#learn programming in Kenya

[farmerstrend]

1,300 Kenyan Farmers Graduate After Four Years of First-of-its-Kind Sustainable Agroforestry and Climate Action Training Program

Discover how over 1,300 farmers in Homa Bay, Kenya, are transforming their livelihoods and restoring the environment through Trees for the Future’s Forest Garden Program, a sustainable agroforestry initiative. Learn how agroforestry techniques like composting, crop rotation, and tree planting are empowering farmers in Kenya to combat climate change, increase food security, and boost…

[travelwithpourpose]

Aerial View of Saruni Samburu Game Lodge. Do you like the Views? ❤

[reasonsforhope]

Determined to use her skills to fight inequality, South African computer scientist Raesetje Sefala set to work to build algorithms flagging poverty hotspots - developing datasets she hopes will help target aid, new housing, or clinics.

From crop analysis to medical diagnostics, artificial intelligence (AI) is already used in essential tasks worldwide, but Sefala and a growing number of fellow African developers are pioneering it to tackle their continent's particular challenges.

Local knowledge is vital for designing AI-driven solutions that work, Sefala said.

"If you don't have people with diverse experiences doing the research, it's easy to interpret the data in ways that will marginalise others," the 26-year old said from her home in Johannesburg.

Africa is the world's youngest and fastest-growing continent, and tech experts say young, home-grown AI developers have a vital role to play in designing applications to address local problems.

"For Africa to get out of poverty, it will take innovation and this can be revolutionary, because it's Africans doing things for Africa on their own," said Cina Lawson, Togo's minister of digital economy and transformation.

"We need to use cutting-edge solutions to our problems, because you don't solve problems in 2022 using methods of 20 years ago," Lawson told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a video interview from the West African country.

Digital rights groups warn about AI's use in surveillance and the risk of discrimination, but Sefala said it can also be used to "serve the people behind the data points". ...

'Delivering Health'

As COVID-19 spread around the world in early 2020, government officials in Togo realized urgent action was needed to support informal workers who account for about 80% of the country's workforce, Lawson said.

"If you decide that everybody stays home, it means that this particular person isn't going to eat that day, it's as simple as that," she said.

In 10 days, the government built a mobile payment platform - called Novissi - to distribute cash to the vulnerable.

The government paired up with Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) think tank and the University of California, Berkeley, to build a poverty map of Togo using satellite imagery.

Using algorithms with the support of GiveDirectly, a nonprofit that uses AI to distribute cash transfers, the recipients earning less than $1.25 per day and living in the poorest districts were identified for a direct cash transfer.

"We texted them saying if you need financial help, please register," Lawson said, adding that beneficiaries' consent and data privacy had been prioritized.

The entire program reached 920,000 beneficiaries in need.

"Machine learning has the advantage of reaching so many people in a very short time and delivering help when people need it most," said Caroline Teti, a Kenya-based GiveDirectly director.

'Zero Representation'

Aiming to boost discussion about AI in Africa, computer scientists Benjamin Rosman and Ulrich Paquet co-founded the Deep Learning Indaba - a week-long gathering that started in South Africa - together with other colleagues in 2017.

"You used to get to the top AI conferences and there was zero representation from Africa, both in terms of papers and people, so we're all about finding cost effective ways to build a community," Paquet said in a video call.

In 2019, 27 smaller Indabas - called IndabaX - were rolled out across the continent, with some events hosting as many as 300 participants.

One of these offshoots was IndabaX Uganda, where founder Bruno Ssekiwere said participants shared information on using AI for social issues such as improving agriculture and treating malaria.

Another outcome from the South African Indaba was Masakhane - an organization that uses open-source, machine learning to translate African languages not typically found in online programs such as Google Translate.

On their site, the founders speak about the South African philosophy of "Ubuntu" - a term generally meaning "humanity" - as part of their organization's values.

"This philosophy calls for collaboration and participation and community," reads their site, a philosophy that Ssekiwere, Paquet, and Rosman said has now become the driving value for AI research in Africa.

Inclusion

Now that Sefala has built a dataset of South Africa's suburbs and townships, she plans to collaborate with domain experts and communities to refine it, deepen inequality research and improve the algorithms.

"Making datasets easily available opens the door for new mechanisms and techniques for policy-making around desegregation, housing, and access to economic opportunity," she said.

African AI leaders say building more complete datasets will also help tackle biases baked into algorithms.

"Imagine rolling out Novissi in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast ... then the algorithm will be trained with understanding poverty in West Africa," Lawson said.

"If there are ever ways to fight bias in tech, it's by increasing diverse datasets ... we need to contribute more," she said.

But contributing more will require increased funding for African projects and wider access to computer science education and technology in general, Sefala said.

Despite such obstacles, Lawson said "technology will be Africa's savior".

"Let's use what is cutting edge and apply it straight away or as a continent we will never get out of poverty," she said. "It's really as simple as that."

-via Good Good Good, February 16, 2022

[dandelionsresilience]

Dandelion News - October 15-21

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my Dandelion Doodles on Patreon!

1. EV owners volunteer to drive voters to the polls in 11 states (and you can too)

“ChargeTheVote.org is a nonpartisan voter education and engagement initiative to enhance voter turnout in the 2024 election by providing zero-emission transportation in electric vehicles (EVs) to local polling locations. ChargeTheVote will also host a webinar for those who are interested in participating this coming Tuesday, October 22 at 7pm Eastern time.”

2. Kenya moves 50 elephants to a larger park, says it’s a sign poaching is low

“The elephant population in the […”Mwea National Reserve”…] has flourished from its capacity of 50 to a whopping 156 […] requiring the relocation of about 100 of [them…. The] overpopulation in Mwea highlighted the success of conservation efforts over the last three decades.”

3. Australian start-up secures $9m for mine-based gravity energy storage technology

““We expect to configure the gravitational storage technology [which the company “hopes to deploy in disused mines”] for mid-duration storage applications of 4 to 24 hours, deliver 80% energy efficiency and to enable reuse of critical grid infrastructure.“”

4. Africa’s little-known golden cat gets a conservation boost, with community help

“[H]unting households were given a pregnant sow [… so that they] had access to meat without needing to trap it in the wild. […] To address income needs, Embaka started […] a savings and loan co-op[… and an] incentive for the locals to give up hunting in exchange for regular dental care.”

5. 4.8M borrowers — including 1M in public service — have had student debt forgiven

“That brings the total amount of student debt relief under the administration to $175 billion[….] The Education Department said that before Biden's presidency, only 7,000 public servants had ever received student debt relief through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. […] "That’s an increase of more than 14,000% in less than four years.””

6. Puerto Rico closes $861M DOE loan guarantee for huge solar, battery project

“The solar plants combined will have 200 megawatts of solar capacity — enough to power 43,000 homes — while the battery systems are expected to provide up to 285 megawatts of storage capacity. [… O]ver the next 10 years, more than 90 percent of solar capacity in Puerto Rico will come from distributed resources like rooftop solar.”

7. Tim Walz Defends Queer And Trans Youth At Length In Interview With Glennon Doyle

“Walz discussed positive legislative actions, such as codifying hate crime laws and increasing education[.… “We] need to appoint judges who uphold the right to marriage, uphold the right to be who you are [… and] to get the medical care that you need.””

8. Next-Generation Geothermal Development Important Tool for Clean Energy Economy

““The newest forms of geothermal energy hold the promise of generating electricity 24 hours a day using an endlessly renewable, pollution-free resource[… that] causes less disturbance to public lands and wildlife habitat […] than many other forms of energy development[….]”

9. Sarah McBride hopes bid to be first transgender congresswoman encourages ’empathy’ for trans people

““Folks know I am personally invested in equality as an LGBTQ person. But my priorities are going to be affordable child care, paid family and medical leave, housing, health care, reproductive freedom. […] We know throughout history that the power of proximity has opened even the most-closed of hearts and minds.”“

10. At Mexico’s school for jaguars, big cats learn skills to return to the wild

“[A team of scientists] have successfully released two jaguars, and are currently working to reintroduce two other jaguars and three pumas (Puma concolor). [… “Wildlife simulation”] “keeps the jaguars active and reduces the impact of captivity and a sedentary lifestyle[….]””

October 8-14 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[ranjith23uw]

Do fixed borders guarantee peace?

While Russia and Ukraine war over their shared border, two Central Asian nations prove that borders can be changed by mutual agreement.

This article was produced exclusively for News Decoder’s global news service. It is through articles like this that News Decoder strives to provide context to complex global events and issues and teach global awareness through the lens of journalism. Learn how you can incorporate our resources and services into your classroom or educational program. See More...

In the modern world, the “inviolability of borders” has been the sacred principle preventing conflict.

States may not like existing borders but they do not try to change them by force. Vladimir Putin violated this rule when he seized Crimea in 2014 and it is the reason why the war in Ukraine now has such worrying implications for global order.

But what if two states, who have suffered decades of cross-border violence, voluntarily redraw their frontiers in the interests of peace? 

In February, the Central Asian states of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan did just that, announcing that they will freely exchange territories disputed since the fall of the Soviet Union decades ago.

The land in question is in the beautiful, fertile Fergana Valley, but more of that later. First, let’s think about borders and how they come about.

Mountains and rivers are the world’s natural borders but much of the map as we know it today is an artificial construct. Colonial rulers literally took rulers and drew unnaturally straight lines through tribal lands in Africa, the Middle East, India, Australia and other places, cutting related peoples off from each other and mixing rival groups. They didn’t care about people, only imperial gains. See More...

Shifting borders

In the former Soviet Union, another empire, dictator Josef Stalin played with borders and internally deported whole peoples, creating pockets of future ethnic tension and even war.

When Yugoslavia fell apart in Eastern Europe in the 1990s it split into six different countries to represent the six different peoples who had made up its population.

But they weren’t neatly located in the sections that split off and many people found themselves stranded in new independent countries, where they were now part of a minority.

That’s a recipe for trouble. See More...

But wise politicians have known that when it comes to borders, you can’t try to unravel all the complications of history — better to accept today’s borders as they are and ensure the rights of minorities living in the countries we have now.

Leaders in Africa knew that, thoughtless though the imperial borders were, any attempt to redraw them could lead to forced relocations, chaos and violence, as happened at the Partition of India in 1947. That was why the African Union, founded in 1963, declared in its charter that existing boundaries were “unalterable”.

And as a result, for example, the Gishu tribe lives today in both Uganda and Kenya.

Likewise in Europe, the Helsinki Accords, signed at the end of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) in 1975, obliged all 35 signatories to recognise the inviolability of the continent’s post-World War Two borders.

Many people might like to redraw borders. For example, ethnic Serbs in their enclave of Bosnia and Herzegovina may lean towards Serbia-proper but the Dayton Peace Agreement of 1995 sets the borders as they are today, and that’s the way it has to be.

That’s the way it should have been with Crimea too. Nobody disputes that Russia has historical and cultural links with the peninsula but Crimea belongs to Ukraine. Peaceful arrangements could easily have been made for ordinary Russians and Ukrainians to enjoy the Black Sea resorts of Crimea together.

Instead Moscow chose war, opening a Pandora’s box for countries from China to the United States that might like to fiddle with the world’s geography. See More...

Which makes the peaceful agreement between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan over land in the Fergana Valley all the more remarkable.

In Moscow, in Communist times, I knew about the Fergana Valley because of the peaches and apricots I bought from Central Asian traders on the market. Little did I know that this patchwork quilt of ethnicities was about to be torn apart.

The valley, which owes its fertility to the Naryn and Kara Darya rivers, lies mostly in eastern Uzbekistan but extends into southern Kyrgyzstan and northern Tajikistan.

Stalin divided it between these three Soviet republics but fatally, the nationalities were not living exactly within the borders drawn for them. See More...

The crumbling of the Soviet Union brought bloodshed. I remember covering clashes in Kyrgyzstan’s Osh province in 1990 between ethnic Kyrgyz, who were mainly animal herders, and ethnic Uzbek, who were mainly farmers, with very different needs and interests.

Since then, disputes over grazing and water rights have also boiled over along the borders of Kyrgyzstan’s Batken region and Tajikistan’s Sughd region. In autumn 2022, in the worst fighting over the border since the fall of the Soviet Union, dozens were killed and thousands forced from their homes.

It was after this that the leaders of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan started working on new demarcation lines. Now, after successful diplomacy to deal with the root cause of the problem, the two nations have agreed to shift their borders.

“Negotiations have reached the final point and can be discussed openly,” Kamchybek Tashiev, head of Kyrgyzstan’s secret service, told the Kyrgyz parliament in March. “After parliamentary consideration, our presidents will sign the ratification.”

Under the deal, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will swap small areas of land and make better arrangements to share water resources. A number of disputed roads will be declared “neutral” and made available to both nations, according to the Defense Post.

Which all goes to show that to secure friendship and good neighbourly relations, you sometimes have to define your boundaries.

Recommended reading: “Prisoners of Geography” by Tim Marshall, an excellent account of how geography affects history and politics. See More...

[nyenvs3000w25]

Science and Nature - A One Health Perspective

With an open-ended blog prompt this week, I wanted to reflect on my evolving understanding of science as a means to understand our world’s issues. Science has always been an interest of mine. I’d always thought science was the key to understanding the world’s complex problems that we always hear about. Climate change, health crises, food insecurity, poverty, deforestation; I thought these issues could be solved with the proper understanding and application of science. We just needed to find those answers, and we needed scientific knowledge to do so.

I’m currently majoring in One Health, and by now, I have a good understanding of how interconnected human, animal, and environmental health truly are. Because of this, as much as I value science, I’ve also learned to recognize its limitations. The environmental crises we face today—from climate change to biodiversity loss—cannot be solved by scientific knowledge alone. We need holistic, multidisciplinary solutions that integrate different perspectives, including social, cultural, and ethical dimensions.

Of course, science provides essential tools for understanding and addressing environmental issues. It helps us monitor pollution, assess biodiversity loss, and develop conservation strategies. However, science often focuses on facts, data, and technological solutions, assuming that if people have the right information, they will act accordingly. Research on environmental education (EE) challenges this assumption, suggesting that people’s actions are influenced by broader worldviews, social structures, and belief systems—not just scientific facts (Wals et al., 2014). This pattern can be seen everywhere, and if you ask me, the state of the environment today makes this a more pressing issue than ever before. Ecosystems are collapsing, biodiversity is declining, and communities are facing worsening climate disasters and human health crises, yet many people—even those who hold an immense amount of power and influence in today’s society—refuse to accept and feel responsible for these crises because of the values they already hold. This means that simply presenting climate data to skeptics won’t necessarily change their minds, and as you can imagine, this makes it very difficult to instill lasting, sustainable change to mitigate these issues.

As I’ve learned throughout my degree, the most powerful way to ignite change is not just through facts and figures, but through shared values, storytelling, and hands-on experiences. One Health is an interdisciplinary field that recognizes the deep, inescapable ties between humans, animals, and the environment, embracing both scientific and non-scientific approaches to solving the world’s most pressing challenges. Take environmental education and citizen science, for example. These programs don’t just teach people about conservation; they invite them to be a part of it. They foster a sense of belonging, connection, and responsibility—transforming passive observers into active advocates of the world around them (Wals et al., 2014).

An example: Farmers planting trees in Tsavo, Kenya (IFAW, 2023)

I also believe in the undeniable power of early experiences in nature. Young people are the future of the planet, and if they grow up not only understanding nature but truly feeling a part of it, their love for the earth will shape the way they walk through the world. It will spark inspiration, curiosity, and ultimately, change. I’d like to end this post with a quote, which I think perfectly embodies the importance of education to inspire connection to nature:

“In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught.” – Baba Dioum, Senegalese forestry engineer, 1968 in New Delhi at the General Assembly of the IUCN.

If we want a better future, we must start by inspiring the hearts and minds of those who will create it.

References:

Wals et al. (2014). Convergence between science and environmental education. Science, 344(6184), 583-584. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1250515 

International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). (2023). Planting trees to safeguard elephant habitats in Tsavo, Kenya. https://www.ifaw.org/journal/planting-trees-elephant-habitats-tsavo

[perfectlyyoungtimetravel]

Black History Month:Day 04

For the 4th day I drew Maida Springer Kemp-She was born on May 12th in 1910.In Rio Sidro,Panama,her mother was Adina Steward Carrington.At the age of 7,She and her mother moved to Harlem,New York.Her mother listented to the messages of Marcus Garvey and she would pass down the lessons she had learned to her daughter,teaching her to value education and to be hopeful.Maida joined the labour movement during the Great Depression when she became a member of the Dressmakers' Union,Local 22 of the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union and her interest in unions would grow after hearing a radio address by Asa Philip Randolph in 1929.Asa's speech helped her realize that there were larger forces that hindered working people.And In 1933.Local 22 launched a successful general strike of dressmakers.Afterwards Maida quickly moved up the union's ranks.In 1938.She began serving on the executive board and in 1940.She became the chair of the local's education committee,she was known as 'the pride of ILGWU' and Asa became her mentor and helped raise her profile by choosing her as one of the first African Americans to march in New York's grand union parade.In 1945.Maida became the first black woman to represent U.S. labor overseas when the AFL and CIO sent her as part of a group observing wartime conditions in Great Britain.Her time in England would be only the beginning of her international efforts to promote union organizing.She helped found the first women's labor movement in Turkey before becoming a key figure in establishing relationships between leaders in the emerging African and U.S. labor movements.She advised newly-formed unions in Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana and other African nations and would help run a scholarship program for union members.She would officially join the AFL-CIO's International Affairs Department in 1959.A position which she held until 1965.From 1970. To 1973.She served as the Midwest Director of the A. Philip Randolph Institute,where she would work on voter registration and education.She also worked for the African American Labor Center and coordinated relief programs after drought struck in Africa.She later became a consultant with the Asian American Free Labor Institute and worked as a consultant and lecturer promoting women's labor rights and unionism in Africa.And so she continued to promote equality for working women and supported the labor movement long after her retirement in 1981.

She died on March 29th in 2005.In Pittsburg,Pennsylvania at the age of 94

Credits for information: AFL-CIO

Materials used:Soft pastel crayons,HB pencil and 8B pencil

See you guys later ^^ 💖💖💙💙

[jcmarchi]

Entrepreneur creates career pathways with MIT OpenCourseWare

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/entrepreneur-creates-career-pathways-with-mit-opencourseware/

Entrepreneur creates career pathways with MIT OpenCourseWare

When June Odongo interviewed early-career electrical engineer Cynthia Wacheke for a software engineering position at her company, Wacheke lacked knowledge of computer science theory but showed potential in complex problem-solving.

Determined to give Wacheke a shot, Odongo turned to MIT OpenCourseWare to create a six-month “bridging course” modeled after the classes she once took as a computer science student. Part of MIT Open Learning, OpenCourseWare offers free, online, open educational resources from more than 2,500 courses that span the MIT undergraduate and graduate curriculum. 

“Wacheke had the potential and interest to do the work that needed to be done, so the way to solve this was for me to literally create a path for her to get that work done,” says Odongo, founder and CEO of Senga Technologies. 

Developers, Odongo says, are not easy to find. The OpenCourseWare educational resources provided a way to close that gap. “We put Wacheke through the course last year, and she is so impressive,” Odongo says. “Right now, she is doing our first machine learning models. It’s insane how good of a team member she is. She has done so much in such a short time.”

Making high-quality candidates job-ready

Wacheke, who holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Nairobi, started her professional career as a hardware engineer. She discovered a passion for software while working on a dashboard design project, and decided to pivot from hardware to software engineering. That’s when she discovered Senga Technologies, a logistics software and services company in Kenya catering to businesses that ship in Africa. 

Odongo founded Senga with the goal of simplifying and easing the supply chain and logistics experience, from the movement of goods to software tools. Senga’s ultimate goal, Odongo says, is to have most of their services driven by software. That means employees — and candidates — need to be able to think through complex problems using computer science theory.

“A lot of people are focused on programming, but we care less about programming and more about problem-solving,” says Odongo, who received a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and an MBA from Harvard Business School. “We actually apply the things people learn in computer science programs.”

Wacheke started the bridging course in June 2022 and was given six months to complete the curriculum on the MIT OpenCourseWare website. She took nine courses, including: Introduction to Algorithms; Mathematics for Computer Science; Design and Analysis of Algorithms; Elements of Software Construction; Automata, Computability, and Complexity; Database Systems; Principles of Autonomy and Decision Making; Introduction to Machine Learning; and Networks. 

“The bridging course helped me learn how to think through things,” Wacheke says. “It’s one thing to know how to do something, but it’s another to design that thing from scratch and implement it.”

During the bridging course, Wacheke was paired with a software engineer at Senga, who mentored her and answered questions along the way. She learned Ruby on Rails, a server-side web application framework under the MIT License. Wacheke also completed other projects to complement the theory she was learning. She created a new website that included an integration to channel external requests to Slack, a cross-platform team communication tool used by the company’s employees.

Continuous learning for team members

The bridging course concluded with a presentation to Senga employees, during which Wacheke explained how the company could use graph theory for decision-making. “If you want to get from point A to B, there are algorithms you can use to find the shortest path,” Wacheke says. “Since we’re a logistics company, I thought we could use this when we’re deciding which routes our trucks take.”

The presentation, which is the final requirement for the bridging course, is also a professional development opportunity for Senga employees. “This process is helpful for our team members, particularly those who have been out of school for a while,” Odongo says. “The candidates present what they’ve learned in relation to Senga. It’s a way of doing continuous learning for the existing team members.”

After successfully completing the bridging course in November 2022, Wacheke transitioned to a full-time software engineer role. She is currently developing a “machine” that can interpret and categorize hundreds of documents, including delivery notes, cash flows, and receipts.

“The goal is to enable our customers to simply feed those documents into our machine, and then we can more accurately read and convert them to digital formats to drive automation,” Odongo says. “The machine will also enable someone to ask a document a question, such as ‘What did I deliver to retailer X on date Y?’ or ‘What is the total price of the goods delivered?’”

The bridging course, which was initially custom-designed for Wacheke, is now a permanent program at Senga. A second team member completed the course in October 2023 and has joined the software team full time. 

“Developers are not easy to find, and you also want high-quality developers,” Odongo says. “At least when we do this, we know that the person has gone through what we need.”

[crypticfandomtrash]

Theoretical Alphabet Apprentices Part 3

S's real name is Sakula Yun. He is Korean and was born in South Korea. He speaks Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and English. His birthday is April 1, 1987.

He is 5'7. He has long black hair and medium brown eyes. He is elegant looking and easily turns heads.

His father died when he was 8 and his mother lost custody of him due to her abusive actions. He spent three years with a foster family before being sent to Wammy's. He is easy to get along with, though he is also sneaky. His people-reading skills are very good. He quit the program because he wants to be a pop idol.

He is Buddhist like his parents, which is somewhat uncommon in South Korea. He sings well and can easily distract others. He is also good at listening to private conversations. As of pre-timeskip Death Note, he is 16-17.

T's real name is Tlilcoatl Huitzil. She was born in Mexico and is of the native Nahua people. She speaks Nahuatl, Spanish, and English. Her birthday is December 10, 1988.

She is 5'6 in height. She has tan skin, black hair, and hazel eyes. She also has a birthmark on her left arm.

Her parents were killed by a drug cartel during a trip when she was 13, leaving her in foster care. She was sent to Wammy's not long after that. She is somewhat prickly, but she isn't mean on purpose. She is shy and isn't used to being around so many other kids. She is good at chemistry and loves fireworks. She quit the program to study pyrotechnics.

She worships the Aztec gods and often invokes them when anything goes wrong. Her name means "black serpent" in Nahuatl. She also plays a flute. As of pre-timeskip Death Note, she is 15-16.

U's real name is Uyanga Altantsetseg. She is Mongolian and was born in the capital city. She speaks Mongolian, Chinese, and English. Her birthday is June 15, 1989.

She is 5'0 in height. She has dark brown hair and brown eyes. She is very nimble due to her short stature.

Her parents lost custody of her due to abuse when she was 6. After being bounced from both sets of grandparents to foster care, she was sent to Wammy's when she was 9. She is crafty, often playing pranks on others and then dashing away. Her name means "singer" and she can sing pretty well.

She quit the Successor Program because she wants to be a professional gymnast. Her flexibility would make her highly suited for it and the staff encourage her to pursue her dreams. As of pre-timeskip Death Note, she is 14-15.

V's real name is Vasilka Sobranie. She is North Macedonian and her father was a politician. She speaks Macedonian, Albanian, Bulgarian, and English. Her birthday is August 18, 1986.

She is 5'8. She has blonde hair and light brown eyes. She is thin and delicate. She dislikes physical activity.

Her father was assassinated when she was 14 and her mother also perished in the attack. None of her relatives wanted to take her in because they were afraid of being targeted. She was brought to Wammy's when she was 15. She is good at strategizing and choosing her words carefully. She enjoys learning about how governments work. She would make an excellent politician.

She has a strict work ethic and doesn't put off her assignments. Her calm yet firm voice commands respect from even adults. She can get to the heart of most arguments and often mediates for friends. As of pre-timeskip Death Note, she is 17-18.

W's real name is Wafula Nyongesa. He is of the Luhya people and was born in Kenya. He speaks his native tongue and English. His birthday is March 28, 1985.

He is 5'10 and a half. He has brown hair and brown eyes. He works out and enjoys jogging.

His parents died from a famine in the village when he was 12. He was brought to a hospital in a nearby town and that was where one of Wammy's contacts found him a few days later. He was sent to England when he recovered. He loves taking things apart and putting them back together. He often fixes toys for the other kids.

He quit the Successor Program pretty quickly because he wants to be a mechanic. He has a lot of friends because of his sunny attitude and outlook. As of pre-timeskip Death Note, he is 18-19.

Z's real name is Zuhura Bakari. She is Tanzanian. She speaks Swahili and English. She is learning Spanish and Italian at the same time. Her birthday is June 2, 1986.

She is 5'3 in height. She has short black hair and brown eyes. She has difficulty walking due to a physical disability she was born with.

Her parents were wealthy, but they gave her up when she was 8 because they did not want a disabled child. After spending a year with a kind foster family, she was sent to Wammy's for better medical care, where she received a nicer cane and even a wheelchair for bad days. She is very charismatic and eager to please due to her fear of abandonment. She loves to read and is good explaining various topics.

She quit the program because she wants to be a makeup artist. She does her own makeup and will also ask to try new techniques on her friends. She will stand up for anyone with a disability and bonded with Near because of their similar pasts. As of pre-timeskip Death Note, she is 17-18.

[simplicius-simplicissimus]

Africa - a place of longing

“Born Free” tells the true story of the lioness Elsa in Kenya in the mid-1950s, who was raised by humans (Joy and George Adamson) and then released back into the wild. Elsa viewed the people who raised her as her family and impressively showed how affectionate and loving those powerful and strong species can be. However, through contact with humans, Elsa never learned to survive in the harsh African wilderness. In order to be free and not have to live in a zoo, her hunting instinct had to be awakened so that she could feed herself in the wild. This learning process was often painful for Elsa, because in the wilderness there is a merciless law that only the strong, fast or experienced survive. Finally, Elsa became the first lion successfully released back into the wild, the first to have contact after release with humans, and the first known released lion to have a litter of cubs. The Adamsons kept their distance from the cubs, getting close enough only to photograph them.

In January 1961, Elsa died from babesiosis, a disease resulting from a tick bite. Her three young cubs became a nuisance, killing the livestock of local farmers. The Adamsons, who feared the farmers might kill the cubs, were able to eventually capture them and transport them to neighboring Tanganyika (today called Tanzania), where they were promised a home at Serengeti National Park. The descendants of the lioness Elsa probably still wander through the African savannah today. Joy Adamson (a native Austrian) wrote down her experiences with the lioness Elsa in a book - a bestseller that sold millions of copies and was also made into a film in 1966. There was also a multi-part television series in the early 1970s.

The Adamsons dedicated their lives to the conservation of African lions, and it cost them dearly. When Joy Adamson died in 1980, it was falsely reported that she was killed by a lion, when in fact she had been murdered by a disgruntled ex-employee. George Adamson was murdered nine years later, while rushing to the aid of a tourist who was being attacked by poachers. The tourist survived, but he gave his life to his cause.

„It was nearly a week before we returned. We found her waiting, and very hungry. She was full of affection; we had deceived her so often, broken faith with her, done so much to destroy her trust in us, yet she remained loyal.“

-Joy Adamson about Elsa after a trial to accustom her to the wild

Sometimes we make life-changing experiences. After acting in the movie „Born Free“, Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers founded the „Born Free Foundation“ and dedicated a great part of their life to the goal to put wild animals where they belong: in the wild!

The “Serengeti” in Tanzania became a household name through the countless television programs by Professor Dr. Grzimek (director of the Frankfurt Zoo from 1945 to 1974) on German TV. He introduced us to the diverse world of wild animals, but also to the need of the conservation of their habitats. Unforgettable also the Oscar winning documentary film „Serengeti Shall Not Die“ („Serengeti Darf Nicht Sterben“) - filmed by him and his son Michael. The “Serengeti” was Grzimek’s heart project - he was heavily involved in the preservation of this unique habitat for wild animals.

„But when fifty years from now, a lion walks into the red dawn and roars resoundingly, it will mean something to people and quicken their hearts wether they Africans or Europeans, or wether they speak English, German, Russian or Swahili. They will stand in quiet awe as, for the first time in their lives, they watch twenty thousand zebras wander across the endless plains.“

-Dr. Bernhard Grzimek about the Serengeti, 1959

As a teenager grown up in the 1980s, “Out of Africa” cannot be missing from the list of films about Africa - the film adaptation of Karen Blixen's world-famous novel about her life on a coffee plantation in Kenya.

„I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills. The Equator runs across these highlands, a hundred miles to the north, and the farm lay at an altitude of over six thousand feet. In the day-time you felt that you had got high up; near to the sun, but the early mornings and evenings were limpid and restful, and the nights were cold.“

-Karen Blixen - words that express the longing for the described place

All these films were an inspiration to see lions, elephants and other wild animals in their natural habitat and these magic landscapes with own eyes. We will start in 3 weeks ….Africa: Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia - then next year South Africa. After that we will see where the wind blows us next.

-Simplicius Simplicissimus

[joyvideos]

How Wangari Maathai Built a Global Movement

Wangari Maathai was one of the most acclaimed environmentalists of this century who planted many millions of trees changing lives, and being an inspiration to society. Her legacy and story continues to inspire us to pursue sustainable development.

Maathai was born into rural Kenya in 1940. She swiftly established a strong connection to her land when she began exploring it as a child. While surrounded by streams for hours, watching tadpoles swimming through her mother's waters, she learned the idea the trees were "children from God," so Maathai was awed by them. When Kenya established an independent government, in 1963 she was able to work toward improving lives as well and the environment of Kenyans. Maathai established African's Green Belt Movement (GBM) in 1977 to support Kenyan women and to improve the condition of the environment by forest reforestation. GBM was soon expanding, and Maathai recognized that poverty and environmental degradation was at the root of a variety of country problems; she heard from women who lived in rural areas that streams were drying up, food supplies becoming less secure and they couldn't afford firewood to cook with or fence their homes with. Her solution to these issues consisted of encouraging the communities to establish trees - they would help hold soil while retaining rainwater at a steady level while providing food and income for families who live in her supervision. Maathai made her mark through both reforestation and democracy advocacy at GBM and was an advocate during Kenya's political upheaval that ensued after elections in 2007 and fighting to ensure that Kenya's constitution was a true representation of all Kenyan citizens. In addition, she played an essential voice in efforts to resolve conflicts and also acted as a mediator during times of political tension. GBM continues to promote environmental conservation, democratic governance, and empowerment of communities - which includes recovering and restoring forests throughout Kenya as well as creating more sustainable and sustainable economies to empower women Kenya. Maathai was a pioneer when it comes to combining the protection of the environment with human rights. She was awarded both the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize and U.N. Environment Program Global 500 Award and Right Livelihood Prize - known as an alternative Nobel Peace Prize at her time of death. Maathai made history through linking conservation of the environment with rights-based advocacy. She received numerous honors, among them being recognized with these two prestigious awards. Maathai was also a founder part of the Nobel Women's Institute and worked constantly to ensure equality and empowerment throughout the globe. Her achievements as part this cause serve to inspire us all in continuing movements to promote environmental as well as women's empowerment, regardless of the obstacles we face. With determination and conviction Maathai overcame even the most difficult challenges and left behind a lasting legacy and opening the path for future generations of people who are active in these causes. The video from YouTube

[ivealwayssaidthis]

givedirectly just released their first results from their universal basic income study. the paper is long and ive only skimmed it but this npr article sums it up well

basically, they gave rural kenyan villages money in four ways: 1. none (control), 2. monthly $50 payments for 12 years, 3. monthly $50 payments for 2 years ($1.2k total), and 4. lump-sum payment of $1,200.

and it turns out that yeah, "what if we just gave poor people money?" WORKS to alleviate poverty and the "bu-but poor people will waste it on cigs and booze!" concern is unfounded. people drank less alcohol, became entrepreneurs, and saved significantly more money. (it's also important to note the recipients of lump-sum payments were significantly more successful at becoming entrepreneurs, and the investments in business rather than subsistence agriculture is because the entire village received a payment, so there would be more customers.)

ive been aware of givedirectly for a couple years since i learned about effective altruism (which, woof, that's a whole other post) so this is pretty cool to see. i guess this is the closest you can get to a "pure" UBI study uncomplicated by taxes/other welfare programs like you'd see in the US. recommend a read if you're interested in UBI, international development, or are just curious

[higherlearningtvshow]

When Men Cry!

You think today’s show with Veteran Mental Health Clinician Khalid Scott was eye opening, wait until next week when he returns!

Next Monday June 23rd, 7-8amCST

Set Your Alarm!

CHANNEL

Youtube.com/higherlearningtvshow

Get your notebook ready so you can share with ALL THE MEN YOU KNOW & DON’T KNOW!

Who came up with the BS MEN DON’T CRY!? He touched on the subject which hit a nerve with our viewers so he’s coming back with his veteran tools of the trade to help us help our brothers, nephews and others! We must allow our men to be human and experience a range of emotions, and crying is definitely on the top!

That’s one of the reasons why the world is so inhumane today!

No Empathy from a pent up, shut down, closed off society of minds controlled by…

See you on the show!

Remember,

sharingiscaring

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j788hNcrjZY

Related

Real Men CookJune 18, 2021

Veterans Helping Veterans with Victor Sarmiento!February 12, 2023

Congressman Danny K. Davis Open Letter to Vets & Families!November 12, 2023

About zeldaspeaks

International Speaker/Trainer/Author/StressOlogist, teaching how all relationships (home/work/play) can influence your mental/physical health with the Mindfulness/StressRelief Training, and weekly radio/tv broadcast on YouTube.com/HigherLearningTvShow and BlogTalkRadio.com/the-female-solution. She has spoken around the world since 1997 in the UK (London England) Nairobi Kenya, (East Africa) Johannesburg (South Africa) as a member of the National Speakers Association, The National African American Speakers Association,& The American Society of Training & Development. Retired Broadcaster (Gospel Radio 1390AM/WGCI, V103/WJPC/WNUA/WSSD/WCPT/WJPC/WCRX/WNUA) with a passion to teach youth about the business of radio via HigherLearningNetwork.org Had to pivot during COVID, resulting in the Global Virtual Teen Talent Contest! (YouTube.com/HigherLearningTvShow) Part of her journey includes an audio program that helped her healing process after a near fatal accident in 2013, where she had to stop working to recover. This ACCIDENT was a blessing in disguise because it led her to healing her mental wounds as well as physical disability she now experiences daily. It helped her overcome mental, physical and emotional damage, in which she produced an AUDIO program to help others, entitled (1)The Innovative Mindfulness Breakthrough System. She is Author of over 12 books/ebooks on Career/Personal Development, including the popular book shared by Troi Tyler on V103 FM Radio in Chicago, (2/3) N'Spirational Conversations Vol. 1 &2, (4)The Passion Principles: Pathways to Purpose, Power & Profit, (5)How To Self Publish in 30 Days, (6) Date Rate, Checkmate, (7)STRESS REDUCTION HOME PRACTICE MANUAL (8) StressRelief Home Training Manual (9)How To Eliminate Worry! (10) Learn How to trust your intuition 11. Mindfulness-techniques-to-divert-stressors 12. I Knew I Should've Followed My First Mind! (Relationships, etc.)

View all posts by zeldaspeaks →

[reasonsforhope]

Reblogging to show the temperature maps that are featured in the original study (and the Guardian article about it), because the visual difference really is so striking and so encouraging.

As you look at these maps of forests vs. temperature trends, remember that the temperature map is showing large-scale, very long-term averages, especially on the temperature map. Because of that, the map data doesn't reflect how very, very big a difference it can make on a local scale, e.g. those 9°F summer temperature conditions. And those local scale changes are the changes that people actually live in.

This is hugely

Forest Age vs. Warming Maps

Pictured: Guardian graphic. Source: Barnes, et al, 2024, ‘A Century of Reforestation Reduced Anthropogenic Warming in the Eastern United States.’ Note: Forest age data from North American Carbon Program. Age estimates as of 2019 at 1km resolution. Temperature data from Delaware Air Temperature & Precipitation Dataset.

Source: The Guardian, February 17, 2024. And the original study is here, from the journal Earth's Future, first published February 13, 2024.

(Also, btw, for any non-US and/or non-geography people, don't worry about the fact that there aren't any forests in the middle of the country. That's the Great Plains. Like we definitely did turn most of it into cropland, but it's not supposed to have forests.)

This is huge.

Even the small pockets of new reforestation elsewhere in the country are usually correlated with small pockets of cooling. (And of course correlation by itself does not equal causation, but that's what the rest of the study is for.)

This is genuinely strong evidence that the massive tree planting campaigns of the last 25 years are going to pay off dramatically much sooner than we thought.

The study found that the coolest forests were ones planted planted 20 to 40 years ago.

That means that trees planted in the 90s through 2004 are in that stage and causing the most cooling right now.

It also means that the ongoing, absolutely massive recent reforestation efforts are going to pay off a lot between now and 2050.

That means campaigns like China's 2022 pledge to plant or conserve 70 billion trees by 2030. Or India's annual tree-planting drive, which in 2021 saw 250 million trees planted in just one day. Or Kenya's new tree-planting holiday, started in 2023, to plant 100 million trees each year.

This study also gives strong evidence that newer forests don't have vanishingly few benefits compared to old growth forests - they do have benefits (if not as many), just different ones. It also, I would argue, suggests that tree planting efforts don't have to be ecologically perfect to make a real difference. They certainly were not nailing native plant biodiversity and ecological best practices in the US in the 1930s!

And as we learn (and actually implement) more and more about how to do reforestation right - more biodiversity, native plants only, actual forests and not just tree plantations - the benefits of reforestation will only increase.

"A century of gradual reforestation across the American East and Southeast has kept the region cooler than it otherwise would have become, a new study shows.

The pioneering study of progress shows how the last 25 years of accelerated reforestation around the world might significantly pay off in the second half of the 21st century.

Using a variety of calculative methods and estimations based on satellite and temperature data from weather stations, the authors determined that forests in the eastern United States cool the land surface by 1.8 – 3.6°F annually compared to nearby grasslands and croplands, with the strongest effect seen in summer, when cooling amounts to 3.6 – 9°F.

The younger the forest, the more this cooling effect was detected, with forest trees between 20 and 40 years old offering the coolest temperatures underneath.

“The reforestation has been remarkable and we have shown this has translated into the surrounding air temperature,” Mallory Barnes, an environmental scientist at Indiana University who led the research, told The Guardian.

“Moving forward, we need to think about tree planting not just as a way to absorb carbon dioxide but also the cooling effects in adapting for climate change, to help cities be resilient against these very hot temperatures.”

The cooling of the land surface affected the air near ground level as well, with a stepwise reduction in heat linked to reductions in near-surface air temps.

“Analyses of historical land cover and air temperature trends showed that the cooling benefits of reforestation extend across the landscape,” the authors write. “Locations surrounded by reforestation were up to 1.8°F cooler than neighboring locations that did not undergo land cover change, and areas dominated by regrowing forests were associated with cooling temperature trends in much of the Eastern United States.”

By the 1930s, forest cover loss in the eastern states like the Carolinas and Mississippi had stopped, as the descendants of European settlers moved in greater and greater numbers into cities and marginal agricultural land was abandoned.

The Civilian Conservation Corps undertook large replanting efforts of forests that had been cleared, and this is believed to be what is causing the lower average temperatures observed in the study data.

However, the authors note that other causes, like more sophisticated crop irrigation and increases in airborne pollutants that block incoming sunlight, may have also contributed to the lowering of temperatures over time. They also note that tree planting might not always produce this effect, such as in the boreal zone where increases in trees are linked with increases in humidity that way raise average temperatures."

-via Good News Network, February 20, 2024

[wamathai]

300 Youth graduate from software development program by Power Learn Project & Safaricom Hook

Power Learn Project Africa (PLP), in collaboration with Safaricom’s youth platform Safaricom Hook, has graduated 300 youth from a software development program. Launched in October 2024, the PLP x Safaricom Hook Tech Cohort is a fully funded, 16-week immersive digital training initiative that recruited youth from all 47 counties of Kenya. Participants were equipped with digital skills in front-end…

[charles-ed-aguilar]

Akuj is Love

“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:8, NIV

The Karamojong, an Indigenous tribe near the borders of Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda, is known for its violent lifestyle. They tend to avoid Western-style clothing and instead dress in traditional blanket-like shawls of many colours. Due to violence, HIV/AIDS, alcoholism, and lack of food, the literacy rate hovers between 12 and 24% (compared to 70% for the national average).

Karamajong women collecting water from an ADRA-funded borehole.

In early 2000, ADRA staff entering the region to work were required to acquire a special entry permit.

After many years of tribal/clan conflicts, cattle theft, and road ambushes, the Ugandan Government launched a disarmament program that made the region safer to enter.

The first Sabbath I spent outside of Kampala, the capital of Uganda, was in Karamoja, where ADRA has been working with the Karamojong tribe for more than a decade.

We have the police on board to ensure the safety of our ADRA Regional Office in Kotido.

The ADRA team members in Karamoja were excited when they learned I would be there for the weekend. They invited the Karamojong community to the Sabbath service, during which I would preach.

In preparation for the sermon, I asked Karamojong ADRA staff to describe how they view God, the divine and the supernatural.

The staff members explained that the Karamojong believe in God, whom they call Akuj. Akuj watches over and directs everything in Karamoja, including giving them the birthright to all the cattle in the region and beyond.

The border tribes in Kenya and South Sudan share a similar belief about their divine birthright to cattle. As a result, border tribes from Kenya, South Sudan, and the Karamojong constantly try to recover their God-given cattle in very violent ways.

Karamojong is a nomad pastoralist tribe, and they live off the backs of herds of cattle. The number of cows the head of a clan or family owns is an extremely valuable status marker. Cows are gifted as a reward for character and bravery against other cattle raiders.

Being educated about the Karamojong for the first time, I was uncertain what to preach that day.

I called on several of the ADRA staff to pray for me on what to preach.

Greeting a Karamajong matriarch with the help of Simon, ADRA Kotido Program Manager.

After the prayer and more discussions, one ADRA staff suggested that I preach on Luke 15: The Parable of the Loving Father.

With the Bible in my hand and my interpreter beside me, I started narrating the story… “There was a man who had two sons…”

When my interpreter translated the parable into their language, many looked troubled and annoyed.

One even interrupted and asked, “Why would the father allow the young son to take most the cows? That father is unfit, stupid!”

The group hushed him, and we continued the story.

The young man gave all his cows away, not as a reward for character or bravery or dowry for a wife, but on alcohol and women from the Kenyan border tribes.

With no cows left, the younger son struggled to find food. He decided to return to his father’s manyatta (temporary settlement) in Karamoja. At least, he believed, he could have some cow’s milk to drink.

The father was at the entrance to the manyatta when he saw the young son walking towards home. The father ran towards the young son and welcomed him home. The father called the other men in his manyatta and instructed them to find the best cow, slaughter it, roast it, and celebrate all night. My son is back!

The same man interrupted again and sarcastically shouted, “What a stupid father!”

The group erupted into laughter, all in agreement with him.

We continued… “Now the older son heard the dancing and music…his younger brother is back in the manyatta.”

“My brother has returned home after taking most of the cows away. My brother, who made my father appear stupid in the presence of the tribe, has returned home.” “The tribe’s best cow was slaughtered without my permission. I did not cause my father to look stupid. I did not waste any cows that the tribe had. In fact, I multiplied them.”

“I earned the respect of others by working hard for our tribe. And yet, even with all that hard work, you did not even roast a goat for me.” At this point, the group’s demeanour changed. The smiles and laughter were gone.

The father responded, “You are always my son. Everything I have has always been yours. Your brother is alive; we must celebrate.”

Jesus ends the story.

We asked the group, “did the older brother join the celebration?”

“Did the older brother decide to stay outside of the manyatta?”

The group looked bewildered.

“Who does the younger brother represent in this story? The tribes from South Sudan and Kenya?”

“Or the Karamajongs?”

“Who does the older brother represent?”

After several minutes of discussion and arguments amongst themselves, my interpreter interrupted their conversation and said, “the focus of the story is not about the younger brother or, the older brother…but about God (Akuj).”

“Akuj loves the Karamojong just the same as the Dodoth, the Jie, Bokora, Pian, Pokoth, Lebtur, Matheniko, the Ik, Tepeth and the Masai.”

“We know how much God (Akuj) loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” 1 John 4:16

The video below happened right after I preached on Luke 15: The Parable of the Loving Father. Turn the volume up.

#PutYourPraiseOnKaramoja

Group photo outside the Manyatta after the church service.

Reflective Questions for Pastors and Church Leaders The Foundation of Our Message: As leaders, how central is the unshakeable reality that “God is Love” to our message when we teach, preach, and counsel? Do our congregations experience this as the bedrock of their faith, or is it sometimes obscured by doctrines, duties, or even our own human failings in representing Him?

Recognizing God’s Prevenient Grace: The story implies God was already at work among the Karamojong. In our outreach and evangelism, how much do we look for and acknowledge the ways God is already present and working in the lives of those we seek to reach, even before our intervention?

Action Challenge Audit Your “Love Language”: Over the next month, consciously audit the primary messages communicated in your church’s main gatherings (sermons, announcements, worship songs). Ask yourself and your leadership team: “If an outsider, like one of the Karamojong, listened in, would they clearly and consistently perceive that the God we worship is fundamentally Love? What one specific adjustment can we make to ensure this truth is not just stated, but palpably felt and understood as central to who our God is?” +++ “…they have heard His voice speaking to them in nature, and have done the things that the law required. Their works are evidence that the Holy Spirit has touched their hearts, and they are recognized as the children of God.” Ellen White, Desire of Ages, page 638.

A Karamajong girl happily harvests vegetables for her family’s nutrition. Photo by ADRA Staff (Simon, Betty, George William) using Samsung SM-J320H.