BaGhana BaGhana

Seriously?

Ghana played with heart and passion and made it to the Quarter-Finals of the Soccer World Cup,and some idiot   journalist decided to taint the glow of their achievement by coining the phrase BaGhana BaGhana.

Yes we should be extremely proud of what Ghana has achieved
Yes we should stand behind the sole African country still in contention in the World Cup.
But seriously people, can we not be proud of them and let them have their moment without trying to attach Bafana's dismal legacy to The Black Stars?

We're proud of our team and we wish they had gone further than the first round, but they didn't and we'll live with that.
This is Ghana's moment.
Bafana had theirs.

Go Ghana!
Go The Black Stars!

Confucius say...

Confucius say, "If you are in a book store and cannot find the book you are looking for, you're obviously in the…"

One Of My Favourite Movie Songs

One of my all time favourite movie tracks.
Trust me when I say I had to search long and hard before I found a link that allowed me to upload it here.
It's from Oceans 12.
Enjoy :)

Our Favourite Songs

I finally figured out how to upload videos to the blog, and decided to share with you some of the songs which Shakera and I dedicated to each other over the past 10 years of marriage.

The first is a song by an artist I grew up with, having heard him played almost every weekend by my mom as she sang along to his greatest tracks.
I recall a holiday trip with my mom and Gran;  I had just got my first Louis Armstrong cassette (yes, way before CD's were introduced), and the memory of us driving along a mountainous stretch of road en-route to a holiday camp while we all sang along to "The Saints Go Marching On" will live with me forever.




Sade is another artist who defined my upbringing.
Most of the music I listened to and fell in love with growing up was old school blues and jazz.
This song encapsulates everything I had alway wanted a marriage and partnership to be about.
Sit back and enjoy :)



This next video is one I dedicated to Shakera after our 7th wedding anniversary.
She'd made me an awesome CD collection of all my favourite songs for our 5th, and since i'm terrible with technology, the best I could do was dedications. Hopefully some day before CD's become outdated, I will get the opportunity to make a CD for her with all her favourite songs.
Are CD's outdated yet?



This next song never fails to get my feet tapping.
It's my kind of foot-tapping music.
So I played it many years ago and Shakera loved it.. and now I sing it to Sabreen coz she finds it fun to run and hide when I get home and want kisses from her :)



Ok the last song i'm uploading is one that Shakera dedicated to me.
Some day when she starts her own blog, maybe she'll explain it's significance :)




There you have it.
A little video guide into the Kaloo adventure, which gets more exciting and awesome with every passing day.
I hope you enjoyed it, and look forward to uploading some of my own videos soon!

The Vuvuzela Song

The first time I saw this video, I knew it was one to share!
I absolutely love it!

"Feel It, It Is Here!"

Yep.
That's the Soccer World Cup tagline.
Our man Maradona, coach of the Argentine national team and among the favourites to win the coveted award, seems to be feeling it.

                                                                                                     

I've been to a few games already, and i've been so proud of the manner in which we as a country have embraced every other sporting nation visiting our shores.
At the England vs Germany game in Bloemfontein, I sat next to an English fan from Bolton and we got to discussing soccer. He seemed fascinated by how much I knew about the game, and thrilled that I was a Manchester United fan. He assumed that South Africans, being of the African continent, know very little about anything that happens in the rest of the world.
I pointed out the irony to him.... that the Americans know even less about what happens outside their own state, let alone outside their country.

An hour into the game and we were chatting like old school friends.
He asked me who I was rooting for and I said it really didn't matter who won, I was just glad to be there for the experience. I think that pretty much sums up the feeling of all South Africans attending these games. We know that this may be the last time our generation will see the World Cup take place on African soil.

I'd like to think that i'll be attending the next soccer World Cup in Brazil, but the fact that i've been a part of the spirit of the games pleases me greatly.
Yes, I was there.

South Africa Rolls Out the Ubuntu in Abundance

The Huffington Post

Shari Cohen

International development worker in the public health sector

Posted: June 15, 2010 11:35 AM

South Africa Rolls Out the Ubuntu in Abundance

I went on a rant the other day regarding the cost of the 2010 World Cup versus all the critical needs South Africa is facing and whether or not the most vulnerable of this country would gain anything from having the World Cup hosted in their country. At that time, I also had some very positive things to say about our hosts for the 2010 World Cup and I wanted to share that side of the coin as well, because it is equally important.

To say that I have been blown away at the hospitality South Africa has shown the rest of the world would be an understatement. I think back on recent Olympics and struggle to remember much reporting in the USA of athletes from other countries. I remember when a Togolese guy won a bronze medal in kayaking and NBC reported it and I thought to myself, "where are all the other fascinating stories like this one...like the Jamaican bobsledding team." In today's America, sadly, we have drifted so far towards being so US-centric that we only seem to root for the Americans.

Not so here in South Africa. I've been here since early May and each week I have become more and more impressed with the global embrace that South Africans have offered up to the world. On the way to the airport a couple of weeks ago, I heard a radio program that said each day they would focus on one country that would be coming to South Africa for the World Cup, and they would explore not only that sport's history in soccer, but also their politics, religion, and socio-cultural practices. On the television, I've seen numerous programs that focus on a particular country and it's history of soccer and how the history of that country is intertwined with their soccer history. I've seen programs on India, exploring why India enjoys soccer but hasn't really excelled at the global level... yet. And I've seen shows on soccer in Muslim countries. Maybe it's planned, maybe it's unplanned, maybe it's by chance, but it is happening. It's not just about South Africans showing off their varied and multifaceted culture to their global guests, it's also about using this opportunity to educate South Africa on the rest of Planet Earth's inhabitants.

As I moved through my work here in the provinces over the last six weeks, I had a pivotal meeting with the Board members of a rural NGO. They were explaining their guiding program philosophy of Ubuntu. No, not the Linux program. I'm talking about the traditional African philosophy of Ubuntu that essentially says, "No man is an island."

I found a better explanation from Wikipedia:

Archbishop Desmond Tutu further explained Ubuntu in 2008:

One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu - the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality -- Ubuntu -- you are known for your generosity.


We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole world. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.

To me, Ubuntu is the acceptance of others as parts of the sum total of each of us. And that is exactly what I have experienced during the lead up to, and the initial days of this World Cup. There is nary a South African citizen that I've met on the street, or in shops or restaurants or hotels, that hasn't gone out of their way to greet me and make me feel like I am home. And I don't mean that in the trivial, "Oh, aren't they nice, homey people here... " sort of way. I mean real, genuine interest and questions. People seriously want to know where I come from. What it's like where I live. How does it compare to where I am now. What do I think of South Africa. Oh yes, and what do I think of Bafana Bafana... The questions and conversations are in earnest. They are honest. And they are had with enthusiasm and a thirst to know more. South Africans are drinking deeply from the cup of humanity that has been brought to their doorstep. I would never imagine that an American World Cup or Olympics would ever be this welcoming to the rest of the world. And that saddens me for the state of my home country, but it also makes me feel the pride of the South African people.

I have been truly humbled on this trip. And while I have my gripes regarding development here, I cannot say one negative thing about how South Africa has handled its duties as host and hostess to the world. If I could say one thing to sum up being here during this once-in-a-lifetime experience, it would be that I've learned the value of Ubuntu, and that when found and offered in abundance, the world is indeed a better place to live in.

So, if South Africa accomplishes nothing more on the playing field, it will still have won as a host country. I am a cynic, no doubt about that. And yet I have to admit, I'm a little teary just writing this because I leave for home next weekend and I will be leaving a little piece of myself here in South Africa. I just hope I have learned enough to bring back a little piece of Ubuntu to my homeland, where perhaps with a little caring and a little water, it will take root as naturally as it does here, in the cradle of civilization. It's funny, many people in America still ask me, "are the people in Africa very primitive?" Yes, I know, amazing someone could ask that but they do. And when they do, I usually explain that living in a mud hut does not make one primitive, however, allowing kids to sell drugs to other kids and engage in drive-by killings -- isn't that primitive behavior? I think it is. When I think of Ubuntu and my recent experiences here, I think America has much to learn from Africa in general, in terms of living as a larger village; and as human beings who are all interconnected with each other, each of us having an effect on our brothers and sisters.

As the 2010 Cup slogan goes, "Feel it. It is here." Well, I have felt it, because I am here. Thank you South Africa, for giving me this unexpected gift. I am humbled.