Great article from WSJ. Education in South Africa struggling like our own urban schools. Can online support help Sibonelo?

The Wall Street Journal published the story today on report of South Africa schools. Apparently teachers are not accountable and many students are on school grounds missing classes and participating in gambling and drugs. In the classes there are too many unmotivated students. Schools such as Orlando West High School that was a beacon of light for students has now deteriorated. 

According to the article more money is spent on education, 20% of the South African budget which is a higher percentage than either Switzerland or Japan. In fairness I think it's safe to say that Switzerland and Japan make more money and have a more stable economy. More money is spent on education then healthcare or military in South Africa. 

Many classes are canceled because the teachers to stay home. Drugs like marijuana and

Sibonelo 18 wants to study botany

home made opiates are widely used. Motivation is certainly being affected. 

Sounds just like in the US  there are not enough jobs in the marketplace to give people an opportunity for success. Educators and economists spin the same dogma that the only way to advance is through education. The jobs that education require are very competitive. Many people are not made to succeed in education. There's nothing wrong with them, but they need other kind of work. 

People who make their living through capitalism have not developed opportunities for people who are not text savvy or book smart. Government has not developed anything to expand opportunity to those whose skill sets not include books. In the urban culture particularly there is a sense of hopelessness and non-inclusion. Our political parties have failed and so has Wall Street. We have seen the same failure in communist countries as well as socialism. 

I think partnership of capitalism and government pulls together resourceful people but they have to be challenged to new ideas, good old ideas to increase opportunities for others. 

In the article I was thinking about the students who were trying to get an education that could compete in the South African universities and workforce. They are smart enough to know that they are not getting what they need. The article talked about tutoring which is a great support. 

There was no mention of students getting support through our online education. I believe that this is a real possibility for the Third World. South Africa is one of the most educated countries in Africa. Educators, government resources need to become more aware of online support. 

motivation & judgement impaired

Sibonelo an 18-year-old featured In the article wants to be the first black botanist in South Africa. He is afraid he is not given the tools to compete. There are courses online that specifically study Botany. In his school there is a lot of time lost because of lack of teacher management in allowing many inappropriate behaviors to dominate the classroom. Sounds like classrooms from Chicago or Philadelphia. Rather than lose the potential of a student like Sibonelo wouldn't online education give him the support he needs. 

Not only do I think online medicine and education can help Liberia, but I think the machines could help the US and South Africa.

Whether or not you agree with my analysis read this informative article.Share with others and help me get the word out.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/south-africas-schools-like-the-nation-are-falling-short-1470148770

Praying like a poor man, harder than you think

I was reading Oswald Chambers My Utmost for his Highest June 9 devotion titled, For Everyone that Asketh Receiveth. Luke 11:10 http://www.studylight.org/devotionals/utm/

Study light is a great resource for Bible study. When most of us go to prayer we do not go to prayer with a perspective a of a poor man. I now live on a pension from work and Social Security. In my life giving was governed by the principle of planning and some discipline to stay within my means. Giving for me it was a joy in the spirit of unconditional love. Giving was always limited by my resources many times was joined with others who's gifts we're part of meeting a bigger need. Again most needs that I had we're met by provision and planning. I have experience a few times needs being met beyond what I could provide.

When a poor man prays he has little daily provision to plan with. The need is there but he can't meet it. So how does he pray? A poor man begs. Most of the time others then look down at him. For pity they may throw small coins his direction. Very few of the passerby's really look to do anything that might meet the need.  

In Luke 11:9 in the Greek three present imperatives in this verse (Ask…seek…knock) are probably intended to call for a repeated or continual approach before God. Lk. 11:10 repeats the (ask… seek… knock) indicated that the repeated asking God does respond. 

Matt. 5:3a The poor in spirit is a reference to the “pious poor” for whom God especially cares. See 

Moses Tarr at Alfred Joe's home. These men are my 

friends. They are good men, better than me that is for

sure. They work hard and have trades. 

Ps 14:6 You sinners frustrate the plans of the afflicted, but the Lord is his refuge.” ; 22:24 For He has not despised or detested the torment of the afflicted. He did not hide His face from him but listened when he cried to Him for help.”; 

25:16 “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am alone and afflicted.”; 

34:6 “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him from all his troubles.”; 40:17 “I am afflicted and needy; the Lord thinks of me. You are my helper and my deliverer; my God, do not delay.; 

69:29 ”But as for me—poor and in pain—let Your salvation protect me, God.”

When it comes to prayer many of us are in the dark about it. I have shared an extended quote from Thomas Constable writes concerning asking God to stimulate to grey cells and maybe a little bit of insight. God wants us to ask (beg) and understand our dependence on him. Many of us would balk at such idea.

Asking for Ourselves building a theology of prayer

“Some sincere Christians believe that it is selfish and not very trusting to ask God to give us anything. Some believe that praying for personal needs is more a mark of unbelief than of trust in God. After all, since God loves us perfectly will He not do what is best for us? 

Such an attitude may superficially sound very spiritual. However, it contradicts Jesus' clear teaching that God's children should ask Him for their needs (Matt. 6:11; Luke 11:1-4). It also ignores James' statement that we do not have some things from God because we do not ask Him for them (James 4:2). God not only encourages us to ask Him for what we need, but He commands us to do so. Evidently He does so to teach us to look to Him for our needs since He is our provider. 

God's responses to personal petitions teach us what we can expect when we pray this way. Sometimes God granted the request, but sometimes He did not. Sometimes He waited to give an answer. We shall investigate the conditions we need to meet for securing favorable answers to our prayers in a later chapter. For now, appreciate that often God graciously gives what we request for ourselves. 

Jesus told his disciples the parable of the persistent friend to help them realize that God will always give what is best to His children who ask Him in prayer (Luke 11:5-13). A friend may eventually give his neighbor what he needs because he is his friend. However, God is our Father, and a good father always gives his children what is best for  them at the best time. Therefore we should keep on asking in prayer, keep on seeking God's face, and keep on knocking on heaven's door. 

Fortunately God does not grant every one of our requests just because we ask. Sometimes we make foolish petitions. Moses once asked God to kill him because he felt discouraged (Num. 11:15). Fortunately God understands our situation and gives us what is best. Sometimes when old people pray for longer life God takes them home to heaven. If He does, that is best for them then.” 

A poor man ask God for $700.00 to buy an engine to put into a truck. The truck then can help the poor man who works in the trade too build cement block buildings and mason work. Having the truck gives a greater possibility for work and a livable income. God has put this poor man on my heart to help him on a regular basis. While I can plan a regular gift I have no resource for a $700.00 gift. In essence I am in the same place as the poor man. I have to look to God and ask him to provide. 

The chance to purchase the engine came and went. It did help Barbara and I to put aside what we can to have a fund to meet such needs. Our resources are limited, but I am determined to give what I can. 

I believe the request was a good request. Maybe the engine was no good? Maybe at this juncture God wanted me to understand then he would provide Beyond what I am capable? I actually him more sympathetic to the poor man's request. 

Oswald Chambers was writing around World War I. He was writing hundred years ago. Christians back then closer to day to needs. I believe back then there were many who understood the ministry of prayer. Chambers reminds us that “ask” here is meant to be beg. To be poor in spirit men somebody who was dependent on God. Here I think there are less people who have little experience with this. We are more experienced with being encouraged to be self dependent. But the first characteristics in the Beatitudes for a believer is to be “poor in spirit”. Can God care for the poor? God is given human responsibility for this we see throughout the Scriptures. In our secular progressive society we want others to pay for the poor. But do we take on our personal responsibility to do it? For arguments sake I don't think so. 

It is not wrong to steer the government to care for the poor. Franklin Roosevelt help the American people needed to know that the government cared about their suffering in the 1930s. His response did not end the depression but it gave hope. Some ideas that came from that were good and others were not as good. Government can never be big enough to take care of human need. Human effort in commerce can bring wealth and prosperity to others. If it does not listen to the Scriptures to care for fellow human; it can be rather brutal and slums result and multitudes lose hope. If we learn to invest in our fellow man and woman many more benefit. 

The biggest resource that the poor have is not government nor the rich. Their biggest resource for the poor are you and I that are closer to the poor and we can personalize our support. We can invent better ways to care for our fellows. Together we build what is needed. But we have to take personal responsibility and not just give it over to government or the rich. The biggest link we need is the Lord. Some of you may disagree with that. But the human experience is a lot closer to being poor then you can imagine.

Negative thinking is like driver ants

Dr. Daniel Amen an American psychiatrist shares another way you can fight depression is to identify and kill the ants, the Automatic Negative Thoughts that keep you feeling down. This List is from an article, Two of the Most Important Ways to Beat Depression Dec. 8, 2016

#1 All or nothing thinking – also known as black and white thinking

#2 “Always” thinking – using words like, always, never, no one, everyone, every time and everything

#3 Focusing on the negative – selectively seeing only the bad in a situation and disregarding the good things that occur

#4 Fortune telling – predicting the worst possible outcome to situations

#5 Mind reading – believing that you know what another person is thinking even though he or she hasn’t told you

#6 Thinking with your feelings – happens when you believe your feelings and don’t question them– even when there is no evidence to support how you feel

#7 Guilt beatings – thinking with words like should, must, ought and have to

#8 Labeling – calling yourself or someone else a derogatory name diminishes your ability to see situations clearly

#9 Blaming – when you don’t take responsibility for your actions, you lose your power to make changes

Try to come up within an example of each of the nine negative thoughts.

I'm going to take a look at #3 focusing on the negative. When we are depressed we actually see everything from that point of view. When it comes to ourselves always see is bad things. When you look at your day all you can recall is the bad things that happen. Those bad things are all you're thinking about.

You can help your depression by challenging each negative thought. What is not true about that negative thought? Think of three things you are thankful for. Think up two things that were good for you today. You had a meal today. Before you went to bed it started to cool off. You saw a child smile today. You saw a snake in the bush and were able to walk away from the snake. Now think of three things in your experience today that was good.

Overcoming depression isn't it easy. It is harder when you don't have today's medications. But I can tell you even if you had the best of medicine you still have to do the work at it like identifying the ants, negative thinking that we all look at. Keep walking

http://danielamenmd.amenclinics.com/1-2-punch-to-beat-depression/

I am not a doctor. But I do want you to know things that may help you with depression.

Train nurses and informed care to see what a doctor sees

Drew Hinshaw wrote a report in the Wall Street Journal about the people who had to bury the 11,000 people who died from Ebola; are now having to deal with the posttraumatic stress from the experience. Many of these workers were involved in the Civil War of 14 years as well. I can add to those experiences the trauma of seeing many people die from malaria and other tropical diseases. When I lived in Liberia, many families would give a permanent name to their children at the age of eight because 50% of the children died before the age of eight from tropical diseases. 

From these conditions it is easy for me to see as the article reports before the Ebola outbreak in 2011 “40% of the 500,000 people in Nimba County exhibited symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder.” That is 200,000 people in one county. If you then factor in the Ebola tragedy stress already had a breaking point would show many people are suffering.

For 4,000,000 people in Liberia there is only one psychiatrist. Potentially a 40% being affected with post-traumatic stress disorder when be around 1,600,000. The actual number maybe more than that but I have no way of knowing. 

Related to this large number would be people suffer from depression and anxiety. 

I have already reported on how schizophrenia is being treated by chaining people to trees. When I lived in Liberia I saw a man who was nude with the car bumper chained to his body. He was walking right down the street in the rainy season in Buchanan. This let everybody know that he had a mental illness and without treatment that was his lot. 

From these reports the only sensible treatments available would be through clinics or nurses administrating hopefully medicines that treat the disorders. 

Matthew Kruah, one of the so-called burial boys,
who helped inter victims of Ebola

The New York Times reports Benedict Carey, in Ghana and another places in Africa nurses are being trained as well as community support systems to help people with these problems. The reality is there will never be enough doctors. People can still be helped if nurses, therapists can be trained to see what the doctor sees to prescribe the right medicine and dose; and then monitor the progress and make changes like the doctor would. Support could be given by training pastors, the most educated in an area, to run support groups. Online education would be one of the best ways to get to meet people connected to good ideas about support groups. AA could train people to run groups for alcohol and drugs abuse. 

Connecting with people who are interested and have people skills could be very helpful in helping people with posttraumatic-stress, depression and anxiety. I think it is important to remember that the people who are being trained come from a different educational system then what we have in United States. 

In the New York Times article by Carey reported that these programs would have to be evaluated in time to see if they were effective. To be honest with you I think we are years away from seeing more psychiatrists in Liberia. Doctors follow the money so training nonprofessional people is something that we have to do better. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/health/mental-health-care-in-west-africa-is-often-a-product-of-luck.html?_r=0

http://www.wsj.com/articles/ebola-still-takes-mental-toll-on-west-africas-burial-boys-1455080341

Background of problems in Liberia

Moses giving me a shave, bad idea

Historically Liberia was somewhat developed along the coast by the 15 or so families I'll back slaves Of America settling in Liberia in 1822. Inland Liberia remained isolated from modern life following traditional tribal customs of 16 tribal groups. These tribal groups had fought one another and were somewhat put under control by Pres. Tugman in the 1940s to 1971. 

Most missions concentrated their efforts along the coast. Education in the interior was primarily promoted by a few companies and a few missionaries working in the interior. Governmental schools we're slow to develop in and very poor and the quality of education.

With over 20 years of conflict the situation had only grown worse. Liberian business has always been controlled buy foreign investors. Today the Chinese and Indochina operate many busuiness. 

West Africa has been in the news because of Ebola and the ISIS threat to innocents.

Following the health story one thing that is apparent to me is that Liberia lacks the technical training to improve their health system. There aren't enough teachers, doctors, nurses, engineers, tradesman and businessman trained to compete in the modern world. Illiteracy and the lack of a common language greatly impairs the progress in Liberia. There are too many places where there are no schools, clinics, Liberian owned businesses. The ebola crisis as been averted but there is no infrastructure of health or education in the country. So in the next crisis comes there will be too few of the Liberians able to deal with it.

Liberians who get educated make a greater effort to leave the country. It's hard to blame them in light of violence and hardship in a very hot climate. Their very desire to improve their personal situation leaves Liberia with even less human resources.

The present Liberian leadership has given the country a place in which to begin to grow again. In order to see progress there has to be security and safety. As this is taken place we have to realize that the reality is too few can read and write. There are too few who are able to go to college. Liberia has less than 3 million people, 16 tribes, and a growing urban slum that lacks the resources of their country cousins to live off the land. The first thing to do is to become aware of what is being done and not being done. 

For me,

in a practical sense, what can I do? Keep walking