So it's Eid in Ghana today, and it's also Kwame Nkrumah's birthday!! Talk about celebration and holidays!!! Eid was yesterday here in the US and in most parts of the world, and I had a pretty memorable Eid. Spent it with family in Virginia, and boy, what an interesting time it was. Showing on the T.V. was a Nigerian Cable Channel, and it was really interesting to see all the news segments commemorating Eid in the various Nigerian states. I even got a glimpse of my birth town Kaduna, which I definitely need to visit soon. I also got a chance to see my "husband" and other cousins. Gosh, the last time I saw him, he was shorter than me, and now, he's towering over me! It was quite the surreal moment lol.
My Ramadan Experience
On one of my posts on Ramadan, someone asked what I hoped to achieve throughout the Holy month. Basically, my goal was to reflect on my life, on the Qu'ran and on the teachings of Islam. I got a new Qu'ran before Ramadan started in order to literally study the Qu'ran. Sure, I've been studying it since I was younger, but it was generally in Arabic. This time around, I wanted to understand the words (in English) and determine what significance the words have to my life. I must say, it went pretty well, and the moments of peace I felt throughout Ramadan are ones I wouldn't exchange for anything. Ramadan is over, but I still intend to continue with studying the Qu'ran and inshallah, I will learn a whole lot more! :)
My Ramadan Experience
On one of my posts on Ramadan, someone asked what I hoped to achieve throughout the Holy month. Basically, my goal was to reflect on my life, on the Qu'ran and on the teachings of Islam. I got a new Qu'ran before Ramadan started in order to literally study the Qu'ran. Sure, I've been studying it since I was younger, but it was generally in Arabic. This time around, I wanted to understand the words (in English) and determine what significance the words have to my life. I must say, it went pretty well, and the moments of peace I felt throughout Ramadan are ones I wouldn't exchange for anything. Ramadan is over, but I still intend to continue with studying the Qu'ran and inshallah, I will learn a whole lot more! :)
Al-Jazeerah: Trafigura's toxic waste in Ivory Coast
So aside the munchies, what else was interesting about Eid? Al-Jazeerah. Some inhabitants of Abidjan have filed a suit against an oil company Trafigura which apparently dumped its toxic waste in their environment, and this has led to a whole bunch of health-related problems for about 3100 inhabitants. The UN estimates that the toxic waste could also be responsible for the death of about 15 people in the area. Of course, the company denies any responsibility for this - nothing new there- but has agreed to compensate the people (guilty conscience obviously). The compensation of about 1000 pounds per complainant is however deemed meagre by many. Anyways, I'm not gonna go into a detailed analysis on this, lol, this is supposed to be a personal post. You can read on the Trafigura case on the BBC website. Now back to Al-Jazeerah. While most of the western media just touches on issues related to Africa and the developing world, Al-Jazeerah apparently does a more detailed analysis on issues. Yesterday was the first time I actually watched more than 10 minutes of the channel, and it was a breath of fresh air from the usual stuff. Will definitely recommend watching or following the channel, especially if you want different sides to one story. Here's the Al-Jazeerah English website.
So aside the munchies, what else was interesting about Eid? Al-Jazeerah. Some inhabitants of Abidjan have filed a suit against an oil company Trafigura which apparently dumped its toxic waste in their environment, and this has led to a whole bunch of health-related problems for about 3100 inhabitants. The UN estimates that the toxic waste could also be responsible for the death of about 15 people in the area. Of course, the company denies any responsibility for this - nothing new there- but has agreed to compensate the people (guilty conscience obviously). The compensation of about 1000 pounds per complainant is however deemed meagre by many. Anyways, I'm not gonna go into a detailed analysis on this, lol, this is supposed to be a personal post. You can read on the Trafigura case on the BBC website. Now back to Al-Jazeerah. While most of the western media just touches on issues related to Africa and the developing world, Al-Jazeerah apparently does a more detailed analysis on issues. Yesterday was the first time I actually watched more than 10 minutes of the channel, and it was a breath of fresh air from the usual stuff. Will definitely recommend watching or following the channel, especially if you want different sides to one story. Here's the Al-Jazeerah English website.
Intellectual Talk on Development
A couple of days ago I went to a friend's birthday get-together, and I must say, sometimes you're just bound to meet certain people in your lifetime. Turns out if we hadn't met at this particular gathering, we probably would have met elsewhere. I met a bunch of interesting and amazing individuals and we had a really stimulating conversation about...take a wild guess...development!! I am definitely looking forward to interacting with more interesting and open-minded people, and I believe DC is the place to be when it comes to global issues.
A couple of days ago I went to a friend's birthday get-together, and I must say, sometimes you're just bound to meet certain people in your lifetime. Turns out if we hadn't met at this particular gathering, we probably would have met elsewhere. I met a bunch of interesting and amazing individuals and we had a really stimulating conversation about...take a wild guess...development!! I am definitely looking forward to interacting with more interesting and open-minded people, and I believe DC is the place to be when it comes to global issues.
New Blog Alert: La Romanessence
Now to another thing that's global. Relationships. I got a notification that another person was "following" my blog, and as I always do, I perused this 'newcomer'. Turns out the blogger actually is a newcomer, since he/she just has a couple of posts, but what stood out to me the most was how extremely personal the posts are. The blog, "La Romanessence", seems to be focused primarily on relationships, and in the author's own words "We're all romantics, and the essence of life is love." I definitely concur on that one, and I'm looking forward to reading more of the posts on La Romanessence. So, if you're a self-proclaimed 'romantic' or are just curious, check out La Romanessence.
Now to another thing that's global. Relationships. I got a notification that another person was "following" my blog, and as I always do, I perused this 'newcomer'. Turns out the blogger actually is a newcomer, since he/she just has a couple of posts, but what stood out to me the most was how extremely personal the posts are. The blog, "La Romanessence", seems to be focused primarily on relationships, and in the author's own words "We're all romantics, and the essence of life is love." I definitely concur on that one, and I'm looking forward to reading more of the posts on La Romanessence. So, if you're a self-proclaimed 'romantic' or are just curious, check out La Romanessence.
this is really a flash...interesting. I have always watched Aljazeera from the time I wake up to six am before the TV Station changes to CNN. It really is an interesting station and they really give insights to issues...
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