STRETCH OUT AND LEND A HAND

I have been following the tragic events of Haiti and it's really a sad and heart breaking situation. In a matter of minutes their lives were turned upside down, everything just changed; it was a dawn of a new chapter. I could imagine that everyone was just running their day to day life as it was supposed to be when the unexpected event happened. An event that took peoples' lives, made some widows and others widowers, left children orphaned and some crippled for life. I call it a new chapter in these peoples' lives because after surviving and going through such an experience life is never the same.

This led me thinking of the tremors that we have had in one of our districts in Malawi. The abnormal earthquakes that went on for days increasing strength with each new strike have changed many peoples' livelihood in Karonga. Many people were left homeless and desperate. They lost all they had, they lost their life savings, and some even lost their loved ones. Those wh still have their houses standing have resorted to sleeping outside as it is not safe to sleep in their weakened structures.

Can you imagine waking up and find that all you had is gone; your family, your house, your job just everything. When a disaster strikes it really does leave a mark in one's life.

I think of the wars going on around our continent of Africa, this is another sorry sight. Children who have been made to do unthinkable things as child soldiers, children taking up adult responsibilities whilst they are very young. Children who have seen things that even some of the adults who are in their 90's have never experienced. These children will grow up yes but the painful scars they carry within their minds will always be there. Life is never the same, their thinking is not the same, and their approach to life is not the same. So much hatred, so much anger, so many memories they wish they could just delete from their lives permanently.

How can we help, is there anything we can do to help?

GOOD MORNING??

I was sitting and having a round table chat with a couple of friends and we found ourselves talking about annoying things that happen when you are asleep.  I am sure many of you already have your thoughts wandering trying to pinpoint what could be so annoying when you are asleep.

I thought I list out a few of the annoying stuff which I found pretty fascinating. If you are a light sleeper the howling of dogs in the middle of the night can be quite a put off and a good wake up call. But this can not be compared to have a furry thing right in your face when you don't have a cat in your own house, yes I was reffering to a stray cat when I said a furry thing.

In places where we have guards at night there is nothing more annoying that hearing your guard and that of your neighbour cracking jokes at 3am in the morning. Its kind of good in a way because you know that they are awake and hopefully keeping watch and not sleeping, but I dont think its amusing for the one who is trying to enjoy their morning sleep.

Finally our African natural alarm, the cockrel, there is nothing that can drive your sleep away earlier than it came than a cock crowing at 2am and every 15minutes until dawn. And if you have several in the neighbourhood you will surely be awake on time. 

I am sure you have your own experiences, please share them if you are willing. I am sure we would love to share in the laughter.

Enjoy a peaceful sleep.

The Woman and the Society

A woman is respected by society from the way she handles herself in public, how she treats the people that surround her, and most of all how she cares about her surrounding (these are the author’s views).

While two decades ago women were confined to certain jobs (thought to be suitable for women), in this fast and dynamic world, women have found themselves going out of the confinement and pursuing their desired careers. This has led to women spending more years of studying and becoming more ambitious to achieve higher and greater goals than they used to two decades ago.

In the last decade we have seen Africa produce one of the first woman president, vice president, a high number of women in the cabinet, and more women engineers, pilots, lawyers, scientists, gardeners, farmers, drivers, army officers, police officers, managers, pastors, the list is endless.

The question I ask is what has brought about this change? How could a society that once had stereotyped jobs allow for this kind of change?

I do not know the answer myself, I can only speculate on a few ideas.

First of all it is possible that the norm that was there several years ago that women were supported by their husbands once married has taken a new turn. Either the husbands have stopped caring enough for their women especially those at home (house wives) hence the women saw the need to catch up. Many are the incidences of working class men cheating their wives/partners with their workmates. This results in the men spending more time and money maintaining their external affair whilst their household (wife and children) suffers. In this regard some women who have gone through this sort of relationship have encouraged their children especially girls to work hard so that they can achieve higher in life and stand on their own. Sometimes the initiative is not from the mother herself but from the girl child who has grown up seeing her mother suffer from a non-supporting husband leaving her (the mother) struggling with the children.

Secondly the issue of promoting women participation in different fields of work within the society has also encouraged women to aim high. This is because this initiative has shown that women also have a potential and important role to play within the society. This has given women a sense of belonging within the society and has helped them to believe in themselves that they can do something to help their society. Some jobs which were male dominated have become more interesting with the participation of women as the women bring in a certain charm to the job. We have seen the flexibility of certain jobs like having a male nurse, a female diver, a female pilot, and so on. Don’t forget that for those jobs where you need a uniform, the women make the uniform look better (azimayi woyeeeeeeee!).

Thirdly the high cost of living has forced some men to encourage their wives to find something to do so that together they can make ends meet. Families which think in this way have also encouraged their girl child to work hard and achieve better. And for the single women, the need to support one self has led to more women aiming high so that they can earn more to make a living.
I must say for whatever reason women have decided to pull up their socks and take part in building their society, let us not give up on them. Let us as a society continue to support these women to reach their goals.

Women, continue aiming high; remember the sky is the limit.

Best wishes in the new decade!

WELCOME TO A NEW DECADE

Happy New Year to all of you who have been following this blog and those just joining.

I am sure the previous decade has left you with loads of experiences, achievements snd so many more.

I wish you the very best for this year 2010 and the new decade we have started.

All the best and God Bless

Nya Mphande