Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Water: The Most Basic Necessity


            Imagine if getting a drink of water was, instead of the act of a few seconds, the commitment of  an hour—or two.
            Imagine if it required planning, if it was something you had to squeeze into the schedule of your day, if it required a long walk through dry and dusty heat.
            This is the reality for many women and children of Sierra Leone, who in some cases have to walk miles to acquire the single most basic necessity of life. It's a trip that exacts a steep price for impoverished rural families.
            Some children have to walk up to six miles to fetch water for drinking, cleaning, and clothes-washing. The math paints a dismal picture. The average human walking speed is (and this is fairly high estimate) 3 miles an hour. Once can imagine that a child's speed would be less than this. A child carrying a heavy bucket of water will have a walking speed that is slower still. That means that every day, some children have to spend more than 2 hours walking just to provide themselves and their families with the means to survive. This is time they could be in school, getting an education to improve their chances in life and eventually pull themselves out of poverty. This is time they could be learning useful skills, or simply resting after a hard day's work. Time is a commodity almost as precious as water, and it is hard for a child to break free of the cycle of poverty if they have to choose between one or the other.
            Khadarlis for Sierra Leone is an organization committed to helping these children, to rebuilding Sierra Leone in the wake of a vicious, ten-year-long civil war. Water is just one of many necessities Khadarlis provides to the indigent of Sierra Leone—it also builds houses, furnishes schools with supplies and installs solar panels to provide Sierra Leonans with electricity.
            In 2008, volunteers from Khadarlis built a fresh water well Jimmi. This is a great first step, but it is only the beginning. Khadarlis seeks to expand its efforts, to provide the other villages it is currently working with--Kpawama, Senehun and Bandajuma--with wells also. But these efforts can be costly, and Khadarlis can only do so much without help from the generous contributions of concerned, compassioante and giving people.
            I encourage you to donate to Khadarlis for Sierra Leone. It is an organization that is warm-hearted and unfailingly dedicated to its mission—to improve the lives of those who have already suffered more than enough.

Stefan
Volunteer Blogger for Khadarlis

Monday, January 28, 2013

Education: A Ladder to Success



            When discussing development in third-world countries, we often speak of education. Education is, in fact, one of areas of investment and development spoken about most often. It’s one of the few things all of us can really agree on – a person’s right to an education. However, amongst all the buzzwords and “action plans”, it’s easy to forget why this crucial area of development is one of the strongest links in the chain towards getting a country like Sierra Leone back on its feet.
            Education is widely recognized as one of the fastest, surest way out of poverty, for many people. When a person is properly educated, the institutional limits and barriers he or she experiences are not so impossible to overcome. With access to not only basic education, but also secondary school and university education, an individual can achieve higher levels of career success, and as such, provide better opportunities for her family to do the same.
            To achieve these goals, we need to do a few things – the first of which is make sure basic education is available to all children. A child K-5 has the right to a basic elementary school education, in a building that is safe, with teachers that are caring, qualified and have access to resources that allow them to teach their students as best possible. Girls must be not only permitted, but also encouraged to go to school. A society where one sex is dependent on the other financially, as due to their respective levels of schooling, is only bound for trouble. Additionally, opportunities for education for men and women past traditional schooling age are vital. We cannot educate the youngest and wait for them to grow up and effect change – we need to have an educated, informed population now to begin the track to a better country.
            We must also help Sierra Leone to create the infrastructure to support these aims, as well as infrastructure that supports college graduates – offering good jobs in business, finance, service, science, politics, medicine, academia and more. If Sierra Leone keeps its brightest students (arguably, its best chance for a successful future) within its borders with good jobs and great opportunities, all the benefits of having a well-educated, successful productive populace will return to the soil of the country, and continue to bless it and propel it into a bright future for all.

Marisa N.
Volunteer Blogger | Khadarlis for Sierra Leone
marisa@khadarlis.org

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Home Sweet Home



            Since writing my last post on some recent developments in housing and architecture, I have had conversations with people I know personally about it. I’ve received a few questions from them regarding the importance of this topic. Why is that relevant? Why is it so important? I think that question needs to be answered by reminding ourselves of the situations that people in Sierra Leone find themselves in with regards to housing. After the civil war, and still today, many Sierra Leoneans have found themselves in a situation of transient, inconsistent or unavailable housing.
            Many people do not have homes to call their own – they live in shared homes at best, but more often, temporary shelters, or rundown buildings that do not provide adequate space, sanitation or utilities. Having a good solid home is a foundation for many families to begin getting back on their feet. With a safe, secure home, parents can find work knowing their children have a consistent place to live. Children can have a stable home to return to after school, thus improving their chances of achieving academically.
            Families can bond with less strife over problems of shelter, and begin to lead normal lives without worrying every day over where they are going to sleep (let alone being able to pursue school and paid work). Housing is one of the more important factors in helping Sierra Leone get back on its feet, and it cannot be understated how influential this is. Without stable, consistent housing, Sierra Leone’s recovery will be incredibly difficult, so we need to make sure we are investing in it and not leaving it behind.

Marisa N.
Volunteer Blogger | Khadarlis for Sierra Leone
marisa@khadarlis.org

After-School Tutoring

           So many low-income students lack the opportunities that others take for granted. One of the most basic, fundamental tenets of justice is equal opportunity, and there can be no equal opportunity without equality of education. A good education is one of the most important things a child can have, and for some disadvantaged students, whose parents may not be as educated or encouraging, it is critical that the schools step up and do their part to help teach these children the skills they need to excel.
          But sometimes, that just doesn't happen. Sometimes, instead of the education they deserve, struggling children find themselves in noisy, overcrowded classrooms. I myself attended an underfunded, low-income school. I know first-hand that it is possible to get a good education at such a school—but I also know that it can be very, very hard. I had the fortune to have two highly educated, loving parents who were able to give me the extra help and encouragement I needed. Not every student has that luxury, even though they deserve it.
           I've seen classes where teachers have just given up, where they go through the motions, handing out worksheets and sitting at their desks. I've seen classes where teachers spent half their time trying to maintain discipline in a class of thirty to forty students. Even when teachers and administrators try their very hardest to provide their students with a quality education, lack of computers, modern textbooks and basic school supplies can undermine their best efforts. This isn't fair to the students who come to school each day trying to learn. This isn't fair, and it shouldn't be these students' only chance at a good education.
           That's why after school programs are so important. It is at these programs where kids can get the extra help they need and deserve, but can't always find at home, or in the classroom. In the classroom of 30 children, the needs and voice of the individual child can get lost. At after school programs, children have the chance to work one on one with a tutor in the subject they find most challenging. Each child has different strengths, different weaknesses, and different learning needs. Strategies that work for one student may be unhelpful for another. That is the beauty of the individualized tutor. They can respond to each student not as part of a group, but as an individual.                       
            Khadarlis--an admirably diverse nonprofit organization notable for its efforts to improve quality of life in Sierra Leone and Guatemala, as well as Rhode Island--is now preparing to launch such an initiative. Khadarlis will provide students one-on-one after-school tutoring, provided by volunteer university students. These students will have access to computers that they may not have at home. They will have access to nutritional snacks that are an important part of learning and offer a marked contrast to the fries and chicken nuggets often served by school cafeterias. For the students lucky enough to take part in this program, it may make all the difference in the world.

Stefan B.
Volunteer Blogger | Khadarlis for Sierra Leone 
Stefan@khadarlis.org

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Sustainable Housing: Progress in the Works



            In Sierra Leone as in many parts of the world, sufficient housing for the population is a huge problem. As it is, there are not nearly enough homes as there are people who need them, as well as a dearth of builders and supplies. However, some interesting news comes in the wake of Hurricane Sandy that may provide a spark of inspiration or hope for those looking for answers.
            Dutch designers Wouter Kalis and Corinne de Korver have created a bedroom unit to be used in homeless shelters, a design that can be implemented with relative ease to accommodate more people in areas that are currently experiencing a higher volume than they are prepared for due to the hurricane. While this may not suit the needs of Sierra Leone, the team’s design is intriguing, because it is completely made of consumer waste, such as bottle caps and beer crates, and the techniques employed are no more complex than basic woodworking skills the previous generation may have learned in home economics class.
            This model shows promise for the housing crisis in Sierra Leone. If a design for a home can be produced using only consumer waste and basic techniques, new builders can be trained in trained in these skills, and widely available waste used to build. New homes can be constructed quickly and without much overhead, and used to shelter people in need. Additionally, any money put towards the project would be going to local builders, employing local people, and stimulating the local economy.
            It’s not completely implementable yet. However, Wouter Kalis and Corinne de Korver’s design for homeless shelters holds a lot of promise for making a dent in the global housing crisis. Sustainable, green homes, built using widely available materials, while simultaneously reducing trash, employing and training local young people with skills that will transfer to future work, and sheltering those with transient, insufficient or inconsistent homes. Could we really ask for more?

Marisa N. | Volunteer Blogger
Khadarlis for Sierra Leone
marisa@khadarlis.org