A hunger for education ... and justice

Emmanuel Jal is fighting to give the young people of Sudan the educational opportunities they deserve. As a child, the now famous Sudanese hip-hop musician was kept from school and forced to fight as a child soldier in Sudan's brutal civil war that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives between 1983 and 2005.

Unlike thousands of other “lost boys,” though, Jal survived. And by the time he was 13 he had witnessed the unspeakable horrors of war and had seen hundreds of other children like him perish. Now around 30-years-old (he’s not sure exactly when he was born) and with a critically acclaimed album and autobiography to his name, Jal is focused on building a school in Sudan to give children there the chances he never had.

“I’m willing to die for this,” he explains, “because this is a message I want the world to know. Education is the only way for my country. When you don't educate the people, you're crippling them ... you're not giving them ways to survive.”

For more information about Jal’s project visit http://www.gua-africa.org/.

The crisis of hunger!

“A child dies of hunger every five seconds -- even though the planet has more than enough food for all.” These were the opening words to the three day summit on world hunger and food security being held in Rome.

“Today, more than 1 billion people are hungry,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told those attending. “Six million children die of hunger every year -- 17,000 every day.” Those leaders in attendance adopted a declaration to renew their commitment to eradicating hunger. They promised to do this by promoting investment, reversing the decline in funding for agriculture and tackling the effect of global warming on food security.

The United Nations is also seeking commitment from the public -- making an online appeal for individual donations to fight hunger. “If a billion internet users donate a dollar or a euro a week, we can literally transform the lives of a billion hungry people across the world,” explained a World Food Program’s spokesperson.

“Small donations can make a big difference.”

The Best of Africa!

While the news media continue to focus on the problems of Africa . . . its struggle with starvation, drought, disease and civil unrest (to name just a few), James Makawa wants Africa to be seen by the rest of the world in the best possible light. The broadcaster and co-founder of The African Channel aims to create the first high-definition programs from Africa for global consumption.

“I am going to grab a hold of this continent, put a nice bow around it and change the perception of this beloved continent in a classy, classy way,” Makawa explains. The Africa Channel has been bringing positive stories from the continent to millions of channel subscribers in the U.S., the UK and Caribbean since 2005.

From world leaders to the lifestyles and culture of the continent, Makawa is committed to promoting the continent as much as possible. “We all know Africa is the cradle of mankind,” he continues. “This is a vibrant, vibrant place. It has its problems, it has its challenges just like any other place on the planet. Some more complex. But this is a place that is just so rich, vibrant, promising.”

If more people shared Mr. Makawa’s vision, imagine the possibilities!

A Genocide of Women

As conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo continues, rape has turned into a weapon of war. A recent human rights report states that "the number of attacks on women have grown three hundred percent over the past few years."

“Rape is being used as a weapon of war in eastern Congo,” a researcher explains, “so we notice and we have documented that when armed groups walk into town, they will rape the women and girls, sometimes publicly, sometimes privately, in order to punish the local population. It's the easiest way to terrorize a community.”

“One of the other sad realities is that the majority of those who are raped are adolescent girls, 12-year-olds, 13-year-olds, 14-year-olds. Their lives are often ruined by this. And I think we've got to take more seriously -- protection of civilians is not just protecting them from death. It's protecting them from rape.”

Some victims would argue, there isn’t much difference.