General

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Another passionate write from the past

Another skeleton from the past! I have no idea why I wrote this but I suspect it was shortly after I had read our ICT policy. I don’t recall liking it that much. ICT wasn’t well defined within the document itself and I remember taking issue with the fact that the version I had read was written by an outsider…. I mean where are Basotho consultants?

A thought towards an innovative ICT Vision for Lesotho

Basotho during the reign of Moshoeshoe I and a few years that followed were a self-sufficient nation. Today, many Basotho live in severe poverty and under the threat of a new deadly disease, HIV/AIDS.

There is no doubt a need to restore Lesotho to its original state of self-sufficiency and wealth. The question however is: “can this be realistically achieved?” The answer itself is not that simple. However, if we were to look back into our history with the sole purpose of seeking valuable examples from our forefathers, then we could find an answer that would guide us back to prosperity.

For example, history informs us that this nation was not strong only militarily, but that it was such an industrious nation that though horses were a relatively a novel bred to them, in no time they had bred the type of horse that was suited for their territories. Their breed was so tough and sure-footed that the British when shopping for horses preferred the Basotho ponies to the Boer horses. (An excerpt from the inpiration page)

From the above example, it could be argued that just as Basotho did adapt the horse technology to their needs, they can embrace ICTs and adapt them to their specific needs and thereby create a niche market for ICTs. In so doing, Basotho would be able to address some of their needs and challenges that include the eradication of poverty and HIV/AIDS.

Moreover, through innovative use of ICTs and the political will of its leaders, Basotho can be helped to actually participate in “doing development for themselves”. This means using ICTs for the general empowerment of Basotho either as tool or an enabling environment for development.

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Gift of Life

A year ago and a day ago I wrote a post titled “Memento mori” — remember that one day you will die! I wrote that as part of celebrating my mom’s birthday. It was my own way of saying life is a gift, enjoy each day and don’t worry about tomorrow. After all, we are talking about a woman who has raised three daughters who understand the importance of family, sisterhood, love and sticking together when the proverbial hits the fan. A woman who has survived two kinds of cancers: one cured by doctors and the other cured by lawyers. And a woman who is blessed in so many ways I care to mention.

This post however is not about my dear mother. It is about yours truly. Yesterday, I was involved in a stupid road accident. It wasn’t my fault but when you are on two wheels; it really doesn’t matter who is wrong! Believe me, when I started riding my scooter someone did tell me this but yesterday it became crystal clear.

For a few seconds yesterday, the world had two people in it who were aware of what was going to happen with true certainty. I was going to collide into a car performing untimed u-turn manoeuvre. This was fate and there was no stopping it, without stopping time itself. I knew it and so did Nick — a perfect stranger who witnessed it all and who could but only rush to my rescue. I assure you that before either one of us could finish “what-the-…” statement, bang and I was down! Nick was lifting the scooter and with great relieve, he was asking if I was fine? I had just done a MacGyver avoidance manoeuvre with near zero injuries and I couldn’t believe my instincts! Actually my disbelief almost sent me into shock, I was hyperventilating and by the second getting overwhelmed by the driver’s insistence to point out that he genuinely didn’t see me. Of course he didn’t and just when I was about snap, Nick had brought water to calm me down and some other guy (sadly didn’t get his name) was offering me a Coke to drink. I hadn’t had Coke in twenty years and I must say, I forgot why at all I chose not to ever drink it. In minutes I was calm and grateful for my life. Accidents are accidents. I kept telling myself this as well as the driver, who at this stage seemed to be entering into a state of shock. I wished there was more I could do to assure him of my understanding but I couldn’t. I just wanted him out of my sight because all I could see was a man, who could have killed me on my mom’s birthday. I gave him my numbers to call and asked him as politely as I could to go home and be with his loved ones. He is yet to call but in the whole scheme of things, I am just thankful to be alive.

I am thankful to Nick and all those who came to my aid. I didn’t see my life flash before me but nonetheless I am thankful for the reminder that life is a gift we need to cherish with each day we are alive. Lets all be glad to be alive.

Much love to all and God bless!

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Unfed river …

Basotho have a saying: “noka e tlatsoa ke linokana”. This translates roughly to: a river is fed by streams. Although I still believe that I am a river of sort, today I feel like an unfed river. I feel so terribly alone with no one in this town to support me fulfill my ultimate purpose; to contribute to the ocean of life.

Perhaps all this time I have been delusional to compare myself to a river when in fact I am like an island. Delusional? Me? I hope not! But how did I turn to this unfed river?

I really wish I could answer myself objectively but for some reason I cannot. It seems that people perceive me as one who wouldn’t require help because I try not to bother others unless I really must. If not that, people fail to realise that behind the strong exterior is a soft interior. Therefore, when I do ask for help, it means I really really need help! And when I do ask, I am unashamed because I see myself as a river and not an island. Not only that, but I ask with great humility because I am reminded that I am not an island! I am reminded that life is better lived by going with the flow like a river –preferably one that is fed with the support of family and friends.

Today was not a good day but tomorrow is another day!

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Reconnecting …

Its been a very lazy day for me. I practically spent the day in bed either reading, watching TV or practicing a bit of yoga (no funky poses all my body could manage was a corpse pose). Overall, I think this is exactly what I needed! Time to recharge and reconnect with myself before I can even dare connect with others.

In the past few months I have systematically cut myself off from the world. I abandoned facebook, gtalk, calling and the likes. I wasn’t necessarily in a dark melancholy place; I just needed a bit of focus to deal with my biggest priority for this period of my life. Whether this is selfish or not, is a different story altogether. Point is, I needed to do this for me, in part, because I recognised that I couldn’t be emotionally available to anyone period.

Now I think I have a handle on things and I am ready to reconnect with life. Or perhaps life is ready to reconnect with me! I don’t really know which is which but the reconnection vibe is here. Just this past few days whilst in Stellenbosch I found myself being reconnected to kindness of the human spirit. I meant this guy Daniel who showed me so much kindness and generosity. And no, it wasn’t because of my looks! I was just a stranger in a ‘foreign land’ and he took it upon himself to be hospitable and show me around. It was really awesome and very much appreciated. I guess it had been a while since anyone has been so nice to me. But it wasn’t just him, his friends Carel and Jessica were also very kind to me. They also offered to show me some really good time but sadly my visit was too short and frankly didn’t anticipate so much friendliness. I also reconnected with some old friends like Barns.

Wow! I guess the trip to Stellenbosch was truly worthwhile. Not only did it connect me to opinions of industry leaders and some interesting research, it reconnected me with life. It is what it is, and just when you least expect it, life might just pleasantly surprise you!. This may be through an unexpected gesture of a stranger or some random event that may cause you to stop and re-evaluate your priorities. So keep yourself connected to all that life has to offer … for as I said, you might just be pleasantly surprised 😉 !

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Questioning the truth

I am told spring is a good opportunity for one to re-engineer themselves. I started my spring with some of my colleagues basically telling me that I might be a bit naive to believe that the truth is important. It was indeed an interesting discussion, but at the end of it all, I felt so helpless. Is it really time for me to accept that the truth holds no value? Or perhaps that calling an omission a lie is improper?

Hmmm, truly interesting questions, but I think giving in amounts to accepting that change is not possible. If this makes me naive, so be it! However, I hope this spring many of us will individually question what is the truth and what it means to live in a society without it. Happy spring all and much love 🙂 !

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Samaritan

Today, as I recover in the cold from my short trip to see my beautiful sisters before leaving, I am reminded of the parable of the good Samaritan. Yes it just popped into my mind.

Next I find myself remembering a question I was asked earlier this year. The question was: who was my brother between Fischer and Matanzima? I had no clue who Matanzima was, but I knew vaguely who Fischer was — or at least within the context of the conversation, I could guess reference was being made to Bram! For this reason, I declared Bram to be my brother even though I knew that amounted to conceding ‘defeat’. This was truly humbling to me because I was reminded (yet again) the importance of viewing things from a perspective that values all humanity. In connection to the parable, I think I was reminded that those that I should call brothers, sisters, neighbours, etc should be those like the good Samaritan not those like the priest, the Levitan, apartheid supporters, etc. Therefore, colour, race, social standing, sexual orientation, etc should be irrelevant.

With this refreshing reminder, my prayer is to be more like the Samaritan with each day. As is, I am not sure how far I would go to be helpful to a perfect stranger and this concerns me; for I really want to be one who helps others without reservations. I want this because I am trying to be maintain a degree of optimism in my life.

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I ask

The more I strive for my soul to be at peace, the more I seem to battle with conflicting emotions. How can this be, I ask? It is 2010, the year I planned to cut off all negativity in my life in order to start another decade of existence in bliss or in the neighbourhood of it.

I ask again? How can it be that I seem so far and yet so near at the same time? Could it be I am addicted to conflict and as such peace is but an illusive creature to me? As I reflect, I find no easy answers!

In the name of peace, I have tried the putting the head down strategy and saying very little. But that hasn’t really worked and this has nothing to do with me loving the sound of my voice. It has everything to do with the fact that with some people, silence translates to the other party lacking awareness of what is happening. This of course, is far from the truth! The truth is that silence is kept merely to enable people to reflect on their actions and take corrective measures. This indeed is why we have clichés like silence is golden. But then again, we also have sayings to the effect that all it takes for evil to flourish is for good people to say and do nothing. (Hmmmmm…even my thoughts harbor conflict 🙁 .)

If I can recognise conflict in my emotions and thoughts, why can’t I just do away with it so that my soul finds the peace it longs for? And again, I ask? I ask for I seek answers. But I also ask because a part of me wonders if I will hear those answers when provided to me. I ask this because I do recognise my own sensitivity to spoken language.

I ask because this sensitivity threatens to turn me into a cynic and this scares me beyond believe. Perhaps I am already a cynic in denial, who knows? Personally, all I know is that I exist in a world where people are overly sensitive about the language they use because of political correctness and all that jazz about etiquette or need to show that one has social capital. Good or bad, what this means is that I feel people tend not to say what they mean. Instead, people say what they think is expected of them. And if at all I am right, I ask whether I will hear the truth? If not, without the truth, I ask, will I ever find peace?

I ask all of the above and still wish to ask many more questions but I am afraid. I am afraid because to ask them is to possibly feed the cynic in me. The cynic that might make me believe that social injustices will continue to go unnoticed because the semantics of our language is seemingly pure!*

Can anyone help me? For I ask but I know not whether I will hear the answers. I ask because I do believe in humanity and refuse to live life in cynicism! There are many good people out there who inspire me with the big and small things they do. Some of these people, are in my family and others I have the privilege of calling them friends. Inspite and despite it all, these people act as a reminder that peace can be attained and indeed the world can be a better place. Thus, because of these people, I ask my questions so that I can be a contributor of that which is good. I ask so that I can grow for myself and in their honour.

I ask and I ask for my soul seeks the answers and longs of peace. I ask. So please do answer me!

As I wait for my answers, stay strong and God bless!

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*Our language is seemingly pure in that by today’s standard a sexist can be called non-sexist if at all in their sexist behaviour the person makes no use of the word bitch!
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Piss elsewhere …

dontPiss

The end of “sekotlo sa monna ke leralla”!

The practice of some men pissing all over has over the years pissed me a lot (pun intended)! To my defense, I suppose it is because I could never comprehend the Sesotho saying: “sekotlo sa monna ke leralla“. This saying is often used to explain why some men can actually piss in public without remorse. Translated, it states: ‘the back of a man’s head is a rock’. Interpreted I believe the saying means, as long as a man is facing away, like an ostrich with its head buried in the sand, he can assume that all that is behind him is non-existent!

Right or wrong about my interpretation, I was delighted to finally see signage that practically said: whether or not as a man you believe, sekotlo sa monna ke leralla, not at/in/on [OUR]* house! You want to piss? Please don’t desecrate our building, piss elsewhere and peace be with you! 

And given the timing of the signage, the enjoy your the 15 days of amazing at the Grahamstown Arts Festival was implied 😉 !
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*Personally I have taken God as a partner, so I regard that to also be my house 😉 .