Created by paulsub000 on Feb 16, 2011
Last updated: 02/24/11 at 07:54 PM
Ayzize Biko Zambia has no followers yet. Be the first one to follow.
Standard of living defines the level of material comfort in terms of goods and services available to someone or some group, standard of living defines how high the quality of life is for someone in a certain country, usually depending on their privileges. My standard of living in Zambia is high because I could afford to donate to charity. Donating to charity is usually a sign of excess wealth, and when I did it was because I had excess wealth, I already had my essentials and saw no need for anything more. Here are three things from my Real Life that show my standard of living in Zambia is high. 1) I lived to the age of 92, the average life expectancy in Zambia is only 45.4, I more than doubled that. It was due to good health care that I could afford. Something else that defined my standard of living was my diet. I ate at a "Adequate" level which is much more than the lower than "Meager" level that most other Zambians would eat. The last thing that defined my standard of living was my home. Most Zambians only had a makeshift or simple home, while I had a Complex home with multiple rooms. Colonization has impacted the standard of living in Zambia by changing how groups of people functioned, or families functioned. Before colonization tribes had a way of life that enabled them to feed themselves, but after colonization they broke it up into many different classes. There are now "rich" people and "poor" people, In a way colonization has hurt the standard of living by stripping people of some skills and forcing them to find others. They made a wealthy and poor class, most people are poor and find every day difficult to live in, the Europeans caused mayhem in Zambia and hurt the standard of living. Another way they've hurt the standard of living is by slavery, there are still ancestors of slaves today that are stuck in the lower class of Zambia because they did not receive the opportunity to strive because the Europeans took advantage of Zambia and its people.
In the simulation, I lived to be 92 years of age.
The Dutch, British and Blacks were all involved in this situation. The Blacks were forced to work to extract natural resources. Regulations were also put on Black people to limit the freedoms of Blacks. Blacks were not allowed to own property or businesses, marriage was forbidden except between two Blacks. Certain jobs were only for white people also. They were also forced to live in poor, rundown villages. Many Black people protested but were abducted, tortured, and sometimes murdered. The government then started using force against protesters, on March 21, 1960 they openly fired upon demonstrators who protested the passport laws, killing 69 and injuring 180. The government repeated many acts like this against Black political activists. This all began in the 1650s. This happened in South Africa. The conflict ended because several countries refused to trade with South Africa until it stopped.. European had an influence because they were the ones who invaded South Africa and caused the "reign of terror" for centuries. This type of conflict could be classified under all categories but it best fits Ethnic/Religious Differences. The Europeans stripped away almost everything from the Blacks, just because of the color of their skin. This would result in negative net migration because almost no Black would want to enter South Africa, for the fear of being enslaved. It also stopped tourists from visiting South Africa because they also feared to be caught in the middle of this turmoil. Positive net migration could have happened for South Africa during the conflict, Dutch and British people might have moved to South Africa to look for the "easy life".
GDP stands for Gross Domestic Product, or how much a person makes on average in a certain country or region. As a Train Engineer I make 314,000 Kwachas per year. In U.S. currency I make $65.80. I live on 18 cents every day.
Literacy rate explains the proportion of people over the age of 15 that can read and write. The literacy rate in Zambia is 80.6%. Something that happened in my "Real Life" that illustrates this education level is Ayzize being offered to go to trade school, and to skip a year of school. This must be indirectly related to the literacy rate and level of education in Zambian schools.
One difficulty I faced in my life was a Flood. Here is a detail about the floods, floods in Zambia usually bring waters more than 10 feet high. Floods in Zambia are somewhat common. Floods impact Zambia by costing the government money. Floods can cost the Zambian government millions of dollars, that is one of the reasons why it is difficult for Zambia to recover from natural disasters like these. Floods only hurt the Zambian economy, which is already in debt and put a burden on its people.
One difficulty I faced in my life was contracting Malaria. Here is a detail about Malaria, it can be contracted from mosquitoes. Malaria is extremely common in Zambia, there are over 50,000 deaths every year in Zambia because of Malaria. Malaria impacts the country of Zambia by decreasing the economic growth and work force in Zambia. Something Zambia could do to prevent the spread of Malaria is distribute mosquito nets. Malaria is contracted by mosquitoes, most of which bite at night. By having a mosquito net it makes it near impossible to be bitten by a mosquito at night.
My life expectancy in Zambia was 45.4 years, that's only middle age compared to the life expectancy in the United States, which is 78.4 years. That means the average citizen in the United States would live 30 years longer than a Zambian citizen. One reason the life expectancy in Zambia is so low is because of HIV/AIDS. The HIV/AIDS rate in Zambia is just above 14%, that means 1 in 7 people in Zambia has the virus. Compared to the .003% of people with HIV/AIDS in the United States, Zambia is in a crisis. A detail about my life in Zambia was that I caught Malaria. Malaria is still a very common disease in Zambia and many other African Countries. Another detail about my life is that i spoke Nyanja, this is spoken by people that live mostly in the southern part of Africa. Another name for Nyanja is Chewa.
The reason Zambia became independent from the British is because the U.K. gave Zambia independence and Zambia became a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Despite becoming independent, one way the British influence is still seen is, Zambia being in debt. When the British came they lent money to Zambia in exchange for the control of minerals and major exports. But Zambia had to pay money back with interest, and is still billions of dollars in debt today.
Before Europeans, Zambia was much different.Some of the native people of Zambia were the "San". Most were hunters and gatherers who lived a Nomadic life. They would gather fruits, and nuts but some hunted Antelope. The British were interested in the area of Zambia because of valuable minerals that were available in Zambia.
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