Tuesday
I will call Tuesday’s class the round table class as we sat in a circle to discuss the poverty stimulation experience the previous week. I was delighted to hear some colleagues mention how fortunate they are after their experience at the stimulation. The instructor also drew our attention to the fact that the stimulation has provided an avenue for us to rethink before we go out judging people while performing our duties.
With the number of people being food insecure increasing to 14.6%, there is a possibility that ailment associated with food insecurity would also increase as people may continue to skip meals or purchase food with less or no nutritional value. With 27.2% of Southeastern Ohio population being food insecure, it is my hope that the advocacy for community gardening will catch up with people so they can complement their earnings from the gardens with the ones that are provided by the American government and philanthropists.
Thursday
There is a saying that “practice what you preach”. Since some of us will find ourselves in the future informing people about the importance of gardening, Thursday provided first timer like me the opportunity to see how community garden looks like. I finally found the site after driving around for about ten minutes. I guess it gave me the opportunity to explore some part of Athens.
Paddy, the assistant manager of the garden was very informative. I believe a community garden leads to a united community, as Paddy informed that people take turns to share the equipment at the garden. Having been shown our plot, my group members and I are ready to get into action. It was a sunny day and I believe we all left the community garden with something useful to the body. Guess what? VITAMIN D!
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Poverty Stimulation
This evening's poverty stimulation was an interesting one and brought back some memories that have shaped my life.
I found myself in a family were I was a 56 years handicapped woman. Things were so tight that we could not manage to eat for two weeks, could not pay our mortgage (become homeless) and could not afford to pay for my medication.In a real life situation, I would have been hospitalized or dead without the medication. This is the predicament the poor go through. When Ghana went through a period of hunger during 1983, I remember seeing my mum going out of house every now and then with a plastic bag containing her clothes to be sold so she can put food on table while my dad waits to be paid accumulated salary.
My siblings and I had to take turns to skip school in order to sell ice cream. Not only does Poverty disrupt family quality time but steal the life out of people.
However from the American perspective, I believe there is hope for the poor as there are avenues for the poor to seek assistance. During the stimulation, I lost my wallet and ended up with $100 card to pay utilities and $20 cash. If it were back home, there would have been no one to talk to for assistance.
I think tonight's stimulation is an excellent experience to those of us who have not seen or experienced poverty.
I found myself in a family were I was a 56 years handicapped woman. Things were so tight that we could not manage to eat for two weeks, could not pay our mortgage (become homeless) and could not afford to pay for my medication.In a real life situation, I would have been hospitalized or dead without the medication. This is the predicament the poor go through. When Ghana went through a period of hunger during 1983, I remember seeing my mum going out of house every now and then with a plastic bag containing her clothes to be sold so she can put food on table while my dad waits to be paid accumulated salary.
My siblings and I had to take turns to skip school in order to sell ice cream. Not only does Poverty disrupt family quality time but steal the life out of people.
However from the American perspective, I believe there is hope for the poor as there are avenues for the poor to seek assistance. During the stimulation, I lost my wallet and ended up with $100 card to pay utilities and $20 cash. If it were back home, there would have been no one to talk to for assistance.
I think tonight's stimulation is an excellent experience to those of us who have not seen or experienced poverty.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Week 2
This was an interesting one. When it comes to matters of food security, discussions on it can go beyond class hours. I guess some of us, if not all of us, have experienced food insecurity at one time during our life stages. I did during the 1983 hunger in my country. Memories of that cannot be forgotten as I saw my mum sell almost all of her clothes to make ends meet for my siblings and myself.
I believe this is the same situation Erin Brockhovich found herself in. In her case, she was a single parent and had absolutely nothing to sell to feed her family. However, from an African perspective, someone who is so poor will not have a car. A poor person in African would use her car for taxi to make ends meet. However, after almost a year and half in America, I have come to realise that having a car in America is a necessity not a luxury. Like any other mother fighting for survival, Erin Brockhovich exhibited a motherly instinct by skipping meals just for her children to be fed. I believe this is what most mothers go through hence the increase rate of food deprivation amongst single mothers.
Food insecurity has been a dilemma for a lot of nations, most notably the developing world, but the developed world are also drawn into this dilemma. In 2009, Nord et al. revealed that 14.6% of American households were food insecure. They lacked access to food for an active, healthy life (Anderson, 1990). This level of food insecurity was the highest level in the US since its initial measurement in 1995. In the Appalachian Ohio region, food insecurity was reported to be 27.2% (Holben and Pheley, 2006), and undoubtedly has increased given the current economic situation.
The 60 Minutes documentary shown in class on Thursday virtually spells it out.
I had the opportunity to handout food at the Logan Food Bank in fall and when our team get there at 8:00 am, the line was almost a mile long (car queue) and we were informed that the line started at around 3:00 am. When we left the vicinity at about 11:00 am, the line had increased and with the amount of food left, we released not all of them would go back home with food. I could not help it but think about what will become of the families that could not manage to get food for the day as we were informed that the food distribution is done once a month.
I believe the community gardening initiative is the best action in the right direction in minimizing food insecurity in Athens and its surrounding counties which have high incidence of poverty. According to Athens County Department of Job and Family Services (ACDJFS) in 2006, half of Athens County households earn at least $25,000 less than the nationwide median household income of $40,956. This figure illustrates the poverty level in Southeastern Ohio. It also raises the question of the impoverished ability to not only access food (ACDJFS Report, 2006).
It was good having a fruitful group discussion on Thursday and I am glad to have two group members who have some gardening experience and I look forward to learning with my group members.
I believe this is the same situation Erin Brockhovich found herself in. In her case, she was a single parent and had absolutely nothing to sell to feed her family. However, from an African perspective, someone who is so poor will not have a car. A poor person in African would use her car for taxi to make ends meet. However, after almost a year and half in America, I have come to realise that having a car in America is a necessity not a luxury. Like any other mother fighting for survival, Erin Brockhovich exhibited a motherly instinct by skipping meals just for her children to be fed. I believe this is what most mothers go through hence the increase rate of food deprivation amongst single mothers.
Food insecurity has been a dilemma for a lot of nations, most notably the developing world, but the developed world are also drawn into this dilemma. In 2009, Nord et al. revealed that 14.6% of American households were food insecure. They lacked access to food for an active, healthy life (Anderson, 1990). This level of food insecurity was the highest level in the US since its initial measurement in 1995. In the Appalachian Ohio region, food insecurity was reported to be 27.2% (Holben and Pheley, 2006), and undoubtedly has increased given the current economic situation.
The 60 Minutes documentary shown in class on Thursday virtually spells it out.
I had the opportunity to handout food at the Logan Food Bank in fall and when our team get there at 8:00 am, the line was almost a mile long (car queue) and we were informed that the line started at around 3:00 am. When we left the vicinity at about 11:00 am, the line had increased and with the amount of food left, we released not all of them would go back home with food. I could not help it but think about what will become of the families that could not manage to get food for the day as we were informed that the food distribution is done once a month.
I believe the community gardening initiative is the best action in the right direction in minimizing food insecurity in Athens and its surrounding counties which have high incidence of poverty. According to Athens County Department of Job and Family Services (ACDJFS) in 2006, half of Athens County households earn at least $25,000 less than the nationwide median household income of $40,956. This figure illustrates the poverty level in Southeastern Ohio. It also raises the question of the impoverished ability to not only access food (ACDJFS Report, 2006).
It was good having a fruitful group discussion on Thursday and I am glad to have two group members who have some gardening experience and I look forward to learning with my group members.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
WEEK 1
Tuesday 03/30/10
I did not know what to expect from the course outline not alone talk about gardening. I believe the inclusion of gardening in this course provides an avenue for me to experience how it feels like to garden before I go out preaching to people the importance of gardening. Coming from a continent where most of the people live under $2 a day, I believe the $2 a day exercise will provide an excellent experience. I would not like be someone who goes out to talk about poverty to the poor and is dressed in a tuxedo.
I believe the instructor’s method to put us into groups to get to know each other provides a means of flexibility were it will be easy for us to approach each other when it comes to the course. I have attended some classes were students are total strangers till the end of the class. I am not advocating for friendship amongst students but an avenue were the class environment is such that it makes it easy to approach a class mate for clarifications.
I cannot wait to get things started, especially the gardening experience.
Thursday 04/01/10
Thursday’s workshop was an excellent experience for me. T o hear the entire speakers share their expertise on gardening was an eye opener.
To hear Dr. Holben talk about sustainability drew my attention back home where there is so much talk on “sustainability that sustainability this” and nothing has been sustained for decades now because of bad governance and policies. Food insecurity is on the increase because in African and especially in my country because of our inability to sustain our food system. There are always breaks from production to consumption in the food system. I believe as those in policy making indulge in their own political gimmicks, gardening provides an excellent avenue for the ordinary individual to minimize food insecurity.
Master gardener Cheryl’s presentation was enlightening and encouraging. The diagrams on the types of gardening she provided simply illustrated that anyone with a smallest space can garden if he/she puts her mind to it. Her diagram illustration of the positioning of a garden was just amazing. I never thought such considerations were needed for gardening. What comes to mind is just the plot of land, manure and seedlings.
Dr. Art Trese’s presentation drew my mind back to my secondary school days where I was thought agricultural science. Of course I had all the theoretical foundations with less practical. I believe the soil or the environment provides most of solution to food insecurity. To extend what I will acquire from this course back home will definitely pose as a challenge as people have no regards for soil conservation in their efforts to combat for insecurity. This has been the concern of the neo-Malthusian. People need to know the importance of soil in combating food insecurity and I believe Dr. Trese’s presentation said it all.
During the course of the presentation, I had a strong feeling that if I put myself to gardening I would be an excellent gardener and this was ascertained by Dr. Trese’s affirmation that soils ‘C’ and ‘D’ were the best soils. And guess what, I gave the highest scores to soils ‘C’ and ‘D’.
I cannot wait to have my first gardening experience.
I did not know what to expect from the course outline not alone talk about gardening. I believe the inclusion of gardening in this course provides an avenue for me to experience how it feels like to garden before I go out preaching to people the importance of gardening. Coming from a continent where most of the people live under $2 a day, I believe the $2 a day exercise will provide an excellent experience. I would not like be someone who goes out to talk about poverty to the poor and is dressed in a tuxedo.
I believe the instructor’s method to put us into groups to get to know each other provides a means of flexibility were it will be easy for us to approach each other when it comes to the course. I have attended some classes were students are total strangers till the end of the class. I am not advocating for friendship amongst students but an avenue were the class environment is such that it makes it easy to approach a class mate for clarifications.
I cannot wait to get things started, especially the gardening experience.
Thursday 04/01/10
Thursday’s workshop was an excellent experience for me. T o hear the entire speakers share their expertise on gardening was an eye opener.
To hear Dr. Holben talk about sustainability drew my attention back home where there is so much talk on “sustainability that sustainability this” and nothing has been sustained for decades now because of bad governance and policies. Food insecurity is on the increase because in African and especially in my country because of our inability to sustain our food system. There are always breaks from production to consumption in the food system. I believe as those in policy making indulge in their own political gimmicks, gardening provides an excellent avenue for the ordinary individual to minimize food insecurity.
Master gardener Cheryl’s presentation was enlightening and encouraging. The diagrams on the types of gardening she provided simply illustrated that anyone with a smallest space can garden if he/she puts her mind to it. Her diagram illustration of the positioning of a garden was just amazing. I never thought such considerations were needed for gardening. What comes to mind is just the plot of land, manure and seedlings.
Dr. Art Trese’s presentation drew my mind back to my secondary school days where I was thought agricultural science. Of course I had all the theoretical foundations with less practical. I believe the soil or the environment provides most of solution to food insecurity. To extend what I will acquire from this course back home will definitely pose as a challenge as people have no regards for soil conservation in their efforts to combat for insecurity. This has been the concern of the neo-Malthusian. People need to know the importance of soil in combating food insecurity and I believe Dr. Trese’s presentation said it all.
During the course of the presentation, I had a strong feeling that if I put myself to gardening I would be an excellent gardener and this was ascertained by Dr. Trese’s affirmation that soils ‘C’ and ‘D’ were the best soils. And guess what, I gave the highest scores to soils ‘C’ and ‘D’.
I cannot wait to have my first gardening experience.
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