It is not surprising to hear the crazy news that are happening around the world every day, but this article looks like its been taken out of a comic book or movie. Somalia, a nation which has subsisted without a functioning central government for two decades and its now divided into various groups of total loose control celebrated over the weekend a Trivia contest. Everything sounds fine at the moment right?. These contests tend to give out regular prizes: cash, iPods and even cars, but in this case, those are not quite the prizes.
A Somalian radio station run by the Shabab (the most powerful Islamist militant group in the country) ran a contest for kids from 10 to 17 years old where the prize for the first and second place winners won AK-47s (fully automatic machine guns) and the third doesnt get a simple prize, he gets two hand grenades. The winners had to answer questions related to Shabab history and leaders and facts on the Koran. This is not a surprise coming from a country where children use rifles before pens. Somalia has one of the lowest schooling rates in the world, and its militant group leaders like the Shabab encourage and enforce islamist purity. Bras, dancing and even soccer has been banned for being related to the West.
As we see, Somalia is not on track of being ''civilized'' and it is very far from it. I believe there is much more to be done, it is true they might not allow us to help them but there is got to be a way to try to get them on track. Somalia is currently suffering from famines and thousands of people have already lost their lives. Somalia needs help.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/21/world/africa/shabab-gives-unusual-prizes-for-somali-children-in-contest.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=somalia&st=cse
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