Sunday, September 28, 2008
Remembering the War: A Child's Recollection
"I wish I could use a bullet on him the same way one was used on me. I've never met Charles Taylor, but I know he's a bad man."
Charles Taylor was the president of Liberia when they decided to invade Sierra Leone. It took the United Nations five years after the civil war ended for them to finally capture and imprison Taylor. The words above are an example of how most citizens of Sierra Leone feel towards the man. The quote above was spoken by Abu Sesay; he is seven years old.
It's mind blowing how such chaos and violence can effect even the youngest generations; how much even the children understand. The war matured the children of Sierra Leone way past their ages, and took away part of their childhood. Something, that can never be given back.
You can read the article from which I pulled the quote, here.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Mining Conditions
1. Miners worked in the rivers, usually in waist high water.
2. They worked from sun rise to sunset, and sometimes even later.
3. Miners were no allowed to take breaks, or rest at any time during the day.
4. The river was also to be used as a bathroom so that miners would not have to leave their post under any conditions.
5. Due to the human waste polluting the water, disease was spread easily around the entire country.
6. If any worker stopped for any reason they would be shot down, tortured (via amputation) or killed.
These reasons caused many miners to suffer from malnourishment, and many died of starvation, or obtained HIV/AIDS.
The videos I found were provided by The History Channel, and can be found here.
Monday, September 22, 2008
The Snowball Effect.
This really got me to thinking about the war that took place in Sierra Leone, and its after effects on the country. About the mass amount of people who were displaced from their homes, about the destruction of the villages and towns. Can a country ever recover from these things? Sierra Leone is known to be one of the poorest countries in the entire world. How could a country in such a situation ever make it back from such chaos?
(Sorry for the late post date, this was suppose to go up last night.)
Saturday, September 20, 2008
A Long Wait For Satisfaction.
But why did it take so long for the later of these men to be found and tried? Did they try any other members of the rebel party? Or was the blame placed upon just these two men?
Sources:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/country_profiles/1065898.stm
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2006-03-30-victims-of-sierra-leone-war-rejoice-at-taylors-arrest
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Changing The World.
Majur Malou arrived in New York City in 1995. His parents are not quite sure when he was born, so when he came to America he got to pick his own birthday: May 25th 1970 (an important date in Sudanese history). He began with telling us his memories he still has from when he was a child. He told us how his first priority in life was to get an education. He spoke of a dream he had as a child: a dream where he imagined himself becoming someone of importance someday. He became the very first person in his family to go to school; and once he got to America he was persistent in finding a job, and ended up as the director of St. Luke’s Refugee Network. He also mentioned that he is now eligible to get a license to become a pilot.
He then began to tell us about the violence he experienced in Sudan. Things such as the first time he saw a man get shot.
“The man was shot in the chest. The bullet penetrated his cheat and came out his back. But, amazingly, the hole from where the bullet entered was smaller; the place where the bullet went out was huge,” he stated.
He continued to tell shocking stories about the things he experienced in Sudan. He told us devastating facts such as how children kill people to pass the time, as a daily activity. How when in his refugee camp in Kenya, the Somalians (who the Sudanese shared the camp with) would call him derogatory terms and be violent with him due to the fact that he was Christian and they were Muslim. But the thing that had the most impact on me was when he showed us the scars that grace his arms.
“I was detained by the government. I was beaten by the government. I was put in a Ghost House. You know, a place where they torture people. I’ve been tortured.”
At this point, about two thirds of the way through the interview, tears spilled from Malou’s eyes. The room fell silent as he wiped he eyes and nose on a tissue. Tears were present in all of our eyes at this time, and we had to work hard to press on with the interview.
“If you want to help the people of Darfur, if you want to help the Sudanese people, you need to write a petition to the president [of the United States]… It will take all of us to change the world.”
These were some of Malou’s final words to us. It left me with an eerie feeling when I left his office after thanking him repeatedly for his time. As we road down the elevator, I tried to think; think about all he had said to us in the past hour. Thoughts about how fortunate I am and how motivated I am now, to try and change the world.
Life After War.
Here is an excerpt from an article; a quote from a boy named Suleiman Sesay:
"One day, Sesay says, he and his friends refused to do a chore, so the rebels decided to make examples of them. The rebels took them outside and in front of everyone grabbed axes and machetes and started hacking at their limbs.
"They gave us a choice," he says. " 'Do you want short sleeves or long sleeves?' "
He says he didn't know what the question meant and even thought it was a joke. He took a gamble and said short sleeves.
"They chopped my arm at the elbow," he says. "Six swings and my arm came off.""
The article from which this is from was not all as gruesome as this. The article actually focused on a lighter topic. The formation of a soccer team for amputees. In the beginning it was a mere team, for boys who played soccer before the war. Many of them never thought playing their favorite game would ever again be possible. But now, the team has turned into a league, in which 12 teams play and compete. Players have all lost a leg, arm, or even both.
I found the content of this article inspiring. After such horror and pain being inflicted upon these teens, they are able to overcome, and try to go back to normal. But is there a "normal" to go back to? How would one ever truly
Source:
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/04/03/btsc.koinange/index.html
Saturday, September 13, 2008
A Change Of Topic.
Miners are forced to work by the "Rebels" and in conditions far worse than anyone could ever imagine. Miners are not llowed to leave the premises under any condition; not for food, water, even to go to the restroom. "Go where you work." they are told. Because the workers are forced to work all day in waist-high water disease is spread easily and quickly. HIV/AIDS and Malaria claim the lives of many people because of the water-bourne diseases.
These facts were shocking. Why torture your labor? These conditions hurt everyone in the country. Due to the fact that people are working in the rivers and streams, the water quality in Sierra Leone is very poor. That is why my group is planning on creating a water distiller for our project that could improve the condition of which Sierra Leone is in right now.
Source:
• http://www.history.com/video.do?name=worldhistory&bcpid=1681730306&bclid=1672160781
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Personal Research
"If you don't fight to kill, whether anybody's coming, whether enemy or friend, if they kill you, they or your commander will leave your body there and go. That is why I defended myself. I killed a lot of people."
I couldn't believe how such madness, could so quickly be put into such a perspective. It was kill, or be killed. It makes me wonder how anyone could ever recover from such a traumatic event. Could someone ever refrain from violence after such an ordeal?
Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4500358.stm
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Developing a Prototype
Progress on water filter prototype:
At first my group wanted to make some sort of distiller for our product. We researched and found out that distillation is the act of boiling water, and then collecting and rapidly cooling the steam. This way all solids and all excess liquids are left behind. Personally, I thought that this method would by far be the most effective way to go. We envision powering our machine via crank, and though it sounds like a challenge we are willing to give it a shot.
Later on in the week we found out about a different prototype called the "Watercone"; and mechanism that lays out in the sun filled with water, and as the water evaporates, it collects on a plastic sheet and drains into a different bowl. This idea intrigued us and we decided to use the idea of using the sun as power, and are now working on creating a mix of the two prototypes to create a "Water Distiller Hybrid". Details are still to come.
Sources:
http://www.yale.edu/care/sierraleone/water.htm
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sl.html#People