What’s Your Dream, As Inspired by Clarence

So you have a dream, now what?

Well, everyone else in the world has a dream, in fact, we all have our dreams of the things we want to do in our lives, and the only difference between you and the guy next door is about what you do now, right now, in order to make your dream come true.

If you sit back and simply say; ” I have a dream”, but don’t do anything to cause your dream to come true, then it never will. In fact, 40 or 60 years from now, you will still be saying “I have a dream”, but by then, you’ll be sitting on your patio, if you’d have one, with grey hair, still lauding your dream to everyone who passes by, down the street.

What you do today, right now, may help make your dream come true tomorrow. It’s all up to you to do whatever it takes now in order to make your dream come true.

Stop smoking weed and cigarettes, stop drinking alcohol, stop chasing men and women, stop partying and clubbing, stop the chat, get off Facebook or Twitter for a minute and take a moment, sit back and evaluate yourself, think about the things you need to do in order to make your dream come true and do it, don’t just think about it, make a move and do it. You are immensely endowed with great potential, act to realize yours.

What’s your dream?

Filed under: article , career, children, dream, dreaming, education, family, happiness, life, money, working

A Success Story: Guided by an Angel

I grew up on a farm with my mom. My dad always lived in a city where he worked and only came home rarely, on weekends, not every weekend, but may be twice a year. I was the oldest male-child in the house, after my older brother went in exile and joined SWAPO, a political organization that fought to liberate Namibia from the South African apartheid government.

Since I was the oldest son left at home, with two of my young brothers and youngest, baby sister, and my mom, I had to take on the tasks, which were generally handled by adult males, usually the fathers, the heads of household. Tasks such as plowing the field during the rainy season, looking after our farm animals, and simply maintaining the exterior and interior structure of the house and the sprawling, long and high, fence that covered our farm of more than 75,000 acres of land.

These kinds of tasks had to be dealt with constantly on a daily basis, every day of the week. And since I was just a little boy, in addition to helping my mom at home with all these tasks, I also had to go to school and keep up with my homework and study. Most parents then discouraged their children from going to school, so they could stay at home and work. However, I had and still have a wonderful, the best mom, not only that she never asked me to stay out of school, she actually helped me study. She actually taught me how to read, even before I started school. For all of us, her children, to get an education was her first priority.

In order to stay on top of all the household chores and school homework, I made a deal with my mom. That we’d go to school three days a week, and stay to work at home on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. On the days we had to go to school, we would get up at five in the morning, and work in the field before leaving for school. And then after school, we would go to work in the field some more and attend to our farm animals.

That was my daily life, everyday of each week, except on Sundays when we had to go to church and rest up. In my whole neighborhood, I was one of the very few kids who went and stayed in school. Most of them stayed at home, and probably never even passed standard 5, let alone finish school.

In primary (elementary) school, I was smart, but not the smartest kid. Luckily, there was this girl in my first grade class, standard one. Her name was Katalina Asino, and she was so beautiful. She was so beautiful that she took my breath away each time I looked at her. I have to say now that I had fallen in love with her the very first time I laid my eyes on her on the first day of class. However, Katalina didn’t come from my neighborhood but from the opposite side of our school. I was from the east side and she was from the west side of the school. So, the only time I could get to see her was if I had gone to school.

Not only that Katalina was the most beautiful girl in the whole school, she was also the smartest kid in class. I immediately befriended her, the very first day of school, the very same day I met her in class. However, if I had to be her friend, or maybe I could now say, her boyfriend then, then I’d have to be smart like her as well. So I had to push myself harder, study harder, just so I could keep up with her in class, and still be able to play together outside of the class, during the school recess.

At home, when I was not at school, I missed her a lot, and so I had to talk to my mom about me going to school every school day, instead of just a few days a week. Basically so I could see Katalina. Of course I didn’t tell my mom why I really wanted to go to school every day, but my mom perfectly understood the need to be at school every day regardless of the never ending house chores. So, she let me go to school five days a week, but so as long as we would work on our farm before and after class.

At school, I was able to see Katalina every school day, but I was also able to keep up with her academically. That was the whole thing about being her friend. It wouldn’t have looked good to be her friend and not be smart. Because in quizzes and tests, so as in the exams, Katalina was always the first student and I was second in class. There has been times that I was also either the first and she was second. It was beautiful. I was able to do my chores at home and be the second best student at school.

Times went on like that for years until we got in standard four (grade six). We had also gotten a bit older, and Katalina started looking and talking to other boys, other than just me. And when she did, her school work started to slack too, to the point that she barely passed standard four. In standard five, she was slacking far behind. We weren’t even talking as best friends by then, as she was seeing and dating another guy, Gottlieb, who was one of my best friends. I was devastated when Katalina and I were no longer friends. I couldn’t sleep at times at home, nor could I do anything else, because my mind and thoughts were about Katalina. I wrote her several love letters and most times, she would throw them away, letting the whole school read them. That had hurt me so much that I felt like quitting school. But I never did, because I am not and have never given up on anything that I’ve wanted in my life, and at that time school became my only priority.

Gottlieb knew that Katalina was my girl, and he would tell me about all the fun things they’d be doing, him and Katalina, just to shove it in my face and then laugh at me, which to him was just a big joke, but to me, even if I didn’t show it, deep down inside of me, I was horrified. However, instead of looking down on myself, I lifted my head up high and I studied hard, more than ever. Standard five (grade seven) was and may still be one of the hardest classes in Namibia and South Africa. Most students in Namibia back then never even passed it. Also, most of my classmates in standard five were repeaters, those who were taking it over. Some students were repeating it for their 3rd or 4th times.

While Katalina was struggling with the rest of the majority of the class, I was thriving. I made up my mind that I would not flunk the class and especially that Katalina was not talking to me, I had to show her that I was the best man for her, that I was smart, and not only that, I played soccer, was on school soccer team, and cross country. In my mind, that’s all I had gotten used to, getting A’s and B’s in any class at that time. Even though Katalina and I were no longer best friends, I couldn’t let myself get any grades less than A’s and B’s.

At the end of the year, after the final exams, I was only one of the 3 students who passed standard 5, out of more than 40 students in our class. Two of those students were repeaters. Katalina and Gottlieb both flunk the class, they stayed behind, and I moved on to a secondary (high) school at Iipumbu Secondary School, then to Jacob Marengo Tutorial College.

I believe that certain things happen for very good reasons, and that Katalina was my angel, purposely sent by God to help me with my early years of school, she was the main reason for me to go to school and study hard in order for me to pass all my primary classes. If it was not for her, I don’t think that I would have been able to pass my classes with A’s, let alone go to and stay in school. I’d have ended up just like some or maybe, most of the students in Namibia who never even finished standard five. So, if I could go back in time at my primary school days with Katalina, my true guided angel, then I would try to encourage and make her realize how silly it was to give up on something so important, education, instead of just focusing on some other things, especially boys, some who may not have had her best interest.

At home, there were never days that we went to bed hungry. My mom and I worked very hard to keep our house afloat, and it was one of the best fields produced in the area. We produced lots of food products, from corn, watermelons, black-eye peas, peanuts, rye and more. At the same time, my older sister Jenny, whom I’m forever indebted to, was working for the Retail Magnate, Mr. Aupa Indongo at Continental #1, so she was able to financially support the whole family and my school fees. Thus we were very well off compare to other families, and, in addition, we were never hungry and were never in need of anything. I was able to comfortably help my mom and work at home, in our farm, while maintaining good grades at school. This was and still is an achievement I will always alone cherish. And it didn’t go unnoticed, because when I left for the secondary school, I was told that most parents in the area were pushing their children to go to school so they could one day be like me.

Excelling in school, while at the same time helping my mom at home, just made me feel very proud of myself. Thanks to my mom who never stopped me from going to school, even when most other parents wouldn’t let their kids go to school every day or even some days in the week as I did.

A few years ago, I tried to find out what had happened with my God given angel, Katalina and to my great sadness; I was informed that she might have died of AIDS. And, that just sadness me more, because I never even kissed her, and mostly, I never had a chance to say thank you to her for helping me realize my academic potential early in primary school and for helping me go to school every day and passed all my classes with high grades.

Angels come in many different ways, shapes, and forms. She or he might be the guy next door, or perhaps someone who tried to talk to you in the hallway or street the other day, or may be the person who was standing on the corner begging for some change, but you’ve ignored him, or perhaps, your best friend who tried to warn you about a mistake that you were about to make.

Angels come in many different ways, forms, and shapes. Try to explore and discover yours, and try to listen to him or her. You may just make the right decision as I did, by going to school and finish my primary school education, and eventually college – which is the best thing that I’ve ever done in my life. Now, I’m going to pursue my MBA at INSEAD and PhD in Economics at Harvard University, with focus on Economic Development, Macro and Political Economics.

Filed under: blog this, culture, education, financial , angel, boyfriend, college, education, girlfriend, love, MBA, PhD, school, studying, success, teenage, work

Does the buying of a crib cause the birth of a child?

Please post your comment with your assumptions and or hypothesis to the following question?

“Does the buying of a crib cause the birth of a child?”

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you see that question, and what is your logical fallacy, if any, to that question?

Creative thinking intended.

Filed under: article , birth, economics, education, fallacy, logical, parents, pregnant, social, sociology

Reinstituting a Reformed Welfare-to-Work Program

The current U.S. Welfare system needs to have a complete overhaul, not only to provide better programs for those who really need it, but to help close some of the loopholes currently ravaging the program. Some people, like Stephanie and her friend Maria, who currently work at the Columbus Port International Airport, have a familiar scheme they use to cheat the system.

Stephanie and Maria work as customer service representatives for an airline, where they make $9 an hour. They both work full-time and put in lots of overtime hours, but since each has three kids, according to their household income, they are qualified to receive welfare assistance for as long as they earn a certain salary amount per month which is below the poverty level. Therefore, each month, they report to the welfare office that they only work part-time. They don’t tell the exact number of hours they each have worked, and welfare equates their hours with cash assistance to make up what they didn’t earn at work. In doing so, they keep getting money from the welfare office plus their real monthly earnings.

Other examples of those who might be exploiting the welfare system are the cases of Angela, Jackie, John, and Helen.

Jackie is a 45 year old woman, who has two grown daughters. Her husband passed away when the kids were 19 and 17. She lives in a nice apartment in a Section 8 division where she doesn’t pay any rent. She never graduated from high school and only has had a few odd jobs on and off, in her whole life. If you go in her apartment, you will not think that she is a welfare recipient, because she has a large TV screen, DVDs for almost every movie ever released, and she smokes about two packs of cigarettes every day. Jackie is completely healthy and is capable of finding and having gainful employment, but because she chose not to, she doesn’t have to work because she relies on her welfare benefits.

Helen is a 29 year old young lady and has 6 kids. Her oldest daughter is 13 years old and each child has a different father. Helen doesn’t have to work and she probably never will, because she receives welfare. For each child, she receives a certain amount of money each month, and she too lives in section 8 housing where she doesn’t have to pay rent.

John is 52 years old and has 5 kids. Each of his children live with their different mothers. For years, he has been in and out of jail for selling drugs, and now lives with his girlfriend in a one-bedroom apartment in section 8 housing, where they don’t have to pay rent for as long as they have no income. His girlfriend works, but she gets paid under the table and she doesn’t have to file her federal income tax, because of fear of losing their welfare benefits. John still sells drugs, and they have three different cars, except not one car is in their names, but in his brother’s name and his oldest daughter’s name.

Angela is a 46 year old lady, who has been legally deaf since she was in the 8th grade. She doesn’t have to work, never has, and probably never will, because she is legally disabled and therefore she receives federal welfare, which are housing, food and money each month.

As portrayed in the above examples, the current welfare system does not have the needed tools in place to help forcefully combat welfare fraud. It also handicaps and makes people to become lazy, because the longer they stay on welfare and don’t have to work, then the more they lose the will to ever look for a job. In addition, they may even forget any work they might have done when they were employed. These are the people who could be out there working, helping to contribute to the national economy, but they simply chose not to work and  live off of welfare without having to ever worry about working and paying for rent, utilities and food.

America is the richest country on earth with the largest economy. The American government is well known around the world for taking good care of its own people, in terms of social welfare and socio-economic empowerment.

Most Americans, even those who are on welfare or live below the poverty level are still far better off compared to those in many other countries. However, in continuing to provide unrestricted welfare to some citizens, the government has been handicapping some of the welfare recipients by continuing to provide them with all their necessities without ever trying to help them improve their skills in order to find jobs in the future.

In achieving these goals of caring for its people, the U.S. federal government has instituted many programs designed to implement policies to achieve the highest well-being for every legal resident. The U.S. Welfare system is one of the best social programs in the U.S. designed to provide the necessities for those who are unable to work and have income to support their well-being.

The U.S. Social Welfare system was first introduced after the Great Depression in the 1930’s. The U.S. Social Security Administration website states that beginning in 1932, the Federal Government first made loans, then grants, to States to pay for direct relief and work relief. After that, special Federal emergency relief and public works programs were started. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed to Congress economic security legislation embodying the recommendations of a specially created Committee on Economic Security. There followed the passage of the Social Security Act, signed into law August 14, 1935.

The current Welfare program provides necessary food coupons, known as food stamps, and housing assistance, known as Section 8 programs, for low income families and those who are unable to earn a living because of health related issues, as well as monthly cash stipend to some recipients.

Because of the current welfare system which most observers believe has loopholes, there have been talks about reforming the welfare system for many years. In 1997 President Clinton took the initial step in reforming the welfare system with his initiatives of a Welfare-to-Work program. The Welfare-to-Work program was specifically designed to help provide welfare recipients with the needed recourses, training and skills, so that they may get jobs in the future and not continue to solely rely on the federal welfare system. In doing so, the program will help more welfare recipients to return to the workforce.

According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the Welfare-to-Work program was tasked to encourage states to provide certain logistical support such as funding for transportation, vocational training, child care, and substance abuse treatment assistance for welfare recipients. However, many states have complained that they could not meet some of the requirements such as providing transportation and child care. Due to logistical and political reasons, the program abruptly ended in September 2004.

Some applauded the program while many thought that the program was designed to force people to work. In 2003, O’Neil of the New York Post wrote that politicians from both left and right perceive the Welfare to Work program as a success beyond expectations, but yet the program is nonetheless under political siege that requires it to reauthorize its basic component and it is now a year overdue and seems like it may never pass through Capitol Hill politics. In this article, O’Neil simply characterizes how some politicians from both left and right may say one thing, just to score some political points for future re-election purposes, but fail to fulfill their obligations and do the opposite.

President Clinton’s goal and purpose were to reform the Welfare system in order to better serve its purpose. He reinforced his rigorous commitment to provide welfare recipients with opportunities of attaining educational training and development that further help improve their knowledge and necessary skills in finding better paying jobs in the future and that help rid them from continually receiving welfare assistance.

However, when Bush came in the office in 2000, he had his own agendas such as the No Child Left Behind program, but not to make sure that the Welfare-to-Work program survives the political hurdle. It was also just a few months of him in office when the U.S. was hit by the act of terrorism in September 2001, and thereafter the War on Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq followed in October 2001 and March 2003 respectively.

Thus, maintaining and continuing to fund certain programs such as the Welfare-to-Work program might not have been a priority for the U.S. government during these years of war on terror and the recession. The U.S. economy has been slowing down since the early part of 2000, and up to now, in the year 2008, the economy has really never recovered to the point where the government may want to include certain programs such as the Welfare-to-Work system in its monstrous budget to fight and combat terrorism.

The Welfare-to-Work program was designed to be a solution to the welfare system and to provide constructive benefits to the recipients. However, President Clinton’s plan collapsed because he and his advisors failed to study it more on how to make it work better, given its complex task and States’ requirement. An addition to the cause of its collapse, the House was mostly controlled by the Republican lawmakers who severely opposed and voted against most of President Clinton’s proposals.

Thus not having provided all the needed tools, recourses and funding might have helped to contribute to the collapse of the program. If it was well studied and developed, then it could have lasted for a long time to help provide better incentives to help some people and families from solely relying on the federal government welfare subsidies.

In the article “Welfare-to-Work Transition” by Jacqueline J. Kirby, which appeared in The Ohio State University’s Human Development and Family Life Bulletin, she describes the history and the after effects of the Welfare to Work program and used data and information from various sources to compare her argument such as the concern related to the inadequate federal regulations mandating matches in state funding, the lack of specific eligibility requirement for each state around the country, and no stated guidelines and specific requirements about how or where the money will be spent in each state. She depicts a program, which was implemented for a good intention but lack proper execution.

There are a few federal programs that are well-managed and strictly designed to make it hard or almost impossible for anyone to cheat or take advantages of them. Programs such as the educational Pell grant and some states have programs such as unemployment benefits, which have some of the best controlling programs designed to measure and check qualifications for anyone who may apply for either.

The educational Pell grant has two prominent and strict rules – felony and time cap for completing the first undergraduate degree. Under these rules, when someone applies for the federal financial aid, in order to qualify for the Pell grant, the applicant must not have a drug felony on his or her record and must graduate for the first undergraduate degree within eight years. If one applies for the financial aid and has a drug felony on his or her record, then that applicant will not be qualified to receive Pell grant for his or her education. Also, if the financial aid recipient does not graduate with his or her first undergraduate degree within eight years, then after eight years, he or she will not be eligible to receive a Pell grant.

For unemployment, when someone has been laid off work for any reason other than quitting or resigning, when that person applies to claim unemployment benefits for every week, then he or she must provide complete details of him or her looking for work for each week claimed. If he or she fails to look for a job, then he or she is not eligible to claim unemployment for that week or any other weeks he or she has not looked for a job.

These two programs work fine and they have tools and resources in place that help prevent fraud and make it hard for anyone to continually receive the benefits. They encourage their recipients to make sure that they must follow and abide by their strict rules in order to be eligible for their benefits. However, the current welfare system does not have a limit of how long someone can continue to receive welfare benefits.

In some European countries such as Denmark, the government provides their citizens with government income subsidies, but they have an incentive program that encourages the citizens to work or do anything that may generate income for their households. In the U.S., it is different. For as long as one is unemployed and has a reasonable excuse to convince welfare officials, then he or she can perfectly and safely have access to government sponsored (section eight) housing without ever having to worry about paying rent.

Therefore, if the Welfare-to-Work program is reformed to equally and efficiently serve the needs of both the federal government, the states, and the welfare recipients, then it will help more welfare recipients to find jobs, which in turn will help them to become productive and that will help increase the GDP. A portion of the money spent in the program can be used towards other social programs.

Reforming the Welfare system has been a subject that has been discussed by many pundits over the years, but putting it into action yields little. Even our current presidential candidates, McCain, Clinton, and Obama rarely talk about it. But it is one of many issues that need immediate attention.

It poses no fair compliment to those who get up each morning going to work, just to help fund the welfare system for those who simply chose not to work, because they just do not want to work for as long as the welfare system finances their well-being.

In an article titled “Reforming welfare with work” Gueron decries how our country has been debating the question of how well to redesign the welfare system, especially the federally supported welfare Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, which is equipped and is tasked to provide them with cash assistance for single-female-parent households. Gueron questions whether the welfare program should be continued with focus on providing broad assistance or it should simply become a “reciprocal obligations” program, whereby recipients must be required to find work within a given time period.

There are many Jackies, Johns, and Helens in most neighborhoods around the U.S. Let’s reform the Welfare system in order to help rehabilitate and empower them, give them the necessary training and skills and put them to work in order for us to further strengthen our economy.
 
Work Cited

Welfare-to-Work (1996, June). U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Retrieved Wednesday, April 9, 2008, from http://www.opm.gov/wtw/index.htm.

O’Neill, J. (2003, April 14). Welfare Reform Works. New York Post, pp.A11, A14.

Kirby, J. J. (1995). Welfare-to-Work Transition. The Ohio State University’s Human  Development and Family Life Bulletin, Volume 1, Issue 4, Winter 1995.  Retrieved Wednesday, April 9, 2008, from http://fcs.osu.edu/hdfs/bulletin/volume.1/bull14a.htm.

Gueron, J. M. (1987). Reforming welfare with work. New York: Ford Foundation.

Filed under: article , child support, children, development, education, family, NCLB, pell grant, President Clinton, rehabilitation, single mothers, social welfare, student loan, training, unemployment, welfare, welfare fraud, welfare-to-work, work

Who’s Killing All The Parents, Kids Ask?

Joseph is 26 years old and lives in Windhoek, Namibia. At the age of 21, he has unexpectedly become the father and mother of his 4 young brothers and 2 sisters, when his most loving mother, Hileni, a school teacher and city councilwoman, the only provider of the family, unexpectedly died from the HIV disease.

Their father, Samuels had died a year before. The youngest child at the time was just less than 4 years old. Fortunately, when Hileni passed away, Joseph has already graduated from high school, and he was planning on going to college, but he could never go, as he had to find a job to support his young brothers and sisters.

Joseph has a brother, Fritz, who is 23 years old and is defying the gravity of their hardship by going to college. He wants to go to Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, and then transfer to UCLA to complete his degree education, so he can one day find a good paying job to help his brothers and sisters.

And by the time Fritz completes his degree education, Joseph would be in his 30s, but Joseph also plans on going to college as soon as Fritz finishes and gets a job to help take over the family load. However for Fritz to find the money he needs to pay for his tuition and fees at SMC is another dream that needs to come true for him, which is almost impossible, his mother and father have died and they have no relatives who can afford to send them to college. With stringent bureaucracy, who and how can anyone even ask the government to help fund their education?

In Columbus, Ohio, Timothy is 20 years old and a second year student at the Ohio State University majoring in Computer Science Engineering. His mother was gunned down in a drug related accident when Timothy was just three years old. His father has had unfortunately fallen a victim of drugs and alcohol since Timothy was little, so he has never been in any place to help raise Timothy and his young brother.

Luckily, Timothy has an aunt who helped raise him and his young brother. And at the age of 14, Timothy was forced to find a job in Richmond, Virginia, at a local McDonald’s restaurant, but because he was just too young to work, he had to lie on his job application that he was in fact 16 years old. He had to work in order to support himself and his young brother.

Timothy calls himself the ‘definition’, the definition of overcoming hardship, struggle, and growing up without any proper supervision and parental love. His favorite word is ‘focus’.

Whenever you talk to Timothy, you would hear that word ‘focus’ lamenting in his tone more than a dozen times. It’s his vocabulary and his reminder to staying focus on what he has always wanted to do, reaching his goal and realizing his potential. He has already defied that by finishing high school no matter what he had faced in his early years of life and by enrolling in college to achieving his dream.

Timothy works more hours each week, more than the hours he needs to study. He has to work in order to pay for his rent and housing expenses, for him and his young brother. However, he’s at least fortunate that he has financial aid and student loans from the U.S. Department of Education to pay for his tuition and fees at the Ohio State University.

Zanelle is a 16 years old from Soweto, South Africa. She has three sisters and one brother. Her father died of AIDS when she was just 12 years old and her mother died of the same disease when she was 14 years old. At 16, Zanelle is the mother and father, provider and bread-winner of her siblings. She dropped out of school in order to work as a brick layer in order to earn money to help and support her brother and sisters.

Her relatives, aunts and uncles have also died of AIDS and the few remaining relatives are also HIV positive. Her 79 years old grandmother is the only one left to help out at home, but what can she really do at her age, except to look after the kids when Zanelle goes to work?

In the rural areas of India, there’s a place well known as Destiny Village (http://www.destinyvillage.org), with children, mostly orphanage, some of whom were abandoned by their families. This same Destiny Village has also been setup in Haiti to help house the same type of children. These two houses have been generously setup and sponsored by members of The Potter’s House Church of God (http://www.pottershouse.org) in Columbus, Ohio, under the leadership of the anointed, Pastor Tim Oldfield.

Some or all of the children in the Destiny Village housing projects, if it was not for the Potter’s House initiatives to help them by providing them with adequate housing, food, and education, God only knows where these kids would be today, most of them would probably be dead, or staying homeless as they once were prior to the Potter’s House initiatives to help them.

In the rural areas of Lundazi in Zambia, Mathias Zimba, director of Rising Fountain Development Program (http://www.risingfountains.org) is trying his utmost best to help families; grandparents, children and HIV positive victims in the whole rural area of Lundazi to have access to medical facilities and education.

Lundazi is one of the largest Districts in the Eastern part of Zambia, with a total population of 296,560, of which the majority live in the Lundazi rural area, while only a small part of the population lives in the city district.

Most of the population of the Lundazi area is HIV positive for those who are still living, while the majority of the parents have died of HIV and only the grandparents are left to raise and look after the orphanage kids.

When only the grandparents, most of them are in their late 70s and 80s, they cannot really provide the children with the care they need and cannot also help them with their educational work, as what normal parents would do. Because most of the grandparents were born during the colonialism and did not have opportunity to get an education. Thus now, the cycle of illiteracy continuous to repeat itself.

“There are a number of policies that have been put in place and slowly being implemented by the Zambian government, though the challenge is that, most of these policies are really only effective in urban areas and trickle at a snail rate into rural areas” said Zimba.

Among some of the notable policies in place by the Zambian government include:

Education Policy – free education for all at Basic Education. However the challenge is that despite being a policy, school authorities still charge a fee ‘user fee’ for students to pay.

“This money is used for operational costs for the school to cover the deficit they have from their lean budgets. Now, in rural areas, where on earth can a family with almost no income meet these costs? The end solution is that in rural areas, some children, particularly girls are left out from school and are forced into early marriages and so forth” said Mr. Zimba.

Healthcare Policy – free HIV/AIDS drugs to people infected with the disease. Zimba said that this is a wonderful policy to allow people who are HIV positive to have access to life saving drugs.

“The challenge is that most of the rural area clinics are centralized near the urban areas and sick people need to walk by foot almost 120 km (about 75 miles) to access the help they desperately need. There is no reliable transportation, despite the community efforts to put up good feeder roads and in the end; people are just dying in the rural areas” said Mr. Zimba.

“What are the consequences? HIV is increasingly being spread throughout the country and grandmothers are now taking over, looking after their grandchildren as due to the death of their own children” Said Zimba.

Agricultural Policy – a good policy has been put in place relating to marketing of farm produce to allow local farmers to sell their produce through a liberalized system in order to earn a few monies to support their families.

“The challenge is that despite all of these wonderful policies for Agriculture, in rural areas, we are only seeing a few “unscrupulous” traders who come and rip off poor farmers and buy their produce at extremely low prices” states Zimba.

“Our main goal really is to help children and women in these areas of Zambia to have a future and fulfill their dreams. But to do that, we need advocacy on our work so that people who have power and resources can help us meet our objectives. We need to help children to have food on the table, medical, clothes and most importantly, a good health system” cries Zimba.

One of the projects that are currently helping and working with the Rising Fountain Development Program is The Pencil Project (http://www.thepencilproject.com) led by Maria Vick and is based in South Carolina, USA.

“I lived in Swaziland as a child and was able to witness poverty firsthand. As you know, a trip to Africa will change anyone forever. I was always struck by the joy and gratefulness that I found in the African people despite the fact that so many had so little” states Mrs. Vick.

“As I’ve matured, now at 36 years of age, I have come to believe that education is the only real way out of poverty and that all the world’s children should have access to the tools they need. A pack of one dozen pencils, something that people in well developed countries take for granted, could help 12 children” states Mrs. Vick.

“In just a short time, my project has gotten a pencil into the hands of over 10,000 needy children. The pencil, though a simple thing, symbolizes education and the promise that I would like every child to feel” Says Maria Vick.

Mrs. Vick says that she acts as a ‘matchmaker’ between a donor school and a needy school. People come to her website who are looking for an easy way to help children in need. The donor school will collect pencils and then ship them to the needy school that she has found for them. And that’s how her organization started working with Mathias Zimba and the Rising Fountain Development Program.

“I believe that Mathias first contacted me, I can’t remember, and we sent an initial shipment of pencils to his students. He responded so beautifully by sending me many photos of the children receiving the pencils. They were so grateful! Their photo is on my homepage. Simon, I cried for days” sadly states Mrs. Vick.

“I have helped numerous needy schools around the world since my project’s inception but something about this program, about Mathias Zimba, and about these students have touched me as they have touched you. I have pledged to personally collect supplies for their school and am currently sending two additional parcels a month of paper, books, etc. all on my own dime” cries Mrs. Vick.

“The children have nothing, no shoes, and no blankets, nothing…and yet they try to come to school every day with a smile on their face. I don’t believe that the UN or any government for that matter is doing much to help the world’s children. There are children that are forgotten all over the world. Even in my state of South Carolina, we have school districts that are terribly underfunded (http://www.corridorofshame.com). I personally feel that we cannot wait for the government to come through for these children. They need materials now and every day that goes by is another lost opportunity for them. I won’t wait for the government. I just want to put the materials into their hands” states Mrs. Vick.

“As far as the children left homeless by AIDS, it is devastating. But it’s all part of a much larger problem which comes back to education. Knowledge is power, Simon. I know that you understand that. It is often difficult to recruit people to help in these efforts if they have never been to Africa or have only ’seen’ poverty through the television screen in their warm, comfortable living room. That’s why I am focused on the younger generation—the children who email me every day to help. They are so eager and so willing to help build their generation. It encourages me that my small idea has blossomed into something that I never could have imagined” states Mrs. Vick.

Mathias Zimba states that his organization’s main goal is to help children and women in these areas of Zambia to have a future and fulfill their dreams. “But to do that, we need advocacy for our work so that people who have power and resources can help us meet our objectives. We need to help children to have food on the table, medical, clothes and most importantly, a good health system” cries Mr. Zimba.

“Our current urgent need is to allocate funding to help pay teachers at our rural community school, which is US$150 a month in salary for a qualified teacher to work in the rural areas. We need to recruit two qualified teachers to help out. Currently we are only working with volunteers and there is no consistency” Says Zimba.

“Rehabilitation of water wells. Water borne diseases thrive in the rural areas and we want to help them rehabilitate and maintain by forming a water committee. It costs around US$400 to rehabilitate a well and we need to help them rehab approximately 5 wells that will serve 300 members” states Mathias Zimba.

The most important problem currently facing Mr. Zimba is to find someone who may be willing to help them through donations or grants to buy a vehicle that they can use for an ambulance which will help people in his communities be able to go to healthcare clinics and receive medical care they so desperately need.

Most sick people when they walk the long distance to go to collect their daily HIV dozes of medicines, most of them don’t even make it back. They die on the way to the clinics because it takes them up to 3 days to get there by foot.

And when they don’t return home, the kids ask, who’s taking away all of our parents? Who’s killing our parents? Doesn’t God love us anymore? Why has God forsaken us?

The grandparents have no answers to any of these questions, they simply look at the kids and tell them that it’s God’s will that He’s taking them away.

Some of the people, who can afford, use donkey carts to go to and back from the clinics. Zimba believes that finding someone to help them with a van that they can use as a vehicle will tremendously help them solve one of the most critical problems of getting the sick to the healthcare.

The week of October 16, 2007, Jennie who is one of the volunteers from Ireland who arrived last week to volunteer at the Rising Fountain Development Program, brought Mr. Zimba and his team an award, presented to them by Mayor Edwin Stevenson of Limavady City, Ireland, who awarded Mathias Zimba and his group as a recognition for their outstanding community work.

“This is great news for all of us. It’s a great daily challenge being faced with so many problems in our community, and this award encourages us to work relentlessly and help people in our community as much as we can. We just need help, more resources and supports in order to enable us to carry on with our tasks, even a small contribution can help make a difference in a big way” states Mr. Zimba.

In the near future, Mathias Zimba and his organization want to initiate a cooperative program to help farmers sell their produce at economic prices and raise income for their savings.

“There are many other organizations such as WVI, Global Fund, and others that are working for the same cause in Zambia, but most of these organizations are centralized in large cities and towns and don’t really reach people in rural areas” says Mr. Zimba.

There are many Josephs, Timothys, Zanelles, Destiny Villages and Lundazis out there, all around us, everywhere in the world, and the question is, what are you doing to help out?

If you would like to learn more or find out how you can help Mathias Zimba and his organization, The Rising Fountain Development Program, please visit their web site at http://www.risingfountains.org.

About Simon Kapenda

Simon Kapenda is a volunteer author of this article. He’s founder of Tip-Mart, Inc., (http://www.tipmart.com) and developer of RentersQ (http://www.rentersq.com) and Gatepedia (http://www.gatepedia.com). He’s a student in Economics at the Ohio State University, a self-declared serial entrepreneur, speaker, and philanthropist, and an avid amateur blogger at his blog at http://www.princesimon.com.

Filed under: AIDS, HIV, blog this, culture, economics, education, living, news, politics, simon kapenda , africa, AIDS, blacks, dying of AIDS, education, HIV, hunger, politics, poverty, suffering, war

A Call for an African Community Forum

There’re many business, economic and political forums in the world such as World Economic Forum, World Business Forum, TransAfrica Forum, and other forums that meet regulary or yearly to discuss issues that pertain and matter to them.

The murdering of Lucky Dube reminds the world of just how the violence has gotten out of control in South Africa, as well as in most countries in Africa, the cry of hundreds of thousands of parentless children, whose parents have died of HIV/AIDS, lack of access to quality education and healthcare, the poverty and corruption in many different African countries call for an immediate and actionable action to figure out how to severely take whatever the necessary steps to put an end to these inhumane.

In the honor of Lucky Dube, I am calling for the establishment of an African Community Forum, a free non-political and non-partisan peaceful discussion forum for a multitude of young African people to get together to discuss, decide and make strong and actionable recommendations to the world bodies such as the United Nations and the developed countries about what steps must be taken to immediately ensure that these issues as stated far above can be eradicated effectively.

We can organize the first African Community Forum to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa in June 2008. This will be a weekend long events, composed of panelists, questions and answers discussion style, workshops, and a celebration of life through music and storytelling, and at the end of the events, there would be a selection of five individuals who would be tasked to go present the recommendations and outcomes of the events to the United Nations in New York. The African Community Forum will then make a persistent follow up to make sure that these recommendations are implemented.

Each year, the African Community Forum will then gather together in any selected city anywhere in Africa to discuss certain issues that matters to the African people.

These events are for senior high school students, college students, academia professors, and business and community leaders. Transportation, food and lodging to and from the African Community Forum will be provided.

It’s time to step up. During the apartheid era, students around the world used to march and demonstrate on the streets against the injustices by the South African apartheid government, and likewise, it’s time to step up against violence, HIV/AIDS, corruption, poverty, and better education and healthcare.

I am looking for well-placed individuals to help carry out these events. Interested individuals and parties should contact me via email at simon(at)rentersq.com, immediately.

Filed under: AIDS, HIV, article, blog this, culture, economics, education, entertainment, launch, living, politics, simon kapenda , africa, African Americans, black, crimes, education, hunger, politics, South Africa, suffering, war

A Product of Your Own Environment?

Yesterday night, my friend, Reggae Super Star Lucky Dube was killed in a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, by a punk who tried to hijack his car as he was dropping of his son at his brother’s house.

And, as I sit here right now, not really currently interested in doing anything, work or study, but just sitting here listening to some of Lucky Dube’s music. Everything that he used to sing, are issues about life, real social life that affect most people around the world.

Lucky Dube used to sing about real issues, real life, things that he has always known most of his life, things he has seen with his own eyes, things he has experienced while growing up in an apartheid era South Africa.

Lucky Dube is a product of his own environment and he died from what he has always been against, violence; which he has been fighting for most of his life. He has sung against poverty and apartheid, some of his music were banned in South Africa, and he used to get harassed by the South African police and the Boers prior to the South African independence in 1994.

Like everybody else in South Africa and Namibia until 1990 and 1994, they all have experienced the same hardship caused by the South African apartheid government, but there were those who stood up for what they believed in, and Lucky Dube was one of those who stood up, and in whatever he could, he fought for what he believed in and he died with that belief.

The question is; whether you live in America, UK, or India, what’s your environment, what are you made of? Are you a product of a hardship upbringing, poor family, bad neighborhood, or you’re simply filthy rich that you just don’t even know what you supposed to do with your life?

For whatever your situation or circumstance is; what are you doing about it? Are you just sitting back and let it go by and be the way it is? Or will you stand up and do what you believe is right and just?

South Africans and Namibians have stood up and fought for what is rightfully theirs, freedom. Martin Luther King Jr., fought for what he believed in, equality and civil rights for all Americans.

Gandhi stoop up and fought for his rights in South Africa and then for peace and freedom for all Indians in India.

What about you, what do you believe in? What’s your purpose in life? Is eating, drinking and being merry your only purpose, that’s it?

Now, that South Africa is free, the fight is not yet over, the war is just beginning and the people of South Africa should stand up in uprising and march in multitude, just the way they used to prior to 1994, not with guns and weapons, but they must uprise against crime that’s ravaging South Africa and against HIV/AIDS that’s destroying and killing people of all ages in South Africa.

The real war is just beginning in South Africa, and it’s up to each and every South African, anywhere in the world, to say, enough is enough; they must take back their country, their communities, and their way of life.

The murdering of Lucky Dube by one schmuck should serve as a wakeup call. It’s not just a reminder of how dangerous South Africa has become in terms of crime, but it’s a turn off for some outsiders who may wish to travel to or for some foreigners who may want to do go business in South Africa.

It has been said over and over that crimes and AIDS in South Africa have become one of the worst in the world. It has been said over and over that once the 5 o’clock in the afternoon hits, you should fold yourself to your own place, and don’t be anywhere near downtown Johannesburg after office hours.

This does not sound like a free country, this sounds like a curfew that the South African apartheid government had imposed in Namibia and South Africa prior to independence.

People, wake up and speak up, it’s your world, it’s your country, it’s for your family, your children, your parents, it’s your livelihood.

Stand up, please stand up!

Filed under: AIDS, blog this, business, culture, education, entertainment, kapenda, living, music, politics , africa, African Americans, black, crimes, education, hunger, politics, South Africa, suffering, war

African-Americans Disgust Obama, Boost Hillary Clinton, Poll Finds

In the United States, racism has been merely historically defined and accepted only by certain individuals and groups as a distinct and complete separation between whites and blacks, with the belief that all white people are intrinsically superior to all blacks, anywhere, but the real and always has been hidden racial separation can now be intrinsically seen, felt and observed among black Americans towards black Africans in America.

U.S. Senator Barack Hussein Obama, the only African American male in the U.S. senate, who when he ran for and won the seat in the U.S. senate in November 2004, he was seen by many African Americans as the glory black-knight with the shining rescuing armor, a dream in the making, and a breakthrough in the United States politics.

Not only that he has become the most caring, charming, and distinctive black representative in the U.S. Senate for the state of Illinois, but as the first and only black male in the U.S. senate, he was seen by many as the true representative of all the black people in the U.S. senate.

However, because Obama was born to a black Kenyan father and to an American mother, who’s white, as a candidate for the 2008 U.S. presidential election, most African Americans do not really perceive him as being black enough, not because his mother is white but simply because his father is an African, born and raised in Africa, or the jungle as most refer to it.

The racial separation between black Americans and black Africans in America can be clearly and visibly observed, felt and experienced anywhere in most areas in America, where most black Americans seem to honestly reject the notion of completely associating with black Africans in America in terms of having personal relationships such as marriages, dating, and business partnerships.

It’s just as hard finding a black African male dating or married to an African American woman, as it’s rare finding an African American woman, dating or married to a black African man. But you’ll find most African men and women dating or married to white men or women in America, one example as that of Barack’s father.

If going to most historical black colleges in the US, you can clearly observe a great social separation between black American students and black African students. They only mostly socialize in classes and cafeterias, but they rarely talk to each other. You would find black African students sitting on one side and black American students playing or sitting on the other side either in Cafeterias or during many social events. While at most integrated colleges, most black African students rather associate and mingle with white students instead of black American students.

One can easily conclude that Africans are the one who isolate themselves and try to separate themselves away from black Americans, but most black Africans get tired of being labeled and mocked at and making fun of such as, as an African whether you sleep under a tree back in Africa, or have seen and chased lions and tigers, or have an electricity and phones in Africa, et cetera.

Most African Americans don’t even know the difference whether Africa is a continent or a country, and most of them still think that Africa is a country; they don’t know that Africa is just a continent composed of many different independent countries such as Egypt, Morocco and South Africa, etc.

Also, it’s just funny how some news media make a distinction when reporting about something that might has happened in Africa. They rather say South Africa, Morocco or Egypt when reporting something that has happened in those countries and would simply refer to other countries in Africa as Africa instead of mentioning the individual countries’ names such as Namibia, Tanzania, Malawi, etc.

In the movie, Coming to America (1988), starring Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall, which depicts two young men from Africa who travel to America for Prince Akeem of Zamunda, accompanied by his friend Semmi, to look for the love of his life. In that movie, one can see the true stereotype of how most black Americans really treat Africans, even today.

Although Barack Obama is an American by birth, many black Americans still perceive him as not a complete African American enough, thus most black Americans rather support Hillary Clinton. And this is not based on Barack’s campaign platform or belief or experience, issues, etc., but mostly because of his national origin, being a half black African and white American, and not a fully blooded African American per se. So, in the case of African Americans supporting more of Hillary Clinton instead of Barack Obama, it is not by mistakes but just an old trend and true stereotype of how most black Americans do not cling to Africans.

But the tribalism and racism among Africans is not something new. It’s an old practice that dates back even before the age of slavery and or African occupation by white people. For hundreds of years, Africans have been waging war against each other, kings versus kings, tribes against tribes, and nations against other nations, bloody killing each other in hundreds and millions. And this is still going on in many different countries in Africa today, such as in Darfur, Sudan, Congo, etc.

Racism among black people does not merely begin with white people or the slavery, but has been going on for centuries and it is still growing strong. The only difference is that the world outside Africa doesn’t really care nor has really honestly ever cared to help end the misery and put a stop to what’s happening in Africa when coming to violence and civil wars.

Many countries in Africa have gained independence over 40 or 60 years ago from their colonizers. And no matter how rich the African continent is, in terms of mining, agricultural and wildlife, Africans are still dead-suffering, simply because of their ignorance to put aside their tribal and racial differences and work together for the sake of making their life better, healthier, happier and productive.

As for this nasty and filthy separation between black Americans and black Africans in America, this just goes way back to how Africans used to live and still live among each other today, no matter where they are, they fight each other, kill each other, and hurt each other. And at front of it all; it’s humanity crisis, the loud cry of parentless, poor, and AIDS stricken children in Africa is heard throughout the nights, every night, but sadly, no one is listen to any of them. The world does not care.

As in America, you’ll find black gangs and drug dealers, selling each other stupid and deadly poisons such as cracks, cocaine, etc., in almost every city in America, prisons and in many different institutions, where black fights against each other. No wonder there’re beer houses and gun shops in almost every corner of every black suburb in America, just so they can destroy and kill each other for good, just as it always has been, in Africa.

So it’s true that you can take an African out of Africa, but you cannot take Africa out of an African, even here in America. And before you shake your head in disgust, there’s still and will always be Africa in all of us.

The question is; how far can this go on, and when is enough is enough?

Filed under: TV, article, blog this, business, culture, economics, education, election, entertainment, kapenda, living, news, politics, president, simon kapenda , 2008 election, africa, African Americans, Barack Obama, black, education, humor, hunger, Obama, politics, presidential, suffering, war

Run, Gore Run, Again…!

My main man, Al Mr. Gore, the joke of late night television shows and the comedy of the all-around town circus, has added another trophy to his unmatched and uncontestable long resume; the most precious Nobel Peace Prize.

It’s now a worldwide phenomenal news and long repeated tale that Al Mr. Gore has won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for his Academy Award-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.

Which one sounds better, I wanna be like Mike, or I wanna be like Gore?

In reality, Gore has the most impressive resume more than anybody else on earth. He’s the only one in the whole world to have a resume that includes graduating from Harvard University, studied religion but later enrolled in a law school but without graduating at Vanderbilt, then he served in the Vietnam war as a journalist, then became a Congressman, serving in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1977 to 1985, then became a US Senator, from 1985 to 1993, representing the Great State of Tennessee.

And then he became the forty-fifth Vice President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton, and thereafter, he became the 2000-majority elected President of the United States, but without actually serving as U.S. President, but only after he had gotten tired of recounting and gave George W. Bush the Electoral College victory, and consequently the presidency, daaaank, Al, Mr. Gore.

Thereafter, he became a college professor, teaching at four universities in 2001 as a visiting professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Fisk University, Middle Tennessee State University, and UCLA.

Then he founded his own television station, Current TV, which has received an Emmy Award, but he was still dissatisfied, so became an Actor, starring in a self-made documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth, which has won an Academy Award.

He then became a concert promoter, organizing the benefit concert, Live Earth, in an effort to raise awareness about climate change. The concert was held all over the world, with live stages in many different countries on July 7, 2007 and was televised live in many different countries around the world.

Al Mr. Gore is the author of the 2007 book, The Assault on Reason, in which he argues that “there is a trend in U.S. politics towards ignoring facts and analysis when making policy decisions”.

But Al Mr. Gore is not done yet, today, he is president of the American television channel, Current TV, which won the Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Television award at the 2007 Primetime Emmys.

He is chairman of Generation Investment Management, a member of the board of directors of Apple Inc., the maker of our great iPod and iPhone, Mac, and iTunes, etc., and he is an unofficial advisor to Google’s senior management, and chairman of the Alliance for Climate Protection.

And the best part of it all, is that Al Mr. Gore wrote me yesterday, and everyone else in his mailing list, saying that he will donate 100 percent of the proceeds of the Nobel Peace Prize award to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan non-profit organization that is devoted to changing public opinion in the U.S. and around the world about the urgency of solving the climate crisis.

Now Al Mr. Gore is going to run, again, for the presidency of the United States of America, if only DraftGore.com’s petition can convince him to run in the 2008 presidential election, and without any doubts, he will definitely win the presidency. And then, he will add to his loooooong resume, as the forty-fourth President of the United States, his Vice-President will then be Bill Clinton, yeah right, what a team would that be?

So, heck yes, I definitely wanna be like Al, and no one else.

Filed under: article, blog this, climate, culture, education, election, energy, environment, global warming, living, politics, president, simon kapenda , AIDS, article, blog this, Blogroll, business, climate, culture, economics, education, energy, environment, global warming, kapenda, launch, living, news, politics, president, project, simon, simon kapenda, Tools

Finally, my education

It’s been a great struggle for me since I was a kid just to get an education, and I’ve had many great successes and failures in my life since secondary school.

One of those successes were to achieving my secondary school education, and thereafter learning and studying Audio Engineering and later worked in audio for TV, Film and music production, where I have had many opportunities of meeting and working with many great people; from many different honorable heads of states such as Tony Blair, Mandela, Nujoma, Bush Sr., etc., to many celebrities, thanks to two great people, Mr. Engh and Mr. Stender in Denmark.

At the same time, like any normal human being, I’ve made many mistakes and have had many failures in my life, and one of these mistakes or regrets were how I created WEA, not its vision and goal, because its vision and goal were and I still foresee them as something vital for many, and although it had done good for many, it also has had its shares of mistakes, simply because; I just didn’t know any better, in terms of initially setting it up, its organizational structure, functions, operations and strategy in order to making it live up to its mission.

However, I am so humbly excited now, because I am finally going to graduate in 2008 from the Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics, with interest in Econometrics. This is the best thing that has ever happened to me, finally getting my education. It’s better than anything I have ever done in my life, and I am so graciously happy and proud of myself, because I never knew that I would have a chance.

I know that with this education and the knowledge I have amassed from a large body of one of the greatest minds in the world, OSU, this will greatly enable me to do things at utmost best, in terms of business related, and I guarantee you that from here on, as long as I breathe, expect greater things from me.

I have always wanted to go back to college, but I always had to work to support my family, and I didn’t have the time needed to fully commit myself to studying, but the last 5 years have been incredibly productive for me, which has enabled me to focus on my education, thanks to God, my wife, family and friends for believing in me.

Today, October 10, is my birthday, as well as for my daughter, Cinnamon. I am just so thankful for everything, and I am humbly thankful for my Lord Jesus Christ who made this day, a special day, just for me and my daughter.

Well, back to my study, I have a German quiz tomorrow. The funny thing is; English is the second foreign language I had to learn and now that I am studying German, I am starting to lose my English, because whenever I learn a new foreign language, I tend to forget the other language.

Filed under: article, culture, education, kapenda, living, simon kapenda , dream, education, simon kapenda