Majestic and sacred, baobab trees are emblematic of the Malagasy flora. The name “baobab” was drawn from Arabic words bu hibab which means “a fruit with many seeds”. This tree can be also called by two other names: “Reniala”, the name given by Malagasy natives which literally means “mother of the forest” and “bottle tree” since its trunk is filled with water.  Baobab trees have attracted millions of travelers with their special shape and remarkable ages. They set up an important reserve of water which makes them last despite their habitat’s climate conditions. Its peculiar shape has made baobab a particular tree; its root is risen to the sky unlike other trees.

There are eight species of baobab worldwide and not less than seven are located in Madagascar.

• African Monkey bread is one of the baobab species we can find in Madagascar and over the African continent. This is the most known by travelers and tourists. Its name comes from Latin digitum which means fingers.  This type has a short but thick stem, and a large and protruding crown which makes it like a great mesh of roots. The old baobab of Mahajanga belongs to this species.
• Grandidier’s baobab is estimated to be the most famous baobab in Madagascar because of its size: it grows to a height of 25 meters and remains slender and straight over time. Grandidier’s baobabs are generally found in the western side of Madagascar – from Morombe to Morondava – and constitutes the famous Baobab Alley.
• The third of them is the Malagasy monkey bread which measures from five to 25 meters in high and remains slender. It is quite rare in Madagascar and can be only found in the northwest regions – between Antsiranana and the river of Sambirano.
• “Fony”, as how native people call it, grows several meters in width but never goes higher than 12 meters. This one can be located in the southwest cost of the island, around Toliara and along the west coast of old spiny forests habitats. Along the rainy season, this species is the only one to give yellow flowers instead of red ones.
• “Za”, a Malagasy expression, is another appellation of baobab by southern tribes. It has a cylindric shape and grows up from 10 to 30 meters. Za is found in the very south of Madagascar such as in the Andohahela national park, Zombitse-Vohibasia and Isalo national park.
• Near the “Montagne Français” and the forest of Mahory, another type of baobabs named Suarez Monkey Bread stays beneath other foliage trees. It does not grow taller than 20 meters and goes slender in thick horizontal branches.
• Perrier’s monkey bread is the one located in the Ambilobe area; it can reach up to 20 to 25 meters in height. Very few of this species exist at the moment.

Baobabs remain young trees between their 10^th and 15^th years. Once reaching their 20s, baobabs flourish for the first time and start to build their stems that can reach several meters, according to their species. Between their 30^th and 40^th years, the first branches start to develop horizontally and shape their characteristic crowns. Reaching the age of 70, baobabs cease to grow in height and start to get wider to reach the target bottle size. At the last blooming stage, they can live many hundred years.

In rainy seasons, the buds sprout step by step and become green. In one month, baobabs are in full leaves and give pink to red flowers. Baobabs grow only a few centimeters per year, and baobab trees can survive for 800 years.

Sources: Madagascar Information Network-Magazine, Madagascar Treasure Island

Believing they are slavery free, millions of people in the world then get trapped in modern slavery. Modern slavery appears everywhere – industry, agriculture, fishing, domestic work, construction, manufacturing, and mining.

Modern slavery is a contemporary form of slavery that relates to exploiting people for a personal or commercial benefit. From the outside, it seems like regular job patterns but behind the scenes reign oppression, threats, extreme control, physical and moral violence. People are vulnerable to falling in the trap because of poverty, insecurity, or inescapable debts.

There are many forms of modern slavery:

• Human trafficking and adult trafficking can include threats and coercion to transport, recruit, or harbor people in order to utilize them for criminality, organ removal, or prostitution.
• Forced labor refers to a kind of practices that uses movement, physical threats, punishment in order to compel a person to pursue any task or services against their will. Women, girls and migrants are particularly vulnerable to this form of slavery since they are the most involved in domestic servitude.
• Debt bondage is the most widespread form of modern slavery. Poor and indebted people are sometimes forced to perform commercial sex act in order to pay off the debt while being overwhelmed over both their work condition and the debt.
• Domestic servitude is a traditional and descent-based way to treat people as a property or possession. It is a form of slavery where workers are abused, underpaid and not free to leave their employment. In many private residences, workers live in horrific conditions and devoid from their benefits and rights.
• Slavery of children aged under 18: Children are exploited for someone’s profit. Despite the law that prohibits children to work, they are found in slavery as well. Forced child labor, forced marriage, child trafficking, unlawful recruitment and use of child soldiers are the modern forms of children slavery.
• Forced marriage occurs not only to children but to adult as well. This new form of slavery occurs when someone is forced to marry someone against his or her will.

To take a stand for slavery free life – either old or modern forms – actions such as donations and campaign were run by some American organizations.

Sources: US Department of state, International Labour Organization

For the most important reason, high school students or teens need to be well informed before making decisions on their sexual lives. According to a report given by Guttmacher Institute in 2006, women between 15 and 19 years - who were encouraged for abstinence-only – have the high chance to get pregnant.

It makes more sense for students to be taught about sex education at high schools rather than from unreliable resources. Sex education is all about high-quality teaching and learning about wide variety of topics related to sexuality and sex activities. Broadly speaking, there are two different kinds of sex education which are provided in high schools: Abstinence-Only curriculum and Comprehensive sex education.

Abstinence-only programs encourage teenagers for abstinence until marriage and does not provide any information on the use of contraception; the “just say no” message is only one pushed on. In contrast, comprehensive sex education – as its name suggests – conveys non-judgmental messages. For instance, students are instructed that sexuality is a normal and healthy part of human life. This curriculum still argues that abstinence is the best option for youth to avoid unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, but it kits out students to make healthy decisions from an instructed perspective. Comprehensive sex education is highly crucial to be part of a broad and balanced curriculum since it enriches teens’ skills to navigate relationships and manage their own sexual life. This curriculum, whereof, supplies shame-free topics about reproduction, contraception, and puberty. “Students need to be prepared for the world we live in and become part of boarder conversation about communication, intimacy, desire and healthy relationships”, said Catherine Brown, vice president of education policy at the Center for American Progress.

In the US, sex education is already provided in 24 states and the district of Columbia. As for American institutions, they monitor three kinds of sex education: Abstinence-Only, Abstinence plus and Comprehensive sex education. Abstinence-plus program is quite similar to the Abstinence-only one but includes some basic information about contraception. In those previous states, abstinence-only curriculum is often encouraged in high schools although it does not really meet the positive outcomes. Only 38 percent of American high schools teach all sexual topics considered essential by the Centers for Disease Control.

A vast majority of Americans support sex education, such as numerous prestigious health and medical organizations – including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. More than 150 organizations are members of the National Coalition to support comprehensive sexuality education. Efforts and movement for change are made by Catherine Brown as well, in providing insights into sex education standards around the US.

Talking about sex or including sex education – both comprehensive and abstinence-only program – remains a taboo subject for Malagasy institutions. The good news is, there are a few organizations, like “top reseau”, which push hard to raise awareness about youth sexual health and encourage Malagasy people not to be ashamed to openly talk about sexuality. The lack of education and awareness is considered as the main reason of the high rates of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted illnesses and infections in Madagascar.

Sources: Parents, Planned Parenthood, United Nations Population Fund

Going vegan in January

In 2014, Jane Land and Matthew Glover – from the United Kingdom launched a new challenge named “Veganuary”, which aroused the curiosity and interest of many people from different countries. At the same time, Veganuary is also a non-profit organization that inspires and encourages people to try going vegan for the month of January … and throughout the year. The number of participants in the Veganuary challenge has rapidly increased over time – doubling year-on-year, to reach 750,000 people from 192 countries. The Veganuary campaign then expanded in the United States, Chile, Germany and South Africa in 2020. Lots of brands, supermarkets, restaurants promote the campaign by launching new Vegan products and offers.

Last year in the United States, Veganuary was also promoted by celebrities such as Hollywood stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Mayim Bialik, Alicia Sliverstone and Evanna Lynch. On New Year Eve, Natalie Portman – the famous Israeli-born American actress and filmmaker – incited her 5.9 million Instagram followers to go for the challenge by posting as caption “Fight climate chaos with your Fork”. National food chains were also among the influencers in that game: Just salad – a fast-casual restaurants chain based in New York City – and Fresh brothers – a pizza chain in California.

Veganuary suggests plant-based meals.

As soon as someone accepts the Veganuary challenge, he or she is invited to sign up on the Veganuary website. Leaving old eating habits and switching to vegan diet requires many ideas of plant-based dishes. Plenty of recipes are proposed on Veganuary’s website to make the veganism transition easier and tastier as possible. Here are some yummy propositions:

• For breakfast: vegan frittata with purple potatoes, breakfast cookies, low sugar raspberry chia jam, fig and date smoothie, winter spiced carrot smoothie, lemon chia seed protein balls…
• For lunch time: black bean goji burgers, simple Spanish stew, smoky mac and cheese, Mediterranean tofu and vegetable parcels, Walldorf salad…
• For the dinner: chipotle kale bean stew, low sugar sweet and sour sauce, one-pot linguine with olives, capers and sun-dried tomatoes, black bean chili, …
• For snakes: peanut butter, tahini and chocolate chip cookies, cashew oat chocolate chip cookies, single serve protein oatmeal cookie, …

Why do people pledge for Veganuary?

Apart from the willing to eat better, lose weight and get healthier, there are other motivations that push vegan pledges. Veganuary is one way to save and protect natural habitats, especially farmed animals which are the first victims of “carnivore” lifestyle. Plus, this social and environmentally driven campaign can help avoid  wildlife extinction and the destruction of wild places such as forests, rivers and oceans.

Sources: The New York Times, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

A favorable relationship between teachers and students is essential to academic success in US universities.

Teaching refers to a position of great value and one of the most respected in every nation because beyond what they are supposed to teach, teachers show their students ways to become responsible and productive citizens.

Sane relationship between teachers and students provides brighter future for students. Most of the time, in the United States colleges, students in a tight connection with their educators tend to receive from their educators more praise and productive counselling rather than judgment. Positive talks from teachers make their students more engaged in learning and behave appropriately in class. Improving this connection brings to students long-lasting desire to learn. They always aim at reaching a higher level academically. Maintaining close relationship with teachers helps students have trust in their educators as well, and this has to be in a reciprocal way. In the United States, students who are well-supported by their teachers tend to attain higher levels of accomplishment than those who are frequently in conflict with them.

Apart from being parents, husbands, wives or family members, teachers spend a large amount of time at universities with their students. Educators play a role model in shaping their learners’ personalities and mindsets. Nowadays, in the digitalized world context, social media has made teachers more connected and informed about their students’ lives. Facebook and other social media represent useful tools for teachers in United States universities – technology gives them an efficient way to interact with students. Digital communication is very crucial for students to become richer interpersonally and professionally. However, using social media is a big risk for educators. Not using common sense online may taint the perception of teachers across the nation. It has been the reason why school districts across the United States have stated policies that prohibit or limit conversations between teachers and students via texting and social media platforms. Chances are, educators can get fired due to posts they have shared online. As a protection for many school districts in the United States, they only hire teachers who accept to sign policies related to electronic communication use. Teachers are already aware of how important they need to be cautious when interacting with their students online and to be circumspect with what they post and share online. Educators acting inappropriately like posting their pictures drinking and partying could be called into check, or even laid-off.

While there are educators who do not behave appropriately, there are most who do. Teachers play an important role in presenting online opportunities their learners may miss. Like in real life, educators need to establish their personal boundaries to keep their private life, private. A good educator is as supportive as possible and avoids being judgmental.

Source: Psychology today

Despite the negative sound COVID-19 brings out, this pandemic has opened doors to new technology trends and demonstrated how much the world needs to “go digital”. Technology is helping society to be more flexible in coping with the difficult curves of usual life.

Earlier in 2020, smart wristbands were invented and then experienced by a senior living in a nursing home, to ease the monitoring of contacts between nurses and patients. This new device named CarePredict’s tempo bracelet functions as a signalization of care home staffs in the case of need or urgency. Infrared light, which is already inside every smart wristband, is used to network beacons placed on the wall of each room. This system contributes to trace and record all contacts made with residents or other patients during lockdowns and quarantines. These technology devices have taken part in reducing the spread of Coronavirus in the US. Currently, Apple and Google are still on their way of creating and promoting a similar technology. Before aspiring to prosper with this kind of gadget, the two tech giants should make sure that users’ devices have access to government-authorized contact tracing app.

Apart from the CarePredict’s tempo bracelets, there are numerous digital trends that helped the world to be more resilient despite the hard struggle countries are facing. Technology allowed businesses to remain operational while Coronavirus was trying to shut doors down. Digital devices gave people a chance to live in a normal way as much as possible. In the US, online shopping and robot deliveries increasingly became an essential part of Americans’ daily lives. The digital system ensured the continuous opening of many restaurants, bars, and many other shops and stores. Digital and contactless payment enable clients to proceed to secure payment of their shopping and orders. Depending on the sectors, workers could work from home or in secured places. Remote work saved a lot of jobs. Similarly, due to the universities and schools’ closures, 1.57 billion students have been affected by changes COVID-19 brings along. Distance learning was the only way for learners and educational institutions to remain connected.

Throughout lockdowns, the world focuses more on elevating technology and creating new useful tools to promote a more digitized world. The future will tell if those technologies will remain useful after the pandemic.

Source: World Economic Forum