Kaunda USA '06

some info on KK's visit:

KK will make Appearance on "Dancing with the Stars"
When the founding President of Zambia, Dr. Kenneth Kaunda, visits the U.S. as a guest of Project Concern International this November, his schedule includes a range of activities from being honored for his work against AIDS to being hosted for lunch by actor Sidney Poitier.
Dr. Kaunda, a leader of African independence in the 20th Century, now devotes his time to addressing the AIDS pandemic in Africa. To honor Dr. Kaunda, Project Concern will present the former president with a special recognition award at its 16th annual gala, which will be held at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines on Nov. 3.
Highlights of Dr. Kaunda's West Coast visit include:
San Diego:
-- Interview for University of California series, "Conversations in History"
-- Project Concern's 16th Annual Hands Across Borders gala
-- VIP Reception for 30 organizations named to Project Concern's 'Hope for Africa Honor Roll' for their work in human services
Los Angeles:
-- Speech at the Los Angeles World Affairs Council
-- Reception hosted by the Association of Zambians in California
-- Lunch meeting with actor Sidney Poitier
-- Appearance on "Dancing with the Stars" (Dr. Kaunda is an avid ballroom dancer)
Background:
The loss of Dr. Kaunda's son to AIDS and his country's ongoing crisis - more than 1 million people are HIV positive in Zambia - inspired Dr. Kaunda to launch a vigorous campaign in his retirement. Today, at the age of 82, he is a respected global advocate.
A relationship between Dr. Kaunda and San-Diego based Project Concern was forged as a result the organization's innovative work to combat AIDS in Zambia. In May 2006, Dr. Kaunda delivered closing remarks at Project Concern's Africa Forum. This unprecedented event connected more than 200 people from 16 African countries to share practical solutions in addressing AIDS and hunger as 'dual epidemics'. Active in the global AIDS response since the late 1980's, Project Concern's prevention, care, support and treatment programs reach millions of people in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the United States.
At a special reception prior Project Concern's gala on November 3, Dr. Kaunda will greet members of the "Hope for Africa Honor Roll" - more than 30 individuals and organizations in San Diego who are contributing their time, talent and money to address critical issues in Africa.
---
Project Concern International is a San Diego-based health and humanitarian aid organization dedicated to saving lives and building healthy communities around the world. With 45 years of experience, Project Concern has worked in 25 countries and today helps more than 3 million people lead healthy, productive lives. To learn more, visit http://www.ProjectConcern.org .

Traditions/ religions/ movement

O.K I have been meaning to talk out this but keep forgetting. There was a case in Engy where a moslem lady was asked to take off her "ninja" wear (a.k.a burka if you want to be politically correct). They claim it's necessary for her to wear it because its her religion. Now do you think an islamist nation would be that tolerant of me walking around with a huge Christian cross (a la 50 cents), and my traditional tumbuka animal skin attire with my boobs bear? so why should we be accepting of theirs?
My job doesn't allow me to wear a nose ring, and i gracefully took mine off...even though i could claim putting an ornament on my nose is part of my tradition and should be allowed!

should people move to other countries and expect things to be done just like it is in their country? what was the point of moving in the first place then?

if the poolicy at your work place says...no crosses or burka's then... thats what it means!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5411320.stm

Happy Zambia Independence Day!

Happy Independence day to all Zambians and all adopted Zambians and all Zambians by proxy? lol!

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/za.html

chisokone chisokone chisokone!!! ushasokone mwana wa ndoshi!
One Zambia- One Nation! Vote KK!

Samora Machel

They are finally putting a real inquiry into the death of Samora Machel 10 whole years later! I will be surprised if they find a whole lot of evidence...I'm sure any one that saw or heard anything is dead now, or they would have spilt their guts a long time ago. Even though I was quite little at the time that his delegation crashed after leaving Zambia...I still remember feeling a sense of dread...u know like your grand-father just died after promising to take u ice-cream shopping...:)

Oh and on a Sad note...Lebo from Boom-Shaka died!! what's with all the good female South African singers popping off to sing for Jesus??? As usual I smell a conspiracy...we need to bring in the Ng'anga's to "smell the rats".

(Oh and Judy....I am still laughing about yesterday's conva! can't get over it. To the rest of you...mind your own beezwax!)

Excitey-Whitey!!!

well it appears that they have found oil in Zambia....that simply means we'll get a little rich, then we'll have a war, then the US will occupy us, then they'll offer free scholarships and refugee status to those of us that will survive...then in like 50 years or so we'll either be quite prosperous or like our good neighbours les Congolais!

I hate the way the BBC keeps implying Mwanawasa has improved the Economy of Zambia...dude hasn't done too much. He didn't cause the international copper "come back", nor did he cause the debt of Zambia to be cancelled. So I don't think he should be praised for work that he did not do!!! has UNZA been fixed up? does it have as many educated prof's as it used to? has UTH (the biggest hospital) got most of the things that it needs..i.e xray sheets, dialysis machines, PANADOL, nurses, doctors...etc(if its better, why is our PRESIDENT going to the UK for something as easy as stroke treatment? why has he no faith in his own hospital?) c'est terrible! Its sad how the media tells stories to portray the writters views and not what's really going on!...hey it seems that I do it too...but if you read the first blog i published u would know that I live by my own standards...and represent only ME! so its justified!

Got curves???

Damn I'm hot! It just always surprises me:) haha...any way...my birthday celebration came to a nice end today...its been 2 weeks of fun...and i thouroughly enjoyed myself thanks to great family and good friends.

ahhhhh! i can't twait for my next birthday:)

Oh and someone asked me why I haven't commented on the Zambian Election results...well coz they we're Bull Shit and will forever be bullshit! and even if Micheal Sata won...I would still think the results were bullshit. That's my story...and I'm sticking to it!

Diane Rehm

Can I just tell y'all that I hate how Diane Rehms speaks with a passion!!!! Don't get me wrong because I love her program...but I just can't stand how she talks! weired, but true.
I finally got a chance to see what she looks like and...not what I expected at all! i thought she would look older than she does coz she certainly sounds OLD!
and i don't have a phobia about old people because my favorite patients are actually old people... i just don't like the way the lady talks! I always have to change the radio station when i hear her...well honestly...I listen a little bit...then i change the station:)
This is her Bio...pretty impressive... http://www.wamu.org/programs/dr/diane_rehm/ but I still don't like how she speaks!!!

Mau Mau Vs UK

All I can say is, if the Mau Mau win their case of abuse against the UK government. I will also be filling a complaint on behalf of Zambia! I don't care that I wasn't even a zygote at the time of their rule... but a sista needs money.
I am probably not as rich as i could have been because of them...who knows? what if I could have figured out a way to sail to the UK myself and conquered them? they didn't give me the chance...so I should charge them...hhhmmm...sounds like a plan!

On another note. I am tired of people in my class assuming people from third world countries are dumb..."why don't they just subsidise?" doomass...! read the dargone IMF S.A.P's!!

We might not be philosophers sitting around and thinking about stuff because we don't have the time to do that...we are always thinking about where our next meal will come from, who's going to die next, who's funeral will take priority to attend for that day, who's wedding to organize, who's children to adopt, who's going to get the educated of all the kids in the house...etc

oh crap I'm late for class...taataa!

The last king of Scotland

Photo's courtesy of www.imdb.com
This weekend I was away mulching off my aunt. I ate like a pig!! eat all you can eat cholesterol, fats, sugars, mmmmmmm salt!!!! The sucky thing was that there was an accident on the I-95 the day I left for Bethesda, and the day I got back! It took me approximately 2 hours to and from! how annoying!

The Bethesda food festival was in progress, so Bethesda was pretty busy. I forgot my camera at home because i was expecting to do a whole lot coz my fat lazy ass was looking for a nice cozy weekend sitting around with family! So i unfortunately had on some heels, biig mistake for all the walking we ended up doing thanks to STEVEN who messed up with the place we were supposed to go to! I could feel all the cholesterol and fats just seeping from my body with all the steps I took...thank God for refills!!!:)

So we went to see THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, and it was fun fun fun! there's quite a bit to laugh at if you understand the culture and all that. Forest Whitaker did an awesome job, and actually didn't pronouce as babdly as most American actors do when they fake an "African" accent. The Swahili pronounciation was quite believable.

This movie wasn't quite as horrid as the other Idi Amin movies which show him eating human flesh and highly abusing women. It showed a little bit about his sex party's and all, but nothing too vulgar. I have trouble believing the good doctors story that he really didn't know what was going on... I don't believe he could have been that stupid. Well maybe he could have been if he was doing one of the mad president's wives and expecting not to get caught...doomass!

Any way, If you haven't seen it yet, I would recommend that you do... its quite entertaining, especially since its inspired by true events.

The only thing I had issues with was...why is it that when they do movies about Africans, they typically seem to use African American actors for the parts??? Do Africans not know how to act? Kerry Washington is really pretty...but do we not have any pretty African women who could have played the part with a natural African accent??? I could have sworn I have seen beautiful African women...and I do that every morning when I look in the mirror!

I'm not trying to 'player hate' or whatever its called these days...but you will never find an African actor invited to play the part of Martin Luther King, or Malcom X, faking a "Black American" accent. So I don't see why it can be done the other way. Is the suggestion being made that African Americans are more superior??? Is that because they are "Americans"? or is it becaus ethey have lived near white people??? hey these are all valid questions... I am just throwing them out there! just like the Ugandan doctor says at the end of the movie to the good Scottish doctor "they will believe you because you're white". Very powerful statement. Also please don't tell me that people watched the movie because Forrest whitaker was in it because that's not true. Educated people will watch the movie because they know Idi Amin and it doesn't matter who the actor playing the part is.

If you also think back to the documentary on Liberia and how the "African Americans" were the only people allowed to stand for the country's elections in the birth of the country. The "locals" I guess were too dumb to know how to run the country.
***************************************************************
Oh i finally found some really good Liver pate from Balducci's... its been soooo long since I had some and i was really happy to amuse my taste buds with some.

ok...and on that interesting note...I will pen off and watch the Law and Order SVU marathon.

Mark Foley

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5400536.stm

Agony is:
signing a bill that bites you in the butt!!! it's funny, but its not funny if you get my drift. Now the democrats ofcourse are going to try to use this to their advantage- even though they have a Lewinsky scandal over their head! But finally the republicans can get off their high horses... just a lil'bit. Its too bad kids had to be involved....

Its my birfffdaay!

so its that special time of the year again.... and this year I didn't send out and annual reminder to the family and friends about it. I wanted to see who would remember...!
Cousin Kimmy ofcourse wins the trophy for cousin of the year!
the people at work are soooooo nice, they gave me the cheesiest assignment ever...needless to say i was bored with having nothing to do, but it was great to not get swamped today!

I have had phone calls from all over the world and i can truly say i am blessed and loved...not many people can say that.

My mother who forgets our birthdays every year...did it again...and i have to remind her in an ever so gentle way that if she doesn't improve...we'll put her in a nursing home:)

Shooting in schools

I think its appaling that every other day there's shooting in schools... I think the government needs to put check points at schools just like they do at the airports. We are so obsessed with terrorists...we forget that we have crazy people in the country!

If I was a parent I would be petrified everytime my kids went to school wondering if someone was going to shoot them, or if THEY were going to shoot someone. The latter is highly doubtful as I wouldn't allow guns in the house anyway...but who knows?? Can you ever really know your children???

Ubuntu...

Clinton my black buddy in a white body refered to this system at a meeting in England...they are right--he is the first BLACK president! I wish i heard it pronounce the word... that would have been soooo funny!

Based on that, I was watching "Life and debt" the Jamaican documentary on the issues of debt and the IMF. One of the songs highly resonates with me..."circumstances made me who I am, was I born a voilent man?"..... are people born the way they are or does society make them who they become? some studies show that there are gene's for gay people and genes for thieves and murderers... who knows?

The Pope finally kicked Milingo out! I think pope John Paul had a bit of a soft spot for him, coz he seriously did like a million and one things that should have had his ass excommunicated long before he was. On the other hand, where is the church's forgiveness? didn't Jesus say for give as you would like to be forgiven? eh?

On a fun note... the Chinese believe men should eat penises of other animals (dogs, TIGERS ...etc) to increase their virility....what happened to good old fashioned fertility pills????? There's a restaurant there that serves penises with prices up to $5000'ish.... now see, if you want to play with money...donate it to the foundation of Manena...and me love you long time! You wont need to eat any dog penises....

Brain drain

I picked up a story on Zambia's brain drain on the BBC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5362958.stm

quite honestly I commend all who do bed side health care work in Zambia, coz i don't think I could hack it!! My cousin(who is in medical school) and I were talking the other day about conditions of working in the health care industry in Zambia. The doctors have no real equipment to diagnose a problem and you're better off going to a witch doctor at times... because its all guess work! that's why the doctors leave the country for places where they can practice to the best of their abilities and make more money. The nurses aren't better off either. I can not imagine being the only person available for 10 patients or more. Well it happens in the USA too on really bad days, but atleast in Zambia i guess you can just delegate most of the work to the patients family members. You would have a huge law suit if you dared do that here in a USA hospital though:)

Domestic Violence

Last night the bloody people upstairs had a fight. Little did they know miss 911 lives right below their floor! Yes I said it! I have no fear of dailling 911. I called security on an 80 year old lady who said "you don't know me!" (implying i don't know what she's capable of), so i called security on her ass coz she didn't "know me" either!

So any shway, it took 911 10 minutes to get there even though I had told them, I thought someone was being hit, and they were shouting in loud voices. the people upstairs are Chinese/japanese/korean...etc u know what i mean! I heard mrs chinatown screaming in her language and things being knocked around as mr chinatown conitnued to shout things (and probably kung-fu'd her!). Well I hope I saved a life, or atleast he wont try to do it again because he'll be scared someone will call the police again. My only disappointment was that i was the only one who called it in, and i called 30 minutes after the whole mess started because i was hoping they could just stop at some point...and then i got scared someone would probably die on my watch...!

This week...

I have a flu/cold/allergies going on. So this whole weekend i spent sipping tea with honey, pumping my body with all sorts of pills, many warm baths, using breathe rites (because i've been snoring- and i doubt that they work...) and feeling sorry for myself!

well i did a lot of research for my papers, so i guess thats positive. T.V absolutely bored me...where is law and order when you need it????? Yesterday all the movies on Life time involved a lover killing their partner...etc, and today there was too much love going on...no healthy balance. So i threw in the pride and prejudice dvd for the hundredth time and ...oh Mr Daaaaaarcy!!!

In the news... a Kenyan author was in the new york times talking about how important using his language is... which is kind of like a follow up to the story i have below. He talks about how they used to be beaten in colonial times if they spoke anything other than English, and how the kenyatta and moi era's were also against using languages other than english. It reminded me of how we used to be fined or punished in my high school days if we so much as uttered a non-english word on the school grounds! Viva colonisation! Bwaana surely conquered us!
And as much as people like to go on and on about how bad Kenneth Kaunda (a.k.a KK, Super K, father Zambia). I think he tried his best. When he chucked out Zungu's and promoted "africanism" he was trying to preserve our culture. After years of the people being repressed and not able to practice their customs correctly... i don't see how this was "very wrong". As far as the economy... the man didn't know about running a country because he had no experience, and neither did anyone else. So mistakes were bound to be made, and they were.

Then yesterday i discovered that Fed-ex was supposed to be sending me a package from new york on thursday. How about my package went from new york, to new jersey, to BALTIMORE, MD, to new jersey again, then to Memphis tennessee as of yesterday. So i called to ask them why my package came to baltimore and had to be sent to flipping memphis? the guy on customer service told me it was "standard procedure". Dumb planning if you ask me. How do you transport something to where its supposed to go, then take it the opposite direction? That is not economically sound!

I had also hit an emotional pot hole this week, so i had to relax, relate and release some of that tension. Any way, that's what i get for worrying about other people's issues.

Malcom X just came on and i'm going to watch it. I need to get in touch with my "blackness" okay? okay. Go tribe of shabazz!

Are African languages important?

that was the topic for thursdays have your say on the bbc:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5072596.stm

its interesting to see African languages being fearlessly... ! If we as Africans can not defend and recognize our languages as important... it will only give enough reasons to the rest of the international community to not recognize them either!
As you can tell, i am still mad at my schools international studies/ development program for not having any mandatory African languages as requirements!

London

I am supposed to go to London tonight... still waiting on my passport to come back from the British consulate... so if i get it back by 4pm, i can go to the airport and fly out in good time to make it for breakfast with my mummy! I will be back on sunday though... i know it seems like a dumb trip... but it all started last friday when my mum decided she wanted me to go this weekend because she will be there. So i sent out my passport to the british consulate for my visa...forgetting that monday is a holiday and that my passport would only get to the consulate in new york on tue/wednesday. So i guess now i wait to see if they "expedited my order". I doubt it, but i'm still keeping the faith!

This is another reason why i want to work for an international organization coz that way, I could have a diplomatic passport and then i could just up and leave!

Zambian elections

The Zambian elections this year will be very interesting....

It turns out the Chinese amabassador made a comment about holding off on investments in Zambia because they are afraid of who might win...cracked me up! so ofcourse if the people they invest in want them to keep bringing money into the country, they need to vote for the person backed by the chinese government...woo hoo! forget democracy! Well if the country had oil or something of value, the USA would have stepped in by now to oust the Chinese and their bags of money!

and then... the western world was planning on putting economis sanctions on Sudan.... hahahahahahaha... what difference will that make????

Spontaneous!

This weekend i worked... i was supposed to go out friday night, but the weather was horrid! So the girls and I changed our minds. Then last night i came home from work, changed into my pajama's...then got a call from the gang who wanted to plan an outing for wednesday...and I in my wisdom was already on my second glass of wine and dancing around the house. So I declared that we needed to go out...and we did!

Padonia sucked, michaels sucked, and the still sucked, but we had fun talking and laughing and enjoying our drinks. It was a pleasant change from our usual outings. I was not hang over...which is great.