Let Her Be Celebrated, Elevated

“She’s been degraded, exploited, not celebrated
Saturated with self hatred
Let me say that again please:
She’s been degraded, exploited, not celebrated
Saturated with self hatred
Cause every time she turns on the TV
What does she see, big o booty
And it don’t have nothing to do with the song
Thus her definition of beauty
Thus her definition of beauty
Oh, oh, oh Lord
Oh Lord
Oh Lord
Let her
Let her recognize the magnificence you created”

I have met and continue to meet so many beautiful women who have become self-consciousness; they have totally lost their inner sense of beauty.  Possibly a result of a gradual lost of self-worth from broken relationships, ridicule from society and depravity. As I listened to this brilliant song/poem by Jill Scott entitled “The Thickness”  whose lyrics are above,  I just wish all you ladies out there could just listen and reflect on it.

Today’s women are saturated with self-hatred.  Most of us men view women as sex objects and unfortunately most women subconsciously conform to these disillusioned perceptions of women’s role in society.  Women cant influence or even force the above mentioned men to view them for what they truly are: “paragons of virtues”. It is, in the words of Stephen Covey, in their “Circle of Concern”. However they can work in their “Circle Of Influence”, for no matter who you are there is someone whose perceptions you can influence, let alone control-YOURSELF.  There is a lot of music out there that focuses on women’s journeys to self-discovery. Aretha Franklin, Lauryn Hill, Jill Scott and India Arie come to mind. Music has been known to be therapeutic that’s why after listening to “The Thickness” I felt I had to share it with all the ladies out there. Be warned the song contains really explicit lyrics as it is truly poetic.

Ladies recognize the magnificence God has created in you, Let you Be Celebrated, Be Elevated.

Macheso To Entertain McCain and Obama?

Imagine  presidential hopefuls John McCain & Barak Obama doing the the Borrowdale, Razorwire and Kangaroo dances! It surely will be a good way to ease them nerves before the November 4 election.

According to the Herald of Saturday,  20 September Alick Macheso and Orchestra Mberikwazvo will be touring the US for the first time.

The itinerary is as follows:

October 10 : Washington DC
October 11: Philadelphia
October 12:Boston
October 17 : Atlanta,Georgia
October 18 : Indianapolis, Indiana
October 25: Dallas

This is surely a chance for the King of Sungura to go international as his popularity has largely been limited to Zim, England, Southern Africa and Australia. This could also be an opportunity to sell Sungura “Museve” music to the outside world.

It is my hope that Sungura fans in the US will come en masse to support Chikopokopo and also introduce their foreign friends to Sungura Music.

Its a pity ‘Mabhanan’ana’, as Macheso’s dancing group is affectionately known as, will not make it on this tour. Don’t despair Matoki and Company there is always next time. Check for future updates on the tour on this page this page.

The Cleverest President

An airplane was about to crash; there were 5 passengers on board but only 4 parachutes.

The first passenger said, “I’m Zinedine Zidane, the world’s number 1footballer. FIFA needs me, I can’t afford to die.” So he took the first pack and left the plane.
The second passenger, Hillary Clinton, said, “I am the wife of the former President of the United States , I am the most ambitious woman in the world. I am also New York Senator and a potential future President.” She
just took the 2nd parachute and jumped out of the plane.
The third passenger, Robert Mugabe, said, “I’m President of Zimbabwe and I have 13 million helpless people who always look to me for guidance. Above all I’m the cleverest President in African history, and Africa ’s
people won’t let me die”. So he put on a pack next to him and jumped out of the plane.
The fourth passenger, Nelson Mandela, says to the fifth passenger, a 10yr old Chinese school boy, “I’m old and have lived a fruitful life, God will decide my fate, so I’ll let you have the last parachute”.

The boy said, “It’s OK, there’s a parachute left for you. Africa ’s cleverest President (Robert Mugabe) has taken my schoolbag”.

The Servants’ Prayer

If you have had the good fortune of being a servant at some point you would appreciate the positive and negative emotions associated with serving; from fulfillment to forgiveness to bitterness to powerlessness. The servants’ inner most response depend on their attitude to serving. In this post a servant would be defined as someone who provides her/his services to another person, “the served”, master or boss.

A close analysis of the emotions highlighted above reveals that the feelings are a result of one’s attitude towards serving as well as the “served” or boss’ attitude towards the servants. Today i will dwell on the negative perceptions of the “served”  towards the servants and the resultant attitude/behaviour of the servants specifically forgiveness, bitterness and powerlessness.

Bitterness

In my own opinion bitterness is the most dominant emotion servants feel towards their masters. Bitter servants who are victims of their bosses’ injustice never communicate their negative feeling towards the bosses. Instead they bottle up their anger and pretend to enjoy serving whilst awaiting an opportune time to inflict revenge if somehow power shifts. One example, controversial as it may be, of a bitter servant is Adolf Hitler. Quietly Hitler resented the Jews’ dominance and when he got a chance he presided over arguably the worst massacre of humanity. I have also seen a lot of instances of bitterness being transformed in horrendous acts of vengeance.

Forgiveness

The most noble approach to injustice by servants is to accept that the served are just ordinary human beings who are susceptible to errors in judgment. it is an acknowledgment that the real reason why the served treat them unjustly is really prejudice whose root cause is nothing but ignorance, ignorance that can easily be dealt with with some enlightenment. One shining example of a servant’s forgiveness towards oppressing superiors is Nelson Mandela. After 27 years of being unjustly imprisoned Madiba had the courage to disappoint some of his admirers by calling on all victims of apartheid to forgive their masters.

Powerlessness

When servants have tried and failed to free themselves from unrewarding servantship they leave everything to fate. I have met a number of servants who have resigned to destiny after having tried to liberate themselves from serving but have come to the conclusion that trying to free themselves from their masters is futile. Most of them actually believe it is God’s Will for them to serve their masters no matter how unhappy or unfair the relationship might be. I have met a lot of christians here in Africa who believe it is God’s plan for them to be poor and remain masters of the rich especially “The Chosen People” , the Israelites.

Conclusion

It is quiet evident that if this world is to become a better place only the second approach, Forgiveness, is the only way to go.  As having been a very unhappy, at-times-bitter and at-times-powerless servant I can attest to the fact that forgiveness, though difficult is the most fulfilling approach. Because forginevess is really hard only prayer, in my view, is the surest way of embracing it. I, thus, would like to suggest a prayer to all servants, bitter and powerless to pray in their time of need, it goes like:

“God give me the strength and wisdom to view every opprtunity to serve as a chance to bridge the gap between the servants and their masters. Whenever I feel bitter about unfair treatment help to communicate and educate my masters of the evils of prejudice if possible. If impossible help me to accept people as they are and move on. If I feel powerless remind me of the seed of greatness within me.  Teach me servant leadership; raise me from being a powerless servant into a servant leader.”

Green Social Investment

All social investment enthusiasts check out this article on the world most successful venture capitalist of all time according to fortune magazine.

This is one of the four guys behind the creation of Sun Microsystems, the firm famed for creating Java, a biography of Vinod is found here.

Only If You Want To

I just had a AHA! experience just now after taking a short walk down the roads of Chimoio. I feel so excited it was a real EUREKA discovery. I realised the limit to what you have in life is as simple as “Only I You Want To”. Just that, that is the key to anything good or bad.

The reason we dont have what we want NOW, I reckon, is because either we dont know that “Only If You Want To” is the only limit or we choose to forego what we want NOW because of fear or delayed gratification.

Gushungo Talks to van-Tsvangisen

Joke of the year contender…………..its a pity i cant translate it into english the humour will go away.

MT: “Mhoro Gushungo” RG: Mhoroi Save” MT: “Zvarema ka izvi?” RG: “Rume rimwe harikombi churu” MT: “Chara chimwe hachitswanyi inda” RG: “Waita basa wasaina” MT: “Ndanga ndichida kumbokupfidzisa” RG: “Usadaro mumwe wangu mangwana ndiwewo” MT: “Saka unoda package here?” RG: “Chero zvamareva, Save” MT: “ Ko Dynamos wakaiwona here?” RG: “Bhora futi mazuvano?” MT: “Eeh?” RG: “Kuona bhora rugare” MT: “Kuti zvasvika kupi? RG: “Vhunza mai Bona.” MT: “Zvichapera hazvo.” RG: “Ndinovimba kudaro” MT: “Ko Passport yangu?” RG: “Uchapuwa hako kana wotonga.” MT: “Nemhaka yei?” RG: “Ndaitya kuti unozonditiza wondisiira nyika iyi ndoga.” MT: “Iwe zvawakainda muMoza wakainda nepassport?” RG: “Hee hee! Unoti guma-guma Tangwena taimudii?” MT: “Eeh” Mbeki: “Gushungo, I told you he will sign.” RG: “Thanks Thabo. I owe you a farm.” MT: “Chinja Maitiro Gushungo.” RG: “Chakabaya chikatyokera.” MT: “Manje isu kuMDC, tinoti: mhunzwa unotumburwa nomumwe munzwa!” RG: “ Ngatiite braai ka paweekend.” MT: “Ndichaiziva here nyama?” Mbeki: “I will send some chakalaka wors!” Archbishop Ndlovu: “Ngatitsunzunyei tinamate” MT: “Handitsunzunyi kana Gushungo vari padhuze” Mbeki: “Wait bishop. I can draft another MOU for them to pray.” Archbishop: “Eeh. Zvakaoma sokunamata!”

Of Maids

One of the things i am grateful for and never take for granted in my life is that i was fortunate enough to choose my profession, which i truly love . I know a lot of people who are not as fortunate. People who go to work for the sole reason to get some bucks to pay rent, bills, fees etc. People who if they had an option would choose a different job all together.  People who hate what they do, get very little money for their efforts, though most of them are more than noble but are a source of ridicule in society.

Two groups of such people come to mind :house maids and security guards. In Zimbabwe where i come from most of the maids are very young girls mostly teenagers. A snap survey will reveal that most of these girls are orphans who had to migrate to the city to find money to feed their siblings. Having left school at an early stage or having failed in school altogether the only thing they know is household chores. Evidently most of them had no choice of a career vocation but had to settle for the “nobler” career of taking care of other people’s kids and domestic chores. Am sure you will agree with me that this is a “nobler” cause if you compare with those semi-naked women at street corners calling you for a short stint or “chigwishu” as they say in Zimbabwe.

We who have had a choice to chose our careers often “justifiably” mistreat these directionless servants of ours. The minimum wage does not apply to these desperate people, after all they eat our food, they live in our nice house or well-equipped staff quarters. They even have the audacity to steal our food, sending it to their families. Not even Apple or Google Inc(voted the most desirable company to work for in the whole world) is generous enough to give employees nice food and accommodation, people who have no qualifications and have an empty resume. These people should be generous! After all some of them are the ones who used to laugh at us at school and would call us nerds, geeks etc when we focused on study. They deserve such demeaning treatment! If they feel we mistreat them they have an option to find another household to work for because this is the easiest type of employees to find they are not as scarce as Actuarians or computer network engineers. Maids are all over we just send a relative to find us one the next time they go back to the rural areas.

I have a vision of mine, ambitious, maybe, but still very much possible in the not so distant future.  A vision in which everyone takes care of their own kids and household chores. One feasible option is Robotics. Yes robots cooking your supper, washing and ironing your clothes, collecting your kids from school etc. Its because i believe every human soul deserves a chance to choose a job that fulfills them. A job in which you demand compensation commensurate with the skill and passion you put in your efforts. A job one can be proud off. A job you look forward to every morning; because we spend most of our time at work. With some social investment into the education of most orphans and several of these underprivileged sects of community this dream can be become real just as Martin Luther-King’s dream of blacks and white kids hanging out together as it is now part of our life as seen by acceptance of a black man Barack Obama as a possible leader of the world’s largest economy.  You see its possible! Dont get me wrong i am totally against affirmative action or “100% empowerment” as we have it in  Zimbabwe. Am not talking of affirmative action here; I am talking of investing in people to help them discover themselves, investing in vocational areas like education, sports, music, art etc and not “putting money in people’s pockets”. Am talking of helping others help themselves.

Every day of my life  i draw inspiration from the fact that the person who bore me and raised me, the person who has had the greatest influence in my life, at some point did this demeaning job out of love to care of her future family. One day I will make this special woman proud of herself.

Fear In Zimbabwe

Last weekend i decided to go back home to see my family. One thing stood out from the very moment i landed in Harare, FEAR. I expected people to talk about what had gone wrong in the country but i was disappointed. Besides fear i also realised some were just indifferent about the whole situation probably due to opportunities these people were enjoying from Zanu PF patronage, diamonds in Marange and the thriving forex black market.

Despite the fear and the indifference i was determined to get the “June 27 period” story first hand from the people on the ground. What i heard was shocking to say the least. I have heard a lot say western media led by CNN, BBC and others exaggerate about the situation in Zimbabwe. On the contrary I now am convinced that western media understate the gravity of the situation in Zimbabwe. I was told, by a victim of the regime in Zimbabwe, how they were forced to take some papers to write serial numbers to verify who they voted for and how they were almost beaten up at a pungwe. And i am not talking of someone in Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe, this victim was abused in Harare of all places. From this victim and several others i talked to i could feel a feeling beyond fear, it was more like trauma.

What makes the situation, worse in my view is the ‘indifferent’ lot who are benefitting from this misguided exercise of abusing ordinary people by these so-called militia. To me the indifferent lot is no worse than the militia themselves, they are accomplices. I talked to one such accomplice and gave me all sorts of excuses as to why the whole circus is a blessing in disguise. This is not a blessing in disguise but a recipe for murder and possibly a war.

During the same weekend i had a chance to watch an excellent movie by the BBC entitled “Shooting Dogs”. Its a real life story of how the Tutsis were abused by the extremist Hutus during the Rwandese Genocide in 1994. I just couldnt help by draw parallels with the stories i had heard about the election period in Zimbabwe. Thats why I am convinced that its not too late to prevent such consequences as the Rwandese killings and beatings.

google, einstein & answers

I’m now certain that my favourite company, Google, literally has all the answers. Yes literally all the answers! “…if this Google monster has all the answers then why submit wrong assignments, why are there so many inaccurate writingsa out there, design terrible sites/systems, why so many misconceptions on nature and generally everything?”, i can here the critics moan.  I think the answer lies in the fact that only quality questions get quality answers.

Time Magazine’s man of the century Albert Einstein is famous for having said “I possess no special talents, i am passionately curious”. His “thought experiments” involved a lot of quality questions and thus quality answers like the law of relativity.

The same applies to Google you just have to give it correct questions or queries and it will give you excellent answers. Here’s a link to guide you on how you can provide Google with quality questions in order to get quality answers from the-best-company-to-work-for in my view, Google Guide. Enjoy your day.