saluting my recent form of good company...

Aka operation solomon authored by Stephen Spector, a book that chronicles the rescue of Ethiopian Jews as they journeyed back to the homeland of their ancestors; Israel. Operation Solomon was the mission that Israel undertook in May 1991 when they airlifted over 140000 Ethiopian Jews. The book details the rescue mission itself which took around a day and a half and caused many sufferings and degradation to the Ethiopian Jews, who longed for a 'time of redemption' wel over a millenia.

So I've finally finished my UK prison report about a month ago but still waiting for its airtime, I felt like I gave a small birth; I had to sit through 3 hours of audio much of it being ramblings and folks offloading their complaints about the British justice system only to extract a half hour report but I'm happy with the end result.

A new envoy has been appointed by the Somali government to the US; Abukar Arman. He's a writer and very active within the political/activism sphere but in all honesty I can't help but remain watchful from a pessimistic point of view. I have a lot of respect for Arman and his many accomplishments pave the way for him to be a role model for many aspiring Somalis looking to give back to their communities. However it seems the tide is against him and given the fact that the US has only ever been orally supportive or from a humanitarian perspective, one must look at what the potential progress is that this appointment can make. The task at hand seems extremely overwhelming and with the Somali community known for their lack of unity, I wonder how much support he can rally up to achieve any of his goals.

My humouristic love affair with Americans continued as I stood in line not too long ago to withdraw money from an ATM machine. The lady in front of me approached the machine and as she withdrew her money she started screaming on top of her lungs 'I won, I won' and skipped away! Was she on something, dared to do that as a crazy joke or was it just for the sheer amuzement of her fellow cash-withdrawers I don't know, but everyone in line sure had something to laugh about for a long while lol!

set the bar and then kick it up a notch America

A sound-minded friend once told me if you keep lifting the same weight every day, you'll never make any progress. In fact at some point you'll get so comfortable, you'll feel you've reached the peak of your comfort zone. This will give the illusion that you've reached your potential, you know everything you need to know. You're at the top of your game but you've lost sight to the fact that you haven't made any progress for however many years.
I wanted to touch on the necessity of ongoing personal growth today. I see many people here in the States that are surrounded by ease and comfort doing the same role they did for donkeys' years. People remain in their positions for 20, 30 years only moving up when it is absolutely necessary and don't feel the need to push their boundaries. The thought alone is scary, imagine not having the drive to escalate onto greater things and levels of personal progress but yet be surrounded by all the opportunities of the world. The need to grow and challenge oneself should be an innate human instinct so that you can look back every so often and be proud on the challenges you've overcome and progress you've made.
Here in the US the common mentality seems to be the other way round. People celebrate the fact that one remained at the same company doing the same job til retirement day, it's an honour! One is proud he/she was able to do a job at 55 that he or she was doing at the age of 25. Anyway that's my rant for the day.

I had the most delightful day at work. Working on the Friday youth series, I interviewed a young, dynamic lady who had a rare approach towards Somali nationalism and literature. She's as young as 26 and spent most of her life in the West but had this unique connection to her homeland writing, composing and reciting poetry in Somali, an uncommon attitude amongst most Somali youth of today. Look out for her story as part of this week's youth series...

bring on the February fury

Also known as the snowstorm wreaking havoc in the DC metro area. We're flooded under! The office has primarily been occupied by ghosts and some destitute journalists (myself included). All normal people were off chilling at home, unwinding and perhaps listening to those poor destitute journalists telling them what's happening outside lol!
The city has come to a stand-still. Nothing known to function is functioning normally. Forget about government agencies, all of them are shut down. Buses, trains, cars all swept under and side to side. I wouldn't be surprised if I woke up tomorrow morning and saw humans flying!
It's funny though how a grand city stops functioning just by the sight of some inches of snow. I wonder what states like Minnesota and North Dakota are thinking, they're probably sitting back, sipping a beer and having a laugh at the good ol' capital's expense. It snows there all the time and things still run smoothly, people still go about their businesses. You think a country would be aware of each other and exchange useful tips from region to region (clearly not in America).
I suppose it gives them something other than the Obama healthcare plan to talk about on the news and a good piece of comedy for those all-year-round snow-stricken Alaskans lol!
All for now, catcha laterzz.

kenya...

is still arresting Somalis and has now started deporting some of them to Somalia. The trouble occurring is that the talk and actions of the government are condradicting one another. On one hand they are stating they're aiming to rid the country of potential terrorists and other individuals that can pose a threat to the national security of the country but they've arrested and deported 9 Somalis today alone and 8 of them were women, mothers with children. In addition to this so-called security threat there is a crackdown on the immigration issues as well as the increasing number of Somalis coming to live in the country. I think there might be a motive to have an impact on the many businesses Somalis have established there. What the government isn't addressing is the looting and raids that are being done to the Somali businesses. Furthermore there are reports indicating torture and rape is taking place by bandits hiding behind the police or the police themselves.
Kenya has an unstable political reputation in the eyes of the international world with corruption and violence erupting from elections still vivid in the minds of followers of Kenyan affairs. This is an additional blow to their deteriorating conditions that they will live to taste the bitterness of in the near future if they do not put a lid on it.

Reporting from my happy place!

Being able to sleep early has done me wonders, the military style discipline is the most productive step I have taken so far in 2010 lol (I'm hoping there's some productivity tucked back here). I wake up just after 4am a wee bit tired but once I'm up and about I run around like a new born spring chicken on prozac lol (don't laugh).
This month for me will be remembered as the month of Haiti; when the world shook its earth and I pray may Allah subhana wata'ala be with them as they strive to find their loved ones. Though it has been a while since the earthquake took place, people are still being dug up from underneath remnants and collapsed buildings and therefore the search quest te reunite families missing members still continues. Children have lost their parents and extended family members leaving them orphans with nowhere to go. Mothers have lost their husbands in the quake and are left to take care of their children with businesses lost and no income.
Insha Allah lets keep them in our prayers and do as much as we can to help and support them. There are many charities on the ground providing emergency relief. There are around 1 million Haitians that need shelter who have lost their houses. The number for those in need of food, water, sanitation facilities exceeds all possible equasions. The Haitian government is currently planning to relocate 100,000 people just outside of the capital Port-au-Prince but even there the basic needs still exist. The long term needs to rebuild the capital and areas of the island that have become damaged as well as the infrastructure of the country and people's businesses rely on the hope of the world reaching out. Let us do our share, lets give regularly as much as we can to any of the relief agencies operating on the ground.

gazaholism

means when one practices the art of gazing a bit too excessively! lol that cracked me up. I was watching wife swap a few days ago and the swap was between a hunting family that eat anything from rabbits to horses and a vegan family of which the mother gazes at the sun for energy. She believes this can replace food and thinks this could be the answer to world hunger....
then she goes back to the kitchen to raid the fridge! lol, says she hasn't figured out the knots and bolts yet. She was a very active animal rights campaigner only to show up at the door step of a family that believe animals are made for human consumption! What I couldn't get over was how this woman was so adamant about the sun being able to replace food then jump right back to the kitchen to eagerly devour some serious food and not feel silly.
She would argue if people in places like Africa knew of sun gazing they could become independent and not starve and at the same time not wonder why she's still hungry even though she 'stares at the sun' every morning. Americans never seize to amaze me.

Today for the first time in a long time I am putting myself to sleep at 7pm, need to get some serious discipline happening in my life. I find myself struggling to get up every morning because it's so early but not try to sleep early enough to get enough rest. And so my severely delayed new year resolution is to militarise my sleeping schedule lol! Good night :)

new year, new hopes

A very belated happy new year to each and everyone of my family and friends. 2010 has brought a very chilly start but of course each new year brings new hopes and so we're diving in with heads held high and remain grateful for the blessings of 2009. I am in particular in a humble and grateful state of mind. 2009 has been the year where I got accustomed to DC and the VOA and though it was a scary and anxious time for me but I've had a tremendously fulfilling and welcoming time so far. So I'm driven to accomplish much more this year hopefully. WEBR's show has officially started airing each and every Tuesday at 4pm and Patrick and I are having a great time hosting the show. Come fall time I'll also hopefully start my Phd either in African Studies at Howard or Philosophy of journalism at Maryland, I'm still in two minds.
At the VOA both my horn series and the prison report are still in the editing stage. It's dragging on a bit now so I'm hoping to bang it out soon. Still thoroughly enjoying producing the Diaspora program which airs every Mnoday and Wednesday.
On a more personal note, as I was still struggling with adjusting to the cold here I went out on Sunday and bought the biggest northpole type jacket I could get my hands on lol! I now look like a tall domesticated eskimo!
In terms of Somalia, the situation is just going from bad to worse and I'm really worried it will just be wiped off the world. People are fleeing to wherever they can get to and those who haven't been able to leave are displaced within the country. There is literally not a safe area at all as explosions and suicide missions are being carried out in all parts of the country. There is talks that Britain and the US might send troops to Somalia alongside Yemen in the vain hope they might strike lucky this time given the previous failure attempt of Operation restore hope. We live to see insha Allah, I just hope some form of normality might come about for the civilians.