The power of significance

Living in Namibia, and more specifically my part of Namibia I’ve become pretty ignorant about what is going on in the world, though after spending the day reading magazines with story after story about the American recession I am feeling like it’s kind of nice being removed from this situation.  Anyways I have managed to read a little bit about Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt while I’ve been here.  I am not too concerned about a revolution happening anytime soon here but after watching Blood Diamond and listening to K’naan I’ve realized how easy it would be for someone to come in and easily enrapture Namibian youth, especially the boys at my school.  Blood Diamond got me thinking because in the film you see these young boys firing upon innocent people without remorse for their actions and as this is happening my learners are laughing, as if the killing of innocent people is something that is funny.  It wouldn’t be difficult for the right person to snatch all of these boys who are not fazed by violence and living in poverty unaware of other options besides the life of a farmer what they see around them in their village. Then on top of that I’ve been listening of K’naan who raps about the power of significance and that even though some of these learners might be successful in school and have the option of going onto university they don’t because the allure of making a name or being a part of something is just too tempting.  Tribalism already present here in Namibia, as well as huge divide between wealthy and those living in poverty, so with the right leader a lot could be lost.  I know that this situation is something that is very unlikely to happen, but how do you teach children and adults compassion and especially those without adequate access to reliable information not to judge a person based off their tribe, family or nationality?