A country belongs to its poor

that is Manena's theory on state and structure!

I believe that a country belongs to those that can not afford to leave it. The reason it can not belong to the rich is that, if things aren't going well, they have the opportunity to get out and live in another country!

Oh school and i are bonding today, and i no longer feel like a dummy... I think i'm getting there its pretty exciting. Being the adult student in the class seems managable...who knows?

I also want Koffi Annans job... so he better watch out!

any way I need to force myself to sleep as i have to go to work at 5a.m really sucky, but worth the sacrifice!

ola!

okay, so i know its been a while since i last wrote, but you know what...a lot has been going on!

well last week i wrote a whole thing about teachers in baltimore city and the debate they had on NPR, but then it didn't save, and i was too lazy to write it over. The bottom line was, why are children not held responsible for their academic achievements????

Surviver's new episode has races against each other...interesting. I didn't believe their theory that in places people tend to stick together by race...but then i went to a training session last week, and lo and behold, the asians sat in the row in front of me, the white people sat in the row accross from me, and all the black people sat besides me....lol that was really funny!

Oh then i had 2 people i know threaten to commit suicide in the same week...drama for your mama.

Then school started, my stress level has increased by like 1000% i am quetsioning my self about choices i have made and all this other crazy stuff! well we'll see as time goes on. Many people feel i'm crazy for pursuing something that wont pay me as much as the job i do right now... but something tells me i'm on the right path...and even if i'm not... its okay right?

and 2 people i haven't heard from in like a looooooooooong time called me out of the blues! its really crazy!

Finally, 2 of my instructors have stressedthe importance of reading the news...:) i love life. it always amazes me!

White supremists

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14426542/

These people never cease to amuse me!! So on a nice summer night, instead of swimming, or relaxing outside...these punks decide to go spraying racial slurs on cars????

Well to be honest, i would not move into that area with all those attacks going on. Just the other year, they burnt down some new homes being built in the area for fear of "minorities" moving in. Tough cookies!!!

JonBenet Ramsey

So finally there is justice for someone in the world.....and the sicko Karr declared that he loved her....what an ass hole! too bad her mother died before this psycho was caught!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4800919.stm

I don't know what I would have done if someone had killed my daughter and i couldn't find out who... extremely devastating!

World call for HIV testing

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4793413.stm

So there's a call for all of us to have our HIV tests done by the world health organization... and i found it soooooo funny that the doctor making the calls name is "De Cock" thats soooooo flippin hillarious. He made it hard for me to concentrate on the important stuff he was trying to say with his funny name! but i suppose the bottom line is-- get tested people! know your status!

Airlines and A-rabs

So the Dar-gon A-rabs just messed up our lives again right? now you can't bring your own booze in the hand laguage when you fly! damned those terrorists! they don't even drink alcohol and they should have been sensitive to our needs and not used liquids!

I think they seriously need to send out memo's before they do things so we can go over it with them and evaluate the damned plans before we all have to start taking ships to other continents. I would seriously like to understand what they will achieve by killing many people. What exactly did september 11 2001 achieve for them???

typical black neighborhood

*fried chicken store...i.e Tyrones fried chicken a.k.a TFC baby!
*liquor store
*bail bond place-
*little place of worship
*chinese nic-nac store with the bullet proof glass around the store owners.
*few houses in between and the cycle continues!
********************************************************************************
I digress:

The country is apparently on "code red" exactly what does that mean? should I have a bag packed ready to start running when all hell breaks loose..., should I have a months supply of food in the house? a years? should we be heading out of the country like the lebanese? or maybe move to utah, iowa...etc I don't suppose the terrorists would want to go there. Also, how is red different from other codes? do we assume when we're on code yellow we're 'safe'? or should we just keep a standard bag packed and ready for war???

*******************************************************************************
more digression:

Fantasia barino has a new movie coming out and i'm going to watch it!...so whatchu gon do 'bout it?

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5253606.stm

I am surprised the BBC beat me to this story! I remember doing a paper on this in college, and i am glad once again, that I was not born in the parts of the world that practice this B.S! Some people that wrote into the forum on BBC are weiredos... how about, one said that when your wife is circumcised you can trust her....and another said that she/he hasn't seen any woman who suffers from complications from FGM because the circumcision is done by proffessionals. well maybe in her hood its done correctly, but what about the refugees from sudan...a great many are moslem and practice this.... they are too poor to afford real equipment for proper surgical removal of all "unwanted" female parts. Do we know how many die in the process or how many have complications with child labor and delivery?

http://www.religioustolerance.org/fem_cirm.htm
In this debate, we learn of the quote from the quran, where mohammed "don't cut off too much" or "don't cut off as much as you would like" isn't that discouraging the process? or doesn't he seem like he's promoting hoodectomy? which most women like because it removes a little of the skin from the clitoris and makes it more pleasurable for her... you know like male circumcision. Also if this is religious.... why would God make you with parts that you don't need? I can't think of anything on my body that I don't need. Well the extra fat... but that's not from God.... that's from me and my gluttony! Besides, in the Zambian community...its just extra padding!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_circumcision
There are 3 types of circumcision...
The skin in type 2 and 3 is held together by thorns or sewn closed with anything available. when its time for child labour... the opening of the vigina has to be torn open again for the baby to come out...then sewn shut for youur husbands pleasure... then opened again for your second child, then sewn again...etc...you get the picture. This opening and sewing causes tissue to harden making it harder and more painful every time its done again. And if its shut too tight, i think hubby has to cut it open a little bit before sex if he needs to.

Sayonara

My last day with the little girl is tomorrow... I feel a little sad....I was getting used to this! Well apart from our one tiff the othe rnight, she has been soooooooo well behaved its unbelievable! I wasn't home with her today, but I called to check up on her and I was told she has been doing everything exactly as I asked her to...! that's awesome! She also called me "just to say hi" so I guess we've really bonded...:) I'm just sooo good at this PR stuff!

Today was girls night out and I think I laughed a tad bit too much. None of us had any alcoholic bevarages though...me because its almost that time of the month and I'm bloated...and my boobs swelled and hurt...so I should be in a bad mood...but not till next week I think. The joys of being a woman...

I have to work tomorrow... yeah looking forward to some sunday activity. I also have what I think will be a great gig monday... they will have me working in the easiest place possible. I can't wait! besides, my manager said if I like it, I can have the position forever. So keep your fingers crossed that I'll love it.

I think working the 3-11 shift has turned me into a night owl... what to do...?

lmao!

I'm Laughing My Arse Off! I think the little girl is mad at me!!! teeheeheehee! its soooooo flipping funny... well i was only telling her truth!!! My bed is past her bed...and she normally sleeps after me... so i am really scared to go to bed.... she seems like she'll have my head tonite...teeheeheehee... oh my... i guess i had too much wine... i am tooo amused with her right now!

Naysayers

Why is it that the world seems to have more naysayers than people that want to encourage me? you can not believe how many people tell me what they think I should do and how often they think I am making a mistake in my life. So far I am still alive and well without using any of their ideas!!!

Recently when i was changing/ quitting my job, I had a million and one people tell me I wasn't going to make it without that job....its been a month and i haven't been evicted, nor have I slept hungry. I will not live my life scared to take chances anymore...I have nothing to loose really...and if I die trying, at leasts I can say I tried right? I have worked too damned hard to get to where I am today, and I am not about to risk it all playing some dumb game. But, by the same token, I wont just sit idle, and wait for my future. I am going after it!

Coz seriously, if I was going to die this early... I would have died when I lived in the shady part of west Baltimore. You all remember that when I first moved to Baltimore without a credit history and all that good stuff that I need to get an apartment, I lived in some shady area where drugs were sold at every corner and gunshots were a nightly activity. I used to get off work at 10pm and take 2 buses from one end of town to another... and get home at midnight to be met in the street by rude rats the size of cats and some slim shady wanna be's. Every weekend the popo were on heavy patrol and collected several of the guys on a regular basis.

Now, if i survived that shit...and my mama... you can throw me Bosnia, Rwanda and Iraq...and I can survive them too! So whats a little life crisis??? People, learn to loosen up when you're speaking in terms of "manena" I'm a surviver...and I will keep on trekking, aint no shame in my game!

p/s
I aint got my college money together yet and school starts at the end of this month:) so for those of you that wnat to help a sista out, I take Visa, Mastercard, cash and money orders only. I don't trust y'all's personal checks!
oh and I really miss you!!!. ( You know who you are)

Fidel Castro

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/244974.stm

so Fidel is on his way out I guess... he's getting old and somehow I feel a little saddened that we're loosing some of the worlds great leaders. I know in most peoples eye... especially in the US, Fidel is like a monster of some kind. My thing is, certain countries need a dictator...look at what his done with the country. 98% literacy and health care available to all??? thats awesome!! Zambia is "a democratic republic" and we neither have that high of a literacy level nor health care for all. So who said a communist dictator is bad? we would take him any day in Zambia if he could achieve the same results.

Viva Fidel Castro!!!

Nshima

I absolutely hate it when people say Nshima is tasteless and has no nutritional value... who's nshima are they eating?????
according to FAO (food and agricultural organization):
http://www.fao.org/docrep/T0395E/T0395E03.htm#Nutritional%20value%20of%20maize

We can clearly see that Nshima has nutritional value.... just like rice and potatoes....
And when Nshima is made right...i.e when I make it... it has a sweet taste to it when you eat it by itself... so learn how to make it before you knock it. Its like making mashed potatoes. If you don't add the right ingredients you get disgusting mashed potatoes!

Important Issue to me

My name is Manena. I am originally from Zambia and have lived in the United States for five years. I speak four Zambian languages, English and some French. I have currently enrolled into Towson University’s International Studies/ International development program because being from a third world country; poverty is a great issue for me. I have also been living in Baltimore city for the last four years, and I believe poverty is a great issue in this city too from what I have observed.

I grew up in a country with people living on less than a dollar a day, people starving, the highest rate of orphans, at least one in five people are HIV positive, eighty percent of the population is illiterate, and the health care system is disastrous to say the least. I was in great shock when I moved to Baltimore to find that most of the problems I observed in Zambia where the same problems they were facing here in a “rich” nation. The problems in my country are highly complex and I understand they can’t be sorted by just fixing one thing.

I have great concern for all the wars in the world, for this increases refugees and poverty. Poverty also breeds more terrorists and crime because desperate times call for desperate measures. Poor people leave way for others to be prejudiced against them and also for stronger people to abuse them. For the young, this is more problematic because when they grow up, they either become the tormentors or the perpetually abused.

There is also a tendency for the poor to die of curable diseases because they can not afford health care when sick or prescreening check ups, or medication once their maladies have been identified.

For the most part, poverty is exacerbated by some corrupt leaders who have either been elected or have come into power through a coup d'état. They misuse money that is sent in by donors to assist the country’s poor and they abuse any available sources of income for their own benefit. There are a few great leaders who are trying to make a difference in their countries are have many obstacles to deal with in order for changes to take effect or make an impact.

I have a great interest in learning more about the global economy and how countries relate to one another. I think an integral part to ending some of the world paucity is to understand cause and effect. The more people become less ignorant of the situation, the better able we’ll be as a people to come up with solutions to this global issue. I am confident that poverty in most nations can be alleviated in some way if more people are informed about the various issues that cause or can potentially cause poverty.

I'm hoping the BBC will hire me as a reporter after reading my blog, and i am a very funny person...so call me:)

hurray- 1000

my other blog has achieved 1000 hits! thanks to the readers...its awesome!

in the news today...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5220490.stm It would seem like all they need to do is find out which flights arrived from nigeria in order to find this boys parents... or they can alternatively call the Nigerian embassy and have the boy tell them which town he came from right? Also if his parents are illegal in the UK, they might not claim him from Bangladesh, lest they're found out.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5217424.stm : another reason why I am happy I am not in any danger of sharia law!!! Sorry islam...:)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/5222644.stm : smells fishy! was she like drunk to fall down the stairs at 4a.m? or did someone just throw her down the stairs so she couldn't win?

Just to make sure I'm not the only one reading about death... I put it out there to enjoy with you. My faithful readers:)

Nsync

So the N'sync boy came out and said he was gay...whooptidoo! I can't believe that made the news and the fact that Mary is becoming a mother before me didn't!

I also discovered that the little girl has not seen Pride and prejudice, or sense and sensibility! So guess what were watching today...? you guessed it! She has been good at following orders so far...and and I'm loving this mummy biz! I always wanted a little sister when i was growing up, but like I said... my mum messed that up... so now i have a little bro...

Oh and have you heard about Manny's? (male nanny's) its a strange concept for these days... although I remember having a manny when we we're growing up... I certainly wouldn't want one caring for my kids though I don't think!

I also found out why its important to have matrons that come round and teach young women what to do when they have periods or before getting married...some things are really necessary even though they look like useless chores! Power to nachimbusa's!

Postpartum depression/ psychosis

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14024728/

I am glad Mrs Yates got sent to a mental institution instead of being sent to jail for the murder of her children. Its high time people recognized postpartum depression and psychosis for what it is. If Mrs Yates had gone to prison I would have asked that her husband and health care workers who were well aware that she was suffering from these disorders should have been sent to jail too for leaving her alone with the kids. They knew she was sick...and they chose to ignore what was wrong with her. Also it was stated before that they knew she was depressed after the first child I think...and most studies of postpartum depression and psychosis show that the more children you have after that... the more depressed or psychotic you become. They said that they chose to have more children because they were catholic and couldn't use birthcontrol. More reasons why I am pro birth control right here!!!

I used to wonder at our dog fifi and other bitches...(finally got to use the word without meaning harm haha) when they would eat a puppy! that was disgusting! and then we would hear of a lone goon who was rumored to have thrown her newborn baby in a trash can, or body of water. I was very distressed and wondered how such a thing can be done... but alas...after reading a few articles I found that its actually a disorder.

This week away from my house...

ok, so as you know I am living away from my house for the next 2 weeks playing mummy to a challenging 11 year old. Well friday i picked her up from one house in rockville and took her to Virginia to a play date. How about I forgot to feed her before her play date??? oopsy! well in my defense though, she was getting there at 6pm which is in good time to eat with her little friend right?

Then i received this email today written by an irrate Zambian woman, who is mad that her cousin/friend stole her man...so in retaliation she wrote a list of all the men that the girl has slept with since she was thirteen...she's like "for those of you that chose to ignore her when she took your men... i am seeking revenge for mine...:)". It's sooo funny really, she has the girls picture there and all. The girl is really cute...but her men are kinda disgusting! why was a girl under 19 sleeping with VJ Mwaanga and his son? isn't that sick? she has Wezi Mkandawire there too, and he's the only one that makes sense enuff to be doing her!

So anyway, I had all these plans of things to do with the little girl, but she's not home...she went off to a play date... so I'm sitting here starring at the walls and using somebody else's wireless connection. Which is the same thing I do at home...but for some reason it bores me here:) strange innit??

I want to go downtown or something to keep my mind occupied...but it looks like its going to rain... so we can forget a sista getting soaked coz my chocolate skin might melt off.

Ok I'm gone for now... I'm reading -the end of poverty by jefferey sachs... interesting...after that I have illicit by moises naim... So far sachs seems to have most of "manena's theories" in his books...so i think i like him:)

Cousin Kimmy

I was thinking this morning i have no clue how cousin Kimmy and i got detached at the hip...but i gather it was for a good reason because whenever we were together... dumb things always seemed to happen, such as:

a) When my family was moving to England...I packed cousin kimmy in a suit case hoping no one would find her till we got to England...(hey i was a tiny-tot, and had no clue how the airport worked. Now Kimmy could have died of air deprivation or starvation, or both...but some adult found her...and i don't recall getting in trouble...maybe i repressed that memory.

b) Kimmy and i were playing a game where we jumped from a drum to a chair over a burning brazier. (we had no nintendo at that time, coz if we did, we would have made one of the super mario bro's jump over something like the kids do now!) Well smart ass Kimmy fell into the fire and burnt her arm. Again, I do not recall what our punishment was, coz we seriously knew better.

c) We were playing over a flight of stairs...Kimmy as usual falls and this time breaks her arm...hmmm I repressed the punishment here too...

d) We were standing at the gate in Avondale knowing full well we were not allowed to, then we saw Kimmy's mum heading towards the house like close enuff to see us. How about dumb and dumber ran back to the house and sat on the sofa pretending to read books! well...this punishment i do remember coz that was the first and only time Kimmy's mum pinched me...and we burst out laughing when she was gone!

I really don't know who's idea all our dumb plans were...but i gather they were Kim's ideas because she a leo... and they are fearless and like to try dumb games. Well Kim and I don't jump over things now...xcept the scale:) coz we're all growd up in all the right places...hahahahahaha! besides...she now lives in corn fields...what could we possibly do wrong there??? then again its muzunguville...(I really don't mean u Mike...u know we're cool!)