Say NO to Racism!

I believe that people should ban the man who threw the banana from ever going into any Barcelona game ever again. Racism is terrible. We should not be judged on who is better or worse by the color of our skin! That’s just terrible! I think what Alves did was a perfect way to react the to hate. Most importantly, he definitely got what he deserved! I have heard a lot of racism in our school…. It just is not okay. I have African American friends, Asian friends, Indian friends, and who knows what else! But I love them all the same! They’re amazing people and that is all that matters, not the color of their skin. How do you feel about racism?

Racisim I Dont Like It

                          Just like Donald Sterling and the NBA being banned for being racist.Well, here is another story it happened in Los,Angelos police officer who was making racial comments at some young black men outside a bar in Norco,California. He was said to use the "n'' word and say more racist comments. The police officer did not get any punishment for saying what he saying the racist statments. In my perspective i think this police officer should have got some kind of punishment I dont think It was the right thing for him to say that even if he is a police officer. But they do have the freedom of speech.So what do you think, should the cop have got a punishment?Why or why not?

Child Slave Labor? HECK NAWWWW!

      Child slaves have been a big problem in the last few decades in Pakistan. The situation has gotten slightly better in recent years. The problem is not completely solved though. Pakistan has made laws against child slavery. The problem they're having is enforcing the law they've made. No effort, by the government, has been put into freeing the children who have been stolen away from their families. If you were a government what effort would you put into this law?

A long Walk To Water

                I am currently reading A long Walk To Water . This book is about two different kids living in the same place but at different times. One is a young boy named Salva. He is a lost boy. There are over 20,000 boys in the 1983-2005 called lost boys and Salvawas one of them. What is a lost boy? A lost boy is a young boy who walked away from the violence. It was really scary at that time especially for Salva because he is such a little boy who does not know were his family is and if there okay. Some lost boys find groups to walk in, were they find food and other things together. Witch Salva found. Then there is a little girl named Nya has to go fetch water for her family every day. She has to walk two hours twice everyday. Most girls still get water for there family in not just Sudan. Nya was very lucky that it was only two hours away, but her little hands could only carry so much. I think that it is really sad that we just get water from the tap, walking a few steps when they thousands of steps more. This is were we need to take action, to get them fresh water. What can we do to help Sudan, and other countries in Africa?

Facing The Lion (And Rural Poverty)

In the past 35 years, Joseph's homeland, Kenya, has tripled in population. With this increase came a higher demand for money and resources. Due to floods and droughts this country's agricultural industry suffered a severe fall. From 2010 to 2011 a great drought occurred that could have affected the nomads that rely on grass to feed their cows. If I had been Joseph and experienced the things he did growing up I may not have ever become a man. Joseph walked countless miles daily, sometimes without shoes, was circumcised in front of the whole town, and almost came face to face with a lion. Would you be able to do these things?

Facing The Lion

Facing The Lion is a book about a African Boy from Kenya who is faced with bullying. It Starts out with him at a cattle camp. Him and his family are there to protect the cattle from Lions. So after he sleep for the night a lion is attacking the cattle. He and his brothers try to corner it but the lion runs away. Then he volunteers to go to a boarding school cause in Kenya one person in the family has to go to school. So he goes there and he's a trouble maker. In Kenya the spanked them. So Joseph Lekuton, the main character, tries putting on two pairs of pants. But he gets caught, so then he tries cardboard. He gets caught but he didn't get in trouble for it. Only some boarding schools in Kenya hit there students now. What would you do if you were in a school where teachers could hit you?

Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton

                             Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton faced many tough things in his life as a young boy.   In 1965, Kenya was in a tough spot. There was a drought that lasted for about 2 years. Kenya was struggling in terms of food. Some families starved but eventually there was enough water for people to eat and feed their cows. Sadly, Kenya is still in a bad spot today. Economically speaking, They have had a mercurial economy ever since their economy became independent. During their years of independence, they've accomplished high economic growth of only six percent. Then, in the 1990's, Kenya was producing more growth rates which resulted seven percent in 2007. I think that's incredible. Do you?





http://kenya.um.dk/en/about-kenya-new/economy-new/

The tomb

This book started out with some kids who worked at a carpet store for their master Hussain Khan to pay off their debt. None of them have seen anyone pay off their debt but they weren't about to lose hope. Fatima and all the other kids worked hard every day and every night, they went to bed with bloody and had sleepless nights. One day a boy named Iqbal came, everyone was suspicious and amazed at how good he was at carpet making he even made a very expense, beautiful, blue carpet. Everyone knew that once he finished that carpet his debt would for sure be erased, Iqbal disagreed on this and told Fatima and all the kids that the debt is never erased. This comment made them furious because what he was saying was that all those horrible years after years of worked till they dropped were for nothing. The next day the foreign customers came, they were looking at all the carpets when they heard a big riiiipp that beautiful blue carpet was gone and Ibal was sent to the tomb. What do you think will happen to Iqbal?

                              

SALVA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My book is based on a true story about Salva and Nya's life. Salva is now in a refugee camp with all gender different age and sizes. Refugee Camps are shelters for misplaced people during the war. Refugee Camps were run by the government and a descent place to live in the mid-1880s. The way Salva had to get there was by foot all the way from Sudan to Ethiopia! During this walk he had barley no food, but I can imagine once he got to the refugee camp that he provided enough food to live off of. These were often filled with thousands of people, especially during the time of the war that was going on. When Salva got to the Refuge Camp he thought he saw his mother so he pushes through everyone to see if it is her, but he gives up because he remembers what his uncle told him that barley anyone had the survived the bombing in his village and that the people who did survive no here they were. If I were in Salva's shoes I would definitely go just to make sure if it is my mom or not. Do you agree with me?why or why not? 

Now is the time for running

   The book I am reading is now is the time for running it is about a kid in north Africa whose village was killed by the north African president because he uses the army to threaten the civilians to vote for him. Because of this Deo the kid heads to south Africa a more economically stable country. At that time south Africa had a lot of refugees. It is very hard to find a web site to hyper link to so I have not included one. I think that this treatment of civilians in north Africa is very wrong but why did he do that? Do you think that this is the reason south Africa has so many refugee.

Work,work,and even more work

                          The novel I am reading is Boys Without  Names and it is about a 11 year old boy named Gopal and his family moved to Mumbai. But, after he was beat up he was forced to work day and night at a sweatshop.In 2007 they discovered kids as young as 10 being forced to make clothes for the GAP a children clothing store. They were  forced to make beaded blouses they had little to no clothes. They would sit crouched on the floor for 12 hours each and every day. Gap said they did not know of the kids working in the sweatshop.I could never imagine having to work day in and day out every day.Could you ever tolerate having to work as much as those kids had to?

Kenya

I have been reading Facing The Lion the book is mostly about how a kid named Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton
who lives in Kenya where one child in the family must go to boarding school and have education and Joseph was that one child. Joseph was caught in a fight in his boarding school and a couple of his teacher whipped  him in most boarding schools. If i was Joseph I would not stand for that kind of abuse. What would you do in Josephs situation?

The Road To Equality That Leads To Nowhere

In my book, A Long Walk To Water, most of the book takes place in Sudan in 1985 where there is civil conflict between the North and South sides. Also, there is a mini-war between two Sundanese tribes the Nuer and the Dinka. Within the last 100 years, there have been a grand total of three civil wars between the Northern and Southern sides. THREE  of them. Anyways, the main character Salva (which may I add is the name of the S. Sudan president) is separated from his family during a battle and he joins a group of refugees headed towards Ethiopia, safe from the fighting. A few days of walking later, Salva meets a boy named Marial (he shares his name with the real life general of S. Sudan) who is shortly after killed by a lion. Happy times. Salva finds his uncle in the group and he begins to take care of him. When they reach the Akobo desert, Salva's group is robbed and his uncle is killed. Once again, happy times. Soon after, they reach the refugee camp where they currently reside. If I were Salva, I would have gone insane after witnessing the death of a friend the death of a family member and the separation of my family. Would you?

Iqbal The Brave

      Iqbal is based on a true story. It's about a boy named Iqbal Masih, who inspired the lives of other children. A young girl named Fatima tells her point of view, in the novel about Iqbal. How he inspires the hard working children, is his stories and courage. The setting takes place at a carpet factory in Pakistan. Iqbal was the new comer in the factory. So almost every night the other kids would sneak in Iqbal's room. Just to listen  to the stories, of his past and his future plans. The kids found him rebellious and some what strange, but mostly interesting. All the kids in the factory are all forced to work, even at very young ages. How would you feel if you got taken away from your family, to work?


Iqbal:

Man Vs Lion

In my book Facing The Lion A young boy named Joseph Lekuton has to deal with both school and being a Northern Kenyan cattle herder. Kenya deals with a lot of poverty and about 47 percent of the rural population is under the poverty line. Kenya experienced an economic growth in the past couple of years but they are still a very poor country. In Kenya one child from each family must go to school and if they don't they are breaking the law. Many kids are forced to go to school even if their parents don't want them to go they still have to. How would you feel if you had to live like one of these kids.

No Food, Yet Still Alive-Heartbreaking Conditions in Zimbabwe

When Now is the Time for Running opens, author Michael Williams describes a poor village in Zimbabwe, South Africa. Early in the book, a point comes when food is discussed. They have very little food, and I was wondering why. I thought there'd be plenty of roles for people to fill in such a small village like Gutu, but I was wrong because when the book was written, the unemployment rate in Zimbabwe was at a staggering 95%; (it's amazing those people could even afford enough food to survive!) America's unemployment rate is currently between only 6 and 7 percent, and we still have a huge amount of homeless/jobless people. I spent a while online searching for a current Zimbabwean number to compare it with, but the country has such a low functionality, that even the CIA World Fact-book could not provide current numbers. This suggests the rate of unemployment is still very high. Also looking through various (and possibly unreliable) sources, I found numbers for today that are close to the 2009's 95%. Basically, what I'm saying is that Zimbabwe had a horrible economy when Now is the Time For Running was written, and still does... Mr. Hopper also asked us to put ourselves into our character's metaphorical "shoes." The main character from Now is the Time For Running is Deo, and he had to run from Zimbabwe after watching his entire village, family included, getting shot. Later, he has to run for two hours across the South African border, once getting chased by a hyena for a period of time. I'm quite certain I would not fare as well as Deo. I don't have the emotional stamina to not break down if my family died, and much less, the physical stamina required to run for two hours straight. (Deo is amazing.) How do you feel about Zimbabwe's condition, and how do you think you'd do in the position Deo's in?

Why does there have to be child labor in some countries?

Every year despite many laws in some countries kids are sent to work in brick factories, carpet factories, and mines where they work most of the day for little or no pay. When kids work at these factories they are in terrible working conditions kids at carpet factories always have cut fingers, some kids at brick factories burn themselves, and in the mines kids mine all day. Many countries are trying to enforce laws that prevent child labor but some don’t have enough money or resources and there are too many factories that are able to rebel because some have better resources than the volunteers who try to stop child labor. If you had a choice to end child labor in one country what country would it be and why?

Facing courage

The book that iam currently reading is facing the lion. This story takes place in western Kenya, the main character is Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton. The main conflict of this story is that his moms best cow has been killed by a lion and now him and his brother are trying to find it and kill it. Killing a lion in his village means great respect from others. Him and his brother try to make sure that no other cows are killed. If I had to be in Lekuton's shoes I would probaly true to kill the lion to because he is trying to kill for respect, and to also make sure that lion kills no more cows. Do you think it is a smart choice to kill a lion or not?

Tricked

Sadly, India has the highest amount of child labor cases in the world. The number of forced child work has increased from 1991 to 2001. Some are forced to work outside in cotton fields or picking other crops working 14-16 hours a day. Others work in sweatshops like the boy in the book I am reading, Gopal. He was tricked into working like many others are. They are promised a good paying job at a factory and then wake up, captured for many many years. In the book Gopal was looking for work to support his very poor family. He met a boy and he told him that his uncle had a jobs open at the 'factory' and before Gopal had the chance to tell him he couldn't take it due to school he was drugged and brought the factory. Sadly scenarios like this happen all the time. Many kids are tricked when they are just trying to help out their struggling families. What do you think should be done about this trickery?

Iqbal

     Iqbal takes place in Pakistan, which, like many other middle eastern countries, has many problems. One such problem is child slavery. In Pakistan children are often sent to sweatshops after their parents are dead or if their parents are in debt, so they send their children to sweatshops to pay it off. Often in these factories or shops children are forced to work without pay, in dangerous conditions, and without any hope of escaping unless they are thrown out when they become older. Although it is illegal in Pakistan, people still practice it quite often. The Police don't strictly enforce the laws that prevent it. Since the events of Iqbal, things in Pakistan and many other countries with child slavery have not gotten significantly better, although Iqbal has brought attention to the subject of child work abuse. In fact, a Bollywood movie was made in 2005 about him. If I were Iqbal, or any child labor slave, I would want to try to escape if possible.  I'm sure I wouldn't have as much courage as Iqbal. I know for a fact that I wouldn't be able to survive the punishment for not obeying the master. The punishment that they receive is days in the tomb, which is an old dried out cistern without food or water in over ninety degree weather. My question is: what book you are reading, and do you think the punishments or hardships the people are going through in your book are better or worse than what I described?

Sudan Now

Currently now in Sudan they are at war with each other. South Sudan and North Sudan are at war because the deal they decided to make about getting more foreign troops and monitors to safeguard any deals between the government and the rebels. However, none of the sides decided to cooperate. In result of the violence, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir decided that next years general elections that will be held in 2017 will be pushed back. He decisions would leave time for national agreement and pave the way for peaceful and transparent elections. If you were the South Sudan president would you do the same thing?

Facing the scary lion!!!

          Facing The Lions a book that takes place in Africa. It's a book about a boy named Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton, and about him growing up as a Nomad. A nomad is a member of a people having no permanent abode, and who travel from place to place to find fresh pasture for their livestock. When people do this, it can be very dangerous, because all of the lion attacks. I did some research about this culture or area, and they still do things like this very alike, but I think that the people of Africa have new ways of doing this. For example, maybe they are using horses to help them herd the cows. If I was in the shoes of one of those people I think it would be easier to ride on a horse than walk or have a dog help you herd them more in a specific way. Do you think they have a new way now of doing that now?

Facing the Lion or Running From the Lion

Kenya is having a lot of problems now.  Facing the Lion takes place in this presently troubled area. They are having a lot of trouble with disasters, starving people, and poverty.  Things are on their way to getting better but are clearly not there yet and the government is working on it.  If I had to choose one character from the book, I would choose Lemasolai Lekuton.  I would choose him because I think we have a thing in common, fear!!!  When he had to fight the lion, he ran which is what I would do. I really got a feel of what the culture is like in this area and enjoy reading the book.  So let me ask you, if in your culture, it showed bravery to kill a lion, would you do it or run?

Sweatshops Suck and Should be Stopped!

In the book I'm reading, Boys Without Names, a young boy named Gopal and his family have to move to Mumbai because they couldn't pay their debt. They moved from their small village to Mumbai, the most-populated city in India. Since his family had almost no money, Gopal took a job from a teenager he met on the streets, thinking it was in a factory. He had actually been sold to a sweatshop, where he had a cruel boss nicknamed Scar, and was forced to work long hours and could not leave. There are still many sweatshops today, all around the world, but many people are against them, and people help support the anti-sweatshop movement. I think that it would be extremely hard to do what Gopal did, since a lot of people these days are used to the modern day luxuries and not having to do any work to get what they need. I think I wouldn't have done very well in that situation because I have never done anything like that before. Do you think you could make a living like that?

Bromo Tengger Semeru national park

Bromo Tengger Semeru national park  in Indonesia looks like a beautiful place. It looks like the part of New Zealand where The Lord Of The Rings was filmed. There are a lot of mountains and volcanoes there and it is the only conservation area in Indonesia. I would like to visit there with my family, and I could visit all year round because it is right next to the equator. It looks very peaceful and would be really nice to just go and relax. I struggle with putting commas in the right place, especially when there are transition words like and. Would you like to visit this place, and if so would you relax or look for adventure?

A Longer Walk To Freedom

A Long Walk To Water takes place in Southern Sudan during the second Sudanese Civil War that takes place from 1983 to 2005. The war was between central Sudan's government and Sudan people's Liberation Army. Today, almost one-fifth of Sudan's population lives off of less than US $1.25 per day. Sudan has a federal presidential representative democratic republic government which is pretty much the same type of government the United States has. Sudan suffers from poor human rights most particularly dealing with the issues of ethnic cleansing and slavery in the nation even today. There are currently 7,600 United Nations troops stationed in Southern Sudan and they are planning to make it 13,000. If I was put into the main's characters shoes, I would have done the same things he did and I think I wouldn't have survived as well because I'm not used to going a couple days with little water and no food. If you were in Sudan for vacation or something during the Civil War, what would you have done?

There are still boys without names

I am reading Boys without Names which is a book about a boy in Mumbai India that has to get a job in a sweatshop to support his family. To learn more about this topic I looked up "sweatshops in Mumbai" and sadly there are still sweatshops in the area plus I learn that there are sweatshops in America too. We learn about all this bad stuff that is happening in all these other countries but we don't notice that the same thing is happening in ours. I read an article from The Nation.com and it said that kids ages ages 12 and up are allowed to work at Tobacco Farms doing any number of odd jobs. I'm harvesting to planting to packaging they are used for all sorts of labor. Recently in an act to stop child labor in sweatshops the Fair Labor Association & The Workers Rights Consortium are spreading arpund the world to help raise awareness about these horrible conditions in sweatshops and child labor. they're talking to schools other organizations and press conferences in order to get out the word and help these people. We can all help and we should. What would you do to help?

Water Too Far Away?

The book I’m reading for my novel is, A Long Walk To Water, the book starts out with a 11 year old boy named Salva who is having a normal school day when suddenly the civil war hits his school and village and Salva is forced to leave his family and his village behind. Today, South Sudan is still having many problems with war. The U.S. is getting involved to help out as well. My opinion is that I think that the U.S. helping is a good idea since this war has been going on for such a long time. And hopefull, this war can end soon. Do you think the U.S. helping out is a good idea? Or such we just step back?  

Facing the lion or "inakabiliwa na samba" as Lemasolai would say...

I’m currently reading Facing the Lion, a historical fiction book that takes place in the African Savannah of Kenya in about 1970’s-1980’s. The main character is Lemasolai Lekuton a young boy that lives in a nomadic African group. He is working to become a man and a warrior. The areas in Kenya that the nomads live are still free and now there are laws that were made to keep poachers away also. If I was one of the people who had to go and face the lion like in the beginning of the book, I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near it, I would have ran away as fast as I could if I had seen the lion. So, what would have done if you had to go face a lion?

Helping South Sudan

The book I am reading is Along walk to water.  This book takes place in Southern Sudan which lays right under the equator.  Salva Dut is the main character in the book along walk to water. He was a child who was forced to go to school. Salva had lived without his family sense he was little, he came he came home from school one day to his family that ran away just like most other families due to government problems. He then had a long journey ahead of him hiking to a new home which ended up to be Rochester, New York. Salva wanted to see his family again and he heard that his dad got a disease which was caused by dirty drinking water. He then traveled back to South Sudan to see his father and due to his fathers disease he started filters to filter the water for kids there which a lot of people chipped in. If I were Salva I would want to help my hometown out for the kids and people that need it most. What would you do for people that need it more than you? Especially your home where you grew up?

Facing The Lion

Facing The Lion takes place in Africa and is about a boy growing up named Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton and him growing up as a Nomad. A nomad is a herder that is always living in different locations to be where ever the animals can survive the easiest. Doing this can sometimes be very dangerous because of random lion attacks. I've done some research about this culture/ way of living and they still do these things very similar. However I think (I couldn't find this) that the people of Africa have implemented new strategies into doing this. For example, maybe they are using horses or dogs to help them herd the cows. If I were in the shoes of one of those people I would think it would be easier to ride on a horse than walk or have a dog help you herd them more precisely or in a certain direction. A question for the reader of this is, do you think they have developed more unique/ helpful ways to do this back breaking work?

Time to Run!

Many things have changed since Deo was in the area of Johannesburg. The area has become more tolerant of the refugees coming in from the different countries. During Deo's time, which was around 2009, the people were so intolerant of the refugees thinking that they were taking work away from them. They went and killed many shop keepers and bystanders because they weren't South Africans. That is the clearest definition of RACIST. To keep that from happening they started employing refugees differently than other South Africans, and to be employed refugees have to have permits that allow them to live and work in the country. Things in South Africa are starting to cool down slightly because there are less people going to South Africa as a refuge. If I was faced with the challenges Deo has gone through so far I would definitely be terrified and wouldn't be able to be strong. If I was faced with going through a big enclosed area filled with wild animals I would be frozen in place, actually I don't know what I would do, since I have never been in a situation even closely related to that. If I ever get caught in something like that I would have definitely not been to survive as well as he was able to. If you were faced with a situation of either getting killed by a group of people or running across an enclosed space filled with wild animals which one would you choose?

Iqbal

     The book Iqbal is very sad to me it is about these kids that work in a carpet factory for money to pay off their family debts and I don't think it is right to put young kids to work in a carpet factory. The book is named Iqbal because a boy named Iqbal has begun to work in the carpet factory but he is forced to work there to pay off his family debts but all he is thinking about is escaping the carpet factory. This book is sad to me because I know that all around the world kids are being put to work in sweat shops but here we are running around free and wild living a great child hood but people in other places are being put to work and do not get to experience a regular child hood that just make me mad and sad at the same time. The way the sweat shop owners treat the people just make me want to scream could you ever imagine working till the sun came up until it went down but got paid unfair then everyone else you probably be pretty mad and there working conditions are horribly you barely have arm room just for yourself I bet that you would probably hate that. Did you know that 250 million children are forced to start working at only the age of 5 to 14 and from 14 up they are put in different sweatshops to work even more? Women are forced to sew NBA jerseys and they only make 24 cent per garment but the jerseys sell for $140 and that is just messed up using people like that. Most of the money they make is put towards food for food for their families and they do not get to spend it on their own needs. I feel so bad for the people that work in sweatshop but I’m supporting the  working condition to go on without me knowing about it cause I buy close and shoes that are being made in the sweatshops and you are probably to without knowing it but it’s not like we mean to we just know that the things we buy are nice but we don’t know the money we pay is supporting the sweatshops to go on and hay if I’m buying things to support it to go on without my knowing I think the people should be paid more or at least try to find the places and close it that’s my point of view. What would you do to try to prevent this from going on? Do you think it is right to force people to work like this but get pay so little?  

What Has Changed

In the book, A Long Walk to Water, one of the main characters is Salva, an 11 year old boy how has had to run away from his tribe and family during the Sudan Civil War in
1985. Salva walked thousands of miles with a group of many other people that he had never met before to a refugee camp in Ethiopia. The First Sudanese Civil War started in 1955 and ended in 1972, many people thought this would be the end of the fighting, but they we clearly wrong. In 1983, the second Sudanese Civil War started, this war was among the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. This second civil war is believed to be a continuation of the first one. These wars lasted 21 years, killing over two million people and displacing about four million. In 1996, Salva was one of the 3,800 Lost Boys to be resettled in the Untied States. If I were in Salva Dut during this period in his life, I would have never been able to do any of the amazing things that he did. Salva is a very strong-willed man and it took a lot of hope and courage to overcome the obstacles that he faced. I do not think I could have ever survived the long walks and the feeling of not knowing what was going to happen.Do you think that you would have the courage to walk thousands of miles without your family and friends there along side you the whole way?

Sweat Shop? I THINK NOT!

I am reading the book Boys Without Names, which is a fiction book (based off true stories) about a 11 year old boy, Gopal, who is forced to move out of his home in India, and forced to move to Mumbai, a huge city in India because his family could'nt find jobs at his old home. Gopal's family is forced to live on the streets because his father didn't have a job and they didn't have enough money to find a place to stay. Gopal ends up getting tricked by an innocent looking teenager into getting sold to a sweatshop, where his boss, Scar(he named him) forcefully worked, slapped, and beat him and 5 other boys.

Sadly, sweatshops like that are still being found all over the world:(

If I was in Gopal's shoes, I don't think I would have been able to do it! Especially since now today, we have all these luxurious things like TVs, iPhones, and a LOT more, having nothing would be really hard. Having nothing like that and living on the streets with no money? I just don't think that I could live like that,especially working in a sweatshop! Would you be able to live like that?

Gopal In Mumbai

    My book for our novels unit is 'Boys Without Names,' which focuses on 11-year old Gopal as he and his family uproot from their rural Indian village and travel to Mumbai. Along the way, he is tricked and taken to a sweatshop, where he is now working as a child labor force, gluing endless beads to picture frames. Gopal's Mumbai is huge and overwhelming; people jammed into every corner, vendors offering countless wares, and small outskirts of houses and shacks for living in.
    Gopal's not far off from our Mumbai today, actually; Mumbai is crowded and noisy, and vendors can be seen from the streets offering goods. However, one thing that Gopal's Mumbai didn't have was modern child labor protection.
    Children have been trafficked and forced to work in hotels, sweatshops, and factories in Mumbai (and in so, so many other places) and have had no way of stopping their own enslavement. Now, thanks to the Indian government, laws have been passed to help protect children from young labor and an anti-trafficking unit has been formed to arrest traffickers and slave owners. Though legislation helping children is still weak, bills have been sent to Parliament asking for more protection; and have been taken into serious consideration recently, seeing as there are roughly 35,000 kids in child labor sites in just Mumbai, let alone any other cities in India.
    I can't even begin to imagine myself in Gopal's shoes. For an eleven year old  boy who has little education other than reading, writing, and math, and who has never had more than ten articles of clothing at a time, he's a very wise kid. Think for a moment about summer without air conditioning, or working outside during cold or rain with only a ratty t shirt and a pair of dingy shorts. For what little he has, Gopal makes the most out of every situation. He uses a lot o his mother's lessons to stay out of trouble and plan in the sweatshop, and unlike him I would never be able to keep my mouth shut if I were to be taken. Gopal has so far completely surpassed me in the area of surviving in his environment, and I'm excited to see what he does next! Would you do as well as Gopal if you were placed in his position?

WaterForSouthSudan

Salva Dut was a young boy in South Sudan who lived a life of running and hiding for 19 Years. When Salva grew up he was one of the 12,000 boys to be picked to go live in America. He grew up to have to go to school, get a job, and grow up a normal life! Salva lived a life without his father, and wanted to find out where he was. He manages to find his father alive in South Sudan after 19 years, but he was sick. The cause of his sickness was the dirty water they were drinking. He found men and women to help him start a organization to help the people in Sudan to get clean water. He has the organization called "Waterforsouthsudan" that drills wells for people in Sudan. How would you help the people of Sudan?

A Never Ending Nightmare

In the book "Boys Without Names" it talks about a boy named Gopal who ends up working in a sweat shop. I haven't actually gotten that far in the book yet but I can infer from the description of the book and from what has happened so far that this is not going to work out well. Gopal is located in Mumbai; so I did some research on sweatshops there and the numbers don't look too good. It is estimated that nearly 35,000 kids are used for child labor just in Mumbai alone. Those kids are the future of Mumbai and it seems that if things continue like this Mumbai's future will be a bleak one. Those children should be in school not forced to work long days for little or no pay. It is dystopian! In the book, Gopal could have gone to school but he decided to get a job instead to try and help his family. If I was him I would have gone to school because the more I knew, the better chance I would have at getting a better job that would earn more money than a job not requiring education. He did what he thought was right and all I can do is hope that this book has a happy ending. Unfortunately even if the book ends happy, the lives of real children in Mumbai are still a nightmare. What do you think the more fortunate children of the U.S can do to try and help the fight against child labor?

The Struggles of Living in Northern Kenya

In our book Facing The Lion there is a boy who lives in Northern Kenya and has a lot of struggles when living there.  There is 46% of the people under the poverty level and all of those people have no homes.  Despite there economic growth in the last two years they are still one of the 30 poorest countries in the world.  Also there are 1.2 out of the 19.5 children not in school which in my opinion is much to many.  For children in Kenya it is very unsafe, between 10,00 and 30,00 kids have been abducted and sexually abused.  So what is your opinion about the living conditions that the boy in our book faces daily?

Iqbal's Messed Up Life!

The book I’m reading is called Iqbal, the book is about how many kids are thrown into factories to do work as slaves. Iqbal is taken to a carpet factory to make world class carpets. Iqbal lived a poor live, when his family was in need of money, the sent him to carpet factories. Opposite to the U.S., Asia has many child slavery factories, many of these places have been caught, but many grow every day. These factories are terrible. If i was Iqbal, instead of trying to escape, i would start a riot and force a breakout. I would probably have sacrificed myself to save those kids. Both our plans are very risky. What would you do?

Iqbal

Iqbal is a child who is working at a carpet factory because his parents needed to borrow 600 rupees because they needed money for his very sick and Iqbal is asked if he wants to do this and he says yes. The place he works in has really bad conditions and the master treats all the people there badly, the worst part is that he only gets payed 1 rupee. I think that it is horrible that he worked in these conditions because you barely get payed any money (rupees into dollars), I mean our minimum wage per hour is like 443.09 rupees per hour working at like a McDonald's and he is working in bad conditions. I think that the law about child slavery in those places should be reinforced more, do you?

Refugees In Zimbabwe

In the book “Now Is the Time for Running” the main character, Deo, and his brother are refugees after the government kills their family.  Not a ton of things have been done to change Zimbabwe’s issues.  They’re still a lot of refugees there today.  Like in the book, a lot of people have fled to South Africa looking for a new home and safety.  Lots of people have had their refugee status denied and are in South Africa illegally.  In the book, Deo and his brother make the very tough journey to South Africa.  It is such a struggle to get there though and they have to go through so much.  It is the same for people today because nothing much has changed.  If I were in Deo’s position I would most likely do the same thing he did.  Although the journey is very difficult, I guess it would be worth it to feel safe.  How do you feel about making the tough journey to South Africa?

Zimbabwe in a Pickle

The struggles in Zimbabwe are still happening today just as it was in Now is the Time for Running. It has had a major famine in the last four years! No one has done anything about this problem, especially the government. The government has had some fraudulent elections. The leader of Zimbabwe, 89 year old Robert Mugabe, has been elected again wrongly. There was some scam that happened with the voting/election system in Zimbabwe. Only a small percentage of the country voted for Mugabe, but he is still the leader! He has brought Zimbabwe down very much; they used to be Africa's second richest country, but now they are one of the poorest. Also, the governmental figures are rich and vain, but they have no concern for the less-fortunate. While all of this scandal stuff is going on, the poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer. This needs some action to straighten up this struggling country. What do you think about the struggling country of Zimbabwe?

African Savanna.... NO Thanks!

The African Savanna is the largest grassland in the world. The Savanna covers more than half of Africa. They survive by hunting game and eating honey, fruits and vegetables. Most of the Maasai raise cattle, sheep and goats for meat. The cattle provide milk and meat and leather for clothing. The cattle also produces dung which is used to help build homes. The Maasai live in groups of 10 to 20 huts, which are made branches, grass, mud and twigs. The women of the tribe find water and build homes and the men heard the cattle. The Savanna is much more peaceful and the "police" don't force children to go to school. Would love to have the choice to go to school.

I thinks its stupid to have wars!!!!

The book I am reading is long Walk to Water.  The book is about the civil war in 1985.  The civil war started out by many people having a different religion such as muslim, christianity, etc. Well north sudan was trying to make south sudan become a different religion than they already are. South Sudan got mad so they created a war by that. When the war reached to Salvas village he was forced to run away from his home and family. There is some conflict in Sudan still today and the u.s is trying to stop that. The u.s is trying to stop that by shutting down fridays and having double staff on other days. They shut down fridays because one early friday north sudan and south sudan started fighting a little bit more. My opinion on this is I think it is a good idea for the u.s trying to help Sudan out. What do you think of the u.s helping Sudan out?

Zimbabwe Today

Zimbabwe is a country that is still in turmoil today. After experiencing hyperinflation, fraudulent elections, famines and hardships unimaginable in modern times, they are still in turmoil and still experiencing some of these terrible things, but they are on the route to recovery.  No longer will Deo need his billion dollar ball; Zimbabwe has adopted the American dollar. Unfortunately Zimbabwe still has a long way to go before they are back to normal. It is believed that recent election of 2013 was a fake and Zimbabwe is believed to be on the brink of another famine.  If I was Deo living today in Zimbabwe or when he lived there, I do not think I would have the courage or bravery he had to just face the task of living every day let alone the tasks he accomplished. What do you think: if you were Deo would you have been able to act as smartly and bravely as he did?

Child labor in Pakistan

I'm reading Iqbal which means this post is about child labor in Pakistan. Since the time this book took place there have been some changes. The constitution there prohibits all slavery,forced labor, and child labor. They also has passed a Human Rights act to increase that availability of an education to children ages 5 to 16. There is also more humane place now to work. if you were in the Pakistani government what would you do to prevent child labor?

A Search for Water

In my book A Long Walk to Water the main character Salva is forced to run away from home when the civil war reaches his village.He joins several groups of people ion search of a refugee camp that's in Ethiopia. Six years after he reaches the refugee camp he gets kick out of the camp and is forced to keep on walking until he gets to safety. Some problems that are happening in that area isn't just the war but also water. Lots of water there is dirty and can make you sick. Not only that but they have to walk hours just to get a little bit of water. Some people have started a project to drill wells in villages so that they don't have to walk so far to get water and so that the water they get won't be poisoned. If I was in Salvas place all I could have done was run away. After that I'd be useless and would probably die. I couldn't have helped with anything at all. Do you think that you could have survived what Salva had to go through?

Dinka

I am currently reading the book A Long Walk to Water which is very interesting. In this book, Salva runs away from his tribe, the Dinka tribe. He is a refugee, walking with many people he has never seen before. If I was Salva, I would have done the same thing he did. I would've been too scared to walk alone so I would've joined a random group like he did. Currently, there are 407,646 refugees still residing in Ethiopia. As of now, there has only been 8 refugees returned safely to their homes. Since there is 53% of women and only 47% of men in these camps, women may have to be doing the same work men have to. Most of the camp's refugees range in age from 5-12. I don't think these refugees should be living like this, do you?

Synonym for a hard life, Refugees

Life as a refugee is not easy. Remember that a refugee is much different than nomads. Nomads choose to leave there home, and are in groups. Deo , in “Nows the Time for Running”, was a Refugee. Deo, and his brother Innocent, are forced out of, Gutu, their hometown in Zimbabwe.  Refugees, are mostly forced out of their hometown because of the government or other political reasons. Refugees in Zimbabwe, are getting there statuses rejected from the DHA. Not much has changed, unfortunately, so they definitely need to work on that. This problem is putting a lot of stress on everybody, but most importantly the refugees. If I faced this situation I would be very frustrated,  and scared! Something that hasn't changed, is that everybody in Zimbabwe wants to go to South Africa. If You were in the refugees shoes what would you do?

The Maasi People Have Hard Lifes

The book I am reading is FACING THE LION it takes place in northern Kenya. What they are doing is trying killing lions and getting cows to survive.  You may wonder do they still kill lions and get cows to stay alive? These people are called the Maassi people, and these people do still live like this but they have turned to rely more heavily on cows, but when this book takes place they relied heavily on lions. People still kill lions but they only kill the lions for fun, on the other hand, this process is still very dangerous. If I was in the situation of trying to find a lion and kill it I think I would not do well and not survive. Because, killing a lion is dangerous and I think if I tried to stab the lion I would miss and then the lion would eat me. Do you think the Maasi people had a hard life when the book took place?

a walk to freedom

Salva is forced to run away in South Sudan  by her teacher when shots are heard in her school. He doesn't have that much food or water, he is now living with his uncle, and introduced to this friendly girl named Nya, part of the Nuer tribe. She is struggling to bring water to his family. Nya has to dig with her bear hands and try to get as much water as possible. Salva, and his uncle where robbed by the Nuer tribe and they tied his uncle up, and shot him constantly. If i was in his shoes I would be pretty sad I mean i've haven't seen my parents more than a month, i'm walking with people that I barely even know, I barely have no food or water how would you take being in Salva shoes?

Facing The Lion

I am currently reading Facing The Lion, a book about a kid named Lamasolai goes to school because of a law in Kenya that forces a family to put at least one child in each family to send to school for education. Lamasolai told them that he would go even though he was only six years old. He soon got bullied by other kids in school because he was fat and was younger than other kids, but he soon found out how to make people stop bullying him and he soon got good grades and found out that how much school was fun even though his dad didn't want him to go to school. If I was the main character, I would be scared to go to school because of getting bullied. Would you be scared if you got bullied and got hit every time?

Living A Life Without A Meaning

Salva Dut is going through a tough time is South Sudan where food is scarce and violence is active. He is forced to run away from school when gun shots are heard and is told to run to safety by a teacher. Salva is separated from his family and living with his uncle and he is living like nothing happened . But later Nya a young girl from South Sudan is introduced and she is part of the Nuer tribe, and Nya struggles each day to bring water to her family. She digs holes in the ground with her hands, and the water holes range from three feet deep to four feet deep. Later in the book Salva and his uncle are robbed by the Nuer tribe and Salva's uncle was tied to a tree and shot three time until he died. I could honestly not live a life without my parents. And Salva is living eating and enjoying time all on his own. I would get robbed and killed on my own. The most remarkable thing is that Salva still has the heart to continue to live after losing his family and seeing his uncle be shot to death. I would have reacted to this situation worse than Salva. Salva is much tougher than me and he has a lot more emotional endurance than most people. Salva is a tough kid and the farther in the book I get the more of a roll model Salva is to me.

A longer walk to peace

To me it seems that Sudan is like a warrior with an unquenchable thirst for conflict. There have been so many civil wars in Sudan that the country even had to split. Mr. Hopper's post told me to see how the country is doing after the war and what the country has done to prevent it next time. I looked up information about the war and found that the country is either extremely lazy about preventing war or the government has no power at all because starting on December 15, 2013, and is still currently going on as you read what I have wrote, is a civil war in South Sudan. If I was in Salva's shoes (Bare feet) I would have melted down. Being separated from my parents for more than a month, traveling with a band of strangers while starving I would just freak out. What would you do if you were in Salva's...position? (Bare feet sounds weird)

Sweatshops in America? Now that's crazy! Right?

Lately I have been reading a novel called Boys without names. It is about an 11 year old boy named Gopal who used to lived in India, Gopal and his family have to "run away" from their home town to escape from too much debt. They need to take a different train since the fare for the trains raised. The train took them too a new city where Gopal and his family must find their uncle's house and get more money. This all leads up to when Baba goes missing and then Gopal meets a boy who promises Gopal a job in a factory. The boy tricks Gopal and sells him to a sweat shop where Gopal is forced to make beautiful beaded frames. If he does not make them he is punished horribly, such as being starved or being hit. Some people thinks that these sweatshops only occur in worse off countries like India or Nepal. But actually these can occur in any country, even the United States can be involved in scandals like this. In my opinion when I found out about how these could happen anywhere it made me really upset. I mean, it was horrible to know that these things happen to people our age. I found an article on a scandal that happened involving a talk show host called Kathie Lee Gifford. Here is the link to it.
What do you think after reading this article?

Here is a picture of Kathie Lee.

Boys Without Names

The novel I am reading is Boys Without Names.  This novel is about an 11 year old boy named Gopal .  Gopal and his family moved to Mumbai where they  were hoping to get a new start at life.  When there dad goes missing Gopal tries to find a way to there uncles house but with no money they are living on the streets.  After he helps a woman she offers him enough money to tickets for his twin siblings, his mom, and himself to take a train to his uncles house.  What do you think  will happen to Gopal and his family? Will they find there dad?
http://nosignposts.blogspot.com/2011/07/sustainable-style-sweatshops.html

            Some of you have probably already heard of the kidnapping in Nigeria. Before I get into the details Ill tell you the basic story. On April 14th of this year, 276 school girls in Nigeria were kidnapped on a bus and they are now taken to a hidden place in the jungle. That is the basic story but they have come out with evidence that the government might be negotiating with this terrorist group, the Boko Haram. The reason that these terrorists think that the girls should be taken away from school is that their religion says that girls should stay at home rather than go to school. Although they need to help these girls I still don't think they should negotiate with the terrorists. I think that this is similar to the book that im reading because they both have arguments about school, and that the women have to stay home and do that work. So do you think that this is fair or not?

Iqbal

The book I'm reading is called Iqbal. This book is about child slavery. In the book they are sent in a carpet shop, most times for child slavery they are sent to factories. Child slavery is, in my opinion, worst then slavery because you are sending children to do the work of a human. Some kids even get abused. 215 children between the ages 5 and 17 are sent to become child labors. Child slavery is also known as sweatshops. Child slavery is mentally physically, socially, morally dangerous to children. If I was forced to work in a factory honestly I don't know what I would do, I would try and escape.        

Kidnapped

As some of you know in Nigeria there has been a mass kidnapping of girls. These girls were kidnapped on their bus ride to school. This act was performed by a terrorist group Boko Haram. They took the girls because they believe girls shouldn't be able to go to school. There has been new evidence that the group is trying to discuss a trade with the government. The possible trade is a prisoner and they will give the girls back. Based on this story I think terrorism is bad and Nigeria should make better security to prevent future crimes and terrorist acts.
      I am reading Facing The Lion by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton. In this book Joseph goes to one of the villages cattle camps and gets attacked by a lion. after the attack the lion ran off and Joseph went back to the village. Now in the book Josephs is having flash backs like going to school,getting in trouble at the village, and getting circumcised. If you were attack by a lion what would you do? Also What do you think the government should do to stop future crime?

South Africa's Citizens Love for Others

     Right now, in Jozi, South Africa the situation of xenophobia is still the same and has gotten only a little bit better. The current situation is that many humans are attacking others that come from another place in fear of them stealing their job position. Furthermore, their fear is so bad that it leads to them taking a gun and killing someone. The things that are being done to make sure that this doesn't happen again is that police officers are arresting people to make it less dangerous for the victims. In addition, they're creating more jobs in South Africa so that people may have a better chance in finding a job and they're also raising awareness for xenophobia by creating church events, prayers, workshops, etc. If I were to placed into Deo's shoes I honestly don't know if I would've done the same thing. I probably would've been dead before I could actually reach that point in deciding if I would've done the same thing. I think I would've survived way worse than Deo. To sum it up, the situation in Jozi, South Africa hasn't really gotten any better and I don't know if I would've done the same thing as Deo, mostly because I'd probably be dead by than. 
    

Iqbal

Iqbal is about children working to "pay of family debt" in a carpet factory. Everything was the same until one day when Iqbal arrived.  Conditions for these children were not good! They were put to work everyday from sunrise to sunset. When buyers arrived to search for carpets their master would treat them somewhat politely. If something goes wrong during work time they might be put in "The Tomb", a dark place underground filled with spiders, snakes and scorpions.  If  you get thrown into the tomb during the hot summers its likely you will come out burned from the heat and almost dead! The children get dinner most nights,but not all.  When the children are put to work at their looms they are chained to the seat so they cannot stop and take breaks. An estimated 12% of South Asia's children ages 5-17 are put into work at carpet industries. 18 hours a day are put into working for their masters so they can be set free, but most of them never are! Conditions are bad for these children and i'm grateful i'm lucky enough to not be put into their position. how do you feel and child labor?

A Long Walk To Water

The book A Long Walk To Water is a very interesting and fascinating book. In the book, a boy named Salva had to run away from his land(Sudan). He travels with a group of runaways to a refugee camp in Ethiopia. As of right now, their are 407,646 refugees in Ethiopia. And if you can believe this, only eight people have been returned to their families. 47% of the people in refugee camps are men, and 53% are women. This means that women may have to do what men have to do. This is just due to their being more women than men. The camp is mostly populated with 5-12 year old boys and girls. Do you think that people should live like this?

Facing the Lion in Northern Kenya

The literacy rate is higher for the males then the women. Fewer young people attend secondary school. The health profile is mixed, mostly because of the heavy impact of HIV. The life expectancy has also fallen although it is rebounding in the past few years. HIV has claimed the lives of at least 1.7 million people in Kenya. In 2011, an estimated 49,126 people in Kenya died of AIDS-related causes (that is really sad). The main character is Joseph Lemasolai Lekuto and was one of a handful of children that went to school. Joseph Lekuton was born in a hut to a tribe of Masai nomads in rural Kenya. Has anyone read this book? If not you should.

Keep On Running

The novel I am reading is Boys Without Names by Kashmira Sheth. An eleven year old named Gopal is in the big city, Mumbai and wants to find work. In his desperation for work, he is kidnapped and sold to the strict boss of a sweatshop. Unfortunately, this isn't the only story of children being forced to work in sweatshops. It is disturbing to find that kids are still being used for such reasons, in 2007, a sweatshop was raided and children young as 10 years were found working on clothing destined for Gap Kids. Although Gap did not know about the child labor behind the clothing, the kids were working in such harsh conditions. A child 12 years old said "It was so tiring, I felt sick". I don't think it is right for anyone to be put through these conditions, work day and night on clothing, at any age. I feel it is cruel to commit such a crime, it is inhumane. I believe that even if the economy is profiting from child labor in India, there should be a stop to sweatshops. What is your opinion on this situation?

Xenophobia: The Fear of Refugees

Xenophobia is pretty much racism against refugees. The most serious case of xenophobia is in South Africa where it still hasn't ended and hasn't changed much. Like in the book Now is the Time For Running immigrants running from political parties in Zimbabwe are treated harshly or even killed by mobs in South Africa. Currently there have been many murders of Somalians and still Zimbabweans. It shows that the conditions aren't getting any better. If I were Deo, the refugee protagonist I wouldn't have the courage to even get to South Africa even without his mentally damaged brother.. Knowing that there are people that can do such horrible things to me, I don't think I could bear the sadly true facts. Do you think you would be able to live a life like these immigrants.

Sweatshops shouldn't be in existence

Child labor is bad especially in sweatshops. Currently about 250 million kids (61% in Asia, 32% in Africa, and 7% in Latin America). Honestly, this is absurdly disturbing. The thought of having to slave away all day with an owner that is most likely abusive, small amounts of food, and no breaks. If I can hardly bring my self to do some algebra homework then I can hardly imagine doing what these kids do! You know your iPhone, computer, headphones, and probably many other things you own. Sadly, there are different laws that allow child labor, so we're probably not going to be stopping them soon. Do you think they should replace child labor with adults have this as actual jobs?