News updates...

It was so exciting for my family today. My brother received his official letter to Cornell and not only does he get a full tuition scholarship, he also gets a partial stipend for living expenses! This news came as we were trying to do a family budget to see how this would all work out...! Awesome!

Also...I saw Miss Tanzania in a clip on the Miss World padgent and I think it will be a tragedy if a big modeling company doesn't take her on! She is beauty and raw talent combined and this is her second attempt at a beauty pagent having won the first attempt in Tanzania. I unfortunately- or fortunately do not watch beauty pagents... but i was glad I saw this clip.

Next:
Cindy Sheehan has bowed out of fighting to stop the war after many years. The media states that she was quitting because the left wing is as bad as the right wing... I could have told her that..:-)LOL... any way, she had many Sheehan bashers, many of whom are in denial about the reality of the war. First of all, if "freedom" means the ability to say and do as you choose, then why is she called un-American by many when she expresses her views about things? In the interest of fighting terrorists... I trust that a very good attempt is being made in Afganistan...however I do not agree with the reasons for the 'war' in Iraq. That doesn't mean I think the soldiers are dying for nothing because every life has value...it doesn't matter how it is lost! Also this is a grieving mother...let her console herself in the best way she knows how...just like other grieving mothers choose to call their sons heros for dying in the same wars.

The other silly argument (and there are many...like I said, I missed a big chunk of the news when the war was having a vocabulary make over) I hear often about the reason for the Iraqi war was that it was to 'liberate' Iraqi's! While we're at it, why don't we liberate our neighbors Venezuela? or Cuba? oh..wait..why not send in the troops to liberate the Sudanese if we care that much about liberty for all don't they need it more than anyone??? Sanctions wont work as well as just sending in the military to build a wall between the rebels and the darkville sudanese people. Divide and conquer.

Any way...in funny news, Poland is trying to ban Tinky Winky...the teletubby because he is a homosexual!!!

Like you all didn't notice he carried a handbag??
How about Sponge bob? or winnie the pooh?

Why can't we just go back to the days of He-man and She-ra???

Congrats!!!

Congrats Mr. and Mrs Mulubwa...!

Congrats to cutie pie for getting baptised!!

Congrats to Chixy (Amukusana Mundia) and Brian!

Give to Ceasar what belongs to Ceasar!

Let me just start by commending all health care professionals in third world countries especially Zambia--I am constantly amazed by what they do!! I have just been watching something on a lady that pioneered www.savezambiasfuture.org (we’ll get back to that momentarily) and I just can’t get over how much work the nurses have to do and the giving nature of most people—it’s just amazing! I always want to give credit where credit is due and these individuals certainly merit more credit than these few lines and I will be back with a better post about it and the ‘brain drain’ in the near future!

Now: Forgive me God for I am about to sin! Forgive me women for I am about to speak ill of one of our own! Forgive me Zambia…! Lastly forgive me cousin Zaza coz the lady looks a little like you!

I came across some video while playing around on youtube.com yesterday. At first I thought it was just someone playing around with a video camera and then I realized that it was someone seriously trying to solicit funds for her “one woman” cause- www.savezambiasfuture,org. The videos are not professional at all… not that it would matter if the contents of the videos were well written and well thought out ideas, but they aren’t. It’s like someone just woke up and decided “today seems like a good day to start an organization”, and then set out with a camera to talk about what she was planning. She walks alone from Queens to City Hall for fundraising (I commend her for this) and she complains about not having a media audience and that people wouldn’t speak to her. Now first off…the bad videos are long with a lot of pointless information—train noise, people talking, darkness. She talks about how Zambia will be extinct in a few years because everybody will die of AIDS. Most times I would have preferred that she spoke in Bemba because it was quite hard to understand what she was trying to say in English—not that my accent is the best in the world because there’s no such thing There is no explanation as to where they got the house, who will stay and work there, where they found the orphans that they picked, what her connection is with the home based care nurses that are shown in the video, what the connection is between the catholic church guy that she interviews, why she insist they will get a washing machine (majority of the homes in Zambia- especially where the orphans are coming from have no washing machines—your hands do the work), she talks of a dinning table, repeats herself endlessly on the same point, kept stressing poverty causes HIV spread especially in young women with no explanation as to how and why. I personally wouldn’t donate to that foundation because of the underlying lack of seriousness and the fact that she hasn’t really done her home work.

Now before you all start writing me stinkers let me just ask—when is enough enough? There are countless number of organizations started by Zambians for the same cause that she claims she is doing ALONE—my personal favorites are the Kabwata orphanage --because they cared for 3 children that I know, Zambia Orphans of AIDS (here in the USA) www. Zambiaorphans.org (please visit them and donate if you can) and many more.

As donors isn’t it easier to donate when you can see where your money is going? And as beggars shouldn’t we band together to raise money for common causes? Why should all Zambians have their own private organizations for orphanages when the country itself isn’t all that big? Why can’t madam P. Nsamwa Lungu join Z.O.A or other recognizable organizations and do their marathons, or other fundraising activities? heck- she can even work with Kasisi orphanage! Simple truth is that she wont get as much air time—but if you are doing it for God, do you really need air time?
The adage ‘United we stand- divided we fall’ fits perfectly in this situation. …lol you wont belive what song just popped into my head ‘ze more we are togeza… ze happier we’ll be’
Please take note, that I found something on Liberia where the minister was explaining that there are many orphanages in his country that are fake, and this could soon become a tragedy for Zambia… not that I’m implying that save Zambia is not a real org.

**********The end***************

Mucho Caliente!

It's wedding season again! especially since the weather is getting cold in Zed (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) Congratulations to my buddy Tukiya on her nuptuals!!! She looks really radiant in the pictures! I haven't seen her in a while, but the catty chick within me is glad to note that we both got a little round...yay!!!:-)

Any way...I am glad to see that society is somewhat evolving! I ran accross a story today about how they used to sterilize people without their permissopn approx. 40 years ago! That was really disturbing...and get this: The dad could give permission for his daughter to be sterilized while he was doing her, so she didn't get pregaz too many times...Na-wow! what kind be dis??? http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/health/6670217.stm
And you would think the disturbing news was over...but no! Another discussion forum about warring parents and the negative implications it had on children had SEVERAL respondents say that in their society "A MAN WHO DOESN'T BEAT HIS WIFE DOES NOT LOVE HER"...what kind of pupu platter shish kabob is that??? Let me tell you something, one misplaced finger on me and your ass is in jail booboo! I don't care how many mouths to feed we have...I'll find a way to make it work without you if the only way you know how to communicate is to show your physical strength! If that's how they show love...I have no curiosity to see how they show hate! Plus it seemed like it was more the west/ north Africans that insisted that a man MUST beat his wife. Go to BBC if interested in the discussion.

Oh and before I forget...the cutty sark burnt! I am not sure if the little weave carrying thingymajig went down in flames too (see pic below) but that was rather sucky that someone could have set it ablaze!

Respiratory allergies

The weekend went alright by my standards. I sort of double dated and went to the wine festival in columbia. Had there been a stampede at the wine festival you would be mourning my loss today! There was a HUGE crowd! The weather was great, but the pollen was so high we were all sneezing a lot. Maryland has one of the highest level of allergens or something like that, so it was inevitable that I ended up with an u allergic rhinitis. But before we go to that let me talk about the festival a bit more:
There were atleast ten Maryland wineries respresented, and each winery carries atleast 5 wines or so. Then there was food galore! hot dogs, jollof rice, jamaican patties, pilau rice, plantains, stews, funnel cakes, all types of ice cream...you name it! The crafts weren't impressive though...hats, jewelry, baskets...etc. I did not taste all the wines, nor did I taste all the food, my group and I opted to buy a few bottles...my faves were Basignani's-- riesling and the cabernet sauvignon, then solomons (or whatever they're called!)--mango something wine! delish!!! I bumped into a lot of baltimorons...opps baltimoreans that I know, it was so much fun. We chilled like there was no tomorrow.
The funny part is, one friend was trying to get me to notice this one male friend of her's and I'm like..."nuh, too short!" and she's like, "but he's rich!" and I'm like "OMG! why didn't you say that before! my number is 1234!" LOL! Just laugh... you know you find it funny too! I also saw a lot of my ex co-workers... it figures!
Then I got home to nurse my allergies. Not fun at all! I do not respond well to medication, and for that reason I like to wait things out. But my nose was hurting so bad...I had to find a solution. I ended up taking loratidine because I can not take anything with psuedoephedrine (or the likes), nor can I take benadryl (or the likes)but the loratidine really did a number on me! the side effects are fatigue and dry mouth...I got both. So I have promised not to touch it again! I have no idea what I will use next for my allergic rhinitis!
Also, I got 2 special emails today. One just showed me how predictable I am. It was a foward from someone, but the first line read "Manena, please do not erase before you read it all" I laughed so hard because I typically erase forwards without reading them because I get so many. This one was a warning for an event taking place here in July...and MY GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD!! I will be in England and wont have to find excuses to not run into Mr.Him!!! By golly, he already threatened to call me! eeeck!!!
The next email was from my little cousin Musama! Her wedding is this Saturday...so please keep her in prayer that her day will be a success and that she will have many more happy years with her new hubby! Oh and keep Tayani in mind too because he'll eat me alive for not mentioning that he'll be getting married soon too...I can not remember the date coz I suck...but what's new????

p/s: why do women always have to point out my tata's in public??? I'm used to men gawking, but women should really know better!

aahhh...

Ok... the alzheimers seems to be kicking in...I came here specifically to say something, but its gone now:) oh well...

Today has been a very nice day...Wolfowitz is losing his job, and shared in his sorrow because my hours at the no brainer job got cut because they hired some new people. You would think I would be mad about it, but really I'm not. I am grateful I found that place, and that my contract which was initially supposed to end at the end of January will last till June. So as you can see I would be a real nasty cow if I tried to complain about that:-) This is as close as I have ever been to a perfect job and I will forever keep it in my memory! Now before you all start getting teary and sending me money to save me from living on the street...I just want to let you know that in my profession, you can quit a job at 9a.m and be hired at another place by 5p.m the same day...and I will ALWAYS have a job. It may not be the position I want, but there will always be something. God bless shortages of workers-- AMEN!!

Also, I knnow I am lactose intolerant, but I have been in denial for several years, so I finally bought myself some lactose free milk...I am still not sure what's going on in my tummy though. I will let you know over the weekend.

I SWEAR I am not and alcoholic and you do not need to have an intervention. I just LOVE wine! I am scheduled to go to www.wineinthewoods.com for one of my favorite activities this weekend. I drink (a) glass of red wine (mostly) approximately every friday or saturday, or sunday depends on the mood and what activities I have planned the following day. i do not do wine on work days... for obvious reasons.

Being a home owner has turned me into little miss care-a-lot... I keep noticing all this dumb crap that I never used to see before. I also seem to think I can D.I.Y...but really I suck at it! I recently tried to remove and put new caulk in my shower...lol...patheticly done. I also have my friends coming over to paint. They promised if i buy pizza and wine, that will be all the payment they need. My walls are all white, but I need a more feminine color...black?lol. No really though, my friends laugh at me because I can't/wont do many things...I told them, we had a painter in Zed if we needed one, I had house maids and a driver, gardeners and people to copy papers and type out what I needed. We weren't rich by any chance because just about everyone had a maid. So what the heck would I be learning how to paint or garden for? in fact even if we had to do our own painting, I think it would have been a mans job because we would need a ladder?? duh..:) My lazy ass brother probably might do my shower properly when he comes:)

It's so embarassing that I learnt how to use a copy machine only six years ago, and that I really can't type fast because I was never in a typing class! Those of you that went to RGSS...(my alma mater www.eroga.com ) know that teachers used to threaten that you would only amount to a secretary or tailor if your grades weren't good...and so I associated typing with dummies:-) hey blame my teachers for my shallow thinking:-)

Oh before I get carried away...those of you in London..please support the Zambian Gospel choir. They are performing at St John on Bethnal green (well the church next to bethnal green tube station) On June 17th at 19:30 hrs and there's a 5 quid charge. If I lived there, I would go with y'all...:-)

umwana ashenda...

Ola people!
I wasn't having a good day today and was giving my "mayo ukuchula"(woe is me) speech to my friend and she gently reminded me that I have a roof over my head, food on my plate, clothes on my body...so technically I aint ukuchulaling...:-) I needed that though and i feel better. I hit a pothole with a project that I am working on, but with a little more work and prayer I should be fine.

So any way, I am one of those people that don't like it when languages are directly translated, I think the end product sounds different sometimes. For instance, that book I told you about last week has a Bemba adage 'umwana ashenda atasha nyina uku naya' many translations on google and around translate it as 'a child who doesn't travel praises his mothers cooking'. But Bemba words have many meanings... ashenda- can't walk/ can't move/ can't travel, atasha- praises/ thanks, uku naya- now this one I could have sworn is reserved only for preparing nshima (I don't think uku naya can be used for cooking anything but nshima). If they wanted the word to mean cooking shouldn't they have said ukwipika? The implication of the statement though is always the same: travelling or visiting others increases you capacity to broaden views of the world.

Wait!!! I forgot to comment on the Zim deal...what's with rationing electricity to 4 hours a day?????? what do factories/ butchers/ clinics and others do in those hours? the idea is good for the wheat farmers...but jeez louise! This is the problem with sanctions...they rarely hurt the people that they need to hurt- especially in Africa. Mugabe can live off his money in his Swiss(?) account while the general masses starve! Inflation of 2200% now that's crazy!

On another note: my paranoia about the media industry was just increased last week when I heard on NPR (who I can almost trust) that a certain program on CBS uses fabricated/ inaccurate information and they claim they're always right! it was as simple as figures for undocumented immigrants bringing leprosy to the U.S. It was an interesting story and I'm sure you can look it up on NPR's website. I just don't have the energy to tell it.

Well I'm off now- stay well! Remember to broaden your minds:)

it's almost monday

I am not sure how I have become a little social butterfly all of a sudden. Friday night after work, the girls and I went for sushi as usual, did our bonding and met again saturday afternoon for a party with really yummy food. From that party, I left for the Washington D.C area for a soiree. Quite an interesting evening. I am getting sick of the Washington DC area, I have had to go there every weekend for one thing or another for the past month...and I think it's a bit much now! I just got 2 invitations to two more things this month, and I am already thinking up excuses as to why I can't go. Don't worry the people that invited me don't read my blog...bet they don't even know I have one:) My friends think it's good for me that I'm out of the house often, but I have no issues being indoors enjoying my own company. I am the kind that can stay in the house from friday to wednesday and not feel antsy about being alone. I love my own company!!! You would have to put me in solitude for a lot longer than the average person to make me go crazy!

Oh great news!!! My brother got a scholarship to Cornell for his Master of Laws!!! He'll be closer to me, and I can get on his nerves and this time, maybe I can have a reason to visit New York!!! How exciting is that???

Also, why is it that certain people seem to think you were put on this earth specifically to serve their needs? I realize that people only treat you as bad as you let them, but some don't take the hint when I've reached my max. If I give you the opportunity to walk on by (or what others seem to think is my way of acting standoffish) keep walking, don't stand there and keep talking to me because I can be the queen of verbal diarrhea when I choose. Treat others as you want to be treated. Those are the most important words I have learnt.

LOL, I know the paranoid among you will be emailing to find out if they are responsible for the above paragraph!

Oh and can I just say how I LOVE costco and Sam's club??? they can make a sista broke, but I love being there...especially the one in Virginia, because
I can buy wine there too. Why can we not buy wine in grocery stores in Maryland?

Oh and happy mothers day to all mothers and future mothers:-)

Zam Fam

I have a new challenge for myself. Today, a co-worker had picked up a book on Zambia to learn more about me (that's how lovable I am!)…and I don’t want to call the authors liars, even though I think they are! So I am going to do at least one thing related to Zambia per month or per week. It might be a recipe, or word definition, or even an explanation of culture from my limited knowledge. Of course my concentration will be on the Bemba for various reasons.

Oh my! Where to start….
Well, I guess I can talk about the traditional family system first and develop from there. The Family is made up of the immediate family members (mother, father, sister, bother) and the extended family (uncle’s, aunts, cousins, grand-parents, nieces, nephews). Most traditional families are matrilineal. This means that most family decisions are made by a ‘mother’ figure and her family. My family is one such family, and for this purpose I am closer to my mother’s family than my father’s family.

Having a child is an important milestone in the Zambian culture. You don’t want to be childless after a year of marriage otherwise your in-laws start to fuss… and offers of a new wife for your husband will begin to surface! (of course the woman is to blame when the couple can’t have kids!!!).

The new parents from that day on known as Bana (mother of) or Bashi (father of) ‘John’ or whatever the childs name is. For example if the childs name is ‘John’, mum is called –bana John and dad is called bashi John. The grand-parents also become Banakulu (grandmother of) and bashikulu (grandfather of) i.e banakulu John. Only the first child or grandchild’s name is used for identification. The new name is worn like a badge of honor.

The families are so close knit that cousins are considered part of the family and called sisters and brothers as opposed to mere cousins. Aunts and uncles can often be referred to as nyina mwaiche/ mai nini (small mum), or nyina mukulu/ mai guru (big mum). The children of your siblings are your children. In case of a death in the family, any relative that can care for the child does so. This was more true in the past than it is now especially with the poverty level and the mortality rate—strain on the family system has caused a collapse of sorts as we have seen with the increase of street children.

The sense of family is so strong that when one dies the funeral can takes days and there’s a whole ceremony among the Bemba called ‘Ukupyanika’ whereby the name and ‘spirit’ of the dead is passed on to a selected member of the extended family. Ancestors (imipashi) are often said to be present especially at important functions. It is said that when a child cries a lot during its infancy then imipashi do not agree with the name given to the child.

The older the family member the more authority they have. So imagine what life is like having several elders waging their fingers at you when you are wrong! What a fun life.

Mind Your Language!

I had a really fun weekend with some set backs ofcourse! I saw a few faces I haven't seen in a while...and most of the people I hadn't seen in a while have the cutest babies!!! I was like ooooooohhhh I want one of those too:)but don't tell my family that other wise they will start their 'you need to get married' speech again... seriously if you're not an unmarried Zambian adult female (or african for that matter) consider yourself blessed! They throw all these guys at you, and actually madam C at saturdays outing was like "we really have to find you a man, what about so and so? don't you think he's nice? I think he likes you! maybe I can arrange something"... this was out of the blues!...I'm thinking to myself, I am not desparate yet... when I'm 40, I'll marry any Tom, Dick and or Harry! but that's for another topic on another day!

Any way, Sego lost...awww! how crappy is that? and my friend G.dabya forgot to invite me for lunch with the queen! we'll see who laughs at his jokes next time! I am really not looking forward to him leaving the white house, who will I laugh at then? he is too comical...I start laughing even before he speaks! I should probably put a big poster of him in my house so I can be happy all day:) So why was he winking at the queen??? dude's got issues! lol

Then I got the most marvellous phone call today, and then the best package in the world! I will be the envy of my little Zed circle! The package conatins 'the gods must be crazy' part one and two, 'Mind Your Language' parts one to four and Sarafina! I can not wait to get started on Mr Blown (brown) and the Little led book of china! Laughter is truly the best medicine!

WHY?

1. So Chiluba has been found guilty of misappropriation of funds...what's new? but WHY was the case done in England? LAZ??? anyone???
2. WHY don't people get that sperm + an ovum = life?
3. WHY can Cubans that reach American shores get automatic (?)asylum, but Other nationalities can't?
4. why would sanctions on Sudan stop the genocide?
5. WHY would the pope want mass in latin???
6. Why couldn't Giuliani just leave his legacy at September 11th?
7. WHY does my mother rarely call me by my 'real' name?
8. WHY is England turning American?
9. WHY is my Amazon.com order not here yet?
10. Why did that fool give me that stupid answer?
11. Why is burger king better than McDonalds?
12. Why are men from mars and women from venus?
13. WHY did the 3 guys go missing off the 'ghost' ship in aussie?
14. WHY G.M.O's?
15. Why do the sweet potato chips I got taste nasty???
16. WHY don't we have separate toilets fo gays and lesbians if men and women can't share toilets?
17. WHy lie???
18. WHY isn't guardisil mandatory?
19. WHY is ignorance bliss?
20. WHY wont MSNBC pick names out of a hat for poor people like me to go to the places that Matt Lauer visits?

Any way, tomorrow is cinco de mayo the second major drunkards dream. I will be in D.C. for most of the day, and after that, I will be any where the wind blows. So you wont hear from me tomorrow unless D.C really sucks:) which I doubt coz there will be plenty of hot latino's to salsa with:)

Law association of Zambia

I have been hesitant to write about a recent scandal in Zambia, but you all know I can only be silent for short periods:) Apparently the student at the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education (ZIALE) were caught with leaked final bar exam information.

The Story:
A source who happens to be a student in that class informed me that during their last and final exam for the program, one student presented a copy of the leak which she had received the previous night to the administrator. The administrator then went on to inform the rest of the class that they could stop trying to write the exam because all exams were now null and void!

The details:
The student that took the leaked information to the admin. Citing a disturbed conscience is the wife of John Sangwa… that’s right …of the Law offices of Messer’s Sangwa and co. One of the students that is alleged to have distributed the leak is our lovely president Mwanawasa’s niece! It appears Mr Sangwa and president Mwanawasa do not get along. Therein lays the conspiracy.

Their problem:
LAZ says they will not allow this years current students to take anymore exams until the whole system is cleaned up, even if it takes the rest of the year to do it. As you can understand this is distressing news especially for those that had nothing to do with this whole issue, and who wouldn’t have benefited from it! In fact, the latest rumor is that the students will all be expelled for examples sake.

My problem:
I believe in fairness and justice. You can not be guilty until proven innocent, although as humans we tend to treat people as such. The problem of leaks has been an issue for years due to the competitive nature of our exams. I remember being in high school, and we heard of people having the leaked national exams at grades 9 and 12! Its common knowledge that UNZA itself has leaks and a ‘sleep-with-the-professor-for-a-good-grade’ program, so I do not understand why the attorney-general Mumba Malila stated that he was “devastated” by the news!!! How out of touch is he???? I am of the opinion that the people who should be disciplined in this case should be 1) the people that write the exam 2) the people that print the exam 3) the people that distribute the exam 4) the people that are responsible for administering the exam!
The whole administration needs to be fired before any of the students can go down because someone sold that information to them. They did not break in and steal the papers.
I am waiting to see how ‘just’ LAZ is, because they seem to have forgotten that they too were once students…and this could have been them!

Places to see before I die

This is my list of some of the places I think are really beautiful, or worthy to be seen and that I would like to see (or have seen) before I meet my maker. Now the list is tentative and could change at any one time. The list in is no particular order. I know I can’t afford to see all the places, but I’m hoping the travel channel hears my plea and sends me:)
· Statue of liberty- New York (I'm so pathetic- haven't gone yet!)
· Kyoto- Japan
· Montreal- Canada
· Trinidad and Tobago- Carnival season
· Havana- Cuba
· Namib desert- Namibia
· St. Petersburg- Russia
· Grand Canyon- Arizona- USA
· Vienna- Austria
· Sweden- To find out the truth;)
· Baja California- Mexico
· Kandy- Sri Lanka
· Phnom Penh- Cambodia- The killing fields
· Morocco- To haggle in the market
· Amsterdam- during the tulip seasons
· Hungary- for the Hungarian sausages;)
· Maasai Mara- Kenya
· Rio de Janeiro- Brazil
· Iceland- for the hot springs
· Taj Mahal- India
· London- everybody should go once!
· Sun city- South Africa
· Bankok- Thailand
· New Orleans- Louisiana- USA
· Texas- I have got to see J.R’s ranch! (Dallas)
· Machu Picchu- Peru
· Dzimba Dza Mabwe- Zimbabwe
· Williamsburg/ Jamestowne- Virginia- USA
· Great wall of China- duh China
· Okavango delta- Botswana
· Scotland- the castles- might meet royalty!
· Angel Falls- Venezuela
· Chinuoyi caves- Zimbabwe (wow)
· Bamako- Mali (during the music and film festivals)
· Roma- Italy (to test a theory;)
· Kauai or any other part or Hawaii- USA
· Paris- France
· Kalambo falls- Northern Province- Zambia
· Graceland- Memphis- Tennessee- coz Paul Simon said so!
· Seychelles- wow!
· Nkhata Bay- Malawi
· Acropolis- Greece- coz cutie pie Aristedes was from there;)
· Dubai- If I see it with my own eyes, my ghost wont rest!
· A Holocaust Museum- I think I am brave enough to see one now.
· Auckland- New Zealand
· Maldives
· Kokrobite- Ghana
· Harpers Ferry- West Virginia/ Maryland/ Virginia- USA
· Egypt- I might have been Cleopatra, but I’m not sure:)
· Kasama rock art- Zambia
· Mosi-o-tunia (Victoria) Falls- Zambia/ Zimbabwe

With the grace of God, I will see these places and more!

May Day March

Illegal Immigrants were out marching again yesterday, and I was too lazy to write about it. Besides I am going to say the same thing I said last year when they did it. So if interested scroll back to May 2006.
The only thing I can add is that I think they are going about their plight the wrong way! How can you break into someone’s house and DEMAND they adopt you??? It doesn’t make sense! The other argument I heard this morning is that, the government separates families by deporting the illegal parents and children born in the United States…ummm…if you’re unhappy about that, see the British and Australian laws below!!! Just because You’re born in England or Australia, doesn’t mean you’re a citizen like in the USA…so be grateful that your children are accepted here!

1. If neither parent is a British citizen or legally settled here, the child will not be a British citizen at birth. So, if a married couple have only been allowed into this country temporarily, for example, as visitors or students, or to work, and they are still limited as to how long they can stay, or if they are staying on without permission, their child will not be a British citizen at birth. Nor will their child be a British citizen if they have entered the country illegally (for example, without being examined by an immigration officer or otherwise in breach of the immigration laws) and they have not been given permission to stay here indefinitely. If the parents want to stay in the United Kingdom, we recommend that they apply to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate of the Home Office for themselves and their child to be given leave to remain.

2. If a child does not become a British citizen at birth, he or she may be entitled to registration as a British citizen later. This will happen if either parent becomes a British citizen or legally settles here before the child is 18; or if the child stays here until age 10. If the child is not entitled to registration, the Home Secretary may decide to allow registration.

3. Children born in Australia with at least one (1) parent who is an Australian citizen or permanent resident will continue to automatically acquire Australian citizenship at birth.
There is another approach here… where illegal immigrants can appeal to governement on a humanitarian basis and also ask for forgiveness. They can talk about how hard life is, and also appeal to the government to be linient because they have spent atleast 10 years here and technically their life is now here. Do not go demanding, because quite frankly if I were president and you commited the crime of entering my country illegally…then had the audacity to go marching to TELL me I need to give you citizenship—you wouldn’t GET it!
Another interesting thing is that, to become Mexican, you need to 1. know the history of the country, 2. SPEAK SPANISH, 3. live with a Mexican. Not that I’m picking on anyone, but why is it a big deal when a lot of hispanics are asked to speak English? ‘when in Mehico speak spanish. So when in America—speak American! nobody makes allowances for me by speaking my Bemba/ tumbuka/ nyanja...etc so wha' a gwan???????
And don't be picketing outside my door!

New Zambia Dailing system.

Effective today:(hopefully the interntional phone companies are aware and will not be charging double for phone calls!)

Please be advised that Zambia is changing it’s National Numbering Plan to increase the capacity of numbers. Subscriber Number length is changing from 6 digits starting from 1st May, 2007.

The current numbering works like this:-

097,099,098,096,095 are called National Destination Codes (NDC) and e.g (437672) being the subscriber number .

Now what will happen with the change is, the NDC number will remain except for 097,099,098 which will migrate to 097, but the subscriber numbers will change, the new subscriber number will carry the last digit of the current NDCs.

Example:

If current number is 095 164972, the new number will be 095 5164972.
“ “ “ “ 096 164972, the new number will be 096 6164972

In case of 097,098 and 099 the NDC will migrate to 097. Then any of these numbers will bear their last digit on the NDC as the fourth number on the new system.

Example:

If current number is 099 763196, the new number therefore will be : 097 9763196
If current number is 098 763196, the new number therefore will be : 097 8763196
If current number is 097 763196, the new number therefore will be : 097 7763196

LANDLINES

For landlines, the last digit or last two digits where the area code has more than one digit, will become part of the subscriber number

Example: for Copperbelt, 02-614972 will be 2614972.
For Livingstone 032-16321, will be 3216321.

ZAMTEL now has an NDC – 021
If you are calling from a mobile phone locally, you will dial for Copperbelt 021-2614972

If you are calling Zambia from another country, you will dial:

Zamtel Landline :+260 21 2164972
Cell Z : +260 95 5164972
MTN : +260 96 6164972
Celtel : +260 97 7164972, +260 97 8164972, +260 97 9164972



The migration period will begin on 1st May, 2007, during this period subscribers will be accessed on both current and new 7 digit numbers until 31st October, 2007 when the six digit numbers will be disabled.

Compiled by : Esnart Pwele (C.A.R.S)