POPULATION AND GLOBAL WARMING

POPULATION AND GLOBAL WARMING

Global warming is an issue the 21ST generation should ignore at own peril. Global climate scientists have kept those who may want to hear duly informed about the drastically changing climate patterns and the expected effects. Ignorance to counteract and make aware all humanity may have shocking consequences in the future.

Population growth and this global monster are conjoined at the hip. A fulfilling life of tomorrows’ generation is at the stake unless we act now. Large masses are at risk. Time is ripe for nations to tame the spiralling human growth or try avert the factors fuelling faster warming of the planet. To nip the growth factor bud, democracy, equality and religion are critical. Democracy at its best promotes livelihoods. It calls for economic power across all groups of people, in a stable and conducive environment. Such a power demands inputs of population controls and checks to be sustainable. Democracy makes health information available, costless, cheap and efficient.

Women, being more vulnerable to exacerbate the growth index, are given the will to decide sizes of their families vis-a-vis the prevailing economic conditions. Women education and empowerment are also pillars of hope in any nation claiming to be democratic. The benefits vested in properly educated women, far from the family spectacle, are greater than making technological advancements in space exploration. I dream of a society where quality education for all is not a monopolistic right, but a democratic right be-throned for all skins. A precious right to go to school and get knowledge until the brain can absorb no more.

Democracy begets equality. Espousing equality is tantamount to biblical wisdom of brotherliness. In many global family settings, gender equality is still as elusive as the idea of planet relocation in case of severe and intolerable warming. It is an issue everyone hates discuss. Think of societies where women and men work and earn; where both are equally privileged to hold property; where sexual orientation is not a determining factor in career preferences and where success is recognized regardless of hands that bring it. Such societies have many things in common: well knit and bonded families, adequate access to life basics in tangible and in non-tangible forms and the ability to make right decisions for informed causes. Thus, population problem is not really a problem where equality thrives.

Lastly, religion and population topics have lately been very controversial amongst all faiths. Religion terms as disrespect to God’s command of recreate and produce any measure taken to regulate the number of offspring man can have. In extreme cases, particular religious sects instinctively deny medical care upon children citing spiritual repercussions. As a Christian, I doubt religion is anaemic to human wellness.

Contraception and man has lately threatened to divide the church, with religious demigods battling to oust the scientific ideas of family planning. I am not an atheist, but I am never convinced to take sides with the church on the thorny issue of contraceptives. For one, large populations of people globally are damned in slums, strangled in all forms of life threatening conditions and humiliated by the tragedy of global warming. Overlooking such gross human travesties is indicative of spiritual degeneracy. Essence of religion is to nurture spiritual growth and this is achievable if man’s well-being is taken as a priority.

On a lighter note, the church should instead change tack and advocate for contraception, not only to protect a few from AIDS/HIV scourge, but to protect all humanity and life from the devastating effects of global warming. Such a time I would sing and dance hallelujah and prove to the world that I ain't a critic of the church.

On one part that the population growth menace will be tackled adequately, then the future life trajectory will be optimistic. On the contrary, the gods will decide as the global warming mitigation task requires actions, not sympathies. The world cannot afford to take chances or hesitate with billions of lives of people at risk, time is now to plan and procreate. Time is now to plan together or perish together. Global warming is real!

THE COBBLER GRADUATE

The cobbler graduate

                “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the graves where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.”                        Ecclesiastes 9:10

Being a good protégé is indisputably a humbling experience. You get free advice on various issues that people face in their daily lives. It is a pro-bono activity that only requires trust. People share their insights and wealth of experiences objectively to inspire, warn or prepare others against uncertainties and misfortunes they may encounter.

I recently had a conversation with a friend of a friend at my favorite barber’s shop in town. His name is Jackson. Our discussion had no defined topic and we generally talked about politics, county development prospects, infidelity and the plight of job seekers in this nation.

Hopeless, disillusioned, demoralized are the words Jackson used to describe the state of internal anguish present graduates painfully endure. Dozens of tertiary educational institutions churn out hundreds fold of professionals annually. They are bestowed with the power to read and write as is the common mantra shouted out loud to them whenever they graduate. They walk out anticipating a rather good job that would sustain in their charging new environments. And of course they should, courtesy of their tutors’ daily musings back in school, of waiting jobs.

Reality sinks in months later, after unsuccessively traversing the town streets looking for jobs that no longer exist. Potential employers earnestly advertise for vacancies, and comprehensively outline prerequisite conditions. Scores of applicants virtually qualify, with one limiting requirement that calls for work experience. This is the punch line! Practice makes perfect, and it would have been the corporate interest of any employer to offer this management training, supposedly, and mould them into personnel befitting their technical standards.

The greatest reason prospective employers shun these beautiful brains is not lack of positions, but a malicious, strategic indoor policy of ignorance to their bids. Fresh graduates tick. And perhaps a sizeable chunk of them would outdo their contemporaries in similar capacities at the corporate world. I dare the devil for that! Practically, this joblessness predicament in Kenya is generational. An Act of parliament a few years back extended civil retirement age from comfortable fifty five years to rusty sixty years. In my opinion, this was a misinformed and inconsiderate move especially in a baby-fed economy like ours that boldly espouses the virtues of youth empowerment through job creation. I respect skills of the old, yes, but I doubly respect the updated, essential skills of the youth.

The wisdom of one’s mentors now sneaks in and cools down what many call the `tarmacking’ pressures. “Let your dreams be bigger than your fears. Live by choice, not by chance. Work to excel, not to compete. Choose to listen to your inner voice,” a speaker would tell their audience.

Despite mentors’ therapeutic wisdom, many graduates still succumb to the job hunting heat and revert to other ways in making ends meet. The trend is worrying and may spell doom to the nation’s future specialists in specific careers. Worse still, it is a bad precedent to the thousands of aspiring learners whose dreams are anchored on success of current professionals.

Education is an expensive affair and relevant academic oversight authorities should ensure professional training is in sync with the market demand for workforce. It’s derogating for tertiary institutions to produce multiple thousands of skilled individuals, with no concrete assurances for any meaningful employment. Integrating entrepreneurship courses in almost all curriculum subjects may be the waited redeemer as most graduate ‘sufferers’ are realizing that business enterprise is the sacred tree that offers the lasting olive branch.

The teacher who becomes a farmer; the lawyer who becomes a businessman; the forester who becomes a banker; the cobbler graduate who merchandises shoes soles; the political scientist who becomes a taxi driver; the environmentalist who becomes a …..The cluster is in-exhaustive and the truth must be told to all upcoming graduates on what tomorrow brings - The truth that a smart degree or diploma is not guarantee to a dream job. The truth that the phrase “jobs are waiting for you” is the only honest false an equally despaired last result teacher would painstakingly impart to his students. The truth that initiatives like `kazi kwa vijana’ and the maiden `Uwezo fund’ are only created to hoodwink the youth in a dangerously capitalist nation.

It is an embarrassment to examine all scathing facts about graduate miseries but the government must plan to embark on a critical reform agenda and tackle youth unemployment. There is more hope in the future if proper mechanisms are instituted and managed to place youth abilities where they rightfully belong. We want to work, and we want to work on God’s chosen careers. We want to work!

www. Catapultnature.co.ke

MACHAKOS CLIMATE AWARENESS

Machakos climate awareness

Integrating environmental conservation strategies into the so hyped Machakos County development blueprint will be a step in the right direction. Climatic awareness has recently received global attention, and overlooking local effort would be outright dangerous. Simple statistics of the County indicate a temperature range of 18 to 25 degrees Celsius throughout the year and a bimodal average rainfall of 500mm – 1300mm annually, which is unevenly distributed and unreliable. The total human population is slightly above a million and the main economic activity is mixed farming. That withstanding, impacts of climatic hazards desperately impede the County’s growth potential. Food security, as an example, grossly is compromised and the belly of a meaningful livelihood ripped open.

Climate change has highly been attributed as the cause. This predicament has profound and far-reaching effects on the environment, ecosystems, natural resources and human life. Its impacts and food security are directly interconnected and it is not surprising why households have completely reverted to markets for food supplies. Droughts, floods, pests and diseases, fluctuating temperatures, water scarcity, unpredictable precipitations – bedevil this County.

According to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental panel on climate change, most severe consequences of climate change will likely be on food security and livelihoods of agricultural dependent populations in vulnerable countries. The report further indicates that climate change will likely reduce agricultural productivity, production stability and income in areas that already experience high levels of food insecurity. Long-term changes in the patterns of temperature and precipitation will shift production seasons and contribute to the emergence of new animal and plant diseases or introduce diseases in places where they formerly did not exist. It is aptly then understood that the food security trend in this County is and has been deteriorating. Other prerequisites of good health as water and air have also been adversely affected.

All concerned parties should then swing into action and turn the image of Machakos County into its right place. Concentrating on conservation techniques will guarantee hope for generations to come.

Throughout my childhood years, wild fruits would supplement our daily meals but the fate of climatic calamities has swept into extinction the indigenous plant species that bore the fruits. It would be dead hope for any of the present generations’ offspring to locate or know by name single existing wild fruit tree. To cope and survive these depriving situations, house-holds sale firewood, burn charcoal, do casual labor, borrow and rely on remittances and gifts from relatives. In extreme cases, jarring strategies such as reduced food intake, skipping of meals and reliance on relief food are employed.

However, a new U.N report suggesting fortification of everyday diets with nutrient rich insects makes me squirm in my seat. This may not be a comfortable idea to the world especially in my local community where a mere mention of certain insects makes people cringe. The study’s findings on what the researchers call ‘six-legged livestock’ – edible bugs, crickets, caterpillars, grasshoppers, termites – is such a worthy debatable topic in striving to end the food security crises. Entomologists may emphasize the protein-vitamin-mineral triple richness source of these worms, but heaven would open up if the rural poor of Africa will embrace their wisdom.

That being a classic case, our commitment on matters environment should receive a boost or else we acquiesce to the U.N’s option. Institutional capacities in alleviating hunger, diseases and climate related hazards in Machakos County must be strengthened. Assessment, identification and prediction of impacts on vulnerable micro-environments and associated households should be a priority. Dissemination of the so needed information on climate awareness would scale down anticipated catastrophes of environmental degradation.

The County steering committee is already in place and their performance record would positively or negatively enter historical books – we are watching!

Tears of love

Tears of love

T' wasn't an ordinary day,

Saturday that week was not.

Clearly and freshly remembered

A knock on the door

And a love story starts

Not an accident for the boy!

Chasing and chatting ensues,

Fully unaware she feels

Any love for the boy she feels.

Disinterested or hard to get chic?

Week by week seeking her heart

Real love fight for the boy!

Rightly chosen and spoken,

Simple sounding yet effective

Strings of nearly whispered words

Constantly convincing Lovi Belinda

charmed and cheered

She falls for the boy!

Sure n' sincere the affection,

Scores of promises agreed

Always keeping the connection

For ours love God to bless

Nourishing the ego and wishing

Madly languishing for the boy!

Oh land of arap Samoei,

Tears of love you absorb

Your nights the cause

Pacifying her is my duty.

Oh land of Samoei

Come back for the boy!

Happily shared her meals,

Kindly longed her warmings

Strolling the nights under her storms

Cant let go whatsoever

Mine heart is strongly tied

In each tear for the boy!

Wa Ngolya

THE CROSS OVER

THE CROSS OVER

“ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “ plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 29:11

            In life, doors open and close. They do so unceasingly. As they open and close, events take place. Revolutions occur, seasons come and go, human race evolves and other sundry happenings continue ad infinitum.

Monday 11^TH February 2013 came as a very memorable day for my community. It was the culmination of a metamorphic process for this academic institution, into a fully-fledged university. Accreditation is the noun to this epic journey.

University of Eldoret is the new name. This is news to you! The old is gone, as we believe, and the new ushers. The glowing faces of all attendants could tell it all. The students weathered the sweltering heat of the afternoon to catch the speakers’ words at best. The staff responded earnestly by being there to witness, and everyone buoyed to the occasion. A visit by His Excellency is a blessing incognito, thus this was not a mean feat award.

It was a transformation from dark forces of lost glory to new shining forces of excellence and achievement; it was a leap jump into the world of new standards and criterion; it was a cross over from the market place of parasitism to the city of independence.

Historically and contemporarily, university of Eldoret is credited with a record of producing some of the best brains on the land. It is famed for churning out fully baked materials (students) for the corporate world, whose competitiveness gives an edge in the already saturated graduate arena. Ineptness, arrogance or high handedness least contribute the package of its graduates. Their mettle is unmatched and the world really needs them!

Being a science oriented institution, a substantial number of professionals originate here – take that seriously. The foresters are bred her, number one. The soil and seed scientists; the wildlife managers; the teachers; actuarial scientists; engineers; agricultural officers; nutritionists; physical fitness and biotechnology experts; and the cream of it all, the environmentalists.

As we sing and dance the cross over, our minds sink in deep thoughts about the hurdles that may scuttle our joy of achieving a charter. Will new standards mean double standards for the students? Will the flame of knowledge and innovation activate the students towards research stardom locally, regionally and internationally or will it eclipse their efforts and doom them into professional quacks?

I remain hopeful that all will be well. Under the auspice of Professor Judith, the Chancellor, all will be well. God bless U.O.E!

DON`T IGNORE THIS!

Dear reader,
I thank God for the new year, 2013. It is a universal belief, even among atheists, that Gods grace will be upon us all through the year long. Make a resolution, one or two, it is for you to benefit. As for me, may you have a kind, humble and a prosperous year!!!

Glad,
Edward Matata Ngolya.