My Special Fathers' Day Gift, from African Child # 1

My Special Fathers’ Day gift, from daughter!
By Azubike Aliche
Although my kids made drawings/paintings and bought cards for me this Fathers’ Day, the special gift came from my six-year-old daughter, Nnenna! At the Perkins Center for the Arts, in Collingswood, New Jersey, yesterday, I really felt proud, as a father. The center organized a reception in honor of Nnenna and 34 other students from five states (Delaware, Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Sesebo City) in the US, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore. It is the ninth edition of “Young Voices, Horseshoe Crab and the Arts,” designed “to bring attention to the horseshoe crab and encourage individuals to assist and appreciate this remarkable creatures.” The 2009 Horseshoe Crabs and the Arts contest is meant for students in grades Pre-K – 12. As part of the reception, the center mounted an exhibition tagged Young Voices, featuring the art works of these students. The selected artworks are, also, to appear in the Ecological Research and Development Group’s anthology, Poems, Tales and Images, 2009. Apart from the book version, this publication will also be available on the Web at www.horseshoecrab.org. From over 400 entries, the Board of Directors of the Ecological Research and Development Group had judged Nnenna’s work to be outstanding enough to make it in their annual publication. They helped made my Fathers’ Day special, this year! Nnenna entered for the competition in her kindergarten class, even as some others entered from as much as the 11th grade. See accompanying photos.
The Ecological Research and Development Group, ERDG, otherwise called the Horseshoe Crab Guys, is a non-profit organization whose main goal is the protection of the world’s four remaining horseshoe crab species. The organization pursues its goals through scientific research, education, and environmental planning and management. Among others, it provides the educational foundation for a meaningful understanding of this remarkable specie and its conservation needs. The annual arts contests for students and other in-school programs are some of the many activities that the ERDG is engaged in.
Of the four species of the horseshoe crab, the Atlantic Horseshoe crab, found along the eastern coast of North and Central America, is the most numerous and accounts for the largest percentage of the worldwide horseshoe crab population. It is found in great numbers in the Delaware Bay, around where we live. To quote from an ERDG publication: “ The miles of sandy, wave-protected beaches in the bay offers optimal conditions for spawning and the tidal flats provide ideal habitat for juvenile crab growth and development.”
Incorporated in 1977, the Perkins Center for the Arts has locations in Moorestown and Collingswood, serving residents in southern New Jersey and beyond, by providing high quality art programs in grassroots settings. The center says that it is dedicated to excellence in the arts and to providing a wide range of creative opportunities for people of all ages and of every level of artistic development. It provides art studios, classrooms and exhibition spaces, among others, for its programs in visual arts, performing and literary arts.

The Other African Child, from Hawaii, etc

Performers from the Hawaii group

Top, left, performers from the Hellenic Pride Greek group.

Left, performers of Mexican origin from the Latin American Club of the Bridgeton High School.

The other African Child, in Hawaii, etc
By Azubike Aliche

Last Friday, May 1, 2009, the Millville Public Schools sponsored an event to mark the end of what it called a Multicultural Week. It was tagged Millville’s Multicultural Night 2009. Apparently, to underline the place of art in culture, it staged the events at the Glass Town Plaza, on High Street. Anyone who knows this small New Jersey town knows that much of High Street is Millville’s arts district. Here, all art forms, including photography, students’ art works, and glassware were in display. Winners of the Millville District multicultural essay contest were announced, too. However, it was dance that captured the most interest for me. My kids attend public schools and since the event was heavily promoted by the school district, I couldn’t but take my kids there. But, it was worth the time and other resources that I put into attending.
Although it was billed to be a multicultural event reflecting the rich and diverse cultures of the people of Cumberland County, for me, it was essentially the African culture, the African dance forms that were on display. Attending the event, also, showed me that the African child comes in a variety of forms, in America. As a matter of fact, only one group of performers, the Hellenic Pride Greek dancers, did not remind me of my roots in Africa – I mean the dance forms that I had witnessed in Africa in over 30 years before relocating to the United States, a decade ago. It is important to state, here, that all performers were children of school age and most were in high school.
The first group that entertained was the Latin American Club of Bridgeton High School. Its first performance was presented by students of Mexican origins. As I watched their costumes and other forms of dressing, their dance steps and patterns, as well as the entire ensemble, I was reminded of the traditional dances that I had witnessed in parts of Rivers State of Nigeria. I also had the same feelings when the group that comprised students of Puerto Rican descent performed. In that group, I looked at one girl in particular, how dark complexioned and fat she was, and what struck me most was how she could not be distinguished from any other African girl, say on the streets of Lagos Nigeria or Accra Ghana.
However, it was the troupe that has its origins in Hawaii, the Aloha Village Polynesian Revue, that had the most surprise for me. It reminded me of the Nkwa Umu Agbogho dance that is popular in Afikpo area of Igbo land and the various dances by maidens across Nigeria and Africa. Unlike the other troupes before it, this one included drums and drummers. To the adoration of the audience, the men on the ensemble danced “dirty,” shaking and twisting their hips and waists, gesturing and showing other body language in ways suggestive of love-making. The girls among them also gyrated and shook their buttocks, just as you’d see it in parts of Igbo land and the rest of Africa when maidens dance. To cap it all, admirers could walk to the dancer and paste dollar bills on her, in appreciation of her choreographic acumen, akin to the “spraying” of money on dancers that is the hallmark of African traditional dancing.
On the whole, what mattered to me that evening was not the art exhibition, entertaining and enlightening as it was, but the dances that provided me with information about the existence of the African child in areas that I never really knew of, particularly in Hawaii, the birth place of our current president, Barack Obama, an African child, himself.

Uche, my son, now plays Tee Ball

Right: YMCA Coach teaches Uche how to hit.

Uche, hitting the ball off a batting tee set on home plate. YMCA coach demonstrates proper positioning before hitting the ball. Right, Uche takes a break from it all, bat in hand.

“Specifically, the document established that wide disparities in enrolment still exist. It stated that in Early Childhood Care and Development Centres (ECCDE) only two million children find their way there, with a whooping 20 million others in the lurch. Under primary education, the document noted that while 24 million children were already enrolled, 11 million others were not. In junior secondary schools, six million children were still roaming the streets while only three million are in school. Under the Nomadic Education Scheme, according to the document, over three million nomadic children are still out of school.”

- Excerpts from a report by The Guardian (of Nigeria) published in its online edition of April 25, 2009. The report was based on a 150-page document, released by Dr. Sam Egwu, Nigeria’s Minister (secretary) of Education, on what he called the Road Map for Education for 2011.

Uche, my son, now plays T-Ball
By Azubike Aliche

The last time, on March 3, 2009, that I wrote about Uche, my four-year-old son, he was playing soccer. Today, he plays T-Ball. T-ball is the kids’ equivalent of baseball. More appropriately, for kids, it’s a get way to baseball for boys and softball for girls. It’s like base ball but without a pitcher. T-ball is meant to imbue kids with such baseball skills as hitting, running, fielding and throwing. Part of what kids do in T-Ball is to hit a ball off a batting tee set on a home plate.
This is not about announcing that Uche has joined the 2.2 million other kids playing T-Ball around the USA. It’s also not about a lecture on T-Ball, otherwise called Tee ball. It is about offering a perspective on why many an African Child has little or no opportunity to be involved in organized sports at an early age, today. It is pertinent to mention that the YMCA of Vineland was responsible to giving Uche access to learning to play soccer and, now, tee ball. It is instructive, too, that what I paid to the YMCA on both cases is, most probably, a small fraction of the commercial value of such training. The YMCA is able to less than the normal cost of training because it is a nonprofit organization. That status not only allows it to attract funding to run its programs, charging minimal fees, it allows the YMCA to attract volunteers who work at every level to make possible the kind of training that Uche and other kids receive.
Again, this is not about praising the YMCA. It is about stating that the absence of voluntary organizations such as the YMCA is responsible for the stagnated development of the typical African child, in the African continent. One major source of the crisis of development in Nigeria and many other African countries is the fact that while traditional institutions are giving way in the face of increasing Westernization and globalization, modern ones, particularly from the nonprofit sector, are not coming up to replace them. Indeed, at a time when it is obvious that government cannot meet all the needs of everyone in society, the place of viable and creative non-governmental organizations cannot be over-emphasized. Even as the richest country on the earth, the United States of America still has a lot of room for the voluntary and nonprofit organizations who cater to the needs of the needy and vulnerable in society such as children, the elderly, the disabled, ex-convicts and the sick. In fact, the importance of these agencies is underscored by the fact that governments at the federal, state and county levels often funnel funds meant for social services through them, in effort to reduce corruption, inefficiency and the red tape associated with bureaucracy.
When I wrote about Uche’s soccer training in March, I had indicated that when I was growing up in Nigeria, in the 1960s and early 1970s, the task of providing training in sports rested with teachers. Each school had a games master who also had a class to teach. I had, also, indicated that teachers, also, used to provide “continuation” classes in the evenings, after regular school hours. At that time, in Nigeria’s history, inflation was very low and the local currency had value. Consequently, teachers formed the bulk of the middle class. And, as I indicated, too, the schools were owned and run by the missionaries, who enforced a strict code of work ethic. A combination of these made it possible for teachers to combine teaching and extra-curricula activities and still achieved satisfactory results. Nowadays, however, inflation is in the double digits, the local currency is near worthless, the schools belong to the governments, and there is a race for crass materialism. What we find, therefore, is that the teacher is preoccupied with the thoughts of making ends meet such that he can barely put in the usual eight hours a day, much less return in the evening for any after-school lesson or sports. In this circumstance, does anyone still wonder why stands in education and sports have fallen? This makes the absence of such organizations as the YMCA that can mobilize money and volunteers to provide what the teacher cannot provide very poignant.
In the small town America where I live, there is a day care center where I’ve had my kids go in the last four years. At any one point in time, I’ve had two kids attend the center. The center, also, provides wrap-around care for my kid in preschool. With my modest income, if I was to pay the full cost of the quality of early childhood education that the center provides, it could break my back. But, because of its nonprofit status, the center is able to attract funding and volunteers to supplement what we pay, just as the YMCA. Besides, it is supported by the local chapter of United Way. Do we have organizations like the United Way in Nigeria and other African countries?
As we hope that African governments and peoples see the need and organize to provide voluntary and nonprofit charitable organizations to supplement what their governments provide in the area of social welfare services, relief can come from nonprofit organizations based outside the continent that are committed to raising and providing the funding needed to provide social services. The Power Education Foundation, PEF, can be one of these. With like-minded fellows, we founded the PEF, which has a tax exempt status in the United States. The PEF is committed to promoting access to free or affordable quality early childhood education in Nigeria and Africa, by making grants and other resources available to local early childhood centers, so they can develop their capacity to offer quality programs for the all-round development of Africa’s children. Please, visit our website at www.powereducationfoundation.com, for information on what the PEF is doing and how you can help.

Still on Schools that Kill!

Students watch, excitedly, as NNAUSA-supplied school desks arrive.

*The lorry bringing desks to the school tells the story of decay and want!


Photo, left: Dr. Alwell Nwankwoala, NNAUSA National General Secretary (second right) and Mr. Godson Ihuoma Enyia, Chairman of the Implementation Committee of VPSI (4th right) appear with members of the Ihie Community during the commissioning of the project in the area. In front of all of them is the goat presented to NNAUSA by the community, in appreciation. Other pictures depict excited students, among others.

Still on Schools that Kill!
Recently, on this blog, I posted photographs of run-down and blighted schools in my native Abia State of Nigeria, as examples of schools that kill their students. More than any number of words can, those pictures of dilapidated school buildings, with their malnourished students, spoke volumes of the objective condition of the state of education, particularly primary education, in Nigeria and Africa. The whole idea of schools that kill is ironic, as schools are supposed to promote, not just the intellectual health of students but their overall physical, intellectual and emotional development. But no one can see these schools, with overgrown grasses, leaking or blown off roof, broken windows, etc, and not conclude that students are in danger of dying from diseases contracted from unhealthy environment, around the schools. Imagine roofs that cannot protect students from the elements!
Today, I’m proud to report that an organization that I belong to, the Ngwa National Association USA (NNAUSA), is responding to the needs of these students, in an attempt to stop the schools from killing the students that they are meant to protect. NNAUSA’s efforts may look like a drop of water in an ocean, given the magnitude of the problem in relation to the resources available to it, but to do nothing is not an option for individuals and organizations with conscience. So, thank you, NNAUSA, for your little efforts!
Under its Village Primary School Improvement program, approved in March 2008, NNAUSA is committing about $35,000 to each of seven schools, selected by ballot last September, from each of the seven local government councils of the southern senatorial district of Abia State. Of the seven, renovation or supply of school equipment and supplies has been completed in two – one in Egbelu Ihie in Isiala Ngwa North and another in Umuakpara, in the Osisioma Ngwa councils.
Once more, I bring you pictures that evidence this act of charity by NNAUSA. The pictures tell the story of gratitude from members of the recipient communities, with the Ihie community offering a goat to NNAUSA, in appreciation of its charitable gesture. But, more importantly, these pictures further confirm what we know, already: That some schools in Abia State and, indeed, much of Africa, can kill their students! If you feel concerned about the state of schools in Nigeria and Africa, you can visit the Power Education Foundation website at www.powereducationfoundation.com to learn about how your tax-deductible charitable donation can make a difference in the lives of students, particularly at the pre-primary school level.

Azubike Aliche, President
Power Education Foundation

As Uche, my son, plays Soccer

• Uche, left, below, and his team mates.
  
  
  
  As my son, Uche,
  
  
• plays Soccer
  
  
  
  By Azubike Aliche
  
  
  
  
  
  
  When I was growing up, in rural Nigeria, decades ago, two words were prominent in our school lexicon. They were “4.30” and “Continuation.” The meanings for these words were rooted in local parlance, such that even parents understood what they meant. But not an outsider!
  “Continuation,” actually, means continuation classes; that is what will qualify for afterschool lessons or tutoring, today! And, “4.30” meant 4.30 p.m., the time for afterschool games or soccer practice, in the main. “Continuation” and “4.30,” virtually, took up all the evenings during the week days. You missed any of these at the risk of receiving corporal punishment the next school day. That was an era in which the dominant philosophy for teachers is “spare the rod and spoil the child!” Now, looking back, there’s no doubt in my mind that many of us owe, not just our physical fitness but the balanced development of our physical, emotional and mental wellbeing to “4.30” and “Continuation.”
  Regrettably, as I write this, both “Continuation” and “4.30” have become extinct, virtually! They have become victims of government take-over of schools. Both “continuation” and “4.30” were a heritage from the colonial government and the missionaries in Nigeria. They were made possible by a breed of teachers and other school officials who were devoted and were closely supervised by missionaries who owned the schools, up to 1970 or thereabout. “Continuation” and “4.30” survived government takeover of schools, though, but not for too long. Whatever was left of them was finally buried by a declining economy that has been in life support, since the early 1980s, in Nigeria.
  Today, teachers are fighting for survival, or chasing wealth, such that they have no time for “Continuation.” During the missionary era, teachers were made to believe that their reward was in heaven but today’s teachers can’t wait. With government takeover, supervision of teachers has gone down, just as funds necessary to provide sports equipment. Now, the cost of a soccer ball is so prohibitive that even local governments, charged with funding local schools, can’t afford them.
  So, as Uche, my four-year-old son, and his team mates chased the round leather object called soccer ball, many memories come surging on for me. In the last three months that I’ve had to take Uche to his practice and games, I’ve had to spare some thoughts for the African child. Even as soccer is the king of sports in Nigeria, and Africa, it would be hard to see kids that age, play soccer under the direction of a coach, and in a gymnasium! You, probably, can count the number of indoor sports facilities in Nigeria, using your fingers! We were happy, during our days, to play it in the pathways and earth roads or, in a more organized way, in our grassy school fields. Today, it’s a luxury for kids to even find the soccer ball to play with. And, this is sad and should not be! The African child deserves better!
  
  With like-minded people, we’ve founded the Power Education Foundation. The New Jersey incorporated 501(c)(3) public charity is dedicated to raising money and making grants for the all-round development of the African child. Please, visit our website at www.powereducationfoundation.com to see how you may contribute to this effort.
  
  Azubike Aliche
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Obama Girls, African Kids

Obama Girls, African Kids
By Azubike Aliche

Malia Obama, 10, and Sasha Obama, 7, are, arguably the most popular girls on earth, today. One day after they wore dresses made by J. Crew to their father’s historic inauguration, as America’s first president of African descent, the company got a boost in the stock market. Another company, Ty, cashing in on the popularity of the Obama girls, made dolls and named them “Sweet Sasha” and “Marvelous Malia,” after the famous Malia and Sasha Obama. For us, in this blog, our interest and pride is not marketing but that the Obama girls are African girls, at least by heritage.
The Obama girls not only present as bacon of hope and inspiration for every African child, they serve as heroes and role models. The girls have everything going for them that every child will envy! The girls have been described as cute, beautiful and level-headed. They live in a two-parent family, with dotting, protective and adoring parents, Michelle and Barack Obama. As America’s first kids, they would not have to worry about food, a decent house, good school, health insurance, and other basic necessities of life barely available to millions of African children in America, and, particularly, in the motherland, Africa. Despite every attempt that Michelle Obama will make to shield her kids from the prying eyes of the press and the ubiquitous paparazzi, everything about Malia and Sasha will excite interest around the world. So far, we have been treated to hundreds of hours of commentary and reporting about their new school in Washington DC and the search for the new puppy that they are about to get in their new home at the White House.
It is a fact of life that not every African child will be blessed enough by providence to have parents who attain the heights of Barack and Michelle Obama. This means that we do not expect that every African child will attain the status of Malia and Sasha Obama. However, we thank God for the story of Michelle and Barack Obama and, by inference, of Malia and Sasha. We thank the American people and society that made this story possible. If the presence of Malia and Sasha Obama in the White House forces attention on the condition of other African children worldwide, Africa would be better for it. If other African children find inspiration and hope in the lives of Malia and Sasha Obama, Africa will even be better for it. All said and done, the victory of Barack Obama in the 2008 America’s presidential election and the subsequent emergence of Malia and Sasha Obama in the spotlight is a victory for Africa and black people the world over.
As part of our own way of identifying with the historic inauguration of Barack Obama as the first American president of African origin on January 20, 2009, the African Child blog is re-publishing (above) some of those photos of that historic event that featured Malia and Sasha Obama, who are, also, African children.

Schools that Kill

Sorry State of Schools in Nigeria

By Azubike Aliche

When I worked in journalism, we operated on the premises that pictures do not tell lies, and that a good picture tells a story better than a thousand words can do. On the basis of that, I’m saving words for my blog, today, to show pictures of examples of what pass for schools in my native Abia State of Nigeria. The pictures were taken in the last month by Nwaeze Nwachukwu, a Los Angeles, resident who visited Nigeria. Nothing portrays, better than these photos, the objective reality of schools in Nigeria and some other parts of Africa. These are schools that put the health and welfare of our children at risk, as they are put at the mercy of the elements. Pictures like these have spurred me and other like-minded concerned individuals to come together to found the Power Education Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit, to raise money and make grants aimed at improving access to early childhood education in Nigeria. Please, visit our website at www.powereducationfoundation.com, to see what we are doing and what you can do to help. Your small tax-deductible donation can make a difference.