24 April 2008

Election Theft - As Usual?

Mugabe continues to try to steal elections. Things have gone smoothly for him in past elections. However, it's not going quite as easily this time. Perhaps these cartoons from ZimOnline and Zapiro tell it best.






The most encouraging sign that the fix may not hold is that the party line newspaper has floated the idea of a unity government. If that will end the violence and begin a transition toward sanity, let it be welcomed with open arms (the hugging kind not the shooting kind).

22 April 2008

TAGGED!

I was tagged by Notes from underground.

The rules are:

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about himself.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

What was I doing 10 years ago:
Teaching at the Baptist Theological Seminary of Zimbabwe in Gweru, Zimbabwe.

Five things on my To Do List today:
1. Survive the day at Arkansas Records Management.
2. Process in Photoshop some of the photos taken with my son at the Corvette show held here in Hot Springs, AR this weekend.
3. Try not to waste too much time watching democratic party election returns.
4. Try not to hold my breath until Zimbabwe presidential election results are announced.
5. Talk to my cockateil.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
  • Return to Africa.
  • Help fund theological education in southern Africa.
  • Start a retreat centre for silent retreats

Three of my bad habits:
1. Watching/listening to news programmes.
2. Procrastinating
3. Not exercising enough.

Five places I’ve lived:
1. Honolulu, Hawaii
2. Gweru, Zimbabwe
3. Pemba, Moçambique
4. Arusha, Tanzania
5. Hot Springs, AR

Five jobs I’ve had:
1. Chemistry Teacher
2. English as a Second Language Teacher
3. Cotton picker
4. Theology Teacher
5. Records Management Head of Operations

Five books I’ve recently read:
1. Jance, J. A. Exit Wounds
2.Obama, Barak. The Audacity of Hope
3.Peat, F. David. Superstrings and the Search for The Theory of Everything
4.Peck, M. Scott. Gifts for the Journey
5.Dinesen, Isak. Letters from Africa

The five I tagged:

12 April 2008

Pemba Ladies

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Unusual Hobby


When we lived in Gweru, Zimbabwe, my daughter, Malaika, had an unusual hobby. She hunted boomslangs.* She learned the sounds that birds made when a boomslang was raiding a nest. When she heard that sound, she would go out with her catapult, a walking stick and the dogs in search of the boomslang. When she located it in a tree, she would shoot at it with her catapult until she knocked it from the tree. Once it was on the ground, she would finish it off with her walking stick. The boomslangs were not overjoyed by her hobby. However, the birds considered her a great friend and saviour.

In the above picture Malaika is holding a boomslang she killed in a most unusual manner. One morning when the rest of the family was on our weekly trip to town to check the post, buy groceries and have a dough-nut at the Dutch Oven Restaurant, Malaika stayed home doing schoolwork. While working at the dining room table, she heard our cat making funny noises in the living room. When she went to investigate, she saw this boomslang trying to get into the house through the window. It was between the screen and the window which opened with a crank located inside the house. Malaika went outside to attack the snake, but found there was no angle to get to it since the window was only partially opened. She then returned to the living room and cranked the window closed on the snake until she heard the bones crack. She knew that it couldn't move quickly with a broken back so she opened the window allowing the snake to fall to the ground. Then she ran out and finished it off with her walking stick.

Good thing I wasn't there. I'd have panicked and broken every window in the living room trying to eradicate the intruder.

*Boomslang -- A long, slender back-fanged snake with a potent venom. The venom is slow-acting and fortunately the venom yield is usually small resulting in few deaths from boomslang bites. Ordinary polyvalent anti venom is not effective for these bites. The male is bright grass green and the female is generally uniform olive. The juvenile is grey-brown with large emerald green eyes.

06 April 2008

Wimbi Beach


Wimbi Beach is located at the entrance to Pemba Bay in Pemba, Moçambique.

(Pardon the low quality photography.

A cheap disposable waterproof camera was used for these
and film was developed at a terrible photo processor in Malawi.)



It is the center of a growing tourist industry in Pemba.


After low tide, seaweed is cleared from the beach.

Low tide is a good time to find sea shells.


Along the palm lined beach are hotels and private and rental cottages.


My family used to try to visit the beach when low tide occurred around 6:00 AM
so we could avoid the heat while snorkeling.



Just a short way from shore is a reef which is great for snorkeling.