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Expressions in Words (100 unread)

• February 15, 2010
• 7:14

  Love by Spreadsheet Part I

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  div style="text-align: right; font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:130%;"I wanna love you and treat you right;br /I wanna love you every day and every night:br /We'll be together with a roof right over our heads;br /We'll share the shelter of my single bed;br /We'll share the same room, yeah! - for Jah provide the bread.br /Is this love - is this love - is this love -br /Is this love that I'm feelin'?br /Lyrics : Is This Lovebr /Bob Marleybr //span/divspan style="font-size:130%;"br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"It's a standing joke within our organization that one of our colleagues - lets call him Mr X - choose his wife by using a spreadsheet. Coupled with that, he had only met his wife to be twice before they got married - once for 15 minutes (when the families met), and the second time for five minutes when he went to give his wife to be an invitation to their wedding! Last week, I decided to get to the bottom of things by asking him about his formula and the process. After all, he has been happily married for fourteen years so there has to be some method to his 'madness'. The discussion about his spreadsheet '/spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" affair/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"' led to some interesting views and insights into culture and relationships. All against the backdrop of all the frenzied Valentine's day articles and ads which seem to take up at least thirty percent of the Kenyan newspapers - with another twenty being dedicated to Zuma and his twenty children! These insights (and reflections on my side) I will try and summarize in the next couple of posts./spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Firstly the four categories (in no particular order) :/spanbr //spanul style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"should be from a good family, well brought up and with a solid value system; he went on to explain that while outer beauty was important, he placed more emphasis on inner beauty - which for him was more sustainable;br //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"should have equal educational qualifications, including the ability to speak and write in English;/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"should be socially acceptable and socially compatible; /span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Indian dowry system - in his culture, its the woman's family who pays the dowry to the man. This from what I understood could be influenced by several factors including caste, religion, market value based on job and job potential etc. Interestingly enough, at the time he was looking for a wife his worth was estimated to be close to USD 250,000! (by 1994 - 1995 standards) as he was normally offered a car, a house, a kilo of gold, health care for the first three or four children etc./span/li/ulspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"For each '/spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" candidate/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"' - my words not his - to even be considered they had to score a minimum of 15 points in each category, and have a cumulative score of at least 75 points. /spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"After having a good laugh, it also made me reflective on the 'categories' we define for ourselves and our potential partners. Do we spend time actually defining what we want, or do you simply adopt a hit and miss, or Mills and Boons type approach? (note to self, never let my daughter ready Mills and Boons!). What do we define as a good family? Is it the family values, or simply the apparent position of the family - economically or politically depending on what really we are looking for? /spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" br /br /Tomorrow (or maybe Wednesday to be a bit more realistic!) : His wife to be cumulative score and other issues of culture./span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-6290109536936178108?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• January 26, 2010
• 11:00

  A question of faith...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" I am beginning to think that the world loves a good tragedy. We look on with the right amount of angst etched into our faces, while secretly thanking which ever Being we believe in that it wasn't us. We wonder selfishly what would iwe/i have done, how would iwe/i have coped, if iwe/i had been in that situation. The thought actually struck me as I was watching yet another CNN perspective on the Haitian earthquake. In one shot there seemed to be more reporters, aid workers and UN personnel than there were actual victims! Hype and politics aside however, there is something comforting about the fact that we still seek to be our brothers' keeper, regardless of skin color, religion, or any of the usual differences. The outpouring of help and compassion does restore one's faith in humanity.br /br /Speaking about faith, I was struck by the undercurrent of this in many discussions around the earthquake. In one BBC radio show I heard, many members of the audience questioned if God existed. After all, if He did, then how could He have allowed this tragedy to happen? Interestingly it was the Haitians in the audience that re-affirmed and professed their faith idespite/i the disaster, and idespite/i knowing the fate of their loved ones. br /br //spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Does faith rise or lessen in proportion to adversity?/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Does faith rise or lesson in proportion economic well being? As I am writing this, I am trying to remember who it was observed that it always seems as if its the poorest of the poor that have their faith tested to the limit. I am actually not sure if it is always the poorest of the poor - we are all tested I guess, some in more harrowing ways than others. The only thing I can say to those persons that have been directly affected by this is simply, to keep the faith:br //spanulli style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;"span style="font-size:130%;"keep the faith in humanity and people; /span/lili style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;"span style="font-size:130%;"keep the faith that all will be well - eventually;/span/lili style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;"span style="font-size:130%;"keep the faith that some day, some how you will be past this point and you will in time deal with the emotional and physical pain that now seem so overwhelming;br //span/lili style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-style: italic;"keep the faith in that Being that you believe in./span/span/li/ulspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-style: italic;"/span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-1327689512209365742?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• January 14, 2010
• 12:21

  Tentative steps ....

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Spent the better part of my Christmas holidays watching my niece learning how to walk. Just shy of one, she would strategically position herself close to the nearest piece of furniture, haul herself up by holding on, take the first tentative steps, and then rush at full speed to the nearest person. She would laugh uncontrollably as she grabbed on to your legs. Mission accomplished!br /br /I felt exactly the same way I think my niece must feel when I logged into my blog this morning. Literally took a deep breath at the sign in page - had turned back so many times before. What excuse would I offer for my self imposed sabbatical? There was so much I could have blogged about before:br //spanul style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"my first Christmas in a decade at home;br //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"the reconnection with my daughter and the tales of boarding school;br //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"the misery of traveling through London - delayed flights, missed planes and the horrible weather;/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;" the American Airlines crash in Jamaica that broke the plane into three pieces and yet all persons walked away, none hurt, none killed (span style="font-style: italic;" most of my Ghanaian friends didn't seem to know about this!/span);/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"the newly imposed tax measures that have the entire Jamaica 'span style="font-style: italic;"cryin/spang' all in the fulfillment of obligations needed for an IMF loan;/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"my trip to Accompong, home of the Maroons - so named after one of their generals and looking for those connections to Ghana; kept wondering the if the name was a corruption of 'span style="font-style: italic;"Akropong/span' or 'Acheampong' - most of the Maroons were direct descendants of the Koromante tribe;/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"My literary trade of the span style="font-style: italic;"African Writers Series/span for the span style="font-style: italic;"Caribbean Writers Series/span, and the lazy days spent re-reading my old literature books from high school with 'new eyes' and re-discovering and discovering Caribbean authors;/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"And the shock when I realized I missed Ghana and 'home'. Unbelievable!br //span/li/ulspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" I could go on.br /Took a couple mins to go to my fav blogs, smiling at the posts as I skimmed through - grabbing at the virtual substance of the Ghana blogging crew. Won't make any promises about full going full speed ahead. But yes, it's good to be back and take my ' span style="font-style: italic;"first/span' steps./spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-2353923838279141839?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• November 19, 2009
• 17:00

  Everywhere you go, except on your phone!

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"A recent trip to Kumasi highlighted that there was serious competition among the telecom companies for who could paint the most buildings. Nothing was spared - homes, shops, sheds, bus stops, even a church! MTN won hand's down, with Vodaphone a close second. Despite that proof, nothing prepared me for the sight below I saw on the weekend at the beach close to where I live.br /br /a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SwUnAY2ZsiI/AAAAAAAAAsg/oRiI6AHv8bM/s1600/DSC00674.JPG"img style="cursor: pointer; width: 224px; height: 149px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SwUnAY2ZsiI/AAAAAAAAAsg/oRiI6AHv8bM/s320/DSC00674.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405769815352259106" border="0" //a/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SwUnA1OimUI/AAAAAAAAAso/PEmblD-lhqU/s1600/DSC00679.JPG"img style="cursor: pointer; width: 118px; height: 177px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SwUnA1OimUI/AAAAAAAAAso/PEmblD-lhqU/s320/DSC00679.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405769822969698626" border="0" //a/spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SwUwgX9QQ5I/AAAAAAAAAs4/AhOzcaJjg0c/s1600/DSC00678.JPG"img style="cursor: pointer; width: 206px; height: 137px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SwUwgX9QQ5I/AAAAAAAAAs4/AhOzcaJjg0c/s320/DSC00678.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405780260473029522" border="0" //abr /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /I just wish they would be more serious and that my calls and service would be /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" everywhere I go/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" as well./span span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" I guess we will just have to take 'span style="font-style: italic;"heart and hop/spane' from what one of the boats (span style="font-style: italic;"see pic above/span) now proudly display - all things by God - even MTN!/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-3648332020949737290?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• November 13, 2009
• 16:43

  Ashiaman Law

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  div style="text-align: left;"span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Accra is well dotted with signs in red, capital letters discouraging free-ranging practices through spot fines. I wonder however if this wouldn't be more effective?/spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/Sv2OnCjvWqI/AAAAAAAAArk/_yNJVPpOgzs/s1600-h/Ashiaman+Law.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/Sv2OnCjvWqI/AAAAAAAAArk/_yNJVPpOgzs/s400/Ashiaman+Law.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5403631929267280546" border="0" //aspan style="font-style: italic;"br //spandiv style="text-align: right;"span style="font-style: italic;"Picture credit : Anon/spanbr //div/divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-2380976029594098502?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• November 02, 2009
• 11:05

  Woman Power: The Kapersky Commonwealth Expedition

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/Su7ADlw_bMI/AAAAAAAAApY/9L8HaYeLDkU/s1600-h/resource_22.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 149px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/Su7ADlw_bMI/AAAAAAAAApY/9L8HaYeLDkU/s400/resource_22.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399464171173539010" border="0" //aspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Read of an interesting expedition today called the a href="http://www.kasperskycommonwealthexpedition.com/the-team/index.cfm"Kapersky Commonwealth Expedition/a - its a group of seven - originally eight - women from :br //spanul style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"Bruneibr //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Cyprus/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"India/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Jamaica/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"New Zealand/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Singapore andbr //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"The United Kingdombr //span/li/ulspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Promoted as /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" strongspan style="font-weight: normal;font-family:trebuchet ms;" 5 Continents, 6 Faiths, 7 Languages, 8 Women, 1 daring ambition the expedition will see this group of women/span/strong making a 900km journey from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole.br /br /Unfortunately the person selected from Ghana, Barbara Yarney, will not be able to participate because of ill health. Such a pity isn't it? Was so excited when I saw both Ghana and Jamaica listed as participating.br /br /For more on the team members and the expedition in general follow the link a href="http://www.kasperskycommonwealthexpedition.com/"here/a. I fully intend to follow this remarkable adventure that is so cool (span style="font-style: italic;"no pun intended!/span) on so many levels. Curious to see what will happen.br /br //spandiv style="text-align: right;"span style="font-style: italic;"Picture credit : the Kapersky Commonwealth Expedition /spana style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.kasperskycommonwealthexpedition.com"website/abr //divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-4239862675284289457?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• October 20, 2009
• 15:05

  Following King Prempeh's trail - Part 2

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  div style="text-align: right;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:130%;"br //span/divspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" The Seychelles it seems was somewhat of a smaller version of Australia for the British. There were several political prisoners that were sent here for varying ' crimes' against the empire. Apart from King Prempeh I, political prisoners came from other countries including: /spanul style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"Uganda/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Maldives/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Zanzibar/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Cyprus/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Palestine/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Malawi/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Zanzibarbr //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Somalia andbr //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Egypt/span/li/ulspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/St3stB4jBdI/AAAAAAAAApQ/cVnfrms7AEI/s1600-h/Prempeh+-+Kumasihene.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 128px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/St3stB4jBdI/AAAAAAAAApQ/cVnfrms7AEI/s320/Prempeh+-+Kumasihene.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5394728187003602386" border="0" //a/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"King Prempeh however was exiled for the longest - having spent twenty four years on Mahe. His - and others - imprisonment was seen a a way of destroying the very base of traditional political systems. Like others, during his exile, King Prempeh was forced to convert to Christianity and choose Christian names. King Prempeh thus 'converted' an Anglican and chose the Christian name Edward - after King Edward of England (of course!). To complete the transformation he had to also give up traditional cloth, wear suits and learned to write and speak English./spanbr /br /As one historian noted however ' /spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" in 1924 when Prempeh returned to Kumasi, and contrary to British expectation that his exile had weakened the kingdom and would make him the embodiment of a British ruler, his people, the Asantes, who had waited for twenty four years and rejected British appointed Kings and chiefs in the interim, restored him as an Asantehene or King of the Asantes/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" './spanbr /span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /Found this interesting extract at the National History Museum and thought I should share. Its an overview of the wages for the Ashanti Political prisoners as copied from an extract (span style="font-style: italic;"original source unknown, spellings of names kept as seen in document/span)./spandiv class="nobrtable"tabletbodytrthNames/ththRanks/thth Rate per day/ththTotal/th/trtrtdEdward Prempeh/tdtdEx-King of Ashanti/tdbr /tdRs 7.50/tdtdRs. 244.12/td/trtrtdGeorge Assibi/tdtdEx-King of Kakafu/tdtdRs 2.25/tdtdRs 73.24/td/trtrtdKojo Apia/tdtdEx-King of Kumassi/tdtdRs 1.27/tdtdRs 60.87/td/trtrtdAsafu Beashen/tdtdEx-King of Kumassi/tdtdRs 1.87/tdtdRs 60.87/td/trtrtdBeatin/tdbr /tdEx-King of Kumassi/tdtdRs 1.87/tdtdRs 60.87/td/trtrtdYa Assantiwa/tdtdQueen Mother/tdtdRs 3.37/tdtdRs 109.69/td/trtrtdKofi Kofia/tdtdEx-King of Berumfu/tdtdRs 1.87/tdtdRs 60.87/td/trbr /trtdKobina Kwantabissah/tdtdEx-King of Oduman/tdtdRs 1.87/tdtdRs 60.37/td/trtrtdKwami Chausa/tdtdEx-King of Berumfui/tdtdRs 1.87/tdbr /tdRs 60.37/td/trtrtdEdu Kofi/tdtdEx-King of Berumfu/tdtdRs 1.87/tdtdRs 60.87/td/trtrtdKwami Akrema/tdtdEx-King of Talkerii/tdbr /tdRs 1.87/tdtdRs 60.37br /br //td/tr/tbody/table/divbr /br /div style="text-align: right; font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:100%;"Sourcesbr //span/divdiv style="text-align: right;"span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" span style="font-style: italic;"Picture: /spana style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/history/prempeh.php"Ghana Web /a/spanbr /span style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" Encyclopedia of the African Disapora: Origins, Experiences and Culturebr /edited by Carole Boyce Davis/spanbr //divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-2190845958623694755?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• October 15, 2009
• 19:28

  Following King Prempeh's trail - Part 1

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Most Ghanaian do know the history of King Prempeh and his exile to the Seychelles so coming to the islands with a group of Ghanaians certainly meant that we were going to follow the trail. Better still we had in our midst two Ashantis and direct orders from the Seychelles consulate - /spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" a member of our Rotary Club/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" - to do some fact finding. And fact finding we did!br /br /We had to do a bit of leg work - literally! but luckily with a total population of only eighty five thousand, and the smallest geographical capital in the world, it wasn't as bad as we feared. We started asking almost as soon as we were off the plane, and grilled the hotel staff at breakfast the next morning. Venturing into town to see the sights we soon found other links, and finally a telephone number and address. We actually spent the day on Tuesday with his grand-daughter, Terraine, one of the two remaining grand-children living here in the Seychelles.br /br /a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/StbjXK3XCjI/AAAAAAAAAoo/hcjqVh5hyGY/s1600-h/DSC00209.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 232px; height: 155px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/StbjXK3XCjI/AAAAAAAAAoo/hcjqVh5hyGY/s320/DSC00209.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392747591015795250" border="0" //aCoincidentally, we visited her almost some sixteen or so years after the visit of the then President Rawlings.br /br /Sadly, she had never been to Ghana - despite promises from so many others that had visited before. Is seldom in touch with the relatives who went back with King Prempeh, and while she did seem proud that she was descended from royalty, seemed to be unable to connect it back to the excitement the group displayed. Over the next couple of days will try and share some of what I have learnt - and am hoping that the video I did is in '/spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" postable/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" ' condition. Will also tell you about King Prempeh's house, and the grave of Yaa Ansantewa./spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-5290111982646582269?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• October 14, 2009
• 13:30

  Life, Living and Loving...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Read two great books this weekend as a part of my island living getway. The first I have just finished and truth be told am tempted to start all over again this very instant. The next I have just started, and already trying to change my usual mindsets.br /br /The one I completed was span style="font-style: italic;"Eleven Minute/spans by a href="http://www.paulocoelho.com/engl/index.html"Paulo Coelho/a - he has recently become a favorite author, perhaps winning me over first with span style="font-style: italic;"Brida/span, and later span style="font-style: italic;"Veronica Must Die/span, but this has to be his best to date. It explores love, life, and choices in a way I think few others could master. The experience , as shared by a prostitute, Maria, left me feeling hopeful, that deep within in each of us there is a love so pure, and so sacred that it takes courage and an unshakable faith to find.br /br /The other I am reading is somewhat related - its about belief in one's self, and linking and fulfilling positive thoughts to live the life one deserves to have. It's called span style="font-style: italic;"The Secret/span and is written by Rhonda Byrne.br /br /Won't attempt to give a 'blog report' of any of the two, but yes, I do recommend them. Also wanted to share the following poem which Coelho spoke to in his book, and which I also googled online to find out more. It's a beautiful poem, full of strength, depth and one which I think all women - and men - should read. As the Egyptian Goddess of motherhood and fertility, I think it was a most apt poem to Isis. Enjoy.br /br //span h2 style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:130%;"strongHymn to Isis/strong/span/h2 p style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="body"span style="font-size:130%;"For I am the first and the lastbr / I am the venerated and the despisedbr / I am the prostitute and the saintbr / I am the wife and the virginbr / I am the mother and the daughterbr / I am the arms of my motherbr / I am barren and my children are manybr / I am the married woman and the spinsterbr / I am the woman who gives birth and shebr / who never procreatedbr / I am the consolation for the pain of birthbr / I am the wife and the husbandbr / And it was my man who created mebr / I am the mother of my fatherbr / I am the sister of my husbandbr / And he is my rejected sonbr / Always respect mebr / For I am the shameful and the magnificent one/span/p p style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="body"span style="font-size:130%;"- em3rd or 4th century BCE, discovered in Nag Hammadi/em/span/pspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" P.S. : though this may reveal my age does any one remember the cartoon Isis? I remember watching it on TV in Jamaica when I was much, much younger!br /P.P.S: interestingly the entry for this week on Paulo Coelho's blog (October 12th) is entitled ' The Feminine Face of God' - an apt reminder that I am still to publish Nana's viewpoints on the subject as I said I would. Have a look see at Coelho's interview - even more interesting are some of the comments from his readers!/span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-6444315253720835282?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• October 13, 2009
• 15:25

  Island Living....

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/StSs1VfmlNI/AAAAAAAAAog/3bWVDSZajko/s1600-h/DSC00194.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 258px; height: 171px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/StSs1VfmlNI/AAAAAAAAAog/3bWVDSZajko/s400/DSC00194.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392124686172067026" border="0" //aspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" So granted its not the Caribbean Sea, and granted the island is question is not Jamaica, but for this week I will enjoy once again the feel of island living. I am actually in the Seychelles for a workshop/conference. It's the first time for a lot of things :br //spanul style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"First time in the Seychelles and loving it! Though I am shamelessly patriotic to the bone, I wouldn't be lying when I say Jamaica is a beautiful island, but hmm, am now convinced we have a close competitor. Feels like heaven to have traded in the grime, muck, plastic (carrier) bags and unmentionables I have come to associate with the beaches in Ghana (especially in Accra!) to those that are pristine, white sands and azure waters!/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"First time being in the Indian Ocean - having been accustomed now to the rough pounding of the Atlantic, the gentle break of the waves remind me so much of home;br //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"First time attending a Rotary Institute - yes, I am a Rotarian. At this Institute there are over 30 countries attending. Will be interesting I am sure./span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"First time for the immigration officer to have met a Jamaican national - he was so surprised, and mentioned that in his eight years he had never processed a Jamaican passport before. Told me he had a million and one questions, but alas, alas no time.br //span/li/ulspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Already so much to blog about - actually met King Prempeh's grand-daughter today! - but will do it in snippets. Am trying not to yield to the temptation of writing one long summary! /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" In the mean time, back to the languidness of island living./spanbr /div style="text-align: right;"span style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" Picture by me : view from my hotel room/spanbr //divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-2971218718742461861?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• October 07, 2009
• 8:45

  The gift....

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  div style="text-align: right;"span style="font-size:100%;"span style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" Note: a fellow blogger, /spana style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://antirhythm.blogspot.com/"Nana Yaw/aspan style="font-style: italic;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;", has been writing on the paranormal this week, and it's interesting to see the parallels to our own Jamaican beliefs in the spirit world. His last post inspired me to write this account of my own experiences./span /span/spanbr //divbr /span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" The events surrounding my birth were such that my mother still marvels that I am around. The first was the sign that the doctor made to the nurse as he held me snugly in the palm of one hand after delivery. My mother took this as I sign that I would not survive and burst into tears fearing the worse. At two months premature I was so small and frail that they kept me in an incubator for a week and a half before sending me home. The second was more important for my grandmother. It was the fact that I was born with a caul, a sure sign in Jamaica that you were born with the gift i.e. the ability to see ghosts. My grandmother would remind me at various times through my childhood about this special gift, however I thought little about it until the summer of my twelfth year.br /br /As was usual in the summer, my siblings and I would be sent to our grandmother's home in the Jamaican countryside. Set in a village established in the aftermath of slavery, the house sat atop a hill flanked on one side by an old grave yard and a spectacular view of hills and valleys on the other. Summers would be spent going to the fields, baiting the cantankerous old mule that acted like a sentinel in the front yard, catching caterpillars and waiting for them to emerge as butterflies - assuming we didn't kill the first, and catching peeny-wallies and watching them flicker in the darkness of the country night, competing with the old ' span style="font-style: italic;"home sweet home lamps/span' as there was no electricity.br /br /We were all in one of the bedrooms and I was lying on the bed, looking out into the living room. Having left the luxury of black and white TV behind in 'town', as usual we were telling jokes and stories. I saw a man walk across the living room. I can see him in my minds eye even now. He was dressed rather shabbily in an old red shirt, and a pair of dark blue scruffy pants that were much too old, much too big and much too short. He had a hoe slung over one shoulder and looked as if he had just come from a hard day's work in the fields. He ignored us and walked straight across the living room and into the kitchen. I asked my aunt ' /spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" who is that/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" ?'. She wanted to know who I was referring to. ' /spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" The man that just walked through the living room/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" ' I replied. By now everyone thought I was joking. I insisted I wasn't - he was there, I had seen him. I described what he wore and how he looked. My uncle checked, but the doors were all locked, and there was no one apart from us in the house. My siblings, cousins and I went to sleep that night, huddled closer than before.br /br /On returning home, I told my grandmother what I had seen. She nodded knowingly, recalling the events of my birth and my special gift. She told me never to be afraid, and if I ever was just to say the /spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Lord's Prayer/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" and all would be well.br /br /Alas, alas my grandmother died, the year I was sixteen. I still miss her. I knew she died before I was told. She was in the countryside with my aunt and the night she died I was home asleep and I kept waking up because I heard her calling my name. I told my Mom who sent me back to bed several times, annoyed that I was waking her up to tell her this 'foolishness'. When I finally managed to sleep, I dreamt there was a huge fire and everyone was safe, expect for my grandma whom no one could find. I finally found her watching the inferno from a distance and when she saw me she smiled, and told me to tell everyone she was okay, and there was no need to worry. I woke up from my sleep and crawled into my mothers bed and told her what I dreamt. The following morning, my Aunt arrived with the news that my Grandma had died during the night. My mother looked at me, not knowing what to say.br /br /Gift? Coincidence? At this ripe old age I am still not sure, but somewhere, deep within me, I like to think that I do have the gift.br /br //spandiv style="text-align: right; font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" Caul : a search on wikipedia on the term 'caul' and 'caul bearer'br /turned up some interesting facts with both positive and negative omens:/span/divol style="text-align: right;"li style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:100%;"An intact amniotic sac surrounding the fetus at birth. When it remains intact, it must be torn or cut to allow the baby to breathe.br //span/lili style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:100%;"It was widely believed by African slaves in the Americas that infants born with this would have the the gift of being able to communicate with ghosts, as well as see into the future./span/lili style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:100%;"In several European countries a child being born with a caul was a sign that the child may become a vampire. As a preventative measure, the caul was removed before the child was able to eat any of it, and then it was destroyed./span/lili style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:100%;"The most common portent of good luck in recent centuries is that the baby born with a caul will never drown, the second most common myth is from Scotland and that believes the child will be fey, or psychic. Another British meaning is that the child will travel its entire life and never tire./span/lilispan style="font-size:100%;"span style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" Notable persons born with a caul : Libarace, Sigmund Freud, Pontious Pilate, Napoleon Bonaparte /span/spanbr //li/oldiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-8898029992790985866?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• October 05, 2009
• 10:12

  Why God is a Woman : Part I

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"It seems ever since the seminar on women and ICTs my '/span/spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" world/spanspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"' has been bombarded with issues surrounding women - sexuality, femininity, power, motherhood. Funnily enough, these issues had always been there but re-examining them from another perspective has been enlightening on a most personal level. It also made me appreciate how my own Mother had raised me, and how much as parents we have to instill in our children - be they male or female.br /br //span/spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SsnlPqtMldI/AAAAAAAAAoY/PBfZwdcs67Q/s1600-h/DSC_0317a.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 234px; height: 260px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SsnlPqtMldI/AAAAAAAAAoY/PBfZwdcs67Q/s320/DSC_0317a.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389090486450165202" border="0" //aspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Perhaps this was all leading up to me reconnecting with an old friend, Nana, who can best be described as a jack of all trades and a master of many. He shared with me last Friday an article he wrote entitled ' /span/spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Why God is a Woman/spanspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"'. A strange assertion one may argue if you have been steeped in the traditional view of religion such as I have been, even stranger if you know Nana, who from all indications is a typical man. Anyway, will 'span style="font-style: italic;"feature/span' this for the next couple of days, sharing his opinions with you. /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br /br /I met Nana about three years ago - my first Trade Fair in Ghana and there I was looking for everything but nothing in particular. He was at one of the stalls selling natural oils and soaps and as one dreadlocks to another we hit it off instantly. He had a charisma about him that was hard to resist, and the more we spoke the more I was able to appreciate - though not necessarily agree - with his points of view. However, I liked the fact that he looked at life differently and wanted to make something out of his. Over the years we have kept a loose friendship - intensifying at times, a bit more laid back at others - but always keeping in touch and exchanging views on life and 'livity' according to the happenings of the day.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I won't use this blog to argue or defend my own beliefs on the subject. This is Nana's perception - open to both your interpretation and mine. His perception of course is not a new one and a quick check on Google will link you to several theories on the topic. I will however focus on presenting Nana's version and why span style="font-style: italic;"this/span Ghanaian man choose to see God as a woman. Curious to know what others will also think./span/spanbr /br /div style="text-align: right;"span style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" Note : /spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:100%;"br /Nana is an avid writer and I have also encouraged him to start bloggingbr /and will actually be setting this up for him later today. Will of course post the link/span./span/spanbr /span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/span/span/divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-5861515105443175860?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• October 02, 2009
• 8:12

  Agbogbloshie Baby...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"She yawned sleepily, not in the least bit perturbed it seemed by the span style="font-style: italic;"oohs/span and span style="font-style: italic;"aahs/span of the women around her. After all, what could be worse than the less than auspicious surroundings in which she had been found? A public toilet in the in-famous Agbogbloshie /span/spanspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Market in Accra.br /br /The doctors said she must have been born about four hours or so before the good Samaritan, an elderly man, found her. Already she had been to two police stations, and one hospital so nothing could really be more comfortable than her pink downy blanket that the mothers in the maternity wing had pooled together to buy for her, and a group of women whose maternal instincts were all stirred - regardless of the fact as to whether or not they themselves had ever had children.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I didn't know that seeing her would affect me so much. I saw echoes of my daughter in her - the long limbs, the tightly curled fists, the pinkness of being newly born. I wondered about her mother. What happened? Who was she? Did she leave her there full well knowing that someone would more than likely find her? I tell myself that if she didn't want her to live there were options too numerous to choose and too heinous to mention. So somewhere inside, she must have wanted to give her a chance, she must have wanted her to live./spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"The doctors assured us she was perfectly healthy, and that she would be sent to the Osu Childrens Home within a couple of days. They noted too that her chances for being adopted, given her age, were also very high.br /br /While one hears about these things almost everyday, its so sad when you come face to face with it directly. Hoping that all will be well for Agbogbloshie Baby. Am planning to visit her again at the Children's Home, though I also hope that she will be adopted sooner rather than later.br //span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-3353488964781810469?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• October 01, 2009
• 7:40

  Chance encounters...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Truth be told I remembered the meeting but didn't remember her name. It was all of four years ago in, somewhere in the garden restaurant of Paloma, over drinks and lamenting on the lack of good female role models in the IT sector. It perhaps was no more than an hour or so, exchanges of ideas, discussion of issues and that was the last I heard of her. In fact I recalled elements of that meeting last week when I had been asked to sit on a panel discussing options for women in the sector - see a href="http://nonjeneregretterien.blogspot.com/2009/09/ghana-women-and-ict.html"Rain in Africa/a for an overview of that session.br /br /So yesterday, there I was in my Rotary meeting when the President introduces a visitor to the Club who wanted to see how to partner with us on setting up a mentoring programme. You can imagine my surprise when she stood up and mentioned that she herself had been mentored by me - it was the same person from all those years ago over drinks at Paloma! The ideas we had discussed she had went on to develop, and implement and is doing a fabulous job in being a role model and mentor herself! Cool isn't it?br /br /For more on Ama Pomaa Boateng. the face behind Ghana High-Tech Women, an NGO focusing on 'span style="font-style: italic;"empowering women with technology/span' and what she has been doing see a write up on the a href="http://www.casefoundation.org/blog/meet-mentee-ama-pomaa-boateng"Case Foundation/a website, where earlier this year she was profiled as one of the mentees.br /br /We chatted briefly after the meeting and lamented not staying in touch - she had lost my contact details and I had moved organizations and countries. Needless to say we are connected again. Cool what chance encounters can create isn't it?/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-1250370109438579012?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• September 30, 2009
• 16:42

  Excuse me while I walk my boat....

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SsOT9rFKGCI/AAAAAAAAAoI/cQRrjmdRB9A/s1600-h/walking+the+boat.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 276px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SsOT9rFKGCI/AAAAAAAAAoI/cQRrjmdRB9A/s400/walking+the+boat.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387312267010906146" border="0" //abr /span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I fear I am turning into an occasional blogger and the fact is that I have more than enough occasion to write.br /br /Was looking at some pics sent by a friend capturing the now seemingly long ago birthday and found this one fascinating on so many levels. There we were sailing down the coast in Ada, and here was this man walking his boat. I am sure he had many reasons for doing this - perhaps the same amount of reasons why I am not posting.br /br /It made me think and reflect as to why these days it feels these days like I am walking a boat i.e. doing things in a rather illogical manner./spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"The times I walked Nico, i.e. our famous dog, for him - and by extension us - it was always a new adventure. Nico stops here and there to sniff the 'roses'. For him every new smell is an adventure and every new turn simply leads to something yet to be discovered.br /br //span/spanspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Won't make any 'span style="font-style: italic;"blogolutions/span' i.e. resolutions to update my blog every day or even every week - yes been there and done that./span/spanspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" However will snap out of walking my boat and get back to walking my dog. /span/spanbr /div style="text-align: right;"span style="font-size:100%;"span style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" Picture credit : Blogger Kajsa, /spana style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://nonjeneregretterien.blogspot.com/"Rain in Africa/a/spanbr //divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-396213191227168302?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• September 03, 2009
• 13:49

  Dry land Tourist

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  div style="text-align: left;"a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/Sp_Jc8GOn4I/AAAAAAAAAnY/AJeRNZ-tXRo/s1600-h/RKZFP1L2.jpg"img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; clear: both; float: left; width: 366px; height: 156px;" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/Sp_Jc8GOn4I/AAAAAAAAAnY/AJeRNZ-tXRo/s400/RKZFP1L2.jpg" border="0" //aspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" According to the online a href="http://www.niceup.com/patois.txt"Rasta/Patois dictionary/a, a dry land tourist is someone who has never been off the island, but still acts like a tourist, While I don't think I fit into the Jamaican definition, made me recall my own 'dry land tourist' adventures, in the sense that I always want to know where I live better - be that Jamaica, Ghana or anywhere in between. And if that includes visiting the traditional and not so traditional touristy spots, then why not.br /br /Just got a copy of this picture from a friend of mine (span style="font-style: italic;"played around in a href="http://www.picasa.google.com/"Picasa/a to get the sepia version/span). As we often times did on the weekends or during holidays, we would simply pack-and-go. Usually with some destination in mind, but yes, primarily for the journey. /span/divspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /On this trip we had gone to a href="http://www.ghanaexpeditions.com/regions/highlight_detail.asp?id=amp;rdid=198"Wli Falls/a , and were sitting starting up at the million and one bats that lived right beside the falls. You could hear their chattering above the sounds of the falls and we were wondering 'span style="font-style: italic;"why there/span' as opposed to somewhere else.br /br /Didn't make it to the higher falls, but were content to sit, swim and chill and enjoy another part of Ghana that was not Accra. It's nice to be a 'span style="font-style: italic;"dry land tourist/span'.br //spandiv style="clear: both; text-align: left;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:130%;"a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" alt="Posted by Picasa" style="border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: border; -moz-background-origin: padding; -moz-background-inline-policy: continuous;" align="middle" border="0" //a/span/divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-3504640468049533198?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• August 26, 2009
• 16:53

  "In his own country, crime nearly ceases when he runs"

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SpVrm3ibuyI/AAAAAAAAAeM/TvIS-FWENCs/s1600-h/Usain+SI.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 252px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SpVrm3ibuyI/AAAAAAAAAeM/TvIS-FWENCs/s320/Usain+SI.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374320045824129826" border="0" //aspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Been watching the usual media after shocks on Usain with some amusement, but by far the funniest thing I have seen is the quotation used for the title to my post today. Saw this in an article written by Tim Layden in an article entitled a href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1159481/index.htm"Bolt Strikes Twice/a ( /spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" follow hyperlink for full story/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" ). It made me remember an interview I had around the time of the Beijing Olympics as well, where the interviewer, in all seriousness said, ' /spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" I guess you can't call Jamaica a developing country as you have Usain Bolt/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" '. Hmm, go figure./spanbr /span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /Anyway, its nice to see a fellow country man grace the cover of Sports Illustrated - while I certainly don't buy this magazine every month I will do my level best to get a copy. /spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SpVtDQnCXiI/AAAAAAAAAeU/Otb_HDIGWsI/s1600-h/usain.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 283px; height: 194px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SpVtDQnCXiI/AAAAAAAAAeU/Otb_HDIGWsI/s320/usain.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374321633102290466" border="0" //aspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Also saw the cartoon below, but must confess that I objected to /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" how the the cartoonist drew Usain - reminded me too much of span style="font-style: italic;"'black face'/span type comedies where the typical appearance was thick lips and big noses.br /br /Was also interesting to see 'the world's greatest' website up for sale on e-bay, for a 'sprintly' sum of USD 100, 958! Again go figure. As to be expected there are no bids.br /br /While there is much adulation and adoration, there also is quite a bit of skepticism and references to athletes like Marion Jones and their own rise and fall from 'glory'. Won't join the naysayers though - still proud a ' span style="font-style: italic;"di likkle country bway, him a do wi proud/span!'br /br //spandiv style="text-align: right;"span style="font-style: italic;"Pictures:/spanbr /ul style="font-style: italic;"liBob Martin, SI (creative commons licenses)/li/ulul style="font-style: italic;"liZapire/li/ulbr /br //divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-7010987233314362854?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• August 21, 2009
• 7:25

  Leave the dead to bury the dead...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Had a most unique funeral experience last Friday that got me thinking about how much as persons we can truly dictate what happens in our lives. We all know what a traditional Ghanaian funeral is like - enough of us had blogged and experienced it before. Jamaican funerals, while less elaborate, can also be costly both from a time and financial perspective. Anyway, I digress, back to last Friday's funeral. There was none of the usual and expected things:br //spanul style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"There were no funeral invitations;br //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"There was a span style="font-style: italic;"'burial'/span and memorial service in one and no wake keeping;br //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"There was no elaborate programme with dedications and pictures; there was one picture of the deceased on the cover, and a short thank you from the family on the back page;/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"There were no funeral donations;br //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Lastly, there was no body - he had instructed that his body be given to medicine./span/li/ulspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" In speaking with my friend afterward - it was her Dad - she mentioned that this is what he instructed, and this is simply what he wanted. Tradition be damned span style="font-style: italic;"(my words, not theirs)/span, he simply wanted to be remembered for who he was, and not by the elaborateness of his funeral. He wanted to donate his body to medicine, in the hopes that someone else could benefit. And he wanted his family just to simply honor his wishes.br /br /My co-workers were flabbergasted! They just could not (or was that would not) understand:br //spanul style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"Clearly he was not Ghanaian - he was; and then they needed to verify which tribe;br //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Clearly he had lived outside and this was some foreign notion - he hadn't;br //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Clearly his family should have disagreed - they didn't, they simply respected his wishes, as hard as it was for them to do in the face of tradition.br //span/li/ulspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" This morning while on my way to work, the canopy erectors, and the chair suppliers were busy preparing for the funerals that are normal in the Osu/La area at this time of the week. A bit later, the streets will be thronged with persons clad in all the funeral colors, waiting for refreshment and music after doing the church and burial services. Even later, the family will be reconciling the costs, and hoping that the donations will help to settle burial costs. Perhaps all of us could learn a lesson or two - it's while you are alive and the quality of your life that counts, and you can also dictate what happens after you go./spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-4740750415591204990?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• August 20, 2009
• 15:48

  As lonely as a toothbrush...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/So10bWTU80I/AAAAAAAAAd8/WZIcgrftSHY/s1600-h/DSC00858.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 280px; height: 212px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/So10bWTU80I/AAAAAAAAAd8/WZIcgrftSHY/s320/DSC00858.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372077943714804546" border="0" //aspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" This past week has seem like only fast blur and am now just groggily resurrecting myself from warp speed emotions and happenings .br /Birthday on Thursday - complete with anxieties of a new decade;br /Fabulous party on Saturday with presence and presents from those that I wanted to be with;br /Sent my daughter off to school in Jamaica on Tuesday.br /Slowly coming back to life (span style="font-style: italic;"without having her near/span) only today.br /br /The fact that she has gone home to school really struck me this morning when I went to brush my teeth. I suddenly just saw my lone toothbrush, standing in it's usual holder, in it's usual place on the pristine white face basin. It just looked so alone.br /br /It's always been just been the two of us - inseparable until now. Apart from the usual holidays when I would send her back home, or when I have to travel we have always been together. Have spent the past days reminiscing about the adventures, the arguments ( span style="font-style: italic;"far and few between/span) and everything else that we have been doing together since forever it seems. Both her friends and my friends couldn't understand how close we were and often times remarked ' span style="font-style: italic;"it's just unusual/span' . But having grown up with a Mother who was still my mother and my friend, I really wanted to have the same type of relationship with my own daughter.br /br /Truth be told I am missing my best friend, and am as lonely as my toothbrush.br /br //spandiv style="text-align: right; font-style: italic;"span style="font-family:georgia, bookman old style, palatino linotype, book antiqua, palatino, trebuchet ms, helvetica, garamond, sans-serif, arial, verdana, avante garde, century gothic, comic sans ms, times, times new roman, serif;"There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings. ~Hodding Carter, Jr./spanbr //divdiv style="text-align: right;"span style="font-family:georgia, bookman old style, palatino linotype, book antiqua, palatino, trebuchet ms, helvetica, garamond, sans-serif, arial, verdana, avante garde, century gothic, comic sans ms, times, times new roman, serif;"span style="font-style: italic;"It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't. /spanbr /span style="font-style: italic;" ~Barbara Kingsolver, /spanispan style="font-style: italic;"Animal Dreams/spanbr /br /br //i/span/divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-4523892296309040118?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• August 14, 2009
• 13:27

  Posting secrets of a different sort...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" I still remember the day I discovered the a href="http://postsecret.blogspot.com/"Posts Secrets/a website - I voyeuristicspan style="font-style: italic;"-ally/span read the secrets posted and visited regularly to have a peek into personal confessions and fantasies, never bold enough to post any of my own, but identifying with several.br /br /Found another site today also intent on posting secrets but of a different sort - it's the a href="http://wikileaks.org/"Wikileaks/a site. Having won a recent Amnesty award, Wikileaks defines itself as a span style="font-style: italic;"multi-jurisdictional organization to protect internal dissidents, whistleblowers, journalists and bloggers who face legal or other threats related to publishing/span. They go on to state that their 'span style="font-style: italic;"primary interest is in exposing oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East'.span style="font-style: italic;"br /span style="font-style: italic;"br //span/span/spanFirst heard about span style="font-style: italic;"Wikileaks/span from a friend who was relating a story from a href="http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Category:Kenya"Kenya/a which had been posted and in return caused quite some waves in the Kenyan papers and wider society. The controversy surrounded a book , span style="font-style: italic;"Its Our Turn To Eat/span, written by Kenya's former anti-corruption chief, John Githongo and Michela Wrong (also ofspan style="font-style: italic;" In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz /spanfamespan style="font-style: italic;" - interesting read on the Congo and Moboutu/span) and elaborated in detail corruption at the highest levels in the government and implicated others.br /br /Thumbing through countries at random - well not so random as I did look at a href="http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Category:Ghana"Ghana/a and a href="http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Category:Jamaica"Jamaica/a - countries like Kenya do seem to have more substantial compilation of span style="font-style: italic;"'evidence'/span, with much more recent references to the not so recent (anymore) elections. Wondered about the reason for the difference. Less leaks? More active journalists and bloggers? More active civil society? Would be interesting to know.span style="font-style: italic;"span style="font-style: italic;"span style="font-style: italic;"br //span/span/span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-8076601447989647527?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• August 13, 2009
• 8:22

  It's D-Day!

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" So today is yet another anniversary of my 21st birthday - of course won't say what anniversary. Feeling absolutely fabulous! /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br //spanbr /a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SoRRV7dJl-I/AAAAAAAAAd0/qr-u1PwVIPQ/s1600-h/lou+moon+lodge.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 221px; height: 166px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SoRRV7dJl-I/AAAAAAAAAd0/qr-u1PwVIPQ/s320/lou+moon+lodge.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369506092911532002" border="0" //aspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Already started last weeke/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" nd - to herald in the week of course - by having a fantastic weekend at a href="http://www.loumoon-lodge.com/"Lou Moon Lodge/a complete with :/spanbr /span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /- the planned rest and relaxation - no tv, no cell phones, and a couple of good books)/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /- a pre-birthday birthday cake ingeniously arranged by my daughter and our friend that came along with backup vocals provided by the other diners in the restaurantbr /- /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" a side trip to Axim to see the fort - will upload the pictures soon/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /- and some wonderful concoctions from the Honey Centre in Saltpond - their honey soap is heavenly!br /br //spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Hmm, what more could a girl ask for? At my age /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" much more of course! Spending this weekend in Ada where the plan is to have ithe/i party - supposed to be a surprise party but yes, this is Ghana so I know there is a boat and some grilling involved, and plenty liquor. Not even worried about my lack of a bikini body - well technically that should be the over abundance of one!/spanbr /br /span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Been working hard all day and now am off to start the celebrations - yeah me/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" !br //spandiv style="text-align: right;"span style="font-style: italic;"picture from Lou Moon Lodge's website/spanbr //divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-7066986037314531794?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• August 05, 2009
• 12:19

  Of annual rituals and midlife crisis...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  div style="text-align: right;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" The worst thing about a mid life crisis ?br /You are only half way through all the shit that life's gonna throw at you!br /Anon.br //span/divspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /So the big day approaches, and for the first time with trepidation it seems. I have always been relaxed about my birthday and actually loved the thought of getting span style="font-style: italic;"older/span and span style="font-style: italic;"wiser/span. This year, truth be told, I am more preoccupied with the older and have totally forgotten about the wiser part of things!br /br /Of course everyone tells me that life begins at this age - but alas, alas that is only said by those who are a half a decade or more older than I am, never anyone younger. I wonder why.br /br /Got me thinking about what mid-life crisis are usually associated with women - are they in fact different from those we have been socialized into believing that are normally experienced by men?span style="font-style: italic;"/spanbr /br /a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midlife_crisis"Wikipedia/a highlights some interesting characteristics: search of an undefined dream or goal, a deep sense of remorse for goals not accomplished, desire to achieve a feeling of youthfulness, need to spend more time alone or with certain peers. The reality however is that I do have all those feelings from time to time, and no, not triggered by the panic of getting older. How then is this different this time around?br /br /That aside, I could use the excuse of such a crisis to do a couple of things I have at sometime or the other 'flirted' with doing:br //spanul style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-style: italic;"Become a cougar/span - forget the old phrase of 'robbing the cradle' , the new sign of youth these days is having some one younger on your arm; can already imagine in my minds eye how scandalized the Ghanaian public would be - but that's the nice things about getting older, you don't give a damn!br //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-style: italic;"Take up a new sport/span - forget tennis, golf and all the other ' accepted' sports for this age bracket - will go explore something like rollerblading or skateboarding (there is a nice Fan Ice ramp in the Trade Fair!); granted the bones won't heal like they used to, but yes, will get one helluva workout anyway;/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-style: italic;"Go to India in the quest of spiritual fulfillment/span : could find by self by losing myself amidst ashrams and yogis./span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-style: italic;"Take a stance on not declaring my real age/span : after all, I could object to my personal classification on any form by refusing to state my gender or race - why not for age? at least it would avoid me ticking the box below what I now am entitled to tick - at least for the next 9 days!br //span/li/ulspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Or on the other hand I could simply just relax, do all the things I like to do anyway: look at eye candy of all ages, exercise when I feel like and panic when my dress size goes up again, go do yoga at the YMCA and tick the damn box, after all I am fabulous at any age! /spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-2586161317221811360?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• August 04, 2009
• 8:00

  Only Robinson Crusoe had everything done by Friday...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  div style="text-align: right;"span style="font-style: italic;"Blog title: quotation by Anonymous author/spanbr //divbr /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" You already know by heart all the usual sayings ' span style="font-style: italic;"make hay while the sun shines/span', ' span style="font-style: italic;"don't put off til tomorrow what you can do today/span', ' span style="font-style: italic;"you may today but time will no/spant'... get the point? I am sure you do. I guess sometimes one just needs a reminder that there may not always be a 'span style="font-style: italic;"tomorrow/span' or 'span style="font-style: italic;"a later/span' for getting things done, hence my post today. So confesses the self professed procrastinator.br /br /Truth be told I had a trigger. Just got an e-mail today about the death of someone that I had worked with on a workshop just last month. We had gotten to know each other via e-mails as a run up to the event, and had spent a very span style="font-style: italic;"long /spanevening together at the airport waiting for Immigration to give him clearance for a visa on arrival in the midst of the Obama-mania period. A very clam, centered person, in between the workshop happenings he shared with us his experiences in different African countries as it related to the education sector, as well as his immediate plans to take up a position as head of a faculty at a University in Oslo on his return. Dynamic. Bright. Alive.br /br /As is usual, when these things are closer span style="font-style: italic;"home/span, one empathizes with the family and friends - if you don't happen to fall into either category - and also almost selfishly reflects on one's own mortality. Have been putting off so many little things lately, blogging included, because there were a million and one other things - or so it seemed. I could always do it tomorrow.br /br /So today, I decided to do lots of the little things that I had been putting off for another time:br //spanul style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"Called my Mom just to say I love you, and not to bother her about the usual logistics of what I need her to do for me back home;/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Arranged to have dinner with a friend today whom I haven't seen in a long time just catch up on what's happening, not because I have to but because I genuinely want to and have just been putting it off;br //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Made - and confirmed!- bookings for a href="http://www.loumoon-lodge.com/"Lou Moon Lodge/a for a long weekend with my daughter; have been planning to do this ever since we moved to Ghana, and three years later now I am about to send her back home to finish school and suddenly realized that we have precious few weekends left in which we can do this!/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Wrote a post today on my blog./span/li/ulspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Not my whole list of course, but yes, won't wait for Friday. After all I am not Robinson Crusoe, am I?/span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-1888277937018672188?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• June 16, 2009
• 10:01

  Unusual Jamaican place names...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Saturated. That's best word to describe Accra this Tuesday morning. It had been raining for most of the night, and traffic this morning was pleasantly light - given half a chance I would have stayed in bed too. Again had flashbacks to my childhood - I wonder if per chance this has to do with one of the big birthday's coming up? After all, the first sign (or so they say) of mid life crisis is longing for youth and all things youthful.br /br /As a child, rainy days at home were spent playing all kind of games with my siblings, me being head-cook-and-bottle-washer as I was the oldest. A favorite of ours was making up nonsensical words - stringing together syllables that would literally twist your tongue, causing the others to roll on the floor with laughter. Sometimes in driving through the Ghanaian country side, I am reminded of those words. The place names registering on my retina but not quite making the connection to tongue and speech./spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /br //spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/Sjd3HdXQLTI/AAAAAAAAAdo/9bKxFuHfbVg/s1600-h/place+names.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 268px; height: 222px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/Sjd3HdXQLTI/AAAAAAAAAdo/9bKxFuHfbVg/s320/place+names.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5347874052550700338" border="0" //aspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" We too have some unusual place names in Jamaica, less known for their potential as tongue twisters but perhaps more as brain teasers, evoking the simple question ' span style="font-style: italic;"why/span?'. Some I definitely have to share! Among my favorites :/spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /br //spanli style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" span style="font-size:130%;"Shake a Hand Market, Portland - a village square noted as a popular meeting place;br //span/lili style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" span style="font-size:130%;"Try See, St. Ann - said to be a post emancipation name, alluding to the fact that freed slaves should now 'try and see' how they could make a life outside of the plantation and slavery;br //span/lili style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" span style="font-size:130%;"Fat Hog Quarter, Hanover - well, let's just say this is one place they used to have a lot of pigs (i.e. hogs)/span/lili style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" span style="font-size:130%;"Corn Puss Gap, St. Thomas - so named after the hikers who got lost in the hills and you guessed it - corned a cat and ate it. To 'corn' something in Jamaica means to season, primarily with salt, as a means of curing.br //span/lili style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" span style="font-size:130%;"Flog Man, Manchester - a popular place for meeting out punishment, which then was generally flogging.br //span/lili style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;"span style="font-size:130%;"span style=""span style=""spanspanMi-nuh-call-you-nuh-come (i.e. patois if I have not called then you should not come) , St. Elizabeth - so named by the Maroons, the run away slaves from the plantations who wanted to make it clear that they wanted no intruders./span/span/span/span/span/lispan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"span style="font-style: italic;"br //span/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Aural reminders of past and present all combined into one. /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"Interested in seeing more? And also seeing the connections to European and Africa countries? Visit the a href="http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/pages/history/story0048.htm"Jamaican Gleaner Pieces of the Past/a website, which has a really great collection of these names.br /br //spandiv style="text-align: right; font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;"span style="font-size:100%;"Place names and meanings given based on : a href="http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/pages/history/story0048.htm"What's in a Name by Dr. Rebecca Tortello/abr /Picture : by Ray Chen, from the Jamaican Gleaner Websitebr //span/divspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"br /br //spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-3185097972040395960?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• June 15, 2009
• 11:45

  Of river mummas and childhood memories...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"I still remember some of the events surrounding the birth of my brother with amazing clarity and no, he wasn't my first sibling. We had been into Kingston to get my mother and the newly arrived from the hospital when on the way back home the car broke down around the Gorge. It was night time and there was a full moon - the three things (i.e. the river, a full moon and night) needed according to my Grandmother for the River Mumma (i.e. River Mother ) to make her appearance.br /br /I remember sitting on the low concrete wall, my Mother hushing my baby brother while wondering aloud if he wouldn't catch cold by being out in the night air. My Father swearing at things under the bonnet of an old yellow VW that simply refused to respond. I sat clutching my pillow - a favorite companion of mine after my first sibling appeared - staring with both interest and trepidation at the river. Wondering if this beautiful mermaid would appear, golden comb in hand and offer me the combined pleasure of '' span style="font-style: italic;"good hair/span" - yes, you would have long flowing hair if she actually combed yours - and riches untold that lay at the bottom of the river. Wondering about the complications of drowning, missing my family but ever so tempted on another level, I kept my eyes peeled for a River Mumma until my Father finally got us mobile again.br /br /So here I am thirty years later (almost to the month), driving this time beside the beach and not a river and thinking of such thoughts of River Mummas again. Was having dinner with friends last night in Tema, and had to drive back via the Beach Road. The talk soon turned to some unusual happenings and apparitions that were rumored to be common after dark along that stretch, with people asking for rides, but not being there when the unsuspecting motorists stop, or even worse. I shared with them my Jamaican childhood story and you can imagine my surprise when they too mentioned span style="font-style: italic;"Mami Water/span!br /br /Interest piqued, a quick search on a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mami_Wata"wikipedia/a revealed that this deity is actually well known not just in West, but also Central and Southern Africa. Like many other folklore, this too had crossed over to 'new world' with the slaves. In various African and African related culture, Mami Water has been long identified with with nature, fertility, divinity, healing, wholeness among other things. Portrayed in different cultures as generous, vengeful or both, Mami Water seemed to have played, and still play an important part in religious beliefs related to nature and water in particular. /spansup id="cite_ref-Bastian_3-3" class="reference"a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mami_Wata#cite_note-Bastian-3" title=""span/span/a/supbr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"br /Alas, alas never saw any on my way back home, but it was nevertheless plesant to have this reconnection to my childhood memories and home.br /br //spandiv style="text-align: right; font-style: italic;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;"* For those of you who don't know Jamaica, the Bog Walk Gorge takes you through the most breath taking scenery with the road literally meandering alongside the river, guarded on either side by slabs of towering granite that seem to be barely defying gravity./span/divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-4661563116623793936?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• June 12, 2009
• 7:08

  Evaluating one's driving skills ...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" The evening rains in Accra yesterday resulted in an involuntary and impromptu wet t-shirt contest among some of the female vendors. The men it seemed had nothing to worry about, and the fierce jostling for potential customers by both sexes was little affected by the elements.br /br /As is also usual with weather like this, it brought out the worst in terms of driving. After swearing and swerving for what seemed like the hundredth time, I was reminded of a theory that a Jamaican female friend of mine swears by. She is firm in her conviction that women can tell how good - or bad - a potential or actual lover is by how he drives!br /br /Based on her investigative sampling methods - and no, am not sure of the sample size - she has come to the conclusion that a man who drives well - i.e how he handles his car, how he observes and obeys the road signs etc. - is a good lover as he tends to handle his women in the same manner. Interesting theory uh? Makes me wonder however if by expanding the theory that most tro-tro drivers (or in Jamaica the minibus men) and taxi men are bad lovers?br /br /Found myself watching what was happening on the roads yesterday and wondered IF her theory was true, then what would the road behavior imply about the driver and his competence as a lover - in this case I was looking at men only. My own assumptions:br /br /span style="font-style: italic;"Road behavior: flagrant disregard for all road rules and decorum;br //spanspan style="font-style: italic;"Theory : Bad lover; scant regard for partners' pleasure and/or satisfaction!/spanbr /br /span style="font-style: italic;"Road behavior : prone to road rage;br //spanspan style="font-style: italic;"Theory : Selfish, jealous and possessive lover/span.br /br /span style="font-style: italic;"Road behavior: pulling over into the other lane without checking or signaling;/spanspan style="font-style: italic;"br /Theory: little consistency in his love making; always changing 'lanes' without checking if its okay first and what this means for the other 'driver'./spanbr /br /span style="font-style: italic;"Road behavior : Excessive speeding, even in confined areas;/spanspan style="font-style: italic;"br /Theory: A Mr Slam-Dunk; intent on getting only to the 'destination' with scant regard for the 'journey'./spanbr /br /Needless to say I could go on with this theory for quite some comparisons! Hmm, if I think about all the drama I encounter on the roads everyday, does this mean that we have few good 'span style="font-style: italic;"drivers/span' in our fair city of Accra? I can't help but wonder.br //spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-5111619969348330556?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• June 11, 2009
• 6:21

  Of rhymes and weather ....

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Been a long time, and no have not been span style="font-style: italic;"sakawed/span though it does feel a bit like that. There just seems so much to do - major decisions about work and life compete with the everyday grind that one must go through.br /br /Was half listening to CNN while doing e-mails this morning when I heard about the rains that are supposed to hit Jamaica later today. It reminded me of a ditty that we used to recite when we were children, and that was supposed to tell the cycle of the hurricane season:br /br /span style="font-style: italic;"June too soonbr //spanspan style="font-style: italic;"July stand bybr //spanspan style="font-style: italic;"August we mustbr //spanspan style="font-style: italic;"September rememberbr //spanspan style="font-style: italic;"October all over/spanbr /br /Of course with global warming this has also been screwed up! The hurricane season has seemingly been prolonged, with hurricanes making their presence felt in September and October.br /br /I still remember clearly hurricane Gilbert and the havoc that caused! Roofs flying - including one half of our house - physically holding open the windows so the wind would blow through and not lift the other half of the roof, moving everything from the 'wet' to the 'dry' side and getting ready to go downstairs should the worse happen. However was was most startling was the eye of the storm - a total flip to the chaos and commotion that was happening moments before. An eerie, serene calm in which you couldn't hear a thing, no animals, no birds. Only people rummaging through what was left of their belongings and gearing up for the inevitable second half of the storm.br /br /Ghana is lucky like that I guess - no hurricanes, no earthquakes (span style="font-style: italic;"yes, did experience one of that in Jamaica too/span), no major natural disasters - I stand to be corrected. Hoping that the hurricane season will be a peaceful one this year./spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-4798667516288420202?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• May 27, 2009
• 19:11

  Je suis au Sénégal !

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Was so proud of myself for posting all week last week. Had made a promise to myself that I would develop a rhythm - even if it was few lines a day to keep the guilt at bay - was something I had actually stuck to. It felt good, simply because it was a resolution I had kept. No fan fare. No stated promises at the start of the week - I normally do as a way of fooling myself that if I put it in the public domain that yes, it shall be done, and all that.br /br /Anyway, here I am mid week and yet not a single post. Granted I have good reason - am in Senegal to attend a conference. In between flights at un-godly hours of the early morn ( span style="font-style: italic;"we arrived in Senegal at 3:00 a.m!/span), sorting out internet access, sorting out language issues - hmm, have forgotten everything learnt at Alliance Francias in my last two attempts! - and also seeing another side of West Africa just haven't had time to post. Don't have a lot of time but still trying to adjust to the Francophone feel. Hoping to have time to go take in the sights and sounds in between the conference as there are a couple of Francophone singers that I really do like.br /br /For now though have settled for just drinking a cold ' biere la gazelle' - off to prepare for my presentation tomorrow! Cest la vie! /spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-3915796767501034645?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• May 22, 2009
• 8:00

  New business idea?

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" I had lost count at 50, or was it 60?br /The canopy, chair, table, and catering side of things seemed already well cornered for the funeral crowd, but what about hand sanitizer?br /Embossed with a picture of the deceased of course!br /After all, people do the same with handkerchiefs and bottled water.br /Recount - I must have shaken 70 hands at the very least!/spanbr /br /div style="text-align: right; font-style: italic;"Funeral customs in Ashanti (I am not sure of elsewhere) demands that you greet the family formally. We started from one end of the 'square' and shook the family's hands, then moved around the rest of the 'sides' shaking hands with other well wishers who attended the funeral. Luckily, we only had to shake the hands of those seated in the front rows, nodding politely to the rest. Interesting isn't it what a hand shake conveys?br /From the wimpy to the strong, to the wet to the dry.br /I tried hard not to think about where these hands may be coming from - noses, elsewhere?br /My imagination - as is usual - runs wild.br /Seated on the opposite side of the square facing the family were other chiefs who were denoted in rank by the size of their umbrellas, the largest belonging to the son of the former Asantehene. To shake his hand, and the Chief's beside him we also had to take off our shoes. Fortunately, I wore my first pair of ademas (hope I spelt that right) to complement the black lace dress I wore - also my first lace kaftan!br //divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-9089042618494354867?l=decla.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
• May 21, 2009
• 12:21

  Attempts at manliness...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" They actually had swagger - even if their style was a bit too bohemian for my taste.br /I had been span style="font-style: italic;"voyeuristically/span watching for a while.br /They sidled up to the pubescent girl with bare breasts and beguiling beads.br /One flung an arm in an unpracticed attempt at manliness over the back of her chair.br /She had danced well.br /The clink of the glasses indicated a celebration shared among the three but unbeknown to the rest of us.br /One saw me watching and smiled shyly.br /I smiled back.br /How old were they?br /These boys of today-men of tomorrow?br /Seven?br /Eight?br /Maybe ten.br /I could only hazard a guess by the rapt attention with which they shook their Coke bottles - after clinking - and watched the bubbles. Clearly more beguiling than beads or breasts./spanbr /br /div style="text-align: right;"span style="font-style: italic;"I had spent some time watching these three little boys who attended the reception after the funeral. They looked like neighborhood boys, not really dressed for the occasion in cut offs and flip flops, but yes, familiar with the surroundings. The girls that I referred to were those that had danced the adwoa at the funeral grounds. They were still dressed in their beads and their skirts, and without their tops ( as culture demands) and were sitting at a table when the boys came over to chat. They were about the same age too.br /They seemed to have known each other.br /Have now realized that funerals are a great place for people watching. /spanbr /br //divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-8802784989576390458?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• May 20, 2009
• 8:00

  A bedazzling smile

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" span style="font-style: italic;"A flash of gold... a hint of glamour or was that sophistication?br //spanspan style="font-style: italic;"I think not my dear - after all, aren't those usually reserved for mastication?/spanbr /br /What I wanted to say to the guy with the gold teeth that flashed me that span style="font-style: italic;"come /spanspan style="font-style: italic;"hither smile/span and to which I politely smiled back.br //spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-7340380609782778962?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• May 19, 2009
• 8:00

  Greetings....

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" So how do you greet a person who was once a Minister but is no longer a Minister but who could be a Minister again?br /span style="font-style: italic;"Honorable Minister?/spanbr /span style="font-style: italic;"Honorable Ex-Minister?/spanbr /span style="font-style: italic;"Mrs?/spanbr /br /How do you answer her question ' span style="font-style: italic;"So how are things at the Ministry/span?'br /span style="font-style: italic;"If only you were there!/spanbr /span style="font-style: italic;"Better?/spanbr /span style="font-style: italic;"Same as before?/spanbr /br /Or do you just slink away hoping she won't see you pretending not to see her? No greetings, no updates, no awkward questions or answers on either side.br /br /Thoughts that flashed through my mind when I saw a Minister I previously reported to and just before I went to greet her, ' span style="font-style: italic;"Oh hi Mrs.../span'br /br //spandiv style="text-align: right;"span style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" /spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" br /Ex-Ministers aside, as usual with any event vendors were well represented, but new for me this time were the male adowa dancer and the guy that bestwoed adulations. /spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" br //spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" Of course missed half of the adulations as they were in the local language but from what I understand, he wished my friend's life would be as beasutiful as the back of his neck!br /Go figurebr //span/divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-7794674049628349314?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• May 18, 2009
• 9:49

  span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" He paraded on the ...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" He paraded on the red carpet as seemingly confident as any current Nollywood super star,br /His steady brown gaze calmly surveying the crowd.br /Was he not deafened by the cacophony of noises?br /Was his blood not quickened by the rhythm of the drums?br /Was he not blinded by the skyline now comprised of canopies and voluminous velvet umbrellas?br /Yet there he stood.br /On the red carpet.br /Calm.br /Serene.br /Uncomplaining.br /Head titled to the side almost quizzically,br /His white coat reflecting the rays of the late afternoon sun.br /Unaware that soon, he would be dinner.br /br /Such were my observations of a ram at a funeral in Kumasi./spanbr /br /div style="text-align: right; font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:100%;"As can be guessed by the post I went to a funeral in Kumasi this weekend. As a part of the offerings made to the family by the deceased daughter in laws was an enormous white ram (sheep). It was so strange that he stood there so calmly, his holder having very little to do excepting leading him by his tether.br /Judging by the standards of previous funerals I had attended this one was huge! The deceased mother is a Chief and he and his siblings ' departed' her in a befitting style as cutsom would demand. My posts this week will be primarily about the funeral, though I tried to look at it from another angle and just just the usual descriptions of people and cloths.br //span/divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-6842716885016678788?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• May 12, 2009
• 12:24

  J-Flagging the gay debate: a ban on Jamaican products.

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Jamaica has long been known as a homophobic society - though granted we don't have a poster at our international airports! More publicly, it is reflected in the music. Comparable to the spate of 'span style="font-style: italic;"daggering/span' songs, local dancehall kings and queens vie for who can best describe with what should be done to homosexuals, often times in the most graphic of ways.br //spanbr /span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Touted in some circles as yet another leftover law from colonial times, homosexual activities are punishable by up to seven years in prison. This, along with often times violent crimes and even death, has earned Jamaica yet another infamous distinction of having ' span style="font-style: italic;"the worst record of any country in the new world in its treatment of gays and lesbians/span'. While in the/spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/Sgmpa4Qx_hI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/dTbAKbIy3CA/s1600-h/boycott+Jamaica.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 230px; height: 112px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/Sgmpa4Qx_hI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/dTbAKbIy3CA/s400/boycott+Jamaica.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334981512841526802" border="0" //aspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" past entertainers such as Shabba Ranks and Buju Banton have been banned, gay advocates in the US have moved to another level, launching a national boycott of Jamaica and all things Jamaican! The group behind the ban, /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" a href="http://www.truthwinsout.org/"TruthWinsOut/a, has called for this boycott by asking /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" "span style="font-style: italic;"all people of all walks of life to send a clear message to the Jamaican people and their government, that as long as they continue to allow and condone violence /span/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" span style="font-style: italic;"and hatred toward the Gay community, we will neither buy their products nor support their tourist trade/span." /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br //spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /Interestingly JFLAG, thea href="http://jflag.org/" Jamaican Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays/a, is against the ban by their affiliate organization, going as far to say ' span style="font-style: italic;"Jamaica’s deeply ingrained antipathy towards homosexuality and homosexuals is a social phenomenon that will not be undone by boycott campaigns or government dictate'/span. They go on to state that the ban should be discontinued 'span style="font-style: italic;" because of the possible repercussions of increased homophobic violence against our already besieged community' /span...' /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" span style="font-style: italic;"in fact, members of our own community could be disproportionately affected by a worsened /span/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" span style="font-style: italic;"economic situation brought about by a tourist ban/span."/spanbr /span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br / Advertised as 'rum dumps', gay advocates have organized two such events where they have dumped Myers Rum and Red Stripe Beer as a part of their efforts to boycott Jamaican products. Tolerance /spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SgmqXBnffeI/AAAAAAAAAdY/OEMh1xztfEM/s1600-h/red+stripe+beer.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 120px; height: 120px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SgmqXBnffeI/AAAAAAAAAdY/OEMh1xztfEM/s400/red+stripe+beer.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334982546144853474" border="0" //aspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" doesn't seem to be the password for either side. The government has already come out to say it will not 'bow' - pardon the bad pun and reference to Shabba Ranks' song - to the pressures from the US lobby group, and will retain it's existing laws.br /br /Curious to see where this will end.br //spandiv style="text-align: right;"span style="font-style: italic;"Boycott Jamaica logo downloaded from: www.boycottjamaica.org/spanbr /span style="font-style: italic;"Red Stripe Beer logo downloaded from: www.redstripebeer.com/spanbr //divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-5897707680508325933?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• May 07, 2009
• 13:03

  Sugar mommy if you please....part 2

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Peer pressure - thanks to a href="http://posekyere.blogspot.com/"Posekyere/a and a href="http://nonjeneregretterien.blogspot.com/2009/05/african-literature-in-making-harmattan.html"Kasja/a - but primarily curiosity got the better of me and yes, I replied to my span style="font-style: italic;"sugar mommy sms/span this morning. After all, it would be sure to give a laugh or two, plus provide some interesting (hopefully!) updates for my blog.br /br /Kept my reply rather tame I think :br /span style="font-style: italic;"Hi Peter. Was surprised by yr sms. Hmm, what do you expect fr a sugar mommy?/spanbr /br /Lo and behold 5 mins later came the prompt reply:br //spandiv style="text-align: center;"div style="text-align: left; font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:130%;"Hi, i expect love and care, n support. wat r u offering n by the way I don knw ua name wuld u mind letting me know. can u b a lover 2 smone younger than u? call me. gday.br //span/divdiv style="text-align: left;"span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /At least he was quite straight forward - though I am still trying to figure if the emphasis was on the love, the care or the support. I guess it must be the support as he keeps flashing!br /br //spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Still trying to come to terms with the idea of being any one's span style="font-style: italic;"sugar mommy/span. I am not opposed to - and have dated - younger men before but yes, I do have limits - and no, no one is supposed to ask what they are! Younger men also seem to be on the lookout for older women! At my last visit to one of my favorite 'span style="font-style: italic;"watering holes/span' here in Accra the bartender came over to me with a drink from a guy sitting at another table. He looked at if he should be making a move on my daughter - seemed closer in age to her than he was to me! For the record I declined. This earned me a most expressive raise of a lone eyebrow and a shrug of the shoulders that clearly indicated that this was my loss!br /br /This whole discussion has also served to remind me of a discussion I had with a Jamaican friend who has an 18 year old son. Apparently the trend - or so his friends informed her - was to be with older women who they saw as more stable than females their age. span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Some of the benefits included: /span/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" financial perks: older women were also more financially liquid and so the occasional perks were a part of the package - clothes, shopping trips and the like included. /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Older women were also less demanding of their time and /spanspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"wanted only the occasional company and eye candy. Whereas younger women wanted them around all the while, older women tended to just want them to be around occasionally. Hmm, they seem to have it all worked out don't they? Note to self: need to speak to a span style="font-style: italic;"sugar mommy/span and see what she gets in return.br /br /Anyway, this is the third flash since I started this post, and a new sms awaits...br /br //span/span/div/divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-2889746686864656999?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• May 06, 2009
• 13:07

  Sugar mommy if you please....

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Got a very strange sms this morning. It's from a Kenyan number and it read :br /'span style="font-style: italic;" Hi am peter got ua number from a dating agency and I had applied for a sugar mommy for hot romance am 22 yrs culd u b interested reply via sms/span' .br /For the record, have not been 'span style="font-style: italic;"advertising/span' through a dating agency (definitely not my style!)and neither do I see my self as a 'span style="font-style: italic;"sugar mommy/span'! As it relates to him being 22 and hot romances... /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Hmm, could this have anything to do with the strike by the Kenyan women. I wonder/span/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" . Still debating if I should just reply for the hell of it - at least the responses would make some interesting posts./spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-6914340075525930563?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• May 05, 2009
• 9:26

  Not yet nine days...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SgA5TcoRjxI/AAAAAAAAAcw/Q6ScaFzWSeM/s1600-h/P1040627.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 238px; height: 180px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SgA5TcoRjxI/AAAAAAAAAcw/Q6ScaFzWSeM/s400/P1040627.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5332324965072080658" border="0" //aspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" In Jamaica we refer to events as 'nine day wonders' - doesn't matter how dramatic the issue may be, usually it takes just nine days for all the gossip, issues, concerns, 'wonders' to come to an end and a new cycle starts again.br /br /It's not yet nine days, but yes, we are back. Not sure why this trip has such an effect on me - perhaps it was because we had been away so long, perhaps it was because we had such a great time, perhaps it was because... I doubt however if this feeling will abate after nine days. Glad to be back in GH of course, but yes, still missing home./spanbr /br /div style="text-align: right;"*span style="font-style: italic;"pic : a view from the family house in Jamaica/spanbr //divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-4778093876792193104?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• April 26, 2009
• 7:08

  Washday delicates....

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" The latest addition to the family is only four months old - a real sweetie pie, always ready with a gum-less smile and continuous drool. I am fascinated by her. How tiny yet total she seems to be - from the curl of hair to the tiny fingers and toes. Memories of my daughter at that phase intertwined with flirtatious thoughts repeating the process flit through my head. The latter only occasionally.br /br /I looked at her '/spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" delicates/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" ' hanging on the wash line with teddy bear clothes pins and thought how wonderful life is./spanbr /br /br /a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SfJa9vF65sI/AAAAAAAAAco/0Z9RwB0k0bk/s1600-h/washday.JPG"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 498px; height: 331px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SfJa9vF65sI/AAAAAAAAAco/0Z9RwB0k0bk/s400/washday.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328421325792536258" border="0" //adiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-7325300770971013095?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• April 25, 2009
• 7:08

  Dreams: An alternative source of income...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" As a child growing up it always seemed as you could never surprise my grandmother. She knew everything by her dreams. A dream of a /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" pumpkin/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" or /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" fish/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" would get her questioning all the ladies around as to who was pregnant. Clear water, such as a running river would definitely mean good luck, whereas dirty or muddy water was '/spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" crosses/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" ' or /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" 'trouble/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" '. If her right hand itched it was sure sign of money coming her way, whereas if it were the left she would be spending. If your lip jumed (i.e. twitched) it meant a quarrel, and similarly if your eyelids twitched you would certainly cry. Decisions were guided by omens - good and bad - and there would always be the inevitable '/spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" mi neva tell yu dat did a go happen, mi did dream it but unu neva belive me/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" '.br /br /In what everyone agrees are trying economic times, I guess all sources of income - once legitimate - are par for the course. Here in Jamaica additional sources extends to dreams as well! It's not uncommon it seems to be asked ' /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" so is what yu dream see las' night/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" ' or for someone to be walking on the road and '/spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" seeing a sign/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" ' (i.e. /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" something out of the ordinar/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" y) and decide that they too must interpret this and buy 'lotto', i.e. the lottery.br /br /Of course interpretation of dreams are nothing new - in any culture - but in Jamaica, yes, they have money making possibilities. Saw a locally produced dream guide today and was quite intrigued. There was :br //spanol style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"A 'lotto man' which was the features of a body with each body part corresponding to a number;br //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"A numbers chart from 1 to 36 with each number representing several things, for example number 33 represented big house, church, God, stadium and boat, while 22 was pain, nurse, white woman and diamond. Go figure./span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Millennium mega dreams for Pick 3 ( a game involving the correct selection of 3 numbers)/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Meaning of the letters of the alphabet - e.g. A - 1, 5, 40; P - 3, 20, 28 and Z - 13, 19, 27br //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Millennium mega dreams for drop pan (aka Cash Pot) amp; lotto - arranged alphabetically! Some interesting ones :br //span/li/olul style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"Aircraft - 29/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"American - 27, 31,/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Belly - 8, 7, /span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Brain (healthy) - 3, 29/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Brain (sick) - 9, 22/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"British - 28 ( did check for Ghanaian but no luck - not yet included in the dictionary it seems)/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Crazy (a little) - 1/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Safety pin - 18/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Water - 6/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Young girl - 16/span/li/ulspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Some 'words' had several interpretations depending on what type of dream one had. Dogs for instance seemed quite popular with dog (93, 11, 12, 15, 21, 28), dog barking (31), dog big (26), dog bull (29), dog playing with (5,11,30), dog bitch (12) dog, chase or hunt ( 3, 20), dog, hot (18, 30), dog, several (6), dog to play with (3, 33). The mega dreams for drop pan and lotto actually took up 47 pages!br /br /Of course now feeling sorry that I am not one who dreams on a regular basis but for the rest of you who do - sweet dreams!/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-7983110944959651345?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• April 24, 2009
• 16:26

  Pinkie...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  div style="text-align: center;"span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"span style="font-style: italic;"Note : didn't mean to write two posts today, but yes, this has been stewing and begging to be blogged since I arrived. /span/span/spanbr /span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"/span/span/divspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"br /I first noticed her when we were waiting on our flight in London. Actually, I wonder who didn't. Her hair was the most usual shade of pink - /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;"hot pink/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" - that I had ever seen. Twisted up in a most elegant coil it stood heads above the weaves, braids, dreadlocks, and bald-heads that seem to dominate as the preferred coiffures of choice on this Jamaica-bound flight.br /br //spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"It didn't end there./spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"br /br /Her shades, were rimmed in - you guessed it - pink. And her shaped two-piece hot pink skirt suit was complimented by an inner baby pink shirt. The handbag and shoes finished the span style="font-style: italic;"ode to pink/span ensemble. Or so I thought. Seeing but not really believing and having to look twice it was only then then I noticed her pearl pink cell phone into which she was drawling ' /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;"mi haffi go, wi a go board di plane now, mi call you when mi reach Jamaica yu 'ear/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"'./spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"br /br /Waiting for our luggage I again saw her heading towards - can it get any more predictable? - her pink suitcases! /spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"br /br /Jamaicans have a way of looking at you and naming you on the spot. It can be based on how you look e.g. '/spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;"Fatty/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"' or '/spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;"Browning/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"' , by what you are wearing e.g. ' Missa White Shirt', your ethnic orientation ' /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;"Injun/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"' or '/spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;"Pocohantas/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"' - both reserved for persons who look as if they have Indian descent. What ever comes to mind is fair game for an instant naming ceremony. Mine for example this trip seems to be '/spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;"Empress/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"' - everywhere I went this was how I was referred to - with the occasional '/spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;"Ras/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"' , short for Rasta, being thrown in for good measure. Little surprise therefore when one of the baggage handlers said ' /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;"Pinkie, yu waa some help/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"?' Without even batting an eye (complete with pink eyeshadow!) she said' /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;"Yeah man, come tek up dem bag here fi mi/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"'.br /br /Leaving me to wonder if everything in the suitcases were also pink./span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-4851161008685832784?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• 15:13

  A snapshopt of the budget....

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" So despite the frenzied rumors there were no roadblocks after the reading of the budget. True, there were some minor incidents here and there but not the widespread civil unrest that Jamaicans seem to now associate with fuel taxes.br /br /While I am no economist by any span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"stretch/span of the imagination (and for what it is worth also totally apolitical) , I think the government has adopted an interesting approach to funding the budget. The new budget has tried to ensure (or so it seems) a more equitable distribution of taxes among a broader cross section of the people, by moving away from taxing income - that remains the same, and in fact the taxable income bracket has in fact been increased - towards a situation whereby taxes on basic items such as food and petrol have attracted the larger share of the increases. span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"Bottom line/span, people must buy food and must travel but yes, they don't always pay their taxes do they.br /br /Just by way of a snapshot:br //spanul style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"The income tax span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"threshold/span will be increased from JD$ 220,272 to span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"JD/span$320, 736 effective July 1, 2009 with another increase to JD$ 441,168 for span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"January/span 1, 2010/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Persons aged 55-65 will also see the non-taxable part of their income increased to JD$400,736, while those over 65 will have theirs increased to JD$ 480,736/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Stamp duty and transfer taxes have also been reduced/span/li/ulspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" So that was the good news - then on to the more serious side of things:br //spanul style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"As was expected, there is an additional JD$ 8.75 on each litre of petrol bought/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Additionally, a number of additional food items, span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"previously/span untaxed will now attract the 16.5% general span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6"consumption/span tax (span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7"GCT/span). These include but are not limited to :printed materials not including newspapers, salt, rolled oats, syrup, fish, and packet soups.br //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Telephones (importation and sales) will also span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8"attract/span a 20% span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9"GCT/span./span/li/ul span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" A number of other costs for government services will also be increased, but yes, would like to get a copy so I can be a bit more factual in my snapshot.br /br /The response from the Opposition will be done on Tuesday, but already there are report of 'span style="font-style: italic;"Poor-span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10"tia's/span lament/span', a spoof on the name of the leader of the Opposition and previous Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller.br /br /Perhaps what was the most span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11"surprising/span thing for me in the whole debate was the small number of persons who were actually paying span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12"PAYE/span (pay as you earn). Of a population of 2.8 million people, the tax base is under 400,000! (closer to 350,000 if memory serves me correct). The Minister did mention an amnesty as a way of span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13"getting/span persons to come in and pay up, and also promised harsher measures for those that were still intent on dodging the system. The financial and economic gurus are still dissecting and giving their sometimes seeming vacuous comments. It's funny how very little can be said in overly long programmes of vigorous debate.br /br /So there - a budget read, taxes - including on petrol increased - and no road blocks! Could it be that as a people we are finally maturing? The more skeptical of my friends think that people will only see the real implications the next time they go to the pumps, and the supermarket. There is also the feel that the Opposition is just regrouping itself to 'pay back' for the 1999 riots that the now Government was rumored to have engineered. Me? I span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14"believe/span that we have matured and though things will be span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15"decidedly/span harder, I think most Jamaicans realise that with declines in tourism, and with an all time low demand for bauxite there are very few options left.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"An aside/span: the current 'span style="font-style: italic;"joke/span' making the rounds is that Stephen Fray, our erstwhile hijacker couldn't have been mad. He was span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16"after all/span smart enough to span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17"hijack/span a plane that was filled primarily with Canadians, as opposed to a flight to Miami or Panama that would have been filled with Jamaican span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18"higglers/span - informal commercial importers as they are politically known. These ladies are known to strike terror into the heart of the bravest of the brave and would have no doubt span style="font-style: italic;"span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19"kuffum/span-ed/span (local word for slap or beat) and ask him 'span style="font-style: italic;"span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20"bway/span, span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21"yu/span stupid? span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22"yu/span span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23"nuh/span know mi span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24"dey/span span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25"pon/span a mission and span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26"yu/span a waste mi time? span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27"Eeeh/span? span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28"Tek/span span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29"yu/span span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30"whatsitnotsit/span and span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31"kum/span span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32"offa/span span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33"di/span plane before span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34"wi/span span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35"bruk/span up span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_36"yu/span span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_37"rass/span/span'.br /br /Trust me, you have to see these women to span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_38"believe/span and understand this joke. They are usually fluffy (the span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_39"latest/span term in Jamaican slang to describe overly fat women) and are noted for their mode of dress - usually span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_40"impy/span-skimpy complimented by lace and span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_41"taffeta/span in various colours, designer brands no less, topped off by a wig that is colour span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_42"coordinated/span with what ever outfit is being worn that day./spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-1465714516152016176?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• April 23, 2009
• 10:00

  Of roadblocks and budgets...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" So last night the Prime Minister of Jamaica, the Hon Bruce Golding addressed the nation in what was an unprecedented move to ask Jamaicans to remain calm in the face of the budget debates that will start to day. Explaining that no monies will be borrowed, and the JD$ 547.7 billion budget will be funded from internal revenue only. He was very clear in saying that a new tax package will be announced, and reminded all that given the current global and national economic crisis, the Jamaican government at this time really had no choice. Interestingly too, the national security forces have been put on alert - also an unprecedented first.br /br /The main worry seems to be the impending tax on petrol. Already economists speculate that the Government stands to 'earn' about JD$ 1 billion from this tax - if implemented. In the past Jamaicans often react in a rather span style="font-style: italic;"flammable/span way (pardon the very bad pun) to increases in the price of petrol - there have been a number of national gas riots, the last being in April 1999 which resulted in the then Prime Minister PJ Patterson rolling back the cess (ad valorem tax) that was imposed just to restore clam.br /br /span style="font-style: italic;"That/span was even calm when compared to the previous gas riots that happened while I was still in high school - April 1979. I remember being forced - like thousands of commuters - to start the long walk home from Kingston to Spanish Town (approximately 8 kilometers) , hoping that once I got there then finding my way home (still another 18 kilometers) would be easier. No such luck. Forced to stay with a classmate that lived in Spanish Town, I was 'span style="font-style: italic;"rescued/span' the next day by my Mother who had braved the blocked roads, and rioting to come and get me. The island was virtually shut down during these riots - the worse on the records to date.br /br /Public debate is divided on whether or not there will be riots in response to today's budget debates. Some say that Jamaicans are smart enough to understand that tough economic times calls for tough sacrafices from all. Others think enough is enough - with prices of commodities at an all time high, with rumours of new taxes on electricity, water and other basic essentials, in addition to a tax on petrol which in turn will send everthing else skywards, Jamaicans will once again be forced to take their issues to the streets and do what seems now to be a national pass time (span style="font-style: italic;"in addition to daggering/span!) - block di road!/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-2723769984740833211?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• April 22, 2009
• 12:48

  Canjet : Flight 918

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" With a population of just about 2.8 million Jamaica seems to have a knack for making the head lines on both sides of the divide - i.e. both good and bad. By now the whole world must know that we have 'succeeded' in adding 'hijacking' to the list of crimes we see to cultivate locally. br /br /The details from the various sources seem somewhat contradictory, but yes, the question remains how could a 20 year old man - Stephen Fray, make it through all the security checks - including metal detectors and personal searches (span style="font-style: italic;"we are assuming these were done/span) - on to the Canada bound Canjet flight where he proceeded to brandish his gun, fire a shot, release all the passengers in exchange for their money and valuables, demand to be carried elsewhere, and then hold the crew hostage for the next eight or so hours. Lots of parallels to gun men hijacking buses in down town Kingston and elsewhere in the country, but yes, they don't go through metal detectors or security checks do they?br /br /Needless to say its embarassing, and while the governent seems to be making a big show of him being mentally unstable - all the more embarassing! - some serious questions still remain about security at what is the island's second largest airport - first largest if you look at it from the point of view of tourism. Though the island had collectively gasped at the incident and then collectively exhaled when it was all over, one still is waiting for the dust to settle and to see if we can get the answers to the numerous questions. To borrow a fellow blogger a href="http://antirhythm.blogspot.com/"Nana Yaw's/a style:br //span ul style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"Why did Stephen cause the fray?/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"What will this do to tourism in Montego Bay?/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Is it still 'highjacking' since the plane was not in flight?/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"How will the Jamaican government re-act to this the latest plight?br / /span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Will it give ideas to the area dons who wouldn't have hesitated to shoot to kill?/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Worse, will this give ideas to others who are bent on terrosrism still?/span/li/ul span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Guess time will tell.br /Ironically, the Canadian Prime Minister was in the island for a working visit on the day when the 'highjacking' occured. One of the main agreements while he was here was the signing on a MoU between both countries and the promise of funds to upgrade the justice system. No doubt Stephen will benefit from this in time./spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-2121163202892646701?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• April 21, 2009
• 11:17

  Jamaica, land of wood, water and ...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" span style="font-style: italic;"Daggering : local Jamaican slang word used to describe intense sexual intercourse; more recently extended to include explicit dance hall lyrics and style of dancing which glorify and or imitate rough sex./spanbr /br /Even from the time of the Arawak (Tanios), the native Indians that Columbus met when he re-discovered the island in 1492, Jamaica was known as the land of wood and water. More recently however it seems Jamaica has become better known as the land of wood, water and span style="font-style: italic;"daggering/span. A recent public commentary clip saw people divided over the censorship by the Jamaican government to ban all 'daggering' songs and videos from the airways and public transportation. The views ranged from full agreement, to out right disagreement as ' span style="font-style: italic;"di music nice yah man/span'.br /br /I am by no means a prude - I must admit to always having liked dancehall and in my hey day, loved the likes of Shabba to Lady Saw. Granted, must admit that they were no way near as crude as what I hear these days. Selective memory? I wonder. Still remember my Mother was adamant that those kind of songs must not be played in her house! Granted we didn't call them daggering then.br /br /My first introduction to this phenomenon of daggering was seeing the video for 'span style="font-style: italic;"Rampin' Shop/span' - a collaboration between Vybz Kartel and Spice that has assumed the proportion of a national dancehall anthem. This had some how made it on to Trace, a music channel on DSTV. Though they played the 'clean' version, anyone with a smattering of sense would know exactly what was being referred to. Just to give an insight :br /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br //span/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" i[Kartel:]/i/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" All wen a nite yuh pu**y feel like sun hot, wen yuh come inna mi ramping shop/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /i[Spice:]/i/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Mek sure yuh kno how fi wuk and ah chat yah ah chat/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" , when you come inna mi ramping shop, ibr /[Kartel:]/i/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Cocky* nuh play, mi will bruk yuh back/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" , /spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" when yuh come inna mi ramping shop/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" ibr /[Spice:] /i/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Me will quint* it up two time and pop yuh cock*, when yuh come inna mi ramping shop/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" ibr /[Kartel:]/i/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Me will mek yuh run out a mi house, inna half ah frock*, when yuh come inna mi ramping shop/spanspan style="font-style: italic;"br /* ramping shop : local slang for bedroombr /* Cocky or cock : local slang for penisbr /* frock : local slang for dressbr /* in local slang when a woman says she will 'quint' it , this refers to the tightening of the vaginal muscles during sex./spanbr /span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br //spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" My brother - an avid dancehall fan - is against the ban totally. Key point for him is that these same politicians and high society don next to nothing every year during the Easter holy season in the spririt of Carnival and 'span style="font-style: italic;"wine up/span' on everything in sight - daggering soca style? He thinks that as usual, it's a direct 'fight' against Jamaican dancehall music. He is of the opinion that if the Government cleans this up then clean up everything else - hip hop, Ramp;B, soca, you name it. /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /br /Maybe as a lot of people have noted, the ban is all a little too late. Afterall, Jamaican dancehall and dancing have always being sexually suggestive in nature, and daggering is just an new word for old habits. /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Frankly, I think that better care must be taken to what is played on air - be it dancehall or any other genre of music, and from that perspective I support the ban. I would loathe for my four year old niece to be walking around singing ' span style="font-style: italic;"when you come inna mi rampin' shop/span', or as the lyrics to another says ' span style="font-style: italic;"ben ' over, ben' over, ben over, backway, back way, girl I want to... /span'worse yet, attempting all the moves. Leave that for the numerous dancehall sessions that is held on the various days of the week : span style="font-style: italic;"Hot Monday,Weddy Weddy Wenesday, Passa Passa, Dutty Friday /spanor wherever else span style="font-weight: bold;"adults /span/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" choose to be. /spandiv style="text-align: left;"span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /Interestingly too since the ban, quite a bit more conscious music is being played on the airwaves, giving credence to the fact that Jamaican dancehall or Jamican music for that matter is more than span style="font-style: italic;"daggering/span. /spanspan style="font-style: italic;"br //span/divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-535681887107533712?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• April 20, 2009
• 12:14

  The 'cost' of graduate labour...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Reading the Sunday papers has always been a favorite habit of mine when living in Jamaica. It was one of the things I missed when we moved to Ghana – popping out on a Sunday morning, picking up a promisingly heavy paper, brewing a cup of coffee, settling down in my favorite chair and losing myself in the newsprint for the next hour or two. Did continue the ritual when we moved to Holland, but yes, in Ghana few opportunities to do this luxury are present – though Sunday World seems to be moving in the right direction.br /br /This Sunday’s newspaper was just as rewarding. Read one article that I thought I would summarize and share, as I am curious what obtains in Ghana on this particular topic.br /br /A recent University of the West Indies (UWI) report headlined the front page: ‘Low-paying jobs for grads: UWI study shows modest earning by degree holders’. The report from a tracer study the University conducted showed that most recent graduates are employed, the majority of those are still under employed, earning wages or occupying positions lower than their qualifications. The civil service still absorbed most of the graduates – approximately 60% , while the private sector accounted for 23% and a remaining 7% 'were engaged in other entities'. Interestingly too, 65% of the graduates were employed in three primary sectors: education, health and finance/banking.br /br /The report mentions that a recent graduate ideally should be earning at least JD$1.5 million per annum (though this is still considered low by some). It also gives the mean monthly salary (in Jamaican dollars) of graduates by faculty:br //spanullispan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Humanities and Education JD$98, 181 (span style="font-style: italic;"app. USD 1109/span)/span/lilispan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Pure and Applied Sciences JD$ 90,700 (span style="font-style: italic;"app. USD 1024/span)/span/lilispan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Social Sciences JD$ 87,951 (span style="font-style: italic;"app. USD 993/span)br //span/lilispan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Medical Sciences JD$ 79,480 (span style="font-style: italic;"app. USD 898/span)/span/li/ulspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /Note to self and others: will check to see what the annual tuition costs are for the faculties mentioned above.br /br /Male students, which accounted for only 21% of the graduates, also tended to earn a higher mean salary of JD$98,194 when compared to females who were earning JD$89,758.Will do a search when I get back to Accra to see if any of the Universities there have done any similar studies – granted here are so many differences between both countries that we would also have to be looking at a number of other factors. Have also given my daughter a bit of an ‘assignment' that I will share on my blog – looking at a number of selected indicators (including some fun ones!) that can give both my Ghanaian and Jamaican readers an overview of the differences between both countries.br /br //spandiv style="text-align: right; font-style: italic;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" * exchange rate of USD 1 to JD$ 88.50/span/divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-2178167111526299200?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• April 17, 2009
• 15:18

  Immersion...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" span class="sense_label start" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Immerse:/span/spanbr /span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" span class="sense_label start" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/span/spanul style="text-align: left; font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"span class="sense_content"strong/strongto plunge into something that surrounds or covers/spanspan class="sense_content" ; emespecially/em/span span class="sense_content"strong:/strong to plunge or dip into a fluid/spanspan class="sense_label start"/spanspan class="sense_content"strong/strong/span/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"span class="sense_content"strong/strong span class="lookup"engross/span, span class="lookup"absorb/span span class="vi"completelyimmersed in his work/completely/span/span/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"span class="sense_label start"/spanspan class="sense_content"strong/strong to baptize by span class="formulaic"immersion/span/span/span/li/ulspan style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary/span/spanbr /span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br /br /Immersion - I think that is the only word to describe my present state of mind and being. Arrived in Jamaica all of one week now (yes, that was the big count down) and I still feel as if I have been immersed into everything I could possibly want. Looking at Jamaica through my span style="font-style: italic;"Ghanaian tinted glasse/spans as well - interesting needless to say. Will write more, but yes, off again to be immersed!/span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-73360647000727656?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• April 05, 2009
• 11:34

  Let the countdown begin!

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:180%;" 5 days.../spanbr /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Have been holding myself back from starting this counting down even when there were 60 days left for the event but as the time approaches, can hardly wait. Have been singing the Pointer Sisters song '/span/spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" I'm so excited/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" ' in my head all day since waking up this morning!br //spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-380810968408343977?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• March 31, 2009
• 4:59

  What's in a name ?

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Accra can perhaps best defined as four-wheel country (city). Four wheel drives of every make and type from Chinese to Indian to Japanese and everything in between are popular. However there is one four wheel drive I will certainly look at in a different light after yesterday. That's the Mitsubishi Pajero.br /br //spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SdGmzR7c79I/AAAAAAAAAcY/8g1sRZcTa-I/s1600-h/Fingers_and_thumb_in_circle_downward_motion.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 152px; height: 101px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SdGmzR7c79I/AAAAAAAAAcY/8g1sRZcTa-I/s200/Fingers_and_thumb_in_circle_downward_motion.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319216034817568722" border="0" //a/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" A colleague of mine from Argentina came in and I went to pick her up at the hotel. Walking t/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" hrough the parking lot she started giggling when she saw a Pajero. Of /spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" course I didn't understand what was so funny. Apparently in Spanish the word 'span style="font-style: italic;"pajero/span' is slang for '/spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" wanker/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" ', in other words a man who excessively masturbates!br /br //spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SdGn-2AzTHI/AAAAAAAAAcg/7mAk6GNJ-d4/s1600-h/Mitsubishi.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 183px; height: 135px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SdGn-2AzTHI/AAAAAAAAAcg/7mAk6GNJ-d4/s200/Mitsubishi.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319217332993870962" border="0" //aspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Mitsub/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" ishi had initially named the vehicle after the /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Leopardus pajeros/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" , a pampas cat from southern Argentina. Weren't they surprised when sales didn't pick up in some markets - including Latin America! Hence there was a name change to /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Montero/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" span style="font-size:130%;"and/span /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Shogun/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" in some countries.br /br /So the next time I am stuck in traffic and see a well dressed man, looking all cool and hip, driving a Pajero I will sure to smile and wonder - span style="font-style: italic;"pa/span/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" span style="font-style: italic;"jero/span by name (vehicle) or by /spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" nature/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" ?/span span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" And just in case you are wondering, no there isn't the female equivalent of the term in Spanish.br //spandiv style="text-align: right;"span style="font-style: italic;"pictures and more on the Pajero from : a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pajero"Wikipedia/a/spanbr //divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-1515333077693804747?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• March 22, 2009
• 14:41

  A 5th grade math problem

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" My sis sent me a math quiz this weekend to solve - the catch was I had to use the answer to the problem to open a password protected excel sheet that was included in the e-mail. Never being good at math decided to try anyway:br //spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /There are 7 girls in a bus.br /Each girl has 7 backpacks.br /In each backpack, there are 7 big cats.br /For every big cat there are 7 little cats./spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /Question: How many legs are there in the bus?br /br /span style="font-style: italic;"* There are no bus drivers on the bus so no need to calculate that./span/spanbr /br /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Finally got it correct on my third try - did say I was no good at math!/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-5238687809631585162?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• March 21, 2009
• 7:44

  It's the journey...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Driving down the motorway during the week, I found myself listening to yet another newscast about horrific accidents. The burnt out shells of vehicles lining the sides of the road seem a fitting backdrop for the announcements. br /br /Silentbr /Sentinels.br /br /Rustingbr /Relics.br /br /Fateful intersectionsbr /Between life and death.br /br /As is usual (or so it seems) conspiracy theories abound - from curses of fetish priests to retributions for political choices gone awry. For me though, the root causes seem more much fundamental - a lack of responsible behavior by drivers, and a lack of basic safety in terms of maintenance - both of roads and of vehicles. br /br /There is an impromptu school trip today to Kakum and Elimina, and my daughter wanted to go. I thought back to all that happened this week, including that Winneba stretch that they would have to use. I mumbled something about her not needing to go as we had visited both those places several times before. Quick to quip my daughter said' span style="font-style: italic;"Oh Mom, its the journey not the destination/span'. Sadly, but truthfully I said ' span style="font-style: italic;"Sweetheart, that is precisely what I am afraid of. The journey/span'./spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-4242469479805772826?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• March 17, 2009
• 16:32

  Inspiration from spam and other places ...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"Had the most unusual inspiration for the poem I attempted below - my spam box in my e-mail! Was reading a book by Kate Braestrup, span style="font-style: italic;"Here if you need me/span, which is an account of how she deals with the loss of a loved one, her subsequent connection to her own spirituality, and her chosen career as a chaplain. It is a well written book - with lots of life lessons that one can understand, and in some instances perhaps relate to. A well recommended read. She herself mentioned span style="font-style: italic;"dyslexic pornographers/span and true to form, I spent a couple of days scanning my spam mail just to see what types of spelling errors I could find. Decided to compile some into the ode below.br /br /Being a really bad speller - even now! - I of course fully empathize, so no disrespect meant to persons who actually suffer from dyslexia.br /br /span style="font-style: italic;"Ode to a Dyslexic Pornographer/spanbr /It's Tuesday morning and my in-box is fullbr /No, not of uplifting e-mails but of your kind of bull.br /For the umpteenth time I am being cajoledbr /To accept your offers which seem down right bold.br /But even better I must confessbr /Is reading your spelling which is a down right mess!br /br /I am not a/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" hrony gril/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" though admittedly I am in my prime,br /And your offer for /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" femal Vigara/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" is definitely not sublime.br /I don't want my man with an all /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" nigt erction/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /Come to think of it do you subscribe to your own /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" mediciation/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" ?br /br /Your offer to let me see /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Brintey Speers/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" in the nudebr /Is not in the least bit appealing - it's just plain rudebr /I don't need your help to span style="font-style: italic;"satify/span span style="font-style: italic;"my spouse bed needs easier/spanbr /Frankly, could your offers get any cheesier?br /br /Well I have spent enough of my morning looking at your spelling mistakesbr /That if nothing else should convince people you are a bunch of fakes.br /So Sir or Madam, who ever you may bebr /Next time try using spell check - some browsers even have it for free!/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-359167813586905865?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• March 02, 2009
• 10:36

  The facelessness of Facebook

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/Sau3rclDO3I/AAAAAAAAAcQ/QK5iYhHtNRM/s1600-h/s_silhouette.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 172px; height: 125px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/Sau3rclDO3I/AAAAAAAAAcQ/QK5iYhHtNRM/s320/s_silhouette.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308538542820113266" border="0" //aspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"So this morning I have a gazillion /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;"friend/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" requests - ok, an exaggeration of course but yes, you get my point, I have several /span/spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" friend/spanspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" requests from:/spanbr //spanul style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"people I don't know/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"people I don't remember - yes that happens with age/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"people with whom I won't know what to say beyond ' span style="font-style: italic;"oh hi, its been a long time.../span'/span/li/ulspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Do I actually add them as a /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;"friend/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" simply because they have requested me to do so on Facebook, or can I simply press the ignore button without feeling absolutely guilty? Chances are most of these people would walk past me on the street without even knowing it was me. Why then should I bestow on them the title of friendship in a public space?/spanbr /br /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"I do want to keep in touch and even in some cases get re-acquainted with people who I have not seen for a while, and I will be the first to admit that Facebook does offer that, and it is pretty cool. But I certainly don't have or want two hundred friends in real life - yes, I do know a lot of people, but I am talking about real friends not acquaintances. Could of course write a whole other post on what is friendship, but no, won't go down that route. Bottom line is my friendships are important to me and so don't come easy, whether on-line or off-line./spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"br /br /I think Facebook should have 'classifications' of friendships that people can graduate to over time. Better still they should allow you to create your own classifications. Hmm, can just imagine some. /span/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Could even have a 'previous-friend-but-now-sworn-enemy' category - my, my, would that beg a juicy tale or two? In one click of a button you could tell people where exactly they fall - and even better find out where you yourself are 'span style="font-style: italic;"classified/span'. br /br /Anyway, will try and over come my irrational fear of pressing the ignore button, and check mid-week to see how many people have withdrawn or deleted their requests because of this post. Lol!/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-1338508401522838166?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• February 26, 2009
• 9:04

  The weather is demanding...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"In all my time in Ghana I had never heard the term until today. Was on y way to work and listening to my usual morning programme when one of the announcers made the comment that ' span style="font-style: italic;"ah, the weather is demanding oh/span'. At first I was at a loss as to what this could be, until slowly-slowly the issue came to light. Basically what she was saying was that the rainy weather 'demanded' that people be a bit more amorous (than usual?). Had a good laugh of course.br /br /The upside is that the weather did span style="font-style: italic;"demand/span me to write! Despite the lack of sun, I find the cloudiness and the drizzle a refreshing change from the hot, humid weather we have been having lately. Though I am not sure if it's the start of the rainy season it will be good to see the place being green again. There are a couple of plants in my yard that I hope it will not be too late to rescue. Will see.br /br /I must of course apologize - yet again - for my silence. Who ever said silence was golden was obviously not a blogger. Have been overwhelmed by work - after effects of a new Minister and a new government - and just have not had the time to link the daily grind with my blog, though heaven's knows there has been enough material that could keep me going for decades! Though I have worked primarily in the public sector for most of my working life, it's been my first experience at this level of management and going through this transitional period. Interesting. Have also been spending a bit more time visiting schools as we are undertaking a baseline survey as the use of information and communication technology (ICT) at second cycle institutions. Sobering to say the least. Though I must also add that there were some pockets of innovation and excellence that were worth noting. Perhaps more on that later - though truth be told I like to keep my work life off line and not in my blog.br /br /Well there, not a long post - or a particularly inspirational one at that - but yes, it did feel good. Here is to more span style="font-style: italic;"demanding/span weather - yes, all definitions and connotations accepted./span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-8949797890205926309?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• February 23, 2009
• 12:42

  The weather is demanding...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"In all my time in Ghana I had never heard the term until today. Was on y way to work and listening to my usual morning programme when one of the announcers made the comment that ' span style="font-style: italic;"ah, the weather is demanding oh/span'. At first I was at a loss as to what this could be, until slowly-slowly the issue came to light. Basically what she was saying was that the rainy weather 'demanded' that people be a bit more amorous (than usual?). Had a good laugh of course.br /br /The upside is that the weather did span style="font-style: italic;"demand/span me to write! Despite the lack of sun, I find the cloudiness and the drizzle a refreshing change from the hot, humid weather we have been having lately. Though I am not sure if it's the start of the rainy season it will be good to see the place being green again. There are a couple of plants in my yard that I hope it will not be too late to rescue. Will see.br /br /I must of course apologize - yet again - for my silence. Who ever said silence was golden was obviously not a blogger. Have been overwhelmed by work - after effects of a new Minister and a new government - and just have not had the time to link the daily grind with my blog, though heaven's knows there has been enough material that could keep me going for decades! Though I have worked primarily in the public sector for most of my working life, it's been my first experience at this level of management and going through this transitional period. Interesting. Have also been spending a bit more time visiting schools as we are undertaking a baseline survey as the use of information and communication technology (ICT) at second cycle institutions. Sobering to say the least. Though I must also add that there were some pockets of innovation and excellence that were worth noting. Perhaps more on that later - though truth be told I like to keep my work life off line and not in my blog.br /br /Well there, not a long post - or a particularly inspirational one at that - but yes, it did feel good. Here is to more span style="font-style: italic;"demanding/span weather - yes, all definitions and connotations accepted.br //span/span
• February 11, 2009
• 16:07

  Boys will be boys...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Had a group of Krokrobite boys hanging around on Saturday. No, they weren't a nuisance and in the spirit of the day also had birthday cake and something to eat./span/spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SZMEZfI17pI/AAAAAAAAAcI/l4l-9CvChHM/s1600-h/P1040612.JPG"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SZMEZfI17pI/AAAAAAAAAcI/l4l-9CvChHM/s320/P1040612.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301586022247034514" border="0" //abr /a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SZMDk63MXjI/AAAAAAAAAb4/BotuYUBrHS4/s1600-h/P1040611.JPG"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SZMDk63MXjI/AAAAAAAAAb4/BotuYUBrHS4/s320/P1040611.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301585119156133426" border="0" //adiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-5604724053032123869?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• February 10, 2009
• 4:57

  Beaches and Birthdays...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SZEVjhYtqFI/AAAAAAAAAbo/FP9G2_0Meso/s1600-h/P1040513.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 133px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SZEVjhYtqFI/AAAAAAAAAbo/FP9G2_0Meso/s200/P1040513.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301041936393414738" border="0" //aspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Like my fellow blogger a href="http://nonjeneregretterien.blogspot.com/"Kasja/a, I spent the day on Saturday in Krokobite - lyming with my daughter and her teenage friends for her beach birthday party. Was interesting just to see how confident and self assured they were at this age and stage. Also realized with startling clarity that even though this was 'my baby', for all intents and purposes I was dealing with a young adult and not a child any more.br /br /My Mother used to say " /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" they pull on your apron strings when they are small, and pull on your heart strings when they are older/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" ", true I guess as I found myself getting sentimental just watching them, and her in particular/span. span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Am really proud that she is my daughter, and prouder still of the person she is. /spanbr /br /br /div style="text-align: center;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;font-size:180%;" Happy Birthday sweetheart!/spanbr //diva onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SZEUoi7yoII/AAAAAAAAAbg/UT9RxtoSWUM/s1600-h/P1040522.JPG"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SZEUoi7yoII/AAAAAAAAAbg/UT9RxtoSWUM/s400/P1040522.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301040923196694658" border="0" //aspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /Ok, ok, did tell them to pose as if they were Ghana's Next Top Model!/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='//blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/25517958-7111778510179245250?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• February 04, 2009
• 9:31

  Reality TV and Politicians....

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Two things struck me as I flipped through the DS-TV (cable for my non-African readers) last night:br //spanol style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"how many reality TV shows seem to be in existence - there seemed to be one for every celebrity, and for every reason under the earth!/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Just how much 'African-ised' spin offs of these reality shows there also seemed to be, with the latest being ' Let's Dance Nigeria'.br //span/li/olspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" The third thing that struck me as well was how little entertainment value I was getting for the money I pay each month. One is hard pressed to find anything remotely related to viewing pleasure and even less so for educational/intellectual enrichment. Of course there are a couple of exceptions to the rule, but yes most part most seem to follow the rule of empty entertainment, unbelievable plots, antics of animals, or combinations of all the above with a few twists thrown in for surprise. Anyway, I digress, back to the idea of having some reality shows and linking them with our politicians.br /br /There are a couple I think we could readily adapt:br //spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br //spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader?/span This one would be specifically reserved for ex-Ministers of Education. After all one could argue that because of the inconsistencies and lack of vision, many 5th graders in developing countries run the risk of graduating from primary schools as illiterates. Each ex-Minister of Education would be given questions from their own country syllabi, and aided by a team of 5th graders that are typical products of their systems, they would seek to answer questions from the core curriculum. Hmm, wonder how many would pass with flying colours?br /br //spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"Deal or No Deal:/span the NBC's website lists it as "span style="font-style: italic;"an exhilarating hit game show where contestants play and deal for a top prize of $1 million in a high-energy contest of nerves, instincts and raw intuition/span". The same could apply for us - prime candidates would be the ex-Ministers of Trade, or ex-Ministers of Finance.br /br /Similar to the odds and chances played with many a national economy, the game unfolds when an ex-Minister is confronted with 26 sealed briefcases full of varying amounts of cash – ranging from a measly cent/peswa/what ever currency to $1 million. Without knowing the amount in each briefcase, the ex-Minister picks one – his to keep, if he chooses – until its unsealing at game's end. The risk element kicks in when the ex-Minister must then instinctively eliminate the remaining 25 cases – which are opened and the amount of cash inside revealed. The pressure mounts as in each round, after a pre-determined number of cases are opened, the ex-Minister would be tempted tempted by a mysterious entity known only as "the Banker" - no, not to be confused with the World Bank(er) - to accept an offer of cash in exchange for what might be contained in the contestant's chosen briefcase – prompting the host to ask the all-important question – span style="font-style: italic;"Deal or No Deal/span? We could also opt for a far more interesting one of span style="font-style: italic;"'Bribe or No Bribe'?/span but that would have to be done through CCTV security cameras as opposed to public or cable TV.br //spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"br /The Weakest Link/span: span style="font-style: italic;"Our/span version will feature a team of nine ex-presidents who take turns answering questions. The object of each round would be the same as the original - answer a chain of consecutive correct answers to earn an increasing amount for a single communal pot within a certain time limit. The same rules of banking would also apply, and so would voting and elimination. The winning ex-president would get the money to donate to a charity of their own. Family members and relatives do not qualify as charities!br //spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /And my all time favorite:br //spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br //spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" span style="font-weight: bold;"Moment of Truth /span: /spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Open to all ex-Presidents and ex-Ministers THE MOMENT OF TRUTH will put our political contestants to the test -- the lie detector test -- to reveal whether or not they are telling the truth for a chance to win half a million dollars. The challenge would be simple -- answer 21 increasingly personal and professional questions honestly, as determined by a polygraph, and win up to $500,000. Theirs to keep and help support their retirement plans.br /br /To win $500,000 these politicians have to tell the truth. Of course, the questions are easier when the stakes are low but as the prize amount increases, they will be challenged to confess to matters they might normally lie about. /spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" The questions would be drawn from the general public, with the advertisements for the show encouraging persons to send in the questions they always wanted their leaders to answer./spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /br /Several others could be explored :br /- span style="font-weight: bold;"The Mugabes/span - a spin off from the Osbourns where we get a daily peak into the life of this Head of State. Note: substitute 'span style="font-style: italic;"Mugabe/span' for any leader you wish of course, plot and premise remains the same;br /- span style="font-weight: bold;"Made/span - a spin of from the MTV series with a slight twist. This would look at the sudden switch of our political leaders when they assume power and assume that finally, they have it 'made';br /- span style="font-weight: bold;"The Bachelor/span - reserved specifically for Swaziland as the Prince does get to chose a new bride ever year, though I am not sure if technically he qualifies as a bachelor;br /- span style="font-weight: bold;"The Apprentice/span - reserved for Members of Parliament who aspire to become Ministers; and finallybr /- span style="font-weight: bold;"Cribs/span - which takes viewers on a tour of the politicians house span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"before/span and span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"after/span they have served their term(s) in office. We may have a slight problem in some cases as there are often times several houses involved.br /br /Now off to find our version of Simon Cowell to give me the funds to produce these series.br /br /Reality check - back to real life and limited TV choices.br /br //spandiv style="text-align: right;"span style="font-size:100%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Programme Descriptions from the following sources:/spanbr //spanul style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:100%;"Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader? www.fox.com/span/lilispan style="font-size:100%;"The Apprentice: www.bbc.co.uk /span/lilispan style="font-size:100%;"Deal or No Deal: www.nbc.com/span/lilispan style="font-size:100%;"The Weakest Link:www.bbc.co.uk /span/lilispan style="font-size:100%;"Moment of Truth:www.fox.com/span/lilispan style="font-size:100%;"Wikipedia - for various briefs/span/li/ul/divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/25517958-4170217497974530595?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• January 27, 2009
• 8:28

  Seasonal affective disorder...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"I think I am having the Ghanaian version of /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;"winter/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" depression, excepting mine is associated with the harmattan. I think the weather is having an effect on several things, including my writing. My ideas are as dry as the scorched patches of earth that have appeared everywhere, and as fuzzy as the haze that greets one in the morning, encloses you during the day, and tucks you in at night. Omnipresent dust.br /br //spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"In the Netherlands I was always surprised by the term winter depression, until I spent enough years to realize that story book pictures aside the reality was that it was so cold often times you wanted to be anywhere but in the midst of that rain, fog and slush - which the snow eventually turns to. Who wouldn't be depressed? Granted, never quite got to that stage where I was depressed in the real sense of the word, but yes, did long for the longer, warmer days of summer that could be spent on the beach (which was close to our offices) and not huddled inside.br /br //spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"I think this harmattan is the worse I have experienced it since living here, and while I do like the chillier nights I really cant stand the dust and the haze. The smell of smoke has also become quite common place - and worrying. Every morning on the way into Accra there seems to be a new burnt patch of land. Last Sunday on the way back from Accra, there was a huge fire that was burning so close to the roadside that motorists were pulling over to the other side to avoid the flames that seem about to burst out onto the road itself, and the smoke which was by then limiting one's visibility. Not sure if they have been deliberately set to clear the land, or accidentally started. Either way is worrying though and am hoping we really won't have a case of one getting out of hand. /spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"br /br /Anyway, will continue to fight span style="font-style: italic;"grit/span with span style="font-style: italic;"grit/span and trudge on to to the daily tasks, including writing./span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/25517958-470447249829531038?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• January 09, 2009
• 8:18

  Looking for the past in Akropong II

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  div style="text-align: right;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-style: italic;"My parents migrated to the Gold Coast notbr /any outward advantage which they hoped to get, but from the true love they had for the Lord and also to witness the grace of God not only to the white man, but also to the Black Man. Their only prayer was that the eyes of the blacks whom they regarded as their brothers may be opened to see Jesus as Savior of the world/span.br /Peter Hallbr /Pioneer Series:br /Autobiography of Rev. Peter Hallbr //span/divspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /The librarian at the theological institute didn't seemed the least surprised by my question: ' span style="font-style: italic;"Hi, I would like to browse the library to see what information I can find on the Jamaican missionaries who moved to Ghana. Could you possibly help me? I am actually from Jamaica and I realized that my mother's maiden name and my own surname are mentioned in the list of missionaries who came'/span.br /br /Her ' ah' and her look of 'business as usual' told me that this wasn't the first request of this nature she had had. In fact while poking through the books and records - each time adding the to the pile that she had almost immediately placed before me - she informed me that quite recently another Jamaican from the UK had visited asking the same question. Coincidence - he did share my surname! She also told me that in Akropong itself ' just down the road' was a house of Mullings and a house of Halls, both families direct descendants of those missionaries that had come. The house I would perhaps be most interested in (i.e. the one that shares my surname) could be found in Osu.br /br /The stack of literature in front of me was substantial - photocopies from old Presbyterian Church manuals and notes made by different missionaries, books written by historians and others, and even several thesis's done by scholars who had researched the history of religion, the Presbyterian Church in Ghana etc. Time not being on my side, I started to flip through the various records, keeping an eye out for references to Jamaicans missionaries. The bits and pieces gathered were quite interesting :br //spanul style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"The Basel Missionary had in fact decided that they would stop sending missionaries to the then Gold Coast. Their missionaries were dying and as one author noted, but for the 'Jamaican experiment' it seemed that the work in the Gold Coast was about to be abandoned. It was the idea of one of the missionaries, Andreas Riis, that this 'span style="font-style: italic;"new faith venture/span' could be done with families from Jamaica, ushering in a new phase of mission work in the Gold Coast./span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Riis' idea was to 'span style="font-style: italic;"establish a colony of English-speaking black Christians at Akropong. (He) proposed bringing some former black slaves, now liberated and converted to Christianity, from the West Indies to Akropong/span'. The Basel Committee hoped that the West Indians would lead by example and would be seen as 'span style="font-style: italic;"a light and a pattern for the local people'/span ... 'span style="font-style: italic;"a desirable spectacle of an ideal Christan community which would dispel the idea that Christianity may be a good religion for white men but not for black people/span'/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Interestingly, the missionaries sent from Jamaica were not Presbyterian themselves, but were rather Moravian Missionaries. A total of twenty four were ' enlisted' as colonists for Akropong./span/li/ulspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" And so began the return journey.br //spanbr /span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" The West Indians included 12 married couples, 3 unmarried people and 8 children. They left Jamaican on February 7th, 1843 (some records say the 8th), landed at Christianburg* on April 16th, 1843. (*this is the same old slave Castle that now is the official residence and office of the head of state, i.e. the President). They travelled overland to Akropong and arrived on June 18, 1843.br /br /The West Indians - I will try not to refer to them as solely Jamaicans as there was 'span style="font-style: italic;"a man from Antigua/span' - actually had to sign an agreement, which in effect demanded:br //spanul style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"li style="font-style: italic;"span style="font-size:130%;"the form and workshop and discipline of the Moravian Church were to be maintained/span/lili style="font-style: italic;"span style="font-size:130%;"they would willingly perform every legitimate service for the mission in return for which they would be maintained by the society during the first two years/span/lili style="font-style: italic;"span style="font-size:130%;"soon after their arrival on the Gold Coast the society would give them land to build houses and make farms on and they would be allowed at least one day in a work to work therein/span/lili style="font-style: italic;"span style="font-size:130%;"as soon as they ceased to be supported by the society they would be at liberty to work for the Mission at cheap cost/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-style: italic;"after a stay for five years they could return to Jamaica. If they desired to go the society would pay for the journey if during this time they had not been guilty if any moral offense/span/span/li/ulspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"On arriving in /spanAkropongspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" the West Indian /spanmissionariesspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" immediately started to work, as the houses they were promised were in disrepair. Interestingly, the literature also notes that they built the first stone buildings in the town and '/spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" some of these buildings still stand today as a monument to their skills and workmanship/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"'. The area where the Jamaicans settled became known as Hanover, an interesting link to the parish (aka region for my Ghanaian readers) that they came from in Jamaica. In another parallel of what they left behind, Hanover was described as a 'community lined with mango trees' - a must in many Jamaican communities even till today.br /br /The Jamaicans, it is said, settled in and as one author noted ' span style="font-style: italic;"trusted that Akwapem people/span'. Sadly however, the missionaries and their efforts were affected by political unrest in Akropong during the period 1839 to 1850. Some records indicate that ' span style="font-style: italic;"by January 1845 some of the West Indian Christians had grown weary of the Christian experiment and wrote to the Basel to request repatriation but the mission refused/span' claiming that it was contrary to the agreement signed.br /br /In 1848, some of the families opted to make their way back to Jamaica, leaving five of the original group behind. Those that stayed behind included Hall, Clerk, Rochester, Mellings* (* spellings for the various names differed amongst the literature consulted), and Miller. It was documented that: span style="font-style: italic;"' the mission took steps to secure framing land for the West Indian families that decided to stay. The mission purchased land near Adami for the Miller and the Hall families and at Adobesum on the road to Amanprobi for the Mullins and Rochester families. Land was secured for the Clerk family in Aburi at the place they call Jamaican today. These families planted tropical fruits they had brought from the West indies. It was the West Indians who introduced cocoyam, which became a staple in the country'/span.br /br /My hand - which was by this time cramped from all the scribbling and the writing - coupled with the prick of conscience - yes, it does occur from time to time - that this was in fact not my main reason for being in Akropong signaled that it was time to leave - at least for now. Promised myself that this would be something to follow up on in the new year. My list of span style="font-style: italic;"things to do/span growing with each thought:br //span/spanulli style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:130%;"Check with my friend H., to see what he found while visiting Jamaica - he being Ghanaian had gone to trace the roots from the other end!/span/lili style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:130%;"Find the family house in Osu/span/lili style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:130%;"Write up the info gathered for my blog (done!)/span/lilispan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Find sometime to go back and read more/spanbr //li/ulspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Packing up my notes and while still somewhat dazed by all I just read, I told the the librarian 'thank you' as I was about to walk out, only to hear her sternly say ' span style="font-style: italic;"that will be GH 1 please/span'! Needless to say that was the best one ghana cedis I have ever spent!br /br //span/spandiv style="text-align: left;"span style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Documents consulted: * forgive my poor attempt at a reference list - this is what one gets for scribbling on a million and one pieces of paper! Argh! Note to self: add to list of things to do - get list of proper references!br //spanullispan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" uAn Outline history of the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast/u, Rev. E. A. Asamoa/span/lilispan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" uTexts and Documents: A Short History of the Basel Mission/u, Paul Jenkins, Basel Missionary No. 10, May 1989/span/lili style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" uPinoeers of Church and Education in Ghana: Danish Chaplains to Guinea 1661 - 1850/u Hans Debrunner/span/lili style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" uPresbyterian Church of Ghana Pastors Manual/u Rev. Dr. Sam Prempeh, B.A., M, Th, PhD./span/lilispan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"span style="font-style: italic;"uAfrican Sacral Rule and the Christian Church: An Investigation into a Process of Change and Continuity in the Encounter between Christianity and African Traditions with particular reference to Cameroon and Ghana/u Pasacal Possouo, Phd Thesis 2003/span/spanbr //li/ul/divspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/25517958-4503974340599656495?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• January 06, 2009
• 7:49

  Looking for the past in Akropong

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SWMSwQ3II9I/AAAAAAAAAZk/-Osne6NMofE/s1600-h/P1040251.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 191px; height: 144px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SWMSwQ3II9I/AAAAAAAAAZk/-Osne6NMofE/s320/P1040251.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288091007832302546" border="0" //aspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" It was my first time visiting a cemetery out of curiosity rather than compulsion. I really didn't intend to, but yes, curiosity won over and there I was.br /br /I actually didn't start the day planning to go grave-hunting. On the contrary, it started ordinarily enough. Was working outside of Accra and visiting some schools in the Eastern Region and ended up at the span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"Akropong/span Presbyterian Teacher Training College. On reaching the cooler climes of span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"Aburi/span, already one could see the influence of the Presbyterian Church by way of the names of the schools - Presbyterian Senior High School, Ebeneezer Presbyterian, Presbyterian Teacher Training College - by way of some examples. All along the ridge there are beautiful old churches that seem to be guardians and sentinels of that time past.br /br /a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SWMRe5uPgKI/AAAAAAAAAZM/E5S_qeX_2l8/s1600-h/P1040245.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 205px; height: 153px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SWMRe5uPgKI/AAAAAAAAAZM/E5S_qeX_2l8/s320/P1040245.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288089610051616930" border="0" //a/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Historically, the Basel Missionaries started the 'span style="font-style: italic;"seeds/span' of Presbyterian Churches in Ghana and to link to a a href="http://decla.blogspot.com/2008/11/going-back-to-my-roots.html"previous post/a they were also the group responsible for bringing over the Jamaican missionaries in 1843. It suddenly occurred to me that this was the perfect time to go information hunting on the topic.br /br /After finishing the work I had set out to do at the Presbyterian Training College in span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"Akropong/span, I started chatting with some of the teachers about the Jamaica-Ghana link and then so any things began to make a connection. They took me to an old cemetery on the grounds of the College, tucked away beside a beautiful old Church. They explained that many of the Missionaries that had started the Church and the Teacher Training College - including some descendants of the Jamaican families - had built the church and were in fact buried here.br /br //spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" I took some time out to wander among the graves, hoping to see and make some connection to my own family names, but alas, alas, time had eroded the grave stones, save one. Am sure with a bit more research and a bit more digging - for information, not literally! - I could find out if any of these were in fact descendants of those families that had returned to the then Gold Coast.br /br //spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SWMZoiw8qjI/AAAAAAAAAZs/tuM-RbLFv4U/s1600-h/P1040263.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SWMZoiw8qjI/AAAAAAAAAZs/tuM-RbLFv4U/s320/P1040263.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288098571780663858" border="0" //aspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" I popped into the Church, which was empty, quiet and cool. The stained glass windows providing a filter not just for the sunlight, but seemingly for everything else that seemed to be happening around me - both mentally and physically. Towards the end of each year, I always find myself reflective and this seemed to be the perfect place for that. I spent a couple minutes, reluctant to leave, but duty called and I had one more stop to make in this information hunt which was right next door at the a href="http://www.acighana.org/"span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"Akrofi/span-span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"Christaller/span Institute of Theology, Mission and Culture/a. If I needed to find more information on those Jamaican families their library was the perfect place to search. More on that in my next post - promise!br /br /span style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" span style="font-weight: bold;"An aside/span: so the span style="font-weight: bold;"woes and wows/span (no didn't make that up, rather fell in love with it and borrowed the phrase from a book I am now reading, Wizard of the Crow by /span/spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"Ngugi/span span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6"wa/span span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7"Thiong'o/span/spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" ) of 2008 are over. I find a new year a bit like opening a new book. There is the promise of a plot - hopefully not too dramatic, new characters to discover, or ifs a sequel old ones to be reacquainted with. One of course is never quite sure where the twists and turns will lead to, but at the end of it all, one hopes that it would have been satisfying. 2008 has been a good year - few regrets, some disappointments, but yes overall satisfactory. Here's to a New Year - all the best it has to offer to you and yours!/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/25517958-2658192866126363532?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• December 15, 2008
• 8:39

  Christmas: A view from Ghana

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Apart from the half-affected Christmas decorations in the malls, the seemingly ever present 'Christmas box' that have now taken on a permanent appearance at the counters of of shops - as well as at the guard house in the estate where I live! - the only other reminder of Christmas seems to be the millions of baskets lining either side of the Spintex Road where the basket weavers ply their trade. I am really not feeling Christmassy, and no am not a Scrooge, but yes, just remembered that it has been a long time since I have spent Christmas at home.br /br //spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" The downside about not living at home (i.e. Jamaica) is that you miss all the important events - birthdays, weddings, newborns and the holidays that bring the family together. Easter and Christmas are always the most difficult times, and though my view on Christmas is i'out of Ghana'/i it is decidedly going to be about what I miss most about Christmas in Jamaica. /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br //spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" bibr /Christmas breeze/i/b already in November there is a coolness in the air that us Jamaicans refer to as iChristmas breeze/i. It actually gets quite cool and usually this seems to act as a confirmation that even though it won't be white, /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Christmas is just around the corner. On this side of the globe, the Harmattan commonly associated with this time of the year, is anything but cooling./spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /br /Another tell-tale sign is the ib house painting! /b/i For some reason - and I am not sure why - this is the time of the year when most houses receive a new coat of paint. New curtains are also a must in many houses. Still remember going shopping with my Mother for dining room curtains, living room curtains, bed room curtains, kitchen curtains, and just in case spare curtains.br /br /br /a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SUZozq7o4KI/AAAAAAAAAYI/ER80Cp7WcBA/s1600-h/Christmas+cake.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 113px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SUZozq7o4KI/AAAAAAAAAYI/ER80Cp7WcBA/s320/Christmas+cake.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280022850045534370" border="0" //a/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" biChristmas cake/i/b in Jamaica is not to be joked about! Is a serious thing! Fruits are soaked from the year before, the aged marinade of rum and wine giving an additional kick to the already festive season. My mother's Christmas cakes a/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" re legen/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" dary and two weeks before the Day, the kitchen would be full of lined tins, mouthwatering batter and the smell of Christmas cake that was just unmistakable! /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" To borrow a popular Ghanaian /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" phrase i you could hear the scent/i from a mile or two away. It would welcome you home in the evenings as you return from work/school leading you by the nostrils up the long winding drive-way long before you even entered the house itself. Have had my fruits soaking since last year -though nearly had to fire my househelp when I came home one day to see her just about to i dash whey mi bokkle wid the fruits dem/i. Suffice to say she now gives the bottles a wide berth!br /br //spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Linked to the cake baking is the b style="font-style: italic;"licking of the spoon!/b /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Yes, forget salmonella - hmm, perhaps neutralized by the amount of rum - as children we would /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" literally fight for who got the almost Olympian trophy to retreat and enjoy in/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" a corner of the house while everyone else complained. Baking over, another test of patience was to see the cakes emerge from the oven knowing that it would /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" not be cut until Christmas day. Two weeks of wetting the cake with a combination of red wine and rum - yes again! - and whetting your appetite because it just looked and smelled so good. As an adult, must admit that I still feel chuffed when I get the spoon - and yes, will compete with my daughter and nieces for it, and no, no apologies offered!br /br //spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" There are a couple of strange 'illness' associated with Christmas in our house, that should perhaps be defined as over indulgence or gluttony rather tha/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" n an illness per se. One was i'span style="font-weight: bold;"pasam/span'/i best defined as the eating of hot baked products straight from the oven which was bound to result in a serious stomach ache. Another was i'span style="font-weight: bold;"colic/span'/i brought on by eating too much of everything and anythi/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" ng, and boy did we eat! Did get my first bout of colic the /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Christmas when I was about 11 - still remember being doubled up in my Grandmother's bed with her telling me 'it served me right' while soothing my by then distended gut with bay-rum.br //spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /Christmas time for us is not about presents, rather it is about i style="font-weight: bold;"presence/i. Relatives you haven't seen for most of the year will be certain to visit, including the ones you would prefer not to. Friends on their way to 'country' will stop by just to say hi and stay and lyme before continuing. It's that tim/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" e of the year when you always cook extra because you know people will be coming over. Even those years when I have missed Christmas in Jamaica my Mother will call to say ' span style="font-style: italic;"you know so and so stop by the house/span' - she, like me, is chuffed, that they still come by to say hi, and of course get a piece of 'the' cake.br /br //spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" i style="font-weight: bold;"Poinsettias!/i For a plant that is usually drab the rest of the year, around a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SUZpZuX8pdI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/QyfonVJeKoY/s1600-h/ponsettieas.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 132px; height: 124px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SUZpZuX8pdI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/QyfonVJeKoY/s200/ponsettieas.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280023503804605906" border="0" //a/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Christmas time they are blood-red. At this time of the year there are blood-red - from gardens to Christmas baskets and floral arrangements the poinsettias are a must!br //spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"br /Sorrel /span- for those of you who are Ghanaian bissap - is a trad/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" itional Christmas drink. Spiced with ginger, cloves and the ever present white rum - guaranteed to put hair on any one's chest! Argh!br /br /a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SUZrfbeYEEI/AAAAAAAAAYY/qzdGpIOCj0E/s1600-h/natty+and+nice.gif"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 138px; height: 135px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SUZrfbeYEEI/AAAAAAAAAYY/qzdGpIOCj0E/s200/natty+and+nice.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280025800833765442" border="0" //a/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" bReggae Christmas Carols/b! I don't think I have ever been anywhere else and heard reggae Christmas carols but yes, they also make their appearance at this time of the year and there are many a Christmas party that have people iskanking/i to the beats. You name the carol, will bet I can find the reggae version to it in a jiffy. After all this is Reggae Country! The name of the album cover to the left just about sums up the feeling of Christmas when it comes to music 'span style="font-style: italic;" Natty and Nice'/span! Parties of cours/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" e are the highlight of the agenda during this season.br //spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"And then there was the /spanspan style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" Pantomime/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" - this always opened in December and was guaranteed to be full of music, animated acting and tons of laughter. Dating back over 40 years, this production attracted church trips, school trips and everything else in between. Hmm, this year's production is entitled 'Runner Boy' and is about Marcus who lives in the town of Yam Hill. He is chosen to represent his village - and his country - at the Big Lympics. Marcus of course wins and the villagers and the country celebrates along with him. Rings a bell? Am sure it does!br //span/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br //spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" There is one thing that does keep the link though, and it's the appearance of a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SUZwg8Z9Y7I/AAAAAAAAAYg/Ebm2dtj0k9A/s1600-h/Jonkanoo.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 144px; height: 125px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SUZwg8Z9Y7I/AAAAAAAAAYg/Ebm2dtj0k9A/s320/Jonkanoo.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5280031324411618226" border="0" //a/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"Jonkunno/span on the streets of Kingston and elsewhere. Though not as popular a/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" s it was when I was younger, or when my Mother was a child, it is still an event associated with Christmas. /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Common figures like span style="font-style: italic;"Pitchy-Patchy/span and span style="font-style: italic;"Horse Head/span were guarantees for a nightmare be you young or even some of the old. Other figures would include Koo-koo or Actor Boy, Jack-in-the-Green, House Jonkunno, Police Man, Belly Woman and others. You can just imagine my amazement and amusement the first time I saw them in Accra! Found an interesting piece put together by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission on a href="http://www.jcdc.org.jm/jonkunnu_characters.htm"Jonkunnos/a for those interested in reading more.br /br //spanspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I could go on and on but yes, beginning to feel so sentimental! Must be a sign of old age! There it is - my view out of Ghana of Christmas in Jamaica. Must confess that while writing this I went started to search for the cheapest tickets home. Alas, alas cheap seems to be out of the question, And while I am sure Ashes and I will have a good holidays, can't help thinking it would have been so much better to have Christmas in Ja./spanbr //span/spanbr /div style="text-align: right; font-style: italic;"span style="font-size:100%;"Picture creditsbr //span/divdiv style="text-align: right; font-style: italic;"ullispan style="font-size:100%;"Christmas Cake - a href="http://www.everytingjamaican.com/"Everything Jamaican /abr //span/lilispan style="font-size:100%;"Natty Christmas - [www.mistletunes.com] style="font-size:100%;"Jonkunno - the a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.jamaica-gleaner.com"Jamaica Gleaner/a/span/li/ulspan style="font-size:100%;"For more on the Jamaican Pantomime see the a href="http://www.ltmpantomime.com/"Little Theatre Movement/abr //span/divdiv style="text-align: right;"br //divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/25517958-3449897157034173599?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• December 11, 2008
• 8:48

  Suspense is worse than disappointment II

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"It is the second time I am using this title for a post - hence to the II - but never has it been truer than for this election period! /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"The run-up and subsequent run-off had all the elements of a block-buster movie - minus the popcorn - and no, you didn't have to go to the lone movie theater in Accra to see the drama:/span /spanul style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"the car chase scenes - yes, do remember meeting those party convoys on the way to work or on the way home!/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"the catchy one liners and the new dances that seemed to have infiltrated everything including sermons and churchesbr //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"the sexual innuendos - surely you must have seen or read about what happened at Metro TV! Ah, the scandal!/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"the good, the bad, the ugly - no names will be mentioned here/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"the bill boards advertising everything from ichange/i to ichampions/ibr //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"and everything else thrown in between!/span/li/ulspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Feeling a bit like the proverbial fly on the wall, looking from the outside in. Some of my fellow Ghanaian bloggers have written and reflected on the whole event, so for you politically minded people link to their blogs (see links on right side of my page). It will be an interesting Christmas period am sure, with the run offs now set for the 28th of December.br /br /Hmm, both parties have been loudly silent on what next, but yes, I guess it's early days and in between the merry making for Christmas I am sure there will be new posters, new promises all in time for the New Year. /spanbr /br /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;"P.S. as usual I am impressed with the street sellers who seem to know how to 'work' the demand based on topical issues. There seemed to have been a slow down in the sales of the usual political paraphernalia in the aftermath of the election day, but yes, yesterday business was again booming for the flags, scarves and all the rest. A second wind I guess. /span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/25517958-5662627861999254572?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• December 08, 2008
• 2:43

  Mimosa Pudica

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" No, haven't gone mad, though the title of my post may have you wondering if I doth protest too much in my opening line. Though endured what could be best described as a really intense - and interesting - week, am back to Accra and back to blogging. Didn't have access in the hinterlands of Mt Kenya and missed having my secondary - albeit virtual - cup of caffeine, which these days can best be summed up as trawling to see the musings of my fellow bloggers. Had some insightful discussions about the under utilization of local content in developing countries and it spurred me into thinking about yet another link I found between Ghana and Jamaica as it relates to the title of my post, the i mimosa pudica/i.br /br /a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/STyPxh9FmeI/AAAAAAAAAYA/EYLNDVAR8EQ/s1600-h/Shame+Old+Lady.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 220px; height: 192px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/STyPxh9FmeI/AAAAAAAAAYA/EYLNDVAR8EQ/s320/Shame+Old+Lady.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277250944462330338" border="0" //aAs a child growing up and living in the country side, roaming outside wasn't just something to do when electricity was off - or complain about if you happened to use MTN. Ok, bad joke but couldn't resist. It was something you wanted to do because it was so much fun. From baking the most elaborate mud cakes, to catching butterflies and fireflies, and being chased by the occasionally ornery goat - or what ever other animal that chose to do so - picking flowers was also a good way to spend the time. I soon learned early enough that flowers that could be picked for this purpose should NOT include the ones my mother planted!br /br /The imimosa pudica/i grows wild in the Jamaican countryside and can be found almost everywhere. Most of you may not know it by it's scientific name - neither did I until a few minutes ago - but yes, it's that plant that folds up when you touch it. Known worldwide by such names as ' sensitive plant', 'humble plant', 'sleeping plant' and 'touch me not' you can imagine my surprise when I found out the similarities in names for this plant between Jamaica and Ghana! In Jamaica we refer to it as i'shame old lady'/i. In an interesting reversal in explicitness, Ghanaians refer to this plant as 'i shame old lady cover your p***y/i! Needless to say had a good laugh. Seems we are not the only ones with a sexual connotation to this though, as in Thailand it is called i' shut thighs'/i. Interesting, uh?br /br /What is actually even more interesting is that this plant can actually be bought on e-bay for a mere USD 6! Found that out when I was googling to see what other names it was known by. Can you imagine? There is untold wealth just in your backyard. Literally that is. Seems quite a few people are in the market for emotional plants. One can't help but wonder why. Did find out too that it has medicinal purposes including promoting the regeneration of nerves and treating depression.br /br /Think for now I will just be contented to smile each time I see the plant and remember the Ghanaian name. Or better, still touch the leaves, watch them fold up ever so gently and remember my childhood. /spanbr /div style="text-align: right;"span style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" picture : a href="http://images.google.com.gh/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Mimosa_pudica_01_ies.jpgamp;imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Mimosa_pudica_01_ies.jpgamp;usg=__nDJ_WwGgjRZseI7tSA9ZfWSUCdg=amp;h=700amp;w=800amp;sz=189amp;hl=enamp;start=15amp;tbnid=stoVnAlrMaSeiM:amp;tbnh=125amp;tbnw=143amp;prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmimosa%2Bpudica%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG"wikipedia/a/spanbr //divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/25517958-6283941249496837770?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• November 29, 2008
• 6:39

  The Great Passport Chase...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Didn't really log in to write a post as I am still suffering from the after effects of a long week and a night flight on which I could barely sleep. I am back in my second favorite city - Nairobi. This is only after what could be best described as a frustrating run around to get back my passport after an all time 3 months just to have my work and residence permits renewed. It was an exercise in patience to say the least!br /br /First it seems as if it could not be found.br /br /span style="font-style: italic;"Panic./spanbr /br /Then the person on whose desk it was at that point in the process was ill and so no one could access it until s/he was back.br /br /span style="font-style: italic;"Duh! /spanbr /br /And then the clincher - on Friday morning (span style="font-style: italic;"and yes I was supposed to fly on Friday evening/span) when I was assured it would finally be ready, there was no one in the office to give it to me as everyone had gone for a funeral.br /br /span style="font-style: italic;"Comment censored./spanbr /br /I kid you not. At that point I had to have a good laugh. It was either that or loose my cool which would not have gone well under the circumstances. I guess that it what is called just-in-time service. That being said, everyone was as usual explaining patiently that I just had to be patient. All's well that ends well I guess.br /br /Nairobi is warmer than it was when I was last here, but certainly cooler than Ghana. The change in temperature is a welcome change. As usual there is a vibe to this city that I miss when I am in Accra, and which even the new movie theater at the mall doesn't bring. Don't get me wrong I do like Accra - my third favorite city - but sometimes I need an edge that just isn't there. This time around will be spending most of the time in Mt Kenya - haven't been there before and a curious to what it will be like. Granted, most of the time will be taken up with the workshop, the main reason for being there in the first place. But yes, will make some time to see what there is to see.br /br /Think its about time for me to go counter the effects of the week, the flight and the great passport chase with a couple cold bottles of Tusker (in lieu of Club). Will post some real posts during the week - time allowing./spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/25517958-6449467179177714817?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• November 27, 2008
• 2:54

  Better must come...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-size:100%;"br //spandiv style="text-align: right;"span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" I have been trying a long long time /span span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" but I can't make it./spanspan style="font-size:100%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" /span/spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" No one to give me a helping hand/spanspan style="font-size:100%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" /span/spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" They only tryin' to keep me down.../spanspan style="font-size:100%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" /span/spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" Better must come, better must come, yeah/spanspan style="font-size:100%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" /span/spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" span style="font-weight: bold;"Better must come one day../span./spanspan style="font-size:100%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" /span/spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" Lyrics to song entitled 'Better Must Come', /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" originally by Delroy Wilson/spanspan style="font-size:100%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" /span/spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" covered by the Wailers and others/spanbr /br //diva onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SS5rhKrN6aI/AAAAAAAAAX4/y5D6scIaKk4/s1600-h/P1040199.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SS5rhKrN6aI/AAAAAAAAAX4/y5D6scIaKk4/s400/P1040199.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273270431242906018" border="0" //aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"Someone at the Daily Graphic must have a good sense of humor to put the seemingly two rivals, MTN and Zain side by side on pages 12 and 13 . The mobile company of Christmas past, and the mobile company of Christmas future? One wonders. I had a good laugh and then I immediately called Zain to pre-register my number!/spanbr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"br /After this weekend's extended down time of not being able to make any calls within the network, outside of the network, and not even to your own voice mail, I am willing to give any alternative a try. Just hoping that in the process I won't be disappointed - yet again. So yes, happily pre-registered my number today because after all ' better must come'.br /br /span style="font-style: italic;"Note: Though used in an annecdotal fashion to express my fustration with MTN and my hopes with Zain, for my non-Jamaican visitors, I should also point out that the above mentioned song is actually an important part of history in Jamaica in the 1970s. The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) had been ruling the country since independence (1962) and their rivals, the People's National Party (PNP) actually selected and used this song as a part of their campaiging. Party politics aside it became a hit as it embodied the feel and fustration of a coutry that at that time was going through serious economic (and political) turmoil./span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/25517958-6888918447897358493?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• November 24, 2008
• 7:43

  Operation 10,000 babies...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"It never ceases to amaze me the ads that one can sometimes find in the daily papers. With ad space for a full page colour ad running for at least GH 2,347.99 (yes I did check) with some of the more popular papers it can be a very expensive venture indeed. br /br /Today's ad of the day surely goes to the full page ad put out by Pure Fire Miracles Ministries that is entitled 'Operation 10,000 babies'. Needless to say that begs about 10,000 questions!/span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/25517958-407585810160721423?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• November 19, 2008
• 2:49

  The ten things I have learnt from my dog...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SSRKub6YrxI/AAAAAAAAAXg/VxEyo-FhXPk/s1600-h/P1010818%281%29.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 152px; height: 116px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SSRKub6YrxI/AAAAAAAAAXg/VxEyo-FhXPk/s400/P1010818%281%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270419625557405458" border="0" //aspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" It's been almo/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" st a /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" year and a half since we have had our dog Nico. He has now become a part of the family in every sense of the word and neither my daughter nor I could imagine him not being around.br //spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Was thinking just how much I have learnt from him over the past year - and strangely how much these lessons seem applicable to /spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SSRMv6hRQmI/AAAAAAAAAXw/a2aLQdpfxzY/s1600-h/P1010822.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 158px; height: 119px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SSRMv6hRQmI/AAAAAAAAAXw/a2aLQdpfxzY/s400/P1010822.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270421849976685154" border="0" //aspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" interpersonal relationships, platonic or otherwise. /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Of course not for a moment implying that as a dog he has the /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" same faculties as us humans, rather am just noting the things I have learnt, or in some cases have been reminded of.br //spanol style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" A new day is a new opportunity : /spanspan style="font-size:130%;"I almost find it enviable that for Nico everyday appears to be a new day. Wouldn't it be great to awake afresh and rejuvinated for the day ahead, despite what happened the day, or a month, or a year before? I guess the lesson for me is don't dwell on what has happened, concentrate on what you can do;br //span/lilispan style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" Routines don't have to be oppresive/spanspan style="font-size:130%;": As soon as I open my bedroom door, he gets up, stretches, licks my toes and stumbles sleepily after me into the kitchen and wait as I fix my first cup of coffee. As someone who always shies away from the regular things, its nice to know that routines can be cool as well;br //span/lilispan style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" Sometimes a hug is all that is needed/spanspan style="font-size:130%;" : There are times when I don't want to talk, I don't want to share, I don't want to dicuss, but yes I need just a sign to say from someone else that 'hey, it's okay, I understand'. I know when my daughter asks me for a hug out of the blue that something may be happening but at that point in time all she needs is just that sign from me. I kid you not, Nico will hug you. Interestingly, he always seems to do it at the right times - do dogs sense moods? If you are sitting, he will come over, put his head on your knee and his paws somewhere on your leg and will stay like that either until he has figured you have had enough, or you send him away. Lately, he has also taken to doing this while you are standing as well. The first time we saw this we actually thought it was coincidental, but lately he has been doing it so much we think he actually does know what he is doing.br //span/lilispan style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" Dancing is a state of mind, not a competence/spanspan style="font-size:130%;": my daughter is always asking me to show her how to dance. You can imagine my surprise one day when she came home to say '/spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" Mommy, I want to know how to dance Jamaican/spanspan style="font-size:130%;"'. Of course dancing Jamaican and what it is to dance Jamaican can perhaps take up a whole other post. Being a good Mom, I rose to the occasion and showed her a couple moves. We always seem to be dancing in the house. For Nico dancing is really a state of mind, put on some music and he will get up on his hind legs and will clap his paws while jumping around. Failing that he rolls around on the floor - break dancing maybe? It doesn't matter is no one else is dancing, bottom line is it seems to make him happy and he just loves to. Its not about the latest moves, its just about making one's self happy;br //span/lilispan style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" Being welcomed and wanted is a nice feeling/spanspan style="font-size:130%;": We tend to take too many things for granted. We expect to leave home in the mornings, go to school and or work, get home in the evenings, watch TV and start the day all over again. We loose the excitement of seeing those we expect to always be there. Nico literally pees himself in excitement when we get home - granted I am certainly not advocating for that to be any one's modus operandi. Once we are in he dashes about in absolute ecstasy - he will bring his toys to show us, and will refuse to leave us just in case we may disappear again. It really doesn't hurt to make someone know that they are wanted or welcomed or thought about.br //span/lilispan style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" Sometimes its the little things that count/spanspan style="font-size:130%;" - every morning without fail he licks my toes! Just one brief lick to say good morning. It's as regular as my morning coffee and just as relaxing. Funny how its the little things - rather than the big ones - that make is feel special;br //span/lilispan style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" Forgiveness is easy/spanspan style="font-size:130%;": Forgiving and forgetting is still one of the hardest things for me. Letting go and just accepting is like pulling teeth. Ssometimes we will have to discipline Nico for something he's done, e.g. free ranging in the wrong place. Of course after wards he will slink off in a corner, but you are guaranteed that in a couple mins he will be back. Usually sitting a meter or less away, with his paw outstretched (he knows how to shake paws). Accepting his paw will then have him rubbing and rolling on your feet for the next couple mins. He understands, has apologised and things are back to normal;br //span/lilispan style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" Don't judge a book by it's cover/spanspan style="font-size:130%;": Nico accepts everyone that comes to the house. No selective screening based on material or other things. He accepts you for you. A sniff or two and it's ok for you to be there until you do something that changes all that. A sure guarantee is to trouble my daughter - he is even more protective of her than I am;/span/lilispan style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" Sometimes its ok just to chill/spanspan style="font-size:130%;": open the gate and he will dash out like a mad-man, or rather a mad-dog. Many a mornings have been spent just trying to get him back inside. But there are other mornings he will just sit, and watch and chill. I guess we don't have to be rushing around all the while, sometimes its ok just to chill and watch the world go by;br //span/lilispan style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" There is no such thing as too much patience/spanspan style="font-size:130%;": Potty training a dog is not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination. In the absence of words conveying what is needed often times demands a lot of patience, a virtue we seem always to be short of these days. Things do take time and sometime one just needs to be patient.br //span/li/olspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" So there. These are the things I have been reminded of through Nico.br /Well that and having a good tummy rub is always a nice end to an incredibly long day!/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/25517958-5886596277897319244?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• November 17, 2008
• 20:58

  Musings from the weekend...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;"Collective blogging and football fever/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"... I can't believe that I missed the post from Ghana view on football that the /spanbloggersspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" did this Saturday. Granted, I don't know the first thing about football and I am only a seasonal fan but it would have been good to have been a part of the creative effort. I only just realized how big a fan club Ghana's Black Stars has when a friend of mine who is a radio editor from Jamaica called a couple of weeks ago asking if it were possible to interview someone on the team and the quest for 2012. It seems that the Stars are popular in Jamaica. I guess if we are not rooting for the Reggae /spanBoyzspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" then why not Black Stars as a likely candidate? Not sure what the next collective blogging exercise will be on, but yes, will try and be a part of it.br /br //spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;"Movies, movies, movies/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" ... I can't believe that the movie theatre in the mall has finally opened! This is one for the record books. Though I haven't been yet - am waiting for the euphoria to wear off - its actually cool to know that we finally have options of watching movies that are not running for the several hundredth time on /spanDSTVspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;", or bought( with fingers crossed) somewhere in the city and hoping when you get home it will actually work. Tickets seem a bit on the expensive side though going for /spanGHspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" 10 - with none of the usual accompaniments of popcorn, sodas, hot dogs, or what ever else you fancy. /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;"br /br /Sports/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" ... so I started a new sport this weekend. Tennis! My daughter has been insisting that we do a sport together. After months of excusing and delaying we finally settled on tennis. Went for our first lesson at the un-holy hour of 5:30 a.m.! On a Sunday morning at that. Was actually fun though, and while none of us will be a Venus or Serena, it was cool to be doing something together. /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;"br /br /Technology and salvation/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"...The highlight of my weekend was going to church - and no, no one had died, no one was getting married, or christened, or any of the usual things that would provide an inexcusable reason for going. While I won't write too much about the church and what I observed generally (that was not the reason for going), what struck me was the impact of technology even in this sphere. At one point the pastor asked that all persons should open their bibles to a particular book and chapter. On both sides of me, persons were busy scrolling through their mobile phones! Looking around I also saw several other persons doing the same. Apparently, it was now vogue to have the bible on your mobile phone! Interesting isn't it? It does give new meaning to 'salvation at one's finger tips'. The announcements at the end of the service also emphasized how much the church was actually using newer technologies and not just mobiles. For example, persons were encouraged to sign up on line for participation in various events, there was a international conference being held in Lagos that would be accessed by /spanwebcastspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" and shown at the church grounds. In hindsight I guess it's a bit silly to think that technology wouldn't impact here as well, but I just didn't realize or noticed until confronted with it. I guess I shouldn't have been though - after all much of the billboards and posters do have website and e-mail addresses for more contact and or information.br /br /span style="font-style: italic;"The Zain experience/span ... at this time I am so fed up with MTN I am willing to have any other experience! Argh! Dropped calls, charges for non-service and just generally bad service is getting to me at this point! Also wondering if I should go to the Zain concert. I love Wyclef and it would be cool to see him. Already it seems as if Eve isn't coming as the ads I heard on the radio yesterday didn't include her name anymore. Hmm, still a couple more days to decide.br //spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"br /Will do one of the follow up post this week about the Ghana-Jamaica link. Have done some work on the links through language. Interesting to say the least./span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/25517958-8175533229099943347?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• November 12, 2008
• 2:08

  The Art - and Artistry - of Doing a Number 1 in Public...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" I wasn't planning on writing a post today but 'span style="font-style: italic;"inspiration/span' happens at the strangest times, in the strangest places and by the strangest sightings. This one definitely was begging to be blogged.br /br /As a girl - and later as a woman - one was always taught that when performing a Number 1, angle and elevation should very much depend on the cleanliness and comfort where one was using. Of course it should under no circumstances be performed in public. All that was disputed by evidence earlier this week.br /br /As I waited by the stoplights at the Osu Cemetery, I noticed a young woman peeing by the gate. She made no effort to hide the fact and any one passing couldn't help but notice. Out raged by the fact that this was being done in full public view it was only a couple seconds later that it then sank into my consciousness - she was standing upright! This was a reversal of gender roles. This was a indictment against all the good practices I had adopted over the years. This was against all the 'span style="font-style: italic;"norms/span' I had been socialized into thinking. This was absolutely alarming and amazing at the same time! I was only jolted out of my reverie by the car horns honking behind me indicating that the lights had turned green. br /br /Truthfully, I wanted to stop as I had a couple of questions that to this day I am still puzzling over:br //spanul style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"What was/is the optimal positioning for clothes and limbs?br //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"How does one deal with moisture control and the after effects of gravity?/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"How does one minimize the spatter effects on the lower parts of one's leg and shoes/slippers? and lastly/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"How does one effect the appropriate body language and composure to perform such a private act in a public place? and by the main cemetery gate at that?br //span/li/ulspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Today's artistic interpretation of such a routine bodily function was performed by a man. Granted this is a more common and popular sight, though usually not artistic and just that much more blatant. In Jamaica, my usual response to such a sighting while driving, would be to honk my horn and wag my finger. I have given up doing this in Ghana as my wagging finger was really getting exhausted and showing signs that a couple more wags and it would be permanently frozen in that position. Given the fact that most men would respond with a smile, I also began to wonder if these men were of the belief that I was soliciting rather than rebuking. Anyway, I digress and back to what could best be described as the 'artistry' of this act.br /br /I was inching my way through the traffic on the Spintex heading into town when I noticed a young man standing on the side of the road. He was a couple meters away when I first noticed him. He was turned at an angle to the road with one pant leg rolled all the way up his thigh - in effect his entire right leg was exposed. On approaching closer, I then realized that was not the only thing that was exposed. He was simply taking a pee. On finishing, in one smooth motion he shook his leg, effortlessly allowed his pants to drop back in place and continued his saunter. Amazing.br /br /Linking the two sightings, I was also then reminded of a somewhat similar scene I saw on the outskirts of Tamale a couple years ago. A bus was parked by the side of the road, and just beyond the bus there were a couple of men squatting. Wondering if something was wrong, I asked the driver what was happening. He patiently explained that the men were just peeing, and in that part of the country it was common for men to squat. Hmm. A bit more polite? I guess so. But nevertheless - at that time for me - strange.br /br /Am hoping I won't have to put my skills to the test in the public domain anytime soon. Lack of adequate public facilities ensure that one does empty one's bladder and restricts all liquid intake before venturing from home, especially for long distances. However, if by some unforeseen circumstance and I do, I certainly will not attempt to do so standing up - or by the cemetery gate for that matter./spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/25517958-6125386483660690076?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• November 11, 2008
• 2:22

  Going back to my roots...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"This weekend was indeed a restful respite after the hectic throes of Friday. To cut a long story short as we would say in Jamaica (i.e. to get straight to the point) I was the unintended victim of what could be best described as 'road rage' - though I have a few other choice words I would prefer to use.br /br /On my way to work after dropping my daughter at school when I saw two cars racing towards me - on my side of the road! Despite my swerving - and my swearing - both ended up in the left side of the vehicle I was driving. Suffice to say that entire side is a sorry mess. To hear them tell their side of the story - they were both involved in a hit and run further up the road. One driver was actually pursuing the other when they both came crashing into me. /spanbr /br /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"For an accident that had happened at 7.40 a.m. I didn't finish with the paper work and all that until 2:00 p.m.! So much for my day that I had planned. During that time I:/spanbr //spanul style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"ferried police men between the stations - one station had not staionery to take the accident report on and no vehicles;br //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"ferried policemen to the scene of the accident - again no vehicles;/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"went to the DVLA to get my vehicle tested;/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"gave and wrote numerous statements./span/li/ulspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Granted, though it did take a lot of time, I must say that everyone was quite helpful and polite - both at the police stations and the DVLA./spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"br /br /Decided that my weekend therefore had to be totally stress free and so spent the Saturday with friends just chatting and drinking - well mainly drinking. The chatter soon turned to Jamaica, Jamaicans and the links with Ghana and the wider African continent. Coincidentally, I had just finished reading a book entitled ' /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;"The History of Jamaica/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"' and I was sharing some of the new things I had '/spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;"discovered/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"' (more on that in a separate post). I was then given a chapter to read in another book entitled ' /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;"Survivors on the Gold Coast: The Basel Missionaries in Colonial Ghana/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"' written by Peter Schweizer. /spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"br /br /The book chronicles the arrival of the missionaries here in Ghana, including the Jamaicans who were sent over. Though I had referred to it on one of my previous posts, this was actually the first time I was able to read and see pictures and make some interesting links - at least by way of name - to both sides of my family, maternal and paternal./spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"br /br /It is interesting that the introduction of black missionaries were requested by the then King of Akuapem who said ' /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;"when God created the world, he made the Book for whiteman and Juju for blackman. If you can show us some blackman who can read whiteman's book, then we will surely follow you/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"'. And so in 1842 two Basel missionaries were assigned to go to Jamaica to recruit christianised ex-slaves who could then support their efforts in the (then) Gold Coast. So in 1843 there arrived:br /br //spanbr //spandiv style="text-align: center; font-family: trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:130%;"' span style="font-style: italic;"six West Indian families and three bachelors, all of African descent. They comprised of 24 adults and children whose family names were Clerk, Greene, Hall, Hasford, Miller, Mullings, Rochester and Walker/span.'br //spandiv style="text-align: left;"span style="font-size:130%;"br //spandiv style="text-align: left;"span style="font-size:130%;"The contracts they had provided them with hosuing and farmland and a grant for basic living expenses. In return they would assist the missionaries in their daily work. Ironic isn't it that the descendants of persons previously captured and taken from the Gold Coast, and transported to Jamaica under situations that could best be described as 'span style="font-style: italic;"hellish/span' would be returning to assist in the 'span style="font-style: italic;"saving of souls/span'? After the five year contract, many however prefreed to stay and settle in places like Akropong and Abetifi.br /br /Topped off the weekend on Sunday night by then listening to a BBC report entitled span style="font-style: italic;"Africans Abroad/span, which priarily featured a Ghanaian woman living in Jamaica and the similarities she found in language, food and culture. She also shared that when she decided to move to Jamaica to live with her husband, her father actually told her that her great grandmother had actually been captured by the slavers. It was only through the intervention of her grandmother's father (who seemed to have been a king) that she was saved. Her father found it ironic that a couple of generations later here was his daughter taking that same journey, but of course now of her own accord.br /br /And so, I am supposed to meet some of those that settled here and that actually share my surname - cool uh? Am already itching to see if I can find the connections. Will also be going up to a missionary house in Akropong where a friend's great grandfather's dairy is kept. It actually gives the day to day account of the period and what the Jamaican missionaries went through. Needless to say I am already excited by the prospect./span/div/div/divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/25517958-8784978832487559252?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• November 05, 2008
• 2:51

  Inspiration. Elation. Reflection.

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"There are few events that you will never really forget. You won't forget the time, exactly what you were doing, and just how phenomenal that moment in history is, was and will always be. This morning was one of those times./spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I sat on the side of my bed, sipping my first cup of coffee for the morning. I woke up my daughter a bit earlier than usual as there is no way I could actually allow her to sleep through this. It had to be watched. It had to be savored. It had to be felt. It had to be experienced. This is something you didn't want to hear about second hand. It was history in the making. /spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Race aside - though can it ever be? - this is really a significant start to what everyone hopes and expects will be a time of change. Though not American, I too could empathize with the feelings of pride and promise as I listened to Obama's victory speech this morning. It wasn't only what he said, but also what was reflected on the face of persons gathered in Grant Park, in front of the White House, and at churches across America. /spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I finally know what the people that gathered around their TVs in 1969 felt like as they waited to watch a man walk on the moon. You heard the hype. You waited with baited breath to see if could actually be done. You watch in disbelief as it is actually done and once again one's faith in restored in humanity. Because after all we can. /span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/25517958-7259751256200436340?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• November 03, 2008
• 9:21

  Lessons from the back of a trotro...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" I have lost count of the amount of times I have opened this page to create a new post, fingers poised over the keyboard. Nothing. No wit, no whizz, no bang, no words. A constipation of words? Strange. It does not correlate with the million and one ideas that are swimming around in my head.br /br /Driving to work this morning I saw a trotro in the next lane beside me that said i' we are moving foreword'/i. Spelling error or not, I think that was definitely a visual reminder - Ghanaian style - of me not having updated my blog in the longest time.br /br /This is really the first time that I have been confronted with i'writers block/i. Hmm, the literature around the topic seems quite interesting with examples of writers block lasting for over 60 years to much shorter periods of time. Women also seem to suffer from the phenomenon more. I wonder why.br /br /So some suggestions on how to break it which I am going to try :br //spanul style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"Scheduling time to write and work, regardless of the quality of the output. Sometimes I think I think too much.span style="text-decoration: underline;"br //span/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Engaging in brief periods of "mindwriting," in which one impulsively write whatever comes to mind.span style="text-decoration: underline;"/span/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Taking a break, meditating, or doing relaxation exercises to relieve any pressure on oneself and on the writing.br //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Doing something out of the ordinary.br //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Returning to the writing after a lapse of a day or two./span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Set your writing down, go out and do something (something that will keep you busy) and then come back in a few hours with a fresh mind./span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Joining a writing group - help Ghana Bloggers!br //span/li/ulspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"So will definitely put a piece together this week. Will move foreword indeed./span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/25517958-5661793616424742416?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• October 16, 2008
• 3:18

  Project Mis-Management...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I really do try to avoid posting about work in this space - it wasn't created with that in mind, and I do like to keep things separate. However today I had to make an exception - just out of sheer frustration! Reason being - I got another non-project!br /br /I am so tired of coming across projects that are not in fact projects! Yet another two crossed my desk this week, ready to be signed off on. There was a contract alright, but you guessed it : no project document, no involvement of the stakeholders that these projects were supposed to address, no thought about sustainability - neither in the long term or short term. I could go on of course but yes, am sure you already figured it out - in other words no project!/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br /br /Was doing a bit of googling to find some materials and articles about failure of ICT projects that I could share with the persons I work with as a way of underscoring what needs to be done - came across this great site that will perhaps help me address the issue more graphically./spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br /br /It gives you a template - complete with graphics and the option to change the captions - to show what 'your' take on project management is. Decided to make mine on the /spani style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"mis/ispan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" rather than the management part! Was fun to do - but yes, also makes one think - I hope!/spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Click a href="http://www.projectcartoon.com/cartoon/14344/new"here/a for the on-line copy of my own 'abridged' version./spanbr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Click a href="http://www.projectcartoon.com/cartoon/14344/new"here/a to create and save your own version.br /br //span/spanspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"A bit more home work, attention to details and most of all making sure that what one wants to implement is indeed addressing a real problem would help to get the discussions going in the right direction - wouldn't it? Before any contracts are signed! /span/spanspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Am planning to use this as a practical exercise at my next internal training workshop - will be enlightening to see the different takes am sure./span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/25517958-965372391624882352?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• October 15, 2008
• 3:13

  Poverty: A view out of Ghana

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"So today - for those that don't know - is International Blog Action Day, the theme of which this year is poverty. /spanbr /br /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Have been racking my brains and mulling over what to write - something catchy, something witty something that would definitely illuminate the problems and provide the proverbial solution(s) - and of course that didn't happen. There is just so much breath, scope and depth to the issue that to try and sum it up in one post would be impossible. I guess that is why there is such an action day though - I do look forward to reading the other blogs about the topic. I have already read the Ghanaian ones!/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"br /br /My route to and from work takes me past the Accra International Conference Center and I noted that there was another sign up for yet another conference - one really begins to wonder if Ghana is the land of conferences. It seems we have been having quite a few this year focused on a myriad of topics related primarily to development issues therefore a link to poverty. /spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"br /br /I began to wonder about my own role as a development worker as a part of the solution - or dare I say the problem - in this whole notion of development. It made me wonder if the approaches, the methodologies, the focus and the support is what in fact is needed, or even demanded. I also wondered if we - as the development community - despite the purity of heart and purpose, the halos, the noble intentions and all that - could ever exist without this phenomenon called poverty. A bit raw perhaps in terms of how I have stated it, but yes - do we really want poverty end? br /br //spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"There is a poem I keep posted on my wall at work that reminds me of the type of development worker I don't want to be :/spanbr /br //spanp style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;" span style="font-size:130%;"strongThe Development Set/strongbr / by strongRoss Coggins/strong/span /pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;"span style="font-size:130%;"Excuse me, friends, I must catch my jet I'm off to join the Development Set;br /My bags are packed, and I've had all my shotsbr /I have traveller's checks and pills for the trots!br //span /p span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"The Development Set is bright and noble /spanbr /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Our thoughts are deep and our vision global; /spanbr /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Although we move with the better classes /spanbr /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Our thoughts are always with the masses./spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" /spanbr //span p style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;"span style="font-size:130%;" In Sheraton Hotels in scattered nationsbr /We damn multi-national corporations;br /injustice seems easy to protestbr /In such seething hotbeds of social rest./spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" /spanbr //pspan style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" /span p style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;"span style="font-size:130%;"We discuss malnutrition over steaksbr /And plan hunger talks during coffee breaks.br /Whether Asian floods or African drought,br /We face each issue with open mouth.br //span /pspan style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"We bring in consultants whose circumlocution /spanbr /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Raises difficulties for every solution -- /spanbr /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Thus guaranteeing continued good eating /spanbr /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"By showing the need for another meeting./spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" /spanbr //span p style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;"span style="font-size:130%;"The language of the Development Setbr /Stretches the English alphabet;br /We use swell words like "epigenetic"br /"Micro", "macro", and "logarithmetic"br //span /pspan style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"It pleasures us to be esoteric -- /spanbr /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"It's so intellectually atmospheric! /spanbr /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"And although establishments may be unmoved, /spanbr /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Our vocabularies are much improved. /spanbr /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" /spanbr /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"When the talk gets deep and you're feeling numb, /spanbr /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"You can keep your shame to a minimum: /spanbr /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"To show that you, too, are intelligent /spanbr /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Smugly ask, "Is it really development?" /spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"/spanbr //span p style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;"span style="font-size:130%;" Or say, "That's fine in practice, but don't you see:br /It doesn't work out in theory!"br /A few may find this incomprehensible,br /But most will admire you as deep and sensible./spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" /spanbr //pspan style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" /span p style="font-family: trebuchet ms; font-style: italic;"span style="font-size:130%;"Development set homes are extremely chic,br /Full of carvings, curios, and draped with batik.br /Eye-level photographs subtly assurebr /That your host is at home with the great and the poor./spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" /spanbr //pspan style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" Enough of these verses - on with the mission! /spanbr /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" Our task is as broad as the human condition! /spanbr /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" Just pray god the biblical promise is true: /spanbr /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" The poor ye shall always have with you. /span/span br /br /span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Will itheir/i lack of poverty plunge ius/i into our own? One wonders at the end of it all, whose poverty alleviation are we concerned about.br /br /See all the other blogs and posts at: www.blogactionday.org br /br /br /a href="http://blogactionday.org"img border="0" src="http://blogactionday.org/img/1858bd855df11c4aeb482445a4d94cb2e541eeb0.jpg" //adiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/25517958-4174089239738810126?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• October 08, 2008
• 4:41

  Objecting to my objections...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  div style="text-align: justify;"div style="text-align: right;"span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Hi, I need a loan of GH 500 amp; would /span/spanbr /span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"be pay back in 2 month time /span/spanbr /span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"any person who can help should /span/spanbr /span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"call me on (phone number given) for information/span/spanbr /span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Ad seen in The Weekly Donkomi, October 1- October 14, 2008/span/spanbr /span style="font-style: italic;"(spelling and grammer left as seen)/spanbr //divspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/span/span/divspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br /Writers block or laziness? Not even sure which one I should 'pin' my silence on - perhaps a combination of both. Have opened the new post page numerous times and just cannot decide what or how to write. Just gave in today and decided to go with my stream of consciousness.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Had a strange run in with a beggar yesterday that left me questioning her motives and my response. She seems to be new on the scene, or at least at this location. Driving to and from work you begin to recognize the human landmarks that associate with particular stoplights in the city. Usually the stoplight by the intersection of the Osu Cemetery - State House - the Kingdom Bookshop road (I have no idea of the name of the road) is usually a hassle free zone. Over the past couple of days however there has been a middle aged lady who has begun to frequent the area.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Yesterday while waiting for the lights to change to green, I noticed her working her way down the line of cars. As she approached mine the usual million and one things crossed my mind:/spanbr //spanul style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"another beggar, argh, ok assume the position - head straight, eyes fixed on the road;/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"she is a fellow woman, do I give in and give ?/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"it's ok to let her pass, after all I do my dues; am the member of a service club and I know at least where that money that I contribute goes - that should absolve me from not giving now./span/li/ulspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Anyway, decided I wouldn't give. I nodded politely, and firmly shook my head indicating no. She objected to my objections. She then proceeds to berate me, finger wagging and all! She then decided to move on (thankfully!) and then she turns around again, asks me again. To which I said no again - more berating and finger wagging. Thought about it for a while and wondered if a couple of peswas was worth not being berated. /spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"The more I thought about it the more I asked myself myself, why shouldn't I reserve the right to object without feeling guilty? If I made a list of persons that had 'begged' me in the past week how much that would have amounted to? Less by way of financial cost and more emotionally. To be honest I find it tiring to always be in a situation where someone's hand is always out streched, either literally or figuratively.br /br /That being said there are some persons that I will help - either because I understand their situation and can genuinely see that they do need help. Or even sometimes to someone I do see begging on the road and feel moved to help. I however object to giving simply because I have been asked.br /br /Perhaps I should do what one of my friends now does - she buys sardines in bulk at the supermarket and when asked for money she just gives the person one. Makes sense doesn't it?br /br /The most creative request that I have seen for 'help' though is the one posted by the Sakumono stop light. It indicates that a 'span style="font-style: italic;"young, handsome man/span' is in need of help and would like to become a houseboy so he can finish school. The sign then clearly states that span style="font-style: italic;"ladies/span - note not families, or persons - who are interested to call him - number given of course. No, will not do my investigative journalist approach this time around.br //span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/25517958-5465108556837842344?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• September 28, 2008
• 2:45

  Knot I

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SN9Lot7pbfI/AAAAAAAAAWA/qHxD-tuNSOI/s1600-h/DSCF0866%281%29.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 207px; height: 163px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SN9Lot7pbfI/AAAAAAAAAWA/qHxD-tuNSOI/s320/DSCF0866%281%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5250998853433912818" border="0" //aspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Ok, I must confess. I locked my hair out of desperation, not by desig/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" n. Howe/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" ver, I have opted to keep it by design, rather than b/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" y desperation. Interesting twist - of fate and hair - isn't it?br /br /My hair reflections started earlier this week as a friend sent through a picture of me - this was graduation, 1985! Looking at me then,/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" made me think about me now. Man, how things have changed. Most of all - you guessed it, the hair! You name it, I have been through the whole good hair, bad ha/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" ir days cycle:br //spanul style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"Sunday evenings as a teenager having my hair ipressed, straightened/i what ever you want to call it. I still remember the hot kitchen, the tons of hair oil and the dreaded pressing comb. The sizzle as grease meets the heat, the blue black smoke - or was that my imagination - and the occasional nip of the pressing comb coming into contact with my ears or the nape of my neck; you prayed for dry weather for the week as one drop of water would send that hair style back to natural in a second!br //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"And then there was the perm! My perm was anything but permanent! Short of caustic soda my hair really wouldn't budge. It simply refused to./span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"And then embarrassingly, but yes, must admit, the days of jheri-curls. Suffice to say I am still traumatized by the memory./span/li/ulspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" It was actually my pregnancy that made me wear hair natural. I hated the smell of everything familiar - I cut my hair (hated the smell of the jheri products), I changed my toothpaste, I changed my deodorant, couldn't wear perfume. I still remember walking into the barbershop and saying to the poor bewildered guy 'span style="font-style: italic;"bald it/span'. He double checked to make sure - and to make sure he understood I said 'span style="font-style: italic;"cut it like yours/span'. After that there was no turning back.br /br /The barbershop became a regular routine on a Sunday - quicker than the hair dressers and far less gossip. This was efficiency at its best. Hair washing became a part of my shower routine and not an activity I had to plan before. Oh the freedom.br /br /The reaction was better than I expected too - not many women wore their hair natural then, or that low. The best compliment however came from an old Rasta man who saw me one day, came over to me and said /spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" ' Sista, mi nuh really like the bald head yu know but yu head a tek life!/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" 'br /br /Post pregnancy, could tolerate smells once again and did go back to some of the usual stuff but left my hair natural. It slowly grew from a bald head, to twists, and sometimes plaits - never braids. I only decided to locks when I moved to Holland. Reasons being:br //spanul style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"couldn't find a sensible hair dresser; always left the salons feeling I really had wasted my time and money;/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"didn't want to cave in and add any chemicals (again)./span/li/ulspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Furthermore Holland was sufficiently liberating and liberated to allow me to locks - this wouldn't be something I would have done in Jamaica. Contrary to popular belief, all Jamaicans are not dreadlocks, and finding persons wearing the hairstyle in corporate Jamaica was limited to the entertainment sector.br /br /My mother had a fit - visions of me becoming a broom-selling natty dread? Hmm, sadly that - along with the ganja smoking was the common perceptions of 'rastas' in Jamaica then. She however soon came around when she realized that this was still me. This brings me to another point - I am not a Rastafarian. Wearing the hairstyle - and being Jamaican - has brought me into contact with many Rastafarian, and has also prompted me to look more at the religion which I hadn't taken the time out to do before - will share my reflections on that in another post though.br /br /Flipping through some picture this week I smiled when I saw them at the various stages - short and funky, a little later a bit more settled and with a life and direction of their own. Now just past my shoulders I can do anything with them - plaits, twists, cornrows. Wouldn't trade them for the world. They have become a part of me now. Not sure it I will wear them forever, but at this point they are a part of my expression of self.br /br /Was reading a fabulous book this weekend entitled "/spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Authentic Hair: Photos, Poems and Prose Celebrating the beauty and versatility of natural hair/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" " written by Ademola Mandella. There is one poem that I particularly liked.br /br //spandiv style="text-align: right;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-style: italic;"i lost my mind/span span style="font-style: italic;"br /when i lost my fingers,/spanspan style="font-style: italic;"br //spanspan style="font-style: italic;"in the brown forest./span span style="font-style: italic;"br /br /thick thickets,br /bushels/span span style="font-style: italic;"of bushes unkempt;/span span style="font-style: italic;"br /yetbr //span span style="font-style: italic;"tamed examples/span span style="font-style: italic;"of coiled love;br //span span style="font-style: italic;"mixing together/span span style="font-style: italic;"without white moralities./span span style="font-style: italic;"br /br /my* hair is howbr //span span style="font-style: italic;"we embrace/span span style="font-style: italic;"br /nightly and/spanbr /span style="font-style: italic;"sometimes in the morning;/span span style="font-style: italic;"br /sometimes ...br //span span style="font-style: italic;"for lunch./spanbr /br /Poet: Tyren (GRFX)br /* original poem said 'span style="font-style: italic;"her/span' and not 'span style="font-style: italic;"my/span'br //span/divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/25517958-3082809618895687418?l=decla.blogspot.com'//div
• September 23, 2008
• 5:12

  To pray or not to pray ... in public that is.

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" So yesterday I walked into the middle of a church service. No, it wasn't Sunday and no I didn't go to church. Rather I went to the doctor's because Ashes wasn't well.br /br /At first I was a bit bewildered - all the nurses and some of the patients (I assume they were patients) were sitting, listening with rapt attention to this guy that was at the front of the room. Not being a Twi speaker (or was it Ga?) I said my good mornings and sat down to wait for a nurse to attend to us. A second after sitting down, the rest of the 'congregation' stood up and everyone began to say their own individual prayers. Realizing what was happening I got up - out of respect. Looking around slightly bemused - not at the persons but just at the situation in which I found myself - I made eye contact with the 'preacher' whose own look in no uncertain terms indicated I was doomed to hell. After wards as he walked around shaking hands I made the second faux paux of the morning by digging into my hand bag ( was trying to find the health card) - now I know he was convinced that I was one of those yet to be saved!br /br /Now don't get me wrong. I am a Christian and yes, I do say my own prayers. But religion has always been something that is private for me. I have never been one to wear it on my sleeve so to speak. However, here in Ghana I think there is the expectation that I should. Not just me alone, but in fact everyone. I find my self having to always qualify that yes, I am a Christian and yes I do believe in God, despite my dreadlocks and despite me not going to church - or bringing my daughter - every Sunday.br /br /Prayers are a part of every meeting - especially where I work. Sometimes it is interesting to hear the 'prayees' who seem more interested in their own eloquence than really asking for guidance in terms of what has to be done. I remember a particularly difficult meeting that we were having once on some issues that had to be resolved and the particular individual who was on the hot seat so to speak suddenly said ' oh, let us pray'! After a long, devout prayer which the person ended with a resounding 'amen' they were then most apologetic because they to leave for another meeting! End of that discussion. Hmm.br /br /Yesterday's unintentional attendance also reminded me of the days of using public transport in Jamaica - the church services on the buses (selected routes or so it seems) usually ended even with 'collections' being taken before the final stop.br /Am not sure if the same thing happens here.br /br /Have resolved - though not followed through - on going to church more often though. But yes, would prefer for that attendance to be voluntary and not mandatory or in my doctor's office.br //span
• September 15, 2008
• 23:49

  Subliminal messages?....

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SM88NLgCG9I/AAAAAAAAAVw/Jnx7kUHAltY/s1600-h/Beach+road+sign.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 275px; height: 206px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SM88NLgCG9I/AAAAAAAAAVw/Jnx7kUHAltY/s400/Beach+road+sign.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5246478288033029074" border="0" //aspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Ah, so what's in a sign? The obvious and not so obvious?br /br /As promised, here is the pic I wanted to accompany my 'serious about sanitation' post.br /br /Let's analyze and see:/spanbr /span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" - idumping/i: a slang used in some parts/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" of the world for going to the bathroom, especially for a i number 2/i;br /- i smoking /i: an activity enjoyed by some, especially after a good i number 2;/ibr /- i toiletting: /ian accepted Ghanaian term for the act of going to the bathroom - which includes both span style="font-style: italic;" number 1s/span and span style="font-style: italic;"number 2s/span.br /br /Ok, so while I haven't seen people smoking, there has been sightings of 'family type' discussions, the holding of hands, so yes, /spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" why not smoking. One can never tell and it really is better to be safe than sorry.br /br /One wonders how effective the sign has been.br /br //spandiv style="text-align: left;"a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.cfnews13.com/uploadedImages/Stories/Local/0006%2838%29.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 280px; height: 187px;" src="http://www.cfnews13.com/uploadedImages/Stories/Local/0006%2838%29.jpg" alt="" border="0" //aspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Been staying away from commenting on the Obama-mania and the general frenzy of what is called the US general elections, but yes, had to pick my jaw up of/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" f the floor when I saw span style="font-style: italic;"this/span sign ( for story and pics see a href="http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2008/9/10/obama_sign_in_yard_stirs_up_neighbors.html?refresh=1?=dumbass"CFN/a; pic from CFN)/span.span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br /br //spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Freedom of speech or something else? Interesting that the guy that wrote it is a resident of Barefoot Bay.br /br /Hmm, subliminal indeed./spanbr //div
• September 12, 2008
• 3:43

  Power...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-size:130%;"br //spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SMoxL1ByygI/AAAAAAAAAVo/jol8OKXf5gY/s1600-h/P1030485.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 294px; height: 221px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SMoxL1ByygI/AAAAAAAAAVo/jol8OKXf5gY/s400/P1030485.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5245058795309287938" border="0" //aspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" I believe there is a power within us that few us us dare to explore.br /p/p/spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" br /br /br /br /We find it occasionally./spanp style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:130%;"Often times fleeting./span/pp style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:130%;"Only to have it re-surface when we need it most.br //span/pp style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SMowkYWClbI/AAAAAAAAAVg/MIS8mzZMfus/s1600-h/P1030489%281%29.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 294px; height: 218px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SMowkYWClbI/AAAAAAAAAVg/MIS8mzZMfus/s400/P1030489%281%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5245058117594682802" border="0" //aspan style="font-size:130%;"Reminding us of who we really are, and not what we have sometimes become/span/pp style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:130%;"br //span/pp style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:130%;"br //span/pp style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:130%;"br //span/pp style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:130%;"If one manages to keep it, coupled with the steadfastness of one's beliefs, it unleashes a vortex of events that despite the seeming turbulence is calming in its certainty, and cleansing to the mind and spirit./spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SMosirwdKPI/AAAAAAAAAVY/Gc7aAKJBlwg/s1600-h/P1030488%281%29.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 294px; height: 220px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jcducC7h-t4/SMosirwdKPI/AAAAAAAAAVY/Gc7aAKJBlwg/s400/P1030488%281%29.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5245053690399500530" border="0" //a/pp style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:130%;"br //span/pp style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:130%;"Difficult to embrace and painful in its need to be honest./span/pp style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:130%;"br //span/pp style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:130%;"But you find yourself and once you do.../spanspan style="font-size:130%;"o:p/o:p/span/p p style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:130%;"o:p /o:p/span/p p style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:130%;"br //span/pp style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:130%;"... then the sky is the limit.br //span/pp face="trebuchet ms" style="font-style: italic;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:130%;"Literally./span/pp style="text-align: right;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:85%;"pictures: the flamingos (or what is left of them)br //span/pp style="text-align: right;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-size:85%;"at Lake Nakuru, Kenya/spanbr //spanspan style="font-size:130%;"o:p/o:p/span/p
• September 10, 2008
• 9:34

  Commitment...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"/spandiv style="text-align: right;"div style="text-align: center;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" iUntil one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets: ‘Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it’. /i/spanbr //divspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" ibr //i/span/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" iW.H. Murray, the Scottish Himalayan Expedition. o:p/o:p/ibr //spanbr //span/divspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;"br /Been struggling with issues of commitment - even to writing this blog! No disrespect intended - but not so much committing to those who read it, but rather more to me just doing it, and making the time to doing it despite what ever else is happening.br /br /The end of this year will mean a lot of changes that sometimes I am not sure if I am ready to confront or commit to. One will be the possibility of moving - yet again. While there is a side of me that still wants to explore the world i(and am grateful for that opportunity)/i there is another part of me that wants to put down roots and stay for a while.br /br /My decision either way will require a commitment, because until then, there is only ihesitancy/i/span
• 5:27

  A Slip of a Thing....

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Looking back, moving to Ghana has meant a lot of changes - location, job, culture, the list could go on - none of which I have for a moment regretted. In looking back - as well as in looking forward - it has been one of the most remarkable times in a journey of self discovery I think I would have not achieved if I hadn't taken the decision of stepping outside my comfort zone(s).br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"One of the most remarkable things has been a change in how I dress. Stood before my wardrobe(s) this morning trying to decide what to wear. What would match my mood today? Blue? Red? Green? What would reflect ime/i? I was confronted with a cacophony of colours that made me instantly feel alive. Hmmm, very different from my choices I had when I initially moved./spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br /br /I still remember the early days of coming to work in my isuits and heels/i which I have now long since traded for my comfortable boubous and surprisingly sexy slits and kabbas. Those days I favoured greys and blacks - ok, will confess primarily for the 'slimming' effect, but yes, also for the 'professional look and feel' ibI/b/ib/b felt it had. All that came crashing down one morning when one of the ladies came to me with a look of concern on her face asking if I was 'bereaved'. Couldn't figure it out for the life of me until she asked ' so who has died?'. Now totally puzzled, I told her no one. This look of absolute incredulity came on her face and she asked, ' so why are you always wearing black and grey?". Needless to say that prompted a change of dress and colours./spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Ghanaian men, not to be out done by their women, are certainly not colour shy. Most will vie with the ladies for outfits in textures and designs that I am sure a Jamaican man would have a fit over! Sundays are always sure to bring out such elaborate creations as everyone heads off to church long committed or presently planned.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Though not on my way to church but elsewhere, I spotted one such man. I gave him a second look as he did make quite regal picture in his beautiful yellow boubou (they also call the mens' kaftans boubous). Then I gave him a third as there, silhouetted in the early morning sun, I could see everything nook, cranny and and appendage! Must confess to having a good laugh and then it got me thinking should men actually wear a islip/i when wearing such outfits? /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br /br /I decided to look up the meaning of the word islip/i to see if in fact it was gender specific . Didn't expect that a simple four-letter word would have fifty -seven definitions! Did however find the one I wanted at entry number 37 : ia. a woman's undergarment, sleeveless and usually having shoulder straps, extending from above the best down to the hemline of the outer dress b. an underskirt, as a half-slip or petticoat' /i. /spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Ok, not a piece of under garment found in the regular man's closet I guess./spanbr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Granted, most men do wear the matching pants and so I guess they avoid those revealing situations. For those that don't - I guess in this part of the world it is okay to ilet it slip/i (definition of ilet it slip/i: to reveal unintentionally)./span/spanbr /br /span style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Note to self : purchase a half slip just in case I ever need one./span
• September 08, 2008
• 8:58

  Serious about sanitation...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"The last week has been so busy that I really didn't find the time to sit and write. Bad excuse given that everyone else is confronted with similar issues am sure. Did read an interesting report on sanitation though that I have been mulling over for the past week.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Ideally, I wanted to take a picture of the sign by the gallery on the beach road to accompany this post - the one that says i' no parking, no stopping, no toileting' /i but I think I will have to go and take that another time./spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br /br /The report was one done for the International Year of Sanitation (that is this year), and looked at a number of Sub-Saharan African countries, including Ghana. It looked at a number of issues related to sanitation including ranking of countries on various criteria and the stats for Ghana was shocking to say the least./spanbr //spanul style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"lispan style="font-size:130%;"Ghana is ranked 48 out of 51 countries with the worse progress in sanitation. Those performing below Ghana were: Niger, Eritrea and Chadbr //span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"Out of 15 West African countries, Ghana is placed 14th with Niger at 15/span/lilispan style="font-size:130%;"It is estimated that in West Africa alone 211 million people lack access to basic sanitation, with Ghana accounting for at least 20 million/span/li/ulspan style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Sobering to say the least. Click here for the a href="http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/monitoring/africasan.pdf"full report/a. /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/span span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Another eye opener was the BBC iReport aired a couple of weeks ago on e-waste. Compiled on data gathered by Greenpeace it makes one seriously sit up and wonder.br /object width="425" height="344"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pr1zQrXM_7samp;hl=enamp;fs=1"/paramparam name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/paramembed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pr1zQrXM_7samp;hl=enamp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"/embed/objectobject width="425" height="344"/objectbr //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Been trying to rack my brains (or what is left of them) to see what can be done - even if it's my own individual level in terms of how I take care of my own immediate surroundings. /span span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Am also trying to encourage my Rotary Club to implement a sanitation project this year.br /br /It just feels a pity just to sit back and only complain - after all we live here don't we?/span/span
• August 25, 2008
• 18:04

  Puma Publicity...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:130%;" Ok, ok. I think this will be my last post on the post-Olympics fervor.br /br /Found an interesting collection of videos and pictures put together by Puma (yes, marketing at it's best of course) that captures not only Bolt at his best, but also the other athletes as well as the frenzy that was happening in Jamaica then. I think my favorite is the group of guys 'running' the relays in the middle of traffic.br /br /Wish I had been home for that - no not to run, just to be a part of the excitement. Made me think back to the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year and the football frenzy that swept Accra.br /br /Enjoy.../span
• 2:55

  The Effects of Lightning

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  So the Jamaican papers are full of headlines starting with, ending with or containing Bolt. Lightning is usually added somewhere in all of this. Songs have been written, dances have been created (yes, we do have a way of creating new dances in Jamaica when the need arises), babies have been named, roads have been repaired and all the rest.
  
  The overseas papers, not to be left out, have also cornered their fair market share with everything ranging from grudging respect, to scathing disregard - for his alleged lack of manners - to allegations of drugs, and everything else in between! It's been interesting to read. Have been torn between laughing, to getting outright upset.
  
  The two face approach of the Western media never fails to amaze me. Little had been said in previous Olympics about the other sprint athletes - noticeably from the US - who would carry on with the most antics with no comment.I am not sure how many of you have read the article by Scoop Jackson, entitled 'The beautiful arrogance of Usain Bolt'. Wondered what he would have written if Usain had been American?
  
  I don't think Jamaicans patriotism abounds more than any other nation, however will admit that perhaps we are the most dramatic when it comes to showing that and showing how we feel. Drama is a part of who we are 'from wi eye dey a wi knee' (i.e. from we are children). The 'antics' the Usain has showed both before and after his runs are common place in Jamaica. It's a part of the culture and the 'show-offness' that we have. We have never had to apologize for it before and I can't understand why we should start now.
  
  So what if he didn't shake hands at the end of the race as one IOC member commented? If you had just broken a World and an Olympic Record at 22 - an hour or two before your birthday to boot - would you stop to shake hands and say ' jolly good show' to your fellow sprinters? I think not!
  
  Cut the guy some slack and give him due credit. It was hard earned.
• August 18, 2008
• 3:35

  Cool runnings - literally that is

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  Cool runnings does remain one of my favorite movies - granted the acting could be better, and the story line could have been more factual. But yes, it's one of those 'feel good movies' that is always good for a laugh.
  
  Was also cool runnings this weekend with our sprinters at the Olympics. A somewhat disappointing show by Asafa was eclipsed by the Bolt of Lightening as some reporters are now calling Usain. The women 100 meter sweep of course deserves special commendation too - gold, silver and bronze in one race. Wicked!
  
  As someone who had always been assigned a grade for p.e. (physical education) that I swear was based on the initials of my name, which in this case factually correlate to my actual performance I have always had the utmost respect for athletes. Growing up, remembered being fascinated by my Mom who could outrun any one of us in a race - she used to run for her college in national meets. Hmmm, definitely a trait that I did not inherit.
  
  The Jamaican daily papers are of course having a ball with the headlines this weekend. A sobering one linked the euphoria to the reality when the residents from Usain's home town asked for the roads to be fixed and water to be piped before their hero returned home.
  
  Seems Jamaica was in the news in more ways than one, and linked with the current resurfacing of the cold war that seems to be developing over the Georgia-Russia crisis. Granted it was a comparison only, but man what a comparison! Apparently, a Michael Specter, a writer for the New Yorker and who has written extensively about Russia (or so it was said in the article that I copied this from), observed: "There was a brief five-year period when we could get away with treating Russia like Jamaica - that's over. Now we have to deal with them like grown-ups who have more nuclear weapons than anybody except us."
  
  Would love to quizz Mr. Specter to understand the point he really is trying to make - would also love to know why Jamaica, and why in fact not anywhere else. Curious indeed.
• August 13, 2008
• 6:16

  Back in the land of the blogged

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  So today is really special.
  Today is my birthday.
  Am back in Nairobi where it is comparatively warm and dry compared to the constant rains that were in Addis.
  And today for the first time in ten days I actually have access to my blog!
  
  No, haven’t been quiet because I have been shirking my responsibilities in terms of timely updating as some may be prone to think. The real fact of the matter is that I have not been able to access my blog while in Ethiopia. Access to my blog - and the others that I frequent - was just not possible.
  
  It all started with the day I arrived – wanted to do my usual posts and eagerly logged in to do the deed. Waited and waited for the page to load – no luck. Thought it was a slow connection and tried a couple times more with the same result. Figuring it was a problem with my page – though couldn’t understand why that would be so - tried my other favorite links – same result. No access!
  
  Changed tactics and tried to load from other angles - tried going in through a web search (and then accessing the link), and tried accessing it from Google's main blogger sign in page. No luck.
  
  Got me wondering if there was a larger issue and not just my connection, googled to see and came across this article (see below) - guess that explains why I cannot have access.
  
  The allegation is that Ethiopia has basically blocked access to Goggle's blogger service! The government has strongly denied this. Also found an article on Global Voices mentioning that sites with 'blogspot' in their URLs are routinely blocked. Was interesting to see the kinds of responses to this post, including by Ethiopians themselves. Quite varied views.
  
  Been doing a bit of loose reading around the topic and it's interesting to see that such actions are not taken only by African governments - but similar cases have also been reported (though to a lesser extent) in developed countries. There is a book that came out earlier this year (Feb 2008) called Access Denied – that looks at this increasingly global phenomenon and how different governments have been using this. Needless to say my interest has been aroused - going to try and get a copy.
  
  So just in case you are wondering why my blog has not been updated - this is the reason. Blocked? Technical difficulties? Hmmm, whichever way, it's just good to be back on-line.
  
  Now off to catch up on all the posts from others that I have missed and of course to celebrate my birthday!
  
  

  ADDIS ABABA, May 1 (Reuters) - An Internet watchdog on Tuesday accused Ethiopia of blocking scores of anti-government Web sites and millions of Weblogs in one of sub-Saharan Africa's biggest cases of cyber-censorship.

  Web monitor, the OpenNet Initiative, said the Horn of Africa country was stopping citizens from viewing opposition-linked Web sites, and blogs hosted by Blogger, an online journal community owned by Internet search engine Google Inc.

  Ethiopia dismissed the report as "a baseless allegation".

  "We may have technical problems from time to time," Information Ministry spokesman Zemedkun Tekle. "But we have not done anything like that and we have no intention of doing anything like that."
  

  The OpenNet Initiative -- a partnership between Harvard Law School, and universities of Toronto and Cambridge and Oxford -- said it had gathered proof of interference.
  

  "We have run diagnostic tests using volunteers in Ethiopia which indicate that they are blocking IP addresses," OpenNet research director Robert Faris said, referring to the unique numeric addresses of Web sites.
  

  "The evidence is overwhelming that that is what they are doing. ... Most of the sites that we found blocked were related to freedom of expression, human rights and political opposition," he said by telephone from the United States.

  The allegations could be embarrassing for the Ethiopian government, which is a major ally of the United States in Africa and has been criticised for a post-election crackdown on opposition that killed nearly 200 people in 2005.

  "I think it's a decision that makes the Ethiopian government look extremely hostile to free speech and to open political discourse," said Ethan Zuckerman, research fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society in the United States.

• July 31, 2008
• 17:19

  Curious Coincidence

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  I guess it's not so strange to sit on a flight beside a total stranger. But what are the odds that you sit beside the same person on the very next flight you take? Strange isn't it? Yet this is exactly what happened to me yesterday.
  
  On the way back from Nairobi a week and a half ago, I had sat beside a Ghanaian policeman who is posted with the UN peace-keepers in Dafur. With the five hour delay we had - and with one of those hours sitting in the plane - we had started complaining about Kenya airways and then moved on after a while to just chatting. He told me a bit about what it was like to be living and working with the peacekeeping mission in Dafur, missing his family and friends yet within the midst of the war, just trying to appreciate the differences in culture and context that he had now found himself.
  
  Just talking to him reminded me about the Ghanaian peace-keepers to whom Daillier had refereed to constantly in his book (on the Rwandan genocide). He always 'spoke' about the Ghanaians on the mission with such high respect and as being one of the forces that had stuck with the mission through thick and thin. Though not Ghanaian, I did feel a sense of pride - acquired patriotism? I wonder.
  
  Anyway, I digress. So there I was waiting to do the usual immigration check when this guy in the line turns around and looks at me a couple of time. Didn't take too much note as I was busy chatting on my mobile. Then when I was finished this guy turns around again and says to me ' Are you Denise?'. We were on the same flight again, and even more strange seated beside each other. Curious coincidence indeed.
  
  Landed in a cold, gray and rainy Nairobi. Reminder that I still have to post the off-line blogs on the experiences we had on safari a couple weeks ago. Won't be spending much time though and will just spend a couple of days before heading on to Addis for ten days. Was only briefly in Addis about a month ago and am looking forward to going back and linking with some of the Jamaican massive there. Jah Rastarant(love the name!) is a must and am already salivating about the home cuisine that is on the menu.
  
  Big discussion on the CNN news show The Situation Room about Obama and the race card he is allegedly pulling (according to the McCain team). Off to watch it as opinions seem quite heated.
  
  An aside: having been thinking that a really entrepreneurial travel agent should start marketing a Ba(ra)ck to Africa tour! Hmm, the possibilities and the market are endless.
• July 29, 2008
• 20:48

  A most unusal punishment...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  pic: an inscription on the back of a trotro that reads 'Bumboclate Buffalo' - posted just for the Jamaican massive!
  
  Drove past 37 Military Hospital yesterday and had to chuckle in terms of how easy it was to navigate traffic in the area. Usually, it's one of the obstacle courses where you have to dodge the trotros which would seem to materialize out no where. Though there is a bus stop, this was seldom used, with drivers preferring to stop closer to the entrance of the Hospital. Not anymore it seemed.
  
  The reason for the sudden disappearance was reported in the media last week. Apparently, some of the military personnel stationed at the hospital had gotten fed up with the usual congestion and decided they were going to use a most usual way of punishing the traffic offenders. They 'arrested' the trotro drivers and their mates - the ones who collect fares and generally elicit one to board the vehicle - by putting them to work in the mortuary! Here they would be 'assigned' various chores including arranging the bodies, mopping and sweeping the floor, weeding the grounds around the mortuary etc! Even more disturbing, one person reported that he was ordered to fondle a dead woman's breast!
  
  I must that admit that at first I had a good laugh. After all, any one who drives on the roads of Accra and who does not fall into the category of a trotro driver would see this as a just reward! Been mulling it over though, and wondered if while the offenders deserved to be reprimanded in some way if another and more appropriate form of punishment couldn't have been selected.
  
  A number of journalists have looked at it from different angles - violation of basic civil liberties, the authority of the military to be arresting and treating civilians in this manner being the two most popular. I also thought about it from the angle that in a country where though the majority of persons are Christians, there is a high level of superstition around death and how that is handled. One can only begin to imagine what a psychological trauma this must have been.
  
  One paper stated that the President has already condemned the actions, and an investigation is to be launched. I guess finding out what really happened in the absence of any credible third party witness will be a tad difficult though, as naturally dead men tell no tales.
  Link to the story as reported at myjoyoneline
  
• July 27, 2008
• 17:11

  Letting Go...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  Today I am letting go.
  Kicking.
  Screaming.
  Crying.
  Mourning.
  
  Willing yet unwilling.
  Needing to, yet not wanting to.
  But I had to.
  I have to.
  
  Funny how when all the pieces fall into place there is still a void.
  Too many things questions unquestioned and unanswered.
  No.
  This is not about guarantees.
  Rather, it's about choices.
  
  I am choosing to let go.
  
  Not sure if I should have, but I feel as if I don't I will never know what I need to know.
  And for that matter neither will you.
  
  I hope you will read this because I am not brave enough to say it.
  It's a choice I had to make.
  It's a choice I have to make.
  Sorry.
  
• July 26, 2008
• 13:24

  Exploring the pleasures of Spintex Road

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  So I did keep my promise and on the way back from my usual Saturday shopping at ShopRite, decided to do some unusual shopping at Pleasures. After all I had promised to check out the merchandise and report on what was available.
  
  Having lived in Den Haag and having been a regular visitor to Amsterdam, going into a shop like this I must confess was nothing new. I firmly believe that one must always be informed about one's choices and options, and what happens between consenting adults is indeed between consenting adults. Funny though, must admit that I did hesitate going in. Visited a couple of other shops in the plaza before and than 'accidentally' stumbled into the shop. Ok, not that dramatic but you get what I mean. Not sure why I hesitated though. Could it be a case of when in Rome?
  
  The light - or as we would call her in Jamaica, the 'browning'- lithe girl with the lafa (locally acquired foreign accent) was only too happy to tell me what was available. She was dressed for the part too. A lime green tank top just opened a bit at the top, short shorts in the same colour and high heeled shoes. Did wonder if she took public transportation to work looking like that! Assuming of course that she did in fact take public transportation.
  
  At first glance I was a bit disappointed. There was the usual array of bras and panties, complimented by a wide assortment of costumes. Must say I did really like the nurses outfit. Hmm. A sign for a change in career? I wonder. Nothing over the top, and yes, a similar assortment that one could easily find in a number of lingerie stores.
  
  Anyway, after she tried to get me interested in some Hustler bras that could be worn in five different ways, I then saw the other merchandise that was available. These were discreetly positioned behind a red velvet curtain that partitioned the shop. Quite a wide range:
  

  • dildos of all different colours and sizes along with their necessary attachments; some of which I really can't figure out if and how that would really be pleasurable;
    
  • the men weren't left out there was also some plastic female genitalia with 'realistic pulsating action';
    
  • DVDs with rather interesting names that leave no doubt as to what one will watch and or learn;
  • hand-cuffs - both those fuzzy and those plastic - available in a variety of colours;
    
  • dice that didn't have the usual dots, but indicated positions or body parts instead;
  • thigh high leather boots in a variety of colours;
  • creams and gels - many of which are advertised in your spam mail.
  • etc, etc.
    

  Prices were on the higher side of things though - GH 60 for a pair of dice! Please!
  
  Did ask how were the reactions to the shop. Miss Pleasure mentioned that most Ghanaians did come in just to 'see' and always seemed suitable shocked by what was available. There were more questions than sales it seemed. Interestingly, she also mentioned that while sales were slow during the day, after 7:00 p.m. then the amount of customers increased, mainly ' white men' - her words, not mine.
  
  Anyway, a must go shop for the more adventurous, or even those that would like to add a bit more spice to their life. Will go back in two weeks to pick up my order. Smile.
  
• July 22, 2008
• 3:58

  The Great Sand Robbery

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  Sadly, crime - petty and otherwise - is always a problem in Jamaica. Some of the things I do in Accra, I really wouldn't even attempt to do them in Kingston. Reading the Jamaican dailies often times paint a graphic and rather sad state of affairs. This one was however a bit different. This time 500 truck loads of sand were stolen! Yes. Sand.
  
  There has always been a problem with illegal sand miners but I don't think it has ever been seen on a scale like this! No one seems to have a clue what happened and the usual investigations have been ordered. Hmmm. A case for Sherlock Holmes if there was ever one.
  
  It seems implausible that the sand could have been removed overnight. And Jamaican people being 'fass (patois for inquisitive) as we like to say, it just doesn't make any sense that such an operation could have been carried out without anyone knowing. This is no small operations by any means.
  
  There has been a flurry of sandstorms in the media - ok bad joke, but you get what I mean. The heist is worth a couple million dollars, not to mention the threats to the environment. There have been calls for investigations, and the testing of sand samples from various beaches and the usual hue and cry. The Minister has even urged the thieves to give themselves up. As if! The National Environment and Planning Agency are also looking into hotels that are currently being built to see if anyone has also 'built' a beach. Will see if this is another nine day wonder - i.e. after nine days every one would have forgotten and it would be business as usual. I wonder?
  
  Even more fascinating are the 'before' and 'after' pictures of another beach front property which seemed to have been miraculously transformed into a 'white sandy beach'. Curious and curiouser indeed.
  
  Pics from: Abeng News Magazine
• 3:14

  The Pleasures of Spintex Road

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  Strange title I know as one would never associate the words' pleasure' and 'Spintex' in the same line or sentence. Cussing about the traffic in Nairobi for the past three weeks seemed to have dulled my mind about our own traffic problems here in Accra. Driving home from my first day of work after my vacation reminded me in no uncertain terms that this in fact was just as bad. With a plan to head to the Accra Mall to do some shopping, I changed my mind at the last second and went onto the infamous 'Spintex' instead.
  
  Traffic as usual was bumper to bumper but rather than be annoyed (as I usually am) decided to enjoy the ride for a change. After all this was a part of my re-soaking Accra into my bones. I did miss it!
  
  I am always surprised by the buildings that seem to appear over night - or was it that I just didn't notice them before?. A million and one small shopping centres seemed to have sprung up in the month I have been out. All seemed to be offering varieties of the same items. All expect one that it. Tucked in a plaza that seemed to have no name, was a new boutique called 'Pleasures'. Had heard about it before, but hadn't seen it yet. Seemed that the Spintex had gotten it's first sex shop.
  
  Was too lazy to pull off and get out of traffic and go see, but yes, am curious to see what is on offer. Am even more curious to know what Ghanaians think about this. Already has a long discussion in my office was a colleague who was always going to church on a Sunday, but would be the first to buy porn when the 'open source' movie sellers would come around. She would go to great lengths to assure me that this was educational material and the lessons and the story lines were always good. Hmmm. Educational - perhaps. Story line - debatable! Would be interesting too to talk to the owner, would love to know why that type of store in what I still consider a very conservative country.
  
  Did see another billboard for a store in the same plaza called Tropical Cable - no wasn't a sex shop, but hmmm, what a promising name if there was ever one.
• July 14, 2008
• 6:10

  Of colour, culture, nationality, identity

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  Don't care where you come from
  As long as you're a black man
  You're an African
  No mind your nationality
  You have got the identity of an African
  Lyrics to African
  Sung by Peter Tosh
  
  A couple of weeks ago, a participant in the workshop that I co-facilitated was pleasantly surprised to find out that I was Jamaican. He actually didn't believe until I showed him my passport. He wanted to know what Jamaica was like and that led into a whole discussion about home. We talked a bit about similarities and differences between the island and the country in which I now lived - culture, people, food, beliefs etc. Somewhere during the conversation he then made the comment ' yeah, but you Jamaicans are Africans'.
  
  I started to correct him, ready to defend my nationality and proudly state that I am Jamaican and not African (or Ghanaian) and then I remembered a recent article I had read. The writer was using the Jamaican and the African population in the UK (I think it was in London in particular) to make the point that despite all the similarities in culture and colour and of course the history of slavery, Jamaicans were if any thing anti-Africans and in fact looked down on African (as a continent). While I think her examples were a bit extreme - but yes, recognizable - I had to agree that most Jamaicans really don't and can't identify with Africa as a continent or with the individual countries. Perhaps only the Rastafarian are the exception and even their expectations seem oftentimes misguided - at least based on what I saw in Shashemane).
  
  It's really sad when you think of it. Got this article today from a friend of mine and thought I should share. It is written by Dianne Abbot who writes for one of the Jamaican daily papers, the Jamaican Observer (link to article). Gives food for thought both ways I guess. Afterall, should it really matter where someone is from at the end of the day?

  The Lure Brand Jamaica

  Jamaica is truly a remarkable country. Despite all of its problems, there are still people anxious to pretend that they are from Jamaica when they are not. One such is American wrestler Kofi Kingston.

  His family are academics, they moved to America in 1982. His real name is Kofi Sarkodie-Mensah and he actually comes from Ghana in West Africa. But ordinary Americans are notoriously poorly read and poorly travelled (at least 80% of Americans do not have a passport).

  Wrestling promoters were worried that the average wrestling fan would have no idea where Ghana was and eventually they decided to change the young man's name. And, even more important, they changed his country of birth to one that they were confident that everyone would have heard of.Jamaica.

  Complete with new name, Kofi Kingston debuted as a professional wrestler in 2005. His promoter dubbed him the "Jamaican Sensation". He claimed to have adopted his new surname in honour of his hometown. And he made a point of emphasising his Caribbean persona: the front of the jacket that he wore into the ring was emblazoned with the Jamaican flag; he gave his favourite wrestling moves Jamaican names like "Cool Runnings"; he posed with the Jamaican flag; he adopted a Damian Marley song as his entrance music; he was photographed on tropical beaches and was described by his promoters as a "tropical superstar hailing from the tropical climate of the Caribbean Sea".

  His bogus Jamaican identity was not merely a matter of saying that he was from a country that Americans had actually heard of. It boosted his popularity, particularly in Florida with its huge Jamaican population. Accordingly, he continued to throw himself into his colourful new Jamaican persona. As recently as last month, while on a tour of New Zealand and Australia, he published an online journal entitled From Jamaica to the Land Down Under.

  In it he described New Zealand as follows: "I noticed that the roads are quite hilly and there are many houses and neighbourhoods, not at all like Jamaica". He went on, "Everything is irie, though, because the cars drive on the left hand side of the road just like back home in Jamaica."

  Everything seemed to be going well, but Kofi reckoned without his proud Ghanaian mother. She complained, "Kofi, your cousins watch you on TV in Ghana and want to know why you don't say you're from Ghana." When Kofi discovered she had revealed his secret identity to the press, he banned her and the rest of his family from speaking to the media.

  Kofi is not the first black person to pretend he is from Jamaica and he will not be the last. When I was a child, it was very common for people from other Caribbean islands to say that they were Jamaican. This was partly because Jamaicans were the largest single group of early migrants to the UK. But it was also because most British people had never heard of any other Caribbean island. British people are a little more well-travelled and sophisticated now. But it is still common for young men from Africa and the rest of the Caribbean to pretend to be Jamaicans. They even adopt the patois. This is because (sadly) in their eyes Jamaicans have an unsurpassed reputation for violence and criminality. So pretending to be a Jamaican "Yardie" gives them status.

  Kofi Kingston's change of name and nationality may have helped him to become a wrestling star but some of his friends back in Ghana are disappointed. One said, "I cannot bring myself to understand, why would a person who is very capable of going to graduate school decide to jettison all that for concussion in the face?"

• July 13, 2008
• 4:23

  Am back...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  Am back from what I can perhaps best describe as one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life time!
  
  Plenty of time to connect even more with Ashes - my daughter is really cool if I say so myself; was fun to do this with her. Plenty of time to reconnect with myself. I needed that! Too many decisions to make lately about life and everything that comes with it. Was good to 'be away' physically and attempt to be so mentally as well. Though one never really gets away fully mentally do they? Plenty of pictures and of course plenty of posts - still yet to be downloaded and still yet to be written.
  In a nutshell:
  

  • did see the big five! Yes all of them - lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant, and rhino. Seriously cool!
    
  • did get 'attacked' and my banana stolen by a damn monkey! Physical assault in the backseat of our car - no wasn't hurt but freaked out of course!
  • slept in a luxury tent (more decked out than my house) in the middle of the Masaai Mara
  • saw a 'first jump' by zebras and wildebeests crossing the Mara River
    

  Just realized that Wednesday will be a month since I left Ghana! Since then it feels that I have been constantly traveling for work - Ethiopia, Rwanda and Kenya.Will be in Nairobi for the next couple of days and then home to Ghana! Am so looking forward to that. Good times and fun aside looking forward to sleeping again in my own bed, with my own pillow and seeing Nico (our dog). And of course catching up with my friends over a super cold Star!
• July 08, 2008
• 9:26

  Am off....

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  So, will be quiet for the next couple of days as we are finally off on our mini-safari!
  We will spend a couple of days in the Masai Mara and then on to Lake Nakuru. Should be really cool. Coming from an island where the biggest animal we have is a cow, you can of course understand our excitement. Granted we have been to the Mole Game Park in Ghana, where we saw a fair amount of elephants, some antelopes and wild pigs but yes, finally a chance to see the big five! Well worth the bread and water we will be rationed to for the next couple months or so.
  
  We already had a 'dry-run' on the weekend as we went to visit the elephant orphanage and the giraffe center. Really impressed with the efforts at conservation and public awareness about wildlife. Keeping our fingers crossed that we will actually see some of the wildebeest migration. Though it isn't that time of the year the tour guide mentioned that late last week there was a first jump (i.e. crossing).
  
  Will make sure to have plenty of pictures and plenty of posts when I am connected again!
  
• July 07, 2008
• 1:47

  A post from Nairobi: Saturday night at the movies

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  Well Saturday night at 8 o'clock
  I know where I'm gonna go
  I'm gonna pick my baby up
  And take her to the picture show
  Saturday Night at the Movies
  The Drifters
  
  So granted it was my literal baby and not the other kind, but yes there we were. In a movie theater. On a Saturday night.
  
  Popcorn - check
  Sodas - check
  Front row seats - check.
  
  A real movie theater! Plushy seats, surround sound, the works. Cool. Neither Ashes nor I could really adjust to the fact that we were actually going to watch a movie that was not:
  

  • bought in Osu from the 'open source' vendors. This is usually accompanied by fingers crossed and hoping when you get home that the quality was good and that there was in fact a movie on the damn CD!
  • a hundred and one re-run of some movie on DSTV that you were so tiered of watching - but yes, it was either that or the open source movie guys;
  • a movie that we had bought from the non-open source community that we had also watched a million and one times before.

  
  Get the point? There are no movie theaters in Accra! Perhaps I need to re-phrase that. None that I would go to. There is one that I pass on the way down to Makola that seems to be showing all these kung-fu flicks, but yes, not my scene. Then there are also the 'converted' houses where you can rent a room and your own big screen TV, but again not the same. I do wonder about some of these set ups though. Remember seeing a flyer once where there was the 'red room', 'blue room' etc. Made me wonder what exactly was to happen in those rooms. Hmmm.
  
  The last time we went to the movies in fact was all of two years ago before we moved to Ghana. The idea of a movie theater (or cinema as they call it here) was something that we always took for granted.
  
  Back to the movie. So there we were, tickets bought for Hancock - definitely not one of Will Smith's best movies. Seats in the third row - a move we would soon regret. We were ready! Had the usual previews of upcoming shows, the national anthem (yes stood for that too) and the movie started.
  
  About 20 mins in I realized that I was feeling quite nauseous. There was just something about seeing Will Smith's pores super-enlarged in live and living colour that was unsettling my stomach. Usually seeing any part of him does unsettle me, but no, not like this. It got progressively worse as the action scenes flashed by in a blur of colour. I just couldn't understand. Was it something I ate? I thought back to what I had for breakfast and lunch. No couldn't be.
  
  And then Ashes said she was also feeling sick.
  
  Panic! Argh! We were allergic to the movies!
  
  Ok, of course not.
  
  Remembered feeling like this once before when trying to play a video game and thought, this must be related to where we are sitting. Of course googled later to see what I could find and found that we were actually suffering from simulator sickness which is a bit similar to motion sickness in terms of how one feels. It's actually quite interesting. In a nutshell, a computer-driven virtual environment can fool the body enough to cause some of its most basic support systems to be confused. Basically what happens is that your eyes think you are moving but your body is stationary. This fools the nervous system and causes this disorientation and confusion. Sitting in the third row with our faces literally plastered to the screen must have been a contributing factor.
  
  Of course we sat out the movie! Stumbled out out into the lobby afterwards looking like we were both victims of substance abuse. Just thankful that it wasn't one of those epic movies that would have taken three hours or more! Not sure if we would have survived.
  
  Moral of the story: we need a cinema in Accra!
  Withdrawal from such an activity will manifest itself in various ways once the 'subject' is re-exposed to the phenomena after a long period in absentia.
  
  Will be better prepared this time - will take seats all the way at the back (hmm, note to self, wonder if we could suffer from vertigo?) or at least somewhere in the middle. But yes, will go to the movies again with my baby before we leave Nairobi.
• June 28, 2008
• 3:53

  Glimpses of Kigali...

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  It's like playing football with yourself
  and being happy that you scored a hundred goals!
  Joseph, our Nairobi driver
  on Mugabe's 'election' victory.
  
  So am back in Nairobi, getting ready for what promises to be another intense week of work. Am being kept sane by the thought of my daughter joining me this weekend and that afterwards we should have some time to really explore Nairobi and beyond. Looking forward to the time off in more ways than one.
  
  Physically have left Rwanda behind, but not mentally. It's been one of the few places that I have visited that has really invaded my sense of self and sense of being. Managed to squeeze in a bit of time on Friday morning to drive around and see a bit of the city and the beautiful vistas of the mille collines - to my fellow blogger and inadvertent French teacher, these are just for you!
  
  Forgot my camera (duh) so can't take credit for the pictures used here - thanks M for allowing me copies of yours.
  
  Will write more later - there is actually an interesting documentary on TV now that looks at the 'hemorrhaging' of Ghanaian health workers to developed countries like the UK - similar to what has and is happening in Jamaica and elsewhere.
• June 24, 2008
• 10:31

  Post from Kigali III: Remembering at Breakfast

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  The strawberries at breakfast this morning were a bright, blood red – as strawberries should be. Their juices had stained the other fruit around them, leaving reddish-pinkish trails that settled at the bottom of the big, glass bowl.
  

  I hesitated having some as I remembered:

  • I remembered what I have read about the genocide and what I am currently reading now in Dallaire
  • I remembered the history, the pictures, the very graphic video clips that I saw at the museum
  • I remembered what I was doing in May 1994 – I was struggling with the joys and challenges of being a new mother, including breast feeding. I remembered because one of the survivors described seeing a baby, just a couple of months old, feeding itself on its mother’s breast. She, the mother, was already dead.

  I chose something else, not the fruit salad.

  Hadn't meant to write this as I am still 'processing' but the strawberries really shook me up this morning. Just that splash of colour.
  

  I hope that those who read this won’t misunderstand my reflections on being here. I guess this is my way of dealing with what happened then now. My own way of understanding - though I am not sure if I can or ever will.
  

  I also think I need to say that my reflections are in no way influenced by the 'moods' or 'feelings' encountered while here. In fact Kigali is a city that is more peaceful than my own ‘home town’ of Kingston and the Rwandans are a pleasant, friendly people. I think they do deserve a lot of credit for dealing with the issues e.g what is now being done through the local community courts (gacacas), or through their education systems and not go the route of general civil war as I think a lot of countries would have done.

• June 22, 2008
• 22:35

  Black Sheep and Family

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  The last funeral I went to - yes that famous one in Kumasi - one the children of the deceased came to the church service almost two hours late. To make matters worse, he made a spectacular entrance into what was then a quiet and orderly service of thanksgiving for his father. Drunk to boot and as loud as you please. No one else seemed particularly surprised - it was expected. To hear the family tell it, this was totally predictable. This was their black sheep in the family.
  
  According to wikipedia - hmmm, funny how that has changed and one no longer says the Oxford dictionary- black sheep is an English language idiom—usually derogatory—which describes an odd or disreputable member of a group, especially within one's family. The term originated from the occasional black sheep which are born into a herd of white sheep due to a genetic process of recessive traits. Black sheep were considered commercially undesirable because their wool cannot be dyed as white wool can.
  
  Am sure every family one has one. Mine certainly does. His name is Uncle H. The stories I could tell about this character could be a separate blog in itself!
  
  My earliest memories of Uncle H was the sound of the horn on his truck as he neared our home. The rhythmic blasting that you would hear a full 10 mins before you saw him sounded warning of his imminent arrival. A definet stop over on which ever place in Jamaica he was going, this sound would fill my siblings and I with dread. My mother was sigh resignedly and wonder what the story was going to be this time, or worse still what embarrassing situation would surely follow him like a shadow on this visit. He never failed to disappoint even though we desperately wished he would.
  
  We would hurriedly hide our pocket money as this would be newly found income to used by Uncle H to purchase his next bottle of beer. He was forever broke! Even better, time allowing, we would head over to the neighbour's to wait out his departure, hoping against hope he wouldn't find anything he would then claim unlawful ownership to. He must have had metal detectors for fingers as coins seem to magically find their way from their hiding places into his hands and then into his pocket.
  
  Things came to a head one day when I was home alone. The horn sounded and this time there was no escape. I decided to make the best of it, after all this was my Uncle. Things were going well until he sighted my new pet rabbit. Uncle H immediately launched into the culinary delights of rabbit stews and how this rabbit seemed to be the perfect age and stage! I panicked, no way could I allow him to eat my rabbit! Waiting until he had gone outside the house to get something, I hurriedly snatched up my rabbit and locked Uncle H out of the house. No amount of pleading, threatening or even a few choice words could get me to open that door! Not even when he finally said he was heading up to Mommy did I budge. I was ready to deal with the consequences of that as long as my rabbit remained out of any stew.
  
  When Mommy came home I did get the long lectur on respect for one's elders and family and all that. Did feel sorry that I had given him cause to go and air his grievances at her work place, but all that mattered then, was my rabbit!
  
  Haven't seen him in years, though am always hearing through the grapevine his latest skirmishes with the family and others. I still see him in my minds eye as I write this - larger than and full of life. I guess the older one gets the more one can tolerate one's own eccentricities and others too. Perhaps he wasn't a black sheep after all.
• 10:15

  Post from Kigali II: Tipping Points

   » ‎ Expressions in Words
  So I finally remembered what I was doing in May of 1994.
  
  It clicked as the guide led us through the tour of the Kigali Memorial Centre. It clicked when I asked him how old he was at the time of the genocide and he replied that he was thirteen. I thought immediately of my daughter and just what at that age she would have done if placed in such a situation.
  
  I am not sure if I am ready to blog on this yet - too many thoughts, reactions and questions. Still filtering.
  
  I keep wondering - what was the tipping point in Rwanda? What is my tipping point? What is anyone's tipping point? Will something like this ever happen again? And while I hope not, I can't help but wonder.
  
  Bought another book at the same time I bought Dallaier's - both are inextricably linked I think. It's written by Philip Zimbardo and it's called ' The Lucifer Effect'. It a nutshell its supposed to be about how 'good people turn evil'. It's been recommended by a co-worker of mine, with warnings of how heavy it is to read. Will see.
  
  Wasn't able to finish the tour of the Centre - was just too much to take in, too much to try and understand. The book by Dallaier gives some fascinating insights into the interminglings of diplomacy, diplomatic relations, choices and the genocide. Hard to believe that even those that were in the know were so much in the dark. I wonder what they think now they look back at the choices they made.