Blog post #5: World Issues Conference

I had an awesome experience at the world issues conference 2012. I was partnered with Rachel and preparing for the conference was not a difficulty at all! Our topic was the Somalia crisis which was very interesting to research and our two grade 8 presenters knew all their information very well and explained it thoroughly but clear for their fellow students to understand it! Their presentation was awesome and easy to understand, I even learned a few things I hadn't known before they presented. The two boys were confident and seemed like they had practiced many times! Part of their presentation was a quiz, which their peers answered easily! After every few slides, our two presenters would ask us and the rest of the kids a question based on the previous slides to check for understanding. Another part of their presentation was a 10 minute long video showing olympic runners training in somalia, contrasting it to an olympian training in Canada. It was a really cool video to watch and it definitely intrigued the rest of the kids into their presentation. Since their presentation was so lengthy, we barely had time at the end to ask questions however we did ask 2! The kids cooperated and were a little shy at first but once one person gained the confidence to answer they started a ripple effect!

The simulation I was involved in was the Right to Play simulation. Both the panelists running it were really nice people and were awesome to work with. They involved us grade 12's enough to let us partake in a leadership role. The first game we played was a game that involved team work. They split us into groups and we had to play the human knot. It was a hard game to play if you didn't have patience and weren't open to other kids ideas. I tried my best to let the kids figure it out but definitely helped move the team work along and encourage the kids as much as possible! We also played a game called mosquito tag which gave the kids a bit more of an understanding on malaria. I got the kids involved and explained the instructions. We did a trial run so they could see how the game works then they each got the hang of it!

It was a really awesome day and I loved working with the kids and motivating them to do better things in this world.

Blog Post #4- Gapminder

   As the wealth of people (income per person) is at larger amounts the mortality rate of infants goes down. Mortality rate is strongly affected by factors such as health care access, money to buy food, child care support, surrounding economy and employment which all depend on the adults income rate. The more health care people have access to, the more likely their child is to survive. This is because the health care will ensure their infant is safe and healthy. They have the ability to protect their child against diseases such as HIV, aids, diarrhea (especially in the third world countries) with the medical care necessary to do so. Secondly, if a couple has a higher income rate in total, they have more opportunities to buy the necessities in order to keep their child healthy and strong (ex; food, water, proper shelter and clothing). This can only happen if that couple is employed, and educated. The adults could also have the money to spend on child care support if needed, so their child is given enough attention ensuring it is always safe and not sick.
Over all money is a huge factor affecting the amount of infant deaths right now, and statistical evidence shows it is decreasing with larger incomes.

Blog Post #3- American Election

     If I were an American voting for my president, I would be voting for Mitt Romney. Ever since Barack Obama became president about 4 years ago, the living standards for the average American have fallen. Poverty is becoming a more serious issue as the years pass and the gap between rich and poor is becoming greater. Facts show that the last American president to win an election with the unemployment rate above 8% was Frankin Roosevelt. This election is persuaded greatly by the economy. If this election is about the economy then Mitt Romney should win! Facts also say that the last time Americans felt this gloomy having Barack Obama as their president, was in 1992 when Bill Clinton won. However Obama is ahead when it comes to health care and national security. I think America needs something new and fresh. They need new hands working on their economy.

Blog Post #2 - Death of America's Ambassador to Lybia

      An "Innocence of Muslims" movie sparked the riots between America and the people of Lybia. The riots started out in Lybia, so the Amercians sent in their ambassador to aid Lybia. In turn they burned down the U.S flag and replaced it with one representing the "Al Qaeda" and killed the U.S ambassador. Islamists-Sakafists wanted an ultra conservative religious state in Lybia so they started/enforced riots. These people did this by taking the movie made by the American and connected it to their economic uncertainty and unemployment. The people who are unemployed have nothing to do, which just led to more riots because they had nothing better to do. The Al Qaeda terrorists also started riots because they want a society where Islamic law is the rule of the day...they want a state that is run by their religion. Mean while all of this is going on, in the eyes of the Arabs, they were feeling hurt and angry because their religion was mocked in the movie. The arabs want to see "change" in their country so they feel you have to hurt other people sometimes to see "change". They are also embarrassed, because the Arabs are very close to the U.S ambassador because he stood with them when they needed him, when everyone else was running away. The U.S ambassador made him self look "equal" to all of them.

Blog Post #1: Poverty

       I feel that the most important issue in the world right now is Poverty. During the summer that just passed, I went on a service trip to Kenya, Africa. This experience was drastically life impacting in the sense that it opened my eyes up to a whole different side of this world. I had known about poverty all my life I was just oblivious to the severity of it in different parts of our world.

      Driving through the different communities to get to where we were going to be staying for the next 3 weeks, was very hard to cope with emotionally. A huge part of the "scenery" we saw was accompanied by the slums. I had heard about the "slum areas" in different parts of the world, but seeing it with my own eyes really trembled my mind. It showed me that not only is there a problem with having people on the streets of Toronto, but the location one is born in, in this world, can have an affect on their wealth and even their opportunities. A lot of people in Africa don't have the choice of being born there, they did not choose that life for themselves. Their lack of resources and the economic instability has had a huge impact on those living on that side of the world's lives.