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.