TNT Moving the World - Five years partnership with WFP

I found the following Moving the World Clip on YouTube






Click the logo to view the clip


Makes me feel very proud to work for a company that can be involved in projects like this - In December last year TNT renewed it partnership with WFP indefinitely so long as the partnership was mutually beneficial to both parties. How many companies can you say you have worked for that can form a partnership like this?

Xenophobic attacks

As many of you may have seen on the news recently there has been a large number of Xenophobic attacks on foreigners in South Africa. Not only are people from Zimbabwe, Mozambique and other Southern African countries getting caught up in this but so are many locals.

The Red Cross of South Africa have set up a fund-raising drive. Any one can donate to this via credit card so its not only for South Africans so please visit the following page to donate.

http://donations.redcross.org.za/ please also ensure you quote the correct refrance number so that the money goes to the right cause.

Its quite sad to see South Africa in this state.

I had to look up Xenophobia as I did not clearly understand what it meant.

Found the following meanings of the word

Xenophobia - –noun an unreasonable fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange.

Xenophobia is a fear or contempt of that which is foreign or unknown, especially of strangers or foreign people.^[1] It comes from the Greek words ξένος (xenos), meaning "foreigner," "stranger," and φόβος (phobos), meaning "fear." The term is typically used to describe a fear or dislike of foreigners or of people significantly different from oneself.

And here I was thinking that SA had become such a divers place to live and that it had come a long way since I lived in SA 6 years ago.

I hope this madness comes to an end sooner rather than later.

Namibia VBlog Live

I have now uploaded my Namibian YouTube Blog

Click here to view it.

YouTube Update

Hi All,

Been a bit slack on the old YouTube on the old YouTube vids so I have uploaded a few very short Vids that you can view by clicking on the links below.

You may have seen these on the blog before but I did have them posted here but so as to clean up the page abit I will leave them on the YouTube site and just give you the link to go to them.

Some people at work cant see YouTube due to restrictions of there web access.

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Day 1 - a few hrs to go.

Filmed just before I headed off to the airport to go to Rome, to join up with the other TNT Staff from around the world. The other TNT staff would be on there way to School Feeding Projects around the globe. I would be on my way to a different project. To set up Wellness Centres for trucking communities in Southern Africa.

This short VBlog just outlines how I was feeling at the time. The few weeks upto this point had been very stressful as I only had a weeks notice to sort my life out both personally and at work. It took a lot out of me.

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Flight to Rome - 2nd March 2008

Some footage at Birmingham International Airport (BXH) on route to Rome. 2nd March 2008

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North Star Foundation

This is the project I am working with in South Africa. I am doing a very similar thing here in Zambia (Chirundu) and very soon in Zimbabwe and Namibia.

This clip was found on YouTube - it was posted up on YouTube by TNT Communications

More TNT Communications clips can be found here.

Art imitating life ........

The other day I was driving to the office listening to the radio and it was time for the traffic joke on Radio Highveld. The joke went as follows ( not exactly as it was played on the radio - you can down load the original from here )

Jo was sitting at home watching the football when his daughter, Eve, came home.
"Dad" said Eve "I have some news that you will not like"
Now Eve had just recently turned 18 so Jo was concerned to what Eve had to say.
"Dad, I am with child!" Said Eve
Needless to say Jo was shocked.
"What did I tell you to say when a boy tries to touch your breast?" Asked Jo to his daughter Eve
Eve responded "Don't!"
"That's right! And what did I tell you if a boy tries to tough your private area? " Asked Jo.
"Stop!" responded Eve
"That's right! So how did you get into this predicament? " asked Jo of his daughter.
"But Dad! The boy tried to touch both so I said " Don't, Stop!" "

This got me thinking is this art imitating life ? How many girls out there fall pray to this very story. I know when I left South Africa there were stories of HIV/AIDS awareness teams going into the rural area's to educate the population on HIV/AIDS and prevention. These educators were going out into the field with out the proper equipment to show people how to put condoms on. So what they were doing instead of having an anatomically correct penis to demonstrate how to put a condom on they had a bit of a broom handle. They would show the group how to put a condom on the broom handle and say " This is how you don't get HIV by protecting your self like this" This led to reports of people finding boom sticks behind doors with condoms on them. People were saying this is what they had been told to do.

To make matters worse you then have the minister of health here having sex with a sex worker who has HIV and he said it was "OK" because he had a shower afterwards!

The cure for HIV is out there!
It does not come in a bottle and its not a pill or an injection its called "Education" and "Responsibility"

People in this day and age take things way too literally. Its up to every one of us to ensure that the message we send out is clear and understandable or so much hard work will be undone.

On a lighter side of thing here is a few more graphical examples of "Art imitating life" from my favorite South African satire cartoon strip "Madam and Eve"

Please be sure to visit the "Madam and Eve" blog site here.

How computer games can influence the world around us.

Ok South Africa does have a bit of a rap about bribery and corruption but I had to post this as its just very amusing. Its not quite this bad but it is just as blatant.

(Click on the images to get the full size)

General Update

Hi All,

Sorry its not a blog update as such. Kinda having writers block at the moment on that one. I do have a few idea's but its just time to sit down and put them into words.

I have however been quite busy.

Last week South Africa had a 2 day working week - yip only in Africa can you have a holiday on Monday then two more on Thursday and Friday in one week ! As a result of this I headed down to the coast to spend the time with Mom and Dad. It was great to see them again.

So what have I been upto?

Well I have submitted a review from the survey done in Walvis Bay. We have funding to set up a Wellness Centre in Namibia but I am not sure if Walvis is the ideal location to sit this centre. We have been told of another location called Grootfountain (click on the word to get a map of the area ) So I will be off to Namibia again on the 26th of May to see what's what in this area.

You will see from the photos I have got a Wellness Centre on its way to Zambia - (click here for photos of the container/ Wellness Centre being loaded for transport ) This container should be in Chirundu by Friday. I will be going up to Zambia on the 19th of May for a few days to set the centre up. Looking forward to this. So a lot of planing is on the go for this too.

I have also been looking at the Wellness Centre software to add more KPI elements to it so we can report on what is happening at the centres more effectively.

Other updates of interest.

Took some photos on Sunday on my way back to Jo'burg - you can view them here. It took 10 hrs to drive the 540km (874 miles) normally it takes like 5 - 6 hrs to do this trip but there was a massive smash on the motor way ( 3 dead ) and a hail storm that stopped me in my tracks for 15 - 20 mins as I could not see any thing for all the hail!

Also went on a game drive with Mom and Dad to Hluhluwie Game Reserve - photos can be seen here - saw loads of animals. Was a fab day out.

I also got my self a new toy - a Canon EOS 400D - fab bit of kit but need to learn how to use it but so far so good it seems to take good pix even if the owner has no eye for detail ! Some photos I took with it with in hours of the battery being charged can be found here.

Well that's it for now from me.

Hope to have something up on the blog soon for you all to read.

Regards,

Peter
Bedfordview - Gauteng