Long time!!!

It has been a hectic year for me. I have written two books (manuscripts) but where to publish them has become a dilemma for me. This time, the books are not for children but one is about the way christian women are to live within the confines of the church in order not to encourage infidelity among married couples. The other one is about my work with ActionAid and my frustrations about African leaders.

I worry about how Africans would survive this economic meltdown going on in the world when our leaders are busy consolidating their positions and their little dictatorships instead of helping the people who gave them the mandate to lead.

As it is now, it's like every country is struggling to survive, perhaps except China! So if we Africans are counting on foreign aid to see us through, I think it will only be in our dreams. Some people say "God help those who help themselves" (even though it's not categorically written in the Bible) the idea behind it is very sound. How can someone who does not care very much for your plight (except if they have something to gain from you like oil and raw materials to feed their own industries)if you do not really care about putting structures in place yourself to lift your country out of the doldrums?

Africa is being left behind; those who are succeeding in their economies continue to plunder our rich resources for only peanuts. Others are using the "carrot and stick" approach whereby if you do not tow their line of thinking, the carrot is brutally snatched from your mouth!

Who is going to help Africa? It has to be we the people ourselves. I wonder if there are anymore ideas out there to help Africa. If you do, let me hear from you.

Cheers!

HIV and AIDS is Deadly

It is known in some quarters that there is a difference between having AIDS and being infected with the AIDS virus.
My work with a non-profit organization for 7 years confirmed this. As I worked with 100s of infected and affected people with the virus, I arrived at the same conclusion as well. As I travelled to many countries to interview and work with people living with the virus, I came to the conclusion that no one should die because of this pandemic in this time and age.

The key here is to know your status when in doubt. If you go to www.hivtest.org where many people have gone to take this step, your life may be saved. The sooner the better because when one is infected with the virus, you may not know and live normally and could be weighing as much as 500lbs. But after the virus has stayed within your system for a long time , after it has broken down your immune system, then will you have the full blown AIDS; a condition which can be reversed with medication if caught in time.

Contact and help resources:

I worked with ActionAid Ghana, an Affiliate of ActionAid International, a non-profit organization with offices in over 50 countries world wide including the United States where I live now. I travelled widely to many of these countires to interview, collate and publish our work on HIV and AIDS among others.

I coordinated and brought to Ghana and West Africa for the first time, the world renowned Positive Lives Exhibiton which shows pictures of normal looking people with normal body weight living with the virus. The purpose was to prove to people that everyone is at risk.

The following is the summary of the work I did while working for ActionAid on this issue:

• Worked directly with people living with AIDS (PLWHAs) through training, counselling and interviews for our newsletters and website to create awareness of their situation for funding.
• Gave talks to schools and organizations and at exhibitions about how the pandemic is contracted; how to prevent it and encouraged people to do the test to find out their status.
• Taught people on how to inter-act and live with PLWHAs.
• Attended the annual World AIDS Day representing my organization by setting up an informational booth showcasing our work through videos, brochures, posters and books.
• Designed and published several promotional materials like brochures, pamphlets and books for distribution to schools and organizations

I have videos and materials to share. I am available to share, teach and collaborate with schools and organizations about this issue.

Please contact me through this blog for further information.

Meanwhile stay safe!

The Graduate!

At last, my baby has graduated from high school. If you have been picking and dropping your child to and from school, you'll understand the huge sigh of relief my husband and I expressed a few weeks before her graduation.

I remember my husband one night just before he fell asleep whispering "Oh I can't wait for her to graduate then I'll be able to sleep longer every morning." I burst out laughing knowing how stressful it had been.

Talking about stress, mine was worse. My daughter is a very active girl and participated in many extra curricular activities, namely TRi-M (the Honor society for Music), Scholastic Bowl, Mosaic, Chamber Choir and the like. I had to be picking her up on activity days, bring her home and then take her back in the evening or at night depending on whatever activity she was involved with.

The worse part is knowing she closes at 2.24 pm and whiles I'm halfway to the school, I receive a text "Mom, can you please come at 4?"

Hmm! So what do I do? Our home is far from the school and because I do not want to waste gas returning home and then having to go back, at times I'll just go to the Mall and whiles walking around whiling away the time, I shop against my best judgment and spend money on un-budgeted items!

Or at times, I would just go and park at the school, read, listen to the radio or just fall asleep. This happened during winter as well so I had my little red blanket at the back of the car and covered myself to keep warm.

What wouldn't a mother do for her child? But now, it's all over. The baby of the house is about to enter college and may be, just may be, my husband and I will be able to take the needed break from running her up and down to and from school.

But it was all worth it when we saw her as one the few out of 900 students wearing a gold cord, honoring her as an Indian Prairie Scholar (having a GPA over 3.8) and also a pink cord honoring her as a member of the Music Honor Society of Tri M, walking to go and receive her diploma as part of Class of 2010 from Waubonsie Valley High School; The Warriors!!! It was a great day!!!

Have you ever gone through such a thing? How did you feel? Just share your 'frustrations' with me and everyone.

Cheers!!!

Sophie is One month old today! Hurray!

My grandbaby Sophie is exactly one month old today. As I opened my eyes today at 6.30 am, my mind went back to that day in April when she made her debut into this world of ours and into our lives. I started thinking about how tired I had been on that day because I had hardly had a wink of sleep due to the excitement.

You can see her with her grandparents from her dad's side on the left and her grandparents from the mom's side on the right.

But look at her. Isn't she lovely hmm, do you remember Stevie Wonder's song?

She has really proved to be a spunky little gal like her grandmama and I believe we are going to have a very grand time when she and her Mama come to visit us here in Chicago next weekend. They are coming to attend the high school graduation ceremony of my last child.

Speaking about my last child, have you noticed how stressful it is to get your child into the university these days? Hm! She had to be coached to excel in her SAT and ACT tests. After this came the applications to the many schools who kept sending tons of materials to her to persuade her to choose their school. Well I kinda felt proud that among the schools were the Ivy League schools like Columbia, Yale and Brown. It was like a competition; all because my girl had scored very high marks in both the SAT and ACT tests! Whew!

Of course I didn't want my baby going off to school on the east coast because it is too far from home and I will not be able to visit whenever I missed her. So you know what, I prayed and the schools closer to home offered her more scholarship which we couldn't afford to reject. So, she will be going off to a school in the very next State where her older sister, Sophie's mom is an alumni. Infact, they can't wait to see her 'cos Sophie's mom did so well there and graduated from there with a Magna Cum Laude! Yes, man! She excelled and is now in medical school. I thank God for His merciful kindness to me. I always pray that He will continue to keep me and my family safe from the storms of this life.

Do you pray at all? If you don't then you are one of the few people on this earth without any problems but I won't go into it now; another time.

Cheers!

I'm A Grandma!

Hi guys, I became a grandma for the first time on April 12th 2010. One of my daughters gave me this blessing and this pleasure of enjoying a grand child.
Her name is Sophie Marie. She was born at 1.48 am, weighed 8lbs and was 18.5 inches long.
This baby was late for one week.

I had taken time off, exactly 3 weeks off from my p/t job to go and be with my daughter. I had selected the time based on the due date proposed by her doctor and midwife. I had thought that at least Sophie would be born during the first week of my time off so that I'll be able to spend two weeks with them.

Not so. Sophie refused to arrive on her due date which was supposed to be the 6th. But the 6th passed and the days just kept on passing by. You can imagine my frustration but my daughter's was worse 'cos the baby had dropped very low and was resting on her pelvis, so walking had become a chore and of course sleeping had become impossible!

Everytime we went to visit the hospital, they would say, "Oh don't worry, we are sure that you will not visit us next week; the baby would be here then but just in case, just set up another appointment for next week." We did this twice and we were very frustrated. We were made to know that the baby always decides when she wants to see the world! The baby is ALWAYS in control. Whew!

Then the contractions started on the 4th and then disapperaed. This continued till the 11th. During this time, anytime we thought the baby was coming and we rushed to the hospital, we were told that my daughter had not dilated enough to warrant her stay in the hospital so we were always sent home.

On the evening of the 10th, around 12 midnight, the contractions were so painful for my daughter that we just had to rush her to the hospital. She was tested and we heard the same story that she had not dilated enough so we should go back home. This time I made them to understand that we were not going back home and that I wanted my daughter monitored since I was afraid that something could go wrong. They gave us a place to rest but in the morning the contractions had slowed down considerably. So we had to leave at 6 am, disappointed.

Then the real McCoy began, I say the real McCoy 'cos I saw the difference between the type of contractions we had been seeing before and this latest one. This time, my daughter could not even stand so around 12 noon we went to the hospital for the 'last' time. This time, she had dilated enough and she was admitted. Whew! Was I relieved. The contractions stretched out till after midnight of the 12th when she fully dilated and they asked her to do the push.

O thank goodness that this didn't take long 'cos by 1.48, Sophie had decided to exit her mama's womb. And guess what, she came out with both eyes wide open! Yes, everyone was surprised. She was just looking around and then she finally gave a yell, loud enough to wake the dead all in her 8lbs glory. Oh, it was a beauuuuuuuuutiful sight!!!

I am very proud of my daughter who is a medical student and who went back to school just a week after giving birth, strong and ready to face her books once again.
So people, I am a grandmama and my mother has finally received her first great grand child. Mind you, this is not new in our family. God has been good to us that He makes us to live to see our great grand child and believe you me, I am very sure that it will not be different in my case.

Cheers!!!

Breast Cancer Survivor

It's been a long time since you heard from me. This is because I was diagnosed with breast cancer! I was in shock when I received the diagnosis from my doctor because it blew away all the misconceptions I had had about breast cancer and how one could get it.

I had been made to understand it is hereditary. How wrong this is because no one in my family has ever had breast cancer or any other type of cancer for that matter! I know 'cos I saw my great grandmother before she died and she died from old age at 103. My grandmother also died from old age at 96. From my father's side, my grandmother lived to be over 110 they say while my father died at 98.

Spewing all the stats above does not make me old. It just happens that my mom was very young when my father married her. So!
I know that when many receive such diagnosis, they regard it as a death sentence. I didn't. I was determined to find the root cause and fight it. It was during my reserach I discovered that 85% of women who have breast cancer do not have it within their families and that only 5-10% of breast cancer is hereditary. What? I could not believe it because such misconceptions can lead many to ignore the signs of this disease or take precautionary measures to prevent it.

I also discovered that women who have more than 3 drinks daily are at risk of getting breast cancer. Another cause is stress from everyday life. Women who are between ages 40 and above who have a lot of body fat and do not exercise are also at risk.

So these are only a few of the causes of breast cancer. So now that you know this what are you going to do to prevent having this disease?

A monthly self-breast exam is key to discovering the lump which indicates the presence of cancer. We need to cut down on drinking alcohol; we have to watch our weight by watching and being careful about what we eat. We have to stay away from processed foods like canned goods and eat more of fresh fruits and vegetables.

After these things, just keep your fingers crossed and pray to your God and believe that you will live to testify that you are one of the few increasing survivors from this disease.

Till then, write to me and share your experiences with me so that others may learn from them.
Cheers!