Their father, Samuels had died a year before. The youngest child at the time was just less than 4 years old. Fortunately, when Hileni passed away, Joseph has already graduated from high school, and he was planning on going to college, but he could never go, as he had to find a job to support his young brothers and sisters.

Joseph has a brother, Fritz, who is 23 years old and is defying the gravity of their hardship by going to college. He wants to go to Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, and then transfer to UCLA to complete his degree education, so he can one day find a good paying job to help his brothers and sisters.

And by the time Fritz completes his degree education, Joseph would be in his 30s, but Joseph also plans on going to college as soon as Fritz finishes and gets a job to help take over the family load. However for Fritz to find the money he needs to pay for his tuition and fees at SMC is another dream that needs to come true for him, which is almost impossible, his mother and father have died and they have no relatives who can afford to send them to college. With stringent bureaucracy, who and how can anyone even ask the government to help fund their education?

In Columbus, Ohio, Timothy is 20 years old and a second year student at the Ohio State University majoring in Computer Science Engineering. His mother was gunned down in a drug related accident when Timothy was just three years old. His father has had unfortunately fallen a victim of drugs and alcohol since Timothy was little, so he has never been in any place to help raise Timothy and his young brother.

Luckily, Timothy has an aunt who helped raise him and his young brother. And at the age of 14, Timothy was forced to find a job in Richmond, Virginia, at a local McDonald’s restaurant, but because he was just too young to work, he had to lie on his job application that he was in fact 16 years old. He had to work in order to support himself and his young brother.

Timothy calls himself the ‘definition’, the definition of overcoming hardship, struggle, and growing up without any proper supervision and parental love. His favorite word is ‘focus’.

Whenever you talk to Timothy, you would hear that word ‘focus’ lamenting in his tone more than a dozen times. It’s his vocabulary and his reminder to staying focus on what he has always wanted to do, reaching his goal and realizing his potential. He has already defied that by finishing high school no matter what he had faced in his early years of life and by enrolling in college to achieving his dream.

Timothy works more hours each week, more than the hours he needs to study. He has to work in order to pay for his rent and housing expenses, for him and his young brother. However, he’s at least fortunate that he has financial aid and student loans from the U.S. Department of Education to pay for his tuition and fees at the Ohio State University.

Zanelle is a 16 years old from Soweto, South Africa. She has three sisters and one brother. Her father died of AIDS when she was just 12 years old and her mother died of the same disease when she was 14 years old. At 16, Zanelle is the mother and father, provider and bread-winner of her siblings. She dropped out of school in order to work as a brick layer in order to earn money to help and support her brother and sisters.

Her relatives, aunts and uncles have also died of AIDS and the few remaining relatives are also HIV positive. Her 79 years old grandmother is the only one left to help out at home, but what can she really do at her age, except to look after the kids when Zanelle goes to work?

In the rural areas of India, there’s a place well known as Destiny Village (http://www.destinyvillage.org), with children, mostly orphanage, some of whom were abandoned by their families. This same Destiny Village has also been setup in Haiti to help house the same type of children. These two houses have been generously setup and sponsored by members of The Potter’s House Church of God (http://www.pottershouse.org) in Columbus, Ohio, under the leadership of the anointed, Pastor Tim Oldfield.

Some or all of the children in the Destiny Village housing projects, if it was not for the Potter’s House initiatives to help them by providing them with adequate housing, food, and education, God only knows where these kids would be today, most of them would probably be dead, or staying homeless as they once were prior to the Potter’s House initiatives to help them.

In the rural areas of Lundazi in Zambia, Mathias Zimba, director of Rising Fountain Development Program (http://www.risingfountains.org) is trying his utmost best to help families; grandparents, children and HIV positive victims in the whole rural area of Lundazi to have access to medical facilities and education.

Lundazi is one of the largest Districts in the Eastern part of Zambia, with a total population of 296,560, of which the majority live in the Lundazi rural area, while only a small part of the population lives in the city district.

Most of the population of the Lundazi area is HIV positive for those who are still living, while the majority of the parents have died of HIV and only the grandparents are left to raise and look after the orphanage kids.

When only the grandparents, most of them are in their late 70s and 80s, they cannot really provide the children with the care they need and cannot also help them with their educational work, as what normal parents would do. Because most of the grandparents were born during the colonialism and did not have opportunity to get an education. Thus now, the cycle of illiteracy continuous to repeat itself.

“There are a number of policies that have been put in place and slowly being implemented by the Zambian government, though the challenge is that, most of these policies are really only effective in urban areas and trickle at a snail rate into rural areas” said Zimba.

Among some of the notable policies in place by the Zambian government include:

Education Policy – free education for all at Basic Education. However the challenge is that despite being a policy, school authorities still charge a fee ‘user fee’ for students to pay.

“This money is used for operational costs for the school to cover the deficit they have from their lean budgets. Now, in rural areas, where on earth can a family with almost no income meet these costs? The end solution is that in rural areas, some children, particularly girls are left out from school and are forced into early marriages and so forth” said Mr. Zimba.

Healthcare Policy – free HIV/AIDS drugs to people infected with the disease. Zimba said that this is a wonderful policy to allow people who are HIV positive to have access to life saving drugs.

“The challenge is that most of the rural area clinics are centralized near the urban areas and sick people need to walk by foot almost 120 km (about 75 miles) to access the help they desperately need. There is no reliable transportation, despite the community efforts to put up good feeder roads and in the end; people are just dying in the rural areas” said Mr. Zimba.

“What are the consequences? HIV is increasingly being spread throughout the country and grandmothers are now taking over, looking after their grandchildren as due to the death of their own children” Said Zimba.

Agricultural Policy – a good policy has been put in place relating to marketing of farm produce to allow local farmers to sell their produce through a liberalized system in order to earn a few monies to support their families.

“The challenge is that despite all of these wonderful policies for Agriculture, in rural areas, we are only seeing a few “unscrupulous” traders who come and rip off poor farmers and buy their produce at extremely low prices” states Zimba.

“Our main goal really is to help children and women in these areas of Zambia to have a future and fulfill their dreams. But to do that, we need advocacy on our work so that people who have power and resources can help us meet our objectives. We need to help children to have food on the table, medical, clothes and most importantly, a good health system” cries Zimba.

One of the projects that are currently helping and working with the Rising Fountain Development Program is The Pencil Project (http://www.thepencilproject.com) led by Maria Vick and is based in South Carolina, USA.

“I lived in Swaziland as a child and was able to witness poverty firsthand. As you know, a trip to Africa will change anyone forever. I was always struck by the joy and gratefulness that I found in the African people despite the fact that so many had so little” states Mrs. Vick.

“As I’ve matured, now at 36 years of age, I have come to believe that education is the only real way out of poverty and that all the world’s children should have access to the tools they need. A pack of one dozen pencils, something that people in well developed countries take for granted, could help 12 children” states Mrs. Vick.

“In just a short time, my project has gotten a pencil into the hands of over 10,000 needy children. The pencil, though a simple thing, symbolizes education and the promise that I would like every child to feel” Says Maria Vick.

Mrs. Vick says that she acts as a ‘matchmaker’ between a donor school and a needy school. People come to her website who are looking for an easy way to help children in need. The donor school will collect pencils and then ship them to the needy school that she has found for them. And that’s how her organization started working with Mathias Zimba and the Rising Fountain Development Program.

“I believe that Mathias first contacted me, I can’t remember, and we sent an initial shipment of pencils to his students. He responded so beautifully by sending me many photos of the children receiving the pencils. They were so grateful! Their photo is on my homepage. Simon, I cried for days” sadly states Mrs. Vick.

“I have helped numerous needy schools around the world since my project’s inception but something about this program, about Mathias Zimba, and about these students have touched me as they have touched you. I have pledged to personally collect supplies for their school and am currently sending two additional parcels a month of paper, books, etc. all on my own dime” cries Mrs. Vick.

“The children have nothing, no shoes, and no blankets, nothing…and yet they try to come to school every day with a smile on their face. I don’t believe that the UN or any government for that matter is doing much to help the world’s children. There are children that are forgotten all over the world. Even in my state of South Carolina, we have school districts that are terribly underfunded (http://www.corridorofshame.com). I personally feel that we cannot wait for the government to come through for these children. They need materials now and every day that goes by is another lost opportunity for them. I won’t wait for the government. I just want to put the materials into their hands” states Mrs. Vick.

“As far as the children left homeless by AIDS, it is devastating. But it’s all part of a much larger problem which comes back to education. Knowledge is power, Simon. I know that you understand that. It is often difficult to recruit people to help in these efforts if they have never been to Africa or have only ’seen’ poverty through the television screen in their warm, comfortable living room. That’s why I am focused on the younger generation—the children who email me every day to help. They are so eager and so willing to help build their generation. It encourages me that my small idea has blossomed into something that I never could have imagined” states Mrs. Vick.

Mathias Zimba states that his organization’s main goal is to help children and women in these areas of Zambia to have a future and fulfill their dreams. “But to do that, we need advocacy for our work so that people who have power and resources can help us meet our objectives. We need to help children to have food on the table, medical, clothes and most importantly, a good health system” cries Mr. Zimba.

“Our current urgent need is to allocate funding to help pay teachers at our rural community school, which is US$150 a month in salary for a qualified teacher to work in the rural areas. We need to recruit two qualified teachers to help out. Currently we are only working with volunteers and there is no consistency” Says Zimba.

“Rehabilitation of water wells. Water borne diseases thrive in the rural areas and we want to help them rehabilitate and maintain by forming a water committee. It costs around US$400 to rehabilitate a well and we need to help them rehab approximately 5 wells that will serve 300 members” states Mathias Zimba.

The most important problem currently facing Mr. Zimba is to find someone who may be willing to help them through donations or grants to buy a vehicle that they can use for an ambulance which will help people in his communities be able to go to healthcare clinics and receive medical care they so desperately need.

Most sick people when they walk the long distance to go to collect their daily HIV dozes of medicines, most of them don’t even make it back. They die on the way to the clinics because it takes them up to 3 days to get there by foot.

And when they don’t return home, the kids ask, who’s taking away all of our parents? Who’s killing our parents? Doesn’t God love us anymore? Why has God forsaken us?

The grandparents have no answers to any of these questions, they simply look at the kids and tell them that it’s God’s will that He’s taking them away.

Some of the people, who can afford, use donkey carts to go to and back from the clinics. Zimba believes that finding someone to help them with a van that they can use as a vehicle will tremendously help them solve one of the most critical problems of getting the sick to the healthcare.

The week of October 16, 2007, Jennie who is one of the volunteers from Ireland who arrived last week to volunteer at the Rising Fountain Development Program, brought Mr. Zimba and his team an award, presented to them by Mayor Edwin Stevenson of Limavady City, Ireland, who awarded Mathias Zimba and his group as a recognition for their outstanding community work.

“This is great news for all of us. It’s a great daily challenge being faced with so many problems in our community, and this award encourages us to work relentlessly and help people in our community as much as we can. We just need help, more resources and supports in order to enable us to carry on with our tasks, even a small contribution can help make a difference in a big way” states Mr. Zimba.

In the near future, Mathias Zimba and his organization want to initiate a cooperative program to help farmers sell their produce at economic prices and raise income for their savings.

“There are many other organizations such as WVI, Global Fund, and others that are working for the same cause in Zambia, but most of these organizations are centralized in large cities and towns and don’t really reach people in rural areas” says Mr. Zimba.

There are many Josephs, Timothys, Zanelles, Destiny Villages and Lundazis out there, all around us, everywhere in the world, and the question is, what are you doing to help out?

If you would like to learn more or find out how you can help Mathias Zimba and his organization, The Rising Fountain Development Program, please visit their web site at http://www.risingfountains.org.

Simon Kapenda is a volunteer author of this article. He’s founder of Tip-Mart, Inc., (http://www.tipmart.com) and developer of RentersQ (http://www.rentersq.com) and Gatepedia (http://www.gatepedia.com). He’s a student in Economics at the Ohio State University, a self-declared serial entrepreneur, speaker, and philanthropist, and an avid amateur blogger at his blog at http://www.princesimon.com.

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Science makes a foray into the entertainment market with electronic toys. Numerous toys and games available on the market have entertained kids and adults alike across the world. Nowadays, using state-of-the-art technology, these toys are designed to perform some truly unimaginable feats.

The most popular electronic toys available on the market would appear to be radio-controlled cars and airplanes. Offering precise maneuvering, these toys work almost like the ‘real thing’. Besides being able to be steered or flown in any direction, these toys have lights that blink and ingenious sound effects that add to the playing experience.

Besides entertaining kids, electronic toys also have the potential to educate. Kids learn the basics of science and technology from understanding how toys and video games work. You never know, those tiny tots may even be influenced to take up engineering as a career. Psychologists are of the view that all electronic toys, especially PreSchool toys, have the capacity to mold kids’ minds and contribute to a degree to building well developed mental faculties. Some electronic toys such as musical games and learning-to-read games are designed to provide valuable lessons that come in handy later in life. These learning-&-education toys are a must have in the ‘arsenal’ of toys in any kid’s room.

Great for the growing pre-teenager, these toys are also enjoyed by adults who are young at heart. A brilliant electronic toy for older children and teenagers is the GeoTrax. This innovative gaming system consists of a network of roads and rail lines that can be laid out across the floor of a room. There are varied layouts that can be chosen and the game ‘infrastructure’ includes rail cars, wagons, other vehicles and accessories. Besides being a treat for kids, the GeoTrax systems are also favored by adults and are also known to be a hit with collectors.

The splendid range of electronic toys, from the smallest video game to high-end Playstations, is a world of entertainment in itself, for people of all ages with such interests.

Simon Cruz is an avid gamer and contributor to various gaming magazines. An electrical engineer by profession, his hobby is writing technical papers for different publications. He has only recently submitted papers on Learning-&-Education Toys and Video-Games.

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When it comes to our kids’ health, we want to inspire them. We see everything they could become and we want them to see it for themselves. We try to inspire kids so they want to live a healthy and active lifestyle, so they can reach the potential we see in them. But where does that inspiration come from? How can kids see the creation of a healthy lifestyle as a fun thing? How do we make learning about health and fitness something they can actively participate in? And most importantly how can we inspire the kids in a way where they take responsibility for the development of their fit and active lifestyle?

It seems like a tall order. But the key here is inspiration. It might seem like a hard won commodity, but all my experiences as a trainer have proven that inspiring health starts with one simple step:

Believing in their potential, showing them you believe, and engaging them to find and create their own healthy lifestyle.

Another way to think about this simple step comes from the relationship between a trainer and a client. A good trainer always acts a coach for their client; while the client strives in competition with themselves, challenging themselves to reach their goals and meet their potential.

When it comes to our kids, our job as educators is the same: Help the kids see their potential, instill the skills and knowledge they can use to create their own healthy lifestyle, and let them have some fun doing it.

An incredibly fun example of an activity that we can do with our kids to inspire the creation of a healthy lifestyle is the “Healthy and Fit Olympics”. In this activity the entire class is one team competing against themselves, with the teacher playing the coach. This way the entire class acts a team trying to beat their own personal bests from the beginning of the competition. At the end of the year, the champions (everyone who beats their own personal bests) get medals that the class can design for themselves. And if the entire class as a team reaches all their goals: the entire class gets a trophy.

The activity starts at the beginning of the year: the kids make a movie, comprised of interviews with each kid and footage of each kid participating in a physical activity. Then all year long the class trains to become “healthy and fit champions”.

A big component of the “Healthy and Fit Olympics” is the activities to get ready for the competition. Some prime examples of multi-faceted “training” activities come from adapting the old stand-by: the relay race into a fun hybrid of a race with strong emphasis on nutrition.

Relay Race One: Racing Towards Health

Have the kids trace an outline of a healthy body and post in on a wall as a goal. Then have each group of racers cut out seven pictures of healthy foods/activities. Have the kids use the healthy pictures as the hand-off racing the healthy pictures towards the goal. Whatever team’s Body is full of the healthy pictures first wins. (UPGYM will even provide your class trophies for the winning teams).

Relay Race Two: Connecting the Fitness

Have the class decide on a picture of health, then make an outline of the picture—in dots. Each kid then picks a dot and races towards a spot on the floor corresponding to their dot’s location on the picture. When all the kids are in their places, you get involved by running around “connecting their dots” thus finishing the picture.

Some Other Training Activities

• Agility: Eraser drills

• Speed: Sprinting drills

• Coordination: Playing catch, throwing medicine balls

• Flexibility: Lunges and squats

• Balance: Single leg hops

For examples of these and other activities visit: www.survivalseattle.com]

At the end of the year videotape the competition and the award ceremony and watch it with the kids. They will have worked hard all year to learn about what makes a healthy lifestyle. Letting them watch their performance will solidify the fact that they reached their goals and lived up to their potential. Their experiences over the year training to become a “Healthy and Fit Champion” will carry on, providing them with self-confidence and skills to live a healthy and fit life.

It all starts with inspiration. If we believe in our kids, and challenge them to set their own goals and reach their potential—if they know you believe they can do it and their whole class (as their team) is rooting for them—They will become the champions of their own fitness.

Personal Fitness Training Seattle

Cody Moss received his Personal Trainer certification from the National Academy of Sports Medicine [N.A.S.M.].

His personal training experience: Cody has been an athlete all of his life. From gymnastics to baseball and even wrestling and martial arts, he dedicates himself to lifelong health and wellness. And with more than 12 years of intense weightlifting under his belt, he is no novice to the gym.

His Professional Experience: Cody has 5 years experience as a personal trainer. He started his career at the University of Washington as an instructor. He was in charge of running a beginning weightlifting class and was the creator of many new classes because of the demand for his knowledge and leadership skills. From there he trained at a corporate gym and gained vast amounts of knowledge in the studies of human movement. He now has his own business with numerous pleased and fulfilled clients.

Personal: I am a professional sculptor who uses nature as a source of inspiration. I also train in the martial arts to expand my knowledge of movement and the human body.

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Few people realize the educational value of bingo games for kids. Traditionally bingo games were played by old ladies in smoke-filled bingo halls, but this has changed. Today bingo games for kids are played by millions of kids, and grown-ups, all around the world.

Bingo games for kids play an important role in the education of children. It makes learning easy and lots of fun. Bingo cards are also easy to make and there are various websites on internet where players can make and design their own.

One of the most popular bingo games for kids are maths bingo games. These games teach children that solving maths problems are fun. With some slight adaptations, these games for kids can be used to teach children money skills.

Other popular bingo games for kids are animal games. The two most popular versions are animal sounds and animal names. Playing is really easy – all the children receive at least one bingo card with pictures of animals on it. The caller will either read the name of the animal, or imitate the animal’s sound. All the children have to do is match the name or sound to the correct picture on their cards.

Some similar bingo games for kids are games that teach them the names of flowers, birds, insects and trees. A great idea to make these bingo games for kids more practical, is to show the children the flowers, birds, insects and trees in real life before playing the games.

Other great bingo games for kids are seasonal bingo games. The cards have pictures associated with each season and the players have to match the correct name of each item, as read by the caller, to the pictures on their bingo cards.

These bingo games for kids are versatile, so parents or teachers can use it to teach children almost anything! Another plus is that these bingo games for kids do not need to be expensive. Making cards are easy and lots of fun. It will keep the children busy for hours. It also stimulates their creativity and they learn the advantages of working in groups.

Organising bingo games for kids is really easy. All you need is a room with desks or tables where the children can sit, a bingo caller and someone to check their cards. It is always important to explain the rules of the games to the kids. Once they understand the rules they don’t have to concentrate on the bingo game, but can have fun while learning!

For More Article Visit :: http://www.thearticleinsiders.com/

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There are plenty of kids toys are available on the market. No matter which age group you are buying for, there are endless toy options for all age groups. The key is to find a safe, affordable and good quality toy. Quality is vital when buying toys like metal trucks, which last years and are normally past down through the generations. On the other hand if you buy a plastic truck it may only last for a year, if you’re lucky! It’s important you purchase quality and safe toys from reputable retailers like Zsuaro, that have become a trusted retailer over the years.

Consumers have the right to demand excellence from toy manufacturers. Choosing a good quality product must be your priority. When choosing kids toys also consider buying a toy that can help your childs mind grow and develop. Toys like blocks, crafts, art supplies and puzzles etc will assist in the mental development of your childs mind.

Safety is one more factor you should consider when purchasing toys. Use the internet to search for toys and see feedback from other parents on forums and message boards. The internet is a quick way to find positive or negative feedback, but make sure the feedback is “independent” and not from a toy manufacturer or supplier. Plus always look at the sharp edges on toys as they may cause harm to your children.

You should choose a toy with respect to your children’s age and interests. Better to buy a toy that can introduce new skills to your child, these toys may not necessarily be educational. It’s a good idea to purchase a toy which can impart fun as well as can teach your child new skills.

You can find an excellent range of toys on internet that are safe and educational. www.zsuaro.com

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