Adoptions From Ethiopia Rise

In the past four years adoption of children from Ethiopia  have increased by more than 50%. Six years ago, there were only 284 ethiopian children, out of the 22,990 international children who were adopted by American families. For the 2010 fiscal year, there will be 2,500 adoptions from Ethiopia. This is a remarkable increase and Ethiopia is on the verge of overtaking China as the top source country for adoption. This seems to be a great future for the orphaned children of Ethiopia and most likely Africa as a whole. Ethiopia is now helping to set examples on how beneficial it is to allow adoptions of children, instead of keeping them in institutions just to keep the child in their native country.

Website: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39636986/ns/health-kids_and_parenting

Soccer's Lost Boys of Africa

I just finished watching a documentary called "Soccer's Lost Boys" on the "Current Tv" network which is channel 9 on the tv stations in the NDNU dorms. It was about young boys mostly under the age of 17 who were mostly from Cameroon, Senegal, and Ghana who had high hopes of becoming famous football (or soccer as we call it) players for major European football teams. What happens is, a person who claims to be a famous soccer agent comes to the homes of families of young boys who show promise and ask the parents, to pay a fee in order to have their son get a chance at becoming a professional soccer player. These hopeful parents sale their homes, cars, clothes, food, themselves, and all of their possessions to raise money for the agent's fees. The agent then takes the young boy to Europe, "tries" to get an audition in front of major soccer teams and if this does not happen, the agent disappears and leaves the young boy stranded in  Europe. Many families have not seen their sons in more than 7 or 8 years because of this scam; this is because they no longer have the money to pay for their child's trip back home. There have said to be up to 20,000 young men who are all homeless and scattered over Europe and also stranded with no way to get back home. The stranded boys in Europe then turn to prostitution, drug dealing, stealing, and many other crimes to keep money in their pockets to buy food and clothing. There have been a few organizations created in the hopes of ending this trafficking in Africa but unfortunately it has not been enough to end this horrible scam from happening. What is even more sad is that many of these families in Africa here of these horrible stories of the young boys being victims of trafficking but they still use their life's savings to pay agents to do the exact  same thing, in hopes of their child being "different" and actually becoming a professional soccer player.

Zimbabwe Women Weave their Way out of Poverty

In this article (which  a slideshow) there are women of Zimbabwe who weave baskets and sell them to make money. The creative and beautiful designs have caught the eye of many people and this has increased the demand for these gorgeous baskets. Which in turn is bringing more money into the families of these talented women. You will be blown away by the photos of these baskets and amazed at how many different things these artists make baskets out of, like for example lamp shades! 

ARTICLE: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11497446

Fleeing Somali women recount tales of terror

Can you imagine having your life threatened over marriage? Many single women in Somalia have their lives threatened everyday over marriage and rape. Groups of men storm in the homes of single women and hold them at gun point and force them to marry or have sexual relations with them. There have even been stories of women who are beheaded if they refuse to marry their attacker, and then the head is sent to the home of the woman's father. Ironically these attacks also happen on women who are already married! Many, gangs rush into the homes of married women and force them to have sex with them right in front of their husbands. This story disgusts me in so many ways. Even though having a wife is something that defines you as a man with an "ok" amount of money; it has never been that serious to be married.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11437595

Nigeria lead poisoning death toll 'doubles'

 
Here is a post about Nigeria and how the lead poisoning and death toll has doubled since last year. Atleast 400 children have died from lead poisoing this year. The poisoning is called by illegal gold mining in areas contaminated with lead. To extract gold, deadly amounts of lead were released and soil containing lead deposits was dumped in water sources and in places where children played. Locals believe that at least 18,000 people have been affected. Unfortunately, many deaths go unreported and this makes the statistics lower than what they actually are. It seems that something will have to be done very soon about the illegal gold mining, if not, the death toll due to lead poison will do nothing but increase.

GREAT NEWS! Kidnapped Children in Nigeria Freed!

The group of fifteen kidnapped children in Nigeria that I last posted about were officially freed a few days ago! Police say that no ransom has been paid in the return of the wealthy children, but the victims were rescued from a hideout in the forest of Ogwe-Asa in a joint military operation. The Abia state has also deployed more than 5,000 extra soldiers into the towns center to prevent the kidnappers from escaping. Like I said before, the hostages tend to be released harmed after the kidnappers receive their ransom, luckily none of the children on the school bus have been reported being harmed in any type of way. This is the best news that I think many of us (or at least myself) have heard in a while being that many  victims of these harmful crimes in Nigeria end up dead or seriously harmed.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11450818

Nigeian Town Aba shuts down after Kidnapping

A school bus carrying 15 elememtary school children was blocked by a random vehicle and attacked. A gang of men came on to the school bus and kidnapped all 15 children whose ages ranged from three to te years old. The victims on the school bus are chilren of wealthy families in Nigeria's south-eastern town of Aba. Many schools, banks, and markets fear the possibility of another attack so they have shut down mostly all businesses an schools in the town. The gang of men who carried out the attack set out ransom of $130,00 for the children's safe return. There has been a rise in hostage-taking in Abia state, where many middle class Nigerians now travel with armed escorts for protection. Kidnappings in Nigeria's south-east are carried out by criminal gangs seeking ransom, but also by armed groups demanding a fairer distribution of oil revenue in a country flowing with oil but where most people live on less than $1 a day. I hope to see the safe return of these children very soon because many victims of these kidnappings are still returned harmed after the criminals still have recieved their ransom. This is a devastating and mindless crime that can possibly be avoided by simply creating a fairer distribution of oil revenue.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11434483