Jun 11

Ending Child Brides

There are many things that are stopping girls from being able to get an education, from lack of infrastructure to natural disasters. However, there is one large, looming obstacle that is keeping many girls from schools; child brides. It is estimated that in the next decade 14.2 million girls will be married before their 18th birthday. Shouldchild marriage this figure end up being true, it will result in 14.2 million girls who will be pulled from school; 14.2 million girls who will not receive skills to help the prosperity of their country.

As I have mentioned in past pieces, removing young girls from their education has a negative effect on the girls, their families, and on their countries as a whole. When girls are married at such young ages they are generally pulled from school and often get pregnant quickly meaning that their chances of returning to school are slim-to-none.

One country where Child Brides are a large phenomenon is Ethopia. According to UNICEF, 49% of girls in Ethiopia are married by age 18, with 24% of them being married before age 15. There are many pieces written online about what people have witnessed regarding Child Brides in Ethiopia. Many of them explain that most of these girls want to return to school. For the girls it is not just a chance to get an education, which they do value, but it is also the chance to make friends and to gain experiences besides those they make within the home.

In one account of a child bride in Ethiopia, Enana, a seventeen-year-old with a four year old son, talks about her Ethopian Women with Childen - blog 2experience as a child bride. She relates how she felt betrayed by her parents, and how she didn’t even know how old she was at the time. By doing the math, she was at oldest thirteen if she is around seventeen and already has a four year old child. One of the quotes she relays is “I didn’t even know how to clean myself,” yet here she was, being sent off to take care of others and raise her own family.

This also means that Enana was just one of the many girls who experience their first sexual encounter at age 13. In her account, Enana talks about how frightened she was but how her parents punished her and sent her back to her husband. Unfortunately, this is a not an uncommon situation in Ethiopia, however, there are many non-governmental organizations (NGO) popping up to help these girls deal with the unfortunate situations they are put in.

One of these is TESFA – which means “hope” in the  Amharic,  the native language. Funded by Nike, TESFA works Continue reading

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Jun 10

Singapore: Immigration Dilemma in a Small Country

Will a country where there are 18,943 people in per square mile open its door for more immigrants?

The Singapore government says yes. The Lee Hsien Loong administration published its latest population white paper in January, in which the government projects to increase its population to 6 million in 2030. This ambitious blueprint will be accomplished by encouraging childbirth as well as having 25000 non-citizens naturalized and having 30000 more Permanent Residents (PRs) per year. Currently, more than five million people living in its 274 sq mi territory, 38% of whom are immigrants.

Unpredictably, the consequence was dramatic. More than 4000 Singaporeans staged a rare demonstration ini7Gwt5ylLWzQ February, one of Singapore’s largest ever protests. The peaceful three-hour rally took place in heavy rain. The protesters blamed immigration for rises in property prices and living costs. What is wrong with Singapore’s immigration policy?

In my point of view, it is immigrants that forged Singapore. Since its establishment, immigrants have constantly been the driving force of the development of Singapore. As a city-state with a small domestic market and scarce natural resources, it is impossible for Singapore to create such a large-scale economy simply by its own citizens. That is the reason why Singapore has long been welcome to foreign manpower at both high and low ends of the labor spectrum to overcome the limitations of local human capital. The 1970s witnessed Singapore’s rise as one of the Four Asian Tigers, which was partly attributed to the overflow of cheap foreign workforce and the contributions made by highly educated foreign professionals in banking and manufacturing sectors. In 2010, one million immigrant workers made up 35% of the total labor force. Given such strong dependence upon immigrants, why do Singaporeans oppose the government to further liberalize its borders?

It is an interesting phenomenon that although its per capita income of 50332 dollars makes Singapore the sixth Continue reading

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Jun 07

U.S. Agricultural Policies Cause Childhood Obesity

America is guilty of child abuse and should be charged, and sentenced. For the past 35 years, U.S. agriculture has operated under “cheap food” policy, while childhood obesity has gone primetime in every home, school, mall, and workplace. Since obesity hit mainstream America, it has become more than a cosmetic concern.  Obesity is a social problem that continues to affect the health of America’s kids.  Parents and lawmakers must embrace the fact that childhood obesity is an immense problem in the United States, and according to the CDC, one in three kids, and teens are overweight or obese.  It is the leading source of health complications such as heart disease, high images (4)cholesterol, diabetes, and high blood pressure.  This trend continues to affect many kids and teens as excess weight threatens their future and their quality of life.

Current Agriculture policy does little to promote the production of diverse healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables. The current policy contains many incentives that provide subsidies for farmers to produce less fruits and vegetables, which has lead to the overproduction of  corn, soybeans, and refine grain.  Did you know the United States is the world largest producer of corn and soybeans?  It is the most important plant grown in America. Corn is the backbone of our agriculture and most of the farming fields are dedicated for corn. America farmers produce over 20 pounds of soy oil and 93 percent of consumers are Americans.  A kernel of corn, within its horny hull, is filled with white raw starch  called the endosperm and it is used to manufacture products like Continue reading

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Jun 06

Education Development in Cambodia

Did you know that Cambodia has a literacy rate of 74 percent? That is considered one of the lowest rates in Asia. Literacy rates are used to determine education quality in each country. However, the primary education completion rate in 2009 was 84 percent and has been slowly increasing. The literacy rate is fairly low for the rate of completion 2013-04-blog-agriffiths-3300-620of primary education in Cambodia; meaning more children are going to school, but the literacy rate is almost stagnant.  According to the World Bank, 25 to 50 percent of students that have graduated from primary school cannot not read at all. 250 million children are still unable to read and write. Although the number of students enrolling in school is increasing, there seems to be no effectiveness. So once again, how do you go about improving the educational levels in a country?

After taking my economic development class last semester, I realized the importance of education. Education is the base of everything. Education is a good means of acquiring skills, knowledge, and motivation to work. Education increases people’s knowledge, or in economic terms we call it an accumulation of human capital. In economic development, this increase in human capital increases income per person.  It has been proven in many studies that education directly improves people’s standard of living by increasing the capacity to obtain a job. It also increases productivity and innovative capacity which reflects upon the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

But how do you go about improving the education levels in a country? One of the Millennium Development Goals by the United Nation is to achieve Universal Primary Education by the year 2015. This goal is to insure completion of primary education for all children around the world. However, this goal is far from being attained .

Lets compare statistics from Cambodia’s education and Singapores. Singapore has one of the highest literacy rates of 96 percent in Southeast Asia. The expenditure per person as a percentage of GDP per capita in Singapore is 12 percent, whereas in Cambodia it is 6.8 percent. This shows that one of the reasons why Singapore has better education might be because of the amount of spending. Maybe it is spending on education that Cambodia needs to invest in.

However, just because you invest money on something does not mean it will show effectiveness. The keys are quality and accessibility of education. Cambodia is known for its high rates of poverty in rural areas. In these areas, the accessibility of education is very low and the number of dropouts are fairly high as well. Most of these problems Steven-Kim-Cambodia-2010are due to the weakness and lack of quality in the educational system. There is obviously something lacking if the majority of Cambodian children are going to school, but they still cannot read or write. There seems to be a lack of guidance from the government and schools on how to improve the education system.

This is what I think can be done to address this. I think we should improve the teacher’s teaching capacity. What I mean by teaching capacity is the ability for the instructor to effectively teach desired skills to the students. Teachers should be able to engage their students in learning and teach them basic skills in primary schools. Even from my own experience, the quality of the teacher greatly impacts how well the students will do in school. When trying to increase the capacity of the teachers, I think that it is important for the teachers to be able to teach their students skills that will translate into economic growth. Some examples would be mathematic skills and creativity. In Cambodia’s case, one of the most important skills teachers should be able to teach is reading and writing by expanding the children’s vocabulary, spelling, and grammar.

Although the quantity of schools is also an important component for educational growth, in Cambodia’s situation, policies need to focus more on the quality of the schools. School attainment is only effective if the knowledge and skills of the students increase. It is important to focus on how much the students have learned as to how many years students have attained education. It will be an ideal situation if the increase in education quality translates into economic development.

What do you think Cambodia should do to increase their literacy rate and accessibility of schools? Please feel free to voice your opinions.

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Jun 04

Parenting a Transgender Child

What does “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child” mean to you?

What I know first-hand about childhood is that mine didn’t happen in a nurturing environment, so I sought and received approval and support from the loving parents of my childhood friends.  They were, and still are, my village.  It doesn’t take an expert in child psychology  to understand that children need to feel safe, supported, and to be nurtured as they develop into the people they are destined to become. A sense of belonging within a family, parentingand feeling part of a community are foundations children can build on as they grow, and these provide safe havens from which they can venture forth, and return to when they have ventured too far. The village can be the family, other neighborhood children or, as was the case for me, supportive parents of other children within the community.

Do you know of a child who is rejected by his peers, community or family members, or seems to be on the outside, looking in?

I was not born with gender dysphoria, and I don’t think I ever knew a child who was born with it, so I don’t have a child’s perspective on coping with a physical condition that I and others, find hard to understand.

I am a mother, though, and my perspective on parenting comes from being a parent, and now a grandparent. As parents our approach to raising a child is often informed by the ways in which we were raised.  I was not the perfect parent, I don’t think anyone is, but parenting a well-adjusted transgender child starts with the same basics as parenting a non-transgender child – love, support, encouragement, and most of all, patience, and empathy.  The last is vital to your TransparenthoodHeaderchild.  If your child hurts, you hurt for them. if your child has fears, you try to calm them.  If your child has questions, you try to answer them honestly. Then you send them out into the village to learn how to adapt, communicate with others, and become contributors to the community where they live. As parents we hope the foundation we have provided is strong enough to support our child as he/she navigates the world outside our home.

Children born with gender dysphoria often find themselves shut out of the village, unable to relate to, or be related to, by other children or adults. Gender dysphoric children are not alone, children can be made to feel different from other children for all kinds of reasons.  For some children, though, the feeling of differentness  is magnified because it comes from within, for instance,  a gender dysphoric child is not able to identify with the bodies they are born with. The challenge transgender children face is how to fit in, how to be a part of the village, how to gain entry in order to gain acceptance.

More often than not they are treated as outsiders – by other parents in the community, the school system, and society at large.

How do we, the members of the village, help a transgender child – or any child who is slightly different from the other children in their community- live among us without fear of rejection?

Several transgender readers, and a transgender friend, have told me that it is vitally important for transgender children to be accepted for who they are, and not forced into a mold to match the bodies they are born with.  It is also important, they say, that the parents of a transgender child understand that this is a medical issue, that blame or guilt have no place in the household, because nobody did anything wrong.

If you are the parent of a transgender child, how is your family impacted, and how have you learned more about providing the support your child needs?

If you are gender dysphoric, if you know someone who is, or if you simply want to learn more about the issue, please join me in this online conversation. I welcome your comments below.

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Jun 04

Why Education for Girls is a Worthwhile Investment

“First, I think girls’ education may be the single most cost-effective kind of aid work. It’s cheap, it opens minds, it gives girls new career opportunities and ways to generate cash, it leads them to have fewer children and invest more in those children, and it tends to bring women from the shadows into the formal economy and society.”

– Nicholas Kristof, Pultizer-Prize winning humanitarian journalist of The New York Timesand co-author of Half the Sky

Today’s world is one of tremendous struggle for many countries and world citizens, yet there is one group that is underrepresented more than others: young girls, and particularly when it comes to their education and other opportunities. Studies show that only a fifth of girls in the developing world have the chance to finish primary school, and furthermore, only one third of countries have equal amounts of girls and boys in secondary schools.

What this means is that there are millions, 500 million to be exact, girls who are not being given the chance to live up to their full potential. By removing them from, or just not letting them go to school, we are removing their ability to be an important asset and member of society. Irina Bokova, head of the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Girls with Laptops - AfghanistanCultural Organization (UNESCO) said that educating girls does the following: “It enhances their opportunities to contribute to the development of their societies, to feel an integral part of them, and to benefit their families.”

Though the topic of educating girls is broad, nearly every country has their own problems with educating girls. In this post I would specifically like to focus on Afghanistan; the efforts being made to educate girls, and the attempts being made to hold them back.

Over 65% of those living in Afghanistan are under the age of 25, making it one of the youngest countries in the world. However, Afghanistan also has the largest illiteracy rate in the world. There are over 4.2 million children in the country who have not gotten an education, and well over half of those children are girls – despite the fact that females outnumber men in Afghanistan.

It has barely been ten years since girls and young women regained the right to go to school in Afghanistan after Continue reading

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Jun 04

The Extremist, Radical Box

I think a lot of people can call me the quintessential Jersey girl without the gym, tan, and laundry.  I have enough feistiness to account for the entire East Coast, and yet I am always meekly waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop.  Though I am surrounded by some of the most understanding people in the world, there are times when I feel like an unwelcomed pest in my own country.  As a young American Muslim, I have become acutely aware of the media spreading “Islamophobia” throughout the United States and abroad.  Whenever a heinous crime is committed by a select group of people, the media is quick to stress that these individuals were Muslims.  The faith of the villain becomes the most important piece of information, and therein lays the issue.

Islamophobia, according to the British Runnymede Trust, is a fear of Islam, resulting in the fear and hatred of Muslims.  In the 21st century, Islamophobia has dramatically increased in the European Union and the U.S. after the September 11th attacks.  With the resulting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the drone attacks in Pakistan, terrorist attacks have skyrocketed. As these attacks increase, politicians and the media respond with hasty, knee-jerk reactions that ultimately put all Muslims in an “extremist, radical” box.  In order to clearly identify these reactions, I have picked two cases, the U.S. and Britain, since the most recent acts of terror occurred in these two countries. islamophobia1

Not too long ago, two young men committed a heinous bombing attack at the Boston Marathon.  Both men were identified as Muslims, and the wife of one of the attackers turned out to be a converted Muslim who wears a hijab; a headscarf.  Though the wife insisted she had no knowledge of her husband’s intentions, journalist Ann Coulter lashed out by saying, “I don’t care if she knew about this, she ought to be in jail for wearing a hijab.” Millions of women in the U.S, including myself, and across the world wear a headscarf.  Coulter effectively singled out women who wear scarves, a majority of whom are Muslims, and made us feel worried about walking out in public.  I myself had some people suggest I go back to where I came from, which in my case would be New Jersey.  However, as immigration reform becomes a bigger issue, conservatives are suggesting just that.  Either close America’s doors to immigrants or set up detailed FBI profile checks to make sure no “extremists” come through.  Conservative rhetoric helps feed the frenzy that all Muslims are evil, and the only way to protect America is to either ban them from the nation or keep close surveillance on all their activities. Continue reading

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Jun 03

Looking Back on China (1): Hello China?

“Are you a spy?”

My supervising attorney asked me this when I was volunteering in the Pima County Superior Court. I told him I came here to study law, the field of which has been regarded as the realm of the elites in this society. Obviously, he could not figure out why I, a foreigner who had never been abroad before, chose to study American law. My answer “because in my mind America has the most advanced and comprehensive legal system in the world” could not dispel his suspicions over the Chinese.

The doubts not only exist in this retired attorney’s mind, but also haunt most people in this country. With the influx of a tremendous amount of made-in-China goods, China has become an integral part of the daily lives of American people. However, the so-called China-threat theory rampantly arouses further worries. Who indeed is China?Chinmerica

First and foremost, China is the country that has the closest economic relations with the U.S. China became the second largest trading partner of the U.S. in 2011, with the astronomical $294.5 billion deficit. Meanwhile, China is now officially the largest foreign creditor of the U.S. government after overtaking Japan. The latest statistics of the Department of Treasury indicate that China is currently holding approximately $1250 billion treasury securities. Concerns have been raised toward China’s capability of converting its financial power into political power and posing impacts upon American economic policy making. Without any doubt, the strong economic tie will have a critically important role to play in the development of Sino-American relationship.

Secondly, despite of the end of cold war, communist China remains one of the most threatening imaginary enemies of the U.S. In an analysis performed by the Global Language Monitor, the Rise of China has been Continue reading

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May 31

Election Results Destabilizing Malaysia

During the fall, I interned for a candidate running for congress. In the end my candidate did not win and though I was sad and even furious that the opposition won, it was a done deal.There may be certain aspects of the American election process that are unclear and corrupt, we might talk with our peers about unfavorable results, but we are unlikely to revolt against it. Does this have something to do with our strong faith in our government? When looking at the responses of election processes are around the world, it is apparent that it differs drastically. People may respond with riots or revolutions and others may respond with non-violent protests. Carrying out elections does not always insure a peaceful transition of leadership. As an example, let’s look at the recent election in Malaysia.

Looking at the results of the May 5, 2013 election in Malaysia, most people would think that it was a very successful election; 85% of the people participated. In the end, Prime Minister Najib Razak of the Barisan Nasional general-election-malaysia-20131-300x201Coalition won the election. The Barisan Nasional Coalition has been governing Malaysia for 56 years. However, this result has not been fully accepted by the opposition coalition.

        Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of the opposition group has accused the Barisan Nasional coalition of rigging the election process in favor of Razak, by buying votes. Ibrahim refuses to accept the results from the general election. (Ibrahim’s opposition coalition is a multiracial party consisting of the Chinese-majority party and the Islamist party that stands for equality of all Malaysians.) After the elections were held, continuous protests have been rising against Razak’s government. But why did the government go through so much effort and feel the need to (supposedly) cheat the system?

One of the reasons has to do with the policies the government is practicing. It is currently using the Bumiputera System, which is a system that favors Malays and indigenous people of Malaysia. It is important to note that 40% of the Malaysian population is comprised of Chinese, Indians and other ethnic groups, representing a significant proportion of the population. If the government is favoring a certain ethnic group, it is inevitable to have ethnic tensions between the favored and unfavored groups.

What does this all mean? Although fair and transparent election processes are important, the thing to take away from Malaysia’s election is what came about from it. Ethnic tension between Malays and non-Malays are re-surfacing and causing chaos within the country. Was it possible for this outcome to be avoided if Malaysia in fact held an election representing the will of the people? I would have to say, I don’t know, but what I do know is that ethnic issues in Malaysia is something the government needs to tackle and reform.

1368295354-malaysian-protest-against-unfair-and-partially-free-elections_2042368Let’s look more closely to the current issue in Malaysia. I mentioned before the government acts on race-based policies. It seems like the current government is only acting on its own self-interest. That being said how can you trust a government that discriminates against certain groups? How can you trust the election process if you cannot even trust the government? To contest against the government, the opposition group wanted to make a changes to such policies to end ethnic inequality, but to also foster economic growth. Ibrahim wanted to remodel Malaysia’s economy to increase competition based on merit, not ethnicity. Due to creation of inequality by the government, the Barisan Nasional coalition itself has been losing its popularity over the years. So this past election and the rise of the opposition coalition lead by Ibrahim was seen as a chance of social change and equality amongst the people, but the result has shown otherwise. With the undesired result of the majority and potential act of voting fraud, this election has sparked greater racial issues and animosity towards the Malaysian government.

However, the election is in the past now, so what can the country do to insure that minority groups are represented to reduce political unrest? At this point, it is up to the current government to realize the injustice in their acts and reform their policies. Citizens of Malaysia and even non-Malaysians can come together to advocate this ethnic issue so more and more people become aware of it. Hopefully in the end, the power of the Malaysian people becomes so strong that the government has no choice but to alter its policies.

What do you think the next step for Malaysia should be? I think it is important to ask ourselves, in respect to this specific election, how would we feel if election campaigns and government policies discriminated against our ethnic group and favored others? What changes can we make to guarantee ethnic equality within a country? Please feel free to comment.

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May 31

Inequality of Breast Cancer

In this world, there are those who are privileged and those who are less fortunate.  Let’s face the fact that America’s history illustrates its structure of social inequalities.  America is full of Americans who have and those who have-not.  For example, the way in which women are screened and treated for breast cancer is no exception to the rule.

Jolie

Source: www.hollywoodreporter.com

Angelina Jolie had the privilege of affording health care services that most women in this country are not afforded.  She had the financial resources to undergo genetic testing, which identified the mutated breast cancer genetic marker BRCA1.  Jolie said that her doctors estimated she had a 50% risk of getting ovarian cancer but an 87% risk of breast cancer.  Because the disease killed her mother at the age 56 and her aunt Debbie Martin at the age of 67, Angelina Jolie revealed she had a prophylactic double mastectomy to reduce her risk of developing breast cancer.

Now, let us look at the average women in America.  Most women are not afforded healthcare services such as genetic testing because they lack financial resources, despite the fact that this test was introduced in the 1990s and is a standard test for oncology.  The cost for a genealogy test is $3,100 and is recommended for women with a family history of the disease, but the average women in America cannot afford to pay over $3,000 for a test.  This test has the ability to save about $100,000 in treatment costs.  However, the financial burden of this test prevents low-income families and women living in poverty the same opportunity to save their life, which was women healthafforded to Angelina Jolie.

As a community, denying women access to preventative services, such as genetic testing,  because of their inability to pay lacks compassion and threatens the social makeup of society.  It is an expected practice in this country that all children receive immunization shots and other preventative tests and measures in their early years because we know it can decrease the likelihood of disease or death in childhood. Regardless of income these resources are almost always made available to all parents. As a society, if we do not make babies choose life or death, why are adult women an exception to the rule? Especially, since the medical and scientific world proved that a positive result on BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 means that a woman has an 85 percent chance of developing breast cancer, and 55 percent chance of developing ovarian cancer.

The greatest barrier for this is the belief and policies of insurance companies. Insurance companies do not believe they should be required to pay for genealogy test  because this genetic marker does not guarantee  that the patient testingwill develop breast cancer.  Shouldn’t health insurance companies be required to secure genealogy analysis just to reduce the health impact of breast cancer among women?

What action can you take to ensure that women in this country are afforded the same treatment and test options that Angelina received? I urge you to take a stand and advocate for women across this country because the have-nots of this world are forgotten.  The bottom line is that statistics don’t lie and in 2013, over 200,000 women in the US will be diagnosed with breast cancer. If you do nothing, your mother, aunt, daughter, or a friend may be one of the 39,620 that die every year from breast cancer.  I challenge you to become a solution to the this epidemic. I challenge you to become an advocate to help decrease the number of lives lost to this disease because of someone’s inability to pay.

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