Desk Drive -- Let's get these Malawi kids some desks!

[NuclearDem]

Alright, if you watched Last Word tonight, you know what I'm talking about, but for those who don't:

Lawrence O'Donnell visited the African nation of Malawi this summer and visited some of the schools...among other problems, these kids have to spend seven hours a day sitting on floor. Dirt, cracked cement...for seven hours a day.

Now, for $48 a desk, we can give those kids a better school...a better learning environment.

https://secure.unicefusa.org/site/Donation2?df_id=9040&9040.donation=form1&JServSessionIdr004=uepo7wal02.app220b

Contributions can go through the above link.

[Oceansaway]

1. K&R...n/t

[snappyturtle]

2. Thanks for posting...I was just getting ready to do the same!

I'm going to do this as a birthday gift for my brother-in-law, a republican state senator! In all fairness, my b-i-l- is a generous person but I'd like to send a message that this type of effort says so much more about the nature of Americans than bombing and killing. I can't afford the $48.00 but I can do $24.00 to get one student off the dirt or concrete floor. I also know there's so-o much that needs to be done in this country but on the other hand, I recognize that 'our' reputation has suffered a great deal and small acts like this is really an investment in our future. Unicef will send an e-card to the person one donates for!

[TheMadMonk]

3. For $48 you can assemble a fairly decent basic carpenter kit.

Not saying kindergarteners should be making their own desks, but there is certainly no reason for the sixth graders not to be learning a trade critical to modernising a backward nation and making desks for kindergarteners while they do it.

Book learning can only go so far without the infrastructure in which to exercise it.


Rather than providing "whole schools" as is the wont of these types of initiatives. Wouldn't it be better to figure out the leverage necessary to enable the locals to provide for this sort of need themselves. AND how to do it out of local materials. A part of this must include education in the all the basic trades which underpin modern civilisation. Carpentry, plumbing, sanitation of all kinds, a hell of a lot of things we take for granted because we are exposed to them from birth. Why not make it ALL part of the learning process.

[shraby]

4. The lumber might not be available to the young

carpenters, and cost much more by the time they buy finished lumber, the hardware and the varnish/paint, where an organization can buy desks in bulk and get a good price.

[spooky3]

5. and the desks were built by local people--a business hired local workers

and they worked around the clock for Lawrence to get the desks made. So I agree with you.

I'm not sure it's best for children to do these jobs instead. In the US we would probably consider carpentry a mite hazardous for that age. I think TheMadMonk's point may be well taken for slightly older children, but (a) at age 12 you're still learning basics, (b) local adults need work, and (c) in the long run, education beyond the trades is key to helping move their economy forward.