Responsibility Project ETH/316 Leonardo Alvarado

Responsibility Project
ETH/316
Leonardo Alvarado




The video I chose was about Michaela DePrince who talked about her life as an orphan in Sierra Leone. There was a civil war that left over 300,000 children orphaned. Her father was killed by the rebels when she was a child. Her mother would give her food to her, thus starving herself to death. Her uncle took her to an orphanage when she was 3 years of age. She had a difficult time at the orphanage, the children been ranked from 1 through 27, showing favoritism to the lower numbered ones; she was ranked 27. Michaela would always be the last person picked for food, clothes, toys etc. Michaela had vitiligo and was considered the "devil's child" in the orphanage. She was inspired when one day she looked at a magazine that had a dancer on it; it inspired her to continue with life. Michaela and her friend Mia were adopted together and moved to the United States. Thanksgiving was the time where she finally felt she had a family and was loved; it was an amazing feeling that made her feel free. She and the rest are all grateful of what has happened to them. Michaela is now a principle dancer with the dance theatre in Harlem.

Although this was a short film to me this film community issues as it relates to morals, ethics, and social responsibility. Those issues being the civil war that was happening in Sierra Leone, leaving all these children orphaned. One of the reasons why this was morally wrong was because people were being killed, and children were being left orphaned. Just killing in general is something that is morally wrong because one has no right to take another person's life away. Not only that but thousands of children were left with no parents, and sent to orphanages, that I believed not to be ethically. Children would be ranked and numbers, that is not ethical because all children should be treated equally, they should receive the same food, etc. If the child was one of the last number they would be lucky if they got something to eat, that was ethically wrong because the people in the orphanage knows it is wrong, at the same time morally wrong, a person should never let a child go to sleep without food. Then there is the social responsibility aspect of this. When we think about social responsibility, we think about what is our responsibility to these children. What can we do so they can have a better living?

The issues in the film important are important because it brings awareness on what is happening in other parts of the world. Living in the United States, one doesn't experience issues like these. Sometimes I don't think about what is going on in other parts of the world, but when I hear about it, I think about that it is 2013 and things like these are still happening. The conflicts alone that Sierra Leone has had from 1991-2002 has affected the country's economy. That to me is the role that external social pressures have had in influencing organizational ethics. With rebels attacking and killing many it impacts organizations within the government negatively. "Foreign financing and pressure have played key roles in pushing Sierra Leone officials to exercise the political will necessary to carry out reforms. External influence comes with very high levels of dependence on foreign aid, which accounts for 19 percent of national income" (Reno, 2012). The way these issues may be relevant to organizational and personal decisions is, in the organizational aspect, with attacks going on it affected the government as a whole. The same we view a business that is how we should view the governments. Within a company if something goes wrong, sales can be affected along with other things, the organizational decisions are affected.

In the film like I mentioned earlier there are a lot of similarities when it comes to the relationship between legal and ethical issues. So we know rebels were killing people like Michaela's father leaving thousands of children homeless. I am not too familiar with the laws of Sierra Leone, but I know killing is not legal and it is ethically wrong. Another thing was when Michaela was in the orphanage and they were rate by numbers from 1 through 27. If the child was ranked one of the higher numbers like in the 20's they would be lucky if they got anything. That to me was something that was a legal and ethical issue, granted I don't know much about their laws but in other countries that would not be tolerated.

Although this video was about the struggles of Michaela DePrince, you see the community issues that Sierra Leone has faced, morally, ethically and socially. Through her struggles we learn about the community as well. We learn their struggles, the lives they have lost, the downfall of a community. Issues that was morally and ethically wrong, like the rebels killing innocent people. Through one person we can learn a lot about a community. It's like when a person knocks a domino over; you see the effect of what happens to that domino. Thankfully through the help of other organizations from other countries Sierra Leone has been becoming better. "Since 2010, free health care has been provided. In 2010, Sierra Leone was ranked in the top 25 in the world by the World Bank for overall improvement in ease of doing business over the last five years, and was praised for its investor protection reforms and administrative tax compliance reforms" (The Tony Blair Governance Initiative, 2013). That to me is amazing because even though this country had rough times, they are willing to take strides and improve, which they have been doing, morally, ethically, socially and even economically.

References:

Liberty Mutual's The Responsibility Project. (2013). Dancing on a dream. Retrieved from http://responsibility-project.libertymutual.com/films/dancing-on-a-dream
Reno, W. (2012). Sierra leone. Retrieved from http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/countries-crossroads/2012/sierra-leone

The Tony Blair Governance Initiative. (2013). Sierra leone. Retrieved from http://www.tonyblairoffice.org/africa/pages/sierra-leone/