Got an exciting term paper? Wish you were published? Looking for a way to get your arguments heard?
S.C.O.U.T. B.A.N.A.N.A., in conjunction with Michigan State University's African Studies Center and Office of International Development, invites you to submit a manuscript to Articulate: Undergraduate Scholarship Applied to International Development.
Articulate is a new undergraduate scholarly journal that publishes academic papers and writings (research papers, field work, interviews, etc.) on issues in international development, focusing primarily on African studies and healthcare issues. Articulate seeks to educate, motivate, and activate the public about its mission and vision working towards solutions for Africa's healthcare crisis.
Our journal focuses on relationships between development, foreign aid, health care and Africa. Articulate is a forum for students to contribute to, as well as make, the debates in international development. Undergraduate students remain a vital, untapped force that can bring new ideas, perspectives, and concepts into the development dialogue. Our goal is to spark, share, and spread knowledge to create innovative change now.
Articulate is peer-reviewed by an editorial committee consisting of undergraduates and a faculty advisor. Editorial decisions are based on relevance, quality, and originality. We ask for submissions that are roughly 10-15 pages long, preferably in Chicago Manual Style. In addition, we ask that the author's name, major, college, and university appear on a separate cover sheet, with no reference to the author within the manuscript.
Potential topics, include, but are not limited to:
The effectiveness of foreign aid
Intersections of gender, ethnicity, and sexuality in African development
Comparative studies of healthcare systems
Ethics and development in African countries
Land rights reform/redistribution as a development policy
Historical analyses of development programs in Africa
Politics of water in Africa
The role of African youth in development programs and projects
Effects of conflict and forced migration on healthcare and development
Deadline for submission: February 29th @ 5pm. For submissions or more information, please contact the editor in chief, Monica Mukerjee at banana@scoutbanana.org. For more information on S.C.O.U.T.B.A.N.A.N.A., check out www.scoutbanana.org
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Showing posts with label S.C.O.U.T. B.A.N.A.N.A.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label S.C.O.U.T. B.A.N.A.N.A.. Show all posts
22 February 2008
13 February 2007
helping hands of the US
Why is it that the simplest methods and the unheard of people do the most good in the world of the poor and oppressed? Why is it that individuals with a cause are the tool for the greatest change in the world? Why is it that you and I can make more of a difference than foundations and governments? How can people be so much more powerful than the institutions and structures? The basic fact and truth is that because we are simply people who care with passion that we are most motivated and connected to the causes and issues for which we fight.
In a recent blog written by Allison Fine of the Socialedge my sentiments are reflected. She writes about the power of individual activists. "[...] the catalyst for significant social change in the Connected Age will continue to be individual activists. Foundation grants are a perfect vehicle for seeding, supporting, and encouraging these efforts." Allison is also reflecting the idea that it will be the searchers and not the big planners who will create the most significat social change. This idea I covered more fully in a previous blog.
Being that the simplest methods and most unheard of people make the most significant social changes for people I will attempt to highlight a few of them. Last month there was an article on CNN which covered the death of an elderly woman, Rosmand Carr, who had made it possible for 300-400 orphans in Rwanda to receive education, medicines, and the support they needed.
Without any children of her own these children received a new mother who was extremely dedicated to their care. At the age of 81 she decided to open an orphanage in the country she had called home for most of her life until evacuating when the 1994 genocide broke out. A month after the fighting stopped she returned to Rwanda to begin fixing up an old farm building to house orphans from the nearby Kibumba refugee camp where almost 200,000 people had fled. By the age of 94 Carr's had aided 300-400 with the orhpanage she founded, Imbabazi Orphange. Imbabazi translates from Kinyarwandan to mean "a place where you will find all the love a mother would give." When Carr died the children were very very upset and it was as if they had lost their mother. Carr would not leave Rwanda, even in death. Her grave lies in the garden of her farm, beneath the Virunga volcanoes, Africa's heart.
Another example of a 'typical' person making a differnce I found on the Foreign Policy magazine online. FP covered the story of a 29 year-old new mother from the Midwest, Jill Youse. Before starting the International Breast Milk Project, Youse had been "in pharmaceuticals and medical device sales. I was just a typical American consumer of daytime television and People magazine, embarrassingly ordinary. I’d studied communications and played soccer in college. I had never been to Africa. In fact, I’ve only been out of the country once in my life, to Argentina for two weeks when I was in high school."
Youse said that with her excess of breast milk and influenced by the work of Bono, Angelina Jolie, and Oprah she began to search ways to help. Although the methods of celebrities is controversial and somewhat naive, this is a case that shows a 'typical' person can be inspired by their actions and find the ways to effectively make a difference. Youse's organization works through already established groups to get the breast milk to the people who need it. "Many newborns throughout the developing world are undernourished because they are not breastfed during their first few months of life. Often their mothers have passed away or are HIV-positive." You do not have to be a celebrity to make a difference. Maybe it is best that you are not a blinded celebrity trying to change the world with your vast funds. I encourage you all to read the entire interview.
Now I feel it is extremely important to note that this is not the work of governments, they don't have a care one way or another, it is the people - empassioned and active who are creating the social change! Politicians run on a mindset of short-term, just long enough for them to take a stand to get re-elected. This is a failure when in reality the long-term is the key. In the long-term (and short-term) is where lives will be saved and lasting, sustainable social change will take place, but that all needs to be set-up and supported in the short-term. Everything hinges on the present choice and action. This is where I also become dismayed. Just today I read an article about former President Carter.
Carter is now on an 11 country Africa tour. The Carter Center has done some great work in Africa, but there is a large problem here when Carter promotes the idea that Africa depends on the West to get help. Yes, the West is a great helper, but the West needs to adopt better methods to effectively help besides just throwing money at problems - that is when the money's effectiveness is lost. Currently in Ethiopia, the Carter Center will be purchasing three million mosquito nets to distribute. The 'Third World' needs the West? I blogged about this issue in a post here.
We are the social changers, but we are not imposers. We work with the people who need help to most effectively get them that help. S.C.O.U.T. B.A.N.A.N.A. is an organization of individual activists taking up their causes for access to basic healthcare by working through students in the West to provide aid to African communities. Check us out at: http://www.scoutbanana.org/
Individuals with a cause will be the 'catalyst for social change', individuals who care about the world and the people in it, 'typical' individuals who become inspired in a day's time to take action on the world's problems, individuals with $5 to donate to a cause - these will be the people who save lives and make a difference in the world as we know it. The age of the large organizations and foundations is still here, but who will be left to make the change - the individuals!
In a recent blog written by Allison Fine of the Socialedge my sentiments are reflected. She writes about the power of individual activists. "[...] the catalyst for significant social change in the Connected Age will continue to be individual activists. Foundation grants are a perfect vehicle for seeding, supporting, and encouraging these efforts." Allison is also reflecting the idea that it will be the searchers and not the big planners who will create the most significat social change. This idea I covered more fully in a previous blog.
Being that the simplest methods and most unheard of people make the most significant social changes for people I will attempt to highlight a few of them. Last month there was an article on CNN which covered the death of an elderly woman, Rosmand Carr, who had made it possible for 300-400 orphans in Rwanda to receive education, medicines, and the support they needed.
Without any children of her own these children received a new mother who was extremely dedicated to their care. At the age of 81 she decided to open an orphanage in the country she had called home for most of her life until evacuating when the 1994 genocide broke out. A month after the fighting stopped she returned to Rwanda to begin fixing up an old farm building to house orphans from the nearby Kibumba refugee camp where almost 200,000 people had fled. By the age of 94 Carr's had aided 300-400 with the orhpanage she founded, Imbabazi Orphange. Imbabazi translates from Kinyarwandan to mean "a place where you will find all the love a mother would give." When Carr died the children were very very upset and it was as if they had lost their mother. Carr would not leave Rwanda, even in death. Her grave lies in the garden of her farm, beneath the Virunga volcanoes, Africa's heart. Another example of a 'typical' person making a differnce I found on the Foreign Policy magazine online. FP covered the story of a 29 year-old new mother from the Midwest, Jill Youse. Before starting the International Breast Milk Project, Youse had been "in pharmaceuticals and medical device sales. I was just a typical American consumer of daytime television and People magazine, embarrassingly ordinary. I’d studied communications and played soccer in college. I had never been to Africa. In fact, I’ve only been out of the country once in my life, to Argentina for two weeks when I was in high school."
Youse said that with her excess of breast milk and influenced by the work of Bono, Angelina Jolie, and Oprah she began to search ways to help. Although the methods of celebrities is controversial and somewhat naive, this is a case that shows a 'typical' person can be inspired by their actions and find the ways to effectively make a difference. Youse's organization works through already established groups to get the breast milk to the people who need it. "Many newborns throughout the developing world are undernourished because they are not breastfed during their first few months of life. Often their mothers have passed away or are HIV-positive." You do not have to be a celebrity to make a difference. Maybe it is best that you are not a blinded celebrity trying to change the world with your vast funds. I encourage you all to read the entire interview.Now I feel it is extremely important to note that this is not the work of governments, they don't have a care one way or another, it is the people - empassioned and active who are creating the social change! Politicians run on a mindset of short-term, just long enough for them to take a stand to get re-elected. This is a failure when in reality the long-term is the key. In the long-term (and short-term) is where lives will be saved and lasting, sustainable social change will take place, but that all needs to be set-up and supported in the short-term. Everything hinges on the present choice and action. This is where I also become dismayed. Just today I read an article about former President Carter.
Carter is now on an 11 country Africa tour. The Carter Center has done some great work in Africa, but there is a large problem here when Carter promotes the idea that Africa depends on the West to get help. Yes, the West is a great helper, but the West needs to adopt better methods to effectively help besides just throwing money at problems - that is when the money's effectiveness is lost. Currently in Ethiopia, the Carter Center will be purchasing three million mosquito nets to distribute. The 'Third World' needs the West? I blogged about this issue in a post here.We are the social changers, but we are not imposers. We work with the people who need help to most effectively get them that help. S.C.O.U.T. B.A.N.A.N.A. is an organization of individual activists taking up their causes for access to basic healthcare by working through students in the West to provide aid to African communities. Check us out at: http://www.scoutbanana.org/
Individuals with a cause will be the 'catalyst for social change', individuals who care about the world and the people in it, 'typical' individuals who become inspired in a day's time to take action on the world's problems, individuals with $5 to donate to a cause - these will be the people who save lives and make a difference in the world as we know it. The age of the large organizations and foundations is still here, but who will be left to make the change - the individuals!
06 February 2007
s.c.o.u.t. b.a.n.a.n.a.
Our mission is to combine efforts to save lives with commitment and determination in Africa. S.C.O.U.T. B.A.N.A.N.A. as an organization has a purpose dedicated to converting passion into action. All too often people are presented with extremely moving and emotional experiences, but without an opportunity to act on their new found feelings of empathy. 
SB believes that ONE person can make a difference in the world. All ONE needs to decide is what kind of a difference they want to make. SB works to link individuals and groups in North America and Western countries with projects creating sustainable solutions to the crisis of access to basic healthcare in Africa. With the understanding that `big plans' will not solve the problems of the world, SB seeks out the people and organizations, who are making effective and sustainable change on the ground in Africa. SB is focused on partnering student chapters in the West with projects in Africa.
The necessity of basic healthcare as a basic right of all people is huge issue in Africa as people die needlessly from preventable diseases and a lack of access to the right to health. Clean drinking water, secure sources of food, access to medications, need for emergency transportation, and supporting health infrastructures are the overarching goals of SB. We are committed to using the power and privilege of where we live to save lives in Africa. We are not imposing our ideas on the people of Africa, but working with them to find the best solutions to provide the necessary basic healthcare.
SB is not interested in giving handouts, but in providing sustainable aid for people and projects who will change and shape their communities in need. SB believes in the idea of a global community and that no matter where you live or what your desires - every person has the same wants and needs: to have clean water to drink, food to eat, medicines to get well, to be healthy. SB is dedicated to uplifting the oppressed and assisting them in turning their dreams into futures by way of health.
We are students, parents, teachers, activists, artists, musicians, and community leaders combining forces to create sustainable and healthy changes for the health crisis in Africa. We are an organization committed to working innovatively to provide what is most needed by people suffering from the health crisis. SB's goal is to raise awareness about the health crisis in Africa and also raise funds to support projects effectively reaching the people in need on the ground in Africa.
People are dying, that is our reason for action; that is our rally cry. People are dying and they shouldn't be. We have the access and the ability to give the dying a face and a voice and a life. The short time I spent in Uganda four summers ago, I ate, played, sang, smiled, and met with people who I know are no longer there and that is why I continue to tell their stories and ask for help.
SB believes that ONE person can make a difference in the world. All ONE needs to decide is what kind of a difference they want to make. SB works to link individuals and groups in North America and Western countries with projects creating sustainable solutions to the crisis of access to basic healthcare in Africa. With the understanding that `big plans' will not solve the problems of the world, SB seeks out the people and organizations, who are making effective and sustainable change on the ground in Africa. SB is focused on partnering student chapters in the West with projects in Africa. The necessity of basic healthcare as a basic right of all people is huge issue in Africa as people die needlessly from preventable diseases and a lack of access to the right to health. Clean drinking water, secure sources of food, access to medications, need for emergency transportation, and supporting health infrastructures are the overarching goals of SB. We are committed to using the power and privilege of where we live to save lives in Africa. We are not imposing our ideas on the people of Africa, but working with them to find the best solutions to provide the necessary basic healthcare.
SB is not interested in giving handouts, but in providing sustainable aid for people and projects who will change and shape their communities in need. SB believes in the idea of a global community and that no matter where you live or what your desires - every person has the same wants and needs: to have clean water to drink, food to eat, medicines to get well, to be healthy. SB is dedicated to uplifting the oppressed and assisting them in turning their dreams into futures by way of health.
We are students, parents, teachers, activists, artists, musicians, and community leaders combining forces to create sustainable and healthy changes for the health crisis in Africa. We are an organization committed to working innovatively to provide what is most needed by people suffering from the health crisis. SB's goal is to raise awareness about the health crisis in Africa and also raise funds to support projects effectively reaching the people in need on the ground in Africa.
People are dying, that is our reason for action; that is our rally cry. People are dying and they shouldn't be. We have the access and the ability to give the dying a face and a voice and a life. The short time I spent in Uganda four summers ago, I ate, played, sang, smiled, and met with people who I know are no longer there and that is why I continue to tell their stories and ask for help.