Friday, October 25, 2013

Robert Alai

Robert Alai is an activist of social justice. He gives over 90 million impressions with each social networking post he has. Alai has been in the news all over the world including articles in Epoch Times, Boston Newspapers, Australian and Canadian publications and even had appearances on BBC. Most Notable for his coverage on the West gate Mall terrorist attacks in Nairobi, Kenya. He kept over 100,000 people up to date with what was happening. He had noticed that the Kenyan government was hiding information and trying not to let this attack be seen by the public. Alai thought this was unjust and was going to do whatever he could to voice the attacks. In an interview Alai talks about wanting to be a voice for the voiceless and helping those who cannot help themselves. He has helped many throughout Kenya from a child sending school fees to the wrong person to a full on terrorist threat. He looks to help right the wrongs of this world and strives to see social justice upheld properly. He is hated and loved by many and understands that he may come off as "crazy" sometimes but he does what he thinks is right and in the end that is all that matters to him. I believe we need more people like Robert in this world. He is a person who chooses to do the right thing even when no one else is.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Social Action Project


For My social action project I would like to teach others the concerns of e waste and its affect on the world. I will present information displaying how e waste affects us economically, physically and environmentally. I will begin by first displaying the corrosive materials that are used to make many of the electronics we have today. Second I will speak about how mining these materials harms our earth and our health. I will also explain what we do with these electronics when we are done with them. My partner and I will go in depth on the demanufacturing and dissembling of these products. We will speak about the big businesses that participate in the outsourcing of said waste and the conditions of the individuals it is sent to. I will briefly describe the crippling affects of the breakdown of these electronics and the work conditions of the people who are breaking it down.  we then hope to get the audience's view on the subject after the information has been displayed. I want to know what they think about this subject and see if they have any ideas on how we can help prevent e waste. We hope to get answers to big questions like is e waste ethical? and what are going to be the long term affects of just "throwing out" our electronics?
I have chosen to do a class teach-in at my high school. One of my favorite teachers actually is teaching a social justice class there currently. This will be a great tie in for his class. It will also be good for the students to see how social justice is affected from a technological standpoint. My partner and I will try to get in touch with as many faculty members as possible and hopefully will be able to do a couple teach ins so we get our points across on a broader scale. We will make a power point presentation displaying all the information explained above. We will present some videos showing the affects of e waste on individuals in the countries it is shipped to. This will help the students obtain a better understanding of how other countries deal with our waste. Many of these high school students will not have a clue what e waste is so I want to give them as much information on the topic as possible. However, I also want to see what they think about the subject and get a discussion going on the topic. My main focus of this social action project is to make others understand that if we simply do not take action then no one will. My goal is to get the students to leave my teach in with a different mind set on how simple things might not be so simple after all and how our actions can change the lives of those living all around us even if we aren't exposed to it.