Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is the most corrupt African President

I just found out that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has a lot of her government officials staying in various hotels in Liberia. A lot of them do not have decent homes in Liberia so the country is paying for them to be housed in expenses hotels around the city.



Take a look at Government Officials in Liberia annual gross salary each:



Fees Items

$15,000.00 salary

4,500.00 Gas card

6,000.00 Monthly Hotel fees

100.00 Drivers salary @ $50.00 ea

50,000.00 Two SUVs

25,000.00 Traveling expenses to visit wife and children

25,000.00 Medical expenses outside of Liberia

10,000.00 Misc. expanses



$135,600.00 Total Gross salary. And this is just the one we know about, I am sure there are more hidden fees!



A small country like Liberia no one should be getting this kind of money per year! If Ellen returns for a second term, Liberia will be in the poor house by the end of her term or before. This is another form of corruption at its highest. Not only will the country be broke but she is setting the country for another war…….this time, it will be the between the “been-tos” and the “stay-at-home”!!

Is it JFK that we are talking about at this time?

So you are saying…

Its ok for a nurse aid to perform surgeries on helpless patients?
Its ok for the doctors working at JFK to take the medicines meant for JFK patients to their clinics?
Its ok for those innocents pehn-pehn to die daily because there is no doctor knowledgeable or medications to handle head trauma and they are left to bleed to death?
So it is ok for our senior citizens to sit in the hallway floor of JFK begging doctors for pills because they could not afford to pay for it.
And it is also ok with you that our babies are dying from simple illnesses like high fever or some idiots not cutting the cord correctly?
It is ok with you that a major government hospital did not have any gloves or gauges in the entire hospital and the clinics are reusing theirs?
It is ok with you that the nurses cursed at their patients and treat them anyway they like. Telling a patient in labor to “shut the hell up”?


I am sure knowing how you feel about your Liberian people make you sleep sound at night! If this is how you show that you love your people, please take me off of your “love my people” list.



The next time you are in Liberia and having chest and neck pains and think you may be having a heart attack, call the medic (911 works in Liberia as well) truck to take you to JFK. Oh, make sure you have gas money and a car battery on hand for the truck and also make sure you have the heart attack before you get to JFK or you will be sent home. JFK only takes you after the heart attack not before. One of my aunts did not know this and had a heart attack on her way back from been turn down at JFK.



As for me, Liberian hospitals and clinics drums will beat until those good-for-nothing senators and ministers either start to fix the problems or take sleeping pills to sleep at night!!!


The middle of the day, see this senator’s desk, does it look like anything is getting done in here? This is how most of their offices look, nothing going on. Oh, don’t waist your time sending them emails, they told us they don’t open it because it takes too long. Attachment, forget it. We (FELMAUSE team) sent all of the doctors and nurses documents via an email attached to the minister to health thinking that by the time we get there, the nurses and doctors temporary licenses to practice in Liberia will be ready. NOT the case, the minister himself sat with us and told us they don’t open their emails, it takes too long, that they needed hard copies before we could start work.



Now take a look at the minister’s secretary, what is she doing?......That’s right, taking a nap after watching a movie, see the TV. They were watching one of those Liberian movie during work hours in the minister’s office area. Look closely at the clock, its 2pm. And this was going on while we were there, just imagine what happens when no one is around.

They are doing exactly what you are satisfy with, NOTHING all day long!!!



Have a good day!



From: Morris Kanneh
Subject: [alja1] Is it JFK that we are talking about at this time?

Are we talking about JFK hospital here ? Has it been any better with any administration than it is now? Was the naked name "Just For Killing" given to the hospital during the 80s because of its viability or because its deficiency? Did we expect anything good this early out of the Liberian health system after a 14-year war?

"When head burned do we expect to see a bushy beard after"?

Are we cognizant of the warning from the then Under Secretary of State for African Affairs Herman Cohen, that if we allowed ourselves to fight for one year we would go backward for another 100 years?

Don't we know that we have just gone six years of those predated 100 years and we are talking about the unfitness of just a hospital so soon? We need to be fair to ourselves mannnn.



Our people say "When the child sees his grand father kissing his toothless old wife, he wonder's why his grand father wasted his money marrying such a tootles old woman". What the child failed to know is that the grand father had been kissing this ground mother's mouth when it was full with teeth as she gradually lost them. And so the ground father is now adjusted to his toothless old lady and has forgotten that she ever had tooth in her mouth before. So yes, the child is right, he was not around when the ground mother was regarded is a beauty during her days, he only saw her toothless



This goes to those who now see JFK as a dilapidated hospital after a long stay in the United States where the health system is developed to its highest, coupled with the destruction from the civil war. Of course JFK will be nothing more than a place where someone living in the World's more powerful country can allow his/her dog to be treated. But like our people say " The tweedy bird's nest might look small to you, but that is exactly where she raises and initiates her chicks." And so JFK remains a savior to those who can not afford to come to University of Penn Hospital for hospitalization. Prayerfully, those critical impediments you referred to will encourage Well Manning Liberians Like those of FELMAUSA to do more as opposed to empty criticisms.



This is one reason while I will keep holding my hat up for the Federation of Mandingo Association in the Americas for its far sighted humanitarian services to the health system in Liberia. If each and every organization was following FELMAUSA's footsteps, maybe not only JFK, but other health centers in Liberia would have been fit to treat not only our puppies but even ourselves.

I hate to make sweeping comparison, otherwise I was in one of the neighboring West African countries that did not go through civil war like we did few years ago, and I saw people taking their patients from a major hospital in that country to Liberia due to the backwardness of their health system.

This reminded me about the man who decided to kill himself because he was poor. As he was knotting the rope to hang himself, another poor man who was naked asked him to please donate his torn pants to him so that he can at least cover his front from to avoid the public reticule he was going through. The man hanging himself quickly took his nick from the rope and thanked God for the torn pants he had the opportunity to own, and prefer living to death.

LIBERIA will triumph my people.



Sekou

Worst Hospital in the world - Liberia JFK Hospital in Monrovia

Our people in Liberia are suffering because NO ONE IN LIBERIA CARES for them. Do you know JFK is the world worst hospital to go to when ill? The hospital is filthy and smells like a sewer tank to say the least. When we (FELMAUSA Medical Mission Team) got to JFK, there were no gloves in the entire hospital, none at all we were told by Mrs. Willie, Procurement Specialist. JFK sent their patients out to buy their own gauge and gloves if they want services. There are no baby bottles in any of the hospitals in Liberia; mothers are training their new born to drink from a cup because they are not nourished enough to breastfeed their new born. I have pictures and fully plan on writing Mrs. Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson in the very, very near future.



No record keeping system at JFK, nobody knows who you are even though you may have been there a 100 times. Don’t expect the nurses to “feel your pain”, in fact, they don’t want you messing up their floor or clothes so they will not treat you until you clean up yourself first. Pehn-Pehns die like flies at JFK each and every day. 80% of JFK patients are pehn-pehns, ask Dr. Guizie. This, my friend is just the tip of the ice burg. Stay tune I have much more to come about Liberia and my 3 1/2 weeks stay there. In short, I wouldn’t take my 19 (human years) years old dog Trixie to JFK!!!



You think JFK is bad, trying using the bathrooms at any public offices or clinics in Monrovia; you will not be able to eat or swallow after. There are no working public restrooms in Monrovia, so people are using the outdoors as restrooms and guess where the rain water is taking their dunk, back into the water systems.



No one in Liberia will do anything for you if there is nothing in it for them, even your own family or closed friend.



The kids are not playing any more, too busy trying to survive so play time has been put on hold.



Liberians have turned themselves into “professional beggers”…. Honestly, I couldn’t take the daily begging any longer. No one wants to start a small business for themselves, begging seem to be easier…what a shame!!



Liberia is far more expensive then America, ask anyone who wants to tell you the truth!



The Senators, Ministers, and foreigners are the only ones with power and enjoying life in Liberia, but they are also the biggest criminals and break all the rules of law daily!



There are nurse aids in Liberia pretending to be doctors and writing prescriptions and have clinics all over the place. There are nurse aids operating on patients daily, this is why we are dying everyday!! We have Physician Assistant who cannot correctly check your blood pressure but will quickly try to perform a C-Section operation….scary!!!



There are Medical vehicles without gas and or working car battery parked “ready to be call in case of an emergency”, no lie, I live this one myself. Oh, don’t call the driver while he is eating, he will not move until he is done eating. Let not forget he can barely see!!!



Madam President hired those Senators and Ministers thinking they would bring their outside work ethic and experiences to help her rebuild Liberia, instead they parked their ethic and experiences at RIA and join the ones on the ground and nothing is happening. One senators office I visited had not one sheet of paper on his desk, not even a folder or pen, nothing, just fancy office well air conditioned. My question was, what do you do in here all day without any PC or paperwork? “I go to meeting everyday” was the answer I got!! Put a gun to their heads and they could not tell you what the meeting was about.



I think Liberia should be turn over to a foreign western company if we want to save her and JFK should be shut down immediately!!!

UN & France Exposed - Be warned of grusome pictures

I agree wholeheartedly. But how do we get to the next level in our thinking and doing, so we don't become the" continent that once was"?

I am sure collectively we can find the answer to this if we try hard enough. But using a different way of doing things and solving our own problems first.

We need men and women with bright ideas to help us please answer some of these questions and put them in practice , not just theory-as we currently do so well.

The obstacles are so many but this is not unique to Africans alone. If others got themselves out of their hell holes, I think we too should be motivated to do same.

Politics is in the way; economics is in the way; wrong education is in the way; hunger is in the way; self hate is in the way; hero worship is in the way; everything seems to be in the way. Etc

How can these ideas come to fruition and be implemented? Do we need a Jerry Rawlings or a Julius Nyerere to help with these questions as we continue to sink (ie. drinking and sinking)? I am just wondering.

I sincerely believe though that if we believe that oft-repeated saying the first humans originated in Africa, then we too as Africans should the first originators of the solutions to our African problems instead of always looking to first, second, third, fourth anthropological derivatives from Africa who had long since settled elsewhere (eg. Europe, Asia, etc) and have practically forgotten Africa, except to come back to exploit and extract minerals for their new found lifestyles that they must support by hook or crook.

The more I think about this conundrum, the more I come to realize that we as Africans have not properly contextualized and compartmentalized the cardinals vices of greed, lust, and envy. Further, we have fallen to money,power and luxury, forgetting that these are tools that should be understood and used appropriately and not to be used or abused by them, etc.

There is too much confusion; our morals too sandwiched and too much noise in the market, so to speak, that we got all our priorities twisted and in the end, we fall to morbid selfishness and then internal and external chaos no matter how much we accumulated materially in the process.

I am still think about your thought provoking comments. You got me thinking.

Thank you.

Zumo


All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
— Leo Tolstoy (Anna Karenina)

(Paraphrase: All happy nations are alike; each unhappy nation is unhappy in its own way)

"There is no justice on the earth, they say.
But there is none in heaven, either. To me
That is as plain as any simple scale.---Mozart and Salieri, Scene 1, para 1.

-----Original Message-----

From: Williams, Roberta B

Doc, thanks for sharing as always, but if we (Africans) love and respect each other and our lands, we wouldn’t have a need for the UN now would we? The problem is us Doc, we are our own problems and enemies.
Most Africans in African countries that are in power don’t want to give it up. Most that are in charge of funds, steals most of it; most that are in charge of caring for children, rape the kids; most that are in charge of lands, sell it and put the money in their pockets. The number one thing an African man love more than himself is power, funny thing is, as soon as they get it, they abuse it and forget about their people. Remembered the saying: “All my mother’s children, I love myself the best and when I get my stomach full, I don’t care for the rest”………we practice this saying everyday in African!

The UN can live in these African countries until the end of time that will not change us, we have to want change and practice it everyday!

Oh by the way, in the UN, the ones that is on the ground and the ones giving the orders to the one on the grounds are of different races, which do you think is sent on the ground? They know we don’t love and respect each other or our lands so why not send the self-hater, makes perfect sense to me, not so?

Roberta Williams

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From Dr. Zumo

See below . And compare with other information coming from "the grounds" wherever UN is or has been stationed. You can choose to use two eyes or four eyes, as you like.

FYI

Zumo

Ivory Coast attack further complicates UN presence in Africa
From impotence in Rwandan genocide to helicopter strike on presidential palace, UN walks a fine line across continent
•
•
o David Smith in Johannesburg
o guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 5 April 2011 17.26 BST
UN peacekeepers patrol the streets in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Photograph: Jane Hahn/AP
The United Nations attack on Ivory Coast's presidential palace and military barracks marks a new chapter in the organisation's often chequered history in Africa.
Most notorious was its impotence during the 1994 Rwandan genocide in which 800,000 people died. The UN security council failed to reinforce the small peacekeeping force in the east African country.
Kofi Annan, head of UN peacekeeping forces at the time, admitted later: "The international community failed Rwanda and that must leave us always with a sense of bitter regret."
Between 1948 and 2007, about 40% of the UN's peacekeeping and observer missions took place in Africa. In 2009, about 70% of its personnel were deployed on the continent. The current missions are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Darfur in Sudan, southern Sudan, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Western Sahara.
After the massacres in Rwanda and then Bosnia, the UN added the protection of civilians as a priority for each mission. But the question of how far it is willing – and able – to go to intervene remains delicate and politically charged.
The UN runs the world's biggest peacekeeping mission in Congo at an annual cost of $1.35bn (£865m) but it is constantly overstretched in the vast country. It has been accused of supporting Congolese army units responsible for grave atrocities.
Last year there were claims that peacekeepers ignored appeals for protection just days before more than 240 villagers were raped by rebels. There have been similar charges in the past, blamed on lack of equipment, manpower and intelligence capacity. UN peacekeepers in Darfur have been accused of failing to stop violence that resulted in civilian deaths.
Major General Patrick Cammaert, a Dutch marine and UN peacekeeping veteran, told the New York Times in 2009: "They can't start a war against a host government like a well-organised Sudanese campaign. That goes beyond protecting civilians; it is on a magnitude that a UN mission cannot deal with."



-----Original Message-----
From: ZumoAmos@aol.com


"Hesitancy to murder has never been the hallmark of imperialism"..Franz Fanon (1925-1961)

"As a continent, Africa will always haunt the UN Peacekeeping Missions (DPKO)"..Eeben Barlow, former South African Defence Force intelligence officer, CEO, Executive Outcomes Intl.

See FYI below:

http://www.liberianforum.com/Articles/Historical-Context-and-Real-time-projections-for-Successes-in-Africa.html

Zumo


From: Morris Kanneh

There is this tendency of people casting blame on the place they fell forgetting that the place they slipped is the principal cause of the fall in the first place. I thought it was Gbago who is more than been exposed for clinching on to power even at the precious lives of the Ivorians. But God willing he will pay for his deed in not a distance future.
Sekou

--- On Tue, 4/5/11, J. NAN LARSAH wrote:

When the UN denied these deaths early yesterday and Outtara dismissively denied said act as "nonsense" lies, it this what the UN/France/US/Outtara rebel forces "international community is hurriedly attacking Gbagbo for so as to get rid of him quickly?

Massacre in Ivory Coast



________________________________________

Liberia Health Mystery

I have said this so many times, the only way the Liberia government will take the health care seriously is if they are ban from leaving the country for medical reasons. If they have to use the same low class medical treatment as everybody else in Liberia, they will do something, but each time they get sick or need a check up, they fly out of the country and take the Liberian people money with them to get themselves fix.

In fact, let them stay home and use everything Liberia has, things will change, and quickly! You can’t change things you don’t know is broken or have never use, not so?

Thank you,

Roberta Williams
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My pleasure.

I agree fully.

Given our more than 165 years history as a "nation", we should be doing better in Liberia by now with these things, if we are to move our nation up and away from poverty, ignorance, manipulation, misinformation and preventable diseases. Nobody else will do it for us , without us paying "an arm and a leg" each time they do it for us.
Will continue to keep my fingers crossed for Liberia.

Zumo

FYI from around the globe: See how others are using smart economics: ie. local resources and local expertise to take care of their citizens afflicted by eg. hypertension, stroke, etc.


In Coma, Ariel Sharon Is Moved Home

Reuters
An ambulance brought the former Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, to his ranch in the Negev Desert on Friday.
By ETHAN BRONNER
Published: November 12, 2010
JERUSALEM — Ariel Sharon, who had a major stroke while prime minister of Israel nearly five years ago and has since been in a coma in a hospital room, was moved on Friday to his ranch in the Negev Desert, hospital officials told Israel Radio.
A former close aide, Raanan Gissen, said in an interview that Mr. Sharon’s sons had been in discussion with Sheba Medical Center outside Tel Aviv about the move. An elevator and other equipment had been installed at the family ranch to accommodate his arrival and long-term care.
Hospital officials said Mr. Sharon would at first spend several days at a time at home and then return to Sheba Medical Center to be to monitored. Only after several successful trials at the ranch would he stay there permanently.
Mr. Sharon, 82, breathes on his own but is fed intravenously, Mr. Gissen said. Visits to his sterile hospital room had been tightly limited because of a fear of infection. The cost of keeping Mr. Sharon in the hospital, which is borne by the taxpayer, has been high and some commentators urged that he be moved to a long-term care facility or home.
Mr. Gissen said that given his age and the duration of the coma, it seemed like Mr. Sharon was unlikely to regain consciousness, but his sons remained hopeful. He noted that Mr. Sharon used to say that he enjoyed spending time at the ranch, surrounded by livestock and nature, and perhaps returning there would help. Mr. Sharon was widowed twice. His sons, Omri and Gilad, are in charge of his care and estate.
A former general who held nearly every major ministerial post, Mr. Sharon was elected prime minister in 2001 and was at the height of his power when he had the stroke in January 2006. Having spent his career as a noted hawk and champion of the settler movement, he stunned the world by removing Israeli settlers and soldiers from Gaza in the summer of 2005 and leaving his political home in the right-leaning Likud, establishing the centrist party Kadima instead.
After his stroke, his deputy, Ehud Olmert, was elected prime minister.

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1) Demography
The Republic of Hungary has 10.04 million inhabitants of which 2.06 million live in Budapest, the capital of the country. Almost half of the country?s population resides in communities of less than 20,000 inhabitants each. In Hungary, there are 23 cities, 199 towns and 2913 villages.
During the 1950?s and 1960?s Hungary achieved improvements in the historically poor health status of its population through effective health measures and improved socio-economic conditions. While life expectancy in Western European countries improved during the 1980?s partly due to dropping rates of cardiovascular diseases, this tendency continued to worsen in Hungary as did deaths from cancer, liver cirrhosis and external causes such as accidents and suicide. Hungary has thus far completed an epidemiological transition. However, a special policy of health care for the ageing population is to be implemented. In Hungary, life expectancy at birth in 1997 was 75.1 years for women and 66.1 years for men compared to 80.8 years and 74.2 years in the European Union.
Mortality and morbidity due to unhealthy lifestyle, such as high consumption of alcohol, increasing rate of smoking and high fat and sugar diet are thought to be important causative factors. Factors contributing to the health status of population are complex, including social and economic factors as well as access to good quality health services.
2) Economy
It is difficult to estimate the total health care expenditure in Hungary, since it consists of contributions from local governments, voluntary sector and directly from the patients. In Hungary, the total health expenditure as a percentage of the GDP (6,5 %) is lower than the European Union?s average (8,5 %). The expenditure was growing steadily from PPP USD 391 in 1990 to PPP USD 602 in 1996 and it has continued to grow. The National Health Insurance Fund has a share of 70%, the largest part of the total health-care expenditure.
3) History
The first Act on mandatory sickness insurance for Hungary?s factory workers was introduced in 1889, 110 years ago, following the introduction of Germany?s sickness insurance system, affected by Chancellor Bismarck. Back then the centralised system of national sickness insurance was established for the 20th century. Before and after World War II, both the services provided by the insurance system and the group of insured persons had been extended.
In the 1970?s and 1980?s, the health insurance system was defined by Act II of 1975 on health, regulating both health and pension insurance schemes. In 1991, having returned to the practice of the first decade of this century, two self- governmental bodies became responsible for supervising and managing health and pension insurance funds, being the governing bodies of the separated Health Insurance Fund and Pension Insurance Fund.
In 1998, a package of acts has been enacted in order to restructure and redefine the social insurance system. Acts LXXX of 1997 and LXXXIII of 1997 define the scope of nationals entitled to social insurance services, private pension, the financing of the above benefits, and the benefits of mandatory health insurance. In 1999, the newly elected Parliament decided upon the supervision of the social insurance funds by a State Secretary.

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What is healthcare like in Germany?
Category: Health Care
Posted on: May 27, 2009 6:36 AM, by MarkH

What better argument for universal health care can you make than that of Germany? By far one of the most successful systems, it has had some form of universal health care for almost 130 years, and is currently one of the most successful health care systems in the world. It is again, a mixture of public and private funding, with employers providing most of the funding for health care by paying into one of several hundred "sickness funds" that provide health care funding to their employees. Germany is widely regarded as having excellent access, short wait times, care with the best technology and pharmaceuticals available, and this again while spending 10.7% of GDP (US 16%) with per capita spending of ~3.3k USD (approximately half of that in the US).
The German health care wikipedia entry is a good starting point, and it's always fun to try to translate German web pages and try to make sense of Google translations. But I've found several good articles describing the system including several articles in the MSM like this NYT piece which refers to Americans as having an "... immature, asocial mentality [that] is rare in the rest of the world," one for travelers, and one for those looking for German jobs. The consensus seems to be that Germany rocks when it comes to health care.


-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Leewaye

Dr. Zumo,
Thank you ever so much for the informative piece below, I hope our reading audience will learn some thing important from your wealth of knowledge in this area.

I have always wondered if the people who usually used the issues discussed below to score political points have ever asked about the health condition of Madam Sirleaf or her medical records? As you are aware, Madam Sirleaf is either 80 or close to that number and most of her medical checks are done in the USA at the expense of the Liberian people. I would have thought that her medical records would be public to those who paid her bills, the Liberian People.


Tony Leewaye



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From: "ZumoAmos


Two Pressure Candidates
In the wake of a recent admission coming from Johnson’s running mate that both of them are ‘pressure patients’, eye brows have been raised over the country’s future if the NUDP clinches the presidency during the election.
Senator Abel Massalley, also a senior senator of Grand Cape Mount County, in his apparent attempt to dismiss any notion of his colleague’s illness being a problem, told journalists recently, that he too carries similar sickness: “There is nothing wrong with being a pressure patient. I’m also a pressure patient”. -from Frontpage Africa.

In all sincerity, we wish Senator Prince Johnson well. We are sure he will take his meds to keep his pressure at the desired 120/80 and take his daily baby aspirin. We wish to sincerely thank Senator Masselley for being bold about his bout of hypertension as well. Acknowledging hypertension (the silent killer) is a very good and bold step for the two senators. Hope we can all educate ourselves and check our own blood pressure regularly. This is a good teaching momemt about the disease, which is responsible for so much other cardiovascular and cerebrovascular morbidity and mortality if left untreated.

Hope we don't get the false notion that they are the only ones affected. BIG MISTAKE. SORRY NO POLITICAL POINTS CAN BE OBTAINED HERE!!!!

High blood pressure (hypertension) is an important stroke risk factor: accounting for approximately 75% of all strokes.

FYI: In a recent article (" Stroke, the whip of death in the Young in Liberia", Journal of the Liberia Medical &Dental Association, pp. 15-17, vol.16, no.1) published by our dear, always brilliant colleague, Dr. Abraham Borbor at the Department of Medicine, JFK Medical Center, Monrovia Liberia, Dr. Borbor writes "The (retrospective) review of patients admitted over 33 months(August 2007- May 2010) in the JFK Medical Ward indicated that of the 2606 patients, stroke was significantly high (14.7%) and males were more affected (54.6%). Death due to stroke was high (57.06%) and the younger Liberian population (52.75% of total) is seriously affected. Hypertension was shown to be significantly associated (91.36% of total) with stroke at JFK in both males and females. Therefore, hypertension must be taken seriously by the medical community and society at large."

Hope the message is clear.

This is a chronic illness not a terminal illness so the two gentlemen should do fine with the rest of their campaign.

Instead of hiding their illnesses, at least they are honest with their illnesses- giving the public an opportunity to learn fully well about the disease (as is commonly done by the American and European public when their political leaders are affected by various illnesses), a rarity in Liberian politics and among Liberian politicians and public officials.

Zumo

A Brief History of Women in Power-This is what happen when girls are educated!

1. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Sri Lanka
Fifty years ago, Sirimavo Bandaranaike was elected, becoming the first female head of government the world had ever known. Her victory was so groundbreaking; no one knew what to call her. "There will be need for a new word," London's Evening News wrote the day after she was elected as Prime Minister in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). "Presumably, we shall have to call her a stateswoman." Bandaranaike assumed the role of party leader after her husband was assassinated by a Buddhist monk in 1959. When her party won the July 1960 election, she took the country's reins and held them until 1965. She would serve as Prime Minister again from 1970 to 1977 and from 1994 to 2000. It was her daughter, who had become the country's first female President in 1994, who appointed her to her final term, though the position had become largely ceremonial at that point. She stepped down in April 2000 and died later that year — on the very day she cast her ballot in the country's elections.

2. Indira Gandhi, India
She was the nation's daughter, brought up under the close watch of both her father, who was India's first Prime Minister after decades of British rule, and her country. The TIME magazine cover not long after her election in January 1966 read, "Troubled India in a Woman's Hands." Those hands led India for much of the next two decades, through recession, famine, the detonation of the nation's first atomic bomb and a civil war in neighboring Pakistan that, under her guidance, saw the creation of a new state, Bangladesh.

3. Golda Meir, Israel
Once called "the only man in the Cabinet," Golda Meir was a formidable figure in Israeli politics. Tall, gaunt, blunt and determined, to the world she embodied the steely stubbornness of the Israeli spirit. "There is a type of woman," she once said, "who does not let her husband narrow her horizon." After an illustrious political career, including service as Israel's Labor Minister and Foreign Minister, among other high-level positions, she was called out of retirement at age 70 to lead her country as Prime Minister from 1969 to 1974.

4. Golda Meir, Israel
Once called "the only man in the Cabinet," Golda Meir was a formidable figure in Israeli politics. Tall, gaunt, blunt and determined, to the world she embodied the steely stubbornness of the Israeli spirit. "There is a type of woman," she once said, "who does not let her husband narrow her horizon." After an illustrious political career, including service as Israel's Labor Minister and Foreign Minister, among other high-level positions, she was called out of retirement at age 70 to lead her country as Prime Minister from 1969 to 1974.

5. Corazon Aquino, Philippines
After the assassination of her charismatic husband, the pious Catholic widow Corazon Aquino won over the public and overthrew the dictatorial regime widely blamed for his murder. In a spectacle that added the phrase people power to the global lexicon, millions of supporters took to the streets to ensure Aquino's eventual rise to the office of the President in February 1986. Though tested by several attempted military coups and other setbacks, she managed to preserve the democracy her husband had died for. She was named TIME's Person of the Year in 1986 — the first woman to receive the designation since Queen Elizabeth II in 1952.

6. Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan
A daughter of the Pakistan dynasty, Benazir Bhutto followed her father into politics and died because of it. Young and glamorous, she was a refreshing contrast to the male-dominated political establishment. She led her country as Prime Minister from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996 — both times, she was dismissed from office by the President for alleged corruption, charges she steadfastly denied and called politically motivated. She was assassinated in 2007 while campaigning to bring back democracy to the then military-ruled country; her husband, also tarnished with allegations of graft, is now President.

7. Angela Merkel, Germany
Angela Merkel is a rarity in German politics: she's the first Chancellor to have grown up in communist East Germany, the first female to lead and the youngest-ever incumbent. She spent decades being underrated but never took it to heart. "You could say I've never underestimated myself," Merkel told TIME in January 2010. "There's nothing wrong with being ambitious." One hundred days after taking office in late 2005, a poll named her the most popular Chancellor in German history.

8. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Liberia
In April 2006, First Lady Laura Bush described Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as a woman who has never stopped working for her country. "[Her] courage and commitment to her country are an inspiration to me and women around the world," Bush wrote in TIME. Johnson-Sirleaf started her political career as a Liberian Cabinet Minister in the 1970s, went on to become a senior United Nations administrator in the 1990s and, when elected President of Liberia in 2006, became the first African woman to be elected head of state. Since taking the helm, she has pushed to reclaim what her nation lost during years of civil war. With strong will and determination, she has vowed to fight against corruption and move "forward into a future that is filled with hope and promise." To honor her triumphs, then U.S. President George W. Bush awarded her a 2007 Presidential Medal of Freedom. As Laura Bush wrote, "Johnson-Sirleaf is an example of what can happen when girls are educated."

Liberian TRC: Reconciliation before the Truth - hummmm?

Question – What if we (Liberians) were to find out the names and countries of all those who had their hands in the “cookie jar” of the Liberian war, is Liberia in the position to take those involve to court? Or will we only reconcile with them as well? Personally, I don’t think Liberians can handle the truth regarding the war because no two sides will agree on whose to blame.

Sometimes I think the reasons we are getting help from the outside countries in rebuilding Liberia is their way of saying “we are sorry for what we started in your country and to your people” nothing more. I don’t think they really care, do you? All of the assistances we are getting from the USA are only a mere “we should not have let Charles Taylor out of jail, we made a mistake” gesture. Then again, one can only wonder what was in it for them, the diamonds or to reduce the population of an African country or both.

Some of the things I see and hear happening in various African countries I think are all plans to hopefully reduce the African populations. The sad part is we (Africans) know this all too well but still take the bribe for our own selfishness and greed. Africans are known to sell their own for a buck dating back to the biblic al days. As much as we are reconciling, it will take only one person to sell us back to 1979 or 1989. We always claim to want help with our day to day and long term lives in Liberia but the minutes someone comes along and present us with a dollar, we will sell whatever and whoever for that buck no matter what the short or long term consequences are.

To reconcile is to be willing to forgive and acknowledging that no one groups or tribes is to be blamed. We also need to acknowledge that we deserve a second chance. We need to know that we are valuable to the world. We need to start by showing respect for ourselves and our countrymen and women. One can not love their country and steal from it and break it down to nothing. It is impossible to love someone you do NOT respect; we have to learn to respect each other and take pride in our country first. We have to stop wearing our emotional on our sleeves and genuinely work on our feelings for one another.

We need to de-program ourselves to connect the dots, meaning we need to use what we learned in school in our personal everyday lives. We have psychologist using and abusing women emotionally and don’t see sleeping around as a sign of uselessness towards one self; we have medical doctors sleeping around without protections but go to work everyday and give advice on protections. We have RNs sending for over the counter drugs (street drug) from Liberia to use when they are sick, by the time they realized the Liberia street drug is not working, it’s too late. We have accountants who can not count but know how to steal but at the same time never want to be accountable for their actions; and lawyers who are more of a criminal then the guys on the streets but yet practice the law everyday. We have educated, well rounded Liberians still believe when they are sick someone must have witched them. We have PhD holders acting like third grade dropouts but know how to present themselves at work. We have food specialist that are over weight and eating large amount of fufu and soup at 11pm at night; shouldn’t they all know better or was their schooling only for “name sake” to say I have a degree. Why are Liberians not connecting the dots, education and life should go hand in hand, why can’t we use our education to live better lives?

By the time we Liberians are 45 – 50 years old, we have multiple kids by multiple women/men; multiple marriages; many illnesses; and no real family connections; no dependable friends around to lean on and we looked 20 years older then our peers from another country…..and then we died before our 55th birthday, why, only two reasons…

1. We wear our feelings on our sleeves meaning our feeling do not go beyond the present moment, when you are out of sight, you are out of our minds, we don’t care what we do or say to or about you.

2. We do not apply our education in our personal life, we spent 4 – 12 years reading for a good job but when we get home from work, our minds and behaviors are as if we were never in school!!!

All the reconciliations in the world will not get Liberians to:
Respect each other
Make real peace with one another
Love the land call Liberia
Stop the hate
Stop the envy
Stop the unnecessary greed
Think of what they can “do for” Liberia and not what they can “steal from” Liberia
Seek counseling for ourselves and our love ones
Mentally change our mindset of what we consider the word LOVE to be.

We have a long way to go my friend!!

Roberta Williams

Rituals Killing in Liberia

Make up your mind, one minute you want culture rituals to continue in Liberia the next minutes you want culture rituals (killings) to stop. Isn’t this the culture rituals that you, Nat G. and others want to continue in Liberia? Live with it!!!!



You can’t have both my friend!



Thank you,

Roberta Williams

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

________________________________

From: ULIBSAAforum@yahoogroups.com [mailto:ULIBSAAforum@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Joe Morris
Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2010 12:58 PM
To: EveryLiberian@yahoogroups.com; OnLiberianMedium@yahoogroups.com; Every Liberian; NEKTAA; olm_04adm@yahoogroups.com; olm_adm04@yahoogroups.com; olm_admo4@yahoogroups.com; progressinunity@yahoo.com; robertsfieldreunion@yahoo.com; ulibsaabforum@yahoogroups.com; ulibsaaforum@ahoogroups.com; ulibsaaforum@yahoo.com; ulibsaaforum@yahoogroups.com; University ofLiberia; University of Liberia
Subject: [ULIBSAAforum] Fw: LIB govt. ignores ritual killings







--- On Wed, 3/10/10, Joe Morris wrote:


From: Joe Morris
Subject: LIB govt. ignores ritual killings
To: EveryLiberian@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, March 10, 2010, 12:54 PM

Fellow Liberians,

Please do not be surprise if the government of Liberia decides to investigate the recent conflict in Lofa without pursuing the perpetrators of the ritualistic killing of the young girl that ignited the violence.



When did it become legal in Liberia to kill people especially those belonging to low economic class?



There have been series of death reported around the country with ritual intend and the very good government has never been moved or the nation stopped to pursue the perpetrators and bring justice to one more forgotten soul that leaves the living few.



For the sake of common sense, you will think that after losing 250,000 of your citizens, you will be distraught when one more of the living is gone.



Most frustrating of all; The family of the slain young girl will now be heard only because it sparked tribal and religious conflict.



What a sad nation!



God bless our nation.



Joseph Kalapele Morris

Connecticut - The Constitution State











--- On Sun, 2/28/10, George Kpator wrote:


From: George Kpator
Subject: [EveryLiberian] FrontPageAfrica's ACCOUNTS OF WHAT HAPPENED IN LOFA COUNTY
To: "Every Liberian" , "Liberian Journalists" , onelofa@yahoogroups.com, "George Kpator"
Date: Sunday, February 28, 2010, 1:30 AM



L

iberia’s northernmost county of Lofa is unarguably one of Liberia’s counties that continues to heed to the effects of the evils of a post-conflict environment which continues to see the residents of the county challenged with the task of co-existence and religious tolerance in the midst of all its Christian-Muslim domination in addition to its many tribal arrangements, begetting a recent violence in two of its major towns that have led to deaths and destruction of properties that occurred in less than 24 hours.

What began as a student protest against the death of one of their colleagues named Korpu Kamara later turned into a somewhat religious violence that reportedly left four persons dead and over 50 injured that left some churches and schools burnt down.

The violence coincided as the Liberian National Bar Association was holding its first quarterly-session of 2010 in Voinjama which left one of its councilors’ vehicle burnt down in the aftermath of the violence after an entrapped Vice President Joseph Boakai had to be airlifted to Monrovia following hours of his convoy being held hostage by the angry protesters.



Sen. Kupee & other Lofa lawmakers a town hall meeting Saturday to discuss the religious tension in Northern Liberia.

Reports emanating from the county said the students’ protest was sparked by the discovery of student Korpu’s corpse, an eleventh grade student, who had gone missing for days but was found dead later reportedly lying next to a mosque in Zorzor, thereby leading to some of the students suspecting that their colleague’s death was tied to the Muslims of the mosque.

Lofa County Superintendent, Galakpai Kortimai, told a local radio station Friday night that misinformation from Zorzor of a mosque being burnt down rapidly spread to Voinjama which led angry Muslims to go on the rampage, reportedly burning down churches and Christian-run schools with the Catholic and Lutheran schools in the provincial capital being reportedly burnt down.

Further reports speak of shootings from single barrel guns in the provincial capital leading to the deaths of four men as confirmed by Representative Moses Kollie who told FrontPageAfrica that the bodies of the four killed so far were all men and were found with bullet wounds, a situation that has caused more attention to be drawn to the fragility of not just the county but Liberia in its entirety.

Representative Kollie said the bodies are deposited at a local hospital in Voinjama.

The late Korpu was also reported to have been found dead with bullet wound, though yet to be fully established.

Late Friday evening, troops from the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) of the Liberian National Police (LNP) were seen being airlifted from the Springfield Airport in Sinkor, Monrovia, to the troubled zone to help calm the situation along with stationed troops of the United Nations Mission In Liberia (UNMIL) who have come under strong criticism of biasingly protecting only mosques and ignoring the protection of churches, something that again surfaced during Saturday’s mass meeting.UNMIL, in a press release issued late Friday afternoon stated it was aware of the situation and that UNMIL Formed Police Unit and military components were sent on the ground in assistance to the LNP in Voinjama where the incident took place.



Saturday's meeting came a day after violence erupted in the county; beginning from a town named Konia and later spreading to other parts of the county including the provincial capital of Voinjama.

The UN Mission said that the troops will work in close coordination with the local county authorities and the security apparatus on the ground to keep the situation under control and UNMIL will contribute the necessary specialists to assist in the investigation of the incident.

In the midst of the recent violence in the county that has seen scores of damages taking place in Zorzor and Voinjama, a mass meeting of Lofa citizens residing in Monrovia and its environs was held Saturday at the Capitol Building upon the invitation of the Lofa County Legislative Caucus.

The meeting came a day after violence erupted in the county; beginning from a town named Konia and later spreading to other parts of the county including the provincial capital of Voinjama.

Saturday’s meeting that was organized by the county’s legislative caucus saw several views and suggestions made by citizens of the county which resulted into the formation of two committees with the responsibilities of investigating what really transpired and soliciting funds to aid with the repairs of the damages caused respectively.

The meeting was headed by the Caucus’ Chairman, the county’s Senior Senator Sumo Kupee (Coalition for the Transformation of Liberia-COTOL) while Senator Fomba Kanneh (All Liberian Coalition Party-ALCOP) , Representatives Moses Kollie (COTOL), Malliam Jallabah (ALCOP) and Varflay Kamara (ALCOP) were present as Representative Eugene Fallah Kparkar’s absence (Liberty Party) was noticeable.

Lofa citizens during the meeting who were drawn from all tribal and religious sectors of the county agreed on ensuring that the committees comprise of three representatives from each of the county’s seven administrative districts with one female and two males comprising of each set of the three representatives: namely, Foya , Kolahun , Salayea , Vahun , Voinjama and Zorzor District s.

‘A Shame To All Lofaians’

“What is happening in Lofa County is a shame to us all”, noted one of the citizens before adding his recommendation during the meeting.

The county in recent time has been engulfed with several mysterious deaths, most of which are ritualistic and the students had thought that it was time for such to be halted with immediacy.

The death of little Vawuu Kesselley whose death has linked Senator Kupee and that of another police man have been reasons why the students thought to demand justice that unfortunately turned out to be violent than they had thought.

Representative Kollie told FrontPageAfrica after Saturday’s meeting that the citizens of the county need to go back on the drawing-board in identifying and acknowledging that there are still problems in the county.

“The death of this little girl tells us that there are still problems in our county”, Representative Kollie said.

I’m Bitter More Than You”: Deceased’s Uncle Laments

PAINFUL LOSS

Jefferson Nyandibo, an uncle of the late Korpu Kamara whose death sparked the violence, in an attempt to restore quietude to the meeting that was being disturbed by some of the citizens said he was bitter more than any of them in attendance and that there was need for any disturbance as they sought to find the solution to the problem of their troubled county.

Jefferson Nyandibo, an uncle of the late Korpu Kamara whose death sparked the violence, in an attempt to restore quietude to the meeting that was being disturbed by some of the citizens said, he was bitter more than any of them in attendance and that there was no need for any further disturbance as they sought to find the solution to the problem of their troubled county.

“No one, as I stand before you is so more grieved than me, but again, with your presence, my sorrow has gone away” Jefferson said.

Jefferson told the gathering that the deceased was actually the child of the late Paramount Chief, Joseph Nyandibo. Jefferson narrated that his elder brother married Korpu’s mother, Viamah Nyandibo Kamara, who has gone to Konia, Lofa County to bury their daughter.

“What we have come to say to all of us is this: there’ll be situation that will always create forum for another situation”, he said or otherwise he would have gone to the Capitol Building and stop Senator Kupee not to speak until they provide circumstances leading to the death of his niece who he referred to as daughter, Korpu.

Jefferson urged his fellow citizens to stop asking who is going to keep peace for them in their county.

“No one order than you can keep peace in Lofa”, he said as he made reference to a remark from one of the citizens who suggested that UNMIL be drawn into whatever investigation that would take place amid claims that the UN Mission was biased in protecting mosques and not churches.

“Dangerously, for all us of is to ever live with pretense. I was in Voinjama, when we did the traditional cleansing, funded by USAID. Elders that ever went to that traditional cleansing can attest”, he continued as he lamented the fact that there exists some differences among citizens of the county that need to be settled and instead of pretending that all is well.

He reflected that during the “traditional cleansing”, people from every segment of the area were present.

“We killed cows, we put libations, we went to the mountains, we did all. But this action, I’m convinced that was done was under pretense”, Jefferson further observed.

Lofa’s On Time Bomb

He told his fellow Lofa citizens that it was fortunate for them to realize that they are sitting on a time bomb in the county.

He further asserted it was unfortunate that his niece, Korpu died in the way and manner in which she died and left the podium weeping deeply. Jefferson frowned on his compatriots that they pretend so much, which will do them no good.

Joke of the day

GIRLS OF THREE COUNTIES IN LIBERIA!

Three friends married women from different parts of the Liberia.....

The first man married a woman from Bong County. He told her that she was to do the dishes and house cleaning. It took a couple of days, but on the third day, he came home to see a clean house and dishes washed and put away.

The second man married a woman from Lofa County. He gave his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes and the cooking. The first day he didn't see any results, but the next day he saw it was better. By the third day, he saw his house was clean, the dishes were done, and there was a huge bowl of fufu and soup on the table.

The third man married a girl from Sinoe County. He ordered her to keep the house cleaned, dishes washed, cooked, clothes washed, and soup with every meals on the table every day. He said the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see anything but by the third day, some of the swelling had gone down and he could see a little out of his left eye, and his arm was healed enough that he could fix himself smoke fish and rice and wash his own bowl. He still has some difficulty when he pees!!

The reasons we (Liberians) are dying slowly in America!

Ever wonder why our people in Liberia look better, younger, and happier then we in America do even with the high poverty and jobless economic going on in Liberia? Well its simple, they are eating better foods, drinks and work less stressful jobs unlike us in America.
FOOD: I checked many of the food we eat in Liberia and compared it with the average food in American restaurants, it no amazement why as soon as we enter this country, our blood, sugar, and heart rate shoot straight to the sky. This is why the older we get the more medications we find ourselves on in America. The average adult age 45 takes at lease four different types of medications per day in America. We Liberians love to “when in Rome do as the Romans” so therefore we are joining the ban wagon and hopping on the medications train in America. We are having high blood, strokes, heart diseases, mental illness (ok, this one is from the white folks stressing us out) and diabetic. Then there is the weight gain and gain and gain. The average person weighting 150lb should have no more then 50g carbohydrates, 1,200 mg sodium, 5g saturated fat, 5g fat, 1,800 calories and 0g trans fat per day. Look at this meal in America - Applebee’s Appetizer Sampler - 2,500 calories, 49g saturated fat, 6,520 mg sodium, 157g carbohydrates. And to think you have not had the real meal yet, this is just the appetizer to get you started. Let add the actual meal, Applebee’s Quesadilla Burger - 1,820 calories, 4 g saturated fat, 4,410 mg sodium. This one meal is enough to cause the average 50 years old male a stroke or heart attack. And this is just lunch. Add breakfast, dinner and snacks and you are a walking dead man/woman living in America.

EXERCISE: The most unloved E word in America. The reason it takes our people a long time to gain weight in Liberia is they walk a lot and most of the time they are carrying something or someone while walking. Liberians exercise in America, please! Every Liberian I know in America has a car or two or three, so walking is out of styles for us, not so? There are few of us that show our faces at a gym here and there and pay the monthly fees and take our medicines each night before bed. But look at our people in Liberia, they get their exercise and it’s free and they don’t even know they are exercising.

BEHAVIORS: We Liberians need to go back home or start living the way we do at home here in America so we can get the opportunity to eventually retire and move to Liberia and not die here. We need to leave some of the American “way of life” behaviors and continue our Liberian way of living, like walking, eating more boiled foods like our soups, instead of running to the pharmacy, run to the African food store. Instead of eating out, eat in and cook it your Liberian way. Instead of Applebee, go to Kendajah you will live longer. Instead of vegetable oil use your palm oil and don’t believe anything the white man told you about your country’s food, its all lies!

REST: Stop working two to three jobs to pay for a house you hardly live in, its unhealthy and add years to your life. Instead of living in a big house you cannot afford, down size your home to fit your one-job income. One of the best moves I ever made in my life. I do not do the “two-job” thing because I love my sleep and my Guinness on weekends. I see a lot of my friends living in large homes with 4 – 5 bedrooms, 3 ½ bath, large oversize TV but when you call their homes they are never home. The kids are raising themselves why, they are doing weekend or weekday live-ins or at some minimum wage job to earn extra money to buy gas for work because their mean job can only pay the mortgage. Get rid of people, places and things that ill you. If they cause you pain and stress, they are not good for you no matter what you think you are gaining from them? Get some sleep, the parties were there before you were born it will be there when you die, get your rest.

FAITH: If you are a Christian/Muslin and your church is not fulfilling you, find another church, there is one on every third corner in America. Say your prayers daily; say it out loud sometimes so you hear what you are praying for. Call a pray line, a friend of mind introduced me to one and I love it. Call a pastor for prayers, Lord knows Liberians have a lot of pastors in our mist, call on them. If you have not been to church in a while, this is the perfect time to go back. If you love God, admit it, for peace sake, say it loud, let God be your Alpha and your Omega in everything you do. When I am about to do something or say something I am afraid of or not sure of or I am somewhere I am not comfortable, I repeat Psalm 23rd out loud, by the third times I feel like someone took a warm blanket and wrap me up in it. At the point nothing moves me or get in my way because I know it is well with my soul!! My boss said when he hears me repeating Psalm 23rd; he stays out of my way. I really don’t know what he means by that and have never care to ask!

INCOME: Pay yourself FIRST, meaning save your money and stop wasting it on needless things. Why are we buying $300.00 purses or shoes and suits, do you think the white man will love you more if your total outfit you are wearing cost you a thousand dollars, I think not, actually he will most likely think of you the same way I do – you are a stupid idiot and should be slapped. Look at how Michael Jordon dresses and compare it with how Bill Gates dresses. From their looks can you tell who has the most money? No, you cannot because Bill Gates pays himself first and does not waste his money; Michael on the other hand, pays Christian Dion first.

LOVE: This word scares the piss out of most Liberians especially our men because it was never taught to us, we learn it as we got older in life or accidently felt into it. When was the last time you told your spouse you “love him/her”? I am sure most men reading this are saying to themselves, “what does she means I am paying the bills am I not?” Great, pay the bills, but also tell him or her how you feel and why you feel it. If your marriage is not working fix the problem, if the kids are pulling your hair out, (boy can I relate) seek help for them and for yourself as well. We all need a place to go and just spill our guts from time to time. Find your “happy” place and go there as much as you need to. Have sex; in fact have plenty of sex, best stress medicine there is. Now, I did not say go cheap and crazy, I am talking about you and your mate, I also did not say “mates”. Anyone that ever had a good relationship with me will tell you, if I can have sex every day or even twice a day I will. Have it in the kitchen, living room, bathroom, outside, in the car, have sex. Enjoy each other every day of your life, we will take the “thing” with us when we died so enjoy it before it gone, have sex with your mate! You know the old saying “if you are not with the one you love, love the one you are with”. Humans are the only creatures that shy away from love and sex. The animals have sex anytime and anywhere, we see them doing it all the time why not humans???

Every Liberian wants to come to America whether to live or visit. If only they knew what we know now they would get their acts together and stay home and enjoy their lives because there are actually living better then we are. Liberians are very smart people, we are not born smart, we do not work that hard really, it’s because we have limited resources to work with that makes us smart before we get here, not so? Now, why do we come here and join the ban wagon……….Let stop this kind of living and do what is necessary so we can retire and go HOME to LIBERIA!!! Everyone have a great weekend and remember God loves you!

If you are interested, take a look at what you are actually eating in American Restaurants:
The 20 Worst Restaurant Foods in America
20. Worst Omelet

IHOP Colorado Omelette

1,890 calories
47 g saturated fat
4,200 mg sodium
130 g carbohydrates

19. Worst Breakfast

Cheescake Factory French Toast with Bacon

1,849 calories
65 g saturated fat
3,114 mg sodium
98 g carbohydrates

18. Worst Sit-Down Appetizer

Applebee’s Appetizer Sampler

2,500 calories
49 g saturated fat
6,520 mg sodium
157 g carbs

17. Worst Thai Salad

California Pizza Kitchen Thai Crunch Salad with Fresh Avocado

2,238 calories

16. Worst Pizza Slice

Sbarro Stuffed Pepperoni (1 piece)

960 calories
42 g fat
3,200 mg sodium

15. Worst Wrap

T.G.I. Friday's BBQ Chicken Wrap

1,720 calories

14. Worst Tacos

On the Border Dos XX Fish Tacos with Creamy Red Chile Sauce

2,350 calories
152 g fat (31 g saturated)
4,060 mg sodium

13. Worst Sit-Down Burger

Applebee’s Quesadilla Burger

1,820 calories
46 g saturated fat
4,410 mg sodium

12. Worst Sit-Down Kids' Meal

Cheesecake Factory Kids' Pasta with Alfredo Sauce

1,803 calories
86 g saturated fat
876 mg sodium
70 g carbohydrates

11. Worst Chicken Sandwich

Chili's Buffalo Chicken Crisper Bites

1,620 calories
100 g fat (21 g saturated)
5,380 mg sodium

10. Worst Food Invention

Domino's Chicken Carbonara Breadbowl Pasta

1,480 calories
56 g fat
(24 g saturated, 1 g trans)
2,280 mg sodium
188 g carbs

9. Worst Chinese Food Meal

P.F. Chang's Crispy Honey Shrimp

2,110 calories
70 g fat (10 g saturated)
1,815 mg sodium
290 g carbs

8. Worst Fast Food Seafood Meal

Culver's North Atlantic Cod Filet Meal (3 pieces)

2,121 calories
135 g fat
(21 g saturated, 2 g trans)
2,568 mg sodium

7. Worst Sit-Down Ribs

Outback Steakhouse Baby Back Ribs (full rack)

3,021 calories
242 g fat
(90 g saturated fat)
4,648 mg sodium

6. Worst Pasta Dish

Cheesecake Factory Bistro Shrimp Pasta

2,819 calories
77 g saturated fat
1,008 mg sodium
184 g carbohydrates

5. Worst Steak Dinner

IHOP Top Sirloin Steak

2,380 calories
42 g saturated fat
5,220 mg sodium

4. Worst Fries

Five Guys Fries (large)

1,464 calories
71 g fat (14 g saturated)
213 mg sodium

3. Worst Side Dish

Jack in the Box Bacon Cheddar Wedges

760 calories
53 g fat
(17 g saturated, 13 g trans)
963 mg sodium

2. Worst Sweet Drink

Cold Stone PB&C Shake (Gotta Have It size)

2,010 calories
131 g fat (68 g saturated, 2.5 g trans)
880 mg sodium
153 g sugars

1. Worst Sit-Down Dessert

Outback Steakhouse Chocolate Thunder from Down Under

1,911 calories
88 g saturated fat
135 g carbohydrates

Roberta Williams
Dec 2009

Is education failing Africa?

Education is not Liberia problem, it’s the idiots that have it and don't know how to use it, that's the problem. Liberians get educated for titles, nothing else. If you were to take the titles away from a lot of them, they will not show up to work the next day.




For starters, why are we calling our boss in Liberia Ma and Pa and bossman and bosslady? If we worked in the same department and I have to call you Dr. so and so or Mr. so and so something is serious wrong! Each degree a topical Liberian has makes them think they are closer to God, and the more we glorify them the more they will expect the godly treatment.



We need to stop glorifying these idiots and let them roll up their sleeves and take care of mama Liberia.







Roberta Williams




On 9/9/09, ZumoAmos@aol.com wrote:


See below for an added view.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-KfKxCaDVA


Zumo

-----Original Message-----
From: Chorphie Charlie
To: Nagbe Sloh ; ulibsaaforum@yahoogroups.com; J. Nagbe Sloh ; onliberianmedium@yahoogroups.com; Association of Liberian Journalists
Sent: Wed, Sep 9, 2009 8:37 am
Subject: [OnLiberianMedium] RE: Is education failing Africa? NO!



It is MISEDUCATED Africans failing Africa!!!


On the altar of Jehovah, I pledge undying resistance to tyranny






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: ULIBSAAforum@yahoogroups.com; OLM_Adm04@yahoogroups.com; OnLiberianMedium@yahoogroups.com; alja1@yahoogroups.com; everyliberian@yahoogroups.com
From: rbdavies56@yahoo.com
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 05:11 :44 -0700
Subject: [EveryLiberian] Is education failing Africa?


Let put Liberia under the microscope. What are your comments?



##########################################################

Is education failing Africa?
BBC listeners Osman Samura and Barnabas Asamoah have one thing in common. They share a deep concern about the state of education in sub-Saharan Africa.

This week students and teachers head back to school for another term. But will it be a happy and fruitful experience for any of them?

Barnabas, from Ghana, thinks teachers are not given the respect -- or the pay -- they deserve. And that, he says, is part of the problem Africa faces.

But is it just about that? And what can we as Africans do to revive the education system, asks Osman from Sierra Leone?

Have education standards fallen in your country? If so, what do you think is responsible? Are schools producing students that can transform the nation? What are you doing to ensure your children are getting the education they need? Is the teaching profession seen as a last=2 0resort, which then so attracts the wrong people? Send us your views.


If you would like to join Africa Have Your Say to debate this topic LIVE on air on Thursday 3 September at 1600 GMT, please include a telephone number. It will not be published. You can find us on Facebook at facebook.com/africahys or follow us on Twitter @bbcafricahys. You can also send an SMS text message to +44 77 86 20 20 08.


Published: Wednesday, 2 September, 2009, 12:29 GMT 13:29 UK
COMMENTS
MOST RECENT
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Added: Friday, 4 September, 2009, 14:32 GMT 15:32 UK
Yes,it is.Mainly due to brain drain.We have many educated Africans living and working in western countries.The20politicians are to blame because of lack of reforms,corruption,crime and many other issues affecting the society.I have never seen people thirsty for education like africans.We have many students qualify to further their studies but due to limited vacancies they end up giving up or going abroad.
Pat, Kenya

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Added: Friday, 4 September, 2009, 14:31 GMT 15:31 UK
African education is nothing to write about, the rich send there kids to foreign country to be educated, while the poor send theirs to commercial school which there no enough facilities to teach the pupils, I believe that our problem is all about corrupt leaders who doesn’t care. They are supposed to reform the education sector and invest heavily for the benefit of the poor masses.
Ufuma, Port=2 0Novo

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Added: Friday, 4 September, 2009, 14:22 GMT 15:22 UK
We blame poverty yet the real reason behind a generation of dunderheads Africa might fast export is our inability to transform in the first place.

a. Corruption has drained resources destined for research

b. We view technology with suspicion

c. We have great affinity to black collar training & hope to develop in an industrialized world

d. Teachers/ faculty have absconded their duty

e. Parents think schools re there to PARENT their kids

With the above flourishing, we are DOOMED!
Joe, Nairobi, Kenya

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Added: Friday, 4 September, 2009, 14:14 GMT 15:14 UK
YES;its really failling in Nigeria as i know,imagine in most universities in Nigeria,you have about 700student to receive lecture at a time in a small single apartment.imagine if you are not a girl friend to the lecturer in the university.u cant have a good result.sometimes you study without food to eat.you pay so much money for your school fee and no provision is made for you,sometimes you pay for a car parking place without owing a car.and the worst part of it is cultism.
ayandeji, flehingen

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Added: Friday, 4 September, 2009, 14:04 GMT 15:04 UK
I have always argued that, one of the main factors to our underdevelopment is our colonial educational system. The system was designed to meet the short term needs of the colonialist. But we cannot continue blaming them. they have left decades ago. It is our leaders who have collectively failed us. we need to shape the system to be more responsive to our current needs. we also need to emulate other countries such as India and Malaysia in adopting our own languages in favour of the Europeans.
Musa Bah, London

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Added: Friday, 4 September , 2009, 13:33 GMT 14:33 UK
Yes, education standards have fallen. This is due to the fact that the various Governments are not putting money in things that matter like Education, Health, Infrastructure development, etc
tunde ajao, London, United Kingdom
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Added: Friday, 4 September, 2009, 13:07 GMT 14:07 UK
Have you noticed, a lot of the comments are from Africans educated in Africa, but now live in the west?
So is the educational system failing? Since there is a huge brain drain, what we then have left are uneducated Africans who are brought up in large families and believe you always but yourself first. Hence high level corruption?

Africans=2 0need to stop winging, take matters into their own hands , make their government more accountable for their actions.
N, Lagos

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Added: Friday, 4 September, 2009, 13:01 GMT 14:01 UK
In Uganda, teachers have been troden upon by politicians,some of whom are acedmic failures. Because they hold some office and have access to stolen money, every Tom Dick and Harry can abuse teachers, calling them lazy. Un yet the primary teachers earn a mere 100 dollars a month. How do you expect them to perform, and how can education not fail Africa?
David Labeja, Gulu

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Added: Friday, 4 September, 2009, 12:31 GMT 13:31 UK
In the case of Algeria, the massive arabisation and brutal islamisation of the education system instigated by the defunct president Boumediene, is largely responsible for the long decade of horror we've been through.
Lamine, Algiers

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Added: Friday, 4 September, 2009, 12:30 GMT 13:30 UK
The simple uncomfortable truth is that most African countries are, in effect, failed states - and these include the resource-rich ones. The reported lack of investment in education is merely a symptom of this man-made tragedy. The chief culprits are our idiotic and corrupt rulers, but we mustn't forget the role played by the international donor "industry" who persistently absolve them of the need to be accountable to our longsuffering people.
AKPAN, Canterbury, UK/Nigeria

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Added: Friday, 4 September, 2009, 12:29 GMT 13:29 UK
Everything failed Africa including Education.
Youngsenator., Nigeria

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Added: Friday, 4 September, 2009, 11:28 GMT 12:28 UK
Yes education is failing Africa. For instance here in Kenya, the backbone of our economy is agriculture but the education system in the country does not emphasis agriculture in schools. The current youths know everything latest about computers but not farming. So the policy makers need to make radical changes or else Africa will remain where it is no matter how people read.
Zaphan Nyambaka, Nairobi

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Added: Friday, 4 September, 2009, 11:04 GMT 12:04 UK
In Malawi primary school eduction is free, but secondary and higher learning institutes are not. Also we don't have enough higher education institutes we only have 3 universities and the rest are private colleges. One school of Medicine, One school of Accountancy we need more of these as it's difficult to find a space if you are a student in our country.

The Cameroon President and his entourage hiring 43 rooms per night since 15 August in France at $40,000 is disgraceful, out with him.
N G
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Added: Friday, 4 September, 2009, 11:00 GMT 12:00 UK
Contrary to what others have thought, I would rather say that Education has been improved and getting appreciable momentum in many African countries. For instance, in Ethiopia the numebr of schools have increased in thousands, while tens of new universities have come up with diversified fields of studies that equip new generations to compete on the global employment markets. Therefore, this could be taken as exemplery for other nations as well.
Kurkura, Finfinne

TRC shouldn't be handle the Liberia way

Question – What if we (Liberians) were to find out the names and countries of all those who had their hands in the “cookie jar” of the Liberian war, is Liberia in the position to take those involve to court? Or will we only reconcile with them as well? Personally, I don’t think Liberians can handle the truth regarding the war because no two sides will agree on whose to blame.

Sometimes I think the reasons we are getting help from the outside countries in rebuilding Liberia is their way of saying “we are sorry for what we started in your country and to your people” nothing more. I don’t think they really care, do you? All of the assistances we are getting from the USA are only a mere “we should not have let Charles Taylor out of jail, we made a mistake” gesture. Then again, one can only wonder what was in it for them, the diamonds or to reduce the population of an African country or both.

Some of the things I see and hear happening in various African countries I think are all plans to hopefully reduce the African populations. The sad part is we (Africans) know this all too well but still take the bribe for our own selfishness and greed. Africans are known to sell their own for a buck dating back to the biblic al days. As much as we are reconciling, it will take only one person to sell us back to 1979 or 1989. We always claim to want help with our day to day and long term lives in Liberia but the minutes someone comes along and present us with a dollar, we will sell whatever and whoever for that buck no matter what the short or long term consequences are.

To reconcile is to be willing to forgive and acknowledging that no one groups or tribes is to be blamed. We also need to acknowledge that we deserve a second chance. We need to know that we are valuable to the world. We need to start by showing respect for ourselves and our countrymen and women. One can not love their country and steal from it and break it down to nothing. It is impossible to love someone you do NOT respect; we have to learn to respect each other and take pride in our country first. We have to stop wearing our emotional on our sleeves and genuinely work on our feelings for one another.

We need to de-program ourselves to connect the dots, meaning we need to use what we learned in school in our personal everyday lives. We have psychologist using and abusing women emotionally and don’t see sleeping around as a sign of uselessness towards one self; we have medical doctors sleeping around without protections but go to work everyday and give advice on protections. We have RNs sending for over the counter drugs (street drug) from Liberia to use when they are sick, by the time they realized the Liberia street drug is not working, it’s too late. We have accountants who can not count but know how to steal but at the same time never want to be accountable for their actions; and lawyers who are more of a criminal then the guys on the streets but yet practice the law everyday. We have educated, well rounded Liberians still believe when they are sick someone must have witched them. We have PhD holders acting like third grade dropouts but know how to present themselves at work. We have food specialist that are over weight and eating large amount of fufu and soup at 11pm at night; shouldn’t they all know better or was their schooling only for “name sake” to say I have a degree. Why are Liberians not connecting the dots, education and life should go hand in hand, why can’t we use our education to live better lives?

By the time we Liberians are 45 – 50 years old, we have multiple kids by multiple women/men; multiple marriages; many illnesses; and no real family connections; no dependable friends around to lean on and we looked 20 years older then our peers from another country…..and then we died before our 55th birthday, why, only two reasons…

1. We wear our feelings on our sleeves meaning our feeling do not go beyond the present moment, when you are out of sight, you are out of our minds, we don’t care what we do or say to or about you.

2. We do not apply our education in our personal life, we spent 4 – 12 years reading for a good job but when we get home from work, our minds and behaviors are as if we were never in school!!!

All the reconciliations in the world will not get Liberians to:
Respect each other
Make real peace with one another
Love the land call Liberia
Stop the hate
Stop the envy
Stop the unnecessary greed
Think of what they can “do for” Liberia and not what they can “steal from” Liberia
Seek counseling for ourselves and our love ones
Mentally change our mindset of what we consider the word LOVE to be.

We have a long way to go my friend!!

Roberta Williams



=0 D Liberian TRC: Reconciliation before the Truth?


(Jun 15, 2009) By: Dr. Abdoulaye W. Dukulé

Like many people in the country, I was surprised by an announcement last week that the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the institution set up by the Accra Peace Accord to investigate the Liberian civil war and foster national reconciliation, would organize a national reconciliation conference, at the Unity Conference Center, in Virginia, starting June 15, 2009. A gathering of such magnitude takes long preparatory efforts and the participation of many in stitutions. According to press reports, the conference will bring together some 400 people, 20 representing each of the 15 counties and 100 people representing diverse organizations. The broad agenda seems to center on “reconciliation.” It is hoped that the conference will end with resolutions calling for the implementation of many decisions that could impact the national reconciliatory process.

As it has happened for the greatest part of the existence of the Commission, this conference will not go without controversy. First, according to news reports, the media event where the conference was announced was attended by only a few members of the Commission. It is said that one member, Counselor Pear Brown Bull who claims to represent the Western counties disrupted the press conference and later “held” her own media briefing in her office. Her pronouncements were almost the opposite of what the TRC Chairman said in the other event, whom she accused of carrying out his own agenda.

Personality differences exist in any organization where people, from different cultural and political backgrounds have to work together. The task of the TRC involves highly charged emotional issues which can exacerbate those differences. The challenge for those involved in the process consists in elevating the national interest above their own preferences and dislikes. However, with accusations and counter-accusations that marred its work from the beginning, the TRC seems not to be able to move away from the personal to embrace the national. The question now is whether people who could not put aside their petty issues to work as a team could reach any level of cooperation to bring about national healing.

In our traditional setting, under the Palava hut – now Peace Hut – elders judge quarrels and misunderstandings. Everyone trusts their judgment, based on a lifelong experience. They don’t allow their personal feelings to get involved when they are seeking the truth. Their decisions and judgments are accepted by all because they are “after a ny personal gain” in the process. In order words, their age and the wisdom they acquired put them above suspicion. The South African TRC worked mostly because nobody could doubt the sincerity and impartiality of Bishop Desmond Tutu.

The other problem facing the Reconciliation process comes from the fact that for the past few weeks, the leadership of the TRC has introduced another word that was not its mandate and that is the word “justice.” This had led to speculation that the TRC was recommending and emphasizing the establishment of a war crimes tribunal. The mandate of the Commission, inscribed in its name, was to find the truth about our national upheaval and lead us onto a path of national reconciliation. It may be that Liberians, after knowing the truth, could decide to seek justice or simply move on.

We believe that the tru th about what happened between 1979 and 2003 is yet to be told on many levels. We have heard personal stories from many Liberians, including the President but we are far from knowing the truth.

We do not know who did what on the fateful day called the Rice Riots in 1979. We do not know how many people were killed and who gave the order to shoot. We do not know who actually killed President William Tolbert. Conspiracy theories abound in all directions. Was Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe really the mastermind behind the coup? Why then, on the morning of the coup, after the President was “assassinated” – the exact word used in the first press statement read by Samuel K. Doe – were the soldiers wrangling about leadership? If we fast forward to 1985, we may ask who funded the Thomas Quiwonkpa coup attempt. Who helped Charles Taylor escape from jail? Who financed his movements in the sub-region as he traveled and organized his military group? How did he get to Burkina Faso and Libya?
& nbsp;
Beyond those issues, we must also find out the level of responsibility of other state agents: Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Libya, Nigeria, Guinea, France and the United States. Who did what and when? In each of those countries, there are people who have taken active part in what happened. For example, what is the level of responsibility of Burkina Faso and Libya who made no secret about training and arming Charles Taylor? What kind of relationship existed between General Ibrahim Babanginda and President Samuel Doe? Why did Herman Cohen, the then Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs at the US State Department “re-assured President Houphouet-Boigny that the war would not spill over and would be contained inside Liberia?” Mr. Amara Essy who affirmed this fact was Foreign Minister of Cote d’Ivoire and in charge of the Liberian dossier and is well and alive. The questions are many and their responses could lead Liberians to understand what happened to their country.

The primary condition for rec onciliation is the truth, not necessarily justice. After a fight of any sort, two people can decide to reconcile, especially after each recognizes their part of responsibility. There is always the possibility of one party deciding to go to justice. If Liberians do not know the truth about what happened how could they reconcile? Is justice more important than national reconciliation? What is the ultimate objective of the TRC? Is-it in its mandate to lead Liberia towards a war crimes tribunal or a genuine reconciliation process?

There is no way to prejudge an event that is yet to take place. The National Reconciliation Conference could lead to another stage in our search for the truth… Maybe, one resolution could be that we must go back to the drawing board and start all over. We deserve to know the truth, the whole truth before we can reconcile or taken anyone to court…

Peace Be Still

Let not throw rocks at each other this month. We have more important things to think about and do. This month I am begging all Liberians around the world to please, no fussy, no rock throwing, no cursing, and no names calling. This month is the beginning of a new year, a year we started with grave grieves in our hearts, and our mind will never be the same in Philly again. Our hearts are with the family but at the same time we are all saying to our self “I could have easily been there that night” or this could have happened to my family”. We need to take this time to thank God for each other and be grateful we have each other.



There are so many of us that got up this morning with at least one thing or person missing out of our lives; some of us are sick to no avail, some of us lost love ones via deaths or divorces, we are still at lost. Some of us didn’t know where our family members were in this world during the holiday and prayer to one day see them again. Some of us will never see them again; some of us will leave this world without our wish ever coming true. Some of us have great plans for this year and years to come but we might not make it to see it through. Some of us missed opportunities right before our eyes and are now regretting it. Some came to this country for just few months or years and are been bury here. Some of us have loves one in their lives and don’t appreciate them, while some have none and think this is the best the world have to offer them.



We need to scratch that year long itch this year in our lives, we need to push a little harder in whatever goals we have for ourselves and never forget who we are and where we came from. This is not the time to boost about your titles, houses, cars, educations; this is the time to be part of the movers and shakers, while at the same time this is the time for peace. Let peace be still in all of us this month and count our blessing for what we have.



We need to hold our brothers and sisters hands and help them cross whatever road they are trying to cross. We need to have fun amongst ourselves, we need to laugh a lot this year, maybe last year wasn’t so funny to us. We need to stop worrying and stop fussy over small stuff. We really need to let peace be still my friend.



Happy New Year and may God continue to bless you and yours!!

female creature is the most power creature in the world

Ladies, ladies,

Its not that the men only want us in the kitchen, they prefer we stay in the bedroom as well. But ladies the truth of the matter is they are frightened of us. The average male know very well that to go against a women in any aspect of the world he has to come three times as strong to come close to winning; you notice I did not say he will win. Our strong will, open heart, caring and our contribution to the world make us very intimidating. They know we know their way of thinking, which can be scary at times. Look around the world do you think if women had been in charge from the beginning all the wars, hatred, killing would have happened, NO. A man will kill his brother over a piece of chicken wing where as a woman will simply share it with her sister so why should we even care if they prefer we stay away from the listserv.

The female creature is the most power creature in the world and they know it. Who else can do what we do? Not another creature. Who else can bleed for 5 days and not fall over and die, not a man, he will die. Who do you know can carry another living creature inside of them for 9 months and still live to tell her story, again not a man, if a man had to go thru one hour of labor pain, the world would have only 10 persons in it? Who else do you know can work 8 hours outside of the home, another 8 hours in the home and still never let them forget they are men when the lights goes out, not a man. We all know when they get home, the only thing on their minds are food, TV and bed.

Ladies, like my grandmother always say, there are always more then one way to skin a cat. If we feel strongly they do not want us to participate on those listserv by the treatment we receive from them, then by all means, we can build our own “female only” listserv. And to really get our point across to them, we will give them “view only” access to the site. This way, they can read about the great and important things women have to say but they will not be allowed to participate. Let me know ladies and I will start working on it this weekend!

Wait a minute, why are we waiting for them to “let” us write anyway? Ladies, write whatever you want to write, I do. I have no intension of letting anyone stop me but God. If they don’t like what I have to say, click the delete key its that simple, but please don’t stop writing because if you do, then they got what they wanted.

As I was writing this, a thought came to mind, “what would the world be like without women?” It was so ugly; I had to quickly erase it completely out of my head……that was a scary thought…..never again should I think of that, never!!!

Be blessed and have a great weekend.

Roberta

When you think your life is bad, read this and count your blessing!

I was walking around in a Target store, when I saw a Cashier hand this little boy some money back. The boy couldn’t have been more than 5 or 6 years old. The Cashier said, I m sorry, but you don t have enough money to buy this doll.



Then the little boy turned to the old woman next to him: Granny, are you sure I don t have enough money? The old lady replied: You know that you don t have enough money to buy this doll, my dear. Then she asked him to stay there for just 5 minutes while she went to look around. She left quickly. The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand. Finally, I walked toward him and I asked him who he wished to give this doll to.
It’s the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much for Christmas. She was sure that Santa Claus would bring it to her. I replied to him that maybe Santa Claus would bring it to her after all, and not to worry.

But he replied to me sadly. No, Santa Claus can’t bring it to her where she is now. I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes there.

His eyes were so sad while saying this. My Sister has gone to be with God. Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister. My heart nearly stopped. The little boy looked up at me and said: I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until I come back from the mall. Then he showed me a very nice photo of himself. He was laughing. He then told me I want mommy to take my picture with her so she won t forget me. I love my mommy and I wish she didn’t have to leave me, but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister. Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly.

I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy. Suppose we check again, just in case you do have enough money for the doll! OK he said I hope I do have enough. I added some of my money to his without him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some spare money. The little boy said: Thank you God for giving me enough money! Then he looked at me and added, I asked last night before I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, so that mommy could give it to my sister. He heard me! I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn’t dare to ask God for too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose.

My mommy loves white roses. A few minutes later, the old lady returned and I left with my basket. I finished my shopping in a totally different state of mind from when I started. I couldn’t get the little boy out of my mind. Then I remembered a local news paper article two days ago, which mentioned a drunk man in a truck, who hit a car occupied by a young woman and a little girl. The little girl died right away, and the mother was left in a critical state. The family had to decide whether to pull the plug on the life-sustaining machine, because the young woman would not be able to recover from the coma. Was this the family of the little boy? Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the news paper that the young woman had passed away. I couldn’t stop myself as I bought a bunch of white roses and I went to the funeral home where the body of the young woman was for people to see and make last wishes before her burial.

She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest.

I left the place, teary-eyed, feeling that my life had been changed for ever. The love that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, to this day, hard to imagine. And in a fraction of a second, a drunk driver had taken all this away from him.