Posted on

Descriptive Essay – My African Journey and a Lesson from the Wild

I would never, in my most active imaginative indulgences, have seen myself travelling to Africa, especially on such short notice. Of course like many young people with a rather fairy-tale view of life, I had believed for a long time that I would save money in the course of my working life and travel the world, with Africa being one of the many destinations I had subconsciously ticked as ‘must visit’.
My parents were initially the ones set to travel to Kenya – a country they had longed to visit. However, my mother could not get her leave to coincide with my father’s. Sudden occurrences at my mother’s organization put to paid her plans, and in her magnanimous nature she beseeched my father to take me along in her stead, since they had already done most of the bookings and paid for hotels, lodges and other such expenses.
On 12th August 2009, my father and I set off to Kenya. The plane landed at the Jommo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi and I could immediately gain the sense of being in a different continent. Africa’s air is distinct – the fresh air is laced with a dusty yet invigorating component, and although I had to purchase numerous handkerchiefs throughout my stay, (I had a running nose as a consequence), the air sort of embraces you, and I will forever cherish African air’s hold. My father must have felt it too, because on several occasions throughout our tour of Kenya I caught him breathing in deep and savoring the feeling, an act I never saw him undertake back home.
We arrived at midday, and Nairobi is hot and dry in August. The sun shone bright over our heads as we tried to pick a taxi out of the many that were packed next to the exit of the airport’s International Arrivals gate. The taxi drivers at the airport instinctively know a potential customer, and they ganged around us each trying to nudge us towards their taxi. Before my father knew it, one driver had already grabbed his bag and started off, and for a split second we both thought we had been mugged at noon in Nairobi! The driver shoved my father’s bag in his car, and we had no choice but to indulge the daring man. Our destination was Nairobi’s Hilton hotel. It took us about an hour to move from the airport to the hotel – a journey of about 10 miles! Roads in Nairobi are veritable death traps. It appeared to me as if everyone was competing for the little space on the narrow roads, including pedestrians, who shocked me by their complete disregard for their safety because they literally walked on the roads alongside the cars. The taxi would move slowly for a few meters, then halt – either to give way to a kamikaze pedestrian intent on crossing the road, or simply because of the pile-up of cars along the way. The midday heat was exacerbated inside the car, which had no air-conditioner, and before long, my dad and I were sweating profusely. The taxi driver did not sweat at all despite the fact that he wore a worn-out suit and a tie.
We were relieved when an hour later we approached the entrance to the Hilton hotel. My dad paid the taxi man, and we promptly entered the hotel lobby, which was air-conditioned, and the refreshing coolness inside the lobby made me quickly forget the rather uncomfortable journey to the hotel. I asked for a glass of water as my dad sorted out the matter of hotel rooms, I gulped the water, and as I was about to take my last big sip, I coughed after having chocked on the water, I had suddenly remembered that the taxi driver had gone away with my bag in the trunk!
Naturally I was in a sour state after having lost my bag. Besides my clothes and other personal effects such as my camera, I had lost crucial documents such as my passport. My dad promised to follow up on the lost bag but even he could not convince me that I would ever recover my bag, and I could see that he also appreciated that fact. Exhausted, I went to my room and immediately fell asleep, deeply. I remember that I had dreams that were vaguely related to my experiences thus far in Africa. For instance, I dreamt that somebody grabbed my dad and went away with him, with my mother and I screaming for him. In another dream somebody had poisoned my dog, and I found the man attempting to bury it at our backyard. My first day in Africa had began on a sour note, and I longed for the safety of my home back in the US, the safety of my neighborhood, and the safety of a routine, predictable life.
On the second day, we were to go to the famed Maasai Mara game reserve to watch the wildlife there. My dad and I had decided to make the best of our trip. We took a tour van driven by a woman. She was huge, and had very dark skin. Kenyans tend to have rather brown skin as opposed to the pitch-dark tone of the Sudanese, and our driver was pitch-dark. She told us she was of the Luo tribe, and that she had always wanted to work as tour driver. She was obviously good at making friends, because soon she was laughing and making jokes as the van drove along the dusty, pot-holed road that leads to the Maasai Mara.
We were lucky because we right on time to view the famed wildebeest migration. The migration involves the movement of tens of thousands wildebeest, zebras and even gazelles from Kenya’s Maasai Mara, across the crocodile-infested Mara river, and into Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park (Holdo et al, 2011, p.3). The specter is poignant. The wildebeest move in droves; fearless and focused, before plunging into the river and swimming across. Some die, some survive. Some drown, others are eaten by crocodiles. The animals seem so intent on crossing that one could easily believe that not even nature itself could stop them. The collective noise (a determined groan) of the animals can be heard from miles away. My dad and I watched the migration in awe. When the last wildebeest crossed the river, I was left to ponder, admire, and draw lessons from the life of the wildebeests.
Determination. That is the lesson I got from the wildebeests. Determination against all odds. After viewing the migration, I decided to enjoy my stay in Kenya, in spite of whatever had happened, or would happen. Things would work out in the end, as they did for the wildebeests that eventually got to the other side; finding fresh green grass to graze on. Things worked out for me too, I thoroughly enjoyed my two-week stay in Kenya, and was pleasantly surprised when I was called to the hotel lobby and handed my bag, apparently the taxi driver had taken it upon himself to bring by bag back, with all contents intact. It is indeed true that all is well that ends well.

Posted on

Creative Essay on My Mother’s Influence on My Life

            The role that mothers play in the shaping of their child’s future begins from the moment the child is conceived in her womb. All through the pregnancy until birth, mothers are advised to eat proper foods, reduce stress and generally aim at ensuring the health of the baby is never compromised at any one time (Kearney 471). It is therefore not an exaggeration to say that all persons alive in the world today owe there health, mental disposition, status, and ultimately their lives, to their mothers.

            I have often jokingly suggested to my friends that Mother’s Day (observed every second Sunday of the month of May) ought to be an everyday holiday! There is not a day that I wake up and undertake my daily routine – making decisions, choosing friends, showing kindness to others, and other such daily dynamic undertakings of life – and not see my mother’s influence. She taught me to be patient, loving, forbearing, determined, and unwavering in my quest for a better life.

I have always eschewed words and speeches that tend to replace action. For instance, I would rather a person whose activities show they love me, as opposed to one who says to me that he/she loves me everyday yet their actions do not match their words. My love, respect and loyalty to my mother comes from the fact that her actions spoke louder than her words. I keep my room neat not because I was always told to do so, but because I saw my mother take pride in a neat house – always cleaning and tiding up – and her behavior caught on with me. I am a patient person not because my mother read to me Bible verses about patience (as helpful as these are), but because I saw her exercise patience whenever her children acted improperly. I am industrious not because she told me that hard work pays, but because I saw her take up two (sometimes three) jobs in order to supplement the family income. I am kind because my mother was kind to me. I am loving because my mother loved me. What I am now, and who I will be in the future, I am and will be because of my mother.

 

Work Cited

J M Kearney, et al. “Maternal Health Behaviours During Pregnancy In An Irish Obstetric Population And Their Associations With Socio-Demographic And Infant Characteristics.” European Journal Of Clinical Nutrition 65.4 (2011): 470-479. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Sept. 2012.

Posted on

Biostatement: A Research paper

Environmental resistance will determine how many humans the Earth can support

Environmental resistance is a factor that restricts population growth and thwarts the population from achieving a given theoretical maximum. According to the above statement, it is true that the Earth has limited space to support the ever increasing populace. Individually, the statement acts as a guiding factor on how I should live and plan my life and my family’s. While on Earth, human beings have to consume to survive and gain energy to work. However, this consumption is dependent on the limited resources contained within the earth. It is thus everyone’s role to live a life directed towards conservation and protection of the environment from which we get our livelihood and interact with others. We ought to give paramount attention towards the planet and the nature that sustains it. It is impossible to add natural resources onto the earth. Thus, we have to protect what the Earth suffices in order to avoid the future of living lonely lives within a lonely planet.

Only human needs and wants should be considered for the building of new roads, housing developments, golf courses, cities, etc.

Human wants are unlimited. However, what is required to meet those needs is limited and human beings have to prioritize their needs. Similarly, we have to make decisions on whether to destroy the natural sceneries presented to us by the Earth to accommodate industrialization and human civilization or to protect nature. We have to mind the future generations and the natural panorama which once eluded cannot be brought back. Thus, I suppose that choices involving Industrialization be decisively assessed and conversed.

 

 

Controlled or minimized Pollution is okay.

Pollution and humankind are inseparable. As long as there are human beings living on Earth, pollution will always be there. If all and sundry realize that, we can devise ways on how to combat the amplified pollution while at the same time reducing the pollution rates. Even though it is impossible to exterminate pollution, it is very possible to minimize it through apposite waste disposal. To significantly trim down waste, industries are advised to reprocess their waste and treat any disposable waste before releasing it to the public.

The greenhouse upshot is not a big deal and is probably a temporary problem.

The untreated chlorofluorocarbons from industrial emissions contaminate the atmosphere. Even though such emissions are due to industrial activities, they deteriorate the temperament in which we live. I deem that the green house effect can be combated through suitable recycling and environmental conservation methods. We need to safeguard the milieu through lessening of carbon emissions and planting of trees to guzzle the carbon present in the atmosphere.

Quality of human life is measured only by housing and possessions.

I halfway agree to the above statement. For survival in this planet, we all need material possessions. These include the basic needs of food and shelter alongside other materials like clothes and money for our daily activities. However, an individual’s quality and values greatly determine their quality of life. How one relates with others is vital. This depends on what mores, ethical values, education and concerns they have for others. These values greatly influence a person’s decisions in life.

No human should make sacrifices for the survival of other species and to avoid planet degradation.

I partially disagree with the above statement. It is humane to sacrifice for the benefit of other people. Other individuals should not face problems when we are capable of helping them. I however disagree with sacrificing human beings for the benefit of other species. Though we should always strive for our survival, if the worst happens to come, we are bound to protect our own continued existence against the menace of other species.

Consumption is what humans have evolved to do

Despite all our undertakings while on earth, consumption is the chief reason why we survive. We eat to survive. Since time in history, human kind has evolved greatly in the field of agriculture. Always devising plans on proper farming methods all aimed at maximum productivity for consumption. In our daily lives, we learn and invent new things but the core of our invention is geared towards our own consumption and livelihood.

Posted on

Essay on Terrorism

The definition of terrorism has been described as both a scheme and a plan; a disobedient and an obedient; a rationalized reaction to subjugation and unthinkable abomination. Terrorism has always been an effective way for the weakest side against the strongest side. It is very hard to detect the approach or emergence of act of terrorism. This is mainly because of its small size in nature and the fact that its secretive plan is always instantaneous.

Terrorism is all over the world. It is not associated to a particular area. Recently, it has been rampant and seems like moving out of hand even for the strongest countries. Despite the fact that it has been strongly opposed by leaders globally in international meetings, it is linearly increasing and creating a subject of concern. Terrorist uses all sorts of fatal weapons to terrorize their targets: they use explosive bombs, grenades, powerful guns, raping and kidnapping women and children, hijacking cars and other means of transport and participating in creation of fear.

Terrorism has created panic in people’s life. People are feeling unsecure to tour places of attractions because of unexpected havoc that terrorists craft day in day out. This senseless activity, which ill-mannered individuals perceived as a way of communicating their matter, is too big to be ignored. It has cost the life of many; children have been rendered orphans, husbands become widowers, wives become widow, people have been maimed and others displaced from their homes because of this bloody act. This has been witness mostly in India, Afghanistan, Germany, Libya and other parts of the world.

Terrorists have a preference of overthrowing the ruling class to gain power instead of using democratic means. They disturbed peaceful coexistence of people by creating cocoons inform of tribe, race and nepotism for their own selfish gain. They are normally financed by powerful and influential people in government by supplying them with crude weapons, foods, training and other tools for attacking. This uncalled-for act respect no race, color, religion, age or land. It is spread all over the world and is usually associated with political disadvantage groups, religious division and misdirected associations in the society. What these vulnerable groups do is to indulge in killing of innocents, raping and kidnapping the weakest people in the society like children and women to accomplish their narrow-minded aims. Occasionally, terrorists may have genuine objectives but the way they raise their concern is illegal. As an alternative, they can use lawful way like launching their complaints in court or requesting for a referendum if it is something to do with the government.

Terrorism in Middle East Countries like Afghanistan is not a novel to many, but it has escalated in the last few days. Terrorism in Afghanistan started around October 2001 as a results of President Bush’s promise to overthrow the Taliban government, which has shouldered wanted world wanted criminals, Osama bin Laden and other members of Al Qaeda members (Zalman, 2010). People misapprehended him for colonization. And in respond, individuals and small groups applied suicidal bombing as a communication of their objection. This form of terrorism went into extend where some brought in an issue of religion; Christianity against Muslim. Misled innocent followers began attacking one another with seeds of hatred, pain, separation and communal divide that has been hard to heal.

Terrorism in India has also been well pronounced. The growing of radical arid terrorism in the North-Eastern states of Nagaland, Assam, Mizoram and other states has been an issue of concern. The past government of this country has not been able to harmonize the issue of tribalism. Consequently, this has planted a feeling of hatred, isolation and discord in the hearts of people. The people failed to see enough reason of being part of their country. Some of them decided not to participate in the election process or any activity the government was undertaking and instead, they organized themselves into groups of terrorism to air their grievance (Kumar, 2012). The war against the government erupted. Neighboring countries that were against the government of India facilitated the hostility which was never successful. This occurrence of terrorism in the North-Eastern part of India was an indication that leaders have failed to educate their people about the importance of unity rather than tribalism in the progress of their country.

Terrorism in Punjab was facilitated mainly by psychological, emotional and religious factors. The urge of separation of Khalistan was too strong to resist. Eventually both the government and the people made crucial decision in which democratic election was held and the security of the country was restored. Pakistan helped Punjab by supplying arms of ammunition and finance to curb the spread of terrorism in the area. It was noticed that widespread unemployment, poverty, alienation and denial access to basic needs was fueling the eruption of violence in Punjab.

Terrorism can be solved through understanding and cooperation of world countries. It is a global issue which needs international unity. All governments of the world are supposed to come together to cut-down the activities of the terrorists. The reasons that lead to eruption of terrorism are supposed to be critically analyzed and firm solution to be put in place. Act of terrorism has no winner or loser. It is a madness way of achieving their short term self interest by a few individuals. Terrorism affects the quality of life and the relationship that exist among people.

 

Posted on

Essay on Challenges Globalization Presents to Trade Unions

Globalization has brought up the whole world into one village. This to trade union movements has been a stiff challenge. Based on many researches which have been conducted, the economies in every country vary and thus standardization of wages by the trade union has become a hard nut to crack in times of global restructuring (Bieler, Andreas, & Ingemar L. 2010). Trade unions have tried to fight for workers’ right but consolidating many labor movements has not been easy. This challenge has rendered many attempts by trade union to futile. As results some laborers have started moving out of the union terming it has not championing fully for their rights.

Globally, there exist many kinds of trade movements. Trade union has had it rough trying to control the functioning of all these types of trade movements. Globalization of production is directly proportional to the move towards outsourcing of parts of production to sub-contractors. Outsourcing which is globally used is a work which is not formal and has no contract. Thus those who are in outsourcing work are not part of the trade union and thus are hard to bring to order. Existence of many companies has made it even more difficult for trade unions to control the production process.

Another obstacle to trade union is the political differences among countries. This has been common especially to developing countries. An example is East African Trade Union Council in the East African region which has been there for almost fifteen (15) years. In 2006 it became a confederation with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. The notion to give a confederation effective appears to escalate as the East African countries comes closer to a political federation on 2012. While the notion of a labor federation comes before that of a political federation, this means that the political agendas have outstripped other important matters like labor. Indeed other regional bodies like the East African Business Association (EBA) and the East African Professional Association (EAPA) are thriving. Yet the move towards a working transnational trade union organization seems slow and far-fetched (Clayton, A.H. & Savage, D.C. 1974).

 Ways in which trade union should respond to these challenges:

Trade unions should think outside the box by enlarging their ideas. They ought to initiate engagement with international organizations so as to broaden their policy influence, organizing global campaigns and expanding their territory at the transnational level. The union is currently engaging with large bodies like International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other bodies to promote a fair globalization. For instance, after 1990s, global union leaders have been campaigning for the inclusion of the ILO core labor standards in World Bank lending and procurement practices (Cooper, F. 1987). This has so far been successful. In May 2006 the International Finance Corporation (IFC) makes it a policy that all enterprises borrowing from the IFC abide by the core labor standards. In December 2006 the World Bank publicize that it would extend the core labor standards requirement to public works projects financed by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association.

Trade union should campaign for their inclusion in political arms of every country. This will ensure that they are part of all decision making. This idea will also help the trade union to integrates their policies to accommodate the global village.

Posted on

European Integration

Place an order for a custom essay, research paper on this or related subject.

 

The European Rescue of the nation state book by Wilwald shows explicitly the origin and involvement of the European community by explaining; it’s historical, analytical and developmental aspects, it also looks at the critical issues like the Belgian coal during the Schuman plan, the Origin of the European Community, the progress in agricultural policy and the involvement of the Britain. Wilwald, a British historian who is popular believes that the European states needs more integration instead of producing blandishing nationalists.

European integration is one of the most significant developments in the 20th century. 1But why did it emerge? What are we to make of it? And is it the world’s future, as some claim? What are its prospects? Or is it just about Europe’s past. Integration can be defined as giving up or rather selectively surrendering matters of countries’ sovereignty by the state members to the European Union. A great deal of selective Surrendering has been experienced in the last half a century, During the 1950s six European state put their Coal and steel industries which had partnership control that had high authority being administered to them and later in 1960s they abolished tariffs on most of their dependent commerce and authorized high level agents to represent them on matters pertaining trade globally. They increased their membership and resumed on a dependent exchange rate stabilization program in 1970s. They further increased their network in 1980s and agreed to remove regular barriers facing them in their trade. In 1990 the membership grew even bigger and a large group left their national currencies for them to form a monetary union. A tremendous growth was realized in the 21st century by the European Union and twelve members were allowed to join the Union from the old soviet territory.

The postwar nation state was meant to increase the number of students’ who are interested in knowing how Western Europe got devastated in 1945 and how they were able to recover quickly and intensively in just a decade, despite difficulties experienced on the onset of the cold war. The Soviet Union and western democracies held several conferences in the year between 1943 and 1945(Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam respectively), and the agenda was on the progress of the World War II. After the war, disputes between the two sides especially over the Soviet Union who wanted to takeover the Eastern Europe made Winston Churchill to issue a warning in 1946 that an “iron curtain” was descending through the middle of Europe.

Joseph Stalin made it clear that the World War II between the United States and Soviet Union 1946 was inevitable and cannot be avoided, this was as a result of capital imperialism and he further warned that this war can reoccur. The cold war resulted during the East-West European competition which resulted to tension and full-scale war due to mutual perception and hostile intension between political alliances and the military, there were real war because the Soviet allies fought themselves instead of the USSR itself along with the fight for major superpower arms race and the battle for influence in the third world.

Andrew Moravcsik a political scientist and Alan Milward a British historian 1 crusaded against partial and convergent interpretations of the post war occurrences in Europe; they pushed state leaders to accept additional nuanced view inception of the role played by the European Union both nationwide and worldwide matters. They have really contributed greatly in their respective disciplines on issues pertaining the origins and European Community in the early development. Milwald wrote the ultimate account on social and economic basics of the European integration. He tried to show the conflicting outcome of the European nation-states, supporting influence after World War II and concurrent designation by the nation state of specific aspects of country’s dominion to the European Community were equally a supportive process.

1 With the 1993 ratification of the Maastricht Treaty, the institutions of the European Community became subsumed in a larger edifice known as the European Union.

Moravcsik made some comparison with Milwald’s observations and showed consistency with the perception of current political theory. Moravcsik argued that the accomplishment of the European Integration was just a normal state behavior.

Both authors show similarities in the sense that they bring sense to community project needs understanding of economic policy facing its member government. 2 Both insist that a persuasive report during insights of universal theories of global cooperation,they included logic of worldwide regimes and changes in interdependence.

In Milward’s The European Rescue of the Nation-State and Moravcsik’s The Choice for Europe2, their suggestions vary especially in current and future community’s significance. Moravcsik viewed that the European political landscape of the community as a lasting aspect. But Milward’s defended his suggestions significantly.

Germany’s constituted a limited exemption as claimed by the French, but British and American policy which France had matched was that some form of government would be formed as soon as possible after they had surrendered.

Posted on

Nonviolence and Cival Disobedience

Place an order for a custom essay, research paper on this or related subject.

 

 

Introduction

Nonviolence is the practice of using symbolic protests, economic or political noncooperation, civil disobedience and other methods to achieve socio-political goals where no violence is used

In 2006 peace ethnologist Judith Hand presented a strategy for abolishing war premised on using nonviolent resistance (A Future Without War: the Strategy of a Warfare Transition)

Civil disobedience and non-violent resistance are more contagious than most people think; they are always justifiable by a larger cross section of a nation, and to a much larger and more influential international community. Today for most people, non-violent resistance and civil disobedience are more justifiable than violence. In the Middle East and to be precise Palestine, belief in these principles can spread within a short period throughout the Palestinian territories. Add to that movement the peace activists in Israel itself, Arab and Jewish citizens alike, and you will have a viable movement on both sides that can seek common ground peacefully and very effectively.

The 2010–2011 Tunisian uprising: where a chain of demonstrations against unemployment and government corruption in Tunisia. The protests were triggered by the self-immolation of the vegetable seller Mohamed Bouazizi and resulted in the 24-year-ruling president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali fleeing the country a month later.

The cost will definitely be less in terms of lives and property when compared to the cost of the current mindless violent means of the militants, who have played into the hands of Sharon by destroying the intifada with misdirected violence. Even if the cost of the non-violent resistance is the same in the number of lives lost or property destroyed, the Palestinian peace movement will at least have produced some tangible results which the militants so far can not claim to have accomplished.

Some of the nonviolent resistance tactics that have been and are being employed today include: information warfare, vigils, samizdat, picketing, leafleting, protest art/music and poetry, tax resistance, legal/diplomatic wrestling, principal refusal of awards/honors and general strikes

Dr. Martin Luther king Jr. in his own words says;

 “This is not a method of cowardice or stagnant passivity; it does resist. The non-violent resister is just as opposed to the evil he is protesting as the person who used violence.

“This method is that it does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent but to win his friendship and understanding.

“That the attack is directed toward the forces of evil, rather than the persons caught in the forces. Those of us who struggle against racial injustice must come to see that the basic tension is not between races. The tension is at bottom between justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness.

“This method not only avoids external physical violence, but also internal violence of the spirit. At the center of nonviolence stands the principle of love. We have learned through the grim realities of life and history that hate and violence solve nothing. Violence begets violence; hate begets hate; and toughness begets toughness. It is all a descending spiral, and the end is destruction — for everybody”

 

Nonviolence/civil disobedience today

Today the focus should go to the political elites who are so much interested in their political careers and survival than they are in humanity, and are not ready to sacrifice in doing justice to humanity. Civil disobedience/nonviolence is demonstrated on them through general strikes, demanding their resignation through boycotts and protests, for example the Tunisia uprising 2010-2011, Egyptian protests 2011 and the Syrian uprising 2011

The citizens have an obligation and moral responsibility to oppose indiscriminate appointments, amendments of the existing laws, wrong procedures of vetting and decisions by the government. In Martin Luther king’s words, “without nonviolent forceful direct actions, true civil rights could never be achieved”

Today democracy should not be assumed as the ultimate source or cure for injustice and all sought of malpractices by the governments Thoreau asserts that because governments are typically more harmful than helpful, they therefore cannot be justified. Democracy is no cure for this, as majorities simply by virtue of being majorities do not also gain the virtues of wisdom and justice. The judgment of an individual’s conscience is not necessarily inferior to the decisions of a political body or majority, and so “it is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right… Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice. “He adds, “I cannot for an instant recognize as my government which is the slave’s government also.”

 

Face book as a method of nonviolence/civil disobedience

This is a social network among others like twitter, MySpace, Google+, and Net log which has globalized socializing. Face book though is more common with the young generation but the old are also catching up

Activists, elites as well as the human rights organizations are too running their daily affairs on face book where they are able to get instant responses in order to decide on the next course of action

Through face book and other social websites, people are able to coordinate and communicate faster with people on the ground deprived of any organizing bodies to facilitate civil disobedience and peaceful protests in streets or cities

Social networks and media allow anyone to speak up about his or her concerns and access information on corruption. Attention can be raised using blogs, petitions, video, tags etc., all of which can be anonymous, although in today’s day and age it is much easier to trace uploaded videos, posts, tags etc.

Social networks sites like face book facilitates in disrupting of systems of corruption and social injustices, strengthens citizen participation, strengthens campaign organization and capacity, wins people over and weakens sources of support and control for unaccountable unjust law supporters and corrupt power holders

One of the shortcomings of Face book is that does not allow much customization of the profile beyond a logo and description, but with MySpace, you can really go wild. There are several free services that will help you customize your profile without needing to do too much direct coding

Face book too is not common with all ages, it’s the youths who are mostly aware of it hence it tends to discriminate based on age brackets, using it as a method of nonviolence will be partial and incomplete. Martin Luther king says in his letter, “all communities and states were interrelated, injustice anywhere is a threat to injustice everywhere”

Posted on

Project Management

Place an order for a custom essay, research paper on this or related subject.

 

 

Introduction

According to Project Management Institute (PMI) a project is any work that happens only once, has a clear beginning and an end, and is intended to create a unique product or knowledge. It ma involve only one person or thousands. It may last several days or many years. It may be undertaken by a single organization or an alliance of several stakeholders.

Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, securing, and managing resources to achieve specific goals. A project is a temporary endeavor with a defined beginning and end (usually time-constrained, and often constrained by funding or deliverables), undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives, typically to bring about beneficial change or added value.

The temporary nature of projects stands in contrast with business as usual or operations which are repetitive permanent or semi-permanent functional activities to produce products or services. In practice, the management of these two systems is often quite different, and as such requires the development of distinct technical skills and management strategies. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Characteristics of successful projects

It should have clear objectives-the most successful projects always have well defined objectives from the outset.

A good project plan-this enables everyone involved to understand and perform their part in the project, it shows who is responsible for what, and estimates how much money, people, equipment and time will be required to complete the project. It also serves as a monitoring tool, allowing you to take early actions if things go wrong.

Communication-A project is a collaborative effort between all the individuals and organizations involved. They all need to work together to maintain effective and continual communication between the parties.

A controlled scope- it is common that numerous issues will come up throughout the project and not all that contribute to the overall objectives. It is vital to stay focused on the priority issues.

Stakeholder’s support-projects generally involve several stakeholders who invest their time and resources in the project. For this reason it is important to maintain their support throughout the life of the project up to it completion in order to meet the set goals.

Project managers

 According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, a project manager is the person accountable for accomplishing the stated project objectives. Key project management responsibilities include creating clear and attainable project objectives, building the project requirements, and managing the triple constraint for projects, which is cost, time, and scope.

A project manager is often a client representative and has to determine and implement the exact needs of the client, based on knowledge of the firm they are representing. The ability to adapt to the various internal procedures of the contracting party, and to form close links with the nominated representatives, is essential in ensuring that the key issues of cost, time, quality and above all, client satisfaction, can be realized.

Cleland and king (1993) suggest that the managers of a complex project should possess the following attributes:

Knowledge of technology in ration to project products

An understanding of the concept of project management

Interpersonal styles to get thing done

Ability to see the project as an open system and understand the external and internal interactions

Understand the people and the social context in which the project will operate

Project plan

A project plan should include the following elements:

A project charter-this is a document that demonstrates management support for the project, authorizes the manger to lead the project, and allocate resources as required.

A calendar of activities

A time schedule

A responsibility matrix

A project plan budget

Major milestones with target dates

A risk management strategy

Project management principles

Good project management principles should have the following fundamental qualities.

Should express the basic concept or idea

Be universally applicable if a successful project result is to be achieved

Be capable of straight forward expression in one or two sentences

Should be self –evident to project management personnel with considerable experience of practical project work

Provide the basis for research, practical testing as to value and the development of supporting practices

Project organization and people

From, http://www.advstr.com. Advanced strategies, Inc.

Project Organization is the process of configuring a project’s resources into an effective arrangement to execute the project plan. Disorganization can account for more than 20% of the cost of most efforts. While organization is less important for smaller projects, as projects become larger and more complicated an optimal and flexible organization becomes critical for success.

Some of the factors which are driving the importance of correct organization in today’s environment are:

The shortage of IT personnel

Other constrained resources

People and other resources existing at multiple distributed locations

People and other resources working on multiple projects simultaneously

Ever tightening time deadlines

 

The objective of this stage is to select and prepare the people, whose involvement will be necessary for the project to succeed. Once the objectives of the project have been identified and a work breakdown structure developed for how to meet these objectives, it is necessary to plan for the people involvement on the project.

An important step in this planning is to identify the required roles and responsibilities. This methodology provides a standard set of roles and responsibilities for a project and it is necessary to review this list and customize it for the particular project.

Once the roles, responsibilities, and time requirements for each activity are defined, it is possible to assign individuals to perform the activities.  It will often be necessary to assign individuals to the projects that do not have all the skills required to perform their roles.  Therefore, it is necessary to identify what additional training these individuals require.

Individuals then need to be made available for their involvement on the project. Identify key personnel, recruit the project board, recruit stage manager, recruit project coordinators, recruit key stakeholders, recruit stage teams, recruit key resources, determine training requirements, create project organization chart, and review project organization.

Using the Project Assignment Worksheet, allocate the identified personnel to one or more roles.

Ensure all key individuals are assigned an appropriate role, but don’t overwhelm the project with too many people.

Produce a Project Organization Chart defining reporting and communication lines between all parties involved in the project.

Conduct a product review of the Project Organization to ensure that the proposed organization reflects all participants needed to achieve the project objective.

Project management processes and procedures

According to Allan Chapman on the website (www.businessballs.com), the following are the project management processes:

Agree precise specification for the project -Often called the project ‘terms of reference’, this is the stage to agree special conditions or exceptions with those in authority. Once you’ve published the terms of reference you have created a very firm set of expectations by which you will be judged. So if you have any concerns, or want to renegotiate, now’s the time to do it.

Plan the project – time, team, activities, resources, and financials – using suitable project management tools. Where possible (and certainly where necessary) involve your team in the planning. A useful tip is to work backwards from the end aim, identifying all the things that need to be put in place and done, in reverse order. Additionally, from the bare beginnings of the project, use brainstorming (noting ideas and points at random – typically with a project team), to help gather points and issues and to explore innovations and ideas.

Communicate the project plan to your project team – and to any other interested people and groups. This serves two purposes: it informs people what’s happening, and it obtains essential support, agreement and commitment. If your project is complex and involves a team, then you should involve the team in the planning process to maximize buy-in, ownership, and thereby accountability.

Agree and delegate project actions. Using proper delegation methods is vital for successful project management involving teams. When delegated tasks fail this is typically because they have not been explained clearly, agreed with the other person, or supported and checked while in progress. Manage and motivate – inform, encourage, and enable the project team.

Check, measure, monitor, review project progress – adjust project plans, and inform the project team and others.

Complete project – review and report on project performance; give praise and thanks to the project team.

Project follow-up – train, support, measure and report results and benefits

Project Control Procedures

Setting up Project administration-Create an electronic file structure to consistently maintain the administration of plans, progress, status reports, change control and issue management.

Establish Quality Control Procedure-Determine the mechanisms to be used to ensure the quality of products produced during the project.

Establish Progress Control Procedures-Set up the infrastructure to facilitate:

Capture of actual effort and re-estimated effort to complete

Weekly status meetings to discuss achievements, forthcoming work, and issues

Production of weekly status reports

Establish Project Control Factors-Determine the project control factors. It is important to agree in advance with the project board the “elasticity” of the project, so that the suitable controls are applied in response to deviations from the plan.

Establish Change Control Procedures-Identify the need for change control on the project. A change request may require rework to both completed products and those under development, as well as future tasks.  If it is not controlled then it will impact the project schedule and costs, and quality of the final product.

Establish Issue Resolution Procedure-Create the issue log.

Review Project Control Procedures-Conduct a review to ensure that the standard project controls are in place.

Conclusion

It is clear that every stage in a project is vital in order to not only meet the set objectives but answer questions that arise as well as hiving good strategies to handle any risks that arise in the course of the project. Quality of the project is a key issue too since to deliver the best, all begins with the initial plan. It is important to adopt project portfolio management (PPM) as a means of selecting the right projects and then using project management techniques as the means for delivering the outcomes in the form of benefits to the performing private or not-for-profit organization.

Posted on

CHRONIC CARE IN AMERICA

Place an order for a custom essay, research paper on this or related subject


 

Introduction

A chronic disease is a disease or other human condition that is persistent or long-lasting in nature and generally slow progression. This term chronic is applicable whereby the course of the said disease lasts for more than three months. The most common chronic diseases in the world include asthma, diabetes, cancer, and HIV/AIDS. According to the Department of Health & Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States, 2010, at least one chronic disease or condition affects 45% of persons and account for seven of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States. Persons who suffer from chronic diseases and conditions e.g., obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and asthma, experience limitations in function, health, activity, and work, affecting the quality of their lives as well as the lives of their family. Preventable health-risk factors e.g., insufficient physical activity, poor nutrition, and tobacco use and exposure, contribute substantially to the development and severity of certain chronic diseases and conditions.

The burden of chronic disease worldwide is accompanied by a shift in health policies towards patient-centered care, and at the same time putting in mind that the population prospects are increasing. In the last 50 years, chronic disease has become the number one in terms of morbidity and mortality in the US accounting for three fourths of the total health care expenditure (The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 2008).

 

 

Impacts of chronic diseases on the society

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in America points out that chronic disease affects more than just health care dollars; these illnesses have financial, personal, and occupational costs that go beyond healthcare expenditure. Chronic disease has major impacts that seriously affects the day-to-day lives of the society, it is onerous because it,

  • Has a major adverse effect on the quality of life of the affected individuals.
  • Causes premature deaths.
  • Creates large and underappreciated adverse economic effects on families, communities and society in general according to (WHO 2005).

 

How healthcare systems are addressing the chronic disease issue

  • Establishment of coordinated system of intervention and information sharing for patients with particular chronic condition or set of conditions and their providers
  • Encouraging all health providers to make use of the established practice guidelines when treating chronic diseases.
  • The process of educating patients to manage their conditions well and avoid disease complications.
  • Monitoring the quality of health care provided as well as patients outcomes overtime to ensure the program achieves its desired objectives.
  • Establishing more Medicare centers to conduct pilot studies on disease management, as well as establishing rules to encourage states to adopt such programs to help chronically ill patients better manage their diseases, improve health outcomes and lower medical costs.

 

Treatment of chronic disease and future improvements

For most chronic diseases, they require chronic care management for effective long term treatment. Effective chronic disease control requires attention to, social, behavioral, environmental and clinical aspects.

Obtaining recommended health screenings. This has been facilitated by the U.S Preventive Service Task Force which has established specific recommendations for cancer, blood pressure, diabetes, and other diseases as well as the risk factors.

State Wellness Programs (promoting health and avoiding costs). The state official’s guide to wellness discuss the wellness programs and initiatives (www.healthystate, c&g.org)

In future improvements can be made in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases through.

  • Access to healthcare-ensuring the establishment of health coverage as it is said united state is the only country with no health coverage especially for the African American population.
  • Ensuring medical advances including.
  • Discoveries in diagnosing and treating heart diseases and stroke.
  • Developing of effective medications for treatment of hypertensions.
  • A greater number of specialists and health care providers focusing in the various diseases.
  • Increasing the number of emergency-care units.
  • Adoption of good sex life.
  • Decline in cigarette smoking.
  • Decrease in mean blood pressure levels.
  • Change in the American diet.
  • Decrease in mean blood cholesterol levels.
  • Changing the individual controlled behaviors for the long term e.g.
  • Ensuring a nearer balance in socioeconomic status (SES). Individuals with higher SES tend to be better educated, have high incomes, and practice better individual behaviors(less smoking, controlled sex life, proper diets) and are most likely to have financial muscles or health insurance to help them access medical care with ease.
  • Having strong social policies. In the United States, some social policies such as, Medicare and Medicaid are an orientation to health improvement. They ease access to health care for vulnerable populations, the poor and the elderly.
Posted on

PIGS AND THE EUROS

Place an order for a custom essay, research paper on this or related subject

 

 

Abstract

‘PIGS’ is an acronym for Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain, mostly used by economists to describe their weak economy and huge debts that have raised concern in Europe and the world at large. The situation has caused economic crisis in these countries and also caused problems for the euro. The single currency’s fall against the dollar saw the decrease in income for the big American companies exporting to Europe. The European union leaders should come together in order to find the root causes of the problems affecting their member states, as this will aid them in finding lasting solutions to the same and save the euro.

Introduction

Before the euro was introduced, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain were constantly facing economic crises which later came to disappear as a result of prospering economically in the subsequent years. This was brought about by the adoption of the euro which imposed monetary and economic moderation upon them. Nonetheless, these PIGS countries were unable to meet the economic as well as monetary requirements that were imposed on them by Maastricht. This led to intensification of economic hardship and the member states of Eurozone felt that they were no longer able to support their already weak economic and monetary stability which was even becoming harder to conceal. In point of fact, the PIGS countries were not only facing excessive debts and deficits but were also engulfed with economic imbalances like excessive and unmanageable deficits of their current account and as a result they begun to put the blame on the euro (Lorca-susino, 2011).

 

 

The root of the problem

The problems faced by these countries comes from the fact that monetary union boosts fiscal unbalances, since it is no longer an alternative to opt for devaluation of competitive currency and what remains a substitute is abuse of fiscal policy which thereupon affecting the differentials of the sovereign bond yield. In the year 2005, the yield differentials were almost zero betwixt German Bund and the yield of countries whose current account deficits were in excess. However, during the year ago, yield spreads became a disturbing reality, which in turn raised governments default risks, judged by sudden rise in demand for ‘credit default swaps’. Thus the economic distress occurring currently, has for a fact shown that, default risk is a substitute for currency risk in monetary union, since every member state sovereign debt is given under the authority of the respective finance ministries (Lorca-susino, 2011).

How to repair the problems

During the Euro zone’s government regime deep flaws were revealed by the crisis. After the financial market fiasco that mostly occurred in Western Europe and United States of America in the years 2007, 2008, 2009 and more especially from 2010, deep expressed concerns have highly affected the financial markets about some European nation’s states solvency. Fundamental questions should be addressed by European Union leaders on the principles of operation on which the euro is based upon. The European Union is face two main challenges; regulating the crisis while at the same time carrying out the adjustments of Eurozone and making government reforms to avoid crises in the future. The euro problem can be blamed on poor implementation of rules, therefore enforcing this rules might be part of the solution  (Lorca-susino, 2011).

Such changes may include;

Realistic policy framework reform

European Central Bank is currently assigned price Stability and stability and Growth Pack assigned budgetary discipline. The existing framework assumes explicitly that all threats on stability arise from budgetary indiscipline. Apart from price stability, Eurozone governance has three other economic objectives which include financial stability, avoidance of macroeconomic imbalances and budgetary discipline. Therefore, the new reformed policy framework should clearly define task allocation (Lorca-susino, 2011).

Encourage decentralization

The budgetary discipline of Eurozone was not a big success and this could succeed even more if the system was somehow decentralized. A system that puts together market forces and domestic institutional reforms to keep checking deficits and debts would emerge. Decentralization should therefore be encouraged by government through provision of umbrella framework for institutions and national rules. By ensuring that eurozone objectives are in consistence with government reform frameworks and rewarding countries with better institutions, the European Union should see its economy a yardstick ahead (Lorca-susino, 2011).

Defining complete policy regime

A full crisis resolution regime needs to be defined regarding the debt crises which may include the modalities and principles of assistance and debt restructuring. In that accord, Eurozone economic stability will be secured (Lorca-susino, 2011).

 

 

Conclusion

Enforcement might be part of the solution to the European Union’s problem, but their problem surely runs deeper than that. In that case their leaders should sit down and find a lasting solution to their crisis. Important questions about the operational principles in which the euro is based should be addressed. The Eurozone leaders should adapt to the changing situation and change with it as the future of the euro entirely depends on them.