JOKE OF THE DAY::

Two women friends had gone out for a Girls Night Out, and had been decidedly over-enthusiastic on the cocktails. Incredibly drunk and walking home they suddenly realized they both needed to pee. They were very near a graveyard and one of them suggested they do their business behind a headstone or something. The first woman had nothing to wipe with so she took off her panties, used them and threw them away. Her friend however was wearing an expensive underwear set and didn't want to ruin hers, but was lucky enough to salvage a large ribbon from a wreath that was on a grave and proceeded to wipe herself with it. After finishing, they made their way home. The next day the first woman's husband phones the other husband and said, "These damn girls nights out have got to stop. My wife came home last night without her panties." "That's nothing," said the other. "Mine came back with a sympathy card stuck between the cheeks of her butt that said,
''From all of us at the Fire Station, Well never forget you!''

A BELGIAN_CONGOLESE MULATTO IN SEARCH OF HIS IDENTITY...

Roland Gunst was born to a Congolese mother and a Belgian father. He grew up in Congo, believing he was white. That is, until his family decided to return to Belgium when he was twelve. Twenty years later, in a recently released documentary, Colour Bar, we follow him in his desire to find a grammar to describe his past. 5 Questions for Roland Gust.– Tom Devriendt (from Africa is a Country)

Why have you waited so long to make this documentary? Why now?

It took me a long time to find the courage to talk about my being ‘métis’. To formulate my feelings felt like raising problems. As long as I kept it to myself, there was no problem. Not for the outer world, that is. I remained Roland, the perfectly integrated coloured. I didn’t want to come across as a frustrated black man who was ungrateful for what Belgium offered him. I didn’t want to be expelled after so many years of trying, because I was begging for a recognition of my Belgian identity. I had to serve Belgium and remain silent.
After all those years of absolute and blind dedication to the country of Belgium I have now crowned myself a Belgian. I have earned my place in Belgium and no longer need the Belgian’s approval to be a Belgian. As a Belgian I make use of my freedom of speech to tell my Belgian story. I no longer lie awake about the potential repercussions following my critical discourse about Belgium and the Belgian identity. A Belgian criticizes his country out of love and concern about his country. If my experiences and reflections can add to the building of a better and richer country, I have fulfilled my duty as a Belgian.
In 2010 we celebrated Congo’s 50 years of independence. It was an opportunity to tell the Belgian-Congolese story in all its facets. It also allowed for the métis story to be told, although I fear the métis already is slipping back into forgetfulness.

How do you look back to the year 2010 and the way in which Belgian media reported on Congo’s 50 years of independence?

Personally I don’t think we can be dissatisfied about the media attention for Congo. I do find it hard to judge the general reporting here though, since I’m only exposed to a handful of media. My little interest for these media has to do with the fact that most reporting is done by Belgians. They look at Congo first and foremost as Belgians. They thus also look with different interests and desires compared to the Congo-rooted people. One should rather get inspired by stories the Congolese want to relate. This way they are given a stage where to offer their own history and projections of Congo. Maybe Belgium could have offered its own story to Congo. A series about Belgium for the Congolese television and radio maybe?

Living in Belgium, how do you look at what’s happening in Congo these days?

As a member of the Congolese community I care for what’s happening in Congo. I grew up there and lived the happiest days of my life. From the paradise I knew little remains apart from a tiny oasis reserved for a small group of privileged people. But I know too little about what’s going on at political, social and economic levels to say much more about this. Congo is pretty much stateless and divided by different actors with their own interests and (hidden) agendas. Congo’s not in the hands of the Congolese.

How do you relate to the African diaspora in Belgium and, more broadly, Europe?

I used to mainly consider myself Belgian since my self-image and identity was Belgian/white. Nowadays I also feel more Congolese than ever — without necessarily having the feeling to share the same interests and needs of other Africans in Europe. We all face the same battle against intolerance and racism. We all wish to share and experience our African culture. We share a longing for our countries. But compared to other Africans in Europe I do feel at home in Belgium. I’m also Roland, the Flemish guy from a small town in Belgium.

In which works (books, music, artists) by ‘Métis’ people do you find inspiration?

Before working on this film I never really searched for the voice of a métis. Although Spike Lee is one of my greatest examples, I never wondered whether he is métis. Ever since my youth I recognize myself in Afro-American artists because they shared a similar situation. We are non-white or half-white westerners in a white western world trying to produce an audio-visual language that can articulate our being métis in the best possible ways.

AFROGERMAN WEEK:

Hans J Massaquoi Growing Up In Nazi Germany..

Hans J. Massaquoi, former Managing editor of Ebony Magazine, tells of growing up Black in Nazi Germany in his book, 'Desitined To Witness'.

This very powerful story was brought to the German Television in a two part docu-drama in 2006.

In his autobiography, Destined to Witness, Massaquoi describes his childhood and youth in Hamburg during the Nazi rise to power. His biography provides a unique point of view: he was one of very few German-born mulattoes in all of Nazi Germany, shunned, but not persecuted by the Nazis. This dichotomy remained a key theme throughout his whole life.
Massaquoi lived a simple, but happy childhood with his mother, Bertha Nikodijevic. His father, Al-Haj Massaquoi, was a law student in Dublin who only occasionally lived with the family at the consul general home in Hamburg. Eventually, the consul general was recalled to Liberia, and Hans Massaquoi and his mother remained in Germany.
The daily life of the young Massaquoi was remarkable. He was one of the few mixed race children in Nazi Germany, and like most of the other children his age, he dreamed of joining the Hitler Youth. Increasingly, however, he realized the true nature of Nazism. His skin color made him a target for racist abuse. However, in contrast to German Jews or German Roma, Massaquoi—as a German Negro—was not persecuted. He was "just" a second-class citizen, which was actually a blessing in disguise. During World War II, his "impurity" spared him from being drafted into the German army. As unemployment, hunger and poverty grew rampant, he even tried to enlist, but he was rejected by the officers. In this time, he befriended the family of Ralph Giordano, a half-Jewish acquaintance of their swing kid age, who survived the war by hiding and ended up being a journalist as well.

PHOTO OF THE DAY..

wow...

JOKE OF THE DAY..

GREATER PROBLEM..

Wife: Honey You always carry my photo in your handbag to the
office. Why?
Husband: When there is a problem, no matter how impossible, I
look at your picture and the problem disappears.
Wife: You see how miraculous and powerful I am for you?
Husband: Yes, I see your picture and say to myself, "What other
problem can there be greater than this one?"

AFRICAN JOLLOF RICE..

Jollof Rice is served with variations in many countries of West Africa. In Liberia pigs' feet are used with salt pork and bacon as well as with chicken. This dish may be made from scratch with fresh chicken pieces, alone or in combination, but it is also an excellent dish for leftover chicken, veal, turkey, tongue, ham, bacon, etc.
In a 10-inch skillet:
Saute: 2 Ibs. COOKED MEATS (such as chicken, bacon, shrimp, smoked pork) cut in 1-inch chunks in
1/2 cup VEGETABLE OIL until slightly brown.
In a 4-quart kettle:
Saute: 1/2 cup YELLOW ONIONS, finely chopped
1/2 cup GREEN PEPPERS, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. GROUND GINGER (optional), in
1/4 cup VEGETABLE OIL until onions are soft.
Add 1 16-oz. can WHOLE TOMATOES (2 cups).
Simmer for 5 minutes.
Add: 2 6-oz. cans TOMATO PASTE
2 quarts WATER
1 Tbs. SALT
1/2 tsp. BLACK PEPPER
1/2 tsp. THYME
1 tsp. CRUSHED RED PEPPER.
Add the cooked meat and simmer 20 minutes longer.
In a 2 quart saucepan:
Cook: 2 cups WHITE RICE in
5 cups CHICKEN STOCK or WATER until tender.
Correct the Seasonings with salt, pepper, etc.
Combine the sauce of the meat with the rice.
Pour the Jollof Rice in a deep bowl, arranging the meat in the center.
If you like you can add peas, carrot and what ever vegetable.
You can eat the jollof rice with gravy too!!!

Non Alcoholic Cocktail Drinks..

Shirley Temple

For those that do not use alcohol or for children, cocktails without alcohol are an ideal drink. Mocktails are a refreshing and healthy alternative to alcohol cocktails.

Many famous people have given their names to cocktails, such as Ernest Hemingway and Marjorie King (the Margarita), but who better to name a mocktail after than the iconic child star, Shirley Temple.
• 3 measures of very cold lemon or lime soda
• 2 measures of cold ginger ale
• 1 teaspoon grenadine
• 1 maraschino cherry
• 1 slice of orange
Fill a chilled champagne glass with the lemon or lime soda and the ginger ale. Add the grenadine and garnish with the cherry and slice of orange. If using a tall glass use ice cubes as well.

Nigeria And Ghana At War .......

LAST week we brought you the beginning of a three part series of the brewing and simmering disagreements in the Nigerian and Ghanaian Movie Industries. The war erupted when the Ghanian government enacted laws to the effect that any foreigner seeking to shoot a movie or work in Ghana must pay a fine of a hundred thousand dollars and film producers a sum of two hundred and fifty dollars.
Following the enactment of that law, five Nigerian producers working in Ghana at the time were arrested by the Ghanaian Police and made to pay the agreed sums before finishing their films. A couple of other producers who were about to start work had to escape the country. The actions which was a climax of soured relations that had been gradually building to the boiling point, finally exploded as Nigerian movie practitioners reacted. to read more go here..

DO BLACK PEOPLE HATE EACH OTHER?????

The most iniquitous thing among humanity is self destruction and self hatred. Being your own enemy sounds impossible but it is wilfully in existence among human beings.

When we talk about being your own enemy, it encompasses hating your own kind and this is very widespread among black people. Most black people, either from different nations or same nation do not get on at all.

Let us look at our immediate social surroundings, work place, schools and university as well as our communities, the very people actively pulling black people down the ladder of success is our own people. (I call this inner racial hatred).

Have you not had an experience where you came to an office and the only black person out there whom you think would be helpful turns out to be the monster?

What about entering a restaurant where your own kind (black sister or brother) disregards you and worse of all, offers a warming welcome and help to another person of different colour?

Even in our neighbourhoods, have you not come across the next black neighbour who you thought shares your skin colour and as such you should get on well, act so mean and unfriendly to you, your children or friends?

How many times have you heard another person or your friend saying, I will never rent or *** from a Ghanaian or another black person because they always want to cheat and their services or products come with issues and problems?

At university and work place, I have seen Asians and Eastern Europeans team up and offer wonderful help and support to each other, whiles the few black people out there are living and working like cat and mouse ( On each other's neck). I pity anyone who has a black or Ghanaian manager or supervisor at work, mostly they will kill you instead of build you…

If you go for a job interview and you are unfortunate to have your interviewer as a same country/ethnic background person (black), then you better go home and continue with your job search…

Back home in Africa, we cut each other with blades and push ourselves down the gutters whiles offering the best of things, services and opportunities to different colour people when they come around us.

I remember when at ticket assistant at the STC yard in Accra told me there are no tickets for the next bus, yet was magically able to find 2 tickets for some white couples who came to ask few minutes after me…

This week's discussion is about us, our ethnicity and our own people. Why do most black people love to see the downfall of their own people? Why are black people their own enemies? Why don't we support each other and pave way for one another?
wow.. very sad..

STOP CHILD MARRIAGE NOW!! 2

SAD EYES..THEY ARE NOT HAPPY TO GET MARRY AT THEIR AGE...
On November 10, 2008) Nearly half of all Central African women marry before they are 19, according to UNICEF. Despite public campaigns against child marriage, parents often force their daughters to marry young, supposedly to protect them from sexual harassment and out-of-wedlock pregnancies, as well as to relieve the financial burden of providing for their daughters.
But radio listeners in Chad recently heard another perspective. An in-depth radio program tackled the sensitive issue of child marriages, also known as “thunderbolt marriages.” The program explored risks such as health problems for girls physically unready for pregnancy and a high rate of marital unhappiness and divorce. read more..

STOP CHILD MARRIAGE NOW!!!!

In the June issue of National Geographic, writer Cynthia Gorney takes an in-depth look at the illicit, heartbreaking world of child brides. Though the practice often defies national laws, child marriage is still understood by communities around the globe as an appropriate route for young women, especially when the alternatives are even more bleak. As her report states:

Child marriage spans continents, language, religion, caste. In India the girls will typically be attached to boys four or five years older; in Yemen, Afghanistan, and other countries with high early marriage rates, the husbands may be young men or middle-aged widowers or abductors who rape first and claim their victims as wives afterward, as is the practice in certain regions of Ethiopia. Some of these marriages are business transactions, barely adorned with additional rationale: a debt cleared in exchange for an 8-year-old bride; a family feud resolved by the delivery of a virginal 12-year-old cousin. Those, when they happen to surface publicly, make for clear and outrage-inducing news fodder from great distances away. The 2008 drama of Nujood Ali, the 10-year-old Yemeni girl who found her way alone to an urban courthouse to request a divorce from the man in his 30s her father had forced her to marry, generated worldwide headlines and more recently a book, translated into 30 languages: I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced. To read more go here..

List of Most Dangerous Cities in America

Earlier this week, the FBI trumpeted the news that violent crime dropped 5.5% in 2010 while reported property crimes fell 2.8% during the depths of the worst economic slowdown since the Great Depression. The news, though, is far from positive.

to read more go here..

Vintage Photo of the Day

Oprah in 1998
Wow!! I can’t believe this is Oprah!!

Wow I love and admire this woman

SOME MEN ARE VERY MEAN…..

LOOK WHAT HE DID TO HER….

But the husband is saying he don’t know anything about it, something is wrong in this family…MY GOD.
The unfortunate incident was said to have occurred on May 11th 2011 after her husband got furious over her attitude of challenging his authority as the man of the house. The relationship between the couple was said to have degenerated to the extent that they do not talk to each other and only communicate by writing.
“This time, he left a note about his dinner. I told him his dinner was ready and asked him not to be asking for dinner to be prepared if he was not going to eat it. He grabbed me by the hand and when l tried to pull away, he hurled me against the wall before he started punching me,” she said.
The mother of five children was said to sustained serious injuries as a result of the beating and had to be hospitalized.
( However, when the ambassador was contacted by Nairobi based newspaper, he denied beating his wife saying: “I am shocked about her actions. They have not notified me of any plot against me. I have just arrived from a foreign trip.”)
With the pictures attached to this story, somebody is definitely not telling the truth.

HOT BODIES...

JOKE OF THE DAY..

The wealthy lawyer

One afternoon, a wealthy lawyer was riding in the back of his limousine when he saw two men eating grass by the roadside.
. He ordered his driver to stop and he got out to investigate. Why are you eating grass? he asked one man. We dont have any money for food, the poor man replied.
Oh, come along with me then, instructed the lawyer.
But, sir, I have a wife and two children!
Bring them along! replied the lawyer. He turned to the other man and said, Come with us.
But sir, I have a wife and six children! the second man answered.
Bring them as well! answered the lawyer as he headed for his limo.
They all climbed into the car, which was no easy task, even for a car as large as the limo. Once underway, one of the poor fellows says, Sir, you are too kind. Thank you for taking all of us with you.
The lawyer replied, No problem. The grass at my home is almost a foot tall.

Recipe of the day

Hamburger Steak with Onions and Gravy

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup thinly sliced onion
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1 tablespoon cooking sherry
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt

Directions
In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, egg, bread crumbs, pepper, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and Worcestershire sauce. Form into 8 balls, and flatten into patties.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Fry the patties and onion in the oil until patties are nicely browned, about 4 minutes per side. Remove the beef patties to a plate, and keep warm.
Sprinkle flour over the onions and drippings in the skillet. Stir in flour with a fork, scraping bits of beef off of the bottom as you stir. Gradually mix in the beef broth and sherry. Season with seasoned salt. Simmer and stir over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes, until the gravy thickens. Turn heat to low, return patties to the gravy, cover, and simmer for another 15 minutes.

AFRICAN WEDDING PART 2

Bolanle Bob-Egbe & Temie Williams-Olley wedding. May god bless their marriage..
CHURCH WEDDING

to see more photos..

MUSIC OF THE DAY..

Michael Jackson – Liberian Girl
Liberian Girl" was the second single to be released from Michael Jackson's 1987 album Bad. The song was written as early as 1983 and was among those considered for The Jacksons' Victory album. It was reworked and rewritten for Bad. The song was released as a single in Europe and Australia. The song starts with Swahili language phrase "Naku Penda pia, Naku Taka pia, Mpenziwe!" (I love you too, I want you too, my love!), which was sung by a South African singer by the name of Letta Mbulu (although the official language of Liberia is English, and Swahili is only commonly spoken on the opposite coast of Africa). Liberian Girl is dedicated to close friend and actress Elizabeth Taylor. AND THIS SONG IS DEDICATED TO EVERY LIBERIAN GIRL AROUND THE WORLD.. SING ALONG...

(Naku penda piya-naku taka piya-mpenziwe)
(I love you too-I want you too-my love)

Liberian girl...
You came and you changed my world
A love so brand new
Liberian girl...
You came and you changed my world
A feeling so true

Liberian girl
You know that you came
And you changed my world
Just like in the movies
With two lovers in a scene
And she says...
"Do you love me"
And he says so endlessly...
"I love you, Liberian girl"

(Naku penda piya-naku taka piya-mpenziwe)
(I love you too-I want you too-my love)

Liberian girl...
More precious than any pearl
Your love so complete
Liberian girl...
You kiss me then,
Ooh, the world
You do this to me
Liberian girl...
You know that you came
And you changed my world
Just like in the movies
With two lovers in a scene
And she says
"Do you love me"
And he says so endlessly
"I love you, Liberian girl"

(Naku penda piya-naku taka piya-mpenziwe)
(I love you too-I want you too-my love)

Liberian girl
You know that you came
And you changed my world
I wait for the day
When you have to say
"I do"
And I'll smile and say it too,
I love you, Liberian girl, all the time

(Girl)
I love you liberian girl, all the time
(Girl)
I love you liberian girl, all the time
(Girl)
I love you liberian girl, all the time
(Girl)
I love you
I love you baby
(Girl)
I want you
I love you baby
(Girl)
Ooh! I love you baby, I want you baby, ooh!
(Girl)

Blonde Women are More ‘Warlike’ and ‘Aggressive’

A study carried out by researchers at the University of California claims to show that blonde women are more aggressive and competitive than their brunette and red-haired sisters.
Every so often we hear about some new piece of evolutionary psychology masquerading as an amazing insight into our minds and behaviour. It gets picked up by magazines and newspapers; pundits talk about it on daytime television shows and before long it becomes a serious discussion point.
But when it comes down to it, these ‘amazing new findings’ are often ridiculous, pointless and play into sexist stereotypes – usually that women are inherently weak and catty, that men are inherently aggressive and domineering, or that all women want from life is a big white wedding and loads of babies. A year never goes by without yet more evo-psych nonsense along these lines getting plenty of press.
This time, the team from California have surveyed an enormous sample of society – yes, 156 female students – and have concluded that blondes show a ‘warlike streak’ and are more determined to get their own way than non-blondes. The study claims that blondes are ‘used to getting their own way’ and ‘getting more attention’.to read more go here