Statistics (the math kind)

Remember taking a statistics course in school? Math terms like "mean, average, standard deviation, sampling, variance..." Is your memory sufficiently jogged now? Your question is probably, why the sudden penchant for math? I've had numbers on the brain lately, and more specifically numbers relating to Africa and Uganda (of course).

(1.) PERCENTAGES

When I was in school (most of my life to date, actually), there was nothing better than getting a test or paper back with a big "100%" written at the top. The past several months of my life have also been marked in percentages relating to my goal of being fully supported to leave for Uganda. This past week I had a happy surprise to discover that I have over 100% of my one-time expenses! Does this mean I'm done? Ready to leave? No. That still leaves the bigger portion of "Ongoing Monthly Expenses." This category still needs lovin' as it is at 53%.

However, progress is progress and I'm excited to be getting closer.

(2.) PROPORTIONS

The past few days I've been working on a video (what others might call a low-tech powerpoint presentation) about my journey to Uganda. I spent quite a bit of time online finding pictures and researching interesting facts and statistics about Uganda. The numbers I came across astounded me. I've heard many statistics about the country before, but somehow as I did low-level math calculations it hit me in a new light.

1/2 of Uganda's 32 million people are CHILDREN under the age of 14.
1 in 6 of those children are ORPHANS.

I won't detail the rest right now because I think those two alone are enough to stop anyone in their tracks for a while.

(3.) POPULATIONS and VARIABLES

If you're anything like me, my attention span for numbers is not that long, but hang in there, this math lesson is almost over.
During my online research I also stumbled upon a fascinating and unusual map website. The Worldmapper website has a large category of maps relating to a particular subjects (http://www.worldmapper.org). Each is a density-equalizing map that re-sizes each territory according to the variable being mapped. In this case a picture is worth a thousand words. I've picked out three that literally made my jaw drop. I've never quite seen the world like this before.



Territory size shows the proportion of all people aged 15-49 with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) worldwide, living there.






Territory size shows the proportion of all people living on over US$ 200 a day worldwide, that live there.





Territories are sized in proportion to the absolute number of people who died from most preventable (communicable infections, maternal, perinatal and nutritional conditions) in one year.


I can't remember ever getting teary eyed over a map before, but these made such a strong impression on me. I was fascinated at looking at different maps and seeing how almost in every case the US and Africa seemed to be mirror opposites - as the US grew fat in one case Africa would shrink to almost nothing....

I encourage you to check out the website and explore the many more maps they have there.

There are many different glasses to put on as we look at the world in which we live. The politician sees the word differently than the artist, who sees it differently than the economist. Today, I borrowed spectacles from the Statistician.