Final Post

The Heaven Shop by Deborah Ellis

I thought the book gave a really powerful message, and was really realistic. It gave us a good idea of what people in L.E.D.C.s. live like.

The Paper Bag game

I feel like it was a good strategy that we came up with, which is an assembly line. I feel like the game is going to be more challenging than we think.

To the next G.I. class

I feel like global issues is about making a difference, and helping ISKL be more aware about what is going on in the world. I think that the course makes us realize how fortunate we are to be getting a good education.

Shock Factors Haiti

I'm sure many of us have heard of Haiti, and mostly it is because we heard about the devastating earthquake that occurred not too long ago. There is more that has happened to Haiti than just the earthquake. Haiti's past has been violent and bloody, and living there is very hard. I find it very hard to understand their predicament. The game 'Ayiti the cost of life' helps you realize how they live. It was a very shocking experience, because I found out that it is very hard to live like that. The game shows you how people in LE.D.C.s live, and trust me, it's a very frustrating experience. In the game, there is a family you must be helping to get out of the cycle of poverty. You have to choose a factor to focus on and you will be judged by how well you score in that category; there is Health, Happiness, Education, and Money. I chose education, so I would be scored on how much education the children got. I had to choose what jobs to give to my family members, and I decided to send my mother to work as a market woman because it earned good money and was a safe environment, send my father to work as a rum distiller because it earned the most money, and to send all three children to the best (and most expensive) school there was. I felt like if I focused on education and got the children a good education, they would be able to work for more money and then eventually that would lead to them getting out of the circle of poverty. I kept on spending money for their education, so I did not have enough money left for other things, and so the father of the family caught a cold and had to rest for the season. I chose not to take the chance of him getting sick because I thought that after a while he would get better.Since I was tight on money, I decided to take my youngest child and my daughter out of school and make them work on the farm, so that it would earn us a bit of money. After that, we ran out of money and I even had to take my son out of school and help out on the farm instead of getting an education. I tried to get them books and tutors, but I ended up not being able to afford it. In the end, they all caught cold or bloody diarrhea and died. It was a lot harder than I thought. I played the game again after a while, and though I did much better, it still wasn't good. This time I decided that education was less important than staying alive and being happy, so I chose health as my most important objective. This time, I tried to keep my children healthier by not having them work outside the whole time. I alternated the studying and the working. While my son was studying, I made sure that my other two children were working, and then I made my son work while the other two were in school. That way, they all get an education, but they all work too. I also tried to vary the jobs for the father. Rum distiller was not a safe job, but it earned the most money, so when we were in desperate need of money he worked as a rum distiller, but otherwise I made him work as a farm hand. I preferred that the mother worked as a market woman because it was both safe and it earned money. I was much better off that way, but I did not prepare my house for the hurricane and that's what got me in the end.

I think that it was very important to educate the mother, because there were many good jobs that she could have gotten, such as secretary, but she could not because she did not have enough education. The women are the ones that can work as teachers or jobs like that, because they are the ones that have to walk alot each day to get water, and if they worked they wouldn't have to do that. They are not as strong as men either, so they would get less done on the farm anyway. It is a lot tougher to get an education in an L.E.D.C because there are not that many good schools, and many people can't afford the good ones. Many people probably prefer to have their children stay at home and work so that they can get money, which I totally understand now because of the game. I think it is extremely important that people get an education in L.E.D.C.s, because then the people can make smarter decisions, which will help them get out of poverty. What struck me the most about this game though, is the fact that I could just press quit, and it would be over. I could play the game again if I wanted to, and if I lost I could keep on trying. It isn't like that with people in poverty. That is their life. They can't quit whenever they want to. They don't get second chances.

Global Issues, Avni, 3rd World Farmer Reflection

Global Issues Portfolio Reflection

3rd World Farmer Reflection

The purpose of the game was to show how farmers in the LEDC’s live. Their lives are very different from ours, and the game raises awareness to those who can afford the luxury of Internet. Many of us don’t know those in poverty are living, and this game helps us realize it so we can take action.
Throughout the game, my strategy was to think ahead and see the consequences of my decision. I did not want to do something that I knew would cause something unwanted to happen, such as a government officials coming to my house. For example, I was offered the chance of growing opium, but I refused because I knew that the end result would not be pleasing.
A short-term decision is a decision when you can’t afford to wait for a while to make. Life becomes a day-to-day battle, and you don’t have the option of planning your child’s future, because you are too busy making sure that he or she has one.
They are bad because it is a cycle, and once you get sucked in, it’s hard to get out. You can’t give your children an education because you don’t have any spare money, and if you do, it goes into medication.
They are always fighting for survival, and they need to make sure that they nourished and healthy, so they can try to get an education for their children. You always have to plan for tomorrow, so your mentality is “I don’t want to worry about next year just yet. Right now, I’m trying to make sure you have enough for tomorrow.”
I think that they only thing that could get them out of the cycle is possibly luck and a helping hand from an outsider. Even the smallest donation, like a cow, can improve their lives. It will help them because they can use the cow for milk, so they will spend less on food and water, so they can spend on education. The cow will also help plow the fields.
A long-term decision is decision that will affect them later in life. For example, educating your child is a long-term decision, as well as vaccinating them. They are dreams when you are hungry and sick, and you can’t really try to achieve them when there are more pressing matters of survival.
You can make these decisions when you are well off money wise. You can’t make the decisions when there are matters of survival at hand.
They are good because they are the ones that will help you get out of the cycle of poverty, like education, because then your child can do jobs that pay more. Not many people have education, and so the few that do get paid more.
If you get your child vaccinated, then they will be healthier and will live longer. If they are healthy, even if they aren’t educated, they will be strong, and be able to work on the farm. That will help you earn money, so that you can continue keeping everyone in your family healthy. If they get an education, there will be better chance of developing because people know the right decisions to make, and how to be smart with what they have.
I learned that the people in L.E.D.C.s have it alot harder than we do. They have so much that they can be complaining about, but they learn to be happy with what they have. I think that we should all be like them and have a positive attitude.
This experience was sort of a combination of Reason Critically and Live Ethically. You had to reason critically to flourish in the game, and it was also about living ethically, like not growing drugs, and making the right choices, even if you know it is harder.
This simulation relates to Ending Poverty and Hunger, because the farmers in L.E.D.C.s are living in poverty, and we have to fix that.
I chose the image shown because it shows a child hungry, and a vulture watching, waiting for it to die.There was a food camp very near by, and the child is trying to crawl to it. This photo is a Pulitzer Prize winning picture, and it was taken during the Sudan Famine in 1994. It is an extremely sad picture, and the photographer that took it committed suicide out of depression 3 months later, because he was so upset that he hadn’t done anything to help the child.

"The Third World is not a reality but an ideology."-Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) German-born American political philosopher