Monday, October 18, 2010
Lost Boys of the Sudan
Orphaned youngsters, they fled their villages in Sudan in the 1980s, afraid they would be slaughtered as many of their families were by government troops.
The lost boys - so called because they had to fend for themselves without parents or elders - set out on an extraordinary journey across Africa that took them to Ethiopia, back to Sudan and to refugee camps in Kenya.
Three years ago, the United States government agreed to allow 3,600 of them to begin new lives in America.
"I don't worry now that if I sleep that people are going to shoot me," says 19-year-old Abraham Maker, who arrived in the US in 2001 along with thousands of others.
One night soldiers representing the mostly Muslim northern government came to Abraham's village in Sudan's Christian south.
They shot and killed the men and older boys and took the young girls and women away with them.
The young boys who survived banded together and fled, beginning a year-long journey across Africa.
Thousands were either shot by pursuing soldiers, drowned, died of hunger, or were eaten by wild animals.
Education
"I do not worry now about war," says Abraham, who was adopted by an American family and now lives in a suburb in Connecticut near New York, where he plays soccer and is a runner for his high school athletics team.
Santino has struggled to get an education
Abraham has been luckier than other lost boys, many of whom have had difficulty adjusting to life in America.
All hoped they would get a high school and university education in the US and one day return to Sudan.
But getting an education has turned out to be the lost boys biggest problem. Because neither the boys nor the re-settlement agencies knew their correct ages, caseworkers simply guessed.
The lucky ones were those judged to be below the age of 18.
They were allowed to complete their secondary educations at high school and go onto junior colleges free of charge.
The unlucky ones, those judged to be above 18, were too old for high school and so had to go to work. As they had no qualifications they were forced to take menial, low-paying jobs.
Work
This is what happened to Santino Majok Chuor who arrived in Houston, Texas aged 21 in 2001.
"I did not manage to go to school," he says sadly, "because I could not find the time."
Too old to attend high school, he works loading trucks for minimum wage.
Santino tried working in the day and studying at night but found it impossible.
With much of his salary sent each month to his disabled brother and his brother's three children in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya and other family and friends demanding money, Santino can barely afford the apartment he shares with another lost boy in a tough section of Houston.
He does not waste his money on movies or going to clubs, he says. For fun he watches educational programmes on television.
"There's no way out," Santino says, "unless you get education."
The majority of the lost boys did not survive the epic journey
A few of the lost boys, like Samuel Garang, 23, who lives in California, somehow managed to work in the day and attend school at night.
"America wasn't paradise and it wasn't as easy as they told you in the camps," says Samuel, who has done the rounds of menial jobs: he's been a security guard and is now a bagger, someone who puts shoppers' groceries in their bags at supermarkets.
He won't be a bagger much longer. Samuel completed his high school diploma, went on to junior college and did well enough to be accepted at one of America's most prestigious universities, Stanford, in California in September.
"It was easier for me," says Samuel. "I didn't have a wife in the camp or people wanting money. I could study.
Back in Africa they do not know how hard it can be here for us."
(THAT WAS FROM BBC NEWS)
Monday, August 2, 2010
موت رامي شمالي ستاراكاديمي7
والحمد لله على المكتوب ع فكرة انا بيوم 8/7/2010 طلعت عالعمرة وما عرفت انوا رامي اتوفى الا بعد ايام خبرتني صبية من ليبيا وكثير زعلت علية وانا دعيت لرامي بالمدينة لاني كنت فيها وبتمنى الله يتقبل مني . وبطلب من الكل انوا يتمنى الو الرحمه وما حدا يحكي كثير عنوا حابة انوا يرتاح بالقبر والحمد لله على كل شيء الموت واحد ولكن تعددت الاسباب وحابة احكي لاهل رامي انوا ما يفكروا انوا شكري سبب يلي صار صار يدعوا بالرحمة لابنهم كل ما عليها فاااان حتى انا والكل مشان هيك بتمنى من كل واحد بيقرا هاي الرسالة انوا يفكر بالموت ويعمل خير وينسى الحقد ويسامح ويقول يا رب ونتخيل انفسنا وخلينا نتعض من يلي بيصير بالعالم كلوا رايح واحنا بنكبر خلي التسامح بقلبوبنا ونحب بعض ونصير يد وحده ونضحك عطول لانوا ما حدا بيعرف متى يوموا والله يرحمك يا رامي ادعولي ا الله يرحمني ويرحم الجميع وسامحوني".
Monday, May 3, 2010
Human Guinea Pigs?
Human Guinea Pigs?
Psychoactive drug. Sounds scary doesn’t it? Guess which drug we may be talking about? Nicotine, which is one of the more abused drugs in the United States. Do you have any idea what nicotine does to the human body? Understanding how nicotine affects the human body is as complex as the body itself. Rapid changes in the brain can cause an increase in blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration. So here is the question, would more anti-smoking education help the public understand what the human body’s response is to nicotine ?
With over 4000 chemicals found in a cigarette, nicotine is the most addictive. It takes just 8 seconds for nicotine to hit the brain. Nicotine happens to be shaped like the natural brain chemical acetylcholine. Acetylcholine is one of many chemicals called neurotransmitters that carry the message between brain cells (Tobacco-Free Kids). Like a “key fitting into a lock”, nicotine locks into the acetylcholine receptors and causes changes in your brain and body. A chemical called dopamine is released normally when you experience something pleasurable like good food…smoking causes neurons to release excess dopamine which are responsible for the feelings of pleasure experienced by the smoker (NIDA).
Tolerance to nicotine develops very easily because of how it attaches itself in the brain and also is very addictive to people that have problems with alcohol and drugs and makes it even harder to stop. Because your body becomes more tolerant you need more nicotine to make your body feel better. If nicotine levels drop, the nicotine user will begin to feel uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms. Today, tobacco products are highly engineered nicotine delivery devices, finely tuned to appeal to the taste, feel , smell, and other sensations. One of the ways that tobacco companies keep people addicted is by adding chemicals like ammonia manipulation of smoke particle sizes.(NIDA)
Tobacco companies know that almost all new smokers begin their addiction as children. They know that smoking is unpleasant for new smokers, so they carefully design the product, including the delivery of nicotine…(NIDA). New smokers don’t often like the taste of smoke. These methods improve the “mouth feel” by reducing the negative sensations like hotness and dryness (Tobacco Free Kids). Tobacco companies make flavored tobacco products to make the people more addicted to the taste, smell and feel. Different flavors like candy, fruit and alcohol flavors make kids smoke them more while all the time increasing the levels of nicotine.
The good news is the government is going to help smokers by giving them new tools to use to help bring this epidemic under control. President Obama has just signed The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act into law. This grants the Food and Drug Administration new authority to regulate the manufacture, marketing, and distribution of tobacco products to protect the publics health generally and to reduce tobacco use by children and adolescents… the rules contain provisions designed to limit youth access to tobacco products, as well as restrictions on marketing to curb the appeal of these products to youth (FDA).
Here are some of the regulations the FSPTC Act will address:
Requiring companies who manufacture or import tobacco products to provide FDA with a listing of the amounts of all ingredients of the tobacco products they produce.(fda.gov)
Give the FDA the authority to require to provide information about the amount of nicotine in their products to FDA and the public.(fda.gov)
Give the FDA the authority….to adopt standards for nicotine yields and for the reduction or elimination of other harmful substances…(fda.gov)
Require warnings on tobacco products to cover 50 per cent of the front and back panels of the package…(fda.gov)
In the article called Facts on Nicotine and Tobacco, John Slade offers the ideas that he feel will help change the nicotine epidemic. One way would be to view nicotine as a drug vs. a habit of smoking. He also said it would help if indoor air spaces used by nonsmokers would remain free of tobacco smoke pollution (Slade) And finally, the FDA will use a variety of communication channels such as web pages, social media tools and pod casts to educate retailers and consumers about the new requirements (fda.gov).
Now I learned many things about nicotine and tobacco. I realized that smoking shortens your life, threatens your life with diseases? Then, you waste thousands of dollars per annum on endless sticks of cigarettes. You even stink with bad breath. you may also get used to it, but you have a choice. Do you want to quit it or not? the answer is in your hands. Do you want to choice the positive road or the negative one? You choice!! but If you want my answers? My answers will be the positive because I want to live a health life with my family the people that I love and live the life and never give up. I think now I am ready to teach other about how smoking is bad for there body's and how they can live a happy life and I'm very happy now because I learn something very important in my life. This is a poems on life that may help other to not give up and keep trying to live for hope.
HOPE for your life
(by Brian Quinn)
When all about you is black with gloom,And all you feel is pending doom.When your bones are racked with grim despair -When every breath is a gasp for air.Keep on going, though you need to grope,For around the bend is a ray of hope.A ray of hope is perhaps all that's left,As your will to live has been bereft.You've lost it all, it's just no use!You can end it all, you need no excuse.But throw away that piece of rope,And give yourself a chance of hope.
Just give yourself another day,Brushing aside what your thoughts may say.This is your life and you can make a new start,By ignoring the brain - just follow the heart.Taking baby steps in order to cope,And minute by minute you'll build on your hope.Build on your hope,. one day at a time,Though the road be steep and hard to climb.The hurts of the past - they should be dead.
The fears of the future are all in your head.Just live in the present and refuse to mope Your life will sparkle for you're living in hope.
Psychoactive drug. Sounds scary doesn’t it? Guess which drug we may be talking about? Nicotine, which is one of the more abused drugs in the United States. Do you have any idea what nicotine does to the human body? Understanding how nicotine affects the human body is as complex as the body itself. Rapid changes in the brain can cause an increase in blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration. So here is the question, would more anti-smoking education help the public understand what the human body’s response is to nicotine ?
With over 4000 chemicals found in a cigarette, nicotine is the most addictive. It takes just 8 seconds for nicotine to hit the brain. Nicotine happens to be shaped like the natural brain chemical acetylcholine. Acetylcholine is one of many chemicals called neurotransmitters that carry the message between brain cells (Tobacco-Free Kids). Like a “key fitting into a lock”, nicotine locks into the acetylcholine receptors and causes changes in your brain and body. A chemical called dopamine is released normally when you experience something pleasurable like good food…smoking causes neurons to release excess dopamine which are responsible for the feelings of pleasure experienced by the smoker (NIDA).
Tolerance to nicotine develops very easily because of how it attaches itself in the brain and also is very addictive to people that have problems with alcohol and drugs and makes it even harder to stop. Because your body becomes more tolerant you need more nicotine to make your body feel better. If nicotine levels drop, the nicotine user will begin to feel uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms. Today, tobacco products are highly engineered nicotine delivery devices, finely tuned to appeal to the taste, feel , smell, and other sensations. One of the ways that tobacco companies keep people addicted is by adding chemicals like ammonia manipulation of smoke particle sizes.(NIDA)
Tobacco companies know that almost all new smokers begin their addiction as children. They know that smoking is unpleasant for new smokers, so they carefully design the product, including the delivery of nicotine…(NIDA). New smokers don’t often like the taste of smoke. These methods improve the “mouth feel” by reducing the negative sensations like hotness and dryness (Tobacco Free Kids). Tobacco companies make flavored tobacco products to make the people more addicted to the taste, smell and feel. Different flavors like candy, fruit and alcohol flavors make kids smoke them more while all the time increasing the levels of nicotine.
The good news is the government is going to help smokers by giving them new tools to use to help bring this epidemic under control. President Obama has just signed The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act into law. This grants the Food and Drug Administration new authority to regulate the manufacture, marketing, and distribution of tobacco products to protect the publics health generally and to reduce tobacco use by children and adolescents… the rules contain provisions designed to limit youth access to tobacco products, as well as restrictions on marketing to curb the appeal of these products to youth (FDA).
Here are some of the regulations the FSPTC Act will address:
Requiring companies who manufacture or import tobacco products to provide FDA with a listing of the amounts of all ingredients of the tobacco products they produce.(fda.gov)
Give the FDA the authority to require to provide information about the amount of nicotine in their products to FDA and the public.(fda.gov)
Give the FDA the authority….to adopt standards for nicotine yields and for the reduction or elimination of other harmful substances…(fda.gov)
Require warnings on tobacco products to cover 50 per cent of the front and back panels of the package…(fda.gov)
In the article called Facts on Nicotine and Tobacco, John Slade offers the ideas that he feel will help change the nicotine epidemic. One way would be to view nicotine as a drug vs. a habit of smoking. He also said it would help if indoor air spaces used by nonsmokers would remain free of tobacco smoke pollution (Slade) And finally, the FDA will use a variety of communication channels such as web pages, social media tools and pod casts to educate retailers and consumers about the new requirements (fda.gov).
Now I learned many things about nicotine and tobacco. I realized that smoking shortens your life, threatens your life with diseases? Then, you waste thousands of dollars per annum on endless sticks of cigarettes. You even stink with bad breath. you may also get used to it, but you have a choice. Do you want to quit it or not? the answer is in your hands. Do you want to choice the positive road or the negative one? You choice!! but If you want my answers? My answers will be the positive because I want to live a health life with my family the people that I love and live the life and never give up. I think now I am ready to teach other about how smoking is bad for there body's and how they can live a happy life and I'm very happy now because I learn something very important in my life. This is a poems on life that may help other to not give up and keep trying to live for hope.
HOPE for your life
(by Brian Quinn)
When all about you is black with gloom,And all you feel is pending doom.When your bones are racked with grim despair -When every breath is a gasp for air.Keep on going, though you need to grope,For around the bend is a ray of hope.A ray of hope is perhaps all that's left,As your will to live has been bereft.You've lost it all, it's just no use!You can end it all, you need no excuse.But throw away that piece of rope,And give yourself a chance of hope.
Just give yourself another day,Brushing aside what your thoughts may say.This is your life and you can make a new start,By ignoring the brain - just follow the heart.Taking baby steps in order to cope,And minute by minute you'll build on your hope.Build on your hope,. one day at a time,Though the road be steep and hard to climb.The hurts of the past - they should be dead.
The fears of the future are all in your head.Just live in the present and refuse to mope Your life will sparkle for you're living in hope.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Is cigarette smoking really addictive?
Is smoking really addictive? I will tell you about how smoking really addictive
Today in speech class we have to find topic to talk about so I am going to talk about
how is smoking really addictive? so I hope you learn something new about smoking.When your parents were young, people could buy cigarettes and smoke pretty much anywhere — even in hospitals! Ads for cigarettes were all over the place. Today we're more aware about how bad smoking is for our health. Smoking is restricted or banned in almost all public places and cigarette companies are no longer allowed to advertise on TV, radio, and in many magazines.
Almost everyone knows that smoking causes cancer, emphysema, and heart disease; that it can shorten your life by 10 years or more; and that the habit can cost a smoker thousands of dollars a year. So how come people are still lighting up? The answer, in a word, is addiction. Is smoking really addictive? I will tell you about how smoking really addictive
Yes. The nicotine in cigarette smoke causes an addiction to smoking. Nicotine is an addictive drug just like heroin and cocaine:
When taken in small amounts, nicotine creates pleasant feelings that make the smoker want to smoke more. It acts on the chemistry of the brain and central nervous system, affecting the smoker's mood. Nicotine works very much like other addicting drugs, by flooding the brain's reward circuits with dopamine (a chemical messenger). Nicotine also gives you a little bit of an adrenaline rush -- not enough to notice, but enough to speed up your heart and raise your blood pressure.
Nicotine reaches the brain within seconds after taking a puff, but its effects start to wear off within a few minutes. This often leads the smoker to get another cigarette. If the smoker doesn't smoke again soon, withdrawal symptoms kick in and get worse over time.
The typical smoker takes about 10 puffs from each cigarette. A person smoking a pack per day gets about 200 "hits" of nicotine each day.
Smokers usually become dependent on nicotine and suffer physical and emotional (mental or psychological) withdrawal symptoms when they stop smoking. These symptoms include irritability, nervousness, headaches, and trouble sleeping. The true marker for addiction, though, is that people still smoke even though they know smoking is bad for them -- affecting their lives, their health, and their families in unhealthy ways. Most people who smoke want to quit.
Researchers are also looking to see if there are other chemicals in tobacco that help promote addiction. In the brains of animals, tobacco smoke causes chemical changes that are not fully explained by the effects of nicotine.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
My homeland
My homeland, my homeland
Glory and beauty, Sublimity and splendor
Are in your hills, Are in your hills
Life and deliverance, Pleasure and hope
Are in your air, Are in your Air
Will I see you? Will I see you?
Safe and comforted, Sound and honored
Will I see you in your eminence?
Reaching to the stars, Reaching to the stars
My homeland, My homeland
My homeland, My homeland
The youth will not tire, 'till your independence
Or they die
We will drink from death
And will not be to our enemies
Like slaves, Like slaves
We do not want, We do not want
An eternal humiliation
Nor a miserable life
We do not want
But we will bring back
Our storied glory, Our storied glory
My homeland, My homeland
The sword and the pen
Not the talk nor the quarrel
Are our symbols, Are our symbols
Our glory and our covenant
And a duty to be faithful
Moves us, moves us
Our glory, Our glory
Is an honorable cause
And a waving standard
O, behold you
In your eminence
Victorious over your enemies
Victorious over your enemies
My homeland, My homeland
Glory and beauty, Sublimity and splendor
Are in your hills, Are in your hills
Life and deliverance, Pleasure and hope
Are in your air, Are in your Air
Will I see you? Will I see you?
Safe and comforted, Sound and honored
Will I see you in your eminence?
Reaching to the stars, Reaching to the stars
My homeland, My homeland
My homeland, My homeland
The youth will not tire, 'till your independence
Or they die
We will drink from death
And will not be to our enemies
Like slaves, Like slaves
We do not want, We do not want
An eternal humiliation
Nor a miserable life
We do not want
But we will bring back
Our storied glory, Our storied glory
My homeland, My homeland
The sword and the pen
Not the talk nor the quarrel
Are our symbols, Are our symbols
Our glory and our covenant
And a duty to be faithful
Moves us, moves us
Our glory, Our glory
Is an honorable cause
And a waving standard
O, behold you
In your eminence
Victorious over your enemies
Victorious over your enemies
My homeland, My homeland
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Before the war started I was having a happy life with my family and my friends. I lived in Baghdad ( the Capital of Iraq) It’s a beautiful big city with a large population so many nice and kind people. I lived in Baghdad all my life. But when the war started my life changed a lot.
A. After the war started, we saw many reasons that we would want to leave the country.
1. Many people died. There were many fights in Iraq and many people left their work because of this there were the bad people and most of them were intruders from surrounding countries. The reason behind that kind of killing can be either money or because they are extremists and kill others in the name of religion or for money.
2. When people walk in the streets they can find dead bodies all around! That’s how I lost many of my friends and my family. By then, I was so upset and angry. I was hoping the war would stop, but it didn’t.
B. Evil people started sending threatening letters to my dad because he worked with the American Army as a contractor. They wanted him either to stop or they would kill his family. First, my dad didn't take it seriously because its an insane way of thinking. Then again after a week we got the same letter with a line dead to decide! By then, dad was frustrated and angry.. So he thought of sending us to Amman-Jordan where its safe and peaceful place. Leaving the family back home was really sad for all of us!
1. We left Baghdad to go to Amman, Jordan we lived there for 3 years and we were happy and sad at the same time .
2. It was so hard for Iraqi people to work in Jordan! thats why my dad had to leave us and go back home so he could find a job there easier. He worked there for a year.
C. Mom used to say her prayers every day asking God to bring dad back to us safe and sound. My mom was so strong and she taught us how to be as strong as she is.
1. For our great happiness was when my dad came back to Jordan, he told us that we could apply to go to the USA as refugees. That’s how we made it to the USA. Now we are so happy, but we miss our country a lot
I hope I can see my country again. When I came to the USA I was thinking I will I will not have friends, but than I come and I met many good friends. I am so happy now I have a lot friends and many people help my family. I want to thank all the people that help my family.
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