Category Archives: Family

WORLD CONTRACEPTION DAY MARKED AS YOUNG GIRLS IN KENYA ABUSE E-PILLS

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From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2013

Tomorrow is World Contraception Day, an annual event taking place on September 26 every year. Countries and regions around the world organize events to mark the day and to demonstrate their commitment to raising awareness of contraception and improving education regarding reproductive and sexual health.

The day is being marked when in Kenya the rising sales of emergency contraceptives commonly known as “morning-after pills” is worrying experts, following growing abuse by Kenya’s sexually active youth.

It is worrying that e-pills are being abused by many youth and underage girls. These pills are sold openly to young girls, including students by private chemists all over Kenya. Just as sex sells, so do the pills.

The drugs are supposed to be used twice per year but the girls take them almost every weekend without considering their side effects. This is because the pharmacists sell these drugs to these vulnerable young girls without doctor’s prescription. These pills are cheap and available. A packet sells for Sh150.

In a radio advertisement at the centre of a controversy in Kenya, a distraught teenage girl asks for help after having unprotected sex. “What shall I do? I’m still in college. What happens to my future, my friends, my family, my life?” she sobs.

Such advertisements have contributed a lot for the use of these pills among teenage girls. Some parents even encourage their girls to use them if they cannot overcome their sexual urges for intercourse.

Many young people are now using the e-pill routinely, some even buying the pills in advance in any case the boy friend insists on sex. College and university girls are using these pills irresponsibly.

Besides side-effects, like nausea, heavy bleeding and cramps, regular use of the emergency contraception may cause infertility and in some instances increase the risk of cancer, still this has not stopped these noble girls from using the pills.

The message these youth are getting is that what matters is that you go out and have fun because you won’t get pregnant. They don’t care about the side effect. The adverts are being sponsored by the US non-governmental organisation funding the campaign – Populations Services International in Kenya.

Besides that, frequent use of the e-pills affects your ovulation cycle and interferes with your fertility cycle. Yet taking the e-pill only solves a quarter of the problem, which is pregnancy, but leaves you susceptible to a myriad of serious STIs.

Furthermore, frequent consumption of the e-pill increases your chances of having an ectopic pregnancy. Again, since e-pills are used to prevent pregnancy within 120 hours of intercourse, girls who use them any time they have sex are at risk of terrible side effects.

E-pills are not supposed to be used as a regular birth control method due to their high hormonal content. Some of the most popular e-pills sold in Kenya are Postinor2, Pregno, Smart lady, Truston2 and Ecee2. Apart from nausea and dizziness, other side effects include vomiting and abdominal pain.

Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Facebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole

Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.

-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002

MY HOMILY ON TWENTY FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

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From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2013

Today’s first reading is taken from Am 8:4-7, second reading is from 1 Tm 2:1-8, the Gospel is from Lk 16:1-13. All the readings today emphasize the concept of Justice and peace. While justice is a virtue which guides the human will, prompting us to give others what is due to them by reason of their existence and their actions, peace is a gift of God implored with faith.

As prophet Amos speaks out in the first reading, we must fearlessly condemn greed, self-indulgence, corruption, complacency, and religious indifference in the strongest term possible. We must condemned political, religious and any other leaders who exploited and oppressed the poor.

We should emulate the courage of Anglican Bishop Alexander Muge who became a true voice to the voiceless of the exploited and oppressed people of God in Kenya. He fearlessly condemned Moi’s regime for corruption and ethnic cleansing which had begun sweeping through the Rift Valley, Western, Nyanza and other regions.

We should also emulate the courage of American Mill Hill missionary, Fr John Anthony Kaiser who fearlessly brought attention to the social problems facing people of God in Kenya. He became a vocal critic of the waves of evictions which were clearly government-backed.

He came into national limelight in the early 1990s when he vigorously resisted the eviction of the internally displaced people who had camped at Maela in Narok, following their eviction from Enoosupukia.

In the second reading St. Paul insists that we must speak the truth without fear, bias or favor. We should emulate the courage of American human rights activist, Malcolm X who courageously and fearlessly spoke the truth:

“I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.”

Jesus told his disciples that to believe in his is to know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” John 8:31,32. The key to genuine freedom is found in the phrase; “continue in my word”. Jesus says we come to know the truth by continuing in his teachings, and truth is that which will liberate us or make us free.

Truth will lead men and women, boys and girls to love one another. To the extent that we love one another, we shall also respect each other’s rights and privileges.

Later Saint Paul would write about the necessity to be numbered among those “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For…ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit” (Romans 8:4-6, 9). It is not a matter of being “bad” or “good” but of being truthful.

To live as a material being is to live a lie; to live as a spiritual being is to live the truth. And that is truly “life and peace.” “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit,” for “he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” with the Divine (Galatians 5:16; I Corinthians 6:17).

In the Gospel Christ is warning those who would follow him on the road to heaven not to become the slaves of earthly things. We should serve God, not money. No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.”

In simple word, Jesus wants us to be generous with what you have. Generosity is the habit of giving without expecting anything in return. It can involve offering time, assets or talents to aid someone in need. Generosity can also be spending time, money, or labor, for others, without being rewarded in return.

Although generosity often goes hand-in-hand with charity, it is not solely based on one’s economic status, but instead, includes the individual’s pure intentions of looking out for society’s common good and giving from the heart. In other words, generosity should reflect the individual’s passion to help others.

Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Facebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole

Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.

-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002

Analitical Mind, Very interesting……..!!!!!!

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From: Judy Miriga

– – – – – – – – – – –

Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Why is she Mrs Graca Machel and not Mrs Graca Mandela?

Graca Machel.

It is one of life’s little curiosities that the wife of arguably the world’s most famous man should not go by his name. Actually that she is called the name of her first husband.

Graca, a woman of grace, and a woman of substance, has been married to Nelson Mandela since 1998, and has the unique feat of having been First Lady of two countries – South Africa, between 1998 and 1999, when Mandela declined to stand for a second term of office, and Mozambique from 1975 to 1986 when her first husband, Samora Machel, died upon his presidential plane crashing in suspicious circumstances.

In all the 15 years she has been married to Mzee Mandela, she has been studiously referred to as Graca Machel. Why? (As if that is not enough, in those same years Winnie, whom Madiba divorced in 1996, kept the Mandela name, only inserting in between the Winnie and the Mandela her maiden name Madikizela).

Women’s names have always presented a quandary when the lady gets married. Very many happily take up their husband’s names on the wedding day, though a complication comes with issues like certificates (a couple of classmates in my post-graduate class kept juggling between their present names and those on their earlier academic transcripts).

Others struggle with as mundane a challenge as whether, upon marriage, to change their email addresses to reflect their married name. Maybe it is not so mundane.

Of course a few, certainly in Uganda, skirt the issue entirely by keeping their maiden names. My mentor William Pike’s wife, the equally wonderful Cathy Watson, springs to mind, as do my old schoolmates Dr Sylvia Tamale and her husband Prof Joe Oloka Onyango, law teachers both at Makerere University.

These two couples are entirely at peace with the status quo-ante which is the status quo. And so they should be.

But some have it in reverse. The last I heard of one of my lecturers at journalism school in Britain, an Englishman called Paul, was that he had immigrated to the US, married an American woman and taken up her surname.

It is a similar story of a former Japanese diplomat in Kampala, who had facilitated a trip for me to tour his country back in 1999. Diplomatic sources here told me that when he returned to his homeland, he got married and took up his wife’s name.

Pragmatic reasons

Most women readily take up their husband’s name, dropping their maiden and/or father’s name, because it is the accepted thing in most societies. Others take up hubby’s name for pragmatic reasons.

Take the next President of the United States (I prophesy). When she married Bill Clinton in 1975, she stuck to being called Hillary Rodham for about seven years till her man started campaigning for big office among conservative people. She then became Hillary Clinton, while a few times referring to herself as “Mrs Bill Clinton.”

The Russians have simplified it a bit. When a man and a woman get married, the suffix ‘a’ is added to the man’s surname and given to the woman.

Thus if Maria gets married to Mr Gorbachev, she becomes Gorbacheva; when Irina marries Mr Yeltsin, she will be known as Yeltsina. In Uganda Opolot’s wife would be Opolota and Amin’s would be Amina.

In Uganda, the Banyarwanda community, in contrast to the Russians, just add the prefix ‘Muka’. And so Mrs Nkusi will be Mukankusi, and Mrs Ndori will be known as Mukandori.

In the Kiganda culture, ‘muka’ also means ‘wife of’, though Baganda will keep it as a generic title, a general noun, unlike Banyarwanda who append it to the name. (The Kinyarwanda prefix has steadily evolved to be integral to the names themselves, thus it is now common for a single girl to be known as Miss Mukarwego, yet she is not married to Mr Rwego. She could have inherited the name from an ancestor of many generations ago).

What do you do when you move from being married to the world’s most powerful man to wedding one of the world’s richest men? Well, you keep both names. After she was widowed following President John F Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, Jacqueline (nee Lee Bouvier) kept the presidential name in marrying the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, and she became Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Others will simply hyphenate maiden name with hubby’s name: Philippines’ last President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, kept her father’s name Macapagal (also a former President) but hyphenated it with her husband’s, Mr Arroyo.

We also have our own Janet Kataaha Museveni, though not hyphenated, but still keeping father’s name while using hubby’s as well.

None of which explains why Graca is still called Machel when she has been married to Mandela for all this time.

http://mbuzimzee.blogspot.com/2013/07/why-is-she-mrs-graca-machel-and-not-mrs.html

EXTRAMARITAL SEX AND INFIDELITY IN MARRIAGE

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From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2012

Last Saturday Rev Fr Augustine Achaha of the Apostles of Jesus Missionaries presided over a wedding ceremony between Emily Matunda Mwafusi and Christopher Mwakatili Chorongo, one of its kind in 3 years at St Thomas Catholic Church in Magadi Soda, Ngong Diocese.

Basing his 37 minutes homily on extramarital sex and infidelity in marriage, Father Achaha caused laughter when he asked a question on what good do men get in other women’s wives that is not in their wives.

People laughed of course, but the truth of the matter is that cases of extramarital sex and infidelity in marriage are on the rise. Here in Kenya the act is popularly known in Swahili as ‘mpango wa kando’ (extramarital sex).

This is where a married man keeps a mistress elsewhere without the knowledge of his wife. A mistress is a long-term female lover and companion who is not married to her partner but can have children that the man must take care of as his rest of the lawful children.

The relationship generally is stable and at least semi-permanent; however, the couple does not live together openly. Also the relationship is usually, but not always, secret. There is an implication that a mistress may be “kept”—i.e., that the lover is paying for some of the woman’s living expenses including paying school fees for children and paying rent.

Because of its graveness this act may carry moral or religious and consequences in civil or religious law. It can lead to separation or divorce.

In Judaism the Torah prescribes the death penalty through stoning for adultery, which is defined as having sex with a woman who is married to another man. Two witnesses of good character had to testify in court for the case to be even considered by the judges.

Extramarital sex is considered to be immoral by most Christian groups, who base this primarily on passages like 1Cor 6:9-10: Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor sexual perverts, nor those who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Extramarital sex has historically been considered to be one of the more serious and damaging sins, possibly because of passages like 1 Corinthians 6:18 that speak of it as sinning against one’s own body.

In Islam the law prescribes severe punishments extramarital sex, by both men and women. Premarital sex could be punished by up to 100 lashes, while adultery is punishable by stoning.

There are reasons men give for cheating on their wives. They do so because they have become unsatisfied with their wives. Cheating usually occurs in the phase of companionate love, when couples begin to settle down, have kids and solidify the life being built together.

There are five categories leading to infidelity. One is opportunistic infidelity which occurs when a partner is in love and attached to a partner, but surrenders to their sexual desire for someone else. The opportunistic infidelity is driven by irrepressible lust, situational circumstances and/or opportunity, and sometimes, pure risk-taking behavior.

The second category is obligatory infidelity based on fear that refraining from someone’s sexual advances will result in rejection, and being unwilling to handle such rejection, resulting in surrender to them. Some people end up cheating solely on the need for approval from somebody, even though they still hold a strong attraction to their committed partner.

The third category is romantic infidelity which occurs when the cheater is in the process of “falling out of love” with his/her partner. The person’s self-perceived obligatory commitment to the relationship’s tenets and overall life-meaning is likely the only thing still keeping them with their partner in this example.

The fourth category is conflicted romantic infidelity which takes place when a person both falls in love with and has a strong sexual desire for multiple people at one time, even though s/he may already be committed to a partner.

In this circumstance the person feels s/he cannot tell his/her committed partner about what has happened, but is nevertheless unable to resist the compulsion.

The fifth category is commemorative infidelity which occurs when a person has completely fallen out of love with their spouse, but is still in a committed relationship with them.

If divorce results from infidelity, research suggest that the “faithful” spouse may experience feelings of low life satisfaction and self esteem; they may also engage in future relationships fearful of the same incidence occurring. Divorce is one response to marital infidelity.

The church is concerned about these issues because marriage and the family are of fundamental importance for the Church and for society.

Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Facebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole

Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.

-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002

Radical preacher wanted over Zanzibar acid attack shot in police raid

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From: Abdalah Hamis

By Mike Pflanz, Stone Town
6:24PM BST 10 Aug 2013

A radical Muslim preacher wanted for questioning over the acid attack on two British tourists in Zanzibar was shot on Saturday night as he fled police trying to arrest him.

Sheikh Issa Ponda is understood to have survived the raid and was on the run but injured, police sources told The Daily Telegraph.

He had visited Zanzibar in the weeks running up to the attack on Katie Gee and Kirstie Trup, both from north London, who were on Saturday still in hospital being treated for their injuries.

Ponda earlier this month met with the imprisoned leaders of a Muslim separatist group, Uamsho, who police believe may have inspired the attack on the two women.

Tanzania’s director of public prosecutions, Elieza Feleshi, on Friday ordered that the cleric be arrested after accusing him of inciting violence, for which he was convicted earlier this year and given a 12 month suspended sentence.

“He narrowly escaped from the police in Morogoro, he was shot by our officers, but we are pursuing him,” said Faustine Shilogile, a senior police commander in Morogoro, the town 110 miles west of Tanzania’s commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, where Ponda was shot.

The women, both aged 18, were admitted to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London on Friday where they were receiving treatment for burns inflicted in an unprovoked attack while they were on a volunteering holiday.

Family members of the pair are believed to be keeping a bedside vigil, after the teenagers were flown home yesterday and immediately sent to the capital’s regional burns centre.

A hospital spokesman confirmed the women continued to be treated by medics, and their conditions were described as “stable”.

Miss Gee has already taken to Twitter to say: “Thank you for all your support x”.

Their doctor, Andy Williams, a consultant burns and plastic surgeon, said: “We can confirm that Katie and Kirstie have been transferred to our care at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital’s burns unit where we’re still assessing their injuries.

“Both families would like to thank everyone that’s helped to bring the girls back.

“The families now wish to have time with the girls and that the media would respect their privacy at this difficult time.”

A photograph released by the girls’ families showed the injuries one of them suffered in the attack.

The girl is shown wearing an open striped shirt and a silver necklace.

What appear to be acid burns are clearly visible on her chin, neck and upper chest.

One of the girl’s injuries are much worse than the other’s, it was reported, because helpers used dirty water on her burns.

One of the victims was reportedly immersed in the sea in the aftermath of the attack at Stone Town, a beach resort, and the salt water helped her skin.

“That completely altered the result: the salt water and the acid,” Miss Trup’s father, Marc, said.

“The other girl panicked, ran around, made her way to a public toilet.”

When “they got to the medical centre there was no shower,” he added. “They were throwing dirty water at her.”

KENYA: HOMA BAY GOVERNOR CRIES FOUL OVER ALARMING SCHOOL PREGNANCIES

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from: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 2013

Homa Bay County Governor Cyprian Awiti expressed concern over the weekend about cases of school pregnancies and early marriages in his county. This is the county where cases of teachers defiling their students have proved uncontrollable. Many schoolgirls have dropped out of school after getting pregnant.

The problem extends to the neighboring Migori County where Suba and Nyatike districts have has been mostly affected. Other districts include Homa Bay, Ndhiwa, Mbita and Rachuonyo. These districts have been hit hard by the vice where a school could record up to ten cases of pregnancies in a year.

Efforts by authorities including chiefs to prevent parents from encouraging their daughters to get married at early age have not worked out either. Parents have also encouraged sexual relationships between their underage daughters and the miners in the areas because these miners have some money to spend both on the girl and on the parents.

According to Emily Waga, a senior children’s officer in the area this is happening because where poverty is common, girls become the best way out of it for many families. Many girls according to Ruth Adero, a maternal and child health nurse at Nyatike District Hospital are younger than 18 account for 48 percent of all expectant mothers visiting the Hospital.

Speaking to reporters in his Kisumu office recently, the area director of education Mr.Geoffrey Cherongis said the whole Nyanza Province is affected. Many of these girls are vulnerable because they are orphans and can easily be abused by men.

Apart from mining areas, the worst affected are those who hails from the fishing communities along the shores of Lake Victoria. Up to 13,000 Kenyan girls drop out of school every year as a result of pregnancy, and around 17 percent of girls have had sex before they turn 15.

Even though school’s policy in Kenya is to encourage girls to return to school after they give birth, many felt too stigmatised or had no help to look after their children and therefore stayed away or got married.

Many pregnancies have been reported from the slums. This is because many parents in the slum had inadequate control since work kept them away from their children, sometimes for days.

As a result, children learnt about sex from the wrong sources, such as the numerous video halls that allowed children to view pornographic films.

The girls also have to live in one room with their parents until they are mature, and many of them witness their parents having sex, so they learn about it early.

It is not only Homa Bay County or Nyanza that is affected but Kenya in general. It is reported that in Kenya, teenage pregnancies remain high at 18 per cent though with regional differentials.

In most cases, boda boda riders and relatives are accused of luring young girls with money and other goodies. Other culprits include amorous teachers, male pupils and members of the public.

Perhaps the most recent shocking incident is that of Chepkurkur Primary in Mt Elgon, Bungoma County where 18 pupils got pregnant and dropped out of school in June this year.

In the same month in Cheplanget Primary in Buret, Kericho County, five girls aged between 11 and 16 dropped out of school for similar reasons and boda boda riders were said to be the culprits.

Similarly, a survey by Plan International last year showed a total of 120 schoolgirls in Kilifi County dropping out of school due to early pregnancies.

Another survey by the National Council for Population and Development (NCPD) indicates that the Coastal region has the second highest teenage pregnancy rate in Kenya after the former Nyanza province.

The report shows that 26 per cent of teenagers in the former Coast province become pregnant after Nyanza which has a rate of 27 per cent rate. The teenage pregnancy rate for Central is 10 per cent. This statistics were not provided for other regions.

Report indicates that girls aged 15-19 years within coast region had already begun child bearing, while in Murang’a County the highest number of teenage pregnancies accounts for 18 per cent of teenage pregnancies within Central Kenya region.

While according to national figures the youth who are below the age of 18 account for 46 per cent of the national population, about 16 million girls between the age of 16 and 19 give birth a year, this is despite the fact that the Children’s Act provides for children’s rights to education.

In Section 7(1) it states, “Every child shall be entitled to education, the provision of which shall be the responsibility of the Government and parents.” Section 7(2) affirms the right and entitlement for every child to free basic education, which shall be compulsory in accordance with Article 28 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Yet the numbers of those teenagers visiting clinics for ante-natal services are few since many cannot afford the services or live too far from the clinics. For others, affording a single meal is a problem.

Before he became pope, Francis spoke his mind about many of the most sensitive topics the Roman Catholic Church faces today and sex abuse among minors was one of them. From “On Heaven and Earth,” published in 2012, and his authorized biography “The Jesuit,” published in 2010 and republished last recently as “Pope Francis, Pope calls for sex education to help curb the mess.

But he warns; this is only if done holistically, with love and not just sex in mind.

“I think it should be done throughout the growth of children, adapted to each phase. … What happens now is many of those who raise the banner of sex education understand it as separate from the person’s humanity. So, instead of counting on a sexual education law for the entire person, for love, it’s reduced to a law for sex.”

The church had initially argued that it was too risky introducing the subject in schools because of suspicions that teachers and organizations that have been campaigning for the use of condoms could use the forum to supply the students with such devices.

In other words, sex education in schools should be handled by teachers of integrity and high morals and who are themselves trained on the issues so as to avoid a negative effect or influence on impressionable minds while trying to shape the lives of the young people.

In Sub-Saharan African by age 20, at least 80 percent youth are sexually experienced. For instance, 73 percent of all Liberian women aged 15 to 19 have had intercourse, as have 53 percent of Nigerian, 49 percent of Ugandan, and 32 percent of Botswanan women.

In many sub-Saharan countries, first sexual activity takes place before marriage. Among Kenyan women, the median age at first marriage is 18.8 years, while the median age of first intercourse is 16.8 years. Data also show that four percent of Kenyan men are married by age 18, although 64 percent report sexual intercourse before that age.

Factors that influence the median age at first intercourse include residence and education. In Kenya, rural young women engage in intercourse earlier than urban women, and the median age at first intercourse for women with no education, three years earlier than women with at least a secondary school education.

In a Ugandan study, 17 percent of young women ages 15 to 18 have undergone an abortion. Most of them are not prepared to take care of the children because the reason for having intercourse was not for having babies.

A review of 13 studies in seven sub-Saharan African countries show that adolescents between the ages of 11 and 19 years account for 39 to 72 percent of all abortion-related complications.

Young men often begin sexual activity earlier and have more sexual partners than young women. In Guinea, the mean age for first sexual intercourse among young men is 15.6 and among young women, 16.3. Further, Guinea’s sexually active young men report a mean lifetime number of four sexual partners, compared to 2.1 partners among sexually active young women.

Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.comFacebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole

Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.

-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002

UN: Reject Nigerian Senate changes to law allowing girls’ under-age marriages — Youth & Children

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From: athmanabdallahmohamed

I strongly back the rejection! And I feel that we should all do to protect the rights of girl chald in Africa

………..
Mr. Athumani Abdulla Mohamed
Finance & Admin Officer
C.I.P.K – Mombasa
Mob: 0705863475

– – – – – – – – – – –

——– Original message ——–
From: Emmanuel Dennis
Date:
Subject: UN: Reject Nigerian Senate changes to law allowing girls’ under-age marriages — Youth & Children

AfricaFiles

Action: UN: Reject Nigerian Senate changes to law allowing girls’ under-age marriages
Act By: 8/1/2013
Sponsor: Eme Awa
Other Contact Info: mail@change.org
Action Site: Change.org

African Charter Article# 18: The State will protect the family as the natural unit and basis of society; the rights of women, children, the aged, and the disabled will be protected.

Summary & Comment: Under Section 29 (4a and 4b) of the Nigerian Constitution, a woman shall not be qualified for marriage until she is 18 years of age. The Nigerian Senate has proposed changing that provision to “a woman is deemed to be of full age once she is married,” irrespective of the age she did so. Please urge the UN to reject this change by August 1, 2013, when the petition is scheduled to be submitted to the UN. JS

——–

United Nations: Stop the Nigerian Senate from making under-age marriage the law!

Please sign this petition to protect many generations of Nigerian girl children, now and in the future, from sexual exploitation. Please urge the UN to reject this change by August 1, 2013, when the petition is scheduled to be submitted to the UN.

http://www.change.org/petitions/united-nations-stop-the-nigerian-senate-from-making-under-age-marriage-the-law?utm_source=supporter_message&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=petition_message_notice

http://charlesegwuba.wordpress.com/2013/07/20/childnotbride-a-disjointed-and-ridiculous-law-by-the-nigerian-senate/

http://allafrica.com/stories/201307220337.html

Kenyua, Kisumu County: Men who marry underage girls to be castrated

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from: Judy Miriga

Good People,

While I condemn the behiviour of marrying underage young girls, the panishment proposed here is harsher than can imagined.

Je, huyu Gavana, ametumwa? To me, it is associated to the “Cut”‘ Couldnt he look for another way for punishment???…..Hapa niko na tashwishi……..iko nyama…….lazima hii maneno ichunguzwe… Are the Chinese contract for harvesting in the “Cut” still valid in Luo Nyanza??? I mean, are these cutters still going to the villages tu cut in the wee of darkness……..I think this Gavana need to be serious…….I am being troubled……… Mali ya Mungu need peace.

This thing about looking for punishment as damage control in the wrong sector of industrial department is bothering me……

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com

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Kisumu County: Men who marry underage girls to be castrated

Written by KNU Reporter
Published inGovernor News Saturday, 03 August 2013 09:59

Men marrying underage children in Kisumu County may be in danger once new by-laws come into effect.

They are even suggestions they should be castrated as a punishment for marrying a child who should be in school instead of taking care of a grown man as a husband.

A Kisumu County assembly member took a child abuse debate too far when debating on a motion seeking to come up with stringent by-laws that protect children’s rights.

County assembly member for West Seme Benta Ndeda stood up to raise a proposal that stunned many of her counterparts.

Ms Ndeda claimed she was disappointed with many elderly men who force underage girls into their homes.

She said this stopped many of the girls continuing with their education.

The matter and the ‘harsh’ measure of castrating law breakers, however, was not taken well by her male counterparts.

“It is so painful that many young girls are taken and forced into marriage by men who should be castrated as punishment,” said Ndeda.

In many countries in the world, castration has been a common procedure in dealing with sex offenders.

– See more at:
http://kenyanewsupdates.com/county-news/governor-news/item/732-kisumu-county-men-who-marry-underage-girls-to-be-castrated.html#sthash.iWcveQa5.dpuf

ALL OF US TO BLAME FOR TEEN PREGNANCY

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From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
MONDAY, AUGUST 5, 2013

Deputy President William Ruto over the weekend on his political tour to woe electorates in Western Kenya to join and support Jubilee coalition said chiefs are to blame for teen pregnancy, threatening they would be sacked if they do not stop the vice. Ruto said chiefs know very well who impregnate these girls and yet they do not charge them.

This is to think naïve. All of us politicians, business men, members of clergy, etc are responsible for the pregnancy of these innocent tender girls. January 10, 2005 was a Monday like today when my article ran on Kenya Times.

The article depicted the drama in an Eldoret when members of the public caught a business man red-handed with a school girl in lodging preparing to have sex. This was just few of such cases that had been reported in that area.

When the 16-year old Form Two girl who admitted to have consented to sex after the business man had bought her some chapati (flat baked bread), was asked why she consented to sex when she was still a minor and at school, the answer crowned it all. We are consenting to sex because our parents cannot afford to cater for our basic needs.

The girl did not shy off to state very bravely that there were several of such business men in the area who lured schoolgirls with money. They even bought them expensive phones, paid their school fees, did for them shopping. “These guys are just good to us”, the girl expressed.

The girl who said the man who is having sex with her even when school is closed was her neighbour said he had bought an assortment of items for her to take to school. He had taken her to a supermarket in town where he did the back-to-school shopping for her before the lodging ordeal.

The girl said almost every girl in that school had an elderly man friend and her case was just very unfortunate because they were caught. The whole thing here is not just sex- it is to do with poverty.

While Ruto was putting blames on chiefs, elsewhere a doctor had been arrested for performing abortion on 17 years old girl. Again this is just few cases of abortions performed on teenagers. On Thursday, September 23, 2004 the same newspaper, Kenya Times ran my story on this ordeal.

The story was about the former Nairobi archdiocese Bishop’s secretary, Father Maloba Wesonga. He had thrown the blame on the leading Catholic leaders including President Kibaki, Leader of the Official Opposition Uhuru Kenyatta and National Assembly Speaker, Francis Ole Kaparo for failing to come forward to condemn abortion in Kenya which was on the rise that year.

A National Assessment of the Magnitude and Consequences of Unsafe Abortion in Kenya had just released its report that year that an estimated 300,000 abortions were being performed annually, 700 daily with 2,600 women dying every year from complications related to abortion.

Catholic leaders could not condemn abortion because the constitution that time did not specify when life of a person begins. That is why in 2004 Lady Justice Rawal acquitted Dr. John Nyamu on the ground that the unborn children were according to Section 214 of the penal incapable of being killed.

This was partly because prosecution had chosen to charge Dr. Nyamu for murder (S.203 of penal code) and not the procuring of abortion (158 to 160 of the penal code). That is also why the judge ignored the provisions of the criminal procedure code that required her to find the accused guilty of killing the unborn even though he had not been charged with it (181(2) of the Criminal procedure code).

Dr John Nyamu was arrested for performing abortion which included 15 foetuses found dumped in a Nairobi river. Fourteen suspects were arrested in connection with the dumping. They included 10 proprietors of various back-street clinics in Eastlands area, where the unborn babies were retrieved.

Even in Tanzania where abortion is restricted by law, there is overwhelming evidence that it is widely practised. Studies show that illegal abortion is one of the major causes of maternal mortality. A study conducted in the Southern Highlands in 1983 estimated that 17 per cent of maternal deaths were directly associated with abortion.

Even in Uganda where under the Penal Code of 15 June 1950 (sections 136-138, 205 and 217) the performance of abortions is generally prohibited, abortion is still performed. As a result, there is a high level of maternal mortality, estimated in 1990 at 1,200 deaths per 100,000 live births.

The reasons women and girls cite for choosing abortion are broadly similar throughout the world: Women may want to stop or postpone childbearing. They may have socio-economic reasons for ending pregnancy — they may not be able to afford the costs of having and raising a child, or they may want to continue pursuing their educational and career goals.

Others may choose abortion because of relationship problems or because their pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. And still others may cite age or health reasons — they feel too young or too old to have a baby or that pregnancy will affect their own or their baby’s health.

At the time Dr Nyamu was accused of performing abortion, every single day Kenyatta National Hospital received between 40 to 60 abortion cases with most of the patients being teenagers and young women barely into their twenties.

It was the same time that Legislator Adeline Mwau wanted to see abortion legalised in Kenya. She argued that there is a strong link between abortion and poverty and that is why if one cannot take care of the baby, the only alternative is to terminate it.

“Is it better to bring up a child who then becomes a street child, or to bring up seven children that one is unable to take care of?,” she was quoted by media as asking and adds that women should continue aborting as long as there is no law in Kenya that forces a man to pay for the upkeep of a child fathered out of wedlock.

Girls and young women who do not want to get pregnant have resorted in taking Morning- After Pill (MAP). MAP works by preventing ovulation or making it difficult for a fertilized egg to implant in the uterine wall. MAP is 75-80 percent effective in preventing pregnancy.

It consists of a relatively high dose of Estrogen & Presterone and is given within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse to women who are ovulating and are near midcycle (ovulation).

Other methods to prevent pregnancies include the Abortion Pill (brand name Mifeprex) which is a form of early abortion caused by the combination of two medications, mifepristone and misoprostol. Mifepristone blocks the hormone progesterone needed to maintain the pregnancy.

Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Facebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole

Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.

-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002

KENYA: MUHORONI POLITICIAN ACCUSED OF HARRASING HIS LATE BROTHER’S CHILDREN

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By Our Reporter.

The grandsons of the late Elly Athembo Onyuro one of the leading pioneer cane farmers and businessmen within Muhoroni, Nyando and Kisumu Districts are appealing to the Provincial Administration and the police to protect them from their two uncles one who contested Muhoroni Parliamentary seat in ODM party ticket in 2007 and contested for Miwani Counrty Assembly in CORD during the last general elections who have made life full of hell for them as they allege that the duo want to deprive them of their late father Isaac Onyuro.

According to the spokesperson of the grandchildren of the late Elly who was famous within the current KIsumu County Robert Elly Onyuro one of his half uncles who is a retired medical clerk and his brother are behaving as if they are a law to themselves as they harass and intimidate them even on their late father’s properties.

Speaking to this reporter on a wheel chair with both broken legs and arms as a result of injuries inflicted by thugs hired by his uncle to harm him and kill him over the said wealth rivalry Robert added that there is a criminal case PF 603/75/2013 AND Case no.75 of 2013 of which his uncle is accused of attacking him and maliciously damaging his late dad’s properties).

He says that his uncle with a group of thugs attacked him demanding that he quits staying in their home which has resulted to him currently staying in Kisumu which is forty five kilometers from his late father’s vast empire of land as he fears that the thugs might attempt to attack and harm him again.

“My uncle has been encroaching on my late father Isaac Onyuro’s properties harassing workers and tenants that he is the estate administrator of my late father which is not true as even during the time my father was alive they were not on talking terms and he would fight my dad which resulted to my dad concentrating in making his own wealth “Robert added.

He added that his uncle should differentiate between their late grandfathers’ wealth and Robert’s father’s wealth saying that his uncle is mixing things with a view of defrauding them as one of the documents within our possessions written by Otieno ,Ragot and Company Advocates calling for the intervention of the Officer Commanding Police Station Ahero in regard to land title nos Kisumu /Kabar/4459,4093,4157 & 4751.

Part of the letter reads “Our clients are Elly Robert Onyuro and Eunice Akinyi(wife of the late Isaac and mother of Robert) and it has emerged that Shem Athembo Onyuro and Gerald Ochieng’ Onyuro have frequently transferred the above mentioned parcels of land into their respective names without following the due process of law without doing succession under the Law of Succession Act Cap 160 Laws of Kenya”.

The letter signed by Advocate Moses Munuang’o on behalf of the said legal firm adds that due to the fraudulent acts of Shem to Onyuro Athembo and Gerald Ochieng’ Onyuro ,an acrimony has emerged between them and other beneficiaries of the estate of Elly Onyuro Athembo and on one occasion he threatened to assault our clients when the latter discovered that they had indeed transferred the land in their favor

According to further documents within our possession the said uncle has written to one of the tenant’s in Ahero Town demanding rent from him yet the building doesn’t belong to him and went ahead to send an Auctioneer to proclaim his properties an action which was stopped by Bruce Odeny and Company Advocates.

The letter which is addressed to Madume Auctioneers of Kisumu reads in part “Your proclamation notice dated 20/6/2013 against one Eric Omondi of Kadinda Cycle Hardware at Ahero town has been placed into our hands with instructions to respond thereto as follows; our client is the equitable owner of the premises you have levied distress and also the landlord of the said Erick Omondi.The said Shem Onyuro Athembo does not own the said property nor is the landlord to Erick Omondi” the letter said in part.

It goes on to tell the auctioneer that at no point did Robert Onyuro instructed him to levy distress against the tenant who is not in any rent default as at the time of his proclamation and wonders where he obtained the instruction and authority to embarrass their client’s tenant as you did and finally demanding that he withdraw the said proclamation.

Robert further says that in his current condition where he is washed ,fed and taken around his uncle has further gone ahead to stop payments for canes he harvested from his late dad’s farm.

“I do not understand the meaning of his letter to the farmer’s co-operative society if it’s not aimed at killing me, these are the monies I use to educate my nine siblings who are in various institutions of learning” Robert added.

The letter written by his uncle Shem Athembo Onyuro to the Chairman ,Secretary and Treasurer of Olikoliero Farmers Cooperation Society and copied to Managing Director Kibos Sugar and Allied Industries Ltd warns of dire consequences should they go ahead and pay Robert for his cane he delivered to the said Co-operative.

“The said land where the cane was harvested he says belongs my late dad Isaac and not my grandfather “Robert added.

But his woes appears to have been selvedge through a letter addressed to Kibos Sugar & Allied Industries by his advocate Bruce Odeny and Company Advocates in regard to unlawful stoppage of cane transaction by Shem Athembo Onyuro against his client who is the administrator of the estate of his late dad Hesborn Isaac Onyuro.

Part of the letter said;”The allegations raised by the said author of the complaint is baseless for the reasons that there is no theft of any cane and further the complainant has not disclosed the respective farms or land parcels in question that the said theft took place and goes ahead to say that the complainant has also not disclosed any documentary evidence to prove ownership of the land or the said harvested and /or delivered cane”

The letter further says that they had instructions that the complainant (Shem Athembo Onyuro) is the brother of the late Hesborn Onyuro who passed away two years ago and never used to enjoy any good terms with the deceased while the deceased was alive.

“The complainant as such is taking an undue advantage of the orphans his late brother left behind to torment them to satisfy his unresolved disputes with his late brother” the letter further says.

It adds that it is in the public knowledge that there are a number of criminal acts that the complainant has subjected the deceased family to including assaults and malicious damage to the deceased property and the cases are currently a subject of a criminal trial against the complainant in Nyando Principal Magistrate Court Criminal Case No.75 of 2013 (Police File 603/75/2013).

The letter also beseeches the Sugar Company to ignore Shem Athembo Onyuro saying he is facing a serious of investigations of forgery of the title deeds belonging to the deceased and illegally transferring them into his own and that investigations are currently underway by the Nyando CID office and as such the current allegations of the complainant are just another of his many theatrics and malice targeted against the deceased’s survivors.

Robert says that after leaving his late dad’s homestead his uncle has again written to him where he currently stays demanding that he pays him rent for his late father’s house he currently occupies.

Contacted for comment Shem Onyuro Athembo said that if the writer had documentary evidence to prove he had no comment but would resort to legal action should the story be written without any documentary evidence to prove.

KENYA NATIONAL NGO COOPRDINATION BOARD TO RECRUIT WOMEN.

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By Agwanda Saye

The national NGO Coordination Board has embarked on a massive recruitment drive of all expectant women in Kisumu County as part of a wider 5 year program to improve maternal and child health in the region.

Executive Director of NGO Coordination Board Dr Hezron McObewa says the board is working closely with health sector NGOs within the county to compliment government efforts geared towards reducing infant deaths.

He says the Board has launched a project with one of the largest NGOs in Western Kenya, OGRA Foundation alongside other sector NGOs like Omega Foundation and Port Florence community hospital to give free National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) cards to expectant women.

McObewa says the pilot project of the program has kicked off in Muhoroni district in Kisumu County where over 100 expectant women within health centres and dispensaries’ have so far been recruited.

He says the women will be issued with NHIF cards as soon as they arrive for their first antenatal care clinic all the way through their pregnancy so that they can get enhanced services at delivery as part of efforts to improve safe deliveries’.

McObewa who is also the OGRA Foundation Founder Trustee and Former Director said Ogra is currently in the process of finalizing Memorandum of Understandings (MOU’s) with dispensaries and health centres within Kisumu County to give them delivery kits to every successful delivery that occur in such facilities.

He said they have asked partner organizations to initially set aside Kshs 6 Million per year for the program to improve maternal and child health care adding that Ogra has committed to set aside Kshs 6Million for the project annually to ensure the program covers all expectant women in the county.

He said project will run for 5 years alongside partnership with other NGOs’ adding that they will have covered the whole Kisumu County by end of June 2014 before rolling out the program in other counties.
INSERT . . .
Ends . .

USA: Indecent

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From: Nita and Shaunna, Ultraviolet

Clear Channel–the largest owner of AM and FM radio stations–just booted ads for a women’s health clinic, claiming they were “divisive.” Tell Clear Channel that there’s nothing divisive about women’s health care.
http://act.weareultraviolet.org/go/981?t=2&akid=531.6000.nsBV8f

Dear Readers:

Clear Channel–the largest owner of AM and FM radio stations, including the ones that carry Rush Limbaugh’s show–just booted ads for a women’s health care clinic in Kansas, calling them “indecent” and “divisive.”1

What’s indecent? Absolutely nothing–these ads are straightforward promotions of available health care for women. But apparently Clear Channel decided declaring that your clinic offers “highly qualified gynecologists” and “trusts women to make the best decisions for themselves” is too divisive. (see transcript below)

Their claims are ridiculous–and dangerous.

We cannot let a media corporation get between a woman and her right to critical health information. This story is starting to get attention in online media, including Jezebel, DailyKos, and the Huffington Post.2 If thousands of us speak out quickly, we can help generate a national media firestorm and Clear Channel will be forced to respond. Will you sign the petition telling Clear Channel to put South Wind Women’s Center’s ads back on the air and stop blocking Kansas women’s access to health care information?

Tell Clear Channel that ads for women’s health clinics aren’t indecent or divisive.

http://act.weareultraviolet.org/go/981?t=3&akid=531.6000.nsBV8f

Here’s what Clear Channel found so divisive:

At South Wind Women’s Center, our physicians are committed to providing quality reproductive health care in Wichita. Each physician is board-certified in family medicine or obstetrics and gynecology. Between them, they have over 50 years of experience and dedication, ensuring women are able to ensure the care they need when they need it.3

And South Wind Women’s Center was founded to reestablish full access to reproductive health care. The center provides high-quality medical care and trusts women to make the best decisions for themselves and their families. South Wind Women’s Center: entrusting women with their own medical decision-making.4

The radio industry is still recovering from the fallout after hundreds of advertisers dropped Rush Limbaugh’s show when he attacked Sandra Fluke for testifying before Congress about birth control.5 And radio industry insiders know another high profile fight about their meddling with women’s personal decisions isn’t going to go over well.

If enough of us speak out, we can send a strong message to Clear Channel, and others: Media corporations have no business getting between a woman and her right to critical health information.

Tell Clear Channel to stop blocking women from reproductive health care information.
http://act.weareultraviolet.org/go/981?t=4&akid=531.6000.nsBV8f

Thanks for speaking out.
–Nita, Shaunna, Kat, Malinda and Karin, the UltraViolet team

Sources:
1. Clear Channel Won’t Run Women’s Center Ads Because They’re ‘Divisive’, Jezebel, July 26, 2013

2. Massive Media Company Pulls Ads for Famous Women’s Health Center, Jezebel, July 24, 2013
Clear Channel Pulls Ads for Women’s Health Clinic, Claiming They Are “Indecent”, DailyKos, July 25, 2013
Clear Channel Pulls Abortion Clinic Ads, Huffington Post, July 25, 2013

3. South Wind Women’s Center Ad 1

4. South Wind Women’s Center Ad 2

5. EXCLUSIVE: 140 Companies Drop Advertising From Rush Limbaugh [Update: 142], Think Progress, March 12, 2012
Rush Limbaugh Still Toxic For Advertisers One Year After Fluke Attacks, Media Matters, March 1, 2013

State of the World’s Mothers 2013

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From: Yona Maro

Every year, 287,000 women die during pregnancy or childbirth, and 6.9 million children die before reaching their fifth birthday. Almost all these deaths occur in developing countries where mothers, children and newborns lack access to basic health care. While child mortality rates have declined in recent decades, 19,000 mothers still mourn the loss of a child each and every day – an unthinkable number of heartbreaks. This is especially tragic since most of these deaths could be prevented at a modest cost.

This year’s report looks at the critical first day of life, when mothers and their newborns face the greatest threats to survival, and when there is tremendous opportunity to save lives. It highlights approaches that are working to bring essential health care to the hard-to-reach places where most deaths occur. And it shows how millions more lives each year can be saved if we invest in proven solutions and help mothers do what’s best for their children. If we don’t save lives on this critical first day, we will never truly end preventable child deaths.

This report contains our annual ranking of the best and worst places in the world for mothers – but no matter if they’re in the United States or Malawi or India, all mothers are fundamentally the same. Every night, millions of mothers around the world lean over their sleeping newborns and pray that they will be safe, happy and healthy. It’s what we all want for our children. And it’s certainly not too much to ask.

When a child is placed into his mother’s arms for the first time, that woman’s life is changed forever. The moment is brief and precious. We must seize the opportunity to invest in this most basic, most enduring partnership – between a mother and her child – if we are to change forever the course of history and reduce newborn deaths.
Link:

http://www.savethechildren.org/atf/cf/%7B9def2ebe-10ae-432c-9bd0-df91d2eba74a%7D/SOWM-FULL-REPORT_2013.PDF

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Ensuring Safety for Kids at Home

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From: Junaid Tahir

Your kids are a great blessing. You can be more patient for a mishap that happens to you but when it comes to your kids, you are very sensitive and cannot see them in pain, tragedy or chronic sickness. Below are some of the tips through which you can avoid several emergency situations popping up when your kids are at home:

1- Don’t allow kids to go to washrooms alone till they clearly understand the usage of hot and cold water taps.

2- Keep medicines away from your kids. Recently a friend of mine had to take his daughter to hospital in emergency as she ate 10+ tablets from the shelf. Although the hospital washed her stomach but did not take any responsibility for any mishap. My friend has to sign the disclaimer which stated that in case of any mishap the whole responsibility would be on the parents.

3- Don’t put chairs or sofas near windows, especially if you are living in flats. We have read so many news about kids death falling from windows.

4- Consider windows/doors closing brackets. If you have IKEA in your area, buy one from there.

5- If you have sharp edged dining or lounge tables, consider rubber based edge protectors. (Visit IKEA)

6- Keep the match or lighter away from the stove.

7- Keep the knives, scissors and other sharp edge cutlery away from the reach of kids.

8- Cleaning agents (floor cleaners, crockery cleaners, toilet antiseptics etc) must be out of reach. Be sure to close the bottles tightly. Toddlers have the tendency of putting everything in mouth.

Some Recommended Articles:

Raising Confidence in Children

18 ways to make parents feel great

Story: Mr. Educated and Mr. Wisdom

8 Points to consider for buying a Sofa

About Author: Junaid Tahir, a telecom engineer and a passionate blogger, writes articles on wisdom, happiness, stress management and life enhancement subjects. His articles can be read Here

KENYAN FAMILY OF PRESIDENT BARRACK OBAMA SAYS THEY WILL NOT GO AND MEET HIM IN THE NEIGHBORING TANZANIA.

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Writes Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City

The family of the US President Barrack Obama who is currently on an African tour from which his ancestral home Kenya is excluded, have reiterated that they will not travel across the Kenya-Tanzania border to try to meet him there.

Mama Sarah Obama the 90 year old step grandmother of the US President, when contacted at her Nyang’oma Alego Kogelo home in Siaya County said they can’t travel to the neighboring country in order to meet her grandson.

”We are not invited therefore there is no point going there. Moreover Obama is the President of the US and all the arrangements for his African itinerary are organized by the US government”, she said adding “President Obama is on official visits to specific countries as the US President.”

“Joining him in the neighboring country of Tanzania, though it is next door to Kenya may interfere with his itinerary. He has a very busy and tight schedule and as such we have decided to not to attend any of his functions there.”

Mama Sarah Obama was reacting about the rumor which went around that members of the Obama family in Alego Kogelo were making tentative arrangement to travel to Tanzania today.

There is no such arrangement, though the US President would have loved to see him stopping in Kenya, however, briefly it could be. This is the second time President Obama has skipped Kenya during is visit to the sub-Saharan Africa. The first time was when he was first elected President when he visited Ghana. Obama is very popular with the millions of Kenya people whom for along time have been looking forward to see him visit the country of his father ancestral land.

Ends

“Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip”

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From: Junaid Tahir

Dr. Randy Pausch died of pancreatic cancer in 2008, but wrote a book ‘The last lecture” before then, one of the bestsellers in 2007. What a legacy to leave behind…

In a letter to his wife Jai and his children, Dylan, Logan , and Chloe, he wrote this beautiful “guide to a better life” for his wife and children to follow.

May you be blessed by his insight.
personality:

1. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

2. Don’t have negative thoughts of things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment

3. Don’t over do; keep your limits

4. Don’t take yourself so seriously; no one else does

5. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip

6. Dream more while you are awake

7. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

8. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner of his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.

9. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.

10. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present

11. No one is in charge of your happiness except you

12. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

13. Smile and laugh more

14. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.unity:

15. Call your family often

16. Each day give something good to others

17. Forgive everyone for everything

18. Spend time with people over the age of 70 under the age of 6

19. Try to make at least three people smile each day

20. What other people think of you is none of your business

21. Your job will not take care of you when you are sick. Your family and friends will. Stay in touch.

22. Put GOD first in anything and everything that you think, say and do.

23. GOD heals everything

24. Do the right things

25. Whatever good or bad a situation is, it will change

26. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up

27. The best is yet to come

28. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful

29. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it

30. If you know GOD you will always be happy. So, be happy.

While you practice all of the above, share this knowledge with the people you love, people you school with, people you play with, people you work with and people you live with.

Not only will it enrich YOUR life, but also that of those around you.

source: unknown

M Junaid Tahir
www.DailyTenMinutes.com

USA: The end of Roe v. Wade

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Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Cantor are pushing an unconstitutional bill through the House that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy–without any exception for the woman’s health. Sign the petition to tell them to drop this bill and stop attacking women.

Visit Here http://act.weareultraviolet.org/go/879?t=2&akid=488.6000.TUDXfe

From: Nita and Shaunna, Ultraviolet

Dear Readers,

Remember Todd “legitimate rape” Akin? And Richard Mourdock who said a pregnancy from rape is “gift from God”?1 Well, they’re back–or at least their policies are. Trent Franks, a tea party Republican Congressman from Arizona, said last week that “the incidence of rape resulting in pregnancy are very low.”2 The truth: at least 30,000 women become pregnant from rape each year.3

What’s even scarier? The House is set to vote on Rep. Franks’s proposal to criminalize abortion nationwide after the 20th week of pregnancy this week.4

Republicans in Congress are using this bill to score political points with their conservative base, but after the 2012 election, they’re also desperate to appeal to women voters. Now, it’s up to all of us to send them a clear message: Women are watching and we are speaking out. Stop attacking our rights. Can you sign the petition telling Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Cantor to drop this bill now? We’ll deliver your signature and comments before the vote.

Tell Congress: Drop the 20-week abortion ban.

Attempts to ban abortions after 20 weeks aren’t new–extreme conservatives have been pushing similar legislation through state legislatures for years now. Nine states have all passed similar laws, including Indiana, Louisiana and Nebraska. But the bill is unconstitutional, and it directly contradicts Roe v. Wade. Just last month, Arizona’s ban was thrown out by the federal appeals court. Courts have also overturned similar laws in Idaho and Georgia.5

It’s also dangerous. If it’s passed, doctors who perform safe abortion care could be tried and imprisoned–even if a woman was at risk for severe, permanent health problems.6

Not all Republicans are on board with their party’s latest extreme attack on women. Republican Rep. Charlie Dent even said of his own party’s leadership, “Clearly the economy is on everyone’s minds… and now we’re going to have a debate on rape and abortion… The stupidity is simply staggering.”7

If we all speak out now, we can show Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Cantor that pushing this bill through the House–and continuing the Republican war on women–is not only wrong, it’s going to cost them politically.

Sign the petition.

Thanks for speaking out.

–Nita, Shaunna, Kat, Malinda and Karin, the UltraViolet team

Sources:

1. Rape remarks sink two Republican Senate hopefuls, NBC News, November 7, 2012

2. Trent Franks: ‘The Incidence Of Rape Resulting In Pregnancy Are Very Low’, Huffington Post, June 12, 2013

3. Ibid.

4. House GOP Set To Vote Next Week On 20-Week Abortion Ban, Talking Points Memo, June 12, 2013

5. Abortion Bans at 20 Weeks: A Dangerous Restriction for Women, NARAL Pro-Choice America

House Republican Calls Nationwide Abortion Ban Vote ‘Staggering Stupidity’, Think Progress, June 13, 2013

6. Trent Franks, Abortion Bans, and the Fetal Pain Lie, RH Reality Check, June 13, 2013

7. House Republican Calls Nationwide Abortion Ban Vote ‘Staggering Stupidity’, Think Progress, June 13, 2013

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Kenya: MY HOMILY OF ELEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

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From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste in images
SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 2013

The first reading of Eleventh Sunday in ordinary time is taken from 2 Sm 12:7-10, 13. While it shows us the weakness of human nature, at the same time it shows the infinite mercy of God. David acknowledges his sin and asks for God’s mercy and forgiveness. God’s forgives him and vows never to repeat that sin again.

The second reading is from St. Paul to the Galatians- Gal 2:16, 19-21. Paul is speaking here of justification and faith. In Christian theology justification is God’s act of removing the guilt and penalty of sin while at the same time declaring a sinner righteous through Christ’s atoning. In Protestantism, righteousness from God is viewed as being credited to the sinner’s account through faith alone, without works.

Catholic and Orthodox Christians distinguish between initial justification, which in their view occurs at baptism, and permanent justification, accomplished after a lifetime of striving to do God’s will.

Most Protestants believe that justification is a singular act in which God declares an unrighteous individual to be righteous, an act made possible because Christ was legally “made sin” while on the cross (2 Cor 5:21). This is contrary to James 2:24-26. “You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. But faith without works is dead.”

In Romans, Paul develops justification by first speaking of God’s just wrath at sin (Rom. 1:18 – 3:20). Justification is then presented as the solution for God’s wrath. One is said to be ‘justified by faith apart from works of the Law.’

The Gospel is from Lk 7:36—8:3. It shows the mercy of God for sinners and the willingness and eagerness, with which God welcomes back the sinner. A Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him, and he entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table.

Now there was a sinful woman in the city who learned that he was at table in the house of the Pharisee. Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment, she stood behind him at his feet weeping and began to bathe his feet with her tears.

Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.”

Mary Magdalene was believed to be a reformed prostitute and is identified as the woman who ‘was a sinner at the house of Pharisees, who washed Christ’s feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair and anointed them. Christ then forgave her sins.

The lesson we learn here is forgiveness, a decision to let go your sins and never to repeat them again as we see in the first reading and the gospel. David and Mary Magdalene never repeated the action they were accused of. It was wrong for David to kill Uriah and take his wife.

For unfaithful partners in Kenya where marital infidelity is as intertwined as nyama choma, also known as mpango wa kando, it would mean that forgiveness must go with justice. It means doing justice to your partner and your entire family that you will never cheat on your partner anymore.

In Kenya men are the ones closely linked with big percentage of mpango wa kando than women. A 2008 study carried out by Spylink International, a private investigation outfit based in Kenya, revealed that marital infidelity was on the rise with men taking the lead with 75 per cent share of cheating, while women at 25 per cent in 2002. By 2008 this figure rose from 25 to 45 percent of women cheating on their men.

The study pegged this scenario on “changing lifestyles, and women’s empowerment through higher education and knowing “their rights.” Hard economic times implied that more women were exchanging their bodies for material favours. The survey, however, revealed that “as the data stands, women in Kenya will be “leading the infidelity game by 2010.”

Even worse was the fact that 99 per cent of married couples cheat on each other, with Nairobi, of Kenya’s eight provinces, leading with 60 per cent of unfaithful men, and women at 40 per cent.

Nyanza comes second with 55 per cent of men and women at 45 per cent. Western and Rift Valley take fourth and fifth slots respectively, with men taking 65 per cent, while Coast came fifth with men leading with 60 per cent.

In Eastern province, unfaithful men stood at 70 per cent and 85 per cent in case of men in North-Eastern, a region where women are socially, culturally and economically suppressed.

Central Province was the surprise package with women taking a 60 per cent stake a head of their men.

This trend has led to single women in Kenya. A survey released few years ago by consumer market research firm Ipsos-Synovate, shows that 44 per cent of women dislike infidelity among men.

In terms of the state where the government is to ensure that all the citizens have an equal right to the most extensive total system of equal basic liberties compatible with a similar system of liberty for all, the forgiveness would also mean doing justice.

You must do justice on social and economic inequalities, nepotism, negative ethnicity, human rights abuses, and assassinations, tortures among other ills as recommended by The Truth Reconciliation and Justice Commission (TRJC) in their report.

The report recommends that the head of the state and other departmental heads apologize to Kenyans and then for justice to be done it recommends that actions should be taken. IDPs must be reallocated, people who lost their dear ones be compensated.

TRJC was set up following deadly post-election clashes five years ago. After those elections some 1,500 people were killed and more than 600,000 forced to flee their homes. Some IDPs are still in the camps and people whose dear ones died have not been compensated.

TRJC mandate was to investigate and recommend appropriate action on human rights abuses committed between Kenyan independence in December 1963 and the end of February 2008 – including politically motivated violence, assassinations, corruption and land disputes.

It recommends that those with alleged involvement in the Wagalla massacre should no longer hold any public office. The killings occurred in 1984 during efforts to disarm ethnic Somali clans in the north-east of the country. Survivors say close to 5,000 people died.

When justice is done it is when the forgiveness will bring a kind of peace that helps the victims go on with life. Forgiveness here means that you are now at peace with yourself and the community. Click here to read Pope John Paul II Message for the World Day of Peace 2002.

Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Facebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole

Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.

-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002

KENYA: WHAT WORRIES ME IS UNEMPLOYMENT TIME BOMB OF YOUTHS

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From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste in images
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

Some of our readers have asked my opinion what I think about Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu engaging in politics contrary to her commitment before being appointed. Readers were referring to the introduction of widow of late Makueni senator Mutula Kilonzo, Nduku, to President Uhuru Kenyatta in Machakos on Sunday by Ngilu to vie for Makueni senate seat.

While unveiling the Jubilee Cabinet, President Uhuru told Kenyans that the condition for appointment of Ngilu and Najib Balala, who had unsuccessfully vied for the Kitui and Mombasa senatorial seats respectively, was on condition of keeping off politics.

My opinion has always been clear that I don’t care whether Ngilu, Balala, Kasungu Kambi engage in politics even though they promised they would not. I don’t care because it is very unfortunate that I will not live to see Kenya you can call yours because this will happen in 50 years to come and many of us would have already died.

That is also why I don’t care whether Uhuru and Ruto mobilized their ethnic communities to ascend to power, whether they rewarded their supporters because they helped them grab the power. Even if Raila won I would still not acknowledge his victory because of using Luo and Kamba communities to win.

It is also why I don’t care whether Francis Kimemia blocked Raila from entering the VIP lounge at Jomo Kenyatta airport or any other airports, or whether Uhuru is retaining PCs, DCs, Dos or county commissioners.

Instead I care very much and it is indeed bothering me so much about 2.3 million Kenyan youths who are facing serious unemployment time bomb due to bad governance in Kenya since 1963 when Kenya claimed to have achieved Independence.

Since independence Kenyan youths have been the most frustrated social groups in the country. That is why I don’t blame more than half of them being responsible for crimes reported nationally as researchers are saying.

My worry is that this is expected to keep growing and reach a peak nationally in about ten years’ time. It means that this “demographic trap” could see “more crime, militant gangs, terrorism, labour unrest and political violence” among other social ills.

Many young Kenyans cannot get jobs because they don’t have usable qualifications or skills, having dropped out of various institutions before completing their studies due to lack of school fees caused by abject poverty and unemployment of their parents as well.

Different economists describe the situation as worrying for a country with such a youthful population and a birth rate of close to three per cent against an economic expansion that is not creating as many jobs as needed.

This may explain the formation of youth vigilante groups that make it easy for violent actions to take place. The age at which the youth engage in crimes is given between 16-25 years. Yet still, we don’t blame them because the high unemployment rates increase the likelihood of violence and conflict.

It is also why you cannot blame young girls who turn into immorality and prostitution. This has been blamed for high rates of school dropouts. Some of these girls have opted to sleep with wealthy men with hope to make easy money.

This explains why teenage pregnancy is on the rise I Kenya. Girls are dropping out of school after they have found they are being expectant. These girls start boycotting classes before they are suspected that they were expectant.

Teenage pregnancy refers to girls becoming pregnant when in either primary school or high school, basically below 18 years of age. This means they have to drop out of school to first take care of themselves and the baby when it is born.

This trend has forced some communities in Kenya to marry off young girls from age 10 to men old enough to be their parents. At this tender age, these girls have not being exposure to any form of sexually education and have no clue of what their husbands expect from them. They become baby making machines.

Lack of a stable family structure push the girls to look for security else where and this is when they get lured in relationships which have devastating effects on their lives. Lack of stable family structure because many of these parents are unemployed, they can’t bring up their children financially, take them to school, so they resolve into alcoholism to forget the burdens they undergo.

That is why due to poverty, girls are forced by their parents to sell their bodies as a source of revenue for the family, just to cater for their basic needs. Most of these girls don’t care even if they contracted HIV/ Aids. In fact they are almost like dead walking people.

It also explains why some young people are abusing drugs rampantly and of course this will also increase the sexual activities. This is a major contributor to increased cases of under age and unwanted pregnancies.

Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Facebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole

Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.

-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002

USA: Ugh. Fox has done it again.

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Dear Readers:

What do Lou Dobbs and Fox think is the biggest threat facing our society? Working moms.

Yep. You read that right.1

On Wednesday, an all-male panel on Dobbs’ Fox Business show was absolutely panicked over a new Pew study that shows women are the primary breadwinners in 40% of American households.2 In their hysteria, they opined that having women as primary breadwinners is “bad for kids, bad for marriage,” “catastrophic,” and will “undermine our social order.” One panelist, Erick Erickson, even said that “science” dictates that men are dominant over women.

Earth to Dobbs: This is not Leave It to Beaver. Working is a fact of life for most women, just like it is for most men.

The video of Dobbs and company blaming working mothers for the disintegration of society is spreading like wildfire online and across media outlets. Even Fox’s female hosts and reporters are speaking out.3 The reaction is clear: people are tired of this garbage on our TVs.

We can’t let Fox and Dobbs get away with this degrading, ignorant, anti-woman rhetoric on television. More Americans watch Fox News and its affiliates than any other cable news network4–what their panelists say is influential to tens of millions of people. If we all speak out, we can make sure Dobbs and his all-male panel are held accountable.

And this isn’t just a problem isolated to Dobbs’ show–it’s all over Fox. Host of Fox News program ‘The Five’,” Eric Bolling, said the increase in women’s earning power was actually a symptom of the “breakdown of the American family.”5

Lou Dobbs has said inflammatory things about women on Fox outlets before.6 And prior to his gig on Fox Business, he was known for xenophobic rants about immigrants on his CNN show.7

Dobbs is one of the worst examples of an old conservative who’s terrified of anything changing and just wishes the entire country were a Leave It To Beaver episode.

But reality is very different than Dobbs’ hysterical fantasy: women working outside the home is not destroying society. The divorce rate has been decreasing over the last 20 years, and Americans are happier than ever.8 The real problem is that while more women are the primary breadwinners at home, they’re still earning less than their male counterparts at work ($0.77 to every dollar to be exact).9

It’s time Lou Dobbs went the way of all 1950s television–off the air. His sexist rants and panels have no place in the 21st Century.

The outrage is already so bad that Erick Erickson, one of Dobbs’ panelists, called people challenging his out-dated views “emo lefties” on his blog.10 If we act now, we can hold Lou Dobbs and his panel accountable.

Will you sign the petition demanding Fox fire Lou Dobbs, Erick Erickson, and Juan Williams?
http://act.weareultraviolet.org/go/806?t=4&akid=461.6000.ts_d9i
Sign the petition.

Thanks for speaking out.

–Nita, Shaunna, Kat, Malinda and Karin, the UltraViolet team

Sources

1. The ‘science’ of gender roles, The Maddow Blog, May 30, 2013

2. Breadwinner Moms, PewResearch Social & Demographic Trends, May 29, 2013

3. Erick Erickson’s Latest Sexist Tirade Draws Outrage, Media Matters, May 30, 2013

4. May 2013 Ratings: Fox News Gains Total Viewers, Loses Younger Viewers, TVnewser, May 29, 2013

5. Fox’s Eric Bolling: More Women In The Workplace Will Lead To ‘More Abortions’, Mediaite, May 30, 2013

6.Fox’s Lou Dobbs: “Even If Roe v. Wade Were Turned Back … Abortion Rights Would Remain”, Media Matters, November 2, 2012

7. Lou Dobbs, American Hypocrite, The Nation, October 7, 2010

8. Divorce Rates Declining In The U.S. (Interactive Map), Huffington Post, April 11, 2013

Americans’ Emotional Health Reaches Four-Year High, Gallup Wellbeing, May 10, 2012

9. Fact Check: Women Earn 77 Cents to Every Dollar Men Earn, Says National Women’s Law Center, National Women’s Law Center, October 17, 2012

10. Erickson Fires Back At ‘Emo Lefties’, Talking Points Memo, May 30, 2013