The Bally Vaughan lion who lost his roar
Courtesy of The Bally Vaughan Sanctuary News October 2009
It is eleven pm at the Bally Vaughan Sanctuary and twelve hours since I returned from my honeymoon. As our trucks come home from a day-long mission sourcing food for the animals, the throb of the diesel engines mask the ubiquitous night chorus of a thousand syncopating crickets and tree frogs. Three massive cow carcasses need to be processed immediately; dinner for two weeks for our many predators at the Sanctuary, and as I help load sacks of meat onto on of our elderly, rust-riddled wheel-barrows, I watch my French-manicured fingernails flick off one by one into the gore.
At 2am I fall into bed, only to be woken an hour later by the frantic ringing of the cowbell on my gate. A gigantic python has just seized a goat on the other side of the river. We race down to the water’s edge and see the python half out of the water, with a still-writhing goat clamped between its jaws. As we approach, it sinks beneath the surface, pulling the goat with it and we spend the next hour thrashing about in the freezing cold water trying, to no avail, to locate and rescue the goat. Read more
SA Police Scam- Beware
Got this by email. It may save your life or your car….
Last Sunday afternoon, 8th March, I was travelling back from South Africa with my wife - heading along the R22 from Witbank. Just after the R22 joins the OR Tambo Airport intersection a car tailed me flashing it’s headlights and hazzards. I pulled into the middle lane and the car drew up alongside with the passenger, dressed in what appeared to be SA Police uniform, signalling me to pull over - I ignored him and he then pulled out an ID document complete with SA Police badge, but titled “Tourist Police” in bold lettering. In that instant my mind raced, thinking that perhaps, just perhaps, SA were getting organised with a special section of police allocated to look after tourists for the 2010 world cup. Everything looked believeable with all three occupants wearing similar uniforms complete with Police caps, but driving an unmarked white Audi A4. Read more
Public transport and a desire for my own car
I need to get a car. Be it a jaunty jalopy or sleek fuel-efficient machine; whatever it is, I really don’t mind at this point in time. All I need is a dependable specimen that will save me from the continuous wear and tear that I experience daily from my use of public transport, particularly the dreaded ‘kombi’.
If you have ever hailed one of these rickety vans to stop and give you a ride, you will have noted how eager and enthusiastic the driver and tout always are when they notice you standing at the road side, desperately waving your hand to get their attention. The driver honks his horn profusely while the tout leans half his body out threw a windowless pane, frantically calling out, “Town! Town! Town!”
You feel an instant relief at this because you are running late and town is exactly where you are headed. And though you are well-dressed and beautifully preened, none of the nice men and women in their neat sedans and SUVs are stopping to offer you a lift. Read more
Breaking the kombi rules my teacher taught me
Although I went to a ghetto primary school, my teachers strived so hard to teach us what rich kids were being taught at uptown schools formerly known as Group A schools. Somehow they succeeded- in me at least- because I am so different from other people I learnt with. I am in college, am a freelance writer, just finished on my first book and speak with a ‘civilised’ uptown accent. Since I had turned out to be what every teacher wishes of their students, I actually believed that I had turned out all the ghetto genes in me although I still stay in the ghetto. How wrong I was.
I came to face this cold fact after a six month break from public taxis commonly referred as kombis, when I finally hitch-hiked one for the murderous Bulawayo-Harare distance. My teachers had more than thrice given us the five commandments of travelling in a kombi; Read more
Barack Obama Inaugural Speech
REMARKS OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
Inaugural Address
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Washington, D.C.
My fellow citizens:
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you’ve bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans. Read more
Remembering Brixton
In Brixton I found my most beautiful London experience. Emerging from the Underground I was greeted by a sheer mix of races and tribes and nationalities. No tourists here. Londoners in abundance! But Londoners unlike I had ever imagined them to be. Nigerian Londoners. Italian Londoners. Egyptian Londoners. Chinese Londoners. It was like there was an equal mix of every tribe on earth!
On one pavement there was a group of Chinese teenagers break dancing to a gospel song. A few metres away were some young Nigerian men giving away Islam literature. Read more
On The Zimbo Jam- Book on Torture in Zimbabwe LaunchedThe Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition yesterday launched a book chronicling torture in Zimbabwe over the last few years at a function attended by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, members of civic society and the diplomatic corps.
- Harare Man to Live on the Street for the Love of MusicKeep the music playing. Piracy kills the artist, kills the music, kills the industry. That is the simple message that Harare animator, producer and creative spirit, Carl Joshua Ncube hopes to send out when he moves from his house to live out on Harare's First Street, starting this afternoon.
- Congo Fever in Harare with DJ Ben MontrésorThe dance floor is open at The Mannenberg on Friday 12 March, when the popular Harare venue opens its doors for its first-ever west-African dance-off, Congo Fever!’ featuring French DJ Ben Montrsor, hot off Jozi turntables, back-to-back with one of the most popular rhumba outfits in Zimbabwe today – The Real Sounds.
- Book on Torture in Zimbabwe Launched