| LIFE-NET NEWS |
| by Ret Z. |
| Covering Poverty Widely in a Net of Many Voices |
| 2005 June 1 | No Profit; No Proceeds |
| Volume 9 Number 2 | All-Volunteer |
| "Give a family a fish, and they'll eat a meal; give them a Net, and they'll have fish for Life." |
| Evangelical Agenda Broadens |
Almost 90 evangelical leaders have given their approval to a
document that calls conservative Christians in the US to go
beyond their usual issues. Titled For the Health of the
Nation: An Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility, the
tome was crafted under the auspices of the National
Association of Evangelicals (NAE), which brings together
groups like Focus on the Family, the Southern Baptist
Convention, Prison Fellowship, and the American Family
Association. For the Health of the Nation lays out seven
principles it says should guide Christian political
engagement:
Full Document: For the Health of the Nation (PDF) |
| Children's Hard Labor in Cambodian Salt Fields |
|
The International Labor Organization has described the
practice of children working in Cambodia's salt fields as
"one of the worst forms of child labor". The Cambodian
government has signed up to stop it, but still it goes on.
Work in the salt fields is harsh and unpleasant, even for adults. For children it's worse. "It is very difficult work, but I have to do it for the money," as salt carrier Roh, 16, put it. Child labor is commonplace throughout Cambodia, in industries such as manufacturing, construction, and the restaurant trade. Rural areas have 80% of it, especially in fishing, brick-making, and salt. The government estimates that about a quarter of the nation's children are working. The salt field work causes particular concern. It involves distilling salt from sea water into smaller pools. The heat is intense and the pools reflect the sunlight. Roh carries salt for four hours in the morning and three more in the afternoon. When he was younger he attended school for two years -- but now, he says, he does not have time. "I was worried that my parents worked so hard, so [now] I help them." Chaii Soph Heap, 14, has worked in the fields for three years and attends one hour of school a day. His father says, "If my family were rich, I wouldn't ask my sons to work there. I have to force myself to let the children work in the salt fields." Salt field work would not be tolerated in the West -- leading to accusations that different rules are being applied in poorer countries. To eliminate child labor, the ILO favors a gradual approach beginning with "non-formal education" -- a few hours of schooling a week. Source: BBC |
| A Study on 'Living Wage' Ordinances |
|
Over the past decade, more than 110 ordinances have been
passed mandating "living wages" for employees in businesses
contracting with a locality and/or businesses receiving
financial assistance through tax breaks or economic
development grants. These laws applied to very few
businesses and had a limited effect on the overall economy
of a city. Over the past year, however, these initial
ordinances have been used as the basis for expanded citywide
living wage ordinances.
The first of these expanded ordinances to pass was in Santa Fe NM, where an $8.50 minimum wage went into effect (after a court challenge) in June 2004, to be raised to $10.50 an hour by 2008 and indexed to inflation thereafter. In November 2003, voters in San Francisco CA passed an $8.50 minimum wage for city businesses. Soon after, the Madison WI city council passed a $7.75 minimum wage in that city. In this study, Dr. Aaron Yelowitz of the University of Kentucky and Dr. Richard Toikka of the Lewin Group utilized Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) data to analyze the effect of living wage ordinances on earnings, income, and government assistance. In order to more fully analyze changes in the standard of living for low-income families, this study examines total income and not simply earnings. If living wage ordinances were to increase earnings but do so only at the expense of other forms of income, the policy would only change the composition of income and not increase the quality of life for low-income families -- the stated purpose of these ordinances. Quantifying the ordinances’ benefits is critical because increasing the wage floor leads to disemployment as businesses either decrease their labor force, shift to more efficient employees, or leave the jurisdiction entirely. It would take a significant benefit to justify this cost. Previous work analyzing the effectiveness of living wage ordinances examined only cash income, which excludes in-kind benefits such as food stamps and subsidies such as Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) payments. As earnings increase, recipients can see the benefits from these programs decrease dramatically. Failing to include the loss of these benefits when evaluating the benefit of living wage ordinances can hyperinflate the perceived effectiveness. This study found that the enactment of a living wage ordinance decreased assistance by $34 per month and increased earnings by $16. This means that for every dollar in increased earnings from a living wage ordinance, families could expect to lose up to $2.12 in cash assistance. Controlling for factors such as the business cycle, state minimum wage levels, and welfare reform, the authors found that the enactment of a living wage increased total family income by only $55 per month. The authors state, "a reasonable reading of our results is that the living wage has a limited capability in improving the economic status of the poor." Source: Employment Policies Institute |
| World Health Body Unprepared for Pandemics |
|
As World Health Organization director-general Dr. Lee
Jong-wook droned his way through the opening keynote speech
of the annual World Health Assembly last month, about 2,000
heads craned to see Bill Gates take his seat in the UN's
august Palais des Nations. Soon after, the Microsoft
founder announced that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
would increase its donations for research into
"breakthrough" medicine from $200 million a year to $450
million and would up its support for the search for an AIDS
vaccine by $400 million. He got a standing ovation from an
awestruck, star-struck crowd.
It's hard not to cheer wildly. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given $4.2 billion to global health initiatives over the last 9 years. Thus, Gates' money sets the agenda for a great deal of public health policy. But it won't do the job of the WHO and the annual assembly. In contrast to the agile and focused Gates Foundation, which has to answer only to its board, the WHO is governed by its often-embattled member states. It lumbers along at a snail's pace, burdened by an obvious lack of clarity about its mission. The problem isn't money, although more would help. The core budget of the WHO is just $400 million, but more than 70% of its total budget comes from wealthy-nation donors supporting specific programs, which brings real spending to about $1.5 billion a year -- roughly the same as the annual budget of the New York City Department of Health. Because the WHO is so reliant on the wealthy-donor "soft money," its mission is swayed in too many directions by those countries' agendas, ideologies, and pet projects. In a world of globalized health threats, the WHO must be enabled to put its resources where its experts can empirically show they are most needed. Right now, the entire global alert and response operation for epidemics at the WHO is -- brace yourself -- five people, out of roughly 6,000 employees. The Gates Foundation isn't going to deploy emergency response teams around the world, send scientists in spacesuits wading into Marburg outbreaks, or lead a global response to pandemic flu. The WHO, instead of shifting personnel and funds from Geneva headquarters to regional offices, should establish a smart, mobile global health force, based in Geneva, that can respond to crises around the world. Wealthy nations should be urged, even shamed, into funding it, for the sake of their own survival. And instead of beefing up mini-WHO bureaucracies around the world, the agency should fix public health systems in poor countries -- training personnel and funding labs and communication systems so that local healthcare workers can respond to new disease outbreaks. Source: Los Angeles Times |
| Camden Schools Progress Report |
|
Tracking Progress, Engaging Communities, was unveiled
Thursday by officials from the Camden school district, the
Newark-based Education Law Center, the Camden Education
Association, and CAMConnect, a nonprofit research
organization. The report offers a snapshot of district
strengths and weaknesses.
Points:
|
| Once Privileged, Now Homeless Iraqi Sunnis |
|
Sunni leaders realize that they stand to lose not only their
homes in contested areas but also any claim to power in a
new Iraq. Even if they recover lost ground politically, it
may not swiftly help Sunni families regain the homes and
lands they've lost. Mahmod Khalaf Muamed, the tribal leader
over about 700 Sunni Arabs forced to move two years ago,
said his people used to live in a village whose remains are
still visible across the desert horizon from the scrap heap
of sun-dried sand they now call home.
When the Kurds, no longer fearful of Saddam or his army, reemerged in 2003 and drove the Sunni Arabs off the land, they destroyed the Arab homes, according to Muamed. The Kurds then set about reviving the town they themselves lost to the Sunni Arabs years ago. "This is de-Arabization," said Sgt 1st Class Bobby Mullins as he looked over the array of about two dozen mud and straw huts. As horrid as life is today, Muamed said it was worse when the homeless Arabs first lost their village. He said the evicted Arabs separated by families and lived in tents until their current homes could be built. Today almost 10 people per hut live with no electricity and collect greenish water from a nearby stagnant irrigation ditch. The future rule of the minority Sunni Arab population in the new government is a topic of much debate in Iraq's bigger cities as well as among members of the US military stationed here. But Muamed said his tribe of Sunni Arabs just wants to enjoy life's basic necessities such as clean water and reliable electricity. While admitting life was better for his tribe under Saddam, Muamed said he is thankful that US-led coalition forces allowed them to live on this new land. "It is harder because of the Kurdish people," he said through a translator, "not because of coalition forces." US forces should give the tribe back its destroyed village area, Muamed argued. But Lt Col Frank McCauley, Second Squadron commander of the 278th Regimental Combat Team, said the Army has orders to remain neutral in such land disputes. He said many of these quarrels are in arbitration through the Iraqi Property Claims Court. Not taking sides in area land battles doesn't mean the US soldiers can't help. For example, a two-hour visit on May 20: After meeting with the tribal leaders, soldiers in McCauley's unit handed out truckloads of food, water, medical supplies, and toys to the villagers. US forces hope the charity will, additionally, drive a wedge between the insurgents and their recruitment base among poor, displaced locals. One boy amassed such a bounty of flip-flops, stuffed animals, bouncing balls, and school supplies he could not pick up the cardboard box a soldier gave him to carry home his new possessions. So the boy stood guard over the box and waited for help from his family. Other children fought over soccer balls, while one US soldier chased the laughing children around with a super-soaker water gun. Source: World Magazine |
| # LNN # Small # Hauls # |
|
| Life-Net News Extras |
| Primary Education Where There Was None |
|
Xa is a nine-year-old Akha ethnic minority boy from a
village in Oudomxay Province, in northern Laos. He's a first-grader attending school in a bamboo and thatch school in his village. This is the first school for Xa's village, and Xa's first grade class is the first in the village to ever go to school and to learn to read and write.
Xa's village has not had a school until now because of its isolation -- particularly in the rainy season, and because the village is made up of Akha minority people who speak their own language and have not yet learned Lao, making communication difficult. The government has sent several teachers to establish schools, but these teachers all found the living and working conditions too difficult and did not stay there. Because Church World Service (CWS) has been working in the area for several years, the local education department asked if CWS could help in some way to bring primary education to Xa's village. CWS found Akha minority teachers from another province where CWS also has education projects and arranged for these teachers to come and teach grade one for Xa's village and four surrounding villages. Given the years of working relationships and the trust that exist between CWS and the various Lao education departments and the government, CWS was in a unique position to make a difference. It could be said that at this particular time, CWS's intervention was the only possibility for bringing primary education to the people in this area. The first year of the grade one class is coming to an end, and Xa and his classmates are doing very well with their studies. All of them plan to attend the first grade two class in the village after their school vacation. The teachers have agreed to stay for three years. In addition, the government has sent its own teachers to teach and to work with the teachers who were arranged by CWS. Now CWS is helping the five villages to build better classroom buildings so the students will be protected from rain. To encourage the teachers to stay in this difficult working environment, CWS has also helped the teachers build a basic dormitory for their housing, and CWS is assisting the local people to provide a clean water supply for the teachers and the students who attend the school. There is still much to be done and several more years of work to ensure that the schools are permanently established. Because of the success of this project, local education departments in this and other ethnic minority areas in northern Laos are asking CWS to help them establish primary education. Source: Church World Service |
| Single Motherhood: Family Diversity or Disaster? |
|
Some "progressive" commentators are too busy celebrating the growing diversity of family to acknowledge that children typically do not do well growing up with a single or cohabiting mother. Princeton sociologist Sara McLanahan is sufficiently in tune with regnant orthodoxies to argue that "some single motherhood is probably a good sign of society insofar as it indicates that women have the freedom to opt out of bad relationships." Nonetheless, in a study recently published in Demography, McClanahan expresses deep reservations about the beneficence of trends giving us more and more single mothers, and more and more cohabiting unmarried parents.
"We should," McLanahan writes, "be concerned about the high prevalence of single mothers, especially among mothers in the lower social strata." After all, she notes, "across all Western industrialized countries [including Sweden, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, and the United Kingdom], children in single-mother families have much higher poverty rates than children in two-parent families." McLanahan stresses that the economically disadvantaged status of single mothers persists "even though many countries provide substantial single support to single mothers." But McLanahan has her eye on more than economics. She sees in single motherhood "a proxy for multiple risk factors that do not bode well for children." She cites data showing, for instance, that "unmarried mothers with low education (a high school degree or less) are more likely to suffer from clinical depression and to have used drugs and tobacco during their pregnancies than married mothers with similar levels of education." It also disturbs McLanahan that the children of a single mother typically see little or nothing of their father, and she regards "father absence" as potentially "harmful to children." Further, she believes that "high levels of father absence are likely to be a sign of social disorganization and isolation." But even if the father is present in the home, McLanahan sees potential risks for children if he is not married to their mother. Comparing the families formed by cohabiting couples with those formed by married couples, McLanahan identifies distinctively problematic characteristics of cohabiting-couple families. Compared to married-couple families, such families "are much more likely to include children from other relationships and parents' relationships are more fragile." The fragility of cohabiting-couple families shows up in statistics showing that "nearly half of cohabiting mothers ... have ended their relationship with their child's father by the time their children are three years old." It further troubles McLanahan that when cohabiting-couple families are compared to married-couple families, "breast-feeding and language stimulation are less common, whereas harsh parenting is more common." Source: The Howard Center |
| Most material here is adapted, not quoted. Views expressed do not |
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