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!)

Babies and ignorance.

Ok, so like I had a patient today who's name was like stapinopolus...you know something in those lines... how about the ignorant doctor that sent him to us had written in the patients chart that he's HISPANIC. I mean anyone that knows anything can tell that the name sounds greek...all he had to do was ask the guy where he was from. The guy speaks good english with an accent, but i find that most health care people have a phobia of speaking to foreigners or anyone with an accent.

Oh and my assignment today was the easiest I have ever had in my life!!! It was like I was getting paid just to smile...!

So this week half the pregnant women that I know are giving/ have given birth. I went to one of the babies today and she is soooooo cuttteeee!!! I sat there holding her and smelling that sweet baby scent and I thought- my God, I want one of these thingy's!

I think i would be a good mama for like the first 2 days... then after that, its societies fault that I can't hack it as a mom. I mean seriously. Any way, just for practice, I'm gonna be mommy to an 11 year old for the next 2 weeks, and I'm excited... I like nothing more than telling people what to do...that's not to say I'm bossy coz I'm really not, I just like giving orders. My mum (pot calling the kettle black) called ME bossy.

Yesterday...

I just watched Yesterday. Its a South African movie about a woman who lives in a village and discovers she has AIDS. The woman who's name is 'yesterday' has a young daughter and her husband works in Jo'burg and sees her maybe twice a year or so. It really doesn't say how they contracted HIV, but I guess the viewer has to fill in the blanks and infer that the husband was probably screwing around in the city and got sick. The village they live in seems to lack a certain level of the usual Zambian village cameraderie. The women are nosey and talkative.... like most women! There are no men...maybe because they have all gone to work in the mines.

Some parts in the movie are a load of doodoo....e.g when yesterday goes to the city to let her husband know she has AIDS and he might have it too. He flips and knocks the hell out of her! she goes home black and blue with a swollen lip. Then he comes home all skinny with sores all over and bad skin... you know, like most black AIDS patients look. Then she takes him in and consoles him when he cries about how he discovered he had the virus! He doesn't appologize for their 'little incident' and she just simply takes him in. Now she either has some psychiatric issues or she's just very forgiving. I wouldn't forgive a man so easily if he was my only sexual partner and I discovered I had contracted AIDS from him and he hit me for informing him of this. I would let his damned ass take care of his damned self for a while... then maybe i would feel sorry and help him out.

The film writter also displays the lack of medical services in rural S.A. The doctor can only be seen on tuesdays from like 9-5 or something like that. The doctor is very friendly and understanding once you get in to see her.

The writter also shows how ignorant people can be about AIDS. The village ladies want yesterday's man kicked out the moment they discover he has AIDS because they think that somehow he'll bleed on them, or make them sick somehow. So she has to build him a hut outside the village because the hospital is too full to take him and the villagers want him out pronto!

Finally I don't know why she had to leave her child to the school teacher. Where are her relatives and his??? they are living in his village so he must have a mother/ father/ sister/ brother/ cousins or something... but we don't see any. That's one thing we in Zambia have plenty of- relatives!

I guess the old adage 'its better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all' stands true in this movie. Leleti Khumalo looks beautiful as ever.

I also read on msnbc that a guy who contracted HIV when he received blood as a baby is still alive 23 years later and has married and has a baby. his wife and baby are HIV negative. I thought it was a beautiful story and i hope he last more years. The doctors predicted he would be dead by age 3.

Also in the news... hooters chairman found dead. Hhhhmmm I wonder if he has a son who's single and wants to marry me:)

Milingo- thurr u go agin!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5176508.stm

Thurr he go agin acting all ignorant! I guess the pope forgot about him for a few seconds and let him out of the house...I bet they wont be making that mistake again!

Israel v. Palestine

ok. so show of hands... how many of you are irritated by the constant war in Gaza city????
It seems the only way to end the war between these two countries is for Korea to drop a bomb right in the city!!! How can two "religious" groups fight for so long and try to teach peace? I'm sooo tired of people killing each other like they have nothing better to do!

Believe me, I understand where they are both coming from with the fighting...but someone has to draw the line somewhere, or be willing to let bygones be bygones or like I said, have Korea/Iran bomb their arses and end the whole mess!

My other annoyance for today is that I think nurses take too many bloody tests, I have been on 3 job interviews, and have been hired on the spot...but i had to take tests at all the locations... and its bloody annoying! I mean I know they need to be safe and all, but knowing things on paper and actually doing things are two different things. Today they gave me a test on premature babies.... I got a 100% and have never worked with premies... they were all common sense questions if you're in the health care field... but I would never be comfortable taking care of a premie!

I'm just soooo annoyed! :)

conte partiro- FRANCE!

I am soooo happy Italy won, it was a great game! I went over to watch it at my friend Jenee's house in George town... she had awesome food and lots of drinks...and many other people. Great place to network. Jenee is such a people person!!

It was pretty stressful though when the teams where still tied and depending on penalties... I got a headache from the pressure of it all! On the way home i had great fun talking to strangers about the game...honking...etc

Who done it?

I was thinking that if I was assasinated, we really wouldn't know by whom. I for some reason get all sorts of people accusing me of things I didn't do.

SUSPECT 1: She accused me of trying to steal her boyfriend who was Indian...and I have nothing against Indians, but I just wouldn't date one in Zambia...most of them are skankz! So any way, the story was that I took the dummy to a stylish lodge in Lusaka, booked a room and decided to strip for him. He claims he ran out of the room and went home. Now that's BS by itself because WHO THE HELL WOULD TURN ME DOWN??? come on now, be realistic! anyway the bastard had the guts to ask me out after his girlfriend stopped talking to me, because she believed! When her mother died, I decided to be a big girl about the situation, and i sent her a "bridge over the water" type mail, and she wrote back to say she "forgave me" needless to say, that was the last I spoke to her ass... Forgive me for WHAT?? any way, she was the one addicted to witch doctors, so i thought either her man would put a fatwah on me, or she would curse me somehow!

#2: Used to be my friend, then we lost track of each other, then she appeared on the scene again and was dating one of my male friends. So any way, they were having problems and I had no clue. Apparently she was mad that he was spending a lot of time with me, and I guess I would be mad too if my man was spending a lot of time at some chicks house! Girlfriend got pregnant, and before she could let her man know... someone spotted him leaving my house at 6a.m. He had spent the night there as a platonic friend, just like he had done many times before. Then boyfriend borrowed some money from me, and gave me a gold chain as collateral... but I had no idea girlfriend had bought it for him to wear at all times...so she sees it around my neck and heads off to have an abortion because I had caused her "emotional trauma". O.K now exactly how did I do that??? If she had just asked me, I could have told her I had a crush on her boyfriends older brother...and her boyfriend knew not to try anything with me. Infact, when his mother told him to date me, we had a laughing spell!!! Up to now, she still looks at me funny. She could have saved a life if she spoke to me. So maybe I felt guilty at first.

Psycho #3: honey child used to be related to me. One day she gets "an email" at her job to say she's an illegal immigrant...I guess...and dumbass decides I must have sent it because I was on vacation In England at the time it was sent. That's how ignorant people think. They have difficulty reasoning and use evidence that would never fly in court as their guide. Then she confesses in an email to family and friends that she had "married for citizenship" not so smart! and If i was as evil and she was making me seem... I could have simply sent a copy of that email to the british home office and her ass would be selling tomatoes on the road side in Chingola or some village near by!

The list goes on... but I would keep my eye on pastor idiot, and monsignor crazy...especially now that the light bulb outside my house is out, and its a little dark and scary. I am also watching a person with the initial D...hmmmm I have my eyes on you buddy!

Italy for the win!

ok, being that I own an Italy femaly supporter jersey... I guess I belong to the Italians! The grand-finally will be awesome! Maybe after the games are over I'll be thinking better and talking about other things that matter...i.e Gay marriage.

I think I have having some emotional problems right now... I can't really say I'm PMS'ing because it not "that time of the month" yet. The reason I think that is, I burst into happy tears when Zidane swapped sweaty shits with Figo... I was sooooo moved by that for some reason. No people I am not pregnant...but I think the contraceptive I'm on might be making me ultra sensitive (and yes I got that from a condom packet)! I cried like I personally know those guys...talk about psycho!

The fireworks in my hood were very disappointing yesterday...:( Zambia does better on guy fawkes day!) (wait! why is Zambia celebrating guy fawkes day anyway?????)

I am going back to work next week I promise! I was hoping to "find myself" this week, but I forgot to look:) haha I'm soooooooo funny! I think I need to settle for some sushi and wine.
taa-
(photo courtesy of www.foxsport.com)

July 4th

Well I am looking forward to the excitement of today...nice braii' s and fireworks. I am glad i am not working this week...too much excitement!

I discovered a pair of shorts with my name on it... haven't seen those shorts since 2004...surprised they still fit my fat ass! Oh and I took a walk yesterday...I am sooo proud of my achievements! I also got done taking my braids out...and lets just say...I am not getting any micro braids for a while!

Today is a law and order/ monk marathon....aaahhhhh bliss!

I also can't wait for the football match this afternoon

Damnit!

dear brazil,
you have no idea how mad I am at you at the moment....! I had high hopes in you and look what you done did!!!! As of this moment I have no choice but to support Germany....no wait France...no wait Germany...gosh dag it!, and its all your fault I am so confused right now, its not a good time for you to try to make it up to me especially since i bought me a brasil tee-shirt. I demand a refund for being a fan.

Love me... xoxo

p/s
I'm drinking any way!