walking distance. They have an amazing culture and I like how they dont have to worry about getting money or relying on electronics, they can basically live life. Many people are culture shocked about how this because they can live without electronic gagets and for us it would be a crime if we didnt have that. I find this facinating and would like to visit there one day and learn more about there culture.
By: Brandie Suncin
site:
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-ancient-social-networks-20120126,0,3621864.story

Elephant meat for dinner?

So I had a culture shock today! An article released by the Associated Press today revealed that there is a great concern for elephants in Thailand. In the past months poachers have killed several elephants for human consumption. Normally poachers kill elephants for their tusks but now they have taken it to much greater extremes. They are most interested in consuming elephant's sex organs. Some Thailand cultures believe that consuming animals' sex organ can boost their sexual prowess. Poachers that have been killing these elephants are counterculture individuals who can't comprehend that killing these helpless animals is against the law in Thailand! There is not a big demand on elephant meat now however, Soraida Salwala, the founder of Friends of the Asian Elephant foundation, stated, "There's only a handful of people who like to eat elephant meat, but once there's demand, poachers will find it hard to resist the big money," He also states that a full grown pair of tusks could be sold from 1 million to 2 million baht ($31,600 to $63,300), while the estimated value of an elephant's penis is more than 30,000 baht ($950)." I hope that Thailand officials can stop poachers from killing elephants.

By Janeth Avila Del Real
http://news.yahoo.com/ap-exclusive-taste-thai-elephant-meat-035353902.html

Business booming for the dog smugglers of the Mekong

 

Business booming for the dog smugglers of the Mekong

 

In any other country when it is New Year’s it is a time for a new beginning and a happy moment but unfortunately that does not happen for the innocent dogs.  In Thailand when it is Chinese New Year’s dog smugglers have this cultural tradition where they kill many dogs to be serve as dinner for the family. The dogs are either stolen or found in an alley by dog smugglers of the Mekong. What they also do with the poor dogs is trade them with other people.  

The dogs are considered to be warming food during the winter as well as good luck to Vietnam. The floods that have been going on in Thailand have been easy targets to capture dogs that are loose and lost. The trading of dogs is considered illegal in Thailand and it is reported that around 50,000 dogs are being sold across the Mekong every year. When the dogs before arriving to Vietnam have died either of suffocation or starvation but the ones that were alive were beaten to death or skinned alive.

This in our countries eyes is being seen as a subculture because what they are doing is in between their group and it is illegal as well. There are people in Thailand that do not approve of this and luckily there still good love animal people out there where they rescue the dogs. There was Thai navy patrol that rescued 800 dogs that were wired inside 40 cages. "This is not about whether it is right or wrong to eat dog meat," Dalley says. "It is about an illegal trade worth millions of dollars per year organized by criminals. This very cruel and should be stopped immediately and Thailand should take action into stopping these poor dogs misery. No living breathing human or animal should suffer like this!

 http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/24/world/asia/thailand-dogs/index.html?hpt=ias_t3 

-CINDY IRINEO