Dambisa, Obama, Economy...lawd help me!

So after my hiatus (that's right! I learnt a new English word!), I have decided to blog a little...even though I have loads of things to do.
I can not even tell you how much stress I have been under....lawd gimme the strength! It has been hard, but I am here, and I am happy, and I know how strong I can be.

Will fill you in as we go along over the days...
So in the mean time, I got a new job ...yay! I also get my own company toys: lap top and cell phone and all, I am sooo excited! There are going to be sooo many changes in my life this year, it's not even funny!
I still don't have my passport...but my mummy is here, and she will take care of it. That's her job as a mummy:-)

So moving on....Dambisa Moyo: Dead aid
There has been much ado about this Zambian lady who went to the same secondary school as I did. She has been described as beautiful by some papers, intelligent by others, and some locals complained about her weave...lol, which reminds me I need to get a new hair do.
My views on her book are thus:
if "corrupt" governments can't adequately help the general masses with donor funds...what will their incentives be without aid?
The title of the book suggests Africa is a country and not a continent. Solutions for Ghana can not be solutions for Zambia. They are not equal.
China doesn't keep profits in Africa when it makes money and surely the poor don't profit from that
I understand that she would like us to get into dialog over the issue which is great-- thing is it's not a new platform. It has been debated for years (see better arguments on same issue by Ali Mazuri- an old Kenyan man). Once you read his stance on the same issue, and the different way he presents and studies it, you will understand why I think her topic is good but not well investigated. She sort of says South Africa is a good example while it is not...and if you follow the market closely, you will see that SA will be Zimbabwe in 10 or so years if they don't watch it. Her idea is not new, and should not be treated as such, the adage "give a man fish, and he will be hungry forever, Teach him to fish...etc has been something we have known for years.
I am not saying she is completely wrong, but she is very shaky on subject matter. I may not have a PhD in Economics, but I have been following African matters and issues for years, and can safely say she is mistaken on several things surrounding the political economy or that aid causes corruption and conflict. Aid may contribute to conflict, but it is not a cause. Congo with or without aid will continue to have civil unrest for many other reasons than aid. Countries help other countries when they have a VESTED reason. She is right that billions have been sent to Africa as aid since the 70's. She is wrong however when she fights for fair trade. Read opinions on fair trade by OXFAM...or better yet ask a local trader in Zambia their thoughts on cheap Chinese goods and what that does to their market base.
Her proposal to cut aid in 5 years is crazy irresponsible as an economist and a Zambian. Especially to try and present this issue before the G20 summit. If this were to happen, imagine how many schools, clinics, shelters, orphanages...etc would be shut down! How many lives will be lost from this bad planning? The problem is not that aid doesn't work-- everyone knows that. It's finding new EFFECTIVE ways to utilize that aid. Even the United Nations and many others have been working at finding a solution to using resources wisely for the last few years, and that is what I do not find well spelt out in her book.
AS the person who marched in England with Jubilee 2000-- I find it offensive for her to say some stuff about Bono and the crew. Without the help of those types of people and the work done by the Jubilee campaign...a lot of the African debt dropped by foreign countries would have not been possible! They worked tirelessly for debt cancellation-- something she is not credited with.
That is my mini take on the matter...and I can expand if needed. Look out for my book "why I just LOOOVE aid" in book stores near you.

Obama:
Okay...I am tired of dumb ass commentary every time I turn around about people thinking he should have been able to fix the economy by now, and they disappointed by what he has not been able to do so far. I am also quite put out by critics of the stimulus and such. You can criticise as much as you want to, but dude...where is your proposal???? I am all for people making their own legitimate and sound proposals and bringing it to the medias attention to show why they thing Obama sucks...and why their plan is more sound. After all, the economy is not a single party issue-- it's a global issue.
I want to know where the critics were when my best buddy-- BFF for life G.W. Bush was increasing debt and using money in places he shouldn't have been. They didn't ask his reasoning because criticizing the government at that time was tantamount to treason. Now that the media can speak, I think they are acting irresponsibly and without giving the guy (Obama) a chance to work. All I want to know is... If everything Obama is doing is wrong, what exactly is right???
The economy didn't get screwed up over night, and it can not be fixed over night. His plans make sense when he says the results will be years from now. Not in the near future.
You know I am a firm believer in the fact that the health care system in the United States has to be revamped. So I think he is right in putting money into that--and the Insurance companies and the people that benefit will fight this for life.
I also believe in affordable education and back his putting money into that to. Educating the masses is a big factor in a strong economy...and if people don't see how, then I don't know how to make that clearer.
Change in policy: but of course. Gas and electric companies have increased prices, and it's in every ones best interest to deregulate

aww--rite, I am getting back to my real life:)
Missed you all...and missed blogging. Will try to do better now:-)

Milandu ya kale-- History

I am Manena, daughter of Matete, son of Lefted...etc

Resolved: History is dictated by the historian

I was watching Congo: White King, Red Rubber, Black Death, and for many reasons I feel cheated out of my history, and feel the need to trace my roots--which in itself is close to impossible as those that know my history are deceased, and hence I must start where I can. Any way...

If you haven't seen that movie or read King Leopold's ghosts, I would suggest you do at your earliest convenience.

I do not know about you, but I do not recall learning anything about king Leopold II in my history classes, unless I was up to no good when they taught. I also do not remember learning anything about Liberia (the first black governed country in Africa), nor do I recall being taught anything about the revolution in Algeria! Yet, i remember the 'splendid isolation', 'treaty of Versailles', china's revolution...and vaguely--the Shaka wars. Oh and the brief history of the Bemba's and other Zambian tribes...of course!

Over the last few years, I have developed a major interest in history because it gives a better understanding of why things are the way they are. E.G.-- After watching Tubman, I see why Mugabe is the way he is...as was a lot of leaders that came in post Tubman of Liberia.

Two names I remember from the movie that I had never heard of were:-

Edmund Dene Morel:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._D._Morel

and

Roger Casement: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Casement

Those that aided in exposing Leopold and his hand cutting cronies....

Lawd have mercy!!! You know the world is coming to an end when people of other races actually want to be classified as black!!! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7461099.stm This story made my day fo sho!

okay...I just got distracted and forgot what else i was going to write:-) aaahhh old age! Oh and it's my birthday in 4 months!!!!:-)

Africa freedom day/ Memorial day

Can I say Happy Africa Freedom day or Memorial day? Is that like a sane thing to do, or do we just kinda nod at each other on these days? What's the proper etiquette I wonder? Okay so AFD was technically yesterday... but I was too busy (read: lazy) to write anything.
To commemorate AFD I re-watched Lumumba and The motor cycle diaries. You may wonder how the two are connected because few people know that Che Guevara was in Congo for a bit circa the Lumumba uprising if you will, and I just love watching revolutionary movies!
I get nostalgic when I hear names of leaders some long gone like Ben Bella, Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe, Fidel Castro, Yasser Arafat, Joachim Chisano, Margaret Thatcher, Boris yeltzing, Sam Nujoma...etc. I am not saying these are my hero's or that they were necessarily good people but it just brings back memories of the 1900hrs news in Zambia, and how we had no choice but to learn what Frelimo or Swapo were doing, or what "mischief" the ANC had gotten themselves into.

I am also glad now, when I remember former class mates who were children of exiles from Mozambique, Angola, South Africa, Namibia..etc It was a great experience to know these kids even though at the time I neither understood-- nor cared to understand what it meant to be in 'exile'. I am fortunate for the lessons I inadvertently learnt from them even though I can not remember half their names!

Wait--while we are being nostalgic...can someone clear this myth. Was Mike Tabu really part of the black panther movement and exiled to Zambia...or is that just a tale he/ someone told to make him appear important????

Oh in sad news...my brother abandoned me and left for Zed last night. Little Jay bird and I were at the airport to see him off. When the misery was about to set in this morning, I woke up and decided to watch pride and prejudice new version, and guess what????? YOU GUESSED IT!!!! I found My missing pride and prejudice part 2 (old version) in the cover of the new version that I hate!!!! So I am SOOOOOOOOO happpyyyy!!!

I almost cancelled a date so I could stay home and watch P&P all day! So yeah, I had a date this afternoon with an interesting fella. I have become sort of a dating charity case and everyone just throws men at me-- it doesn't matter whether the guy and I don't click, people just feel the need to save me from the sorrows of my single life. But guess what? I aint complaining. I eat all the free food I get, and I have fun in the process meeting new people, learning new things, and doing things I didn't think I would do. (not like that sicko! get your mind out of the gutter!).

It's not like I enjoy just 'dating'...okay rephrase that. While I enjoy going on these dates, I do often worry because, I hardly feel an attachment to anyone. Or sometimes, I feel a temporal attachment, then it's gone. I don't know, I guess I'm just getting cynical in my old age. I mean I think I am getting spoilt and used to my marriage to the walls of my house...then other days I jesswanna sing ...'lonely....i am so lonely...i need somebody...to call my own...dooo dooo doo doo...woo woo woo woo'. Then other days I think, well...if I was going to be a mother/ wife by now, it would have happened. I have had the opportunity, and the whole 'purpose by design' thing would have kicked in. I figure, if i rush things, or settle... I may be the worlds worst wife or mother. Okay...correction. The worst mother kills her child and I never would...so scrap that. I might get third place or something :-) how does that sound? Junior could be getting wine for breakfast, lunch and dinner...lol! Just kidding...dont call social services for my un-procreated child:-)...coz some of y'all are crazy enough to do that! Especially you Kokakolafanta!

I am three glasses into my wine bottle right now, so i suppose i should stop writing, before i end up telling you what color my poop is or something in that nature:-) I will try to write again on the morrow. Work is kinda going slow at the moment, so i will have a LOT of free time maybe... so you will probably get tired of all my 'new' posts.

I am off to practice my guitar skills with my new franglish song 'Manena is tres belle' my poor neighbors must be delighted...noooottt! (say it like borat!)

Much ado about Kenya

No. I was not ignoring the pandemonium in Kenya or pretending it wasn't happening. I was merely watching on the side lines to see how it played out!
At first I thought it was an exaggeration...like when they said there was chaos in Zambia after the last elections and that there was violence... which turned out to be just a few people beating each other up and burning some tires in one of the slums! Big frigging deal!!! It turned out Kenya was the real deal!

There have been countless numbers of articles on Kenya in the past week ranging from Obama being half Kenyan to the direct relationship between consumption and development...and of course the bloodshed.

There is a very interesting article In the economist http://www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10422157 describing the ethnic cleansing and reasoning behind it. In contrast Josh Ruxtin in the New York times:http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/kenya-isnt-rwanda/index.html" attempts to point out the differences between what has taken place in Kenya and the massacre in Rwanda. I quite liked his article because it differed from most of what I have been reading. I personally find it brilliant except for a few historical flaws which I too as a non Kenyan would have probably made.

I understand that the definition if genocide varies depending on who is interpreting the situation and analysing what kind of assistance to give. I personally go by the legal definition of genocide http://www.preventgenocide.org/genocide/officialtext.htm and for that reason I really don't care whether the Luo and the Kalenjins are attacking Kikuyu's for political reasons...or whatever. What they are doing is genocidal.
***The weird thing about the word genocide if you want to be controversial is that when the attacked group retaliates... they are also committing acts of genocide. So if we take down al qaeda...that is genocide right? But I digress.*** That was my Jessica Simpson moment:-)

I like that the media is making a big deal out of it because approx.300 people have died. 300 people that probably wouldn't have benefited either way from the elections. 300 people that had families to take care of. 300 people who could turn into the thousand skulls counted in Rwanda, Bosnia or the Sudan if the rest of the world closes their eyes for a minute. 300 people. For once I am happy at the medias tendency to exaggerate. 300 died, yet who knows whether Odinga is that much different from Kibaki? It's in the eyes of the beholder I guess.

This is how easy it is for countries to fall in Africa. Overnight. One day it's hailed as a stable albeit corrupt country with great opportunity for investment with a pretty good stock exchange and the next day it's code red.

I can not even begin to imagine how much this has set Kenya back financially.

I believe in Newton's third law "every action has an equal and opposite reaction". He may have been talking physics... but it sure applies to human nature too!
Poverty breeds a lot of tension and destruction. Any economist will tell you that money talks and bullshit walks.

These are some of the problems they didn't envision during the scramble for Africa.
Its very easy to incite violence in poor communities.

Any way while on the topic of cause and effect, I will end here with a quote from Jomo Kenyatta a famous Kikuyu: "When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the Land and the Missionaries had the Bible. They taught how to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible."

The African Jigsaw

Woman. Woooman
Unhappy woman
Yours the pain
yours the burden
where now the beauty
where now the truth
where now the eyes
that were your pride?
A heavy heart
an empty bowl
a suckling babe
defeat your pride.
(Written by Peter Rose and Anne Conlon for African Jigsaw)

Someone found something I had written 7 years ago about the 'African Jigsaw' musical and emailed me which was a surprise! I sang in the production many years ago and that was one of my favorite memories from childhood. So after the little reminder, I purchased the music yesterday. I can only buy the song sheet and not the tape/ CD because that's all there is but that really made me happy and I will write a few of the song words here when I get my book! I wish you could hear me sing! The songs are all beautiful and thought provoking. The two writters have done other work and I also perfomed in their other one 'Yanomamo'.

I guess I really wouldn't be opposed to helping direct 'African Jigsaw' one day, and in fact it's one of my dreams to help participate in one of those shows one day. When The book gets here I might just sing something and post it here:-)