The Struggle to Reduce Maternity Mortality Rates in Tanzania

In a country like Tanzania, where child mortality rates are simply shocking, it's encouraging to see some something is being done about It.  I don't want to speak too much on this issue, peep the video below.

Chris Abani on the Stories of Africa

Imprisoned three times by the Nigerian government, Chris Abani turned his experience into poems that Harold Pinter called "the most naked, harrowing experience of prison life and political torture imaginable"

Chris Abani's first novel, published when he was 16, was Masters of the Board, a political thriller about a foiled Nigerian coup.  The story was convincing enough that the Nigerian government threw him in jail for inciting a coincidentally timed real-life coup.  Imprisoned and tortured twice more, he channeled the experience into searing poetry

Abani's best-selling 2004 novel GraceLand is a searing and funny tale of a young Nigerian boy, an Elvis impersonator who moves through the wide, wild world of Lagos, slipping between pop and traditional cultures, art and crime.  It's a perennial book-club pick, a story that brings the postcolonial African experience to vivid life.

Now based in Los Angeles, Abani published The Virgin of Flames in 2007.  he is also a publisher, running poetry imprint Black Goat Press.

Thought of the Day - How Do We Account for Random Events?

As we mature, it is not uncommon to find ourselves questioning ourselves  and our career choices more and more.  Is he really my "best friend", is there such a thing as a "best friend"?  Is this really the job I want to do...is this the career I want to be in?  Is this it...I mean surely there must be more to life than this?  How did I even get to working here? who am I??...OK so perhaps not ALL of us ask ourselves these questions, but I certainly do, is that weird?

What I believe, is that in a majority of cases, it is the minute chance events that take us to where we want to be.  I'll give you an example, when I finished my A levels and went to London, I had always imagined how it would be like to study at a University in London, I mean after all, this level of Education in one of the most prestigious European cities was stuff dreams were made of right? I wondered how it would feel like to sit in a lecture hall and listen to a professor do his thing...just like in the movies...I had no idea how I was going to afford it, as we all know international student fees are astronomical, but I had a feeling I was gonna do it one way or another.  As it happens, a year after I arrived in London, I took my visiting cousin to Lewisham College to apply to one of the many programs offered by the institution.  I had no intentions of applying cause I knew I couldn't afford it, but my cousin persuaded, "c'mon man...why don't you just try, you never know"...so I did, we both filled in the application forms and a couple of weeks down the line, I received a letter of admittance from them!  I wasn't even sure what I wanted to study, all I knew was that I wanted something to do with computers (apparently that was what everyone was doing back then...or so I was told).  To cut a long story short, I enrolled and was delighted when I found out I could pay my fees in installments.  To top it off, I later  found out that there was a hardship fund for students facing financial difficulties.  My lovely teacher told me about the fund after I mentioned to her my financial worries. I was reluctant to apply at first, I thought in order to get some money from these folks I would need to write some fascinating stuff...what could I possibly tell them?  On the deadline day for applying to the fund, I poured my heart out as I wrote by hand (typing would have taken forever with my one finger) on a piece of paper, nothing fancy, I just honestly put down on paper how if I felt - and that was that there was no way I could pay the fees without assistance -  and that I might be forced to drop out of something.  As it turns out, I got the biggest amount given by that fund in that particular year, so as you see, it's just a series of chance events that eventually got me to college and eventually to University.  

Even though most of us would like to think we have a pretty good idea of what we want to do and how to go about achieving it, we shouldn't totally discount chance happenings that might lead us in a different path.  You never know where that event could lead you to.  It's normal that, as human beings we are often quick to dispel negative experiences, but even a negative experience can prove to be just the tonic in getting you to where you want to be eventually, even though you might not necessarily know where that is right now...even though you think you do.  

Like I said at the beginning, it's the random, unlikely and unexpected events that generally have the most extraordinary impacts on our future and our ability to model and decide what the future will be...

MLS CUP - Colorado Rapids vs FC Dallas

Picture this, Sunday evening and I'm relaxing at home with the family as usual, mentally preparing myself for the work week to begin the following day when upon browsing through my facebook account, I see one of my friends offering his MLS Cup Final tickets for free! It wasn't even like one or two tickets, four...yeah four tickets to the final.  So I'm like hold on, let me call him and see if he still got the tickets, what's there to loose right! So I call him, I get his voicemail and leave him a short message, less than two minutes later he calls me back..hey you want the tickets?  I'm like yeah for sure, I mean why not.

Eid Celebrations for the Young Ones

I took my daughter to her first Eid celebrations last Saturday and she had an amazing time.  the whole shindig was organised by AICP.  There were numerous activities available for the kids to partake in, including, mini basketball, colouring some bowling type activities and so on and so forth.  The mothers brought along their angelic voices and broke out into some beautiful songs of praise.  The were plenty of bites to eat and all in all it was beautiful in my opinion.  Click below for the pictures

Random Acts of kindness

It was on wet and wintry fall afternoon two years ago that a former Doctoral student stepped into my office to request some formal documentation from the department.  He was very well dressed with a colourful silk scarf, a warm wool jacket, he also had a polite tone of voice and was very well mannered. My initial guess was that he was of Middle Eastern heritage and further along our conversation I came to realise that he was indeed.  In general most of the students I deal with are well mannered and smartly dressed, but he just had a presence and calmness about him that was somewhat captivating.

We sat down and talked for a good while about everything under the sun, from how his research was going to what he had planned for the future.  How I was coping with life as a new immigrant, challenges we both had to overcome and so on and so forth.  Eventually, after a highly stimulating conversation, we said our goodbyes and that was that.  After 4-5 months he again came to my office with a very beautiful and expensive gift.

Eid Mubarak

This Eid may Allah bring a lot of peace, blessings, prosperity and happiness to my Muslim brothers and Sisters around the world. Ameen

My First Time Roller Skating/Blading

I met with with couple of my mates last Friday and we decided to go Roller skating.  Now I have never ever ever pulled on some roller blades, so I was as excited as ever to give it a go.  Of course I was aware that I might end up spending the entire evening with my behind on the floor but I still wanted to give it a go.  I'm really glad I did as I thoroughly enjoyed the evening, OK so I did fall down, twice....OK so it was more like five times but I really really had fun.  My plan from the start was to hold on to the wall so as to prevent myself from falling right, wrong as soon as I got onto the skating rink the attendant comes up to me and tells me..."learners and slower moving people need to be in the middle, the edges are for the faster moving people".  I was like "are you crazy, I've never skated a day in my life and you want me to be in the middle, with nothing to hold on to, are you mad, I mean how do I even get to the middle?"

Rose - Tuitunze Amani (Lets Preserve Peace)

I came across this beautiful song by Rose and thought it's worth sharing. She sings about her love for her country Tanzania imploring the masses to come together and build the country and to preserve peace. Check out the video below;

11 Minutes on Poverty

The title speaks for itself.

Thought of the Day: What Have You Accomplished?

This article is directed more to my brothers who are away from home (although it also relates to everyone and anyone who has dreams and ambitions, regardless of their geographical location), trying to make something of their lives in a foreign country.  Have you ever asked yourself what you have accomplished so far since the day you were born?

Of course as individuals we all have our ideas of what can be termed an "achievement".  However, more often than not, our perceptions of achievements are moulded by the very society in which we live in.  It is extremely difficult, not to be influenced by the the society that you live in and just make your own priorities. In a twisted kind of way it is the society determines what is important and what should be prioritised over the other.  Without knowledge received from the social structure and the outside world, one cannot move up the social hierarchy/ladder.  What is meant by social hierarchy is to be a part of a certain level in society, which is based on your income, occupation, wealth, role in society, education, political connections etc.

Hyena Square (Uwanja wa Fisi)

If you think you got it bad, nothing ever goes right for you. Nobody loves you and why do all these negative things always happen to you remember, it could always get worse than it currently is....find the time and check out the video below as Elisa Joseph tells her story to the camera.  Her story brought tears to my eyes!