New Cultures Exposed

After watching the videos about these other cultures in different countries, I have learned a lot. Just from sitting at my desk watching them for just about a sum of 6 minutes, I have opened my eyes to new cultures. I saw how their traditions both are done in order to show stages in each individuals lives. The first one about the women and the rings that they have to wear around their neck was very interesting. The way that they enclose their necks like that and leave it on for years on end was amazing to me. When the lady was washing her neck solved one question I had from the beginning of the segment, how do they wash in there? and it also answered my other question of what would it look like when it has been taken of? The other video about the men being cut and going through "initiation" into man-hood, i thought, was a bit much. Having a man be put through so much pain both physically and emotionally is unnecessary. But that is a culture that we have in this world and just like we have cultures that they do not like, they have cultures we do not like. The things I learned from this video were disturbing, how they would willing be put through such a treacherous process.

Leaving the nest

I am 18 years old I believe that I am old enough to go out on my own to college. My parents don't believe that I am capable of being successful. I will prove them wrong. I want to do this because I need my freedom. I love my family and my home but i need to get out. I need to live the college life, be on my own, and do what I want to do. I love all my friends from high school that I have stayed in Miami but I want to get out. I want change.
On the other hand, I love the school I am at now and the people that I have met there. There are great opportunities for me here. But I know that if I stay here I will be happy at school but miserable at home. I know that I will keep in touch with the friends that I have made here. They are basically one of the only reasons that I am kind of regretting accepting me moving. But this is a sacrifice that I made before I met them and I need to go. I need to get out. I am not happy at home. I am leaving.

Save Darfur

In my highschool I would see men and women wearing dark green shirts that said "Save Darfur" on them with white letters. I would always ask what Darfur was and why do they need to save it to my fellow students, they would just reply with its some country in Africa. Immediately after saying that it is in Africa, I would understand it to be some sort of poor, famished country; like all other African countries seemed to be for me. When I read that I had to do a research on a social issue I thought, what a good oppurtunity to explore what social issues Darfur was facing.
Darfur is a region of far western Sudan, bordering the Central AFrican Republic, Libya, and Chad. Darfur is divided into three federal states: West Darfur, Noth Darfur, and South Darfur; and is currently in the midst of an armed conflict and resulting humanitarian emergency. One side of the armed conflict is composed mainly of the Sudanese military and the Janjaweed (a militia group recruited mostly from the Arab Baggara tribes of the northern Rizeigat aka camel-herding nomads). The other side comprises a variety of rebel groups, mainly the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality movement, (recruited primarily from the land-tilling Fur, Zaghawa andMassaliet ethnic groups). While publicly denying that it supports the Janjaweed, the Sudanese governement has provided money and assistance to the militia and has participated in joint attacks targeting the tribes from which the rebels draw support.The dire situation in Darfur dates back to March 2003 when the predominantly Muslim militants of the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement started attacking government forces and installations in the western regions of the Sudan.The militants accused the government of President Omar al-Bashir of neglecting the region and oppressing black Africans in favour of Arabs in the state of Darfur. About 60 percent of the people in the area are subsistence farmers, with the rest being nomadic or semi-nomadic herders. The government, caught by surprise by the militants' attacks, had very few troops in the region. In response, it mounted a campaign of aerial bombardment in support of ground attacks by an Arab militia, the Janjaweed, that it had recruited from local tribes.
The death toll in Sudan stands as 400,000 and rising. Just the other day the Sudanese army killed 105 people in the former rebel town of Haskanita. The United States has provided humanitarian aid, but has declined forcefully to press Sudan to stop the massacre. Earlier this year, the Senate passed a resolution called The Darfur Accountatbility Act which required sanctions against Sudan. This pass Monday the Sudanese government troops and allied militia, attacked the only rebel faction, to sign a peace deal but not all rebels signed it. All rebels who did not sign it have a set attack on Muhajiriya.