Tuesday, July 19, 2011

are we living in the same world???

Help those suffering in the Horn of Africa
So I was watching Lifeline at work today well yesterday and it was featuring the Taliban and the US in Afghanistan oh I would love to go to Afghanistan someday - I have read beautiful stories of this far off land that I just dream of one day walking down teh dusty streets and in the fruit markets with the women and playing the the children...so anyway looking at the kids in the clip playing with sticks and stones in their bombshell of a city - running up debris of bombed buildings.then they showed a typical classroom packed with kids and takign in every word like little sponges - coz they knew how lucky they were....okay flip over to my car this morning listening to the radio or was it a few days ago on the worsening situation in the refugee camp in Daadab - gosh I cried when they translated how some women are leaving their children on the way to the refugee camp to die becuse they cant make it - and they even translated how they looked in their childrens eyes as they walked away - can you imagine that a mother leaving her little one to die on the side of the road coz of being too weak to walk...I open my email PIH update from Haiti - the cholera outbreak has tripled - there is not enough aid or clean water people are dying and I ask myself is this 2011 are we living in the same world???Isarel Houghton put it best in his album love God love people...there is a song that has the lyrics

People dream of simple things
like worry free water
while some of us complain and fuss about things like internet connections

A mother pleads her baby screams this HIV is relentless
but my new web page is all the rage
OMG , lol like we should totally be friends

What if we could see what they see
Feel what they feel
Hear what they hear

The sun beats down on cracking ground
No food around for miles
The pizza deliverys late
It better be free am just saying just saying

so anyway I feel like wow here I am in a little town called Salem with a roof over my head, if i felt hungry like right now as I speak I can walk to the fridge and if I did not like what was there I could get in my car and drive to get whatever I wanted and then there is someone on the other side of the world who would just love a sip of water....Worse still here we are fussing and fighting over debt ceilings, and there is a family fussing and fighting over a loaf of bread...Like the other day I was at work and we woke up there was no electricity - yani power blackout and oh my goodness everyone breaks into a panic now no coffee no morning cartoons they start calling National grid frantically like whats going on???in my head am thinking ding dong!!!gosh I wish we can invent an exchange programme where middle aged families in america or any developed country could spend a week or even a month in some middle class family in some third world country...but then again maybe thats a little fantasy world in my head coz think about it will there ever be a day that we will be equals???

Mans search for meaning....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJtqkK7NQlA so this is the song on my mind - like I said in the last blog... so much has happened and of course music is my therapy when all else fails "my name is Penny and am a youtube addict"...so anyhu its midnight - my room is boiling over - am literally about to go sleep in the den - the story of my life lol cheap is really expensive but hey at least we get heat in the winter I can deal with no ac but no heat no way!!!so lets see what was I chiming in about oh yes mans search for meaning...so anyhu the otehr day I was chatting with a good friend of mine and he was tellign me how he has finally reached a point in his life where he thinks he has it all figured out - you know those moments your like eureka so this is it. wow just hearing him talk I was blown away he has finally figured that life in America can be deceitful if 1.)you do not know who you are and 2.)You do not know what you want in life.Many a times we compromise so much on so many things in our lives he went on to say he kept on repeating compromise compromise.and many times we do it because of a fear of what will people think if I do this what will people say if I say that so we kind of tend to not fully maximize our potential or do those things we want because of XYZ....oh so where was i so yeah anyhu america does not help the situation think about it so many times someone will pretend to hear what you said with your thick accent and even nod just because they do not want to say pardon or look ignorant like they could not understand and in so doing "offend you"......gosh its even so bad in the school system with the no child left behind policy kids are getting an I grade for incomplete as opposed to a C or F so that they are not offended and feel left behind and loose self esteem cmon give me a break!!!!!even the loosing team gets a trophy just for showing up gag!!!so anyhu my friend was telling me how he does not want to miss his opportunity in life - he was describing how all he does is work come home watch TV get on the internet back to work...and he is like no way am packign my bags and going back to my mother land.He has this grandiose idea that Kenya is on the brink of an economic burst and trust me I do not doubt it.so anyway what was the moral of this story oh yes...so many times we do not take that radical venture that am ready to take a plunge coz we are so fearful of what will others say what will other think of me and in so doing we compromise on who we are what we want and fail to reach our highest height of success....wait i feel am intertwining a million stories here....oh so yes my friend has finally figured that true life is reaching that point where nothing else matters but being led by something or someone greater than life itself - God, it could be a dream , it could be an ambition you have always had...so instead of just bouncing along the waves of life and allowing society to dictate you step up step out and realize who you are and what you want...ok I just had so much to say today .....adios...

Monday, July 11, 2011

Of special moms with special children

So here I am - wow so much has happened since I was last here which will be for another day wow a whole other day maybe a whole other blog....so its nine p I have been at Borders for the past five hours - gosh I think I need some kind of discount.I am using their free wifi and running away from the hot oven I call a room.so anyhu I have been productive - lol yeah right well kinda I have done a few modules of the online course I am taking-oh yeah I found my passion project for the summer - global health well actually call it a passion career.I have finally well I think found what I want to do in this thing called life.So I love to travel and I love to help where there is a need and I love to write so what better way than to merge the three together and put it in my career - I hope to work with an international NGO let me be specific hey God needs us to be specific with our prayer requests so yes I hope to work with Partners in Health as a project coordinator for one of their partner programmes - who knows maybe write out policies but I really want to get my hands dirty first with actual ground work.I want to meet the pregnant women , I want to hug the malnourished childrn.Partners in Health work in Haiti , malawi, peru rwanda . Lesotho etc.So they provide lasting solutions to issues of health in poor communities they partner with the locals - educate train start clinics etc etc I can go into a whole spiel so anyhu the long of the short I am taking a certificate in global health this summer - kinda get a feel of what is global health about and Bonjour Bonjour I also have French for dummies - most of the countries they serve are French speaking countries so hey I need to know how to get a cab...so thats me...oh my goodness where was I with this blog oh yes of special moms and special children...so anyway I work with a lady who has a little girl - we call her angel she was diagnosed with Retts syndrome when she was six months old - its a neurologic condition that affects mainly girls - something to do with the X chromosome yawn yawn stuff but anyway it causes developemental delays etc.So the girl is a sweetheart I tell you - she has the hugest eyes that look into your sould like seriously they gaze at you and you melt.So anyway her mum is so proud of her her camera is full of angels pics her whole life is absolutely dedicated to Angel.She spends her life championing the cause and raising awareness about Retts syndrome and making sure her little one gets all available resources in the community.I think about my classmate who has two twins - speaking of which I need to call her up I promised her a date with the twins anyhu they were born preemies - three months early.They are now four years old and the little girl just got off the trache breathing tube.Then I remember a lady I knew back in Kenya - Eva Muraya her little girl Zawadi was born with cerebral palsy - she is such a joy to be around...i was watching some documentary on CNN they did a piece on "mentally challenged" as the called them in Mathari - aka Mathare and they showed some woman whos son remains chained in a room as he gets "wild" she was holding him as she fed him and said she has never given up on him how can she - she was all he had...which got me thinking...it takes a special heart to be a mom of a child with special needs.But I think thats the beauty of being a mother - regardless of what pops out - you love unconditionally.Your ready too look at the special need or diability and say hey you know what these are the cards life has dealt me I can either throw them back at life or embrace them.I remember a line my mum once said when I tried to pity party her coz of the pain in her arms and back after lifting and taking care of my sister she said , " These are pains of love honey I consider myself lucky that God chose me strong enough to go through this." I was like wow!!!! if that statement does not rock your world gosh nothing will...so anyway thats my little spiel for today...I just thought I should throw that out there..its nine thirty am with the official geek squad of Peabody at Barnes and Noble - I mean duh who stays until they close talk of last call lol...over and out.P

"If what you can do can be done by anyone else there will always be someone willing to do it for less - "

from the book "never eat alone" cant remember the guys name...