Ziggy Dust:
The dancing street cleaner from Poland
Growing
up in Africa, what I realized earlier in life is because of poverty parents
always encouraged children to study very hard to avoid being a cleaner or
a driver.
They also pray so that their sons or daughters may marry a high
learned person in the society, perhaps a doctor because that will give them
honor and also bring some money at home.
In Africa,
society sees those in the cleaning and driving professions as uneducated or
school dropouts, and many times, I see the problems a woman in love with a
driver or a cleaner faces. Surprisingly, when I arrived in Europe decades ago, I
noticed that some people look down on those who work as a cleaner as well
like Africa.
What is
actually wrong being a cleaner? If everyone wants to be in front who will be
behind to help the blind? And if everyone wants to be a doctor, engineer,
pilot, captain, etc, who will be the cleaner to clean the offices of the pilot,
engineer, etc, for them to enjoy a happy healthy life?
As a matter
of fact, I think people who look down on cleaners are not clean themselves. If
one considers the role of cleaners in the society they will give them every
respect they deserve equally like the scientist or a pilot. Many hate to clean
because it’s a tough job.
This is the reason many can’t clean but then why do
they look down on cleaners when they are doing the job they wouldn’t do?
I live in
Belgium, a country many hate to clean, thus; foreigners have taken over the
cleaning industry, yet they complain that foreigners have taken their jobs from
them. There are work agencies that usually send cleaners to do domestic and
office cleanings, surprisingly, some people discriminated against those
cleaning their houses demanding white cleaners and the media hit back.
If someone
is cleaner doesn’t mean that the person is stupid or lacks intelligence? Here
are
SIX
FACTS THAT WILL CHANGE THE WAY MANY VIEW CLEANERS IN THE SOCIETY
1. Cleanliness
is next to godliness because being clean is a sign of spiritual purity or
goodness.
2. A clean environment is essential for a healthy living.
3. Cleaning
the environment prevents an epidemic.
4. People
litter on the roads and public places even though there are dustbins. Imagine
how our society will look like without cleaning.
5. Without
cleaning, there will be a flood because of the blockage of the drainage system.
6. We shall be
facing the threat of climate change and global warming.
Foreign
Jehovah witnesses share the gospel in Africa
I have known Daan
and Hilde, a married Belgian couple for about seven years, serving Jehovah and
helping many foreigners in Belgium, including Africans for better integration,
learning the language, knowing Jehovah and be useful in the society.
I have invited them
many times to my residence to share their profound knowledge of the Gospel with
me. One of the
burning desires of the Belgian couple is to visit Africa, learn how the people
live, communicate, work and also to share the gospel with them.
Thus; a month
ago, they left Belgium to Kenya with the intention to live with the people for
about a year. In Kenya, Daan and Hilde are facing challenges, confronted with
different customs and traditions. They share their interesting accounts of
their daily activities in tropical Africa.
After my
first talk in the Mtwapa East congregation, they told me that I need
to watch out not to stretch my arms high up because of the ventilators,
but still I had all my fingers.” Daan shares his experience as a tall man
in Kenya.
“We
start to know our way in the village. Important to find back our return visits.
This is where the streets have no name. Tuesday, we met at 8.45 AM, at the
mango tree for service. We had a nice morning but after 5 hours we were soaked."
“Feels
like 44gr but the small breeze makes it bearable. Love to do the laundry together
in the African way on your wedding anniversary. This is a very nice example for
a married couple, but I prefer my washing machine.”
“A
common action in the field service, showing videos to those who are interested.
Not only Caleb and Sophia but also, about the resurrection and what
happens at the Kingdom Hall." "In the supermarket, at the department of paper and
pencils, you can find Bibles for about 10 Euros, the same as wages for three days'
work. King James Version.”
“After
service, we sometimes take a jump in the water. If we are not too tired, it is
not too hot only 30gr but humidity is 85-90 percent. Lots of talking and
teaching in this weather can make us feel very tired."
"I was too chicken to
drive the motorbike. We always take ‘piki piki’ to move around, with two people
on one bike, plus the driver we are three in number. Quite a spectacle to see
us in town.”
"A leaf
fell from the tree in our garden. It is good it happened during the night.
Nothing better than a refreshing bath, We study with his mother and a sister.
Makes me remember my infant days, love it." "People try to earn some money in
many ways. This boy sells boiled eggs. He cuts them in half, adds some tomato,
salt, and masala and sells it about 15 cents.”
“We are happy
to follow our dreams and share our experience with Jehovah in a foreign
country, Kenya, a continent far from our home.”
Greed is the cause of violence, crime, and killings tearing our society apart today.
It’s now very common to read in the newspapers that ‘Man murders his wife for life insurance,’ or a woman kills her husband for the same purpose; life insurance. It’s unbelievable that years after marriage because of greed and the love of money, the mind of people changes to commit such a heinous crime.
Human beings by nature have the potential for greedy tendencies, but the strong desire of some people to possess at all costs wouldn’t mind killing or shedding blood to achieve whatever they are looking for. That’s the dangerous part of greed.
In a documentary film, I watched recently, a drug dealer who was successful in his first and second attempts to transport narcotics to Asia and earned thousands of dollars. Despite becoming a millionaire overnight, greed propelled him to make a third attempt and he was arrested and jailed. Had I known is always at last.
Greed, the tendency to the selfish craving, hoarding and grasping is responsible for the violence, and crime tearing our society apart today. Greed plays a major role in all fields including politics, sports, and administrations. In both developing and developed countries, greed leads to corruption and the amassed in wealth.
It’s shocking to see the present condition in many African countries while some African leaders take state money and keep them in foreign accounts. Greed is not a problem in Africa alone but everywhere because it’s a man’s problem, the reasons advanced countries are equally corrupt like Africa.
Money taken from Africa is classified as corruption and that of Europe and America is classified as ‘misappropriate of funds’ because they think corruption is a word that suits Africa but the act is the same. Some people believe that to be successful in life the need to be greedy is necessary, but living on greed is like gradually digging your own grave.
As a matter of fact, greed makes people unhappy, stupid, corrupt and restless because that lack of satisfaction which urges you to crave more takes control of you both physically and psychologically. If the heart wants it and there aren’t any means, what follows next is usually a crime. The reason desperate people do desperate things.
Some people ask if we can get rid of greed and if possible how can we do it? As a matter of fact, greed is like a common sickness that can be controlled but can never ever be eliminated because it’s impossible to get rid of it completely.
Even in public transports, some people take two seats, one for him/her and others for the briefcase or handbag while others are standing. What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? These are some of the Biblical quotations we need to use as a guide to refrain from greed.
Bob Marley:
His words and prophecies through his music are taking place
A couple of weeks
ago, I wrote an article captioned “Is Belgium’s Royal Family Proud Of The
Horrible Crime Leopold II Committed In Africa?”
The significance of
the article is that no one in his right mind will build a statue of someone who
maimed and killed over 10 million Africans, including women and children, when
there is no statue of Hitler for committing a similar crime against
humanity.
The article spread over all the social media including ‘NIUME,’ one of the outstanding social media platforms and someone made a comment. According to the reader called Sue Marlington: “Well I didn’t even know that there was a Royal family in Belgium, thank you for the insightful post.”
Yes, Sue is right, many people don’t know that there is even a Royal Family in Belgium, because the country even though it is very small, people know more of evil Belgium committed in Africa than a country known for its quality beer and chocolate productions. This is the result when evil overcomes good, you are completely denied and buried forever.
THE WISDOM AND PHILOSOPHY OF BOB MARLEY
On May 11, 1981, one of the world’s greatest musical icons died, he was Bob Marley. There is no one on earth whose popularity and fame spread decades after his death like a bush fire in the dry season than Bob Marley.
Like Sue Marlington, a number of people don’t know there is a monarchy in Belgium, but people know that Belgium killed Patrice Lumumba because he fought for the independence of his country, Congo, and the Belgians were mad. Astonishingly, everyone including illiterates and remote villagers knew who Bob Marley was because of what he stood for which reflects on his music.
A lot has already been written about this little man from Jamaica full of wisdom and knowledge, so I’m not going to repeat articles already written. Today, I have selected 10statements Bob Marley made in his music for readers, music lovers, and the so-called politicians who have destroyed this world to ponder over them.
1. Culled from the track ‘Natural Mystic’:
There’s a natural mystic blowing through the air; If you listen carefully now you will hear. This could be the first trumpet, might as well be the last: Many more will have to suffer, Many more will have to die – don’t ask me why.
2. Culled from the track ‘Talking Blues’:
I – I’m a gonna take a just-a one step more ‘Cause I feel like bombin’ a church – Now – now that you know that the preacher is lyin’. So who’s gonna stay at home, When – when the freedom fighters are fighting?
3. Culled from the track ‘Babylon System:
We refuse to be What you wanted us to be; We are what we are: That’s the way (way) it’s going to be. You don’t know! You can’t educate I, For no equal opportunity: (Talkin’ ’bout my freedom) Talkin’ ’bout my freedom, People freedom (freedom) and liberty! Yeah, we’ve been trodding on the winepress much too long: Rebel, rebel! Yes, we’ve been trodding on the winepress much too long: Rebel, rebel!
4. Culled from the track ‘Ambush In The Night:
(Ooh-wee, ooh-wee, ooh-wa!) See them fighting for power (ooh-wee, ooh-wee, ooh-wa!), But they know not the hour (ooh-wee, ooh-wee, ooh-wa!),; So they bribing with their guns, spare parts, and money, Trying to belittle our Integrity now. They say what we know. Is just what they teach us, And we’re so ignorant ‘Cause every time they can reach us (shoobe, doo-wa) Through political strategy (shoo-be, doo-wa); They keep us hungry (shoobe, doo-wa), And when you gonna get some food (shoobe, doo-wa), Your brother got to be your enemy, we-e-ell! Ambush in the night, All guns aiming at me.
5. Culled from the track ‘One Drop’:
I know Jah’s never let us down; Pull your rights from wrong (I know Jah would never let us down) Oh, no! Oh, no! Oh, no! They made their world so hard (so hard): Every day we got to keep on fighting (fighting); They made their world so hard (so hard): Every day the people are dyin’ (dying), yeah! (It dread, dread) For hunger (dread, dread) and starvation (dread, dread, dread, dread), Lamentation (dread, dread), But read it in Revelation (dread, dread, dread, dread): You’ll find your redemption And then you give us the teachings of His Majesty, For we no want no devil philosophy; A you fe give us the teachings of His Majesty, A we no want no devil philosophy:
6. Culled from the track ‘Time Will Tell’:
Jah would never give the power to a baldhead Run come
crucify the Dread. Time alone – oh, time will tell: Think you’re in heaven, but
ya living in hell.
7. Culled from the track ‘Redemption Song’:
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; None but
ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy, ‘Cause none of them can stop the time. How long
shall they kill our prophets, While we stand aside and look? Ooh! Some say it’s
just a part of it:
We’ve got to fulfill the book.
8. Culled from the track ‘One Love’:
One Love! One Heart! Let’s get together and feel all right.
Hear the children cryin’ (One Love!); Hear the children cryin’ (One Heart!),
Sayin’: give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right; Sayin’:
let’s get together and feel all right. Wo wo-wo wo-wo!
9. Culled from the track ‘Coming In From The Cold’:
It’s you – it’s you – it’s you I’m talkin’ to -Well, you
(it’s you) – you (it’s you) – you I’m talking to now. Why do you look so sad
and forsaken? When one door is closed, don’t you know other is open?
Would you
let the system make you kill your brotherman? No, no, no, no, no, no! No,
Dread, no! Would you make the system make you kill your brotherman? (No, Dread, no!) Well, the biggest – biggest man you ever – ever –
see was-a once a baby.
10. Culled from the track: ‘Pimpers' Paradise’:
She loves to party, have a good time; She looks so hearty,
feeling fine; She loves to smoke, sometime shiftin’ coke; She’ll be laughin’
when there ain’t no joke.
A pimpers' paradise: that’s all she was now; A
pimpers' paradise: that’s all she was; A pimpers' paradise: that’s all she was
now; Pimper’s paradise: that’s all she was. (Every need got an ego to feed; Every need got an ego to feed.)
Bonus- Culled from the track ‘Stiff Necked Fools’:
Stiff-necked fools, you think you are cool To deny me for
simplicity. Yes, you have gone for so long With your love for vanity now. Yes,
you have got the wrong interpretation Mixed up with vain imagination.
So take
Jah Sun, and Jah Moon, And Jah Rain, and Jah Stars, And forever, yes, erase
your fantasy, yea-eah! The lips of the righteous teach many, But fools die for
want of wisdom. The rich man’s wealth is in his city; The righteous’ wealth is
in his Holy Place.
Bob Marley sings 'Africa Unite.'
Conclusion and opinion
Black history has been tampered with and facts have been
swept under the carpet by one race to portray another race as inferior.
Many
times, I hear people saying that ‘I am ashamed to be a White man,’ due to the
evil things committed against other people on this earth’s surface. But nobody
needs to be ashamed.
Instead, let’s pray for those who have bitter hearts
towards others because bitterness will only promote your health to disaster.
Reflections of bitter experience had made me not like the police, soldiers or any law enforcement officer, due to the fact that instead to keep the peace and to preserve social order many used the uniform to dominate, intimidate and abuse the power bestowed upon them.
It is likely that many people get enrolled in the police service to cause harm to other people or to steal from the weak and the vulnerable ones. As a traveler, adventurer, and writer, I traveled extensively in Africa.
A VISIT TO AFRICAN COUNTRIES
Every country I visited has its story. Painful stories and brutalities at the hands of law enforcement officers. In Nigeria, an immigration officer slapped me across the face several times and at the end of it took all my money from my pocket.
In Lagos, two armed men in police uniform kidnapped me just to steal my money, after the plan failed, the beat me up mercilessly and pushed me out of a moving vehicle. Instead of protection, I suffered at the hands of law enforcement officers to the extent that I lost confidence in them, but an incidence that took place in Amsterdam changed the negative perception and thinking I had about the police to like them forever.
A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE WITH A POLICEWOMAN IN AMSTERDAM
It was winter, and very dark. On my way to work, I was stopped by a group of traffic police officers who were arresting cyclists with faulty lights. They have arrested over a dozen, issuing to them fines to pay. I couldn’t escape when one of the officers, a woman, stopped me. I got off from my bicycle and she inspected my lights. The front light was faulty.
She looked at my face, then said something I wasn’t expecting: “You know? I don’t want to issue you a ticket. Try to fix it tomorrow before passing on this route.” While she was interacting with me, her colleague, a male police officer, was watching us and wondering what we were talking about instead of her issuing me a fine to pay.
The policewoman asked me to leave as quick as possible, by then it was too late, her male colleague was catching upon us, so I told her, “Your curious colleague is coming, there is no way I can flee because he is now close behind us.” The male police officer asked her why the delay in issuing a fine because my front light is faulty.”
The ‘Good Samaritan policewoman’ said to him, “His rear
light is in order, but the front one, he is not aware that is faulty. I asked
him to fix it tomorrow.”
Her male colleague didn’t say anything and he walked
away. Then the policewoman told me to leave but I shouldn’t ride the bicycle.
I obeyed her instructions and went away. Luckily enough I
was just a few meters from the workplace, ‘The Okura Hotel.’ What
transpired shocked me both physically and psychologically that I have loved the
police till now.
Whenever I see any policewoman, this bicycle story doesn’t
only come into my mind but I love them too.
Many times, people judge the police wrongly and say all
sorts of dirty things against them but some are very nice indeed.
Mark Twain European and American leaders, including the CIA and the FBI, are under pressure and sorely afraid that they will soon lose the battle of the cover-ups of the Aids and Ebola medical crimes.
There is time for everything and no matter how long it takes their nightmares will force them to come out clean.
Apart from terrorism, the mere mention of Aids and Ebola scare America and Europeans to death, because the two tied diseases were man-made and used as bio-weapons and since the disease engulfed Liberia, the Republic of Guinea and Sierra Leone, only a few in the medical field are brave enough to speak openly that Aids and Ebola were indeed medical crimes against humanity.
Even Belgium’s top scientist, Guido van der Groen, who said in an interview to ‘Humo Magazine’ that “The U.S. military laboratories slated for Ebola and HIV, to develop into a biological weapon in the early sixties,” on October 13, 1994, had to change his story to save his life, and said two years ago that “Ebola was invented in the 1960s in Fort Detrick in Congo.”
The fact is the primary Ebola strain being spread right now (as there are 2) was bio-engineered by the US Department of Defense (via USAMRIID) & Tulane University with the knowledge/help from pharma/biotech giants such as Monsanto, Alnylam, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, Pfizer and a much smaller pharma company based out of Canada called Tekmira.
A known Ebola strain from Central-Africa was used as the base and was bioengineered to become a new hybrid respiratory illness (a combination of Ebola Virus & Lassa Hemorrhagic Fever, weaponized via Tulane University & USAMRIID at Fort Detrick) making it become a genetic variant of the original strain.
This bioengineered hybrid allowed for airborne
human-to-human transmission, an extended incubation period (to increase
spread/threat), and a slightly toned down virility (to have the ideal initial
wanted the mortality rate (~40%)).
Now the question on the lips of many people is: How long
will America, Europe, and the media remain silent? “You can fool all
the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you
cannot fool all the people all the time.”– Abraham Lincoln.
1. Given the monkey, the opportunity to
wear clothes doesn’t guarantee the animal to join the dining table. Meaning:
Some people abuse their trust if you are kind to them. Don’t take a friend a
fool if he helps you every time.
2. A man who hangs around a beautiful
lady without saying anything, yet he likes her, will end up serving the guests
on her wedding day. – Just be bold to tell a lady you like her if you’re
interested in her. 3. A beautiful girl without any
intelligence ends up abusing herself. Her private part suffers most. – You need
to be intelligent too if you are beautiful, else you will end up sleeping with
thousands of men to ruin the ‘golden box.’
4. Whoever presents his own head to
break a coconut, would not be able to partake in eating of it. – This is a
warning to be careful in whatever you do because some kindness may put you into very big trouble. 5. There is no way a chicken will pass
corn or maize without swallowing it. Even if the corn is too big to swallow
the beak will break it into pieces. If a friend offers you a sleeping place, be
careful not to get closer to his wife because of temptation. 6. The buttocks are like a married
couple. There is constant friction between them, yet they still love and live
together. – There is no marriage or relationship without a dispute. If
misunderstanding comes, settle it amicably before planning to divorce. 7. Never let negative people rent a
space in your head. Raise the tent and kick them out. – You have the power to
resist evil influence. Don’t follow bad friends to put you in a place you never
wished to be there. 8. If one finds a wallet on the road and takes
every money in it, before he finds the owner, there is no reward or blessing
for you. Giving the owner all his money back will reveal your honesty for the
owner to do something extraordinary for you. “This is what I did and the owner
helped me to be employed. I’m still at the same place after twelve years.” 9. When you are doing well in life, climbing up with
success, remember to help those you are leaving behind, one day if things go
bad for you, they will remember what you did for them and they will help you
too. – Be kind to the less fortunate ones, because no knows tomorrow. 10. The heart of a rich man lies in his
wealth and that of the poor man lies in the faith of God. The reason poor
people sleep better than the rich because they always think of their wealth.
Jesus confirmed it.” It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the
needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”
Will Smith The
internet or social media is the right place as a groundbreaking interactive
marketplace and also an essential tool for people to access information and
services right?
By the
influence of the social media, we can now see the world through our windows,
and enjoy effective and quick communication if the one lives thousands of
kilometers away, but alongside its many valuable resources, social media is
occupied by an invincible brood of vipers, whose aim to make sure that you never
reach the top, hateful contents, offensive materials, black heart and
treacherous people known as social media friends.
Frankly
speaking, I wasn’t aware that social media has its dark sides until I
started writing. In a society whereby, ‘birds of the same feathers flock
together’ you are not accepted if you look different. If that group is saying
that ‘blue’ colour is ‘black,’ you need to agree with them to stay in the
group.
Jesus said,
“The truth shall set you free,” but in this present generation, the truth will
give you many worries, discomfort and create a lot of enemies for you. I have
said over and over that, I may live in Europe for many years but holding
European passport doesn’t change my way of thinking, culture, and identity. I am a hundred percent true born African and proud to be an African.
Since I’m
an African, my writings will reflect on my culture and issues affecting
the African continent, which many European and American journalists will not
do. This what many have failed to realize. Thus, writing the truth about Aids
and Ebola shouldn’t generate hatred, because I’m an African, not European or
American.
There are
hundreds of scientists in this world, who are aware that the viruses of Aids
and Ebola are biologically prepared as bio-weapons and tested on Africans by
the Americans, yet only one scientist, the Dutch Johan Van Dongen revealed
the truth and it costs him dearly. After losing his job as a lecturer in the University of Maastricht, he became an enemy and his profile was deleted for
the social media ‘LinkedIn.’
European
and American journalists write distasteful and degrading articles about Africa,
yet when an African writer reveals their weaknesses, corruption, inefficiency,
racism, hypocrisy and their devilish plans against Africa, then everyone
becomes angry. Thousands of Europeans and American commit suicide daily if an
African writer suggests, Europeans and Americans should learn from Africa how
they have survived persecutions, diseases long before the white man’s medicine
were discovered, then everyone is angry.
Recently,
in United Voice News Magazine, a journalist wrote ‘9 Out Of 10 Americans
Would Perish Without Power For Over A Year If The Isis strikes.’ I
pointed out that this is a total disgrace to Americans if they will depend
on electric current to survive, knowing that there are thousands of
villagers in Africa, who have never enjoyed light before since they were born,
yet they are the healthiest and happiest people on earth. From school, they
learn, read and write with the help of only kerosene lanterns. I’m back in what I have repeated over a hundred times. Are
Africans tougher and stronger than Europeans and Americans?
When it comes to issues pertaining to Africa, only a few people
interested, but learning something from Africa, in regard to survival and
discipline in schools will be beneficial to Europeans and Americans if
they put pride behind them.
Frankly speaking, without any ammunition, guns or
war tanks, Africa will defeat Europe and America if they stand toe to toe in a
physical fight, because Africans are physically strong.
Africans don’t need the power to live or survive. They
already have a long life span without electricity, before the vaccine
against malaria was discovered and before they were hit by medical crime at the
hands of Europe and America.
Africa needs support, healing, and development, not
underdevelopment and depopulation because that rejected continent, will
one day be a safe haven for Europeans and Americans. What will pursue them to flee hasn't come yet.
Mini-skirts:
One of the fashion temptations during summer
There
are only two seasons in West Africa, the dry and the wet, and sometimes the
experience of the harmattan, a dry, dusty cold north-east trade winds from
December to February.
Africa
never misses the sun or summer as it is known among the four seasons in Europe
and America because the sun blazes for nine months, accompanied by
rainfall within three months.
Unfortunately,
sometimes the rain fails to fall, and when it continues for a longer
period, it means impending danger. The reason East Africa is often threatened
by the worst drought. Rwanda, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Zambia, Somalia, etc, have all
experienced the effect of drought.
The sun in
Africa is used to doing many things including drying of washed clothes,
preservation of foods, and on health issues good for the skin. Since the sun is
very common in Africa, they don’t see or value it as something special, but
when summer arrives in Europe and America, it’s like they have seen magic or
god.
In fact,
summer is just a season but what accompanies it in Europe and America
seems like the season is a festival. Europeans and Americans go crazy with
all kinds of dresses and fashions which may baffle you.
Mini-skirts,
the exposure of long beautiful legs and other parts of the body which can steal
your attention and put you into temptation are some of the common scenes in the
city, shopping malls, restaurants, cinema halls, etc, and at the naked beaches.
Europe is
now entering the summer but just yesterday the beautiful weather brought
some fashions one may be stupefied to see. The question is: What are we going
to see when summer fully arrives? I will definitely steal a glance but hope I
will not be caught by any lady.
Patiently
the hen sits on her eggs to hatch her chicks
1. Good
planning: She
first lays enough eggs before sitting on them.
2. Discipline: When she starts sitting on her
eggs, she minimizes movements.
3. Sacrifice
and self-denial: She
physically loses weight while sitting on her eggs due to decreased
feeding.
4. Indiscrimination
and generosity: She
can’t sit on eggs from another hen.
5. Faith,
hope, and courage: She
sits on her eggs for 21 days, patiently waiting even if they do not hatch,
she will lay eggs again.
6. Sensitive and discerning: She detects unfertilized eggs and roll them out.
7.Wisdom, consciousness, and realistic: She abandons the rotten eggs and starts
caring for the hatched chicks even if it’s only one.
8. Protective love: No
one touches her chicks.
9. Unity
of purpose: She
gathers all her chicks together.
10. Mentorship: She
can’t abandon her chicks before they mature.
Even the greatest teacher, Jesus, led by the Holy Spirit taught from the hen. ‘Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I
have longed to gather your children together, as a hen.’ Luke 13:34.
Manu
Dibango is perhaps one of the world’s best jazz saxophonists. A true
international superstar with a career starting from the ’50s. At 15, he was
sent to Paris to prepare for a professional career. He is a tireless
globetrotting musician. Last year, he played for hundreds of fans at Mano-Mundo
Festival in Belgium, and this year he was in Belgium again to play at Gent. He
speaks about his passion for music.
Joel: As
an African musician you have made such an enormous contribution to African
music internationally. How do you feel about this achievement?
Manu: I’m
glad I’m still in motion. I don’t think of my past achievements. The most
important thing is what I’m going to do tomorrow. I’m happy I did what I did.
Thanks be to God.
Joel: In
1972, your hit “Soul Makossa” stormed the world. Since then you are still on
the music scene. What keeps you moving all these years?
Manu:
Passion “La Passion” What I would want African youths to have is passion.
Because if you have passion, you can easily accept suffering and when there is
no passion, you have to try to cultivate it. If you can do that then you can really
bring out the best of yourself.
Joel: In
1985, you raised funds for famine-stricken Ethiopia through your “Tam-tams for Ethiopia
project” with Mory Kante and others. What do you feel about the present
situation in Ethiopia?
Manu: Well,
talking about Ethiopia is like talking about the whole continent. A month ago
we played against AIDS and famine. We also played in Dakar. It is not only the
music which is playing an important role in this issue of problems affecting
Africa but the activities of doctors, sportsmen, and journalists are also
helping in various ways.
Joel:
According to an international music magazine I read recently, you and the late
Fela Anikulapo Kuti are among the world’s best saxophonists. How do you feel
about this?
Manu: It’s
nice to hear that. You know that one doesn’t play music just for the hours to
pass. But you play music because you are in love with music and luckily if it
happens that people like what I’m proposing, then I’m happy. Although music is
business, yet you don’t start thinking about money from the initial stages when
you are in music. First, propose to the people what they want and if they like
it, then the money comes later.
Joel:
Last year, I watched you playing at the Mano-Mundo festival when the
frenzied crowd called for more songs. What was your experience at that moment?
Manu: Well
you can see that I’m still in motion. It happens that you share the music with
the audience. That is the best happiness an artist can have. I’m not alone on
stage but with a group of musicians. So the more the music is successful, the
more the audience feels happy about the music. It’s the responsibility of an
artist to make his fans happy. That is a proposition. I’m always talking
about a proposition.
Joel:
This question comes from one of your fans who live in the United States of
America. He said I must ask you the reason you do always play in Africa and
Europe but not in the USA.
Manu Dibango on stage
Manu: If
they want me there, I will be there. I go to every country that wants Manu. I
have management and those who want me to play in contact with my management. I have
played in Canada and some parts of South America. I live in America for two
years in the ’70s. The most important thing is they love my music.
Discover
the interviews of some of your favourite musicians in ‘The Passion Of Reggae
And African Music. https://goo.gl/INF751
Albinos in Africa are deliberately killed for ritual purposes to get 'rich quick.'
Africa
is a place often referred to as the Dark Continent, in terms of color, but
there is something more associated with the term dark, controlling the minds
of people to indulge in satanic rituals and demonic activities. Woe unto
you if you are born albino.
Albinism is
a genetically inherited condition characterized by a deficit in melanin a production that leaves people in that condition with pale skin, usually light,
sometimes reddish eyes and blond hair.
The belief
that the body parts of an albino could bring wealth and luck has caused fear in
the African communities for albinos, as they are increasingly being targeted by
witch-doctors because superstitions feed myths that they are ghosts,
sorcerers or demons who have been cursed, thus; when body parts are used for
rituals you become extremely rich.
Recently
five albino children whose arms and legs were chopped off for rituals were
flown to a children’s hospital in Philadelphia to be treated for the horrific
injuries they received and also had new prosthetics limbs. The albinos are
often ambushed in the night at rural areas and many times have no power to
defend themselves.
Some years
back in Africa, people with hump were brutally killed and the hump removed from
the victim’s back for ritual purposes. Today, innocent albinos are suffering
a similar fate.
In recent
developments to save albinos from persecution, the Tanzania government has
banned witch doctors due to prevent the use of their body parts for magic
potions and lotions.
It’s
unfortunate that people in such conditions suffer such discrimination and even
death. Man needs to work hard for his daily bread but not to kill to get rich
quick.
Who are we and where did we come from? With different kinds of people, languages, customs, cultures, etc, many questions about creation remain unanswered.
What about death? That is more complicated than creation because many have different theories and opinions about death. Some say that the soul goes back to God after death while others believe in reincarnation, that is the soul, upon the death of the body, comes back to earth in another body or form.
However, the Bible says: “For the living know they will die but the dead do not know anything nor have they any longer a reward, for their memory is forgotten. Indeed, their love, their hate, and their zeal have already perished, and they will no longer have a share in all that is done under the sun…”
The book of Genesis says: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Initially, that was what we were thought at school. Years after this Biblical account, the man now faces the most difficult challenge in believing this Biblical account about creation.
Worldwide, hundreds of people, including so-called creationists, anti-Christ forces, and fundamentalists, continue to change the Bible’s account of creation into numerous tales that deviate from what the Bible really says.
The belief that there is no God and Darwin’s theory which rejects the account of creation in Genesis, has caused many people to dismiss the Bible account as mythical allegory. It’s not surprising to see big churches throughout Europe virtually empty on Sundays, reserved only for the dead to receive his or her last respect before burial.
It’s clear that a number of people have accepted Darwin’s theory than the Biblical account as many churches are being converted to drinking pubs, restaurants, and library. Even though many still are confused over where man originally came from, some continue to play God by taking someone’s life by euthanasia, when he can’t bring the dead back to life.
Since God has given man the opportunity to choose, thus; let those that lean on Darwin’s theory continue to do so and others that believe in the Genesis creation account also continue supporting the Scriptures. But one question which many find it hard to answer is: Where do we go after death?
Different religions have different opinions about death, yet another part of the Bible reveals: “For whoever is joined with all the living, there is hope; surely a live dog is better than a dead lion.” Both creations of the human being and death will always remain a mystery because it’s something that takes us by surprise. One may cheat death, yet death is inevitable. When it strikes, like the fall of both fresh and dry leaves, it takes away the young and the old.
Doctors struggle to save lives and incubators save babies, but why no one has brought a dead man back to life? Is it true that there is life after death? Where does the soul goes after death? Is there reincarnation after death? Are we going to see our loved ones already dead when we also die?
Even though I have no answers to those questions, I can’t depend on Darwin’s theory, because it has no roots. Since the Scripture says: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” I will depend on and believe in the account of creation in the book of Genesis.
There thousands of Africans in the Diaspora. Many hate to be called Africans, some love the continent but never had the chance to visit there, while others frequently visit Africa. One of them was the legendary Peter Tosh, one of the founding members of the original Wailers trio.
The fearless tough man, whose vicious wit marked militant tunes made him an international figure, visited Africa including Nigeria on many occasions. I never had the opportunity to see Peter Tosh performing but I had a glimpse of him when he visited Nigeria and followed his activities in the country through ‘The Punch Newspaper.’
Peter Tosh was in Nigeria in 1982. During his visit, he stayed in the house of Sonny Okosun, another great Nigerian musician interested in the well-being of people. It’s like the two had something in common. In Nigeria Sonny Okosun’s ‘Fire in Soweto, Papa’s Land’ etc, became international hits, for his concern for the suffering South Africans under Apartheid regime.
While in Jamaica, Peter Tosh recorded ‘Apartheid’ on his ‘Equal Rights’ album. “Inna me land digs out me gold, pearl, diamond, we gonna fight against Apartheid.” It’s not surprising that the two musicians were great friends. In 1983 while still in Lagos, Peter Tosh revisited Nigeria. This time, he cemented his love for his dear Africa by composing the song he named ‘Mama Africa.’
Peter Tosh sings 'Mystery Babylon.'
“Two thousand years of history can’t be wiped away so easily, sings Bob Marley in ‘Zion Train.’ Definitely, the achievements of Peter Tosh in the field of music can’t be easily forgotten. On April 20, 2016, Jamaica celebrated the second official International Peter Tosh Day. Like the sons of Bob Marley, Andrew Tosh is carrying on the works of his father.
