Paa morgendagens aapning vil landets president vaere tilstede, og saken omfattes av stor interesse for media. I kveld har vi deltatt paa en tilstelning der bl.a. den 'lokale Anne Grosvold' ogsaa var til stede. I tillegg vil selvsagt leder for SOS Barnebyers internasjonale, Zambiske og norske ledere vaere tilstede.

Ting fungerer ikke like glatt som hjemme.  Vi fikk tid til aa skrive innlegg til bloggen midt paa dagen, men disse fikk vi ikke publisert da traadloest nett var nede.  (De kommer seinere.) Naa maa jeg noeye meg med aa skrive noen raske linjer foer stengetid. I morgen er det faktisk avreise fra hotellet kl 0730, og saa gaar det slag i slag.  Men som sagt, vi har mye aa fortelle, og mange bilder aa vise etter hvert.

Allerede samme kveld arrangerte SOS et informasjonsmoete der alle sponsorene (bl.a. Finn) fikk presentert seg, og vi hoerte i tillegg innlegg fra SOS Norge, SOS Zambia, Fotballforbundet - fotballens barnebyer. Jeg rekker ikke fortelle halvparten av dette, men faar komme tilbake til dette. :-)

Om mindre enn en time er det avreise med buss for hele delegasjonen. Da skal vi faa innfoering i det som kalles familiy strengthening programme, dvs en stor del av SOS Barnebyes aktivitet som foregaar _utenfor_ barnebyen. Det tror jeg blir svaert interessant, og vi gleder oss.

Foroevrig er det skikkelig varmt her, men heldigvis blaaser det en del. Odd og Halvor rakk en rusletur til Victoriafallene idag tidlig. Det ligger like borti her! Det kryr av apakatter paa hotell-omraadet. De lever bl.a. av aa rappe mat fra tallerknene paa restauranten...

Dette er skrevet fra hotellet business center. Det virker ikke lett aa komme paa nett med egen PC her, saa det er mulig at vi ikke faar lastet opp saa mye bilder paa bloggen foer vi kommer hjem. Vi faar se!

ဘ၀ကို ေလာင္းေၾကးထပ္

ကံၾကမၼာကစား၀ိုင္းမွာ ခဏရပ္ခဲ့ဖူးတယ္ ...

အ႐ံႈးခံရင္းထားလည္း

မွ်ဥ္းမွ်ဥ္းေလးအသက္ရွင္

ႏို္င္ေျခကို ရင္ခုန္ေမွ်ာ္လင့္ဖူးတယ္

မေသခ်ာတာေတြထဲမွာ ေနေပ်ာ္ေနတဲ့သူ

သတိရပါ့မလားကြယ္

တစ္ေန႕တစ္ျခား

လြင့္ပါးတဲ့စိတ္ေတြရယ္

တာ၀န္ေက်ေတာင္ မေရြ႕လိုတဲ့ ေျခေထာက္ေတြရယ္

ဦးေဏွာက္နဲ႕ ႏွလံုးသား ပင္ပန္းလွၿပီ

ပင္လယ္ၾကီးေရ

ေက်ာက္ေဆာင္ကို မရွာပါဘူး၊ လိႈင္းခဏၿငိမ္ေပးပါ

ေကာင္းကင္ၾကီးရယ္

သစ္ရိပ္မေမွ်ာ္ပါဘူး၊ မိုးခဏအံု႔ေပးပါ

ေတာင္ပံေတြ ခဏအားျဖည့္ခ်ိန္

ၿငိမ္ၿငိမ္ေလး ရပ္ၾကည့္ခ်င္တယ္။

En mi fascinación por África, los exploradores y las exploraciones son una de mis predilecciones. Siempre me han atraido sus perfiles y sus historias, desde los míticos Livingstone o Stanley, los aventureros y cazadores como Speke o Thomson, los románticos como Burton o incluso los actuales como Michael Fay.

Pero desde luego, he tenido la suerte de conocer en mis viajes y safaris a otros personajes mucho más anónimos que desde luego siguen portando el espíritu y el ánimo de los exploradores de la época más dorada y añorada de África. De todos estos, de los famosos y de los desconocidos, de los de ayer y de los de hoy, me gustaría escribir en esta sección, Exploradores.

Mauri en apogeo. Catarata en Loita Forest, tras dos días andando. Kenya, enero de 2006

Y de quién mejor para comenzar esta galería de héroes que mi amigo, maestro y segundo padre: el doctor Mauricio Llodio, un doctor Livingstone actual con muchísimos kilómetros a sus espaldas; en viajes, excursiones, exploratorias y safaris de muy diversa índole.

Cuando conocí a Mauri, en esas casualidades y momentos dificiles que nos depara el destino, no paraba de hablar de sus viajes, de sus expediciones y sus rutas por el Mundo, muchas de ellas en viajes de cooperación. No en vano es el Presidente de la Fundación Coopera, entidad de Ayuda al Desarrollo. Recuerdo hablarle de mi fascinación y mis, aún entonces, sueños africanos, y recuerdo que nada más conocerme prometió llevarme a África... y lo cumplió, vaya si lo cumplió!

Un par de años después hicimos la Exploratoria Loita - Coopera 2002. Un safari inolvidable de unas cuantas semanas de duración en el que visitamos numerosos proyectos de cooperación, identificamos nuevos proyectos y del que salió un pozo para los masais en Loita. Ese fue mi primer contacto con África y no pudo ser más auténtico y fascinante.

Caminando con guerreros masais. Loita Hills, Kenya. Marzo de 2002

Y es que viajar con Mauri es una gozada. No hay ruta trazada, no hay plan de viaje, tan solo dejarse llevar a dónde lleve el destino. En un solo día con Mauri en Loita Hills, llegamos a despertar rodeados de guerreros moranis masai, pasear al amanecer y verles cazar una gacela Thomson, preparar un opíparo desayuno, montar una oficina de campaña, recibir a improvisados visitantes tanzanos, preparar propuestas de proyectos de cooperación, operar de urgencia a un niño y salvarle la vida (Mauri es el mejor médico que he conocido nunca), firmar un acuerdo para firmar un pozo, jugar con los guerreros masai, ir a ver una colina desde la cual divisar el Lago Natron y cenar una fabada Litoral en plena sabana, en un campamento rodeado de hienas y chacales.

A ese viaje, además, le debo conocer por primera vez Masai Mara, Serengeti, Loliondo, Ngorongoro, Tarangire, Nairobi y Arusha... y sobre todo a Topo, a Milton, a Dixon, a Daniel, a Shukri, a Kirotie, a Mogue... y tantos otros a los que hoy tengo la suerte de llamar amigos.

Así es Mauri, eléctrico, con mil cosas en la cabeza, hablando su spanglish atropellamente y en tres minutos pasar de hablar de medicina a cómo funciona un paraguas con cualquier paisano que se cruza por su camino. Viajero atípico, le da igual pasar de dormir al raso junto al fuego (se queda frito en 3 segundos) o en cualquier tugurio de Shangai, que disfrutar de los lujos del mejor Lodge que pueda haber en África. Siempre es el primero en levantarse, y en menos que canta un gallo te despierta con su última ocurrencia o con cualquiera de sus cientos de proyectos que lleva en esa cabeza que nunca para.

Preparando el desayuno con Topo y Milton. Loita Hills, Kenya. Marzo de 2002

Oficina de campo en Loita Hills, Kenya. Marzo de 2002

Mauri es un gran viajero que se adapta a las circustancias y te hace el viaje ameno, te lleva de su mano cuando hace falta y te la suelta cuando es necesario dejarte espacio. Disfruta de cada detalle y te contagia su entusiasmo. Su generosidad y empatía hacia los demás está siempre patente en sus viajes. Cada vez que conoce a alguien siempre está maquinando cómo ayudarle o beneficiarle y por despistado que parezca (y que en el fondo, es), tarde o temprano acaba ideando la solución a su problema o la combinación de factores, personas o negocios que puedan ayudar a dicho personaje.

A Mauri le he visto, como he mencionado antes, salvar la vida a un niño masai, negociar con habilidad y regatear hasta la saciedad en los mercados africanos (para sacar adelante sus proyectos de comercio solidario), tratar con jeques, principes, sultanes y mendigos, o en cinco minutos convencer a un artista local, llamado Preto,  que le hiciera un busto en madera (veridico, en Bonito. Brasil).

En el Pantanal de Mato Grosso do Sul. Brasil, diciembre de 2005

Mauri ha recorrido el Mundo casi de cabo a rabo, por tierra, mar y aire. Desde su primera gran exploratoria en los años 70 desde Madrid a la India, en plan hippie, haciendo autoestop y colándose en trenes y cruzando el Afganistan pre-talibán; ha recorrido gran parte de Sudamérica, África, Europa, Norteamérica y más recientemente Asia (aunque hace unos años Japón fue su segunda casa), enamorándose en los últimos años de Birmania. Es además un experimentado buceador, pescador, y como buen vasco que es, un buen marinero.

Además a Mauri le debo el haberme descubierto su otro hogar, que es Brasil, y haberlo hecho con la gran familia que tiene allí, pues su abuelo emigró del País Vasco al Mato Grosso en una aventura que bien merece un libro. Allí, junto a su primo Marco Antonio, hicimos una exploratoria del Pantanal Matogrosense que ha sido uno de los viajes más espectaculares que he hecho nunca.

"Medición de campo" de una piel de pitón. Loita Hills, Kenya. Marzo de 2002

Una vez Mauri me enseñó una lista de títulos de futuros libros que tiene en su mente, pues su cabeza es siempre mucho más rápida que su cuerpo, y de corazón espero que un día los escriba, pues tiene mucho que contar, que decir, y que transmitir.

Yo por mi parte creo que nunca seré capaz de expresar lo agradecido y orgulloso que me siento por este Hombre, digno de mi más profunda Admiración, con mayusculas. En mis recuerdos de viaje más preciados tengo muchos momentos con Mauri, y no hay ni uno solo que no me haga sonreir.

El Doctor Livingstone y el Doctor Livingstone. Londres, marzo de 2002

Tras una operación de campo. Loita Hills, Kenya. Marzo de 2002

Con Mauri, ante el Río Negro. Brasil, diciembre de 2005

A bright and early start was ensured by our two firestarters Donny and Rowan.  They had volunteered for that permanent position, probably thinking it would enable them to avoid cooking and cleaning duties..and since it sounded so manly.  It also meant they had to be awake before everyone else to get the fires going for the morning's cook group to start breakfast.  The truck (Shaggy) is closed only by tarp walls, so we froze on the ride til the sun came up.  We had lunch at Kasane consisting of whatever we'd purchased from the grocery store in Livingstone (breakfast and dinner are made by one of the 3 work groups, lunch is on your own).  In Kasane we also did a big group shop for enough ingredients to feed the 18 of us for the next 4 or 5 days in Botswana.  We'd be in the delta bush camping for a couple of days, so there was even more planning ahead necessary than usual.  Bangers and mash, beef stew, and things along those lines were in our near future. 

We crossed the border into Botswana after a ferry across the Chobe river.  From here on in through Botswana began a series of hoof and mouth prevention check points. Some were more strict than others, but it always involved a warning call from the cab of the truck that we were approaching one.  A scramble to hide the meat we were not supposed to be carrying in the rubbish bin, and usually getting off the truck to wipe our shoes in disinfectant.  Once we had to remove all footwear from our bags as well and pass those over the muddy chemicals mat.  Quite a production!

We spent the night at the Thebe River Camp after a late-afternoon river safari.  It was a pretty big boat, and we were still paralleling the other truck that would soon veer off toward Jo'burg, so we were a big group.  We saw elephants and hippos and crocodiles, impala, kudu, baboons and Cape Buffalo, as well as a beautiful African sunset...one of many to come!

The market in downtown Livingstone is filled with woodcarvings of hippos, giraffe, warthogs, elephants, etc.  They are lovely...but many are huge...and heavy, or fragile!  How do people ever get them home?  Some of the others had gone to the market with their T-shirts, shoes and things to trade for some of the carvings and other sculptures, jewelry and baskets.  It's amazing what they came back with.  Since we're just beginning our travels, and have such limited space, we were pretty disciplined about purchases.

Most of the music we've been hearing has been 80's classics or a kind of reggae or somethings that sounds sort of Latin, like a runba.  There was a man playing a wooden xylophone at the falls, and it definitely had that vibe.

Our attitudes and mood improved greatly after a trip to the Livingstone airport.  It took one seventh the price we'd paid to get to Grubby's from there, which was both extrememly annoying and made us feel like we were averaging the transport cost out somehow. The bag was found immediately, and we returned right away to celebrate and make the most of the day.  In the evening we went to a restaurant called Rhapsody on the edge of town and had a great meal.  The veg curry was delightful, and everyone had a good chat while winding down the brief time we'd spent together.  Clint and April were heading back to London, and Rich and Bern back to New Zealand.  We were already sure we'd have had an amazing trip with them, and we felt the same about Claire and Bryce and Esther...who were at dinner as well and would be continuing on to Cape Town.  Group dynamics can be an interesting challenge, but at this point our hopes were high with the folks we'd started to get to know so far.

Reisadvies ’waakzaamheid’ blijft ongewijzigd.
ELDORET/KAKAMEGA - Het Nederlandse ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken heeft maandag het reisadvies voor Kenia uitgebreid met een waarschuwing voor seksueel geweld. Politiefunctionarissen in Kenia geven toe dat verkrachting vaak voorkomt.

Naar aanleiding van de overval op een groep Nederlandse deelnemers aan een werkvakantie bij de stad Kakamega in het zuidwesten van Kenia, waarbij vijf jonge vrouwen werden verkracht, heeft het Nederlandse ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken het reisadvies voor Kenia aangepast. Behalve de raad om waakzaam te zijn wordt in het advies nu expliciet gewaarschuwd voor seksueel geweld.

Nederlanders die in Kenia wonen, weten maar al te goed dat die waarschuwing terecht is. „Ik heb vanmorgen de groep Nederlanders die bij mij op bezoek is, er nog maar even op gewezen”, zegt zendeling Jurjen de Groot. Namens de GZB woont en werkt hij met zijn vrouw en twee kinderen in het stadje Eldoret. Dat ligt op zo’n 80 kilometer afstand van Kakamega waar vorige week donderdagavond een tiental met speren, harken en een pistool gewapende Keniaanse mannen het terrein binnendrong waar twaalf deelnemers aan een werkvakantie van de christelijke organisatie Livingstone uit Amersfoort verbleven.

Bij die overval werd volgens de Keniaanse politie onder andere 650 euro en 185.000 Keniaanse shilling gestolen, bij elkaar opgeteld ongeveer 2300 euro. De Groot: „Dat is veel geld voor arme Kenianen.”

Bron: Erdee

Voor volledig artikel klik hier

The interviewer reflects on the eight years as Mayor:

He has an eye for detail, he delegates well, and he gets things done. Even his worst enemies agree that he was hugely instrumental in London winning the Olympic bid, throwing himself behind it early on, and whatever you think about the congestion charge system, it's not that it doesn't work. The question of his Blairesque 'legacy' is still up for grabs, but it's down to him that Crossrail is finally going to happen and by anybody's measure there's a whole lot more buses on the roads. You even occasionally these days see a copper on a mountain bike rather than a panda car - he's very proud of the fact that he's 'the first politician in 30 years to get policemen back out on the streets'.

The new Mayor has not yet received - the same reception. The Mayorality is a political position unlike any other in British politics - the Mayor is the executive power, a single person, there's no cabinet or government, the buck stops with him. The Ken Livingstone style was very different to the Boris style - he got advised by people and retained key decisions whereas Boris delegates to deputies.

The interview also talks about Livingstone's outspokenness:

But then it's his outspokenness, his anti-politicianness, which has always endeared him to the public. He says it how he finds it, and has a talent for insults like no other. When I ask about Veronica Wadley, editor of the Evening Standard, which campaigned against his re-election, he calls her 'pure evil'. And he refused to compare Amanda Platell, the former Tory spin-doctor and now Daily Mail columnist, to an attack dog 'because that's unfair to attack dogs'.

The interview discusses Ken Livingstone's love of London, and politics:

'I could never leave. I love it here. It's where I want my children to grow up. When people say to me, "You shouldn't have lost to Boris, it's not fair", I say to them, "If someone can remove you from political power, you shouldn't be there. This is the life that we have chosen." That's a line in Godfather II when Hyman Roth says, "Mo Green was like a son to me, but when he was killed, I didn't complain because this is the life we have chosen." And these are the rules.'

It goes on to discuss the importance of personal and political loyalty to Livingstone, which damaged him - for example his support for Lee Jasper despite criticisms and accusations against him. It appears the new Mayor is being quicker to try and prevent such accusations when concerns over inappropriate comments by his own team have been raised (however it came about).

The interview also touches on what Ken Livingston is doing now - including his turning up at Mayor's Questions at City Hall to see how his successor is doing, which has led to this response from Tristram Hunt:

Livingstone was a great mayor, but his era is over. Either Ken should go and play with the forces of international capital for which he expressed such admiration during his time in City Hall. Or, like a Cricklewood Cincinnatus, he should tend his garden and feed his newts, having served his civitas well.

Hunt also says that

Despite Boris Johnson's recent clanger over the Olympics memorandum of understanding - which he claimed didn't exist, when it was up for everyone to see on a government website - the new mayor has not thus far proved a disaster"

(which I assume is not a measure of success thus far).

The difficulty being Mayor is that you deal with big, strategic issues. You are the leader showing the way to go, you are, generally, not empowered by law to get on the ground and change some of the big things (but have the greatest influence over transport and policing). The main power is to influence and direct others. The approach Mayor Johnson is taking is more collaborative and may work, but only if he shows leadership and an absolutely clear theology behind what he is doing. Livingstone's was clear, but criticised for being divisive. How will the new Mayor's work?

Scrutiny of possible irregularities and the policies of politicians is vital, but shouldn't be passed off as something it isn't, surely...

Mr Johnson said he thought many Londoners were uncomfortable with how the scheme was funded. Former mayor Ken Livingstone signed the deal at City Hall in February 2007. In return, a team of officials from the Greater London Authority agreed to work in Venezuela advising on recycling, waste management, traffic and on reducing carbon emissions.

Mr Johnson said: "I think many Londoners felt uncomfortable about the bus operation of one of the world's financial powerhouses being funded by the people of a country where many people live in extreme poverty. "I simply think there are better ways of benefiting Londoners and better ways of benefiting Venezuelans." He added: "We will continue to offer the half-priced travel concession to Londoners on income support for the duration for which the deal was originally planned, and will continue to improve the capital's transport system and ensure that it is accessible and able to meet the needs of all those who rely on it."

The current deal is due to conclude on 20 August. Mr Livingstone attacked the decision not to renew the deal.

He said: "It shows that he is more interested in pursuing his right-wing ideological agenda than improving the living standards of the most deprived people in the capital.

"The fact that the first significant action by Johnson's Tory regime is against the poorest people in the capital is highly significant as is the cowardly way he has made the announcement on bank holiday Sunday without any consultation with the organisations representing the thousands of carers, single parents and others affected."

Mr Livingstone added: "The suggestion that Johnson is motivated by any concern about the people of Venezuela is just a lie shown by the fact that he is withdrawing all technical support and advice provided by London under this agreement."

Whether some people in London don't like the oil deal with Venezuela is not entirely known, but what is certain is its more to do with Mr Johnson and his new cronies feeling uncomfortable in dealing with Socialist Chavez.

So how come the places like the US state of Massachusetts signed a deal Venezuela to provide cheap heating oil to poor households and that Similar deals were also signed in Boston and New York? They are comfortable with it. Why not Johnson?

A pesar de eso, Zambia es alucinante. Primero, porque estan las cataratas de Victoria. Son muy impresionantes porque cuando las visitas te puedes dar un paseo justo enfrente de ellas.

Cuando fuimos habia tanta agua que parecia que estuvieras dentro, acabamos empapados.

Despues de ir a las cataratas visitamos Lusaka, la capital y nos quedamos una noche a dormir en casa de una amiga de Sebas que trabaja en la capital de profesora en un cole. Es desde alli que cogimos el "autobus infernal" para atravesar el pais y llegar al parque Nacional de Luangwa. El destino valio muchisimo la pena.

Estuvimos tres dias en un camping justo al lado del parque. El camping es genial. Justo cuando llegamos habia un hipopotamo comiendose el cesped a unos metros de nosotros!! Ademas dormimos en una plataforma sobre un arbol solo con la mosquitera! a la manana siguiente nos despertaron unos monos que se habian empenado en probarse los calzoncillos de Sebastien! tambien nos robaron unos huevos duros que cocinamos...Al medio dia nos visitaron unos elefantes y justo a la salida del camping, en el camino al pueblo vimos cuatro leones!!!! Bueno, todo un safari sin salir del sitio. Tampoco te dejan salir andando del camping,claro.

De todas maneras hicimos un safari nocturno y otro al amanecer. Lo mas impresionante que vimos fue un leopardo, el animal mas dificil de ver y una leona amamantando a sus cachorros. En resumen fueron alucinantes nuestros dias en Zambia, dejando a parte el transporte.

Fotos aqui

Photos de l'article : L'autobus infernal

Las cataratas de Victoria
Les chutes Victoria

Donde esta Sébastien en el autobus infernal?
Mais où est Sébastien dans le bus infernal?

Plataforma sobre un arbol
Cabane dans les arbres

Nous avons parcouru une centaine de kilomètres depuis la frontière pour nous rendre à la ville de Livingstone. Là se trouvent les chutes Victoria et le spectacle vaut vraiment le détour. Le parcours de la visite t'emmène au milieu des chutes. Douche et sensations fortes assurées. Et si ce n'est pas suffisant pour les émotions, il y a la possibilité de sauter en élastique du pont qui sépare la Zambie du Zimbabwe. Nous avons préféré ne pas le faire. 110m de chute libre, pas assez haut pour nous.

Nous avons décidé alors de nous rendre à la capitale Lusaka en bus. Mauvaise idée!!! Après de sept heures de calvaire nous étions bien décidés à ne pas vouloir répéter l'expérience. Deux jours plus tard, rebelote. Nous n'avons pas le choix. Si nous voulions arriver à South Luangwa, il n'y a pas d'autres moyens de transport que le bus. Le conducteur roule comme un pilote de formule 1 et, dans chaque virage, on avait l'impression que le bus allait se coucher. Résultat : 18 heures de route pour parcourir 300 km, deux pannes et 100 personnes et leurs énormes bagages compressés comme des sardines sous 300 degrés. Génial !

Maintenant franchement le spectacle du parc vaut le détour aussi. La "game drive" nocturne nous a permis de profiter de la faune et de la flore d'une autre manière. Nous avons dormi dans une cabane dans un arbre au-dessus des hippos , des éléphants et même des lions.

Nous nous sommes fait bouffer par les moustiques, au moins 300 piqures sur nos beaux corps.

Nous n'avions pas d'argent pour passer la frontière, mais une fois de plus la magie nous a permis de voyager gratis en taxi jusqu'au Malawi.

Nous avons beaucoup de vidéos de magie en Zambie, mais le format ne nous permet pas de les mettre sur le blog. Juste un petit oubli de notre part. Pas de panique on n'arrête pas de faire des tours et encore des tours et nous renverrons quelques belles vidéos pour la prochaine fois.

Photos cliquer ici

Según os da clínica veterinaria atopárono morto porque a gata  rechazouno e... bah! non sei porque a verda e ke nos deron unhas explicacións bastante incoherentes pero bueno non teño motivos para sospeitar deles porque e probable ke se eu o atopei abandonado na Darsena fose porque súa nai tamén o rechazara. O parecer e un comportamento habitual das gatas cando notan que a cria ten algunha tara.

Fora como fose deume moita rabia, o pobre non tivo oportunidade nin sequera de ver a luz, e claro dame por pensar que se cadra se o criaramos nos na casa tivera sobrevivido.

En homenaxe a él e a todos os que esa filla de puta ke é a  vida non lles da unha oportunidade podedes ver as únicas fotos ke tivemos oportunidade de sacarlle nesta dirección.

Descansa en paz Livingstone.

Yes, alongside the 'What's in your man drawer?' and 'I feel like a tart after 50 one-night stands' articles in today's Sun, is this peach of a quote from Hatton on page 46

I see similarities in my career to Naz. He was one of the best fighters Britain has ever had. He got beat, came back with a mediocre performance and disappeared off the face of the earth....

Too much information perhaps?

Meanwhile, former 'marmite mayor' Livingstone is joining LBC. Alas, joining commercial radio probably means he won't be able to find jobs for all his socialist mates this time.

-mira, te presento a Nervios -me dice Pablo cuando llega a casa mientras yo daba los últimos retoques a la comida en la cocina.

_ah !! qué es eso? - me dio un poco de grima, así...tan pequeño, parecía un topillo.

-lo encontré entre las rocas del dique dando tumbos y gritando como un condenao y como no vi más bebés gato ni a mamá gata pues lo traje.

Y aquí está,en una cajita de cartón entre periódicos y camisetas viejas, no abre los ojos pero te huele,hay que levantarse por la noche para darle el biberón, darle masajes en la espalda después de comer para que expulse los gases, pasarle una gasita húmeda para lavarlo por la mañana y por la tarde,acariciarlo de vez en cuando para que no nos salga huraño,encenderle la mantita eléctrica...un show vamos!! Sólo lleva dos días en casa y ya creo que mi vida sin él no tendría sentido jijiji!!! Es un bebé todo negrito y estoy deseando verlo cuando abra los ojos. Esta tarde lo vamos a llevar a una mamá gata adoptiva a ver si lo acepta y le da de mamar ( rezad para que así sea ), es lo mejor para todos aunque una parte de mi se resiste...y quiere ser su mamá. Bueno, a ver si tiene suerte para poder ser un gatito fuerte y listo en pocas semanas.Estoy sin cámara, tengo que gorronear una para poneros una fotillo.

On the commemoration of the World Press Freedom Day May 3rd 2008,in Livingstone.

Honorable Minister, Southern Province

The Mayor of Livingstone

The District Commissioner

Fellow members of the press

Ladies and gentlemen.

Let me start by saying that today is a very special day in the life of a Journalist as this is the day when we reflect on our achievements, pitfalls and our plans for the future.

The theme for this year “freedom of information, Access to Information and Empowerment of people” is also very special because it embraces the needs and aspirations of all stakeholders, regardless of status.

By this I mean that the theme is all inclusive because freedom of information is not only for the media, or Journalists per se but the general public as well.

Information is required to be accessed in order for the public to participate meaningfully and effectively in the affairs of the society, therefore, access to information is an essential part of good governance and freedom of information and expression is a basic condition of the progress and development of citizens and society.

The government has on several occasions claimed they are in a hurry to develop the country but we in the media know that that there can be no development without a free media and hence we are calling upon government to expedite the tabling of the information bill before parliament soon as it aims at promoting a culture of openness within government.

It goes without saying that these days the freedom of information and expression is being recognized as a fundamental human right and therefore, the freedom of information bill will oblige public bodies to do more than accede to requests for information.

We however, appreciate that government has provided in the recent past a somewhat conducive atmosphere to do with proliferation of community radio stations but still remains adamant on the enactment of the freedom of information bill.

Viva Press Freedom

Viva Freedom of information

Viva World Press Freedom day

Freedom & Access to information Now!!!

World Press Freedom Day

The World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) organizing committee in Zambia sent me to Livingstone to coordinate the World Press freedom Day activities in Livingstone. And one of the tasks I did was write the speech for the Southern Province Minister.

The speech was accepted by the Ministers office and no alterations were made to the speech.

At the same function I also on behalf of the WPFD organizing committee delivered a speech regards the media in the country.

Below is a story that appeared in the Zambia Daily Mail on May 5^th 2008.

MUNKOMBWE BACKS FOI LEGISLATION.

By Wallen Simwaka

Southern Province Minister Daniel Munkombwe says information is vital for the public to effectively participate in public affairs and make the government simpler.

In a speech read for him by Deputy Permanent Secretary Aaron Zulu at the World Press Freedom day celebrations in Livingstone on Saturday May 3^rd, My Munkombwe said access to information was essential to good governance.

Mr. Munkombwe said freedom of expression constituted one of the most essential foundations of a democratic society because it was a basic condition to the enjoyment of other rights.

“Without freedom of information and expression free discussions particularly on political issues such as national Constitution Conference (NCC) would be stifled,” he said.

“Mr. Munkombwe said government is aware that the free flow of information lies at the heart of the very notion of democracy. It is crucial to the effective respect of human rights”.

Government under the leadership of President Mwanawasa was committed to ensuring that human rights were respected, he said.

Mr. Mukombwe challenged media practitioners in the Southern Province to be proactive and endeavor to capture what government was doing rather than just focus on the negatives.

He, however warned the media to be careful in demanding for public information saying there should be some restrictions to certain aspects of information in the interest of national security.

And World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) organizing committee member Sally Chiwama said there would be no development without a free Media.

Ms Chiwama urged government to expedite the enactment of the Freedom of information legislation because information it would promote a culture of openness in the public sector.

“Government has always said that they are in a hurry to develop the country on several occasions but it should realize that there can be no development without a free media,” she said.

Livingstone Press Club Chairperson Florence Mwisa said the right to freedom of information was now recognized as a fundamental right because public bodies were not holding information for themselves but for the general citizenry.

Ms. Mwisa said the media would find it difficult to expose corrupt leaders if access to information was restricted unnecessarily.

Cripes!

I mean to say, by jingo! What in the wide world of sports were the London electorate thinking of?

First, let's consider the national picture. It's been clear for some years that the Labour vote was collapsing. What's saved New Labour up to this point is that it's largely collapsed into abstention. To the extent that traditional Labour voters have defected, they've gone all over the shop - to the Lib Dems in some areas, the BNP in others and so on. There hasn't been a massive swing to the Tories. And I'm still not sure that there is - what's happening seems to be that the traditional Tory base, after years of demoralisation, has become energised again. Plus, there's Rankin' Dave Cameron with his strategy of making the Tories as inoffensive as possible, so they aren't in a position where the majority of the electorate hate their guts and will return even the most useless Labour government in order to keep them out.

So you ended up in London with a sort of dual Boris campaign. There was the official Boris campaign, with the candidate playing down his neo-Thatcherite politics, straining mightily to avoid gaffes, and apparently having no policies other than buying a shitload of new Routemaster buses. In fact, in the popular view BoJo was more or less eviscerated of any politics, and simply viewed as that amusing bloke off Have I Got News For You. Then you had the unofficial Boris campaign, aka the Daily Mail and Evil Standard, pitching squarely to mobilise the Tory base on a hard rightist basis. Which seems to have worked: there was a massive turnout in the Tory-voting suburbs, the UKIP vote collapsed towards the Tories, and they also managed to mop up a large chunk of right-leaning Lib Dems.

The optics of the thing were really quite fascinating. On crime, Boris made some modest noises about putting more PSCOs on the Tube. Meanwhile, the Evil Standard screeched that London was facing a tidal wave of violent crime, and it was all Ken's fault. On race - and the whole election had a nasty racial overtone - the contrast was even sharper. Boris spent a lot of time living down his various politically incorrect remarks of the past, and stressing how proud he was of London's great multiracial community. On the other hand, the Mail and Standard promised that Boris would end the ethnic gravy train at City Hall. Hence the prominence of the Lee Jasper saga. Actually, though I'm none too fond of Jasper, my view is that Lee Jasper-type figures are pretty much unavoidable in big multi-ethnic cities, and Boris is likely to acquire some Jaspers of his own.

So now London gazes into the uncharted future of a Boris administration. Given that the city has just replaced a competent and experienced city manager with someone whose only experience of administration relates to the Spectator drinks cabinet, it's no wonder Cameron is nervous.

As for the Cheeky Chappie, there may be a few useful pointers here. It's notable that Ken's vote rose quite sharply as voters rallied to stop Boris. It's also worth noting that not only did Ken outpoll the Labour Party, but the Labour vote as such held up much better in London than elsewhere. At a time when the New Labour coalition seems to have broken down, should we really be surprised that an old-fashioned left social democrat, who has made modest but tangible improvements to Londoners' quality of life, should do relatively well when Labour as a whole has done appallingly? It's something that Labour Party members might do well to consider.

It looks to me like Mr Lewis is a man who has actually achieved something, and hopefully can bring his experience into a city wide role, as he is being special responsibility for crime. After the disaster of Lee Jasper for Ken, people may be intially sceptical. But Ken Livingstone's race advisor Lee Jasper, always seemed to have made his career out of heading Black organisations and fighting percieved White racism, so a problem solver rather than a blamer of others seems an improvement.

Don't know what the BNP voters advised to give Johnson second preference votes will make of this!