http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061115/wl_africa_afp/africachildren Thirty percent of African children want to live abroad: study Wed Nov 15, 2:18 PM ET ADDIS ABABA (AFP) - Thirty percent of African children would prefer not to live in their country of birth, although most consider themselves happy and optimistic about the future, a report said. Conducted for the UN childrens' agency UNICEF and presented to the Economic Commission of Africa in the Ethiopian capital, the study surveyed 4,000 nine- to 17-year-olds in eight sub-Saharan African countries. Among its chief findings was that three in 10 African youngsters would rather live abroad, many of them in the United States, Canada and Europe but also in more developed African nations like South Africa and Kenya. The desire to leave their country was most pronounced in Malawi and Botswana, where 45 and 38 percent of children respectively indicated they wanted to live elsewhere. The report was released in the wake of the international uproar over pop diva Madonna's adoption last month of a Malawian child that sparked debate over the desirability of removing African children from their roots. Despite the attraction of other nations, the survey found a healthy majority of children to be happy in their current conditions and an even greater number to be optimistic about their futures. Sixty-four percent thought their birth country was better off than it was ten years ago and 79 percent thought they would live better than their parents. "In the case of Africa, happiness means no war, no shooting around while it could mean for Asian children, to get more gadgets," said Madka Taffese, a researcher with the UNICEF affiliate that helped conduct the poll. Assefa Bequele, the group's executive director, said there was a "correlation between the state of mind of the child and the state of democracy" in the country where they live. Children in Tanzania were happiest and most confident about the future while the lowest rates were recorded in Angola and Rwanda, countries recovering from long bouts of unrest, she said. The survey, conducted in Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Ethiopia, Malawi, Somalia and Tanzania, where about 90 million children live, also found an extremely limited knowledge of key issues like HIV/AIDS and human rights among youth. About 57 percent of children surveyed knew nothing of the HIV/AIDS pandemic that is ravaging Africa and the 52 percent had none or only a slight understanding of their rights, with the most ignorance in Angola, Burundi and Somalia, the report said. Forward Ever (by any means necessary)! Karen C. Aboiralor __._,_.___ Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic Messages | Polls | Calendar Mwananchi is an open forum that discusses/updates you on the latest news in Africa. It is a group that is made up of 900 members worldwide. To join it simply go to http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/mwananchi You can also join a Kenyan community based group that is open to all. This forum has ngos and members that are networking on how to help communities in Kenya and the url is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Kenyainternationalgroup You can also be added directly to any of the above forums by simply emailing chifu at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thank you for your membership. Chifu Moderator Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required) Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe . __,_._,___
_______________________________________________ Ugandanet mailing list [email protected] http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. ---------------------------------------
