The events that unfolded and the lives lost in Rwanda, May 7th, 1994 are being laid in the hands of one man: Emmanuel Uwayezu. He was an educator and a priest, making this even more inhuman. In October Italian authorities arrested Uwayezu on charges for the deaths of eighty Tutsi students. On this day at the Kibeho College of Arts he ordered security and teachers to lock down the students and arrange their killings. It is unclear what lies in his fate or whether the Rwandan government will successfully extradite him for a trial. Uwayezu maintains his innocence claiming he took no part on genocide, in fact he says he tried saving the young lives that were massacred. However, it is said that he spread ethnic hatred throughout the school by blaming the nation’s troubles on the Tutsi’s.
Soldiers in Camp Keating
by Kayti Komisarek
Camp Keating is located in an Afghan Valley, just ten miles from the Pakistan boarder. Camp Keating is a US base, soldiers sent there don’t ask questions why they are there, or what they are doing there. Since they are in a valley they are attacked randomly all the time, stuck firing back blindly. Soldiers refer to Camp Keating as Ambush Alley, they find themselves vulnerable, like sitting ducks.
The other day Sgt. Vernon Martin was killed while being the over night look out, he leaves behind a wife and three kids. Martin’s uncle questions why he was even there in the first place. Attacks happen at all times of the day and happen with all kinds of weapons, in 2006 an American Blackhawk helicopter that was bringing food and supplies was almost taken down, since then helicopters were ordered to land no closer then a three hour walk. These soldiers were sent to secure the roads and connect the central government in Kabul and Nuristan.
Neighboring villages are left scared, hearing gun fire all day and all night. Some airstrick attacks have injured innocent civilians and villages on the other side of the valley.
Sierra Leone: Schools in Need of Help
In 2002 Sierra Leone ended an eleven yearlong civil war. In 1991 the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) started the war under the command of Foday Sankoh, Abu Ahmaed, and Pashid Mansaray. Before this many students, including Sankoh, Ahmed and Mansaray, were expelled from the country, not listing a reason why. Sankoh, Ahmaed and Mansaray fled to Ghana then Libya where they attended a military training facility, recruiting people along the way. Control of Sierra Leone’s diamond industry was a main objective in the war. In 1998 Sierra Leone was ranked the poorest country in the world, and as of 2008 they only have a per capita GDP of seven hundred dollars, that means on average a working person will make seven hundred dollars a year. Diamond mining is their main export, so they easily opened up to the trafficking of firearms and ammunition, and soon following that drugs.
The nation took a huge hit from all of this and is now struggling to get back up on their feet. Kids in this nation need a good education. Teachers from rundown public schools are leaving to go to private schools where they get paid better and on time most of the time. Private schools offer, by far, a better education. On most occasions, kids that graduate from a private school can afford to be sent out west for further education, usually in England or the United States, but most of these kids will return to help their country.
Even though public school is free a lot of families struggle to by books, supplies, and the uniforms needed for school. Luckily a lot of countries support struggling nations like Sierra Leone and send them backpacks and supplies so it can cut down the families expenses and what they have to buy. In a recent count 375,000 kids are out of school, mostly girls. These kids will get jobs to help their families and some girls will get married young with no idea how this will affect them later in life.
The current President Ernest Bai Koroma, who was once for a short period of time a teacher himself, finds disappointment in the nation’s failing school system. He has made many recommendations to help the school system but so far nothing has been done. The nation showed very poor results in two public tests given competing against other schools in West Africa, the President found these results unacceptable. The nation may be seeing a turn around and a lot of help from natives and other countries. Former child soldier Ishmael Beah built a school in his village through his foundation, he also donated $22,000 to help fight illiteracy and make a good education accessible and available, especially to the mentally and physically challenged kids and orphans.
Would You Ever WWOOF?
by Christina HurleyTraveling has become so expensive and most of time very complicated, especially when you are a young adult and want to travel the world. You may want to travel alone, and experience it all for yourself, or maybe you would like to go with a few friends. Well there is an easy way to travel inexpensively and get a cultural experience without worrying about where you are staying or how you're getting your next meal.
WWOOF, World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, is the best kind of trade-off you will ever get. All you do is pay for your flight, and they provide you with a warm home, food and company. In return, you give them a few hours of work each day on the farm, and you have weekends off. There is no certain length your stay needs to be, or how many people can go; and no limit on how much fun you can have. There really is no limit to where in the world you can go.
All you have to do is go on their website, and choose a country. Once you have picked a place, you read through the list of families and what they have to offer you. There is a huge range of things you can do, working in a gallery selling pottery, building a chicken coop, caring for the family kids, milking cows, collecting chicken eggs, making family meals or building stone walls. The possibilities are endless. Usually the families provide the WWOOFers with transportation so you can explore the surrounding cities or towns. Being a WWOOFer is one of the best ways to discover yourself, where you might want to live, or maybe what you want to do for the rest of your life. You never know, you might just find peace and serenity living on your own organic farm.
End of Prohibition
Colin Amoth
“The ‘War on Drugs’ is a disastrous policy that achieves none of its aims and inflicts huge damage on global security and governance wherever it is prosecuted.”
This has now become the voice of many elder statesmen, senior law enforcement officers, intellectuals, and philanthropists all over the globe.
Now places such as Vancouver B.C., Ciudad Juarez, and The Helmand Province in Afghanistan are speaking out for the end of what they believe to be a horrible waste of government money, the prohibition of narcotics. There arguments include that a government-regulated market would bring in huge tax revenues and would take them out of the hands of not-so-friendly suppliers such as the mafia or gangs.
Even in the United States organizations such as LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) are speaking up the war on drugs. They state that they don’t like the idea of putting millions of dollars into the hands of dangerous drug cartels and the even Taliban.
Yes, even the Taliban is profiting from the prohibition. One of their main sources of funding is the dealing and selling of opium products, which now has an inflated cost thanks to the war on drugs.
Unemployment Rates in New Hampshire vs. United States
As for the United States as a whole, the Unemployment Rate is at an all time high of 9.7%. Other than this year the highest Unemployment Rate was in 1992 at an 8.2%. It is believed that the Unemployment Rate rose to where it is now because more people are actively seeking work, but unable to find what they are looking for. The United States has lost more the 216,000 jobs in this economy since August of 2009. As it seems of right now, the effectiveness of Obama’s economic recovery does not seem to be working, or it is taking longer than projected.