Lydiah Mukasa CD Album launch In Stockholm.

It is with great pleasure that I bring you Christmas greetings in that wonderful name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who is the very reason for the season.  I believe that all is well with you and your family as we approach the close of the year.  It is our prayer that we shall all graciously crossover safely in Jesus name.

I write to you with overwhelming joy to invite you to the official launch of a music CD album that God enabled me to put together after a long time. The Cd is entitled “The Alabastar Jar” (see enclosed cover).  The launch of this achievement, for which I desire you to be a part of as an African, will take place here in Stockholm at the African Ministry Immanuel International (Kungstensgatan 17/Tulegatan) on the 20th of December 2008 from 5pm to 8pm, during our Christmas Carol Celebration Service.

I believe that your prayers, presence and participation will not only be monumental and of great help, but a major milestone to this work and vision as we together build the entire Body of Christ. 

In case you would like your support to be a direct CD-dispatch on your behalf as a Christmas gift from you to anyone, kindly send me a list of recipients and their addresses and I will gladly do so. Please do not forget to write your name.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need further clarification or information in this regard.

I look forward to seeing you.  You are most welcome.

God bless you.

Your’s faithfully,

Lydiah Owano Mukasa (0762 242 217).

Lydiah Mukasa CD Album Launch In Stockholm.

It is with great pleasure that I bring you Christmas greetings in that wonderful name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who is the very reason for the season.  I believe that all is well with you and your family as we approach the close of the year.  It is our prayer that we shall all graciously crossover safely in Jesus name.

I write to you with overwhelming joy to invite you to the official launch of a music CD album that God enabled me to put together after a long time. The Cd is entitled “The Alabastar Jar” (see enclosed cover).  The launch of this achievement, for which i desire you to be a part of as an African, will take place here in Stockholm at the African Ministry Immanuel International (Kungstensgatan 17/Tulegatan ) on the 20th of December 2008 from 5pm to 8pm, during our Christmas Carol Celebration Service.

I believe that your prayers, presence and participation will not only be monumental and of great help, but a major milestone to this work and vision as we together build the entire Body of Christ. 

You are also welcome to register your support and/or donation directly into the following account in absentia. Also, in case you would like your support to be a direct CD-dispatch on your behalf as a Christmas gift from you to anyone, kindly send me a list of recipients and their addresses and I will gladly do so. Please do not forget to write your name.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need further clarification or information in this regard.

I look forward to seeing you.  You are most welcome.

God bless you.

Your’s faithfully,

Lydiah Owano Mukasa (0762 242 217)

HARAMBEES IN SWEDEN: GIVING OR REAPING?

A week barely ends in Sweden before hearing a word harambee. It has become so famous that almost every weekend someone will be calling for some kind of harambee. Despite the good spirit of the word, some people in Sweden are misusing it for there own personal interests. Chipping in to help is good but not always good.

Harambee is a Kenyan “tradition” of community self-help events. It literally means working together for a common purpose. It was designed to strengthen social connections and social responsibility by the late Kenyatta.  It is a process where people work together in a group, organization, or a community to plan and solve problems.

To capture the spirit and mood of harambee since its inception, we need to go back to the time of independence because that is where Kenya as a country got to the harambee thing. By that time, Kenya had so many social and economic projects it wanted to undertake. Given the inadequate resources in the Kenyan government coffers and the speed at which Kenyans wanted to move forward, there was a need to identify a driving force towards the desired economical goals. Harambee was basically the tool to achieve our targeted goals more rapidly.

The social dimension of harambee was that it brought people together as one and what is good for one is good for the other. If you could not achieve what you had set to accomplish, there were always relatives, neighbors and friends to fall back to. The economic side of it was silent just like it is today among Wakenya in Sweden.

There was a third aspect that came in the late 1980s and got worse in the years that followed. This introduced selfishness in the sense that it looked at the mileage the individual wanted to gain out of the harambee. Instead of it being used as a common tool, it became a personal tool to elevate somebody’s interests.

Questions like how many harambees do I attend, how much I give, is it my friend or just another harambee started surfacing. Previously harambees were conducted quietly; nobody knew how much had been raised and people were less concerned about the above. Nowadays, we want to know how much was raised last weekend at so and so house even if we didn’t attend or contribute.

Harambees have become personal, commercial and they have stopped being voluntary. We must re-evaluate if it is worthy to continue giving or being reaped.  “Wasemavyo wahenga, dunia imepasuka msamba”.

Munala Wa Munala.

A Kenyan-Stockholm Blogger In custody.

A well know Kenyan blogger in Sweden is currently rumored to be in a Swedish custody following a “domestic” conflict with his “girl friend”. News that is reaching Jamii right now indicates that the blogger participated in what our informer called “violence against women” or rather domestic violence in simple terms.  Jamii and crew are following the saga and they will update readers as soon as they get more details.

Blogging about change we can believe in when we don’t mean it is hypocrisy. Violence against women is the ultimate expression of the prevailing imbalance of power between women and men. Men’s violation of women’s integrity, a violation which in so many cases also affects children and young people is one of the most serious obstacles to an equal and democratic society like Sweden. This can lead to serious problems especially here in Sweden.

Jamii will stand with this young family as the Swedish authorities tries to restore order within the family. All of us know what an abusive relationship does to the victim. Violation of women’s integrity is not acceptable in our society. It’s my believe that all progressive Kenyans must condemn it in whichever form it comes. Change requires hard work.

Munala wa Munala.

Kenya PM says foreign troops must go to Zimbabwe.

NAIROBI, Kenya – Foreign troops should prepare to intervene in Zimbabwe to end a worsening humanitarian crisis and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe should be investigated for crimes against humanity, the Kenyan prime minister said Sunday.

Raila Odinga, in the latest sign of growing international frustration over Zimbabwe’s slide into chaos, urged the African Union to call an emergency meeting to authorize sending troops into Zimbabwe.

“If no troops are available, then the AU must allow the U.N. to send its forces into Zimbabwe with immediate effect, to take over control of the country and ensure urgent humanitarian assistance to the people dying of cholera,” he said.

More than 500 Zimbabweans have officially died of the disease since an outbreak in August but health officials fear the toll may be much higher. They warn that deaths could spiral into the thousands due to the collapse of Zimbabwe’s health system, the scarcity of food and the oncoming rainy season, which may help spread infections.

Odinga said Mugabe had reduced a once-prosperous country to a “basket case” and warned, “Mugabe’s case deserves no less than investigations by the International Criminal Court at The Hague.”

Odinga slammed other African leaders for being slow to criticize Zimbabwe, saying they had shamed the continent by treating Mugabe with “kid gloves” because Mugabe had supported their liberation struggles.

“We refuse to accept the idea that African countries should be judged by lesser standards than other countries in the world,” Odinga said. “Participation in the liberation struggle is no license for anyone to own a country.”

He declined to say whether Kenya was ready to send troops. The AU and U.N. are already over-stretched in Africa, unable to fulfill commitments in Sudan’s Darfur region and Somalia.

Global criticism of Mugabe is growing louder. On Sunday former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and human rights campaigner Graca Machel released a report in Paris urging Zimbabwe’s leaders to end their power-sharing impasse and concentrate on saving lives. The three members of group called The Elders were refused visas to enter Zimbabwe but interviewed aid workers, politicians and others for the report.

Machel is the wife of Elders founder Nelson Mandela, the former South African President. She said either Zimbabwe’s leaders do not understand how deeply their people are suffering “or they don’t care.”

In America, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told ABC News that Zimbabwe’s cholera outbreak endangered the whole of southern Africa and the international community was failing to protect the people of Zimbabwe.

“I am still really appalled at the inability of the international community to deal with tyrants,” she said. “Robert Mugabe should have gone a long time ago.” Botswana’s Foreign Minister Phandu Skelemani, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu have all called on Mugabe to step down.

Although it was once one of Africa’s most prosperous nations, Zimbabwe’s economy has almost completely collapsed under Mugabe. Elections held last March were widely denounced for murderous attacks on the opposition, and Mugabe reluctantly joined a power-sharing government designed by international mediators. But negotiations on the distribution of cabinet positions have deadlocked.

At least a quarter of Zimbabwe’s population has fled the country and many of those who remain are surviving on leaves and roots.

 Lifted: By Jamii From Yahoo.com