Her advice

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Obianuju has words for the West regarding the best way to help Africans.

"Listen to the voice of the African people before launching massive projects carefully mapped out by social engineers and strategists based in New York and London.

"We watch silently as Western government agencies try to reconstruct our communities, schools and hospitals according to their own blueprint.

"My advice to charitable givers, voters and lobbyists is to bear in mind that our lives are built upon our own beliefs, views and values. Do not edit our ways. Do not eclipse our thoughts. Do not efface our heritage."

Obianuju

Obianuju Ekeocha is yet another voice from Africa telling the West that heavy-handed "aid" is not always appreciated.

Other voices object to heavy-handed aid for economic and ethical reasons. 

But Obianuju objects because she sees Western aid used to corrupt traditional African values. Specifically, Melissa Gates (yes, that Gates) spent billions of dollars to enact population control in Africa.

Obianuju says, "I saw this as a bold move on her part to impose her worldview upon the poorest of the world. She was pushing to shift the views of millions of people on family, motherhood, marriage and sex.

"With the rapid moral and cultural decline in the west, many Africans realize that they must stand firm by what they know to be true, good and beautiful."

(cont'd tomorrow)

Skill lacking

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

I wasn't surprised that employers need more technical skills from their college grad applicants. But I am surprised by this:

"44 percent of managers feel writing proficiency is the hard skill most lacking among recent college graduates."

image: payscale.com

Skills gap

Teenagers should think realistically about life and work after college before they actually go to college - if preparing for a career is one of their main goals.

"While 87% of recent [U.S. college] graduates feel well prepared to hit the ground running in their new job, only half of hiring managers agreed." Somehow they're not getting what is needed if they want to "hit the ground running."

The skills hiring managers are most likely to consider absent or deficient directly following graduation is called "The Skills Gap."

This writer from the U.K. (where half of recent college graduates have non-graduate roles) has a very practical suggestion: charge a lower price for university and college courses that educate for skills in high demand.

"We should be incentivising our students to opt for courses that will keep talent pipelines well stocked."  

NOTE-- Skills that employers will pay extra for are here

(cont'd tomorrow)

Big blessing

"That was the biggest blessing I ever received," said Christopher Lane of Milwaukee. He was referring to a jobs program that made a way for him to start over after some serious setbacks. Cooperation of several groups has connected 79 people to a new job since last fall through the Joseph Project.

In zip code 53206, 62% of all men have been in prison, highest rate in the country. Nearby is Greater Praise Church of God in Christ, whose pastor recruited among churches for applicants to a job workshop which he and two senate staffers put together.

About an hour away, Sheboygan County Economic Development Corp. was trying to help companies find scarce labor. They made the connection with the Joseph Project at the senator's office - two problems connected and became solutions for each other.

In the words of the senator, “We may not be able to save the entire world or the entire nation, but boy, you certainly can turn one person’s life around.”

Books

When did you last see an ad for an e-reader? Sales are way down. But there's a lot of real book lovers out there.

Among U.S. adults, 65% say they read a printed book last year, which was the same in 2012. According to Pew Research, the percentage goes up to 73% if they read any sort of book including  an e-book.

It seems that "voracious readers" use any and all methods. “They want books to be available wherever they are . . .They’ll read an e-book on a crowded bus, curl up with a printed book when they feel like that, and go to bed with a tablet.”

Material, tangible books - printed on all kinds of paper, sometimes heavy and awkward, often a pleasure to the senses - look to be in no danger from technological progress.

Not looking

America's un-employment figures are based on the number of people looking for work but unable to find jobs. According to some, we in the U.S. now have low un-employment, maybe even a situation of "near-full employment."

But you could say that one group is in worse shape than ever. It's 25-54-year-old men in their prime working years who - what? - are not even looking for work, 7 million of them.

Just ten percent of these men are students. What are the rest of them doing? "Socializing, relaxing, and leisure."

"Time-use surveys suggest they are almost entirely idle—helping out around the house less than unemployed men; caring for others less than employed women; volunteering and engaging in religious activities less than working men and women or unemployed men."

Their families need them. Society needs . . "to bring these detached men back—into the workplace, into their families, into civil society."

God & work #2

(cont'd)

There are two ways Laremy (Christian, barrista, and philosopher) serves God in his work - relating to the natural world and relating to people. He treats both the world's fruits (yesterday's post) and people with love and respect

"I love to glorify God in my products, but I also love to glorify God in having a space where community can be created and where I can welcome the stranger, and welcome whoever walks in my doors and treat them with love and respect."

"My prayer is that every evening when I go to sleep, I can look at the ways that I have filled my role as . . interpreter of God’s general revelation and echo His words by saying, “It was good.”



A quote from Chuck Colson: "[Ancient] Greeks and Romans looked upon manual work as a curse, something for lower classes and slaves. But . .Christians viewed work as a high calling—to be co-workers with God in unfolding the rich potential of His creation."

God & work #1

I just love this guy's attitude about his work. In honor of Labor Day, I'm re-posting:

Can a regular guy in a small town glorify God in his work? Laremy DeVries has a sense of purpose and fulfillment at his coffee and sandwich shop in Sioux Center, Iowa. 

He has an integrated view of his work as cooperating with God, the original Creator of the ingredients - the coffee beans, the milk and eggs, etc. - he uses in his shop. "And then I get the chance to take these things that God has made good and that many within the supply chain have treated with love and respect and make something good myself."

"When someone purchases a latte at the Fruited Plain Café, it is useful and beautiful. It honors its ingredients from farm—whether that be a coffee plantation in Nicaragua or a dairy in Nebraska —to cup. And it is never shoddily done. I have the opportunity to see God at work and read the revelation of His creation every day."

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord . ."

(cont'd tomorrow)

Ethanol #2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

A call to reverse the "ethanol mandate" (yesterday's post) comes from both sides of our political life because of these reasons:

• the government's requirement to use corn-based ethanol as a fuel puts the American Great Plains at risk - "Along with other environmental groups, the Natural Resources Defense Council has now completely reversed its position on biofuels. Instead of lobbying for ethanol, it’s now lobbying against it, saying, “There is no denying that the bulk of today’s conventional corn ethanol carries grave risks to the climate, wildlife, waterways and food security.”
• the government's requirement to use corn-based ethanol as a fuel "funnels tens of billions of dollars in benefits to a well-organized special interest group" - namely, industrial corn farming

The law-makers who wrote this mandate into law probably had good intentions. But that's not good enough. Policy must change when it's clear that good intentions have not had good results.

Ethanol #1

Seemed like a good idea to replace fossil fuels with renewable fuels. Environmental groups predicted better air quality, fewer CO2 emissions, and more. Ethanol made from corn is the most common bio fuel and it's required by law to be added to gasoline in the U.S.

"But all first generation biofuels [like ethanol] ultimately compete with food production for land, water, and other resources." And that's the problem, according to this author, and why he advocates for a reversal of the ethanol mandate. 

"[D]espite our reverence for the Great Plains and the fragile ecosystem of the grasslands, more and more of this majestic landscape is being converted to corn production for purely political reasons. We should know better, but the onslaught of man, machine and agriculture on what little is left unspoiled seems relentless."
(cont'd tomorrow)

U.S. below 2.1

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you're familiar with the topic label "Demography" (to the right, definition link). Read those posts, and you'll find that birth rate per woman in The West is uniformly going down, while in Africa it's high above replacement rate.

Here are figures for 224 nations from the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) for 2015. No surprise, European countries' birth rates are all below the rate necessary to maintain current populations (France are Ireland are highest among them).

The surprise in this data is that America's birth rate is now below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman. It's the first time I've seen that.

"if the trend persists, it could mean lower living standards for most Americans in the future," as it will in every nation that stays below 2.1. Why? Because "It's generally true that most people produce more than they consume."

Read this story about one millennial couple who chose marriage and babies in their early 20's. They buck the trend.

Rescuers

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Maybe neighborly volunteers are not being completely ignored by media, as the author in yesterday's post claimed. Here's an article about the "Cajun navy" who have answered the call to help flood victims.

They're civilians who launch their own boat or even canoe to go down the flooded streets looking for ways to help people (and animals).

Troy went to the National Guard staging area, said "I'm here to help. Where do you need me?" He spent two days in his boat pulling folks out of their houses.

Terry saw flood water rising fast, so he jumped in his car and drove down the street laying on his horn to wake people out of their sleep.

David rescued a woman and her dog from a car that plunged under water.

As the flood recedes, urgent rescues give way to the problems of cleaning up the mud and new breeding of mosquitoes.

(from CNN)

Neighborly

Must it be that only bad news makes headlines and gets on tv nightly news? A case could be made for that conclusion (because "bad news sells") since - as we know - news networks are in the business of selling their version of events.

This author makes that point but also tries to correct coverage of the Louisiana floods by reporting on ordinary neighborly efforts to help.

"In order to be worthy of attention . . news media requires scenes that resemble a zombie apocalypse, not scores of hometown heroes trying their best to rescue one another" by:

*organizing care packages
*allowing people to sleep in their homes
*fishermen running rescues

(cont'd tomorrow)

Annual break

This is the week of the annual break. I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer! Blog posts will resume on Monday, August 29.

Africa's hands

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Though some of the poorest people on earth live there, not everything is going wrong for the people of Africa. Out of a population of 1.2 billion people, the continent has about 163,000 millionaires. 

Among them are some passionate philanthropists, whose name is not Gates or Winfrey. "Instead of importing ideas from abroad, organizations like the African Women’s Development Fund, which gives grants to entrepreneurial females, are focused on investing in local solutions."

"African benefactors have a deep knowledge of the places in which they invest . . says Jane Wales, CEO of the World Affairs Council." They don't want to copy Western philanthropy, but reinvent it to work effectively in their own context.

Ndidi Nwuneli, director of African Philanthropy Forum, says "Africa's future is now in the hands of Africa."

Not stupid

"The people here [African continent] are not stupid. They are just disconnected from global trade. That's all."

"What I want is when we produce, especially the rice we grow here, instead of the international community sending us rice, we would like to export to them. This is the desire of my heart."

"The NGO's [non-government organizations] they do some help but . . they try to find ways to keep giving away free stuff. As if they didn't want [us] to stand up for ourselves."

The poor in developing countries were created in the image of God, full of dreams and the need to create. Poverty Cure is there to enable them.

Bad help

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

It seems that Haiti has been the scene of misguided charity and unintended consequences.

Andreas Widmer of Switzerland says that surplus, subsidized rice from rich countries has been dumped on Haiti with the result of massive job losses and economic collapse. Jacob Donatien, Haitian farmer, says "That situation completely destroyed us."

 "We made this devil's bargain on rice, and it wasn't the right thing to do," said former Pres. Clinton speaking of his government's actions toward Haiti. "We should have continued to help them be self-sufficient in agriculture."

Charity in humanitarian emergency situations is welcome. But Haitian Daniel Jean Louis says the NGO's should know when to leave, otherwise "A short-term natural disaster turns into a long-term un-natural disaster."

~from award-winning documentary "Poverty, Inc."

(cont'd tomorrow)

Poverty, Inc.

"No one wants to be a beggar for life," according to the African at the end of this trailer. The good life is not to be fed and clothed by the work of others. It is rather to do good work, think, produce, dream, organize, create and accomplish - and then to freely trade what you have to offer with others. When you respect what you've done . . it's a good feeling.

 People of African nations are sending a signal to the global "aid" system that they don't want to be the pets of the rich in Europe and the United States.



If you had the choice, I think that you too would rather be a problem-solver, an achiever who is growing in skill and wisdom - than "a beggar for life."

Btw, remember this distinction - we're not talking about humanitarian emergency giving.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Trade

Trade enables us to enjoy better quality of life. If we couldn't trade with each other but had to make everything we need, we might starve to death. But if each of us is free to specialize, we all have a skill or product to trade (buy and sell) with people who have something we want.

That's really simplified, but true to the basic rationale behind trade.

What if you had to make your own, say, chicken sandwich from scratch? It would take much more than a couple of minutes at the fast food window. Here is one guy's personal experience with this idea.



It's easy to forget the work and organizing behind a simple product.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Michael eats

Swimming the butterfly stroke like Michael Phelps did Wednesday burns around 900 calories per hour for a man his size. Of course, probably not even he can do it for a whole hour but it reflects the fact that swimming competitively takes a lot of energy.

In 2008 while training for the Beijing Olympics, he was said to eat a whopping 12,000 calories a day. It's hard to picture what that looks like, so here's what he had for breakfast:

3 fried egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayo,
2 cups of coffee, 1 five-egg omelette, 1 bowl of grits, 3 slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar, 3 chocolate chip pancakes

Today he's 31, eight years older, and doesn't need the same amount of food. So his diet is down to about 3500 calories per day.

Michael lives

Those who love Michael Phelps - and all his worldwide admirers - almost lost him when he came close to self-destruction after the 2012 London Olympics. But he has a story to tell about his walk back to life worth living.

A significant role was played by his NFL friend Ray Lewis, who gave him the book Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth am I Here For? by Rick Warren. How fitting is that - a pastor tells him that he has value and purpose outside of his medals.

Aging America

Cultural change is very obvious today in America.  A different change is happening more slowly.

"[T]he U.S. is in the beginning stages of a massive and unprecedented demographic transformation. Between 2010 and 2040, the number of Americans age 65 and older will double, from 41 million to 82 million. 

"In 2000, there were 4.7 working age Americans (ages 20 to 64) for every person 65 or older. By 2040, there will be only 2.6 people of working age for every person 65 or older.

How old will you be in 2040? What will happen to health care and retirement income between now and then?  I'm eating greens and doing sit-ups.

Winners/Losers

Brazil is showcased while the world's attention is on Rio de Janeiro for the Olympics. But their image has been more crisis than glory. President Dilma Rousseff was taken out of office by the Brazilian senate in May, and they will vote whether to impeach her today - right in the middle of the Olympics. Awkward.

In 60 seconds, this video explains that the government has been picking winners and losers among Brazilian businesses, creating an unfair environment that holds down economic growth. In the Olympics, it would be like unfair judges who favor some athletes over others.

Can't make me

"Apparently if you ask employees to maintain a positive workplace, you are acting unlawfully. At least, that’s the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) view of it."

Yes, the NLRB says that T-Mobile violated the law when its employee hand book required workers "to maintain a positive work environment in a manner that is conducive to effective working relationships.”

The NLRB is a federal agency whose board is made up of five people appointed by the president.

If only I had been on that board when the complaint came up. I would have said something like, "This is absurd. Next case please."

Inside NBA

Cable show "Inside the NBA" is hosted by Ernie Johnson, Jr., who won an Emmy award as "best studio host." Would I watch a show about professional basketball? Of course not - but for this post I did watch a few youtube clips and after that, well, maybe I would because it looks pretty fun.

Johnson is good at managing the fun with Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley. But beyond the sports, Barkley describes him as having "uncommon courage and a pure heart."

A trailer for ESPN's profile story of Ernie is here. In 2006 he told his viewers that he'd been diagnosed with cancer. "What he then said still brings tears to a colleague’s eyes. After thanking his doctors and expressing his gratitude for the audience’s concern he said: “And [my family continues], as we always have, in both good times and bad, to place our faith in Jesus Christ, and to trust God . . . period.”

Souls in Iran

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

So the Iranian church is the fastest growing church in the world. Who? Who is it that is choosing to follow Jesus Christ in Iran? Here are the stories of 3 of them:

"Kamran was a violent man who used to sell drugs and weapons. One day, a friend gave him a New Testament. After reading for five consecutive days, Kamran gave his life to Jesus. When his family and friends saw his transformed life over the ensuing months, many of them also came to faith. A church now meets in Kamran’s house. 

"Reza was a mullah (a Muslim scholar) who hoped to become an ayatollah (a Shiite leader). One day, while studying at an Islamic seminary in Iran, he found a New Testament that had been boldly left in the library. Out of curiosity, he picked it up and was deeply shaken. Over time, he fell in love with Jesus. Today Reza is a trained church planter serving in the Iran region.

"Fatemah’s earliest memories were of being raped by her brothers. At age 11, she was sold in marriage to a young drug addict who abused her and then divorced her . . On the streets she heard the gospel preached, and she trusted Jesus. In time, she married a Christian man . . her family  . . [later] repented and gave their lives to the Lord. The first church Fatemah and her husband planted was in her childhood home."

Church in Iran

"As Christians, we especially love stories that tell us how, when all seems lost, God makes a way." A story like that is happening to the small Christian community in Iran now:

"Persecution threatened to wipe out Iran’s tiny church [Christian community]. Instead, the church in Iran has become the fastest growing in the world . ." (Locate Iran below.)

"More Iranians have become Christians in the last 20 years than in the previous 13 centuries put together."

How could this happen while there's so much persecution and suffering among them over the last several decades? Reason #1, violence in the name of Islam has led to questioning their beliefs. Reason #2, Christian believers have courageously shared the gospel in spite of the danger.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Retirees

Compared to the rest of the West, retired people in the U.S. are in the top three highest incomes per person with just Luxembourg and Norway ranking higher.

But money and happiness don't always go hand-in-hand. When American and European retirees rank their own happiness, it's Denmark and Sweden which are 1 & 2 with American retirees coming next.

Together

"In a gesture of solidarity following the gruesome killing of a French priest, Muslims have attended Catholic Mass in churches and cathedrals across the country and beyond."

"Dozens" of Muslims gathered at the cathedral in Rouen, France (just a few miles from the site of the priest's murder) for a Catholic mass. That could be dangerous for Muslims. Last March a British Muslim shopkeeper was killed for wishing a happy Easter to what he called "my beloved Christian nation."

Muslims in France make up 5-10% of the total population. "Dozens" is not a very big demonstration of Muslim sympathy for their Christian neighbors, but it demonstrates some courage.