Child Marriage. A tradition continues in Africa.

In Kenya, there are communities which have child marriages as part of their customs, and some of those communities still practice this today. This is a clear violation of children's rights, however it seems as though they are unaware. 

Children are vulnerable members of our society because they do not really have a say in what happens to their own life. Children are abused, misused and neglected; some are forced to marry adults which is a further violation of their rights. 

I can't even imagine getting married right now at the age of 21, what more if I was still a child! This shows how different morals and values are in other countries. If a parent in America tried to tell their kid to get married at a young age, they would not get away with it due to the criticisms of the public. However, in Africa people accept this because it is part of tradition. 

Former Ralph Lauren designer opens shop in Nairobi

           Njema Helena, a former Ralph Lauren designer launched a boutique pop-up shop in Nairobi. It consisted of a small collection of dresses, including a very current peplum one, skirts, tops, a very Chanel-style little jacket, and a variety of accessories. This definitely showed me that there are great innovations in African culture because there are professional fashion designers trying to push their clothing lines African countries. I will post a couple of pictures I found of Njema's work. It is ever so fashionable, yet has a nice touch of Africa. Pretty cool!

Urban Agriculture in Kenya

          The United Nations Environment Program in Nairobi, says cities in Africa are growing faster than anywhere else. Cows, goats and chickens are part of that growth, especially in informal settlements on the urban places. This can greatly contribute to a country's GDP revenue. It will also help solve the crisis of The 46% of children who are so undernourished. 

"Sungka" The Philippine Mancala

Here is the Philippine traditional "Sungka", which is their own version of the African "Mancala" game. We use shells and it is pretty much the same rules and everything as Mancala. However, if you land on an empty hole with the opposite hole having some shells, you are able to take their shells and place them in your side, or "head" of the board. This is seen in the video I posted below.

Playing Sungka

When I grew up in the Philippines, I played this game a lot when we went on beach trips. It is a fun game to play with family and friends when you are just hanging out, whether it is indoors or outdoors.



A more "fancy" sungka set, that some family's keep in their homes.

Violent protests spreading

Since I work in a Global Security Operations department, we have to monitor the world news while we are here at work. Currently, I am seeing that the violent protesting outside of US embassies, has spread to Yemen, and even Tunisia! The footage I am watching on the big screen right now is unbelievable. These people are so outraged. We can only hope for the best.

Women Empowerment in The Gambia

"Sira Ndow, deputising for the UNDP resident representative, stated that the government of The Gambia is making progress in the achievement of gender equality and women empowerment, in line with the international norms and standards and with a strong national commitment. She said: "This is evident as we gather here today to share the strategic and forward looking gender policy with all key stakeholders". Previously, she revealed, the National Policy for the Advancement of Gambian Women (NPAGW 1999-2009) was formulated and served as the reference for addressing gender inequalities."

I had no idea that women's rights were actually being established in The Gambia. I definitely will be doing more research into this! I thought this was pretty cool so I have copy and pasted bits from the article. The United Nations Development Program and United Nations Population fund have been supporting the development of the Gender and Women Empowerment Policy 2010-2020. Amie Nije, deputy permanent secretary implied that there are twelve thematic areas that are expected to contribute towards the overall advancement of gender equality in The Gambia.

"The priority areas, she highlighted, include capacity building for gender mainstreaming; poverty reduction, economic empowerment and livelihoods development; gender and education; gender and health and HIV/Aids; gender and human rights; gender and governance; gender and the environment; and Women's empowerment."
Amazing! 

Cited works :
"AllAfrica." AllAfrica.com: Gambia: Stakeholders Sensitised On Gender Policy 2010-2020. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Sept. 2012. <http://allafrica.com/stories/201209100888.html>.