Digital Portfolio 1: Letter to Senator

EDUCATION FOR ALL ACT 2007
(S. 1259 / H.R. 2092)
U.S. COMMITMENT TO GLOBAL CHILD SURVIVAL ACT
H.R. 2266
GLOBAL RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN TO THRIVE
H.R. 2965
JUBILEE ACT FOR RESPONSIBLE LENDING AND EXPANDED DEBT CANCELATION
(HR 2634)
Dear Senator
I am writing to you in the matter of these 4 bills on that are being voted on: The Education for All Act, Global Child Survival Act, Growth Act, and the Jubilee Act. These four bills are extremely important in reducing poverty in todays world. Although there are many organizations that say that they will donate money to Africa, most of these have "Phantom Aid" which does not give the money to Africa at all. But if we were to all stand up and donate, we wouldn't have poverty in the world today. If the average person gave $8 to anti poverty, we could completely annihilate it from the globe! And even though we are the richest country in the world, we give the least. This is unacceptable because many people in Africa live off less then $1 US dollar a day! Many die from lack of lack of necessities that would greatly improve their lives! For example, clean water, mosquito nets, fertilizing soil. All these contribute to the deaths of thousands of children each year. With your help, we can pass these bills and stop the endless poverty that Africa endures.

Digital Portfoilio 1: The Mustard Weed

Jesus used the mustard weed in is parable of the kingdom of God. The reason that he would use the Mustard Plant as his object to compare the kingdom of God too, is that it is very resilient and hard to deal with if it grows in your yard. When Jesus was first teaching, the Romans were very scared that he might incite rebellion in the Jews. They attempted to shut him down, and like a mustard seed, he rose above them. This is like Christianity, although the romans were attempting to stop it rising up, like the mustard seed, it was able too.

Digital Portfolio 1: What should we do?

There are many options we can do for the help of Africa. As in the ONE compaign, they say that students have already done to save Africa. However, I am not sure that joining and helping this organization would be the best thing for our class to do for several reasons. For one, it actually doesn't seem like it does that many things for Africa, and is mainly just to raise money. However, one that I do like is the millennium village campaign, this is one that Dr. Jeffery Sachs thinks is a good idea. You can do many things to help the organization, from setting up posters, sending e-cards to encourage others to join the organization, set up local meetings so that others in your area can join and talk about the organization, and finally and obviously, donate money to the village. The village is located in Tanzania and is the first of its kind. It is a beta for others to come, and they are seeing how it will work with it. The website is very informative and easy to read and learn about why we should donate to the organization. I believe that this would be the best way for 100 students in 4 parables classes to donate money too, it seems like the best choice. For example, half of the 38 million people that live in Tanzania suffer on less then 1 US Dollar a day. This is not fair to those that live there, and this organization hopes to change that.

Digital Portfolio 1: Executive Summery on Africa

Jeffery Sachs, the world renowned Economist has saved many countries from falling into complete economic turmoil, believes we can eradicate poverty from the world forever. His "shock therapy" treatment of countries emerging from communism has saved many nations, including Bolivia and Poland. He is a brilliant macro-econ mist that graduated from Harvard, with a PHD at the young age of 26, began to make a name for himself. Now, his new project is world poverty, and how to stop it. People who have met Jeffery Sachs describe him as "A squeaky wheel that roars" and "a pest", however, he takes these as compliments and takes them with stride. He visits many developing nations in an effort to see the hardships that people live in, and the amount of money that they live on. Sachs plan is if we were to spend 250 billion a year and we would eradicate poverty completely. However, it is not that easy. For example, the US spent more then 499 billion dollars on military last year, and only 22.7 billion on foreign aid. To Sachs, this is inexcusable, because we should be using that money to completely eradicate poverty from the world. According to Sachs, "Lack of five cent Immunization so that hundreds of thousands of children dying of vaccine-preventable diseases." As in the famous MTV documentary "The diary of Angelina Jolie and Jeffery Sachs in Africa" Sachs hoped the horrors that were shown in every village they visited would shock people into action. For example, 12 year old boys who are only 4 feet tall. In my opinion, if we raise any money we should send it to an organization, even the smallest contribution could help people live without poverty. For example, only 8 dollars could buy a mosquito net to help stop malaria in a small village. The US however, still spends less on poverty. According to Sachs, "The basic truth is that for less than a percent of the income of the rich world, nobody has to die of poverty on the planet." If only the rich governments of the world would listen, then maybe Sachs would be satisfied.

Portfolio 1: Singer: Moral Obligation/Extreme Poverty

1. Is our duty to give give give till it hurts?
2. People matter, suffering matters, but does everyones suffering matter?
3. If greed and ambition weren't there...everyone would suffer!
4. Why is it so difficult to put in things that would save entire villages for so little money?
5. How much are you willing to give?
6. Why should I give up my enjoyment for someone I will never see?
7. Would you save the guy down the well here? Or save the 2 people in Nigeria?
8. United States is the richest, yet gives the least.
9. But should the US be in first?
10. Is china better then US, even though the president seized power.

Portfoilio 1: Good Samaritan Interpretation

In the parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus talks of one of his most famous teachings "Treat your neighbor as yourself." In the society, priests were treated as royalty and were very hypo critic. Jesus is angry at this so he uses the fact that priests are supposed to save everyone they can, but in this case, he walks past the man, who is in apparent dire need.

Portfolio 1: John the baptist

John the Baptist is a very important character in the bible and the teachings of Jesus are largely based off his original teachings. John's mother was named Elizabeth, and even though she wanted a son very badly, she was unable to have one. His father was mute and told others what he wanted from writing on a tablet of stone. However, God was merciful to her plea and gifted her a son. When he was born, they thought to name him Zacharia after his father. However, his mother proclaimed that he be named John. To confirm this they took the baby to Zacharia, who asked for his tablet. He wrote the words "John" and instantly began speaking and praising the lord.
John was a very intense speaker of God. One day, while teaching a large group of students. He called them all "Brood of Vipers" and told them they were all greedy and headed to hell. He then told them they should all share what God has given them, and give to the poor what they had. This is another fundemental teaching of Jesus. As in the famous quote "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to pass into the kingdom of God." This shows that both Jesus and John taught that even though you were rich, you still did not automatically get into heaven. Also, both believed that if you were rich, you should share the wealth that God blessed you with.

Portfolio 1: Who's chasin me?

Usually a refugee is an outcast in their new home or country. You do not know anyone else there and are probably very lonely, even more so if your family did not come with you. This relates to his teachings in several ways. First, he was always the one to approach the outcast of society, such as eating with the lepers and helping out the prostitute. This shows that when he was a refugee, he also did not know anyone at his new country or home and he shows compassion for the outsiders of the current society. Refugee's must sometimes look out for their original country trying to bring them back. Jesus also had to watch out for the Roman army trying to capture him, as they eventually did.

Portfolio 1: Who's your momma?

According to the statue in the quad of Mary, there are several aspects of Mary that stick out from it. First is the way she is dressed in a full robe, revealing almost no skin and showing her as a true saint. Also, she has long prayer beads dangling from around her. This shows she is very religious and holy. We project that she is a very holy person who is also a saint and did no wrong in her life. This stems from the bible readings and pictures of her.
In the bible stories, a very religious person would proclaim the amazing power of God at this time. This was especially dangerous back in the bible times. Mary was the lowest of the low in the class system, but was still faithful in God. Women were treated second class, married to whoever their father wanted and did not work. The community would have called her a whore because she had sex before married.
I think God chose Mary was because she was very religious and had her faith in God. She was also very strong emotionally and was able to take the criticism that would be thrown her way.