Learning Through Pictures: Usually Painless & Sometimes, Incredibly Powerful

[Guest]

.

[Jill]

      My mind’s been percolating with this idea of a News Photo thread for awhile.   That’s mostly because of how much I, myself, have learned since I discovered these various news photo links, because of not only how painless, but many times how fun that learning has been for me.   I’d thought that by our pointing to and our, every once in awhile, sampling from some of those links, we could increase, substantially, the learning potential and the attractiveness of the Forum as a Resource for Teachers and Learners, alike.

      I was eventually going to get around to putting the thread together and starting it.  It wasn’t going to be today.  I don’t want to be here, today.

      But I just now came across some pictures with accompanying captions that just would not let me wait. They demand consideration and reflection RIGHT NOW.

      So, because I don’t want to spend a lot of time here, today, I’m starting this thread in a kind of half as--d manner.   Looking at these pics and the captions where you can read between the lines, I’m thinking that even though today isn’t Thanksgiving, it feels like a time it'd be good to take a moment to mindfully feel thankful-- thankful, that we get to live where we live and that we get to live how we live.


      Following, in purple, was the “draft” of an introduction to this thread I’d intended, eventually, to edit and post.  If you want, you can skip it for now (for ever?) and immediately go to the bottom to see the captions and the pictures that brought me back here, today.

A picture, often, is worth not only that proverbial “thousand words.”   When a picture is posted as a news photo with an accompanying interesting two or three-lined caption, it often also serves as a beguiling invitation to learn a bit more about the subject matter that has captivated our attention. 

Then, quite without our even realizing that we were “tricked” into doing it, with the pic having aroused our curiosity, we often find ourselves engaging in further investigation, or research, (dirty word, right?) quite in spite of ourselves, without having even noticed that that “learning stuff” was supposed to be bor-ing!  As I tried to suggest in a couple of posts, recently, in the Teacher Clearinghouse thread, this little strategy is particularly useful when it comes to trying to engage the interest of our too easily bored and distracted kids.  Hardly anybody can resist a good picture.

HAITI
The Title of the Photo Array: Haiti's Poor Resort to Eating Mud
(18 pictures)
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Haiti-poor-resort-eating-mud/ss/events/wl/013008haitidirtmud;_ylt=Ajta4a_t.lfcrvdDgHOcX2zjV8cF

Pic #1: Yolen Jeunky, 45, collects dried mud cookies to sell in Cite Soleil in Port-au-Prince,Thursday, Nov. 29, 2007. Rising prices and food shortages threaten the nation's fragile stability, and the mud cookies, made of dirt, salt and vegetable shortening, are one of very few options the poorest people have to stave off hunger.
(AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)


Pic #2: A woman dries mud cookies in the sun on the the roof of Fort Dimanche, once a prison, in Port-au-Prince,Thursday Nov. 29, 2007.
(AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)


Pic #3: The hand of a woman is covered in mud as she makes mud cookies on the roof of Fort Dimanche, once a prison, in Port-au-Prince, Friday, Nov. 30, 2007.


Pic #4: A woman prepare cookies made of dirt, water, salt and butter on the the roof of Fort Dimanche, once a prison where is said the late dictator Francois Duvalier tortured his enemies, in Port-au-Prince, Thursday Nov. 29 2007. Pregnant women and children have long prized the dirt as a rich source of calcium and an effective antacid, but for some in the country's most desperate quarters, where thousands buckle under rising food prices and rampant unemployment, mud has become a daily staple.

     As Peter wrote the other day when he was posting a YouTube video of scenes in Kenya, "There are no words."

[Jill]

    For more Pictures and Picture Links:
See, Teachers’ Clearinghouse thread, http://www.kivafriends.org/index.php/topic,1220.40.html, Posts 44-46

To Get You Started in Your Own Picture-Treasure-Hunting
Click on the CATEGORIES listed on the left, in blue.
“World,” “Odd News Photos”, etc.
http://news.yahoo.com/photos;_ylt=ArPt3lufhmachdXba8Fao.9paP0E

And, especially for the Kiddies, young ‘uns and older ‘uns, alike – ANIMALS
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Zoo/ss/events/lf/031802zooanimals#/080123/481/ec62c5fd7d1442f4b143c8a1297ba69a

       
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=DTANFD4GZ40ZTQFIQMFSFF4AVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/exclusions/slideshowindex.xml&menuId=3916&menuItemId=-1&view=DETAILS&grid=&targetRule=0

http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/default.stm
(NOTE: As I was copying the link in order to paste it, here, I noticed there was a photo-story, there, entitled:
 “All That Remains of One Kenyan School”)


     There are many other News Photo links on the Internet.  I have others, but I'm trying to get out of here.
These, I thought, were some of the best, but there's a wonderful selection of others, most of which have some tremendous photos with a learning potential that won't quit.

[Dottie b]

Wow.

Several thoughts.

The first - how good they look! If only their nutritional value matched!

And what care the cooks take in preparing them! That's precision one would expect in a gourmet kitchen!

And - wouldn't if be wonderful if we were configured to eat mud? To really be part of the earth? Think of the animals and plants we would save! How unfortunate that living things need to eat other living things to -- well, live!

Dottie B

[Jill]

From the Photo Array of “All That Remains From One Kenyan School” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/default.stm
Kenyan Rift Valley School

Pic # 1: Law and order has broken down in Kenya's Rift Valley area since the disputed 27 December presidential election. Head teacher John Langat stands in front of Fadhili Academy, which was looted and burnt a month ago. He is just thankful the attack was during the holidays.

Pic #2: These students, all aged between nine and 10 years old, live very close to the school and so can continue to attend class.

Pic #3: Only one classroom is still standing. Fadhili Academy, which once schooled over 300 students, is reduced to providing for eight as it is too dangerous for the rest to return.

Pic # 4: The children from Fadhili now share their teacher, Reuben Kimaru Kinyua, with over 200 other children. Mr Kinyua said: "Teaching is my talent. My life is also difficult. My family is also displaced. But these kids should not stop learning because of the unrest."

             The hunger to learn is a powerful, powerful, Powerful hunger.

                                                                                                                                               Apparently, so is the hunger to teach......

[cpbailey]

Haiti gives a whole new meaning to being dirt poor.  I wonder how long it will be before Kiva finds a path to Haiti.  The dirt cookies I originally thought were pottery!  Somehow, I don't think dirt cookies will find a way into a Kiva cookbook...

So sad that some are that destitute.

Colette

[Peter S]

A fuller AP report headed "Poor Haitians Resort to Eating Dirt" syndicated in various places, including here at The Enquirer, Cincinnati, where there's a link to a short video report as well:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HAITI_EATING_DIRT?SITE=OHCIN&SECTION=AMERICAS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Food prices around the world have spiked because of higher oil prices, needed for fertilizer, irrigation and transportation. Prices for basic ingredients such as corn and wheat are also up sharply, and the increasing global demand for biofuels is pressuring food markets as well.

The problem is particularly dire in the Caribbean, where island nations depend on imports and food prices are up 40 percent in places.

Kiva had a connection in Haiti, still has as far as I know, but the Field Partner Esperanza International seems to have stopped posting Haiti loans.  Looking at the database, the last group seems to have been funded in August, and disbursed early October.  I don't know if there has been discussion of why this should be, if there has been discussion I've missed it somehow.

[johnrigdon]

I am active in my support of Haiti and in doing translation work and publishing in Creole.

While the situation in Haiti is indeed dire and I don't mean to lessen the need in any way, this article regarding "dirt cookies" is politically motivated and being promoted by people who are opposed to President Preval's efforts to clean up the corruption in the ports in Haiti.

A quote from a friend living in Haiti...

"Haitians eating mud. This story has been around for years now. It suddenly came up again when Haiti government officials decided not to allow some Dominican food products onto our market. hmmmm ... Am I into conspiracy theory here? Maybe but ... why so suddenly, "Haitians eating mud" become such a featured and discussed article?"

And another...

"I wish someone would  tell the reporter and everyone else that this "mud" is actually yellow clay and  that people have even come even from outside Haiti in research of this clay to use for  medicinal and dermatologic uses."

The true issue here is that Haiti is importing 2 million eggs per day (among other things) at exhorbitant prices from the Dominican Republic and President Preval is trying to (1) encourage a local egg production industry to establish itself and (2) force the corrupt officials out of the ports / import departments.

This ports issue is one of the key political areas why Haiti and the Haitian people remain so oppressed.  Why should it cost me $35 port fee to ship a container to one end of a tiny island and $300 plus a scaled fee based on the perceived value of the container on the other end.  Most items of any significant commercial value never NEVER make it through in Haiti, but end up on the gray market.  I can personnally attest to a recent situation where we not only paid the legitimate $3000 import fee for a vehicle, but then paid out another $15,000 to various port officials before the vehicle was released and properly titled and licensed.

Enough of my preaching for now...

John Rigdon

[cpbailey]

I have some loans in Dominican Republic partially because many from Haiti go there to find work.  I wonder why Kiva hasn't had Haitian loans lately...they could be used to get some egg farms going.

Colette

[Jill]

Good Morning. 
                     
johnrigdon-- Thank you for your comments.  They were really fascinating and thought-provoking for me.  I kept looking at them to see if I could "find" your suggesting that Haiti wasn't really that poor, so I could go, "Oh yeah?! Harumph, Harumph,"  but of course, that wasn't what you were saying at all.  Look at all the learning those pictures, politically motivated or not, already have us doing, and the thinking more about, the focus we've temporarily placed on Haiti.  I love that. 

I also love the lesson here, whether your friends, johnrigdon, are right or wrong as to the possible political genesis of the pictures.  I'm reminded of the movie, "Wag the Dog," by all this.   It seems like you're warning us we might want to be wary about accepting, unquestioningly, the possible messages conveyed by pictures, just as we might want to be wary about accepting the veracity of "news stories," merely because they've been published as "news."  Thank you.  I really really appreciate that.  A valuable reminder.  Either way, I don't think (hardly) anyone would question that Haiti is besieged with the most horrible curse of poverty, and that it's a travesty that more isn't being done to alleviate the suffering there. 

EDIT MADE IN 2010: See the “side note” toward the end of this post.

Now, More Pictures:

Pic #1: NORWEGIAN ARCTIC ISLAND, SPITSBERGEN
Dogs wait to be harnessed up to pull sleds across snows covering the Norwegian Arctic island of Spitsbergen April 26, 2007. 
REUTERS/Francois Lenoir[/color]

Pic #2: BOLIVIA
Bolivian President Evo Morales controls the ball at the 19,500 feet (6,000 meters) high snow-covered Sajama peak, the highest in Bolivia, during a match with soccer fans to protest FIFA's ban on international soccer matches at venues over 2,500 meters above sea level, June 12, 2007. FIFA says matches in oxygen-thin conditions are a health hazard and distort fair play. The ban means Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia would not be able to host international football matches, including World Cup qualifiers, in some of their largest cities. Morales is leading efforts to have the ban overturned, saying it is "nonsensical" and "discriminatory". 

Pic #3: MEXICO
Demonstrators carry a homemade replica of a corn during a mass protest in Mexico City, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2008. Thousands of demonstrators belonging to different organizations protested against the removal of import tariffs on farm goods from U.S. and Canada, as agreed by the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, timetable. Mexican farmers complain they won't be able to compete with U.S. farmers who can sell cheaper products because they receive government subsidies.
(AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Pic #4: MEXICO
Farmers drive tractors in downtown Mexico City, Thursday Jan. 31, 2008, during a protest against the removal of import tariffs on farm goods from U.S. and Canada, as agreed by the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, timetable.
(AP Photo/ Eduardo Verdugo)

Pic #5: MEXICO
A policeman tries to extinguish a burning tractor in Mexico City January 31, 2008. Thousands of Mexican farmers, some herding cows, flooded into the capital on Thursday and set a tractor on fire to demand government protection against cheap U.S. farm imports.
REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar (MEXICO)

Pic #6: GHANA
An undertaker handles a coffin crafted like a Coca-Cola bottle in his showroom near Accra, Ghana, January 27. Jostling for space in this most unusual of all showrooms are elaborately decorated burial caskets in the shape of an aeroplane, lion, cucumber, tomato, lobster, shoe, snake, a World War Two gun, a white Mercedes Benz, or a Coke bottle.
(AFP/File/Abdelhak Senna)

[Wood Fairy Glenda]

Indeed we've had Haitian loans before, and I keep watching to see if they appear again.  These are my four.  Of these, the first three have repaid regularly and completely.  The fourth has been repaying regularly and has now repaid half of her loan.
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=8108
Evanel Noel
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=8118
Rosenie Louis
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=15768
Mannelle Joachim
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=15882
Rosemarie Simon
     I have no idea why we haven't had more of these Haitian loans, but it certainly does not seem to be because of any problem in repayment rate. I would snatch up any other loan to Haiti that was posted.
(the woman in the photo is Rosenie, one of the women who has paid back completely)