Protect out Children

                   Protect our children

 

Protect, love and Care for our kids. Image by Google image.

As we approach the cold winter season, we all want to remain indoors, keep warm and have a cup of soup.  Have you ever took a moment and thought of the homeless, abounded, mislead, lonely and hungry kids out there,  who need less than material but love and shelter? 

South Africa dedicates the first week of June (1^st - 7^th) to observe Child Protection week. Our constitute seeks to safeguard the little one as it states in section 28 (2) which place the child’s interests as very important.  Is that enough though?  The initiative was launched in 1997 with the aim of resolving the challenges of underage marriage, teenage pregnancy, child abuse and human trafficking, just to name a few.  Children need 100% care and assistance in their everyday life; this includes basic tasks such as having a bath and getting dressed, to learning how to treat other people. This means that children are much more vulnerable than adults and therefore require protection from the many dangers that threaten their well-being.

This year’s theme is "Working together to protect children". 

With the above theme in mind the S.A citizens should pay attention to the following issues:

 

•           Lack of proper nutrition and shelter

•           Lack of access to proper healthcare

•           Neglect

•           Violence

•           Sexual abuse

•           Child pornography

•           Child trafficking

•           Accidental drowning, burns, electrocution, poisoning and choking

•           Motor vehicle accidents

•           Lack of proper education

•           Bullying

Despite the challenges that our country goes through, we still need to take care of our children. Research shows that more than 100 cases of child abuse are reported every week,  and nearly 50 000 cases of crimes against children (under 18) were reported between 2011 and 2012

Green ribbon

Unite to support our kids Image by Google Image.

Child protection logo Government urges everyone to wear the Green Ribbon during Child Protection Week to show support for promotion of the rights, care and protection of the child. The Green Ribbon was adopted by the National Child Protection Committee in 2004:

• The green refers to life and growth.

• By wearing the Green Ribbon it shows that you care and support Child Protection Week

• The Green Ribbon lets victims and survivors know that we are united in their support.

• It emphasizes the importance of partnerships to tackle child abuse, neglect and exploitation.

                                    It takes a village to raise a child.

Africa Day

                                     Africa Day

                                 What it takes to be an African in Mzansi.

 

Africa Unite :Image by Google image.

Sawubona ,Molo, Ayeh, Ndimatsheroni, Dumela, Lotshani, May I say, I am excited with today's topic and I have plenty to tell about being an African in these modern days. To me being African means to be natural, to be connected to your roots, UBUNTU, where every woman is your sister or mother, every brother is a leader. As we celebrate Africa week, this include our diverse culture, colours, food and our brothers and sisters.

In 1978 Jamaican reggae artist Hugh Mundell had a hit single called Africa Must Be Free by 1983, with its chorus saying: “I think it’s time/ For us to live a better life, yeah/ Freedom is what we want in Africa.”

If the “freedom” he had in mind included a united Africa free of war, he never saw it – ironically, Mundell was shot and killed in 1983 at the age of 21. Decades on, there is still no sign of his high hopes coming true.  

http://mg.co.za/

 

I am proud to be an African.

If you are reading this and you are my sister from another mother, please keep this in mind “you are a black diamond. Embrace your beauty, love your black skin that connects you deeper and deeper to your soul. Shake those curves, and love your behind. Come to think of it, our mothers and grandma's would not be able to carry us on their back if it was not for their large bozoom. If you African and you love it, please take off your weaves and wigs, fake nails, fake eye lashes and feel good from inside out. Go bold, afro or dreaded, let your caramel skin and coco eyes define you without the fake look. “Come on Sisters, surely you can survive a week without your foundation, and leave those thick eyebrows dont shave them off. Thasa Vaselina otsamaye.

Food! Food! Food! From the the flavoured aroma of umqushu (samp) and tribe mixed with beans and potatoes, to our bried boerer wors with pap and chakalaka. You know black people and chicken are in-separable, your chicken and dumpling will take you a long way.  Where the is food the has to be music. If you black you African you have to sing or dance. No one dances like African people, we move to the rhythm and shake what our mama gave us. From the Nigerian dance to ukugiya we have that department covered.

Yes of course, we have our brothers. African man are well build and naturally masculine specially the Tsonga man. I am proud to be an African, I love my Swati culture and I enjoy isijeza, yes we are popularly known for cursing and for being the humble beings. I embrace my beauty and love my thick, black dreaded hair. Enjoy your weekend. 

http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/history-africa-day-25-may

http://mg.co.za/article/2014-05-22-african-unity-still-a-pipe-dream

  

Men do your Homework

                                       Men do your Homework 

                                    What men needs to know before committing.

It is silly when we think of how much trouble woman go through to get that one man they are looking for.  Ladies go through extreme extents to keep up with what they are looking for. A typical example includes looking good and feeling great, they know that if they want a man who has confidence then she will also walk tall, chin up carry herself with class and confidence.   

 







Lifetime commitment . Image by Google image

How many times do man look at themselves and do self-introspection, and ask  the following question; who am I, where do I come from, what am I doing to get to my goals, what makes me happy ,what makes me tick, what are my standard as a man, what do I want, need and desire, and where am I going. The above questions will not only assist you as a man in knowing the inner being, but they will help in allowing you to loving yourself more and not have unrealistic expectations from your partner.

One of the few mistakes that you do is expecting your partner to be prophets and know what you want yet you don’t even know what you want.   

Women are not “bad people”, “out to destroy men”, or “trying to trick men”. Women and society simply have certain characteristics and men should be aware of these characteristics when they decide whether or not to get married.

 

•  You will be having sex once a month. This is not because women are trying to withhold sex from you. It is also not because women view sex (and particularly fellatio) as a “loss leader” or “necessary evil” before marriage. It is simply because women (unlike men) need to be seduced before sex.



Till life and eternity. Image by Google Image

• Women need a lot of attention. If you have ambitions on having a great career, then you should definitely not get married. This is because wives take a lot of time. You will need to speak to her on the phone, be home for dinner, go on vacations with her, and so one
• Women become less attractive over time. First, they gain weight. This is because married women have a lot to do (ie. taking care of the kids) and it is difficult to make exercising a priority.
• 
  Marriage is a partnership. This, to my mind, is one of the hardest concepts for men to understand.
• Men are always the losers in a divorce. If you or your wife want to get divorced, then the court will follow a very set pattern. The first issue is money. Since you have a greater earning capacity than your wife, the court will order that you must work to provide money to support the family.



"It is important for all brothers out there to seat down with their girlfriend’s and communicate and touch on the above under general discussion. Men you’ve been warned."

 

 

 http://happybachelors.wordpress.com/2009/12/07/what-men-should-know-before-getting-married/

 

 

 

 

 

 

                 New flavour for protection

Strawberry, Banana, Vanilla those are some of the new flavoured condoms, which the government will introduce. While South African male pride themselves from taking free condoms, they rather gamble with their health and ignore the enemy HIV/AIDS.

New Flavoured condoms: Image by Google image

South Africans are using fewer condoms, sleeping around more and becoming less knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS, says the latest household survey by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), released on Tuesday 08 April 2014. My concern as a black female is we are aware of this disease, how it destroys homes and lives and living thousand kids to be orphans all in the name of pride. In our communities there’s a certain a negative perception that people have, that when you take a choice condom also known as government condoms, you are  seen as a man who is cheap, with no dignity, while some feel embarrassed to take them as they are afraid of being laughed at by their peers. Then the are those who can come up with excuses for anything and everything, including why they don’t want to use government condoms, this includes “it gives me a rash” “they have a bad scent”.

The following report was compiled based on South African survey and statistics, the Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi highlighted the following facts:

·          30% of the world’s ARV (antiretroviral) patients are in SA.

·         Since year 2002, the survey found 12.2% of South Africans were HIV positive in 2012, up from 10.8% in 2008.

·         In Year 2012, 6.4-million South Africans were HIV positive.

·         Almost half-a-million (469,000) people had become infected in 2012

·         Over two-thirds (67.5%) of young men aged between 15 and 24 reported using condoms at their last sexual encounter in 2012, down from 85.2% in 2008.

·         Among men aged between 25 and 49, condom use fell to 36.1%, down from 44.1% over the same period. Women also reported using condoms less.

·         Almost a quarter (23.1%) of men aged between 15 and 49 said they had multiple sexual partners in 2012, up from 19.3% in 2008.

·         More than 5% of women in the same age group said they had more than one sexual partner. That was up from 3.7% in 2008.

Dr Motsoaledi said officials suspected that young people saw the government-issue "Choice" condoms as staid and boring, so they were to be replaced with a "new type of condom that will bring excitement". The new versions, to be distributed at universities and further education and training colleges next month, would be flavoured and coloured.

The survey included interviews with 38,431 people, of whom 28,997 agreed to an HIV test. It found overall levels of knowledge about HIV/AIDS were "low and falling", said Prof Shisana.

For example, only 22.7% of black men aged between 25 and 49 knew how HIV was transmitted and rejected major myths and misconceptions, down from 31.8% four years earlier.

Equally worrying, the proportion of people reporting multiple sexual partners had increased, said Prof Shisana. "We are beginning to see a disturbing trend that should be a concern for all of us."

HIV/AIDS prevalence for women aged between 15 and 49 was 23.2%, but just 14.5% for men of the same age. HIV/AIDS prevalence was eight times higher among teenage girls aged between 15 and 19, at 5.6%, than among boys in the same age cohort, where prevalence was just 0.7%.



Now red is for strawberry: Image by Google image

Prof Shisana said women were more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS due to both their biology and societal pressures. Women are at increased risk of acquiring HIV during pregnancy, as their immune systems are suppressed at this time. Most worrying was the number of new infections of girls aged 15 to 24, who had infection rates four times higher than boys of the same age. Researchers attributed this to the “sugar daddy syndrome”.

Our government need to come p with an exciting campaign to attract the South African youth, not only to distribute the flavoured condoms but to bring up the pros and cons of not using protection, being sexually active at a young age and remind us of what HIV/ AIDS is. I hope they will give out free government flavoured condoms for females too, in the near future. Ladies “Boys before books, bring babies ” remember the 5B’s

Male sterelisation

                                    Vasectomy

      Would man consider an option of  birth control

In a quick observation and survey compiled within my  male and female friends 4/10 males would consider vasectomy, it seems that more females prefer to sterelize when compared to male. Is this because we (females) take everything upon ourselves even though your partner can do it, or is it because we females prefer to do it as it might be morally and culturally acceptable?



You can still enjoy your sexual intercourse after vasectomy. Image by Google  

After listening to Mapaseke Mokoele's  show on Wednesday night I was surprised of how clueless I was  about male sterelisation. I must say it was an eye opening  show. Hence this got me asking my self this question “ would man prefer to do vasectomy and why or why not?”

What Is Male Sterilization?

Male sterelisation also known as vasectomy, is a surgical procedure intended to be permanent method of birth control. This procedure is achieved through a surgical procedure. For those who are inquisitive like me, this is how the procedure is performed...

 

How is the procedure performed?
A vasectomy is a quick, 30-minute surgical procedure performed in the physician's office in which the vas difference (the tubes that carry sperm out of the penis) is cut or tied, and then the ends are cauterized (burned).This prevents sperm from coming out in the ejaculate or getting into the vagina. Recovery from vasectomy usually requires only that the patient refrain from physical activity for approximately 48 hours. Back-up contraception needs to be used until two follow-up semen tests show no sperm.

Male contraception, or birth control, keeps sperm from coming into contact with an egg to avoid pregnancy. There are two approaches currently available to do this:

•                     Blocking the sperm from entering the vagina (as with condoms)

•                     Keeping the sperm from coming out of the penis (vasectomy/sterilization)

Sorry dude but you will never race to the egg .Image by Google 

•                     In addition, scientists are researching the development of a male birth control pill. Research          for a male birth control pill comparable to the female birth control pill is focused on three approaches:

•                     Keeping the male from producing the sperm(hormonal contraception)

•                     Keeping the sperm from swimming (inhibiting sperm motility)

•                     Preventing the sperm from fertilizing an egg (interfering with membrane integrity.

That is exactly what a proud man would say, BANG! Image by Google 

•                     This means that the male birth control pill will be a systemic method of contraception – affecting many body systems.

Researchers have conducted studies on two types of systemic birth control for men: hormonal male contraception and immunocontraception. Hormonal male contraception uses hormones (injected, implanted, or taken orally) to stop sperm production, but this would reverse when the contraception is no longer used.

Immunocontraception is a birth control method that uses the body's immune system response to prevent pregnancy. Although this is a viable option for many animal species, scientific interest in use by human subjects has recently declined because research does not show a reliable decrease in fertility among male subjects.

As much as it is not usual for a man to consider or even take the vasectomy procedure, it is a procedure that should be taken into consideration by both partners. Woman go through a lot of changes when it comes to their body's therefore I feel that if the same opportunity is presented to male's then they should consider the vasectomy process instead of woman sterelising.  

Referring the topic back to the society, our society may have a different

•                     Vasectomy process may be  reversible 

Some reasons that men seek vasectomy reversals may include wanting a family with a new partner following a relationship breakdown / divorce, their original wife/partner dying and subsequently going on to re-partner and to want children, the unexpected death of a child, or a long-standing couple changing their mind some time later often by situations such as improved finances or existing children approaching the age of school or leaving home. Patients often comment that they never anticipated the possibility of a relationship breakdown or death (of their partner or child), or how that may affect their situation at the time of having their vasectomy. A small number of vasectomy reversals are also performed in attempts to relieve post-vasectomy pain syndrome.

 

•                     Ideological issues

Feminist researchers emphasize the positive identities that men can take up post-vasectomy, as a "man who takes on responsibility for the contraceptive task" and a man who is willing to "sacrifice" his fertility for his partner and family's sake.Often these sorts of accounts are constructed within the 'contraceptive economy' of a relationship, where women have maintained responsibility of the contraceptive task up until the point of the operation. Terry notes that a man undergoing a vasectomy may also mean he receives a high degree of gratitude and positive reinforcement for making the choice to be sterilised, perhaps more so than a woman who has been on the oral contraceptive or similar forI years prior.

An alternative viewpoint of contextualizing vasectomy debate is the evolutionary "battle of the sexes" conflict of interest. From an evolutionary Darwinian standpoint, males may increase their genetic fitness by mating with multiple mates over the course of their lifetime (see Sexual Conflict). As a woman's reproductive capacity reduces significantly with age towards menopause, eventually ceasing while a male partner is still able to produce offspring (see Age and Female Fertility), she benefits in evolutionary terms from her partner undergoing vasectomy - eliminating or greatly restricting his ability to mate with other women in the future, thus helping to ensure or protect her partner's investment and resources for herself and any offspring. Vasectomy may in this way be advantageous to female reproductive strategy (after a threshold number of offspring are born), and detrimental to the male reproductive strategy, if viewed in generalized evolutionary fitness terms alone.Considering vasectomy is a personal option and this may vary on an individual (his religion, morals and personal choice).

What’s your problem with Sterilization or Vasectomy? Are there any valid reasons?

http://www.pamf.org/teen/sex/birthcontrol/malecontraceptive.html

                      Surviving the first month of school

No more happy x.mas, nails, weave and colour blocking out. Now its back to the military basis

where you need a book to survive.

Khanya Sibanyoni after a long day at school

I would like to congratulate all the matric class of 2013. Thank you for taking your education seriously as this is one powerful tool which will assist you to take over the world. The is a good reason why knowledge is power, because once you have it no one can take it away from you and you can do anything to help you get to the top. To those who will be doing their matric this year “good luck”.To those who will be exploring the real world at the university I request you only befriend that heavey thick textbook and love it like your companion. Although education is taken seriously in South Africa,I have a few concerns of the pass rate which is set by the department of education. An average of 40% that is too low. Why are we setting ourselves short ? This is disappoint because now everyone is aiming for an average of 40% yet theres capability of reaching far more than 60% I think that we must consider what the president wants to impliment. That kids should start schooling two years earlier to prepare them for school. That is actually a good suggestion as kids will be mentally fit to explore their skills and interests.

 

Here's some of the comments I have received when I interviewed some school pupil.

“I am happy to meet new friends and I am excited to draw pictures” GR1

“I am looking forward to enjoy my high school years” GR8

“My main focus is to get into university with distinctions, who knows I might even appear on the local news paper, I am looking forward to give it my 150% and undivided attention” GR12

“This unique white jersey comes with hard work and sweat, I believe I have earned it and this is my stepping stone to a great success.”GR12

 

While some are looking forward to meeting new friends and climing the leather of success...I say work hard so you can live the good life.

Ntokozo Sibanyoni first day at High school, excited as a bird ready to fly

 

 "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
Nelson Mandela"

Fact vs Myth on Breast Cancer

                     Fact vs Myth on Breast Cancer



Take care of your boobies   Photo by Google



With October being Breast Cancer Awareness month, BeautySA rounds-up the facts and a few figures on South Africa's most prevalent form of cancer. Cancer is the name given to the range of more than a hundred diseases occurring when abnormal cells divide uncontrollably and become able to invade other parts of the body through the blood and lymph systems. All cancers begin in cells, which are the basic building blocks of life in our bodies. Here are some quick facts on breast cancer

Myth 1: People who like to drink coffee have a greater chance of developing breast cancer.

Fact: It is absolutely not true, on the contrary, as indicated by several studies that the cancer actually can be prevented by coffee. Indeed, many believe that the caffeine in coffee that we find can lead to fibrocystic breast conditions, a non-cancerous condition that is usually accompanied by symptoms such as pain, lumpiness, and cysts in the breast.

Myth 2: When you are undergoing radiation therapy, then you will feel nausea and vomiting.

Fact: It is also not true because at the time of your radiation therapy, you will not experience nausea and vomiting. This is one of breast cancer facts you need to know.

Myth 3: The lump is always an indication of breast cancers.

Fact: Althought it is true that one of the signs of this cancer is a lump in your breast, but we must know that not everyone who had breast cancers feel a lump that looked at their breasts. For women who have over 40 years of age, then performing self-examination every month is a very important thing because this cancer is very prone to cancer for women over that age.

However, any changes in your breasts don’t always indicate that you are suffering from breast cancer. Some women also get cancer without having any symptoms and their cancer could only be detected through a mammogram test. Thus, for those who already have over 40 years of age are strongly encouraged to conduct mammogram tests regularly as a step of early detection, because one of the keys to the success of a treatment and a person’s survival are early detection.

 Myth 4: If a woman diagnosed with this type of cancer, then obviously she will eventually lose one or both breasts.

Fact: As part of the treatment of breast cancers, surgery is sometimes must be performed on patients diagnosed with this disease. But the fact is not necessarily so. There are several things to be considered to determine about any treatment. In general, treatment will be determined by knowing first about how far the cancer has spread and grown. This is one of breast cancer facts you should understand. If the cancer can be detected at an early stage, it can be treated.

http://lifestyle.iafrica.com/herlife/features/819614.html

http://1st-in-breastcancer.com/breast-cancer-facts-and-myths