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I AM SORRY I MESSED UP THE DRAFT!!!!

INTRODUCTION:

Generally speaking, sustainable development focuses on improving the well being of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In order to maintain sustainable development, the social, economic, and environmental aspects of a society must constantly be working simultaneously in order to benefit it(consider a remix). When one of these three constituent parts fails to function properly and stops (-from- ) “harmonizing” with the rest of the parts, problems within a society begin to occur, affecting its people. This is exactly what we see today in Africa. The breakdown of the aforementioned constituent parts has led the continent into a whirl of turmoil. The authors of this paper argue that it is the disintegration of the institutions of (disintegration of institutions such as) education, medicine, family, agriculture(,) and business that have caused the breakdown of the social, economic, and environmental components of African society. This paper will discuss one way to combat and improve the dissolution of sustainable development in Africa: educating the African people on what steps they need to take (with respect to the EDUCATION SYSTEM, MEDICAL ISSUES, FAMILY STRUCTURE, and AGRICULTURE/BUSINESS) in order to move forward towards a more sustainable society.

For several hundred years, the only main European presence in Africa was in port towns along the coast. These ports were used for trading with Africans and as a stop along trade routes to further destinations. However, in the late 1800s colonization within the region accelerated rapidly and led to what is known as the “scramble for Africa." At the Berlin Conference in 1884, European powers met to decide on a way to partition Africa so that each European country had at least one piece to control. These new boundaries were drawn arbitrarily according to European desires and did not take existing tribal boundaries into account. This foreign control has led to internal ethnic conflict within nations as well as conflict between different nations which have created longterm effects that can still be seen today. However, to gain more control over the region, the imperialist nations actively underdeveloped the areas they controlled to cause the countries to be more dependent on them. This is a problem the world is facing in much of the “global south” (Africa, India, Southeastern Asia, and South America), which contains most of the areas that Europe conquered and controlled with this underdevelopment tactic. When Europe decolonized Africa, they did not prepare the colonies for independence and did not set up any sort of framework for political development of governmental structure. This has in turn caused many of the challenges the world is now facing on the African continent.

EDUCATION SYSTEM:

The arrival of Europeans on the African continent resulted in many challenges as European standards were placed upon traditional practices. The areas of practice this has been most noticeable in is education. Traditional African education was focused around raising the young of the tribe to have the skills necessary to take their place in African society upon adulthood. Boys and girls were generally taught separately as(separately; boys) boys followed and mimicked their fathers and(while) girls stayed around the home with their mothers. According to an article by John K. Marah, Ed.D., "Girls were socialized to effectively learn the roles of motherhood, spouse, and other sex-appropriate skills. Boys were socialized to be hunters, herders, agriculturalists, blacksmiths, etc., depending on how the particular ethnic group, clan or family derived its livelihood."

Another key purpose to African education is to ensure that youth are prepared for marriage and the challenges of supporting a family. It is important that when a young woman is old enough she gets married and starts a family to ensure that the tribe or clan population continues. She must have the skills necessary for this. Likewise, her husband must know how to hunt to provide for the family, or learn a particular trade to earn a living off of. Clan rituals, values, and ceremonies have also been critical in the upbringing of African children. Learning particular dances, songs, stories, and beliefs is essential to the continuation of cultural heritage. As is evident, this is not the "reading, writing, and arithmetic" pedagogical mentality that has been engrained(ingrained) in Western culture as the basis for education. As well, much of this education took place on a daily basis in the everyday life of the family and was not separated as a specific time for learning within school walls.

While some may say that because of this history, European education systems do not make sense in African society,(;) the fact is that countries within Africa are trying to enter the global system. The problem lies merely in the fact that the African people just do not know what they need to do in order to make education a serious institution. It is necessary and utterly crucial that the children of Africa have the proper schooling to not only take their place among African society, but the global community as well. Until this occurs, Africa will never be able to succeed as a developed region. In fact, according to WorldMapper, which explores varying aspects of development around the world, African countries are consistently at the bottom of the list in ratings such as primary school enrollment, girls in primary school, and adult literacy.

Because the people are just not aware of how important education is in a child’s life, both intellectually and socially, many African governments spend very little money on their education systems__, thus__ there are very few places that provide a decent place for children to study or even books to use. In the United States we are used to classrooms being fully equipped with computers and Internet access, every child having the necessary books and supplies, and grappling over whether the school bus is late. However, in Africa, many times children are simply concerned about whether their school "building" will be standing that day. This often means that the cost of education falls to the parents who may or may not be able to afford it. Countless charities, missions, and non-governmental organizations (NGO) have set up camp in Africa with the goal of building new school buildings and improving the overall education for the children.

(Great transitions so far)

It is not only important for children in Africa to receive a quality education to learn the skills that other children around the world have, but it is equally important to educate them on the world outside their own village; their country; their continent. If they never consider the "outside" world, they will never try to achieve goals beyond where they are; they would simply continue the cycle of learning tribal rituals and skills that are important in maintaining, what they believe is, a sustainable village and tribe. Opening young eyes to greater opportunities is the key to development because it shows them that they can reach higher and push their family and their nation toward change, which would lead to a better, more sustainable life.

(It seems like what I have read so far is a little "fluffy". Some text is unnecessary)

MEDICAL ISSUES:

(Not only is the education system deficient because of their lack of knowledge and awareness of how the system should be run in order to promote a more sustainable society, but this same lack of knowledge also has a great impact on their health. Not knowing how to properly take care of their bodies and not knowing how to prevent themselves from acquiring the numerous diseases (i.e. HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis (TB), and meningococcal meningitis) that are ever so prevalent on the continent, it is nearly impossible for them to maintain a healthy lifestyle.)

Abridged version--(Africa lacks a modern health care system.)

HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death in Africa. Caused by HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is a very fatal disease. HIV destroys a person's defense system, which, when working properly, fights infection. A person with HIV eventually loses the ability to fight illnesses and their body gets weaker until death. AIDS is the final stage of HIV infection. A person is diagnosed with AIDS when it is found that they have an opportunistic infection (1). Imagine your life this way. You get up early in the morning with your four children and eat breakfast. One of your children is bound to die in infancy. Your husband works 300 miles away, comes home three times a year and sleeps around in between. You gamble with your life when you engage in every act of sexual intercourse. You go to work every morning passing a house where a teen lives alone trying to take care of younger siblings with no source of income. At a near by home, a spouse was considered to be a whore because she asked her husband to use a condom. As a result, she was horribly beaten and dumped into the streets. Just around the corner lies a man very ill without access to a doctor, medication, food, or a kind word. You eat with the rest of the people you work with and just about every third one is ill. You whisper about a friend that has admitted to having HIV/AIDS and whose neighbors threw rocks at her. Your free time is occupied by funerals every Saturday. You go to bed wondering if adults your age are going to make it into their 40's. You, your neighbors, and your political leaders act as if nothing is happening. (May discredit paper.)

Across Africa this nightmare is real. There are more than 42 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide. Of this number, 68% (about 28.5 million) of them are in Africa. The majority of adult populations with HIV/AIDS are women. Ten people are infected with the HIV virus every minute and about 6,000 people all across Africa die each day from this stalking disease. This number is higher than the combined number of deaths caused by wars and floods.

This mentality, the one that believes that using a condom suggests your partner is promiscuous, is a very ignorant one; but this ignorance is not the fault of the African people. It is the result of a lack of proper education in the school systems. These people do not have the opportunity to take a health class in school and learn about the benefits of having safe sex and the consequences that can result if it is not practiced. It is incredible to imagine that it is this ignorance that is killing so many innocent and young lives; lives that, under different circumstance, could have been of great benefit to the global society. All they needed was someone to teach them.

Malaria is another of Africa's deadly diseases. It is a potentially fatal blood disease caused by a parasite (2) that is transmitted to human and animal hosts by the Anopheles mosquito. Malaria take lives of over one million people annually, most of which are children under the age of 5, and approximately 90% of people that live in Africa. It is responsible for one out of every four childhood deaths in Africa.

Tuberculosis, also known as TB, is yet another devastating illness that takes the lives of innocent individuals in Africa each year. It is a deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria. TB usually attacks the lungs, but it can also attack other major organs. The disease spreads through the air when people, who have the disease, cough, sneeze, or spit. Because parts of Africa are dealing with extreme poverty, it is much more likely for those areas to come into contact with it. TB lives in areas that are overcrowded and poverty-stricken, such as Africa, where the conditions are ideal for transmitting the disease to others. People dying of TB are literally ‘consumed’ by the disease, which is why it was known as ‘consumption’ in the past. Untreated, most people with TB become feverish, exhausted, and emaciated to near skeletons; as their lungs are destroyed. Those with the disease die of asphyxiation, or virtually drown in their own blood.

Africa, home to 11% of the world's population, carries 29% of the global burden of tuberculosis cases and 34% of related deaths, and the challenges of controlling the disease in the region have never been greater. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the average incidence of TB in African countries more than doubled between 1990 and 2005, from 149 to 343 per 100,000 populations. In 1990, the African countries of Mali and Togo had an incidence greater than 300 per 100,000. By 2005, 25 countries had reached that level, and 8 of them had an incidence at least twice that high.

The unprecedented growth of the TB epidemic in Africa is attributable to several factors, the most important being the HIV epidemic. Although HIV is Africa's leading cause of death, TB is the most common coexisting condition in people who die from AIDS. Autopsy studies show that 30 to 40% of HIV-infected adults die from TB. Taking this statistic into account, imagine how much improvement could be made