Zambian Child Labor protection

I was reading www.zambian-economist.blogspot.com and was on the post 'a positive step for our children'. I liked what cho had to say, and in addition would like to add a story.
When I was last home we had a million and one guests over at house and needed extra help because the maid was ill and couldn't help out. While I wasa looking for someone affordable, I was approached by a little girl.. probably 12 years old. She told me that her parents had died and she was living with her siblings the oldest who was 16 and they really had no money and no one to help them and she really wanted a job. So me not knowing the new rules in Zambia gladly hired her and took her home. My mum was 'like oh no! we're not allowed to hire children any more, she can not work here or we'll be arrested!' So I paid the little girl anyway for coming home with me...but i was sad to see her go. What choice did she have? how would she help the family get by with no money? Youu can say that she could have gone to an orphanage, but orphanages also have criteria and also sometimes separate families. Also who is out there to tell children like this what their options are?

I would say the policy makers really need to scruitinize what they are doing. Traditionally I guess you can say all young girls in Zambia are abused then because by our pre-teen years we're expected to know how to cook, clean and take care of kids! So if you can already do that, why can't someone hire you to do those jobs within reason?

The people that ruin it for others are those that enslave these children and don't pay them what they are owed and make them do work beyond their abilities. I personally don't see anything wrong with hiring those kids to do little jobs around the place...i.e wash a few dishes, play with a little child, sweep the veranda...etc
This will atleast give them alternatives to starving or child prostituition.

I think it's right that they are making rules, but they need to Zambianize those rules and not westernize the rules. Maybe if they had a department that children reported to in each district if they wanted to work, and the department would be responsible to make sure the children report abuses back to them or something like that. The social system in zed is already taxed to the max with the high poverty rate and I'm sure a lot of children living with relatives are also getting abused and don't have too many safe guards in place to protect them.

You can say the kids need to be in school, but the basic schools are nothing but basic information which wont necessarily take you too far. The free schools in the shanty compounds only teach kids basic english and math...nothing that you can take to college and college aint free!

Putting the street kids and double orphans or the likes in orphanages also doesn't always work as we saw with the street kids that ran away from one drop off center stating "takwali life!" Give them real choices or make free skills centers or schools so they can have something to fall back on. If people can afford $200 000 houses in Zambia...then there is money to help formulate something for these children!

Besides...exactly how will the government impose such rules and monitor them? They just can't go around putting words on paper to please the western world. They have got to make plans suitable for the Zambian culture. Where will the million children employed in agriculture go when they are banned from working?

In the words of Oliver Mtukudzi 'wake up, open your eyes'

Zambian Adventures

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3023806

Look what I found! A Zambian safari in minutes! It's pretty cool actually because if you go on safari you don't get to see all the animals you want unless you take many trips out to keep watch. I had too many wildlife adventures...I think I can hack it on survivor:-) I remember the one time we went on a canoe with my now deceased cousin Stella, I had on these huge clogs and a mini skirt (yeah it was that long ago when i used to wear mini skirts...eeck!). So anyway, we're on the canoe on the Zambezi, and the guy rowing the canoe was using this long bamboo stick, which I mistakenly thought was a real paddle till he raised it up. By this time, we were half way down the river, the little canoe starts rocking and water is coming in, and he goes...'oh let's all keep very still because it might tip over and the crocodiles cross over to the other side at this hour'...lord have mercy! I was like dude...please row us back to shore stat!!!! My other cousin was shooting a video of the scene and we laughed so hard when we watched it later because you could see how we we're all happy and messing around till we got half way down the river and then nobody is laughing or moving...and then we quickly jumped off before the canoe even docked! We had also forgotten that the river had hippos too! City kids and wildlife just don't mix!
I also remember the day I saw my first two headed snake! Disgusting! When my family moved into the house that we now call home, the area was one of those with very few neighbors and lots of trees and bushes...we also have a lot of mango, guava, pawpaw, mulberry, and miscellaneous trees. So on one of my trips to get some fruit, I came face to face with a mummy 2 headed snake...I ran back to the house screaming like a baby! Now if I had known any better I would have stayed still... thank God it wasn't a spitting cobra or something!
The first time we went on a safari with the family though was very funny! I recall we were sooo bush we forgot to take camera's and binoculars and hats! the worst part was, we were a safari van full of blackson chifita's being taken around and shown animals by a muzungu...in zed! that was sooo hillarious! Talk about role reversal!
It's a pity that not all Zambian's living in the city get to see wildlife... funny enough people that I come in contact with in the U.S think we grew up in the wild or something and expect you to know all about the animals and stuff...they think wild animals roam around our backyards...well maybe in the villages that happens, but in the city...you have to go to Mundawanga zoo to see stuff! Well nowadays you can go to Chaminuka or the crocodile farm as well to see wild life around the Capital City. Before we either had to go to Livingstone, Siavonga, Kafue, Mfuwe...etc
My grandmother's place I think was the most fun I had ever had! She lived in Mufulira at a farm almost at Zambia's border with Congo... and may fun things happened there! we played 'tour of duty' and went 'skiing' on the huge anthills in the yard, we helped out with her chickens in the coup, drank fresh milk from the neighbors cows, ate all sorts of goodies-- pigeons, finkubala, intoyo, imyungu, viwawasha, masau, chikanda...etc..such fun days!
okay...i'm getting home sick! oh and i've developed an addiction to chocolate pudding and leibniz (German biscuits)...

Happy Sunday!

Bonjour!
Okay so I need to explain myself about yesterday's post:-) I was really having a moment...I had watched life time television (usually a man bashing channel), then I heard that they had found the body of the pregnant lady that was missing and that her stupid ass boyfriend had killed her! Then I saw her picture and she looked a lot like Lacie Peterson and I had a man hating moment! Plus the thing with my friend and the loser she's dating contributed to the situation:-)

I am still a believer in romance and and the knight in shining armour:-) My Romeo is still on the way to get me...

I just wanted to clear the air about that before rumours start to fly that I'm turning tricks! lol!!

Girlfriend code of honor!

Yesterday the girls and I met for our usual sushi night. I was so stuffed I had to unbotton my pants! The sushi was just so good.
problem was, you remember the girl from my previous post "crazy love"? well she planned out our evening and at last minute while we were patiently waiting for her at the Sushi retaurant...she cancelled on us!!!

She broke the cardinal rule 'thy shall not ditch your girlfriends for a night out with a man that calls you every three months or so!' The girlfriends code of honor also states that, you can not come back and cry on my shoulder after ditching me for a night with said mr. doomass! Okay so as you can tell we were quite pissed...but you know what? every cloud has a silver lining! Remember how I said a few days ago that I would be in trouble for something that my friend and I did? well now that blondilox ditched us...she has has to make up for it by forgiving our little faux pas.

Well in our conversation, we went on a rant and rave about men...and quite frankly love is a fallacy...yeah I sound like a bitter old woman...lol...but what do I care it's my blog! You're better off getting married for money than love. That way, you save yourself heartache...and can afford that little trip around the world that you've always wanted after the divorce! Besides if the attraction wasn't there you could always use the services of your pool boy or your personal tennis instructor!
Those of you in love will disagree, but think about it... how do you explain the high divorce rate? CBS ran a story that very few people in the Washington DC area...(especially negroes) were getting married and they are going to start PAYING people to get married! See even the government realizes that love don't pay the bills. I personally think the government will be doing it all wrong if they pay people to GET married... I would say pay people to STAY married...but whatever!

Women get a raw deal out of a divorce. So he leaves you in your 40's and he finds his young little chickeedee and you're stuck for the rest of your life alone after investing all your heart in him... well if you're Demi moore you get lucky... but don't hold your breath!

They say life is short, Break the rules, Forgive quickly, Kiss slowly, Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably, And never regret anything that made you smile. I don't know about that because life is short...but you need to make it meaningful and with as little heartache as possible. 'Loving truly' in my warped little mind brings major heart burn.

So with that said, I am bowing out of that 'find love' sort of life...I am off to find the equivalent of Anna Nicole's Mr.Smith! I should have listened to P when he told me I was born to be a gold digger, but I was in denial and ended up on the wrong path.

News in brief...

and now the news in brief...Approximately 50 UNZA students were arrested today for protesting a move by the University of Zambia (UNZA) management to change library times to 8am-1700hrs and changing the schedule that university fees must be paid by. The students are to pay 50% of the tuition due by the start of the semester and the rest by the end of the school term. Quite honestly though if you think about it, I would rather UNZA went back to the olden days when it was free because if you seriously think about it, majority of the people that attend the University in the first place are those that can not afford to go abroad...otherwise I doubt they would be bothered with attending classes at UNZA!

While were on the subject, I find it disgusting that a country with the majority of the population living on less than $2 can have real estate selling at more than $200 000!!! That is highly disturbing!

http://www.times.co.zm/news/viewnews.cgi?category=19&id=1181894681- music
In more News... remember how I was complaining a few weeks or so ago about the lack of real Zambian instruments in our music? Well someone seems to have heard me and they had a show in Lusaka where musicians show cased their talent at playing drums, the kalimba, guitars...etc! How cool is that? I wish I was there to hear it! I own my own kalimba, a xylophone and a drum...but I would be lying if I said I could play either... they are for decorative purposes in my house:-)

http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9370651
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19227137- Changing the face of Europe
Finally the economist.com and MSNBC are this week highlighting the issues of illegal migrants from Africa to Europe and how dangerous the journey is. I especially liked the MSNBC videos of the guy from Cameroon. They show you how from the north Coast of Africa you can see the beautiful city lights in Europe right over the dangerous waters beckoning all who care to look to come and taste la dolce vita! No wonder they risk their lives to cross! It looked so tempting and inviting that I too would have risked my life in the boat with holes to to leave the garbage dump they were hiding in to get to Europe!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6225202.stm
and Finally the BBC has a competition going on BBC Africa to tell them "who you are" whether you identify yourself with your family, ethnicity or country. We have a Zambian representative today Miss Lizzie Williey. Don't even pretend you didn't call coloreds point fives!!! lol! I know you all did because I did it too in jest with my thorn park (a.k.a Colored quaters) buddies! But I find it really sad when I hear of people that were born and had lived in Zambia, but can not speak a vernacular language... I know i'll get bad mouthed for this... but it's really dull that you didn't pick up a language when the neighbors or the servants talked...c'mmon! I would have been very depressed if I had left home not knowing a Zambian Language. As a matter of fact, if you are curious enough you can learn anything. I know one or two words in many African, European and Asian languages...I am not profficient, but I can certainly swear or greet you in several different tongues because I was curious enough to find out what to say!

oh wait did I say finally?? i was wrong! I found this video on youtube. Well it was on Senator Brownbacks page and he was being highlighted by youtube yesterday, so I took a quick peak at his page and I am learning a lot! This couple at the bottom was living in Zambia and they had a few q's for the senator. I'll wait and see what his response is.

http://www.times.co.zm/news/viewnews.cgi?category=4&id=1182413003

Dabya's Birthday

ola...
I had a GREAT day at work today... and there are many more to come this week! I just love when my assignments are great, it just feels like i've won the loterry or something, not that I knnow what a loterry win would be like...but I can imagine it would feel like this...cat who ate the canary sort of thing...
any way, my friend G.W's birthday is coming up... Laura informed me today via email. I was hoping for an invite to his big bash, but it seems they're trying to hit me up for momney! I was like oh heeeelllll nnnoooo Laura! Dabya should be paying me to be his friend, not the other way around! I already get bad looks when I say I fond him amusing! So if the rest of you feel inclined to send him money... feel free to do so. I am not sure how the bushes and I became friends... but I can introduce you if you want...:) But read the pretty email they sent...

Dear Manena,

Please help me celebrate a very special birthday.

On July 6, President Bush will turn 61 years old. In our family, birthdays are special occasions that always include family and close friends.

I know George will appreciate receiving warm wishes from loyal supporters on his special day. Please take a moment to add your name to the RNC's e-card.

And if you can, please consider commemorating President Bush's 61st birthday with a gift our entire Party can share. Your secure online gift of $61 or whatever you can afford -- $25, $75, $100, $500 or even $1,000 -- will go a long way toward helping the RNC lay the foundation for electing more Republicans in the 2007 state and 2008 national elections.

I hope you will add your name to the RNC's Birthday e-card to George today. And thank you for your continued support of the President and our Party.


Cordially,


Laura Bush

P.S. In order for your name to be included on the RNC's birthday e-card to President Bush, you must reply to this e-mail by June 28. Please click here to sign the President's birthday card and to make a secure online gift to help lead our Party to victory this fall. Thank you.

Oh and after my rant and rave yesterday...which I am feeling quite sheepish about, I got a comment from the poster... thanks britt...sorry if I was a tad harsh...i wasn't sure who and what was posted dude...I was trying to make sure I wasn't nude or anything on facebook...olive branch?

Copyrights...

I have placed some copyright rules at the bottom of the page, please be sure to read and understand the terms and conditions of being my loyal supporters. All who can not follow the rules will be dealt with SEVERELY.

This has been brought on by the fact that one of you has put my information on nwww.thefacebook.com and I am not a member of facebook, nor will I ever be a member of facebook in this life time. I REFUSE to be on facebook or myspace... and frown upon anyone over 25 that is a member... so you can not make me join! Now back to the person that put me on facebook. I woke up Sunday morning only to find that I had over a hundred and forty hits on saturday and a similar amount on sunday...so i can safely assume that the person put up my information on either friday or saturday. I have no clue what they wrote or took from my site to their page... but when I find out, I will let you know.

This is exactly what I was talking about when I said there are weird people online that I would rather not meet! I do not mind getting many new readers a day, but I do mind secret information being taken from here to secret pages that I have no access to. Call it the 'curiosity killed the cat' syndrome or whatever!

Lelo ni weekendi!

ola!
It's been a very restful but stressful week I must add! I am not sure how i managed to combine both... i guess I'm just super woman:-)

I believe I am going to be in soooooooooooooooo much trouble in a few weeks when the truth about something comes out! okay the thing is, my 'circle' of friends and I went to lunch yesterday without one of the group members. The missing member and I have been up to no good. One of the other members suspects the missing buddy of doing something that I know she did because I helped... but when the other member mentioned her suspicions to the group, I froze because I am one of the worst liars in the world... and in my panic, I couldn't find something casual to say to cover up the story and said not one word. I am so guilty right now coz I know they will crucify me for saying nothing... but they'll get over it. They will benefit from it in the long run... I would rather die than be Judas in this case:-)

Any way...what is with all the recalls of products? dude... I use colgate tooth paste... like the majority of Zambians, and i turn on the news yesterday and I'm informed some fake colgate from South Africa was circulating in the U.S, and that it has anti freeze or some crap like that in it! They say the way to know you have the fake colgate is to check the spellings on the box because the doomasses that made it can't spell! I just got done telling my mum to absolutely not use Chinese products at the moment because of all the people 'abale tongoka' (new zed word for dying! lol) now i have to call her again to make sure she's not using fake colgate!


Also, what is the love story between KLM and Kenya airways? The thing is, to travel to Zambia with KLM from Engy, you have to make a stop in the Netherland, then in Kenya, then Zambia. To return it seems you might even have to add Malawi. The flights are operated by Kenya air FYI. Then if you travel Kenya airways from Engy to Zed, you only stop in Kenya??? So what's the point of them operating with KLM??? Don't even get me started with the USA to zed procedure! That's why I am pro British Airways!


****************************************************
The Associated Press had this story 2 days ago...
2 Africans in Singapore face possible hanging for marijuana trafficking
12 June 2007
(c) 2007. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
SINGAPORE (AP) - Two Africans appeared in a Singapore court Tuesday, accused of trafficking more than 14 kilograms (31 pounds) of marijuana -- about 28 times the amount that draws a mandatory death sentence by hanging.

Daka Guinea, 21, a Zambian woman, and Chijioke Stephen Obioha, 29, a Ghanaian man, were arrested April 9 after Guinea was allegedly caught handing the drugs over to Obioha at a budget hotel in an eastern Singapore red-light district.

Obioha also faces a second charge of possessing 6.6 kilograms (14 pounds) of marijuana in a stash allegedly found in his residence, and a third charge of consumption.

Singapore has some of the world's toughest and most thoroughly enforced drug laws, with a mandatory death sentence for trafficking more than 15 grams (0.53 ounces) of heroin or 500 grams (17.64 ounces) of marijuana.

Guinea has been in contact with her family and Zambian consular officials -- including Keli Walubita, High Commissioner to Singapore and former Zambian Foreign Minister -- who has visited the woman in jail, her lawyers Shashi Nathan and Anand Nalachandran said outside the courtroom.

A pretrial court session was set for June 26.
The Southeast Asian city-state executed two African men, one Nigerian and the other stateless, on heroin trafficking charges in January despite clemency pleas by Nigeria's president, the United Nations and human rights groups.

Human rights group Amnesty International has said Singapore has the world's highest per capita execution rate. Singapore leaders say the tough system has saved the prosperous island nation from the drug scourge plaguing some of its neighboring countries.
**************************************************************
So you would think I would be shocked that the doomass and her man were being executed right??? naaattt! (said in a borat way) I was more shocked that the high commissioner to Singapore was Keli Walubita!!! when will the recycling of politicians stop??? Lets learn from the Malawians! While were at it, the name Guinea doesn't even sound remotely Zambian! But any way, my sincerest condolences to her fam...coz we know she wont be going back, poor baby!

Political Compass

I forgot to write this here...
At the request of Cho... I tried out a fun game from http://www.politicalcompass.org/index to find out where I stand politically...and this might come as a shock to most of you, as it did me. It turns out I am a left libertarian... I was quite disappointed till i realized I am on that side of the spectrum with Ghandi, Mandela, Motzart... such fun people. No wonder people come to me for my wisdom...and 'make love and not war' policies. I am just a fun wise person...duh!!!
Actually, I only just realized this month that I am now an adult...imagine that! I was on the phone with miss Diva going over some of life's mini issues and how I handled a certain situation showed me how mature I have become! I was like 'mayo nakula!' NOw as soon as I figure out what else 'adults' should be doing, i will get back to you on that.

Fatigue...

So hope you're all well... I am very well thank you for wondering:-)

I have been a slacker...well not really, work is just going a tad too slow for my liking...maybe it's because I don't care too much for my present assignment. So in my wisdom, i put my resume on careerbuilder.com just to see what's out there...and this one dude called me an hour after... and he was seriously hitting on me! Now those of you that don't know me may not know that I have an amazingly sexy voice, but I can honestly (blowing my own horn) tell you that...(sigh) I do. So the poor fella was laying it on thick and tells me he's in Texas...ummm...yeah dude, since when did long distance relationships ever work? any way, I told him I'm waiting for Bill Gates to get a divorce because he will finally realize that he loves me...and i love his money, it's nothing personal :-) Mr. Dude wasn't amused i could tell...So he informed me that I would be getting atleast 30 calls a day from other recruiters...and I said 'screw that' when 2 more calls came in from some other folk, within the hour then I removed my resume... I would rather FIND my new job...than my new job finding me!

The weekend was swell... was out and about doing this and that. I remember lunch with a friend and house work...oh and i had a guest over...but that's about it. Monday chi na lila...sinina gone musanga...so needless to say I didn't work tuesday. Pa phoni na po nina yesako... I think I was on for hours!!!

What the heck is going on with British airways ticket prices? it's sofa king retarded! There is no need to confuse me any further as I am getting used to Ban Ki Moon's name...!

Oh and check out what grampa KK has to say about Mugabe if you didn't already see it on BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6728015.stm ...I am one of those die hard KK lovers...even if he killed me, I would still love him! I think it's the white handkerchief syndrome...banani dyesa kolyo kolyo!

lol...my niece has been banned from saying grace before meals and has been restricted to only saying it at bedtime, this is why:
inta (in the) name of chezus (Jesus)...
bwesh (bless) gwama (grandma),
bwesh mummy and daddy,
bwesh aunty manena,
bwesh uncle D,
bwesh my teacher,
bwesh nomsa,
bwesh talexis (alexis)
bwesh ba fwenda (brenda),
bwesh tommy,
bwesh lisha,
etc...she goes on for minutes remembering all the kids in her class! I think it's cute... but i can see how the food would be frozen by the time she was done if she said grace before meals!

Oh and the birth rate in England seems to have gone up...but zoona I doubt niba zungu! I can bet Mwenye and my nijah broda's have been helping in the increased labour! lol.

Isambo Lyamfwa

It's with great sadness that I found out today Mr Jonathan Chibesa the lead singer of the Glorious Band died on Thurday. Most of the stores in his home town of Chingola (Zambia) shut down at the announcement of his death. The 'Isambo lyamfwa' CD has special meaning to me because it was released around my cousins wedding which was held in Virginia during hurricane Isabel. My grandmother loved the CD so much she played it all the time...and the family was in very high spirits at the time. Our next family gathering after that point was my grandmothers funeral.

Any way, on the subject of death and dying... since I'm gloomy I might as well take yuo down with me:-) Have you all seen the situation in Kenya with the Mungiki sect? I am thinking amnesty international has to step in there someone!!! The police are going around killing anyone they feel is a 'suspect' in one poor neighborhood, and terrorising everyone else! I don't think it's right that they are killing people with no proof of membership to Mungiki! This will also deter the residents from providing information to the police for fear of being victimized!

I am a firm believer that violence begets violence. Treat others as you would like to be treated.

Don' t play with fire...

You know how they always say don't play with fire or you'll get burnt...and nobody listens till they get burnt?...well I'm burning!!! It's not like the warning bells didn't go off early enough...I just thought what the heck, dive in and screw the consequences!!! Well that's my self-cremation story...

Any who...it looks like I saved another life! Remember my friend that was in the Emergency room a few nights ago? well she' much better now. My warning to the rest of you is never trust E.R doctors. I am not saying they don't do a good job, but the problem is that they are only there to fix you up enough to either get you home so you can see your own G.P the next day, or enough to fix you up and send you to other hospital units. They don't know you well enough to take your history into consideration and are just sort of patching you up. If they send you home with something that you need to take for the rest of your life...question it with a second opinion.
Many people think Doctors are mini gods and they do not question what they are told. I remember going to the doctor once because I kept having little dizzy spells, and the doomass I had at the time told me my symptoms weren't classic and I was simply having "subconscious" panick attacks and I just needed Xanax! I told him the only way I was taking an anti anxiety medication was if he investigated my symtoms using the technology available now such as EKG's, EEG's...etc! He was trying to diagnose me like a witch doctor without running tests first. I figured it was because I was on a sliding scale payment system and he figured I would never be able to affrod all the tests necessary, so he opted for the easy way out to get me to shut up.

The reason I questioned this doctor at the time was that I knew I was born with some heart issue that has resolved. I am not sure what the issue I had was because my mother doesn't remember and doctors in Zambia don't usually explain much...besides the Doctor I had then is dead now so I can't ask him. I somehow knew there was a connection to the symptoms I was having, but I couldn't afford a new doctor on what I was making as a student. So it actually too about 3 years before I finally went in to see someone. In the mean time I kept having the dizzy spells every now and again. The new doctor simply ordered all the tests without me asking and we got an EKG and an echo cardiogram...and presto! we found out that I have a low grade murmur and my heart rate can drop to the low 30's at times...and my blood pressure also has a tendancy to drop... which could have been causing the dizziness. Since finding that out, I know how to better manage myself and can drink plenty of fluids and more salt than usual which makes me feel so much better. The low heart rate isn't due to a conduction issue, so it's not dangerous...and in fact people that exercise tend to have low heart rates...which is what scared me because I DO NOT exercise...I know the importance... but would rather stick to sexercise and the occasional swimming once a year if you don't mind :-) I'm too fat and lazy to be bothered! Okay I will seriously get started on walking now that it's warmer...lol!

Any way, my friends ER doc, told her to get started on blood pressure medication, and I told her to not take it because I knew that wasn't the underlying issue. Besides her pressure was fine when they told me what it was. I asked her to wait till she saw her G.P the next day and told her what to ask him. She did just that, and she is now being managed properly! It was funny because I had to call her every 2 hours through the night to make sure she was alive and she lives many states away from me.

Bottom line is...question your health care providers...no matter how highly recommended they are! You can also google your medications or illnesses to learn more before accepting what you're told. I have also seen many medical errors on the discovery channel...it aint pretty!

(picture of sangoma from robertahorton.com)

Review of both debates

My top 3 candidates for the Republican party if I voted or was a Republican would be
1. Ron Paul: I think dude makes sense. In fact, he seems to stand out as someone who is not only prolife as it relates to the unborn...but prolife in that he seems to be promoting peace too. "we can't force democracy through the barrel of a gun" (or something like that. I think he did wonderfully tonight (and it's not only coz i have a soft spot for grandpa's)I also like how he answered the question on the 'don't ask don't tell' policy...such grace!

2. Brownback: I am not sure what happened to him today in the debate...he seems to have lost a spark. I have heard him speak before and he normally does better than he did tonight. An interesting fact about him is that he along with Senators Evan Bayh (D-IN), Joe Lieberman (D-CT),introduced a broad bill (S. 2025) that would remove the cap on hybrid tax credits as part of a package to reduce domestic oil usage. Plus he drives a Hybrid...I think. See my earlier posts on him...he really doesn't suck... he just had a bad night. He's not wishy washy...

3. McCain: I loved the speech about the hispanics...how he recognized that there are many hispanics in the war fighting for America...etc. I think he might have a shot with the hispanos!

My dem picks would be...
Obama: I doubt he'll win, but he gave it a good go on Sunday. I mean it's too early to tell at this point... but it's worth a shot for him. Who knows? When the ex Governor Ehrlich of Maryland was campaigning for a position...I heard many black people say they would vote for him because he was running with Michael Steel...who was a black man. So they specifically said they were voting because there was a black man running. So he could surprise us. People don't vote based on what you say and what you have done. They can also vote because of sex and skin color! I would vote for him because he has great teeth...lololol! It would be nice to have a black prez right? Lets go gansta on the white house!

Hillary: Because she's a woman. :) She kept reminding us of what her husband did for the country...nice move, but I would rather see her stand on her own merit. When Edwards punched her and Obama...I really didn't feel her punch back...she needs to work on leadership a little more...but I liked Bill, and if he rubs off on her, she might make an interesting president. It would be nice to have a woman in office...I just wish we had more choices for female candidates.

Gravel: he may be old and ignored, but I think he seemed realistic, especially when he asked them where the money would come from for all the "building castles in the sky" plans.

All in all, the Reps. throw more subtle punches at each other (Brownback vs Giuliani). While we're on the subject...how can Giuliani say he thinks abortion is wrong, but the government shouldn't impose it on women...isn't that like saying Killing is wrong, but we can't have the government stop killers? How can he be in two different boats at the same time??? He seems to be CNN's choice for candidate as they gave him unfair coverage...he really didn't make sense to me. As you've read from my previous posts...he should have stopped at 9-11.

Any way...for this month...those are the candidates I am watching, but things could change. As you can tell I wrote more on the Reps. coz my brain is more fresh as i just watched it.

Oops...I gotta go call my friend, she's in the Emergency Room...

Republicans debate quotes

Tancredo: hold onto the English language, it's what binds us

Huckabee: in the beginning God created the earth...

Thomson: There should be no amnesty till the border is secure

Brownback: Make iraq into 3 states; Shiite, Sunni and Khurish

Giuiliani: (in response to attack from Bishop about abortion) it's wrong, but government shouln't impose it on women. (then lightening struck...ooohhhh, for those of you in England...lightening seriously did strike...I'm not being sarcastic)

McCain: (to Tancredo) Muchos gracias!

Gilmore: (hillarious) Rudy McRomney!

Hunter: If they (illegal immigrants) pass though my fence, we'll sign them up for the olympics!

Ron Paul: (on Iraq) it's the wrong diagnosis getting the wrong treatment.

Romney: (on McCain) he's my friend, so i wont make this personal.

Democratic debate quotes

Sen. Gravel- the comptoller had a meeting and announced there is no money- where will they (the other 7) get money to fund their plans? (was I the only one who noticed they kept ignoring this dude? even the review on CNN mentioned him vaguely. He might want to donate his campaign money to me!)

Gov. Richardson- America should care about Africa and we don't!

Sen. Obama mama- it took you 4 years to get here...(my fav! what a kick in the u know what's!)

Kucinich- no WTO turn to bilateral trade...health care for all.

Dod- restore constitutional rights

Sen. Biden- (man was ablaze on Sudan!) implement no fly zone and shut down janjaweed!

Sen. Hillary- This is George Bush's war!

Edwards- (responding to Obama) you are right, I was wrong

Franco- Le grand maitre! and Zed music.

Born Francoise Luambo Makiadi in DRC 1938 was playing guitar by age 7, and became one of the biggest names in African Music by the early 1960's. Dude has such an interesting history, not only was a great entrepreneur (he owned property and businesses in Belgium, France and the DRC), he united a majority of Africa through his music.
I can remember going to parties and hearing his music when I was younger. If you went to a party at that time and didn't hear a Franco song...then the party probably sucked:-)
The down side to his popularity was that he became close alies with Mobubtu Seseseko and his rich friends, and so he lost touch with sending out great political messages. The other tragedy also was that it is suspected that he died from complications of HIV/AIDS at age 51 in 1989. The rumors about his condition began to heavily circulate after his last song 'Attention na SIDA'(Beware of AIDS), and the fact that he went from a hefty 300 pounds to probably 160 pounds-ish.



You might wonder why I am writting about him today, well I bought one of his 'best of' CD collections, and I have had much attention from my Zambia and Congolese circles. They would all like me to boot-leg it for them. The funny thing is, I love the song 'Mario' (in the video above- press red x if it doesn't show) and for ages I thought it was like a semi-romantic song seeing as my Lingala starts and stops at the word 'bolingo' (love). I was recently informed that the song is actually about a sugar mummy and her young boyfriend. She buys him everything, and pays for most things that his family needs and one day he hits her... and she explains to him that it is wrong to hit her because she uses skin bleaching creams and she is now too fair skinned to be hit as it leaves a lot of bruising-lol. I found it quite interesting. I just enjoy the performances put on by Franco and the TPOK jazz's, it's far from what Congolaise music has become-- who's dancer shakes her ass the best:-) c'est dommage!!!

I love African music from an older generation because of the messages they carried and the fact that a lot of them played their own instruments. For Zambia I can talk about Alick Nkhata, Paul Ngozi, Professor P.K Chishala, the Mulemena boys! The thing with Zambian music these days is that we have lost touch with the roots of 'Zambian' music. There is a lot of stuff in vernacular which is well and good, but it's mostly R&B in a Zambian language and not Zambian music per se. I wish I could hear more instruments being played by the singer or his/ her band and not all that piano synthesized stuff. How about utilizing the drums, the xylophone, the kalimba, msekese (haha)...etc. Many other African musicians are doing that today..i.e the beautiful music from Mali, or even our neighbor Oliver Mtukudzi (love him!). Zambian voices are beautiful...but we have to stop trying to compete with the wester market and try to perfect the traditional sounds already available to us. While on that point it would be wrong of me to forget to complement Angela Nyirenda because I think she is one of the few to stray from R&B.

I realise this should have been 2 posts...but it's my blog and I felt lazy to open another page...sue me:-)

Oh and thanks Diva for the news about the stampede in Zambia...that was one of those bitter sweet stories-- sweet in that Zambia won the soccer game 3-0, and bitter that 12 soccer fans died in the process. http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/6881462

The Pussilanimous Manena

This post is dedicated to the few requests that I have received asking me to put my profile up.

The reasons that I do not have my profile up-- and I can create more are:
1. I like being sort of anonymous
2. If I one day want to be president of the world, I don't think a lot of the information here would help my cause:-)
3. I make some really ignorant comments at times and would rather not have strangers giving me the funny eye in public..."like..oh my god...like, there goes! like...she's such a loooossser!"
4. My ignorance is HIGHLY contagious, and I do not wish to get sued for it!
5. I do not make posts during business hours...:) just incase the boss is reading, this will calm you down...and how sure are you that I am the 'real manena'?
6. I do not encourage my 7 active and dedicated readers to read my blog during work hours...and if they did, I don't want them hating me when they're fired. So it's best that they don't have proof that I'm "that manena!"
7. I know it's rather PUSILLANIMOUS (haha) of me...but such is life:-)
8. The first rule of law is never to commit anything you wouldn't want found to paper (or written words). Seek anonymity.
9. I do not wish to get stalked. There are too many weirdo's online. Trust me.

The T.B guy.

I am sure you have all heard by now about the lawyer that is in isolation for an interesting case of T.B. Many people were alarmed that they had to travel with him, and he was out in the community...blah, blah, blah. The thing is though, I work in the health care field and I can tell you that many times, tests are done this week, and two weeks later they inform us that it turns out Mr. whats-his-name in room four 2 weeks ago has something contagious! In the mean time Mr. whats-his-name has been walking around town and being in closed spaces with people. Mr T.B guy was getting married and was around a lot of his family. If he seriously thought he was contagious I think he would be stupid to stay around his new wife and daughter. What a wedding present though! damn! for better or worse...for sure!
You would have though the CDC would have encouraged him to buy and use an airborne mask to decrease passing it on to others. Maybe they did...who knows. Dude says his dad has a recording of the CDC/ doctors telling him he was not contagious before they left for Greece-- well in lawsuitville you have to be prepared for anything!
Any way, my point is you never know who is contagious. Sometimes they know, and other times they don't. So you never know what you can catch from those around you:-)

Novena

It has been a rather interesting week. I think I read too much of Jefferey Sach's work because a day after I said sanctions wouldn't work on Sudan, he said the same thing. I guess great minds think alike :-)
Yesterday my little friend came over and I haven't seen her since she was 3 months old! She is now all testy and doesn't easily give out hugs like she used to. She's still sooo cute though!

I later went to a surprise farewell party for someone and I hate to be snooty, but I CAN NOT handle cheap wine! What happened was, I feel uncomfortable going to parties empty handed, so since this was unplanned, I grabbed a bottle of one of my wines for the party. When I got there, they laughed at me for bringing an expensive bottle and they offered me some interesting sangria. I had one glass only and 2 glasses of water afterwards because I know what happens to me when I drink cheap wine. I woke up with the worst headache ever.I should have really opted for the beer, but I'm not a beer fan. Then I had to go to a meeting to listen to financial projections and insurance stuff...I really thought I was dying a SLOOWW death...I almost called the newly released Dr. Jack Kevorkian to help me out of my misery!
I also got email from someone I went to primary school with years ago! It was a very welcome thing to happen and I was happy about it. Hopefully we wont lose touch this bad again:-)
After vowing the D.C area wont see a hide nor a hair of me for a loooonggg time because I'm D.c'ed out... I got a call asking me to attend a party..."you've just got to come." now the guilt is kicking in so I really must make an effort to go:-)I should have seriously moved to the D.C area when I got the chance, but I am not sure what changed my mind...

In addition to all the other fun stuff, I got 2 presents and it's not even my birthday! I love opening gifts, I don't care how retarded they are! most people know that the best way to trick me into doing something is to either offer me a sale (even 2cents off something gives me a rush!) or to offer me a nice prezzy!

You know what though, I often like to walk around the house in my birthday suit...I know that's too much information, but in the privacy of my own home I think it's safe to say that I can be as God made me:-) but I have found the dude 2 doors down twice at one of my windows. Now I can not call it sexual harrasment yet, but it's a little disturbing! For that reason, I never leave my curtains/ blinds open..don't you think it's weired???

And another reason why I am a news addict... a drug called tetrasil is causing 'pandemonium' in Zambia...see the 2 contrasting stories below:
http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/2007-05-27-voa5.cfm
http://www.sowetan.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=480880

Oh and before I forget, I did the powerful 9 hour novena of childlike confidence yesterday for 2 reasons. One was resolved by the end of yesterday! My God is an awesome God!!! It was so amazing when I got the news!

Lastly according to therapists from California State University and Virginia tech university- "The key to a happy relationship could be accepting that some miserable times are unavoidable" they also say that it's the fault of mental health workers and 'happily ever after' type movies which help create disharmony in relationships. Way to go in ruining my perfect life with Mr. Darcy! LOL!!!