THE SOUND OF A CHIMP.

THE SOUND OF THE CHIMP

Why not just write in vernacular if English is your weakest point? I suppose there are two sides to the coin. My Pastor always says write it or speak it as you feel it; who cares as long as your audience makes sense of it, but again, carelessness in words expressed portrays ignorance.

Summarily, I take a cue from Johnny Truants comment, "Writing can be really no-win. It’s not fair, but it’s true.

If you obsess over every grammatical and structural point, you can come across as stiff. But if you’re lax and make a bunch of simple errors, you’ll come across as stupid.

You make one mistake and a lot of people will let it go. Two and you’re making them suspicious. Keep that up, with your intelligence taking hits at each turn, and your reader will decide that you’re actually a chimpanzee — and not one of the smart ones, either".

Rather, it’s amazing what people put out here on social media, sometimes, i am literally scratching my head and asking myself, who did this to this one? Well, i guess its ones call, but i am sure no one wants to sound like a chimp. 

In Response to Africa & Politics. From Pessism to Optimism

I regard myself as an Afro neutralist as a new term. Rightly said, Africa has many complexities; on the pessimistic side if leaders entrusted to manage our resources do not incorporate in their planning the exponential growth of the population envisaged for the future then all gains made now will amount to nothing. Reproductive policy is not a priority for most African governments because of the cultural aspects tied to it. We all know that having such a policy in place is key in development. If the populace is not informed about the benefits of controlled birth I am afraid that governments will continue to bear the brunch of providing social services to meet the growing demands of the population, I can only imagine the consequences if resources are not available. To drive this agenda we need a focused and enlightened leadership at all levels.

On the optimistic side, I see an Africa were all important decisions will be made in an African board room and not in the West, but his can only happen if our present governments give more power to the people through strong institutions as opposed to presidents holding arbitrary powers. This will guarantee basic human rights being actualised which in my view is key to prosperity, vis a vis, right to education, food and shelter. Need I say more on the ripple effects?

Mark Zuckerbergs Visit to Nigeria & Kenya

Beats me why most are so petty. Petty over things that have no relevance to their wellbeing. Why would anyone want to talk of a billionaire's attire when visiting Africa? A case in point is Mark Zuckerberg’s image portrayal in Nigeria and Kenya, a T-shirt & jeans guy, and how humble he is etc. etc.... For me it's neither here nor there, for heaven's sake he is a tech guy, it is his prerogative to wear what he feels comfortable with, but to converse on his attire is so shallow.

The conversation should be, why Zambia was not on his calendar? Again, missed opportunities for the unemployed youthful entrepreneurial software engineers whose product innovations will never see the light of day for lack of a market or funding.

Our friends in Kenya and Nigeria are well ahead of the game, they keep their ears on the ground, they advocate, they run, and it is survival! They vent "if you are not vocal you will die local".

Kenyan's are generally tech savvy, their commerce is driven by technology (pioneers of mobile transfer money) whereas in Zambia our IT policy is dodgy it does not inspire software development.

Stakeholders would rather buy and re-sell software produced in other countries; the result, missed opportunities like Marks visit. Obviously, the successful developers in Kenya and Nigeria will be considered for lucrative deals, thus enhancing their country's profile as the bedrocks of technology in Africa.

Zambia is not short of brains, we have misplaced priorities.

Imagine, why one would ask Mark to come to Zambia to come and eat ifinkubala, ba khoswe, chipampila etc. and then continue to compliment his dressing of his t-shirt, when what we should be asking is how we can attract the likes of the Marks to Zambia for the mutual benefit.

Life is not all about comedy and politics, can we start asking the right questions and having the right conversations, this business as usual approach is frightening.

I Need You More

I need You More

What a great song by Ephraim our own Son of Africa. 

As I sit and listen to this song, I ask myself what would make me whole. Simple, the song 

says it all, I cannot say it any better.

Yes having God in my life is not sufficient, it is how I impact my faith on others, and this is the question that begs an answer. 

We all have a calling, but what are we doing for that calling to manifest?

I realize that the work of God needs utmost time to impact, the work of God is not part time.

All I have is great respect and admiration for people who have abandoned their great careers leaving behind the assurance of a guaranteed income at the end of the month and opted to serve God, what great love. Love that is whole and complete.

Every evening when I lie down to sleep, I hear the voice of God saying “apart from praising me, interceding  and thanking me, what have you done to grow my kingdom, how many souls have you brought to my Kingdom today, What have you done to show you love me, there are children who have not eaten, have nowhere to sleep, want to go to school, have no one to call mum and dad and are afflicted, they know that they have to survive. What are you doing?”  

Yes the world demands so much of our time to enable us put food on the table. 

My prayer is that I can overcome challenges, which I know will always be there but most importantly is finding a balance in all aspects of life to remain focused on my goals, which I am working on. 

I know they will never be a perfect time to start something, it is about making decisions and choices with the assurance that it shall be well.

I hope this resonates with you; my desire is that we live our calling to leave this world a better place than we found it.

  

Lesa Aliwama - Racheal (Zambia)

Panic In the Market

Sunday morning of 22nd May 2016, I decide to visit my cousins stand at the Pakati flea market at Arcades. It is an icy morning. The market is bustling with all kinds of people, albeit Zambia is hosting the Africa Development Bank annual conference, so yes the city is awash with dignitaries.

As we are seated by the stand we notice many passers by, as is obvious. Of particular interest is one young lady, 22, Chinese, I would say seemingly flippant in her attitude and  an aura of excitement within her . Oh! what catches our attention is the big sun hat she is wearing, large Ipad she is carrying and obviously her naivety. 

We give her a cheery greeting as we try to lure her to look at our wares, but no she has other things on her mind she scurry's off, of course to our disappointment.

Less than an hour later, this young lady comes dashing back at the stand  in a state of shock and panic, worse still she cannot express herself in English, she mumble jumbles something about the Ipad, and at that moment we know she has lost it. How pitiful she looks, she keeps pacing up and down, distraught, we try to calm her down and ask her to recollect where her last stop was. We tell her the direction we had last seen her go with  the Ipad. 

In a spate of  almost two hours she manages to engage all sorts of people she thinks can help her retrieve the Ipad, we all know at this point that the Ipad is a lost cause especially if she had placed it on some stand somewhere in the market whilst looking at the wares on sale.

At the time of my departure the Ipad has not been found, the young lady still frantic. 

It beats me to understand how distracted she was that she could loose her device in such careless fashion ....... remember, she could be a visitor, probably her first time in Zambia too. 

Is there anything that management of the premises can do to avert such similar occurrences? I can imagine the agony and inconvenience she is going through.

But I guess, as shoppers whichever, part of the world we are in , we have a responsibility to be watchful and cautious, we are accountable to ourselves, no one else is, but I suppose this could have been a case of an inexperienced traveler swayed by the trappings before her eyes. 

Girl Child, Hardest Hit.

In Africa, young girls are hardest hit from the squalor of poverty. They bear the brunch of all human troubles from infant hood, more especially if they lose their biological mother at a very tender age.

Leaving them disillusioned, disenfranchised which often leads them to the pits of hell; uneducated, married off young sometimes into polygamous marriages, they are sexually abused, contract HIV, they experience involuntary genital mutilation, inaccessibility to sanitary ware, economically dis empowered, exposure to early child pregnancies making them the perfect candidates for obstetric fistula disease in the absence of proper medical care, all this as if to confirm the prophetic adage, hewers of wood and drawers of water. In short they are condemned to perpetual bondage.

Are we doing enough to banish these practices as Africans, do we just speak when we know there are monetary benefits to be made from advocacy causes for girls?

I know of one or two distinguished fellow country women living in the diaspora, they head foundations which are helping some cause. They tweet about attending workshops and seminars, meeting distinguished persons, attending lavish functions, the list is endless. Without taking anything away from them I applaud them, for it is grace that is upon them, so who am I to condemn them.

But, I have a problem, when I ask them what they are doing to help that girl back home who is in dire need of school fees, access to sanitary wear, a decent school shoe I never get any response, surely something is amiss. Maybe it is a case of not letting the left hand know what the right hand is doing.

We can do better to bring hope.

We cannot eradicate inequality, but we certainly can make a difference. It is a 

fight of conscious.

It takes passion; until you have experienced the face of poverty you will never fight it to the full. You will continuously echo pronouncement without actualizing your policies. Our comfort zones will never deliver.

Not only should we push for policies that benefit the girl child, the women should drive the agenda.

Can we as African women on an individual level begin to think beyond educating our biological children and relatives only? We all can make small sacrifices to better the lives of the girls in need. It takes just one small step.

As for me I am entering a new phase of my life, my two daughters will be completing their undergraduate studies. I have single-handedly educated them. I made sacrifices, denying my own education, it has been hard and a learning experience.

The journey continues, my children understand the life of constant battle to attain education, I have raised them to know that education without humility is miseducation, education with selfishness cannot change the world. We are very resolved on this.

As they proceed in their next course of development, they will continue on this path of thought to help/support a girl child in need how they do this is of their own accord.

God willingly this time next year, I hope to blog my experiences of uplifting a girl child or girls   welfare for the betterment of their livelihood. I can only count on prayers and good will to be used as an instrument of change, it is a passion to be fulfilled soon and very soon for the common good.