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• Slumming It - Literally

  I'm much more better off - financially speaking - than my parents were when I was growing up.  So my number one fear, for my own kids, has always been that they'll grow up spoiled brats, with no appreciation for everything they are lucky enough to enjoy.  Maybe taking them on one of the growing number of organized slum tours - now available through the most tragically, poverty-stricken areas of India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa - would open their eyes.   Read More... Posted Mar 11 2008, 01:32 PM by asflutz with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: poverty, South Africa, Brazil, india, mexico, tourism, poorism, slum tours

• Married & Pregnant Teen Wins Right to Remain in School, Then Changes Mind

  A 17-year old pregnant and married South African girl was banned from school a month ago due to student protest over her continued attendance while pregnant.  Sodiqua Solomons fought the school's decision and won the right to continue attending classes at her school, but has since applied to continue as a private candidate, appearing at school only to hand in assignments and take year-end exams.  Fellow students were outraged because they had to share a classroom with a married girl and they also blamed Sodiqua for being the reason why some of their privileges for the year, a trip and a ball, were cancelled (the privileges have since been restored). Clearly we are talking about a far different cultural scenario than what I am used to, living as I do in a country where high school girls almost routinely become pregnant (the U.S. has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the western world, even though that rate is dropping), and where the majority of those don't finish high school.  The fact that Sodiqua has the opportunity and the drive to finish her education says a lot for her and her cultural atmosphere (an obvious value of education), but the apparent social stigma placed upon her seems harsh and unjust.  Sodiqua is Muslim, however, and while the article didn't state whether he school is solely Muslim as well, if it was or if the majority of the students also are Muslim, that could certainly account for the apparent stigma surrounding her, as her status as a married person moves her to another world entirely from the unmarried girls of her school. Posted Mar 20 2007, 11:15 AM by Karen Murphy with | with no comments Filed under: South Africa, pregnant teen

• South African Dad Gets Stripper For Son; Community Not Impressed

  Frikkie Lutzkie of Middleburg, South Africa is currently straddling the line between being the coolest dad on earth and being every other parents' nightmare. When Lutzkie's son turned 16, the ol' man let him invite fifteen or twenty of his pals over, and hired three strippers to entertain the boys. Some boys also partook of alcohol (the drinking age in South Africa is eighteen). When tales of the party made their way to the guests' parents, they were pretty outraged. Some parents contacted the school the boys all attend, but the headmaster admitted he can't do much about it given that it was a private function, other than let Mr. Lutzkie know that getting naked ladies to dance for your teenager and his friends is not really the done thing. But given the power of recall I have over minute details of the craziest of my high school hijinks, I'm going to go ahead and say that Lutzkie Junior's sixteenth birthday will be the stuff of Middleburg legend, and he's got his dad to thank for it, for better or worse.   Posted Mar 19 2007, 07:49 AM by Patti with | with no comments Filed under: teenagers, bad parenting, South Africa

• Oprah's School: Ticket to Freedom or Glorified Jail?

  I so wanted to like Oprah's school, but I had trouble with it from the beginning.  After all, if she truly wanted to make an impact in troubled South Africa, couldn't Oprah have focused on, I don't know, AIDS, maybe?  In a country where the HIV-positive rate is over 30% among pregnant women, and 1000 people die of AIDS every day?  And where the teen pregnancy rate is now skyrocketing, with a pregnancy rate of 71% at one South African school?  No, instead, Oprah chose to build a $40 million luxury school now housing only 152 students (out of the 5500 who applied), and where the students aren't even allowed to phone home or use email to contact their families except on weekends. Is this a school or a jail?   Certainly these girls, who likely have never been away from home before, could use some transition time to become accustomed to being away from home on an extended basis.  Concerned parents from the school were going to chat with Oprah via satellite link about the difficulties their daughters are facing, but the school abruptly cancelled the session and then cracked down even harder and increased the rules, now allowing visits only once a month as opposed to every two weeks as stipulated previously. Dig your way out of this one, Oprah.  I'm going to take a lot of convincing to believe that this wasn't just some massive PR stunt.  Posted Mar 13 2007, 11:03 AM by Karen Murphy with | with 11 comment(s) Filed under: television, education, school, South Africa, Oprah Winfrey, Oprah's school

• South African Pre-Teen Busted for Prank 911 Calls

  Tertia over at So Close found a real parenting nightmare. A 12 year old boy in South Africa got caught making prank calls to emergency centers.This kid got busted for calling in seven different false alarms to several different centers. Some of the calls resulted in very costly searches that dispatched ambulances and even rescue helicopters. The kid was making the calls from his cell phone.  My kids are only two, so I don't have any idea how I would handle it if my 12 year old asked for a cell phone. I guess I would get him one if he promised to use it in an appropriate fashion and not use a bazillion minutes every month. So, my question (and Tertia's question, actually) is how do you punish this offense? South Africa and the local authorities that are out all of that money cannot sue a 12 year old. How accountable is this pre-teen? How responsible are his parents? How would you deal with it if it were your son?  Posted Jan 10 2007, 05:39 PM by Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: kids, So Close, cell phones, false alarms, 911, South Africa