Learning Journal

Date: 10th October 2017

Question: What are some background information of Venezuela?

Summary:
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, or as we all called Venezuela, is a country that is made of
one mainland and numerous islands. It is located on the northern coast of South America.
Venezuela is well-known for its petroleum industry, environmental diversity, and its
extraordinary natural features.

Approximately, Venezuela is estimated to have human habitat at least 15,000 years ago.
The country was created even before the 20th century. Venezuela was first colonized by the
Europeans in 1522.

Since the foundation of oil in the early 20th century, Venezuela has been one of the worlds
leading oil exporter and even known as one of the founders of OPEC. Petroleum industries
alone made up 30% of the countrys GDP, 80% of the exports, and more than half of the
governments income. Petroleums price in the country now is lower than the price of water
because of the support from the government.

In 1980, the extreme surplus of oil led to external debts and long-lasting economics issues.
The poverty rate rose to 66% in 1995, inflation rate reached 100% in 1996, and GDP per
capita fell over three times in 1998 from its peak. Even now, Venezuela had the highest
inflation rate in the world.

In the 2000s, Venezuela made progress in social development, specifically in areas such as
health, education, and poverty. The Millennium Development Goals started many of the
social policies. There is the total of eight goals that Venezuela and 188 other nations agreed
to in September 2000. Venezuela is expected to meet all these goals by 2015.

Analysis and Opinion:

Venezuela income is mostly from the oil industry. The exports of oil are very high, but the
country still has a very big economics problem because of government corruption. The
country also has a very high rate of poverty.

Reference:
Basic Facts on Venezuela. (2017, September 09). Retrieved October 10, 2017, from
https://venezuelanalysis.com/basicfacts

Venezuela. (n.d.). Retrieved October 10, 2017, from

http://www.encyclopedia.com/places/latin-america-and-caribbean/south-american-political-g
eography/venezuela
Date: 3rd November 2017
Question:
How the poverty has affected your Venezuela?

Summary:
Poverty cause education problems, because people cant afford education for their children
and lead to child development issue. According to Department for Education statistics,
children that are from low-income families are less likely to perform well in school. Poverty
makes children living in poverty more likely to gain bad health attitude and mental illness as
they grow older. A youngster who is poor is usually unable to perform in social, which will
badly impact the child self-esteem and friendships. This can also lead the child to become
more violent. Children living in a family where the head of the family is unemployed were
most likely to commit crimes.

From the increase of wage by 40% in 2016 by President Nicolas, it causes the inflation rate
to become higher. Since the wage had been increased, there is more money in the system
and the value of the money become less. Protests also started to thrive as citizens
considered this the increase in minimum wage mentioned above as a violation of human
rights.

Over 70% of the Venezuelans lost an average of 8.7 kilos of weight and around 9.6 million of
the population eat only two or fewer meals a day, because of the increase in inflation rate.

Analysis and Opinion:

Inflation rate cause poverty in this country and poverty cause education problems, which can
affect as long term issues. In my opinion, poverty is a very serious issue and need to be
solved as soon as possible. Without food and water, people will be able to live and die
because of poverty.

Reference:
5 Effects of Poverty. (2017, April 23). Retrieved November 3, 2017, from
https://borgenproject.org/5-effects-poverty/

Kentish, B. (2017, February 23). Venezuelans lose an average of 19lb in weight due to
nationwide food shortages, study suggests. Retrieved November 3, 2017, from
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/venezuela-weight-loss-average-19lb-po
unds-food-shortages-economic-crisis-a7595081.html
Date: 23 November 2017
Question:
What are your specific solutions/suggestions for the city/province - local level - in solving the
problem?
Summary:
Giving money from the rich from the North to the poor from the South is one way to solve the
problem; however, it is not that easy. The rich are most likely to oppose this idea since they
will claim that their current situation is already hard. Also, they will argue that the money that
they made all come from their hard-workings. They think they shouldnt give money that they
work so hard for it to the poor. So, we should slowly persuade them and promise them with
something rewarding. Accessing clean water is another one of the most important ways to
reduce poverty. Not only it can help avoid drinking dirty water and health problems, it can
also help to produce more agriculture products. To solve water deprivation issue, the
government can install water purifiers around the north part of the country to filter water from
the sea and provide water to every part of the country. Because illegal mining and logging
intruders are generally threatening indigenous lands and they make indigenous people dont
have a place to live, government need to hire soldiers to protect those areas. The
government also can adjust the law to include more harsh consequences so the intruders
are more fearful to the law. Venezuela currently couldnt produce enough food for the people
and this is one cause that leads the country to poverty. The country itself should form some
kind of self-sufficient economy like Thailand did. Afterall, geographical features of Venezuela
promotes agriculture. However, nowadays, only 5% of total GDP is accounted for
agriculture. If the government addresses this suggestion to the citizen, the poverty can be
reduced significantly. To execute all the programs above, the government needs a decent
amount of funds. To fix this issue, the government can simply attract foreign investors
through the procedures mentioned in the first paragraph.

Analysis and Opinion:

In our suggestion, In my opinion, the strongest suggestion is accessing clean water for
everyone. Becauses water is one of the most important things for us to survive.

Reference:
Prinsen, T. (2016, November 30). 10 Solutions to Poverty. Retrieved November 23, 2017,
from http://www.borgenmagazine.com/10-solutions-poverty/

Venezuela GDP share of agriculture - data, chart. (n.d.). Retrieved November 23, 2017, from
http://www.theglobaleconomy.com/Venezuela/Share_of_agriculture/
Date: 1st December 2017

Question:
How can we separate the responsibilities each part of the product?
How the product will be and what will we include?

Summary:
Today, in our group, we separate our group into 2 parts. Our final product will be a card
games. I and Jump responsible for the information in the card(questions, answer). Minnie
and Preaw are responsible for the design of the product, because Minnie is very good at
designing and Preaw can help too.

Analysis and Opinion:

In my opinion, in this class, our group have a lot of teamwork because we separate the work
fairly and discuss. Everyone shared an opinion and we have a very good discussion.

Reference: -

Date: 4th December 2017

Question: -

Goal: To continue our final product and finish.

Summary: We were able to finish the outline of the product in class. But, we still need to print
it, then share the work for everyone to card it and stick it to make it a card.

Analysis and Opinion:

In my opinion, our work is quite successful because the game looks quite nice. We try to
play this game and ask some friend to try. We are enjoying our game as well as our friend.

Reference:-