Damaged goods people

Children, in many African and other third world countries grew up with warriors or militant leaders as role models. They are damaged goods in any society. They can only envisage a struggle for survival. For many of them the notion of fighting for freedom became their life’s purpose. In some cases, as little children they could strip and name the different components of a gun before they could recite the ABC.

Their childhood dreams were to possess real guns and when they grew up and joined a gang or a militant group, the guns they dreamed about just got bigger and more powerful. What is the purpose of possessing a gun, if they did not have an enemy to fight, so they made enemies? The object was to kill real people.

Some of these damaged children managed to work themselves up to leading rolls. Some became ministers of parliaments and other even gained authority to lead nations.
They soon declared enemies so that they could strengthen their armies and produce bigger guns and faster planes. The toys of war exceeded their wildest imaginations. They see not the suffering and hunger of their people while they sat behind closed doors strategising their next move on the enemy.

Some even tried to unite the continent in one big army against the rest of the world. Damaged goods they are, creating more damaged children so that the wars can continue.

We all need to find ways of removing the imprint of war making, racism and division from the African DNA

The citizens of Africa need to heal their inner child. Africa needs to have positive roll models and positive goals.

African people need to hate the gun and see it as an instrument of poverty and suffering. They need to learn to focus on unity, rejuvenation of the land, the prosperity of the community and above all they need to strive towards PEACE..

Of wat praat ek alles

Dis my reg, dis my reg, dis my reg vir wat ek veg.

The bottom feeders in humanity are rising against the big fish.
Many of the worlds nations are either in a war situation or are experiencing strike action.

We are entering an era when those who have been suppressed up to now are demanding equal opportunities in life.

I was reading about a domestic worker who does not only have to financially support her own children but also the seven children of her sister and brother-in-law who both passed away; I presume they had aids.

We should all hang our heads in shame that we are so busy chasing our own wealth that we neglected the education of the “want them to disappear” people who live in tin shanties at the borders of big cities.

• Every citizen should have the right to know his or her aids status.
• Every citizen of the world should know the importance to be informed about aids.
• Every citizen should understand his or her responsibilities regarding this condition.
• People with aids should be encouraged to take birth control measures in addition to using condoms.
• People with aids should not have intercourse with non-infected people even if they use condoms.
• No child should have to grow up without parents.
• No child should have to look after younger siblings before they had a chance to enjoy a natural childhood.
• All children should have the right to have a suitable education, love, support, shelter and food.

Child abuse and neglect is a cancer in humanity.

Those should be basic human rights.

Of wat se ek alles

Another chance.

All over the world the waterways have been contaminated and stripped from its life-force.
We humans are polluting the very essence of life on earth.

These latest floods are as if Gaia , the earth, is having a bath. A big clean-up.

She is sitting at the local heavenly spa having a nice sploosh splash to rid herself of all the toxins we have been depositing in her waterways.

Lets just hope she is not having a good massage and a rough and tumble afterward.

In Noah’s time when the earth had a good soaker, he built an ark for humanity to survive.

Two of each, strolled in on the gangplank .

It was easy back then.
Could you imaging the selection process in South Africa.
350% black, 30% colored and a pinch of white for democratic reasons with some freeloaders on the roof and while the hoards hang onto the sides while marines shoot rubber bullets at them.
Anyway, the rainbow is to be a sign that the earth will never take deep sea diving lessons again. Mind you it did not mention a 75% color coded rainbow. So perhaps we are still in for it. Perhaps the Biblical rainbow sign means that ‘we better paint our rainbow nation good’ or else!

According to Biblical reference its next trick is a fire walk for purification.

It’s not an ark we need to build but a space ship.

I believe someone on the Internet is selling land on the moon.
That may be a good idea if it comes with a return ticket and if animals are allowed.

Personally, I shall rather live on Venus, the planet of love.

I think I shall stake my claim on a nice spot near the ocean with some large trees and peace, peace ….. not a beggar and burglar in sight.

Venetian plots are free. I am the estate agent down here. Just stake your Internet claim.
There is a selection process. Potential buyers must have hearts full of love and no thoughts of hatred and revenge in their minds.
I shall ask my Uncle Google to do a scan of Venus so you can select and cyber-plant your love-pole to mark your spot.

Of wat praat ek alles.

It is not the same any more

Q: What is the worst thing about a lazy day out in nature?

A: The journey back home.

As children we loved visiting our favorite picnic spots in Paarl. It was a carefree day of fun under tall trees next to a little river.
We had a picnic, explored the environment, had a swim, and ate ourselves dik then we started all over again, while the old people had to sleep it off on the camp chairs or a blanket on the grass.

I no longer consider such an outing fun. Just the thought of having to dodge the traffic, on the way back to Tableview, undoes all the relaxation of the day. My my nerves are as knotted as it has been before the trip when I get back home.

Then there the idiots and smart Alex’es who know just how to bring your blood to boiling point, when they squeeze into your lane, while you queue at the bottle neck in the road into Tableview.
You also have to figure out which is the best lane to queue in. I seem to mark one car in the other lane and see who moves the quickest. One can never see the cause of the holdup until you passed it.

When you get home you have all the picnic things to clean away and the family will be looking at you with big eyes for their next tummy fillers or just coffee to get the old nerves back to its normal stress levels.

If you live in and around Tableview, it is silly to go all the way to Paarl just to sit under the trees.
We may not have many shady trees in our nature areas left, but we still have a lovely dam and beaches where we can enjoy a relaxing day out.

People, who live in Tableview, do not appreciate or utilize the resources right on their doorsteps.

We have some of the best shops, nature walks, parks, water sport areas and beaches right here, on our doorsteps, and much of it is free. The only thing we do not have a lot of in our nature areas are shady trees to sit under, so perhaps a tranquil visit to deeper in the country now and again may still be warranted.

My garden is like a rain-forest. If I want to sit under a shady tree near water, I just have to put the sprinkler on and fold the beach chair open. I possibly have more birds concentrated on one spot than anywhere in Rietvlei.

Five big trees have been cut down in our area recently. It is the height of breeding season so we have birds breeding at eye level.

It is difficult to know when it is the best time to trim trees now that conservation removed all the alien trees, which is just about all the trees in the nature area. The birds seem to compensate by breeding all the year around.


Of wat praat ek alles

Doggy poop - what to do with it.

My dog made a soft poop on someone's lawn the other day. I did not know what to do because I forgot the plastic bag at home. Even if I had a plastic bag, how does one scrape a soft poop from the grass? It will take forever. We shouted at the dog but it was a matter of “If you got to go, you got to go".
So I walked on pretending I did not see it and hoped no-one was looking through the window and spotted me as the culprit. The right thing would have been, possibly to write a note of apology and leave it in the letter box, but that will only cause a temporary irritation to turn into a longtime memory. Once you put a face to a poop it burns into your memory bank.
What to do with the poop once you collected it is the next problem. We have no doggy poop bins on our doggy trail. Some people just dump the plastic bags on the field and other throw it into the storm water drain to clog up our beaches and wetlands.
I was thinking of getting one of those plastic, washable gift bags especially to be used as a dog poop bag.

Photograph: Storm-water draining into Rietvlei. Feb 2010

I was reading somewhere that someone suggested we make electricity with it.

Of wat praat ek alles

Perhaps I should start a ‘what to do with dog poop' forum; but then again, it is only me and Bible and the occasional visitor using the forum.

One right to freedom

Those who are not for us are against us

My praatnie gedagte

Why should our children suffer from imported drugs and other substances of abuse? Why should international individuals get rich at the expense of decent, life deserving, individuals like our precious loved ones? Why should the world tolerate fat cats who weaken and kill our global human resource?
There are a majority of global citizens who want a better, free for all world. Why can we not have a global government that can make global free citizenship a reality for all people?
If one, individual, group, country or continent threatens the well-being of the global citizenship, there should be a force that can isolate and remove the infrastructure of international travel from such a group or person until they conform to the global law of opportunity for all.
There should be no exceptions. We should have no mercy for global inf ringers of our democratic rights to a good life for all. Any country, individual or region who partake of travel outside its borders, should fall under one global law.
The ‘United Nations’ have the infrastructure to become such a law society. It should be given the muscle and power to uphold those principles.
The global government should be able to protect all people.

Of wat praat ek alles

How the Hippocratic Oath changed in Africa

How medical care changed over the years.
Will we ever get back to what we once had? Is that even desirable for modern patients?
Sometimes I do not know any more.

I spent my nursing career in public hospitals. In the early years we used to be given little books of devotion to carry in our pockets. I am sure it made our patients feel saver whether hey believed in religion or not.
That went with the nurses’ veils and caps.
It was as if the nurses wanted to modernize. They wanted to be like everyone else. They no longer wanted to be on a pedestal.

The Nurses “pledge” as it is being practiced in South Africa and some other countries today.

Hippocratic Oath (African Interpretation)

I shall forsake the needs of my patients in order to strike for more money.
I shall milk the hard earned cash from my patients to the best of my ability whether they can afford it or not.
I shall refuse treatments to patients who are too poor to afford my fees.
My personal need and wealth comes before those of my patients at all times.
I shall not be held responsible for death or suffering as a result of my treatment.
All treatments received under my care is given at the patients own risk.
My patients are, at all times, the means to my financial rewards.

The Hippocratic Oath (Modern Version)

“ I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of over treatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.

Hippocratic Oath (Original English Translation)

I swear by Apollo, the healer, Asclepius, Hygieia, and Panacea, and I take to witness all the gods, all the goddesses, to keep according to my ability and my judgment, the following Oath and agreement:

To consider dear to me, as my parents, him who taught me this art; to live in common with him and, if necessary, to share my goods with him; To look upon his children as my own brothers, to teach them this art.

I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone.

I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion.

But I will preserve the purity of my life and my arts.

I will not cut for stone, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest; I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners, specialists in this art.

In every house where I come I will enter only for the good of my patients, keeping myself far from all intentional ill-doing and all seduction and especially from the pleasures of love with women or with men, be they free or slaves.

All that may come to my knowledge in the exercise of my profession or in daily commerce with men, which ought not to be spread abroad, I will keep secret and will never reveal.

If I keep this oath faithfully, may I enjoy my life and practice my art, respected by all men and in all times; but if I swerve from it or violate it, may the reverse be my lot.


Perhaps it is time that people in charge of governments honor workers who heal the sick so that they can feel worthy again and live up to their highest ideals.