Dear Africa: new book launched

¬Original Article published in University newspaper- Pluto¬

http://www.pluto-online.com/2010/10/dear-africa-students-launch-new-book/

A book of letters between Lancastrian and African children is being published by UCLan students.

Letters to Africa is a riveting collection of letters exchanged between more than 250 children from Lancashire, Kenya and Zambia, as well as contributions by UCLan students and renowned authors.

The aim of the book is to exemplify a side of Africa never seen before.

The book is a charitable project and all proceeds will buy educational resources for the African schoolchildren in Kenya and Zambia.

Project Manager Debbie Williams, explained what she wants the book to achieve.

“By publishing this book we hope to bridge the cultural divide between UK and African school children by giving them a chance to tell us about their lives through letters, drawings and photographs,” she said.

“This is a completely unique venture. There are a lot of projects and publications about Africa written by adults and experts but none which allowed the children who live there to speak directly about their environment, daily life and their future.”

This eight month project is a collaborative effort of second and third year students from UCLan’s publishing, photography, writing for children, children’s illustration, linguistics and sport science. Photography student, Gemma Nolan, even won a BBC Wildlife photography competition for her close up of a lion in Kenya.

Letters to Africa is supported by celebrated children’s authors Lauren St John (au­thor of The White Giraffe), Mary Hoffman (author of Amazing Grace and the Stravaganza series), Ifeoma Onyefulu (author of A is for Africa) and others, who have all contributed to the book.

This 145 page book proves to be an exceptional resource for primary school teachers and the creative curriculum helping students discover Africa through cultural anecdotes, fun facts, journal entries by visitors who have exchanged engaging tales with the Maasai people and equally captivating fiction accompanied with beautifully captured local photography.

Concurrently, since its publication in August 2010, it has been long-listed for Channel 4’s TV Book Club. What makes Letters to Africa even more

The UCLan Publishing House has joined hands with charitable companies such as The National Literary Trust to help them promote this spellbinding book and have also started working on a second instalment focussing on the social and environmental changes in Kenya.

You can purchase your copy at Blackwell Bookstore (Student Union) for only £9.99.

***

The National Literacy Trust is an independent charity that transforms lives through literacy by working with individuals who struggle with literacy and the professionals that support them.

One in six people in the UK struggle to read and write. Poor skills compromise health, confidence, happiness and employability but with better literacy, everyone can succeed in life.

That is why the National Literacy Trust campaigns to improve understanding of the importance of literacy and to help individuals to understand the importance of literacy in their lives.

Night Is Here

As dawn turns to dusk,
the night settles in.
Shining, glimmering
With the moon up high.
>
Feeling the nights wind on my face,
Deep in thought,
Lost in fantasy,
I ponder.


Unsure, unaware, unbound
I wander up and down
To seek answers to questions
That I ask myself
Day after day
And night after night.

'I remained spell-bound. I had definitely fallen in love.'

I always get my camera out when I see a clear or an unusual sky. I can spend hours staring at that brilliant blue space.

String of clouds

After the Rains

The Yellow Surfer

The Rising Sun

Sweet Surrender

Black balloon and Yellow Skies

"I emerged at last, stumbled a few steps in the mud and then I saw it: an ethereal mountain emerging from a tossing sea of clouds framed between two dark barracksöa massive, blue-black tooth of sheer rock inlaid with azure glaciers, austere yet floating fairy-like on the near horizon....I stood gazing until the vision disappeared among the shifting cloud banks. For hours afterwards I remained spell-bound. I had definitely fallen in love."

-Benuzzi, Felice No Picnic on Mount Kenya

Love is in the Air

Pink Skies

My first Rainbow

Black Skies

 Yellow Heart

Sun-eat 

(doesn't it looks like an animal/creature sort (unicorn) gobbling up the sun)

Mind over Matter

When something's are left undone
it torments my mind
leaving it forever in unrest
perturbed and almost crucified
it hangs more than a mere reminder of thought
of decision,
of passing
that one is left speechless
at the control mind has over matter.

When the heart is enlivened again, it feels like the sun coming out after a week of rainy days. There is hope in the heart that chases the clouds away. Hope is a higher heart frequency and as you begin to reconnect with your heart, hope is waiting to show you new possibilities and arrest the downward spiral of grief and loneliness. It becomes a matter of how soon you want the sun to shine. Listening to the still, small voice in your heart will make hope into a reality.- Sara Paddison, The Hidden Power of the Heart. PC: Megna Kalvani

'1 Billion Die Hungry Every Year,' Who's Responsible?

http://www.allafrica.com; http://www.africaonline.com - both of these sites contain information on the perils of Africa including starvation and aids http://www.aah-usa.org – Action against Hunger site for efforts to save millions of people a year from starvation

http://www.thehungersite.com – a site for statistics about world hunger; also, donate here towards the starve out hunger cause

http://www.manteno.k12.il.us/drussert/WebQuests/HallOvandoRobinson/start.html – site that investigates the question, “What can one person do about hunger?

http://www.wfp.org – World Food Programme site

According to the US Census (2009), there are 1.8 deaths per second worldwide, meaning that there are over 100 deaths per minute.

Out of which, every six seconds a child dies of starvation.

Can you believe that? I cant.

With World Food Day celebrated yesterday, on 16th October 2010. It was shocking to read that over 1 billion are starving.

yeah, you read right, 1 billion. Dying. Why? from simply starving.

So, for those of those you, who don't understand the seriousness of this rather common term, 'Starve' which we use quite recklessly in our 'healthy' lives.

Starvation is that feeling of hunger one experiences with a lack of food, the “persistent gnawing condition resulting from a lack of adequate food intake, which prevents one form working of thinking correctly.” Starvation is the most severe case of the condition of hunger.

Starvation and hunger, if not combated, lead certainly to malnutrition. Malnutrition is the condition resulting from a lack of life sustaining vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.

On October 11, a new global hunger index released by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) showed that one billion people face hunger this year.

The 2010 Global Hunger Index showed there was alarming hunger in 25 out of the 122 countries surveyed.

"The present dramatic situation has come about because instead of tackling the structural causes of food insecurity, the world neglected agriculture in development policies, resulting in an under-investment in this sector, in particular in developing countries," said Kanayo F. Nwanze, the Nigerian vice president of IFAD, a United Nations agency and an international financial institution, whose mandate is to help rural poor people pull themselves out of poverty.

I understand natural disasters. I understand incurable diseases. I understand accidental deaths. I (don't) understand Wars. I understand mental/health issues. I understand natural deaths.

What I don't understand why do people have to die because there's no food available.

I see plenty. Why aren't they getting any?

Before you start pointing out that hunger is most severe in the 'poorest' parts of the world such as Africa, India, Pakistan and Indonesia. I agree, that they do have the largest percentage of hungry people of all the countries in the world.

But even developed countries like United States, have nearly one in four people, 1.3 billion total, live on less than US$1 per day. One out of every eight children under twelve in the US goes to bed hungry every night.

So back to the question, of why these people aren't getting any food?

Is it due to lack of food?

Is it be because the countries don't have any money?

Is it because of lack of technologic advances?

No, NO & No.

I highly doubt its any of these reasons why nations are finding it hard to feed its citizens.

I think I can safely say that they have enough of money to spend on basic necessities like food or technology to make that required amount of food.

Even, Nwanze, the Nigerian vice president of IFAD, a United Nations agency and an international financial institution said, 'that there is too much hunger in the world, even though there are abundant global food supplies, better economic prospects, and lower food prices,' a Press TV correspondent reported on Friday.

For fun, lets review some approximate amounts spent by countries only on SPORT instead of feeding their people.

Africa, spent billions on the World Cup 2010.

India spent billions on the Common wealth Games 2010.

UK will be spending billions on the Olympics 2012.

Is SPORT that important? Now you may say sure, it is. It increases the country's economy, there's more jobs, development in telecommunications, roads.......etc just to look good in the public eye.

So if there's so much money gained, where does it all go?

People are STILL dying from not having food and basic health facilities.

Where do you think nations are going wrong? Are they doing enough?

References:

http://www.starvation.net – by Starvation.net, to-the-minute information on the starvation crisis in many third world countries worldwide, including to-the-second statistics

http://www.napsoc.org – National Association for the Prevention of Starvation home site containing information of how to aid in the cause to eliminate starvation

Baraka: A Silent Masterpiece

Movie’s Name: Baraka Directed by: Ron Fricke Produced By: Mark Madigson Written By: Constantine Nicholas & Genevieve Nicholas Music By: Michael Stearns Release Date: 1992 Running time: 96 minutes

Baraka is an ancient Sufi word, when translated means ‘a blessing’. This movie is no ordinary everyday movie that one watches but is a silent masterpiece. Baraka has no plot, actors, dialogues or subtitles thus entitling this movie to be watched anywhere by anyone. The movie is a breathtaking journey through six continents and twenty-four countries. The rich cinematography and sensuous music compels the viewer to know more. The film offers no answers but many questions. It is up to us to perceive it in our own way and come up with our own conclusions. The movie may seem to be a wondrous jigsaw but it all does fit together to make perfect sense.

Baraka illustrates the basic elements of earth which are air, fire, water and land and how these are used in various ways by several people in different places. The movie shows an antithesis to any situation thus maintaining a balance on mother earth but yet at most times this balance is not equally shared, causing bedlam.

The movie also depicts how man has evolved from Stone Age to today’s digital world. But in the process of advancement, mankind has let machines take control of their emotions, making their lives more mechanical and monotonous. People throughout the world are becoming more materialistic day by day and are forgetting the basic fruits of life itself.

The beauty of the movie Baraka is that it targets no particular audience. It tries to convey a message without any words concentrating on the visual representation thus offending no one. It also shows that even though we are all so different in our own very ways, yet we are all the same. Baraka is indeed a one true blessing by itself as it makes the viewer acknowledge the value of life and how an individual must stop to savor each ‘blessing’ in ones life before its too late.

View trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYZ8RWqqicQ