children

Kids obviously need good parents. There is so much in the news lately about bad parents, especially lousy dads; you would think they were the norm. (Sick of it? Me, too.)

This is a “feel good” diary about a heroic California father and his little girl. The story happened in New York over the weekend and was reported in a New York Daily News story by Joe Kemp, Jill Colvin, and Rich Shapiro with Mike Jaccarino.

Here's an abbreviated version of that piece:

Last year, research showed that 1.37 million (39%) of the total homeless population are children under the age of 18. Given the increase in unemployment, we can only assume that number has increased this year. The transience of homelessness is difficult for the hardiest of souls, but it is especially hard on young people, who need consistency and a sense of safety and permanence to grow and flourish. Homelessness is a major problem; when it includes children, it’s a national disgrace.

 Diane Nilan (photo, L) gave up her job as director of a Chicago homeless shelter in 2005. She sold her town house and bought an RV and video equipment to chronicle homelessness in America. Nilan is convinced that if she can shed a light on the type of people she met in her 15 years of shelter work, she can make homelessness a national priority.

Driving her RV, she has visited 48 states, in an 80,000-mile cross-country journey that has found her relentlessly chronicling poverty and homelessness. She uses film, blogs, her book and public appearances to give a voice to the homeless, especially homeless families and young people.

I've been quite absent getting ready for Thanksgiving and the week after.

Pap smears?  Not a subject I'm knowledgeable on, but from past experience I know how important they are.

Afghanistan is the most dangerous place in the world to be born, especially if you're a girl.

I just read The Kite Runner which is a total eye opener about what life was like there before, before the Russians and before the Taliban and before, well before the world ended for that country.

I've added the BBC photo of an Afghan girl to illustrate what is at stake if we leave.  As much as I hate war and guns, as much as I detest those in charge of Afghanistan, I cannot support us leaving this country.  In fact I am strongly in favor of a totally different approach.

Let's plant roots and stay much like we did in Japan, Korea, Germany.  Let's stay and give them the time. possibly generations, to change attitudes and join the modern world.  nh

ABC News

Eight Years Later: 'Most Dangerous Place To Be Born'

ABC’s Nick Schifrin files this sad item from Kabul:

 

In a press conference in Geneva today, the South Asia regional director for UNICEF said this: "Afghanistan today is without a doubt the most dangerous place to be born.”

 

Dan Toole was speaking about UNICEF’s annual report The State of the World’s Children, which is available here(pdf).

 

Toole said Afghanistan has the highest infant mortality rate in the world: 257 deaths for every 1,000 live births. He also said a lack of security prevents polio and measles vaccine campaigns and decreases the number of children attending schools, especially girls. 317 schools have been destroyed by the Taliban in the past year, he said, killing 124 people.

 

Here’s another link(pdf) – to drive the point home. This is the actual list of mortality rates around the world.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/14/yemen.childbirth.death/index.html

What the hell is with those people.  Are they completely without morals or concern for children?

And yes, I said those people.  They purport to be religious but I think this atheist has more religious and moral fibre than the entire ruling playpen of Yemen. 

AMMAN, Jordan (CNN) -- A 12-year-old Yemeni girl, who was forced into marriage, died during a painful childbirth that also killed her baby, a children's rights group said Monday.

Fawziya Ammodi struggled for three days in labor, before dying of severe bleeding at a hospital on Friday, said the Seyaj Organization for the Protection of Children.

"Although the cause of her death was lack of medical care, the real case was the lack of education in Yemen and the fact that child marriages keep happening," said Seyaj President Ahmed al-Qureshi.

Born into an impoverished family in Hodeidah, Fawziya was forced to drop out of school and married off to a 24-year-old man last year, al-Qureshi said.

Update: This is the face of a Yemeni girl I found.  My guess is she is about the same age.  A child for goddess sake.