Lakewood fourth-graders learn about students in Kenya
connecting students

Sentinel staff report

By Marcia Buck


Margaret Kimosop, wearing clothing from her homeland Kenya.

When fourth-graders at West Ottawa's Lakewood Elementary School learned about Kenyan children, and their need for clean water, "they had eager minds, generous hearts and loving spirits," said Marcia Buck, a Holland representative of the Aqua Clara program.

On Nov. 7, Margaret Kimosop from Kenya addressed the group in her traditional Kenyan dress, while Bettie Visscher of Holland told the group of her experiences as a teacher in one of the schools in Kenya.

Earlier, with their teachers, Jamila Jawahir, Ken Arthurs and Amy VanAllsburg, the Lakewood students had learned about the children in five elementary schools around Eldoret, Kenya, and elected to contribute some of their limited funds to help these Kenyan children.

Visscher told the students that the Kenyan children would walk to school, sometimes an hour away, and that they would sit for four hours straight without a break, sometimes with little brothers and sisters on their lap, for morning classes and then again in the afternoon.

For breakfast they would have a cup of tea, for lunch, corn gruel (like cream of wheat in texture) and the same for dinner, but maybe with a little goat meat. The Lakewood students asked whether there were snacks or a cafeteria where they could get other food. The answer was no.

A doctoral student in Public Administration at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Kimosop told the students that the Kenyan children love to learn. They want to learn English and know everything they can about the United States, because that can get them a job. She told the students that the children of Kenya wear uniforms to school, and politeness is very important. Their lessons are at a table made of planks of wood in a large room where all the children are seated. When the teacher enters, the children all rise and say, "Good Morning, Miss Kimosop," sit and begin lessons for the day.

The Lakewood students asked what kind of sports or games the children played. Kimosop said although recesses are few, they love to play outside, just as American students do, but there they would make balls out of paper and string and make up games to play.

To foster cross-cultural communication, this month the Lakewood students are writing letters and short stories with pictures for the children in Kenya. The principal of schools at Eldoret has promised that the Kenyan children will respond with letters. However, they have a limited supply of paper and pencils, so when the letters are sent from Holland, paper, pencils, erasers and sharpeners will be included. Mrs. Jawahir's class has already collected 683 pencils. Collectively, it is the intention of all the children to establish longer-term communications with each other.

"Last year, Lakewood Elementary students collected $460 to help buy water purifiers for the children in each of the grades in five schools around Eldoret. These water purifiers, as developed by Aqua Clara using age-old technologies, provide clean water from fecally polluted water at $0.0003 per liter," Buck said. "At that time, we made the promise to the Lakewood children to establish a linkage between these groups of children so everyone could talk to everyone, which is now happening."

"So at this meeting, John Hesselink III of Holland, who will expand the training of the Kenyan teams in producing these water purifiers, also shared some of his experiences with the children. He described the condition of the water from the local stream, where the children bathe and the wild animals defecate, as being the same water the children and their families have for drinking. Such water often makes the children chronically sick and sometimes die. He explained the new, locally made water purifiers provide clean water at a price their families can afford. John went on to describe the high interest of the Kenyan children in having clean water and sharing that with their families. In January he will also help in expanding the linkage between the schools and share with the Kenyan children the greetings from the children from the Lakewood Schools."

For more information, visit www.aquaclara.us or call Marcia Buck at (616) 396-8511.

Culture, civilization, and development

How do we build a world that is more tolerant and accepting of all people? How do we build societies that are more accepting of others and that seek the best for all their people? These are some of the many questions that we al grapple with as we struggle to find answers to all the turmoil that we see everyday all over the world. Global terrorism is on the rise around the world and even as of today the United States and its allies seem to be loosing the battle in their fight to root out terrorist activities around the world. How does culture play a role in nurturing democratic ideals in a given society and how are these ideals sustained and practiced holistically without discrimination or preference.

The article reviewed looks at this critical matter and how culture shapes society. The article is based on an interview of Lee Kuan Yew (former ruler of Singapore from 1969- 1990) and conducted by Fareed Zakaria (1994). Zakaria’s aim in doing the interview was to explore some of the critical factors that led to the enormous economic success of Singapore since its independence. In the interview, Yew notes that one of the factors that has enabled Singapore and especially the Asian tigers to succeed immensely is their cultural values and belief in “thrift, hard work, filial piety and loyalty in the extended family and most of all, the respect for scholarship and learning.” He acknowledges that even though these values also exist within the Western cultural system and have in the past led to the western nation’s success, these values have been on decline in these nations for decades now thus threatening the underpinnings of their societies.

Yew also points out that another reason for Singapore’s success has been the government’s facilitation of certain changes that have created economic growth as the country moved from and agricultural society to an industrial society. Although others have criticized this kind of government initiated and driven economic policy and plan as compared to an American-style system that is flexible, laissez-faire and constantly adapting to change, Yew sees it differently. Although he believes in the government’s role in society, he nevertheless believes that in keeping with the Confucian value system the strongest foundation for any society is in the family. He notes that through all turbulence the family provided an individual a “survival raft.” According to him this “life raft is what enables the civilization to carry on and get to its next phase.”

Yew notes that notwithstanding the criticisms that have been leveled against some East Asian countries of their distrust for open and freewheeling intellectual climate, East Asian countries actually value innovation and the production of new technologies and products. Yew points out that East Asians tradition of strict discipline and respect for teachers enables the nurturing of intellectual capacities. On a governmental level, the encouragement of savings and investments, keeping inflation low, and providing high-quality education have been key drivers of success. However, Yew stresses that the overarching factor is the cultural underpinnings of the society. He notes that even if a country liberalizes its economy and gets many of the economic fundamentals right, if other driving forces are ignored including the value of learning and scholarship, hard work, thrift, and deferment of present enjoyment for future gain, the going will be much slower.
In many ways, there is some truth in what Yew talks about especially one compares the East Asian nations to the oil rich gulf states that have a lot of economic wealth (in terms of oil money), but whose societies still languish and are far behind the East Asian nations.

Yew notes that although with the passage of time cultures change and adopt new ways of doing things and seeing the world, people still tend to grope backwards in the hope of identifying with their past. He illustrates this with the example of how there is a resurgence or the rise of religion in many parts of East Asia. In other parts of the world (especially in the western world) people are not looking to official religion but are searching for a higher meaning and purpose in their own lives. He also acknowledges that there are massive changes occurring within the East Asian societies in terms of lifestyles, ways of bringing up children and especially governance systems within the countries. In terms of the spreading of ideas of democracy and individual rights with East Asian countries, he acknowledges that many of these countries have changed considerably and are still changing. However, he notes that this will not necessarily mean that the systems of government will end up being like the American system or the German system. It is possible that they will be entirely different in keeping with the people’s needs and the maximization of possibilities for all citizens. He is convinced that what will eventually emerge is what will work best within their culture and context.

Implication for governance values
Such an argument mirrors the discussion on what is happening in the Middle East today and especially United States policy in Iraq. Trying to forcibly plant a western style democratic system in such a country and within a short period of time is foolish at best. The United States has hopefully learnt a valuable lesson from the Iraq debacle that one cannot unilaterally impose one’s own system of governance on another country without taking into account the history and context of that nation. There are no generic solutions to be dispensed at will to anyone that one has control of. What is needed is for the rebuilding of societal institutions in such ravaged nations and planting of seeds that will hopefully flower to create a society where everybody is valued and provided with the opportunity to be the best that they can be.

Yew explains that the United States, Western Europe, Japan, China, and other emerging strong nations will in the future need to work more and more closely together in working to find ways to maintain the rule of law and to spread the rule of law in international relations. He notes that the world has over the decades become more intertwined and nations have become interdependent on another thus calling for a need for greater collaboration in world affairs.


REFERENCE
Zakaria, F. (1994). Culture is destiny- a conversation with Lee Kuan Yew. Foreign Affairs, 73 (2), 109- 126

Welfare reform: An outcomes analysis of policy changes

Welfare as a public policy issue has always been a contentious one and among the broad range of people in society, it evokes different feelings and emotions. On one hand there are those who strongly believe that welfare is an entitlement program that should be done away with completely or at least severely limited because of its effects of building a culture of poverty. Others on the opposite end have always seen welfare as a means of meeting the needs of the poor in society and as a way of equalizing the unfairness of the American socio-economic system. According to this camp, it is morally justifiable to meet the needs of those who cannot provide for themselves and no limits should be placed on such kind of help.

From the time of the great society programs and President Lyndon Johnson’s war on poverty programs in the 1960’s to the early 1990’s this debate raged deeply among the American people. Many calls were made to reform the welfare system because many people judged the system as it was a failure in rooting out poverty and stabilizing millions of people living in poverty especially single mothers and their children. As a result, in 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWORA) into law which ushered in a new set of welfare policies that made work –not need – the centerpiece of the welfare system. Over ten years since the enactment of this law, conflicting outcomes have been evidenced. The article reviewed below closely examines the impacts and outcomes of the 1996 welfare reform and evaluates its successes and failures. Essentially, what the article contends is that welfare reform is not enough and the system needs to be better structured to adequately meet the needs of those it serves. As has been stated above, this is just one of the sides of this debate and others would strongly disagree with such a conclusion. Really, depending on one’s own ideological view, it is possible to come up with a different set of conclusions. Advocates of the welfare system, even in its reformed state say that the system has enabled many individuals and especially many young single mothers lead a dignified life with their own health and the health of their children assured.

According to Tanner, M. (2003) “welfare reform has not been the disaster predicted by its critics, but neither has it been the extraordinary success hailed by its supporters” (1). He contends that welfare reform has been less successful in meeting many of its stated goals including the enforcement of time limits and work requirements. He also points out that welfare reform has not been able to reduce out-of-wedlock births to young women and has not been successful in breeding a new culture of independence and self-sufficiency among welfare recipients.
In terms of its success, Tanner points out that results show that poverty rates declined every year between 1996 and 2001 and by 2000 child poverty rates had declined to 16.2 percent from a high of 20 percent in 1996. He also points out that by 2003 there had been a drastic decline in poverty among female-headed households compared to other demographic groups though women and children still remained more likely to be in poverty than two-parent families with children.

Tanner also points out that welfare caseloads have been declining since the enactment of the new welfare policies. He points out to statistics that show that in the year 1995 more than 5 million Americans were receiving welfare benefits and nearly one of every seven children lived in a family receiving welfare. After the passage of welfare reform in 1996 caseloads decline increased rapidly and nearly every state saw a significant drop in the number of people seeking benefits. Of course others have seen this decline as having come as a result of a combination of many factors and not just welfare reform. According to those observers, a fall in welfare caseloads coincided with a period of substantial economic and job growth thus leading to the conclusion that former welfare recipients were taking advantage of the good economy and therefore getting jobs. However, this conclusion was subject to debate.

According to Tanner others point out that a fall in welfare caseloads was a result of stringent sanction policies that were put in place by many states to move people out of welfare. Many other welfare recipients were “strongly” encouraged to find work and many did eventually find work and stayed completely off welfare. Many other states also introduced “work first” programs that helped former welfare recipients to ease into work environment and also provided many work support programs like child care and transportation to assist clients retain their jobs once they were employed. However, in the recent years caseloads have either leveled off in many states or have inched up a little bit in some states as a result of weak state economies and loss of jobs. On the whole, Tanner and other policy observers acknowledges that there will be many people who will always dependent on welfare because of a variety of reasons including those who lack education, job skills and employment history and many others who battle with substance abuse, domestic violence, lack health insurance, those who have disabilities, lack transportation, and other problems.

Tanner also points out that success of welfare policies should not be judged by declining case loads alone but also by the well-being of those who have left the welfare rolls. According to a study done in South Carolina and Wisconsin among former recipients, many believed that their quality of life had improved since leaving welfare.

In terms of discouraging out-of-wedlock births, post-1996 welfare reforms have shown encouraging results. Researchers at the Brookings Institution have pointed out that the slowing down of out-of-wedlock births during the first part of the 1990’s was as a result of a decline in second out-of-wedlock births to women who had already had one child out of wedlock.

Implication for governance values

As has been noted above, welfare reforms since the mid 1990’s have exhibited mixed results that include both successes and failures. However, on the whole there have been more successes that have contributed to the betterment of the lives of millions of Americans. The calls for welfare reforms in the 1990 were partly a call for limiting government and especially in its role in the lives of the citizens. It was also occasioned by the cries of those who saw government as huge bureaucratic machine that had become mired by waste and fraud. Many observers today therefore see the 1990’s welfare reforms as positive changes that were long overdue. As more studies are done to ascertain the success or failures of the new welfare system, what is of importance to keep in mind is that the quality of lives of million of Americans is at stake and therefore any policy changes that are made should be done in a spirit of fairness and justice and not just out of expediency and partisanship.



REFERENCE

Tanner, M. (2003). Welfare reform: Less that meets the eye. Cato Institute Policy Analysis No. 473. Cato Institute. Retrieved February 20, 2006 from the World Wide Web: htt://www.cato.org

Eco-tourism: Does it help or hurt fragile lands and cultures?

Ecotourism has become the in-thing today. More people are latching on to the ecotourism bandwagon in the hopes of gaining some benefit from this relatively new tourism phenomenon. However, of late there has been grave concern that rather than promoting and protecting the environment, ecotourism actually hurts the environment and that the costs far out way the benefits. The article reviewed below analyzes this critical issue from all angles.

The international Ecotourism Society defines ecotourism as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserve the environment and improves the well-being of local people”. Cox (2006) in her article notes that in the booming global travel business, ecotourism is one of the fastest-growing segments. Those who strongly advocate for this kind of tourism see it as a “benign tool for sustainable economic development in even the poorest nations” However, those who are critical of ecotourism point out to the dangers to fragile ecosystems which visitors flock to see, and the threats to the wellbeing of indigenous cultures as they come in contact with outsiders.

Cox notes that in the last twenty five years, many travelers have enjoyed expanding opportunities to visit locations once considered impossibly remote. Places like the Antarctica, Galapagos Islands and Mount Everest, have become popular destination spots for many tourists in recent years. Cox notes that for those tourists who seek meaningful experiences during their vacations, ecotourism has been able to provide them with these kinds of opportunities. Tourists are able to learn about different cultures and how other people live and are also able to observe and learn about unique natural settings and ecosystems. Advocates of ecotourism also point to the benefits that local economies gain by participants in the ecotourism business. In fact a number of development economists have pointed out that ecotourism is one of the best methods of local community development especially in many poor communities. This is especially so in communities where the indigenous people are made a part of the decision making process and are closely involved in the ecotourism projects.

Indeed there has been some evidence that this kind of program has worked in some communities. In Kenya for instance, the Masaai and Samburu ethnic people who live near many of the most popular wildlife destination spots in the country that receive thousands of international tourists a year have partnered with the government and both local and international tour operators to manage some of the game parks and national reserves so that all the stakeholders can benefit from the tourism trade. In the past these communities had been marginalized and denied the benefits accruing from the tourism trade and this had led to a lot of disenchantment and retaliation from the local communities. Today, the development of these kinds of partnership has led to increasing trust and openness and even led to greater efforts at conservation and preservation of the natural environment by local communities and other key stakeholders.

Those who are critical of such development however, point out that for many other local communities around the world, ecotourism has not been the boon they thought it would be. Some critics point out that a lot of that money that is brought in by tourists ends up back in many of the developed nations in terms of “profits earned by foreign-owned businesses, promotional spending abroad or payments for imported labor and goods.”

Some have contended that many groups have joined the ecotourism or “green” bandwagon just to make quick profits and not necessarily because they care too much about the environment or even whether their services or tour offers are really ecotourism related. This has led to calls for a certification system “reflecting a destination’s environmental and cultural sensitivity. Cox points out that those who advocate for such kind of certification system see it as the only “way to protect the market advantages of genuine ecotourism and encourage development of sustainable practices in the broader marketplace.” However, those who criticize such a move see it as one more way that “diminishes the involvement of indigenous people and exacerbate many of the problems ecotourism already creates for its communities.”

Even as ecotourism has benefited numerous communities around the world, there has been increasing concern that fragile ecosystems are in great danger of tremendous damage. Cox (2006) gives an example of Costa Rica, where as a result of an explosion of visitors to some of its beautiful park systems, hundreds of Costa Rican workers moved into these areas to provide services to the tourists creating a negative environmental impact on the fringes of the preserves. This shows that more needs to be done to balance population needs with environmental protection.

Implication for Governance values
On the whole, ecotourism can be beneficial to all stakeholders if managed well. Governments, conservation agencies, tour operators and local communities all need to work together to aggressively promote environmental sustainability. Sustainable practices are being encouraged on a global scale to mitigate the effects of increasing tourism around the world. Cox (2006) notes that in “Costa Rica, Guatemala, Belize and Ecuador, more than 200 tourism operations in or near sensitive or protected areas are receiving training in the “best practices” of sustainable tourism including waste management and water and electricity conservation, as well as social factors as paying adequate salaries and including local and indigenous people in decision making.”

Others point out to the benefits accrued as a result of different people from different cultures meeting and learning from one another. Indigenous-rights activists see the interpersonal connections and first-person impressions derived from tourist visits as of great importance. They contend that tourism should be utilized as a means of effective communication with one another and as a better way of understanding the global crisis that we face today.

REFERENCE

Cox, R. S. (2006, October 20). Ecotourism: Does it help or hurt fragile lands and cultures? CQ Researcher, 16(37), 865-888.

Women’s role in society

I agree with the writer Kang’ara that African women today have been disempowered through the economic system of the modern world. In the past African women were “proud landowners and producers” but today they do not have a say in their economic lives. They have been reduced to consumers of products rather than producers. Even though the products they produced in the past were basic and often rudimentary, it met the needs of their families and their communities. Cottage industries thrived in these traditional communities and goods were exchanged through barter trade. When you look at e-bay for instance, it is nothing but a virtual market where people barter products they have in exchange for the goods they need, only that it is done in a little bit more sophisticated way.

We need to carefully study the traditional system of family and community sustenance and especially the traditional economic systems that acted as mechanisms for the exchange of goods and services and see what lessons we can glean from our forefathers. The lessons learned can then be applied to our modern African context and figure out how the system of today can incorporate those tried and true traditional ways. Presently, development aid has almost completely failed in Africa because it is based on a faulty system. We need less aid and more trade and opportunities to create goods and services and exchange these in the world market. We need to redesign our financial systems so that money received is well protected.

“Women were once leaders in the business of survival but today are forced to sit on the sidelines while others make decisions for them” We need to empower women once again to be welcome to the decision making table where they will have a voice and say in policy making. Today, the United States has a woman as the Speaker of the house making it a historic moment because she is the first woman to hold this position. She is in a powerful policy making position and under her watch a lot of key legislations and policy will undoubtedly be passed making her a powerful person.

We must use science and technology to further enhance the lives of women in Africa in the years to come. Once a lot of the drudgery of their daily tasks is removed from under them, it will free them to become more productive and better contributors to society’s development.

Women have an inbuilt capacity for compassion and empathy and this can be a powerful leadership tool especially in troubled times. Africa leadership for instance today ignores the role that women can play conflict resolution and peace initiatives. Exemplary leaders like Oprah Winfrey, Wangari Maathai, Rosa Parks, mother Teresa, and Eleanor Roosevelt have used their power, position and platforms to highlight critical community issues that needed or need to be addressed. These issues range from environmental protection, civil rights, social justice, poverty, and social wellbeing for all.

What is the effect of global capitalism today especially pertaining to women of Africa? What famine eradication policies are in place today and how do they take into account the long term needs of communities? What is African leadership doing about these issues? What are the voices of women who have to live through starvation and deprivation? What can they teach us about their situation? What are the nations’ of Africa long term planning for food stocks?

Women must be at the center of creation of opportunities of enhancing food production capacity and creating markets for goods produced. They need to be at the forefront in the investment initiatives in rural areas and key players in the ownership and control of means of production. Famine is not right in the eyes of women and their empowerment to fight this ill is long overdue.

Does the United States still depend too heavily on oil?

How does use of fossil fuels impact the environment and the general quality of life of Americans? What is the global impact of the unrelenting use of oil? What policy initiatives has the US government undertaken to address the pressing issue of the impact of energy use on the environment? What other policy initiatives has the government considered in order to lessen the dependence on oil? The paper reviewed below attempts to address some of those issues.

Cooper, Mary (2000) contends that indeed the United States depends too much on oil. Because of this heavy reliance on oil usage, environmental quality in the United States has been seriously compromised. She gives a comprehensive summary of different problems and solutions to America’s dependence on oil. She notes that even though the USA has strong energy policies, America’s insatiable thirst for oil and other fossil fuels continues to rise, this in spite of the recent gas shortages and growing concerns about global warming and other environment problems.

Cooper notes that America faces major vulnerabilities because of it transportation system that is “97 percent dependent on petroleum”. She observes that even though the oil crises of the 1970’s and early 1980’s forced motorists to line up for gas and also forced auto makers to make more energy efficient cars, today America has become more dependent on foreign oil than ever before and the types of vehicles being driven today ( e.g., sport-utility vehicles) consume vast amounts of gas.

She points out that some of the environmental impacts of burning fossil fuels include smog and acid rain. Compounds that get emitted into the environment as a result of burning of these fuels include nitrogen oxide, sulfur oxides, and volatile organic compounds.

Although measures and legislation has been put in place to help maintain air-quality standards as was the case of the 1970 Clean Air Act and other subsequent legislation leading to greatly reduced forms of air pollution, many cities today still continue to be covered in a thick blanket of smog.

Cooper notes that though the political will is there to maintain the strict air-quality standards in many states, governors of some states have been “dodging the politically unpopular steps of properly enforcing auto-emission standards at home”

Another major problem mentioned in the article is the threat of the build up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere caused by burning fossil fuels. Cooper points that scientist have determined that excessive emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are causing the warming of the earth’s atmosphere. Because of this danger, Cooper points out that the United States and 37 other countries signed the Kyoto Protocol with all the countries committing to reducing their 1990 greenhouse gas emission levels by 5-8 percent by 2008. Former President Bill Clinton strongly supported this initiative but in the recent years the Bush administration has not enthusiastically embraced the initiative.

Other initiatives that have been contemplated include the increased use of nuclear power as an alternative to fossil fuel. Although there are strong proponents for this initiative, many still oppose it by stating that it is not any cleaner than fossil fuels and that the dangers of radiation from nuclear waste are too critical to ignore.

Developed nations like France and Belgium have strongly adopted the use of nuclear power for generating electric power and on a worldwide scale, nuclear energy “accounts for 6.3 percent of the world’s energy production”. In the United States, nuclear power accounts for one-fifth of its electricity. Such statistics indicate that nuclear power is certainly a viable option and that the increase in its usage is inevitable.

Implications for governance values

The US government cannot continue acting in an isolationist manner in regards to environmental policy. It needs to reexamine its stand on the Kyoto protocol on global warming by realizing that it needs to work together and collaborate with other nations to fight the effects of global warming. The government should stop being beholden to large corporate interests that do not want to be challenged in how they consume vast amounts of energy with little regard to the environment.

The government must also tighten its regulatory standards through the EPA. Those who violate the EPA standards should pay high penalties thus acting as a deterrent. Although these tenets go against the governing values of limited government, it nevertheless important for the government to strongly enforce its standards and to be a watchdog by providing oversight over legislation passed.

Congress needs to work hard at passing stronger legislation to protect the environment without necessarily hampering the ability of today’s industries from functioning. They also need to work at securing funding for research into energy efficient practices that can lead to a declining need for oil. Further research needs to be done in the field of biofuels. Citizens need to be involved in finding solutions to the energy dependence that the country faces. It might be a surprise that people come with creative and innovative ideas on how to cut on foreign oil dependency.


REFERENCE

Cooper, M. H. (2000, March 3). Energy and the environment. CQ Researcher, 10, 161-184.

The globalization of the labor market for health-care professionals

In recent years, we find that the migration of people from one country to another has become a contentious issue. This is especially so for the migration of million of people from the developing nations to the developed nations. In the United States today, there is a raging debate about the issue of illegal immigrants who are within the country’s borders and what the government ought to do to stem the tide of many more who are willing to do anything to get into the country. Europe too is facing a similar problem with the European citizens calling for tighter measures to keep out immigrants who the citizens claim come to take their jobs and take advantage of their social systems. However, with the current trend in globalization and the relative freedom of movement of people, goods and services it seems this is an increasingly loosing battle. People often move from one country to another in search for jobs and a better standard of living and if jobs or opportunities are plentiful in one region of the world, people will move there.

The article under review analyzes the subject of the globalization of the labor market focusing on health-care professionals. Unlike other kinds of labor markets, the health care labor market and the emigration of health care professionals has been to a large extent endorsed by many developed nations thus leading to high rate of migration of health care professionals from developing nations to developed nations. Clark, F.P., Clark, A. D., & Stewart, B.J., (2006) in their article contend that though this kind of emigration has always taken place, in recent years this phenomenon has accelerated significantly. Although migration of health care professionals also takes place between poor nations and between wealthy nations, a larger number of professionals are moving from poor nations to rich nations.

This kind of movement has been criticized heavily in recent years because of the effects it has particularly on poor nations. The authors note that many poor nations are loosing critically needed nurses, doctors, physicians, and other health-care practitioners. The loss of these workers has made the situation desperate for many poor nations who as a result cannot adequately meet the health care needs of their people. The authors point out that the under funding and the dysfunctional nature of the health-care systems of many poor nations leads to major flows of labor to wealth nations. Thus, global labor market is disproportionately tilted towards nations that are affluent and that provide the kinds of compensations and opportunities that are a big draw to highly trained professionals.

The authors highlight the problem of the shortage of health-care workers in both developing nations and developed nations. In the case of developed nations, the imbalance is occasioned by a greater demand of health care workers whereas supply is not keeping up. A rising ageing population who have a significantly higher need of health care is met with fewer workers joining the health care profession. Another cause for the shortage is the soaring malpractice insurance rates that have driven away many physicians. In developing nations the shortage of health care workers is mainly caused by lack of resources to train or retrain health care workers and also poor working conditions for those who are already working in the health care field.

The authors note that major migration is among English speaking countries. In the year 2001-2002 there were over 7,000 Philipino nurses who migrated to the United Kingdom while there were over 2,000 nurses who came from South Africa. Australia contributed over 1,000 nurses while from India came over 900 nurses.

As has been noted above, there are costs and benefits to the migration of health-care workers from one country to another. The benefits often accrue to the individuals and to the receiving nations who are able to fill in needed workers where there are critical shortages. However what has been the case is that the costs have often been greater for developing nations who lose valuable human resources that they sorely need. In addition resources that are used to train these departing professionals are often taken away from other critically needed services within the country including education, infrastructure development and social service provision. In the United States, the hiring of foreign workers has centered on the effects it has on labor practices and working conditions for local workers. Issues here include the potential erosion of employment conditions and depressed wages.

Given the high costs that developing nations face when there workers migrate to wealthier nations, there has be an international call to deal with this issue that many have a called a moral and ethical issue of our time. One of the suggestions that has been floated is for developing nations to require the health-care professionals who are planning to emigrate to make a “repayment” commitment in form of a required period of public service especially for those health care workers whose training was publicly funded. Developing nations have also been urged by the world community to increase their investment in the health care sector particularly by working at improving the working conditions of health care workers and also providing better compensation as an incentive to stay within their own countries.

However, on the whole it is an agreed fact that something ought to be done to address the overall issue of negative migration of health care workers from developing nations to developed nations. On a global scale, many solutions have been proposed including passing regulation limiting the number of health care professional who can emigrate to wealthy nations. This solution has however met with resistance because it infringes on the rights of individuals to make their personal choices as to where to live and work. In addition market advocates contend that the current labor movement is a result of the market forces at work that lead people to move where the need and demand for their services is.

Developed nations like the United States and the United Kingdom have been urged to help developing nations to improve their overall social, physical and economic infrastructures as a means to stem the outflow of workers. This particularly important because historically developed nations have faced an unfair terms of trade in the world market with the consequences being devastating for these nations. In addition United States and other developed nations have been urged to support a global fund that would fund the training of health-care workers in developing nations negatively impacted by migration.

These and many other strategies will hopefully address some of the critical issues surrounding the global market of health care professionals.


REFERENCE

Clark, P.F., Clark, D.A., & Stewart, J. B. (2006). The globalization of the labor market
for health-care professionals. International Labour Review, 145(2) 37-64

As we start this New Year, let us all be positive minded people. Let us learn to look at our world with a positive worldview and see the possibilities that are there in our environment. We can achieve so much when we learn to do this. Hope the year 2007 is a memorable one for all.

Children are our future





Educating a child today is creating hope for tomorrow. Children hold so much potential and possibilities that it is imperative that we invest in them. At Potters House Academy, we are investing in the lives of hundreds of children. We are helping these children build self-confidence and gain the knowledge and skills that will enable them to live fulfilling and fruitful lives.

The 21st century holds so much promise for the African continent and so we must prepare the next generation to take the reins of leadership and take the continent to new levels of develpment. It is our hope that Potters House Academy will be at the forefront in preparing these kind of leaders.