High Infant Mortality Rate in Sierra Leone, SSA (140 per 1,000 deaths)

Sierra Leone, a much smaller country in SSA, has implemented an actionable solution to combat its high maternal and infant deaths. Is this a pilot project, is it sustainable and, was needs assessment done properly?  There are pitfalls in the programme, as they are currently experiencing, nevertheless hurray to the president and healthcare workers for putting some thing in place after much debate and strike.
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/2010/10/101008_sierraleonehealthcare.shtml  This program came about due to the efforts of the Global Village; as in (a) Robert Zoellick, Director of the World Bank, (b) Mr. Gordon Brown of U.K who said "the World must be 'ashamed into stopping child deaths", "a few pence is the price of life or death for millions" he added, (c) Austria, Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom (Douglas Alexander- International Development Secretary) and (d) Centre for Progressive Health Financing.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8645968.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8271882.stm  "This won't happen overnight but we hope in the years ahead we will see a shift in approach that will revolutionise health services in the world poorest countries.  Poor health and poverty go hand-in-hand and so we must first improve people's health if we are to improve their lives" said Secretary Douglas Alexander.

Staying focused on High Infant Mortality Rate in Nigeria, SSA

I got a call recently, and the person said, "you know you can start a blog called venting :-)". I wouldn't bore you with the recent of the conversation, suffice to say my take away lesson from the conversation, was I seem to be deviating from my aim of this blog,  to (a) highlight the High Infant Mortality Rate in SAA (Nigeria) and (b) hope and pray the numbers would be reversed. But praying wouldn't do it,  and hoping is a positive sign, hence there needs to be actionable solutions to the problem.  Furthermore. I remember my uncle saying "stay away from politics, stay focused to the cause", wise words from a man of wisdom, I wonder if I have stayed true to his comment.  Nor does my brother's comment help when he said, "folks who blog think people really need to hear what they have to say because, I think it is ridiculous, people who post crap on face book are stupid... abusing the internet with no training".  Apart from enjoying the art of reading, especially a piece of good writing, I felt compelled to comment on the downtrodden nature of the U.S. economy (as a public consumer of news), since being from California I am deeply affected by it or know lots of people being equally affected by it.  As I previously mentioned I did not know what blogging entails however, I know it is fluid in nature, and so would 1.

Falash Mura aliyah

Hurray to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyah to allow approximately 8,000 Ethiopian Jews to call Israel home in the next three years.  www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11753909 "These are the seeds of Israel- men, women and children that currently find themselves in the worst living condition,"  'Israel had a moral duty to resolve the complex humanitarian crisis,' said Netanyah.   Would this aliyah complete the immigration of the entire Falash Mura community in Ethiopia as Silvan Shalom (2007) suggested? Ethiopians would tell you "No".  I wonder the rate of infant mortality at these camps- is it high, medium or low in the past twenty years?  Nevertheless, aliyah gesture from Prime Minister Netanyah is a wonderful one.  Hence, to end the persistent hunger of infants and their families homelessness in these camps.

America's Economic Robustness and High Infant Mortality Rate in SSA

What has America's economic-financial strength got to do with my cause celebre? Everything! When I call upon the Global Village in a public-private partnership to help reverse a tide, the U.S. is in the fore front of that call. When I think of which country that donates more than others to causes within its boundaries? The U.S. comes to mind.  When I think of who gives a bit more than most to causes outside its borders? The U.S. is the answer.  When I think of which country among the G20 that believes in philanthropy the most? The U.S.  And when I think of which country has the most concentrated wealth?  The U.S. www.forbes.com/2009/03/11/worlds-richest-people-billionaires-2009-billionaires_land.html   So, U.S. retaining its preeminence, being fiscally robust, with a viable economy benefits my cause, and countless others globally. When people are comfortable and happy in their zone thus, they are able and or willing to assist the less fortunate. Hence, the adage- I have to feed my stomach first, before worrying about the hungry man next door.

Charlie Rose and Realism

My aunty always says "America is a very organized society." Last night I caught Charlie Rose on my local PBS channel KCET, and there were his guests David Walker (Peterson Foundation) and Mr. Friedstein (sp) or Frieden (Harvard) talking about fiscal responsibility and tough choices that needs to be made.  According to Mr. Walker, "the president has to lead", regardless of whether or not the bipartisan panel reaches the 14 out of 18 votes needed for agreement. The country is waiting for the president to lead, continued Mr. Walker.  But one would not have known that from the midterm election, I might add.  On the other hand may be Mr. Walker knows something I do not know, since I am neither an economist nor a politician. After all he is of the Peterson Foundation. So, I give him the benefit of the doubt, and believe that the country is waiting for President Obama to lead. The New York Times echoed a similar theme this morning "Waiting for the President" www.nytimes.com/opinion  to lead.  I read Paul Krugman's "The Hijacked Commission", I am still LOL, and next to it was David Brooks "preserving American pre-eminence" beautiful piece of writing, especially his last sentence.  Let me say, I appreciate Mr. D. Brooks style of writing, shall we say his prose and command of the language.

Guitar Hero on Veterans Day

Shall we salute all veterans, today being veterans day. There were many stories about veterans today.  The guitar hero story by Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News in his "Making A Difference" segment (I think that has become a signature piece of his), showed effectiveness of a simplified strategy to a complex problem.  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/ns/nightly_news/  In short it is a story about a PTSD Vietnam veteran who started a program of helping injured veterans by giving them guitars and teaching them how to play the instrument (using Kaizen approach).  And this is my point, using collective effort in helping others, as Brian would say to make a difference in others lives.  To date the program has given out 800 guitars. Thus, the process of learning to play the guitar  in addition to the music helps the veterans in healing. As a daughter of a major in the army (civil war) who lost her father from the ills of the war, lost a young uncle (father's only brother) at the war front, lost an aunt at a market when a bomb exploded and other relatives from effects of war, I simply understand the anguish of war ramifications. Kudos to those who sacrifice their lives in the war front. That is the utmost sacrifice, and they are the true heros of today.

Prayer Line response to IF

I m still LOL. Obviously you read every line with a fine tooth comb. That is the down side of blogging. As my friend said you have to always check for accuracy ie in spelling. You caught the tight-tithes sentence. Thanks for the correction.  From what I understand the pastor is too busy saving souls and doing deliverance prayer that he would not be interested in my cause. Thanks for the suggestion. I may pick up the courage and present the idea to him. Stay tuned.

Kaizen approach in solving high infant mortality rate in Nigeria, SSA

Thanks April for noticing and mentioning Kaizen philosophy.  Because when I call upon the global village  to take note of infants dying needless deaths in SSA especially Nigeria, and help reverse the dying numbers, I am not singing a new mantra song.  Kaizen is all about collective culture, values, vision, approach of working together to solve problems with innovative ideas,  room to fail, no fear, no perfection but room for refinement and improvement. Thus my vision of evoking the "Global Village". Japan has been very successful in manufacturing with this philosophy.  Furthermore for all the so called third world or developing countries who have achieved some semblance of modernity be it Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore or Malaysia, the West have heavily invested in those countries to assist them in feeding their citizens and solving their problems.  So why not invest in SSA countries? As president Obama said in Indonesia earlier this week, the United States believes in Human Progress, I couldn't agree with him more, I believe more in Human Progress to the point of helping to stop infants from dying needlessly, since they are our future.

A Dose of Reality- Response to april

[Thanks for reading the article- posting. I was not quite done, in terms of putting the proper link, and I appreciate the question].

The question is a good one, to answer you one look no further than the ladies of "The View" to get a glimpse of how some people are responding to the issue of U.S. fiscal insolvency.  This morning Joy said, in paraphrasing her- they have not finished building a bridge or have not found money for the bridge and they are talking about saving money for social security forty years from now (missing the point).   Sherri added that savings of four decades from now would affect today's toddlers,  one of them being her son, Jeffrey.  Meanwhile, Ms Barbara Walters was congratulating the bipartisan commission, while trying to evoke the seriousness of the issue, which they never got to discussing.
On another show, one of the commission members (Ken Conrad) said social security is insolvable, that is "broke", we are looking at $400 trillion debt, (400 percent of the GDP?) and we must solve this problem now, not two years from now.  Would Americans buckle down to sacrifice something or would they keep on voting from their heart, you asked me? I think the premise to solving a problem, is first to accept that one has a problem. As the saying goes an alcoholic never admits he has a problem till he is is the gutter. So to systematically think about this, the citizens needs to be educated about the seriousness of the problem. They must be told the factual truth. Not biting around the bush.  [To the best of my knowledge that has not been. So far, the media seems to gloss over the issue, that is why I cited Mr. Herbert's article in the New York Times. California voted their way due to the realness of their fiscal problem that has affected every facet of the state].  Second, illustrate (as in CA) the effects of the fiscal problem and the consequences, then have a panel to propose solutions and put this out to the public.  In terms of politicians the dictionary defines a politician as one who is involved in the business-art of governing, and another definition is one interested in the political office for selfish or short run interests. I think the public would be served well by the first definition rather than the second.

A Dose of Reality

Blogging is no joke if one aspires to do it well. That is to say, I did not know what I got myself into when I started this blog. So, here I am, and we would see how it goes. Some say you need to blog daily, others say it does not matter.  What ever the case may be, I blog daily for those who care, I just happen to blog in my head twice a day, yes in my head. Because (a) I have a life, (b) it is just a bit much for me in terms of of the going-on in my life to do this, that is blog 2x/day, 7 days/week. Although I seem to be consumed with this process of blogging (it may not show), trying to figure out what I am doing, as an outlet I read the paper, ie The New York Times.  Since President Obama is in India this week I read The Times to keep up with his visit. And Amidst all the news, was an article by Arundhati Ray "Kashmir's fruit's of Discord", and below it was a dose of reality article,"The Impossible Dream" by Bob Herbert. - http://  www.nytimes.com/2010/11/09/opinion/09herbert.html  This is an example of why I read the times. It tells it like it is. It puts things in prospective. Only the Times would print such a raw, honest, realistic, factual imperative regarding the state of current affairs (economy) in the U.S. today.  Kudos. It is also a reminder to check my daily reality regarding my ambition of trying to bring about some semblance of change via the global village, regarding high infant mortality rate in SSA.

A Prayer Line for Reversing High Infant Mortality Rate in Nigeria-SSA

Yes, a prayer line for my cause celebre.  Prayer line is big these days among christians (Born Again).  It is not good enough to have a few people praying on the line, now it has to be thousands of people, yes as in the letter "T" praying on the telephone.  So, I woke up this morning thinking about securing a pastor who would believe in my cause not "his", not his ego, not his big house, not his GQ dressing, but a believe in the cause of mitigating a severe problem of infant deaths. Imagine that!, where by six thousand core individuals would pray twice a day, with the pastor leading the prayer.  At the end of each session, the pastor would remind the virtual congregation to pay their tithes, support the ministry-which is the cause, and donate any offering they wish.  According to the pastor we need to build a sacred place for children as in children's hospital, followed with women's hospital, then recruiting of personnel, less I forget, build roads to access these institutions, fund transportation for the villagers to get to these institutions or better yet, bring the institutions to them.  Oh! what an enterprise. The only thing stopping this idealist ambition of mine is a willing pastor. I have yet to find one.  Stay tuned.

While women suffer, who cares for their infants-children.

I blog about infant mortality rate. And I think about it a lot.  In reality, infant mortality rate is a scientific word. The fact is that babies die. Babies die due to various causes.  They die in their mothers stomach.  They die immediately after birth. They die a few months after birth or a few years after birth.  And the mothers who gave birth to these babies suffer the most. They suffer from guilt, sense of self and subjugation.  This suffering of women came to mind after I read "For Afghan Wives, a Desperate, Fiery Way Out"  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/08/world/asia/08burn.html.  I thought of SSA, where some women suffer from subjugation, or loss of their infants and where maternal deaths is high.  The Afghan women in the article also suffer from subjugation, and some women set themselves on fire to die and stop the suffering?  What a horrific, painful process.  Why so much suffering? Then I realized women have been suffering for ages, and there seems to be no end in site.  Enki came to mind.  Time period 3rd millennium BCE and 2500 BCE.  Enki- a god in Sumerian mythology,  the gods banished Enlil from Dilmun ('home of the gods') for raping Ninlili.  That was then, and today the raping and suffering of women continues.

Africa Rules the 41st New York City Marathon

Despite all that ails the continent of Africa (war, disease, famine, ethnic strife, corruption, poor governance, low life expectancy and high infant mortality rate), it was pleasing to see runners from the eastern part of the continent sweep the New York City Marathon.  Gebre Gebremariam (Ethiopia) first in 2:08:14, Emmanuel Mutai (Kenya) second in 2:09:14,  Moses Kigen Kipkosgei (Kenya) third in 2:10:39,  Abderrahim Goumri (Morocco-north africa) fourth in 2:10:51, James Kwamabi (Kenya) fifth in 2:11:31, and Abel Kirui (Kenya) finished ninth in 2:13:01.  For the women Edna Kiplagat (Kenya) first in 2:28:20, Mary Keitany (Kenya) third in 2:29:01, Caroline Rotich (Kenya) eighth in 2:29:46, and Buzunesh Deba (Ethiopia) finished tenth in 2:29:55.  However, my main man of the event is none other than Mr. Chile himself; Edison Pena, who finished in 5:40:51.  What a remarkable human being.  What a determined individual, not to speak of his perseverance. He was the highlight of the race for me.   My take-away listen is to de determined and persevere and believe that in not so distance future high infant mortality deaths in Nigeria- SSA would be reversed. I do not mean to persevere in a believing system without action, but in my determination in call to action.

Tears-Crying and Advocating a Cause

I turned on my television on thursday-11/4/10, and there was Ashton Kutcher crying-tearing up while advocating for Human Trafficking. "I care" he said and he wants others to care as well, (or does anyone care...., I think he said).  I pondered, why tear up?  Will one's cause be advanced by tearing up?  Thus, I thought....if only I could get a hollywood power couple and engage them in my cause (High Infant Mortality Rate in Nigeria, SSA), and have them cry while talking about it, would the strategy be very effective?  My first thought went to that beautiful couple; Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith.  How about them? I asked myself.  A pause, I doubt very much if  Mr. Will smith would cry nor tear up, and neither would Jada. Besides, those two already brought us "FELA" the musical via Broadway and now the show is being staged in London. In other words they have done something positive for SSA. Further more Will has engaged himself enormously in various causes.  If crying would assist in bringing to bare the issue I am advocating I need to start shedding tears each time I talk about it, maybe the global village would pay attention and help immediately.