bEMA
"Leaders
don't force people to follow, they invite them on a journey" - Charles S
Lauer
From:
BEMA - Black Emergency Managers Association [mailto:bema@blackemergmanagersassociation.org]
Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2013 7:16 PM
Subject: A New Educational 'Model'. Emergency Management Training, and International Service
Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2013 7:16 PM
Subject: A New Educational 'Model'. Emergency Management Training, and International Service
Louis:
I’m smiling because I may have opened a can of worms.
Being on the OUTSIDE of the academic educational system
(lack of PhD credentials), to propose this model of alternative education with
local, national, and international ramifications require our illustrious
members with these credentials to take this premise\theory and implement or
test this model.
Something like this would never be applied or implemented
in a quick and ‘dirty’ fashion, but under strict academic scrutiny, and record
keeping. I don’t think anyone wants to take on the burden because
it’s……so ‘out of the box’.
With our urban and inner city youths, that have not
achieved the outstanding grades within the current educational model nor the
awards, scholarships, and financial assistance to pursue even a complete high
school education. These are the individuals that this type of model would
address. Those individual on the corner, waking up every day in search of
a job, meaning, future, and hope in life needing something that would require a
great change in their current existence to push them to new heights that we can
only imagine.
We always forget these individual except when they cause
a problem and are noticed in their community by law enforcement, and are about
to or are within the youth criminal and social system or institution. The
current educational models do not appeal to them. Resistance is high.
I remember the legal system would give individuals a
choice at one time, jail or the military. Many picked the military and
this brought about changes both socially and financially to the individual,
their families, and their communities.
With the elimination of the draft we’ve lost an avenue to
exponentially move members of our community further up social and financial
status.
The current models will not work. Both you (maybe)
and I were rebellious when we were young. But not this rebellious
to totally have our rebellious nature make an impression of others that reflect
on our family, friends, local and national community.
Emergency management education for the individual,
family, local and national community can now propel these individual to find a
calling by giving them an alternate form of education, providing a hands-on
practical experience outside of the U.S. living on a local country economy
while getting a small stipend from the Peace Corp or other international
organization. 18-25 year-olds in the FEMA Corp receive a small salary,
same amount could suffice.
But who are those individuals within the FEMA Corp?
Are they the at risk youths mentioned above? Ask, find out!
…..to be continued
Louis will only give a little bit to spark the
interest. If the interest is there with others in replies I’ll
continue. Don’t want to write a whole treatise on the subject of a ‘NEW
MODEL’ to change urban and inner city communities.
Charles
From: Louis (SEA) []
Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2013 5:16 PM
To: BEMA@BlackEmergManagersAssociation.org
Subject: RE: Water & Food, most vital resources: Malnutrition Killing Children in Cameroon
Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2013 5:16 PM
To: BEMA@BlackEmergManagersAssociation.org
Subject: RE: Water & Food, most vital resources: Malnutrition Killing Children in Cameroon
With little or no effort we could accomplish what the
“Back to Africa” moment could only dream of by getting our youth to embrace the
idea of being shipped out of here back home…
From: BEMA - Black
Emergency Managers Association [mailto:bema@blackemergmanagersassociation.org]
Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2013 9:32 AM
To: BEMA - Black Emergency Managers Association
Subject: RE: Water & Food, most vital resources: Malnutrition Killing Children in Cameroon
Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2013 9:32 AM
To: BEMA - Black Emergency Managers Association
Subject: RE: Water & Food, most vital resources: Malnutrition Killing Children in Cameroon
Rick, I’ve stripped off your email information. Fantastic
idea.
Taking ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking even further.
All the FEMA EMI training courses probably add up to a
two-year associates degree. Only costs are time, and conversion of the
CEU units to a two or four year college\university. This is the essence
of what BEMA has been advocating, especially for disadvantaged,
African-American and other communities.
For funding? Will colleges and universities
accept the CEU conversion, and promote the PEACE CORP, or other humanitarian
aid international programs to get our youths to those locations.
Safety? If safety is a concern are we safe in our
own communities here in the U.S.? You and I both know that we and
other ex-military have a greater appreciation for ‘the world’, and coming
home. There is a difference in reading or seeing things in the newspapers
on the hardship and suffering of others in other countries then being there.
Imagine the changes in the world of taking urban,
inner city youths with EM training skills TOTALLY out of their
environment? This would be practicing SERVICE.
The changes and improvements we could make to the world
in the ‘whole world community’.
ALL WE NEED ARE TWO educational institutions to
implement, and the changes will start one person, one family, and one community
at time.
Charles
From: Rick's GMail []
Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2013 6:15 AM
To: <BEMA@BlackEmergManagersAssociation.org>
Subject: Re: Water & Food, most vital resources: Malnutrition Killing Children in Cameroon
Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2013 6:15 AM
To: <BEMA@BlackEmergManagersAssociation.org>
Subject: Re: Water & Food, most vital resources: Malnutrition Killing Children in Cameroon
Charles,
I
really enjoy being included on your email list. Today's message brought
out a great point worth repeating, and I had to comment!
Imagine
the powerful impact 50 kids could make if we could get them through a 2 year
emergency management certification program with a bit of intern time, and then
get them into the Peace Corps. Everyone would win!
Imagine
how this would magnify if we did this every year.
I
really think you are on to something with this concept. The question now
is how do we find funding to help an effort like this.
Anyway,
thanks again and keep the mail coming!
Rick
Sacca
Shizuoka,
Japan
Sent from my iPad
Sent from my iPad
On Jul 25, 2013, at 18:46, "BEMA - Black Emergency Managers Association" <bema@blackemergmanagersassociation.org> wrote:
Rodney:
Going thru my
nightly\morning international SITREPS, came across this article on Cameroon.
I know your daughter is
there with the Peace Corp and
is probably encountering many instances of this in her assignment. She
may have ran into the same instances during her tour of Kenya.
From an EM standpoint
communities even within the U.S. should be planning for water and food
disruptions. Prices are so high in the markets, even corporations are
starting to promote farmers markets on their premises for their employees.
As with water distribution,
food distribution\initiatives along the same line as medicine points of
distribution (POD) for pandemics. I know that China supplies major food
staples, and other food items to many African and Middle East nations with many
of their products tainted with toxic chemicals.
I know she can reach out
to you if she needs any advice. Let me know if you’d like ‘reach
back’ to me. Increasing our presence in the United Nations, with some
contacts in Cameroon. I can increase the message traffic on how they’re
addressing this and other issues.
Don’t forget to start
practicing your French if you’re going to visit. Hey, I can only do the
military versions of any language.
If only the rules would
change for entrance, acceptance, and country assignments for U.S. students to
serve in the Peace Corp. With emergency management training, and their
major studies we could send many from the urban and inner city areas to other
countries to get the experience. Imagine what 50 students from every
state or HBCU like your daughter serve. Wow.
She’ll come back ready
for a UN, or Department of State post.
Peace.
Charles
At the Garoua Regional
Hospital’s Paediatric Feeding Centre in northern Cameroon, Aicha Ahidjo* is
relieved to hear that her one-year-old son will survive. The child was
suffering from chronic malnutrition, and other children have died of it. It has
cost Ahidjo a lot to get her son Ahmadou here. ... MORE >
>
<image001.png>
Malnutrition
Killing Children in Cameroon
<image004.jpg>
A nutritionist assesses the health of a child: red indicates
severe malnutrition. Malnutrition has become a growing concern in northern
Cameroon. Credit:Kristin Palitza/IPS
YAOUNDE, Jul 22 2013
(IPS) - At the
Garoua Regional Hospital’s Paediatric Feeding Centre in northern Cameroon,
Aicha Ahidjo* is relieved to hear that her one-year-old son will survive. The
child was suffering from chronic malnutrition, and other children have died of
it.
It has cost Ahidjo a lot to get her son
Ahmadou here. Ahmadou showed symptoms of swollen feet and dry and thinning
hair. The 30-year-old mother was forced to defy her husband and bring
their son to hospital. The child had developed Kwashiorkor as a result of
severe protein deficiency.
“Some months after the birth of the child,
I fell pregnant again,” Ahidjo, who is six months pregnant, tells IPS.
“Infant
malnutrition is also due to the fact that very few infants are breastfed
exclusively for the first six months after birth,." -- Director of Health
Promotion in the Ministry of Health Dr. Sa’a
“I had to wean him, but his father didn’t
want me to give him infant formula. He discouraged me from continuing to
breastfeed the child and told me to feed him maize porridge and rock
salt.” She was powerless to refuse her husband.
“I gave in, but after some time I noticed
that the child was tired and his skin was thinning. I spoke to my mother who
told me that these were signs of malnutrition,” she explains.
“Against my husband’s advice, I brought the
child to hospital. The doctors here told me that I arrived just in time. Thank
God.”
Ahmadou is not the only child at the
hospital suffering from malnutrition.
In June, the centre’s medical staff
registered 31 malnourished children. Six died, one recovered and 21 were
transferred to other hospitals. The remaining three children, including
Ahmadou, stayed at the hospital for treatment.
Six-year-old Haouwa Aboui* was the last
child to die at this centre in June. Her 60-year-old grandmother, Maimouna
Aboui*, sits in front of their home, fatigued and despondent.
“There are 16 of us living in this hut and
there is not enough food. The little one could not bear the starvation,” Aboui
tells IPS. “I was advised to give her water with sugar to give her energy. Her
mother and I did that for two weeks. She died the day after we arrived at the
hospital.”
According to the most recent study by the
National Institute of Statistics (NIS), published in October 2011, 33 percent
of under-fives in Cameroon suffer from chronic malnutrition and 14 percent of
them are severely malnourished.
The community health division in the
Ministry of Public Health believes that malnutrition is closely linked to
Cameroon’s complex climate. In parts of the Adamawa, North and Far North
Regions – a dry and semi-arid zone – nutritional deterioration is present among
a large proportion of Cameroonian children and refugees, according to the
ministry.
In addition, the massive displacement of
Chadian and Central African Republic refugees has added to the growing number
of people unable to access food.
The Far North and North Regions have the
highest rate of infant malnutrition in the country because of a lack of food
during the lean season, which lasts from mid-June to the end of August. Another
contributing factor is the poor variety of foods consumed by the population,
such as millet and sorghum.
However, malnutrition is prevalent
throughout the country, says Ines Lezama, a nutrition specialist at the United
Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Cameroon.
Celine Essengue, a member of local NGO
Enfants Cameroun, gave IPS her assessment of the situation: “Cameroon is known
to be a food-sufficient country. This means that the country doesn’t need to
import food as it produces enough to feed its population. Poverty is preventing
the Cameroonian people from having access to a varied and balanced diet.”
Related IPS Articles
According to NIS, 44 percent of children
suffering from chronic malnutrition in the Central African Economic and
Monetary Community live in Cameroon.
UNICEF estimates that 57,616 children under
the age of five are at risk of severe acute malnutrition in the North and Far
North regions of the country, and that 145,000 children under the age of five
will have stunted growth.
Director of health promotion in the
Ministry of Health, known only as Dr. Sa’a, told journalists at a recent
briefing that “obesity is also a sign of malnutrition. Infant malnutrition
is also due to the fact that very few infants are breastfed exclusively for the
first six months after birth.”
UNICEF, in conjunction with the government,
works in 19 feeding centres in order to prevent complications.
Dr. Joel Ekobena, a paediatrician at the
Garoua district hospital, explains to IPS that they are increasingly working on
prevention.
“We educate mothers to recognise the first
signs of malnutrition and to take their children as soon as possible for a
check-up.”
But access to healthcare also poses a
problem: 23 out of 43 health districts in the North and Far North of the
country are short of qualified personnel. According to NIS, the two regions
have 92 doctors for an overall population of 5.5 million inhabitants.
*Names changed to protect their identity.
