Slideshow of how I enjoy cats in Africa

Click on the slideshow link below :

http://www.kizoa.com/slideshow/d1988955k6451600o1/seans-cats

This is the moment that we can do something

These are the moments, not tomorrow, but right now. While we have breath in our lungs and a beat in our hearts, we are able to help others........ death will inevitably come and steal that opportunity from us.

The weekend newspaper had a small article about a young girl who suffers from a disease called Fibro Muscular Dysplasia. FMD is a disease that causes arteries to have irregular cell development, causing the artery to become narrow in some places. When the artery becomes narrow enough, blood flow slows down and symptoms of FMD occur.
Ashleigh's form of the disease causes her blood pressure to soar dangerously high. This has taken a toll on her kidneys; her right kidney functions at less than 30 percent, and her left 60 percent. She suffers daily from pain and migraines, but cannot take pain medication due to her condition. In addition, Ashleigh has a spine condition called spondylolithosis, causing her spine to bend 39 degrees off centre. She may need to have a steel rod inserted into her vertebrae to help to correct it. US doctors believe there may be a link between Ashleigh's artery disease and spine disease.

                                                                             
The article caught my attention as my daughter Rachel also has had a rare illness from birth. The article went on to describe how Ashleigh Botha needed to have urgent treatment and bypass surgery in Cleveland, Ohio; a long distance from where we live in South Africa. I immediately phone the number in the article, and donated jewellery from my shop to assist with fundraising. My next thought was to reach out internationally through social media networks. After  posting a photo of Ashleigh and her plight, I was saddened to receive a message from a well known network marketer in Kentucky, saying that he is "a very busy man and has no time for this". While gathering my thought and emotions, another message suddenly appeared from a friend in Ohio named Sherri Fuller. Within minutes she had called me to offer their help for Ashleigh. Her husband Ray Fuller is the Blues Guitarist in Columbus, having shared the stage with with Stevie Ray Vaughn, BB King, Muddy Waters and other legends.

                                                                               
Soon Ashleigh was on her way from South Africa to the USA. Another kind and wonderful friend in America, Kari Ulrich, who also suffers from the same illness, was there to assist Ashleigh in every way that she could. After an exhausting few flights and in a very weak condition, she arrived at the Cleveland Clinic, where she underwent tests and renal bypass surgery. While in hospital, Sherri and Ray drove from Columbus to Cleveland to visit and lift Ashleigh's spirits. A kind act of compassion to be followed by their ongoing generosity towards Ashleigh - a young foreigner from a distant country.

                                                                               
As Ashleigh recovered, Ray Fuller sat in the hospital room and sang one of his songs to her. Within a few weeks, Ray and Sherri had rallied the help of other musicians and arranged a benefit concert to aid Ashleigh's growing hospital bills. On the 23rd of August 2009 they performed this concert in Columbus. This was the beginning of what would eventually bring Ray and Sherri all the way from America to South Africa. In April 2010 they arrived on African soil to perform yet another benefit concert for Ashleigh Botha in our home town of Port Elizabeth. The kindness, compassion and willingness of this couple to give their help is a quality so rare and wonderful.

                                                                               
Ashleigh is scheduled for another trip soon to the US in November 2011. Another concert for Ashleigh has been arranged by Ray and Sherri featuring Ray Fuller & The Bluesrockers,  Big Bill Morganfield, (the son of Muddy Waters), Sean Carney Band, The Petcrow Band at the Woodlands Tavern in the USA.

                                                                             

"We can do no great things, only small things with great love"
                                                                                        Mother Teresa

 Ashleigh Botha 18 Has been ill since the age of 11, but it took numerous doctors over 4 years to diagnose her illness as Intimal fibromuscular Dysplasia, a very rare form of the rare disease called Fibromuscular Dysplasia (FMD). Intimal FMD is far more aggressive and progressive than FMD, and extremely difficult to treat and control, with only 2 known cases in the world. This disease causes the inside of the arteries to grow closed with a long, smooth narrowing, called stenosis, reducing blood flow to all major organs, causing function loss, damage, and further complications. If this narrowing is not treated in time and the artery grows completely closed, it could be fatal to Ashleigh.
Fibromuscular Dysplasia cannot be cured, but can be controlled through regular and thorough testing of all arteries, enabling doctors to immediately operate on the artery and restore blood flow to the organs. In Fibromuscular Dysplasia, the cells in the arteries grow like a string of beads, which still allows a bit of blood flow through the artery, and usually only affects one or two arteries. Once these arteries are treated, they remain open.
The Intimal form of FMD, which Ashleigh, has causes her arteries to stenos (grow closed) within 3 months, and her arteries are far more fragile. The more Ashleigh’s arteries are treated, the faster they grow closed. Doctors in South Africa do not have the knowledge, equipment or testing facilities to correctly treat Intimal FMD, and we cannot risk our daughter’s life allowing them to attempt operating on her, as any incorrect treatment could be fatal. If Intimal FMD it is not managed correctly, there can be major complications, causing aneurysms, artery dissection, strokes and heart attacks. 
Ashleigh’s arteries cannot be stitched, after being operated on, and if an inexperienced doctor nicked an artery accidentally, he would not be able to save Ashleigh from bleeding to death. When Ashleigh has angiograms (a camera inserted into her artery with a catheter), or angioplasty (when a balloon is inserted into an artery and blown up to try and stretch the artery open), surgeons use a Star Closure device to close the artery, together with pressure bandages from her feet to under her arms, which are kept on for 12 hours. As far as Ashleigh’s doctors in USA and SA know there are no other South African patients with Intimal FMD, nor have there been any before, and our SA doctorsdo not have enough knowledge, or the time to learn about it to treat just one patient.
In 2009, after 7 angioplasties to her right renal artery, Ashleigh had a self medicating stent inserted into her renal artery by doctors in SA, which was not the correct treatment. The SA doctors hoped the stent would keep the artery open and the self medication in it prevent the artery growing closed, but Ashleigh’s body rejected the metal stent and her artery crushed it, within 3 months of it being inserted. This resulted in doctors at Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, USA, having to bypass this artery completely, using a vein from Ashleigh’s leg, as there were no doctors in South Africa who could help her. 
Cleveland Clinic has the only specialised FMD unit consisting of specialists in their own fields, who also have knowledge of FMD, which affects many different parts of the body. These doctors at Cleveland Clinic have special testing facilities and theatres for treating FMD, and even they referred to Ashleigh as a most unusual and complicated case. They also discovered that every artery in Ashleigh’s body is showing signs of Intimal FMD, after doing a 3 hour arteriogram, which is why they had to use a vein from her leg for her aorta renal bypass. Doctors expected this vein graft to last for 20 to 30 years, as FMD only affects arteries and not veins. 


Ashleigh now needs to return Cleveland Clinic very urgently to have her mesenteric artery, which grew closed from 60% to 95% within 3 months, bypassed to restore blood flow to her digestive organs. Ashleigh is unable to eat much and suffers dreadful abdominal pains after eating or drinking. This has caused rapid weight loss and Ashleigh is very weak, always tired and has no strength or energy as she is not getting enough nutrition. During this bypass, the surgeons will also attempt repairs to her aorta where her celiac and mesenteric artery, have the same origin. Her renal bypass, after only 7 months, dilated to four times its size and has a very bad narrowing where it enters the kidney and needs to be attended to. It is difficult for Cleveland Clinic to give us a complete quotation for Ashleigh's treatment and surgery, before the doctors have seen her, and determined how much work is needed to her arteries. Her surgeons are not happy about having to delay this surgery, as Ashleigh could become too weak to have it, or the mesenteric artery could grow closed completely.

Expenses to take Ashleigh to Cleveland in 2009 amounted to R1.4 million, and only a small portion of this was for travelling, accommodation and living costs. We need to raise our own funds to pay for Ashleigh’s medical expenses in Cleveland. The doctors there work for the hospital and we have to pay the full 100% amount upfront before Ashleigh can even get an appointment, have tests performed, or book a theatre for her surgery.

We are motivating with our medical Aid to urgently assist us with some of the medical costs, but their rules do not allow this, and they do not normally relax this ruling for any patients. Our Medical Aid also does not have Ashleigh’s disease on their data base of rare diseases, so we also have to pay for a lot of her

medication, tests and treatment here in S.A. The FMD Association of America has written to our SA Government requesting them to recognize FMD as a rare disease, but this has still not been done. We are a family of 5 and in a very desperate and stressful situation as we still have a lot of debt from Ashleigh’s surgery in 2009, where we only managed to fundraise R370 000. Ashleigh has to fly to Cape Town every 10 to 12 weeks to consult with her Spinal Professor and vascular surgeons, and we have to pay for these flights, car hire and accommodation. Ashleigh is unable to travel far by car, as the base of her spine has crumbled and is unstable, causing her dreadful pain. 
Ashleigh suffers extremely high blood pressure, severe headaches, frequent migraines, dizziness, weight loss, abdominal pain and burning, always feels cold, weakness, numbness and pain. She has lost sensation in her hands to feel heat or cold, so often burns herself. She continually feels ill, dreadfully tired and has no energy, but does not look as though she is this desperately ill from the outside, which is very deceiving to people, especially when they see photographs of her modelling. She is only able to manage to do anything for 2 to 3 hours, before needing a long rest, which means she is unable to attend school much, and has been mainly self studying at home since grade 10.
In addition to her Intimal Fmd, Ashleigh also has Spondylolithesis which has caused her spine to become unstable at the base where vertebra have slipped and crumbled and caused spinal stenosis. This has caused a 40 degree scoliosis (curvature of the spine). If Ashleigh was healthy, Her Spinal Professor would operate and insert a titanium rod, with screws coming off it, into the spine, and the screws are adjusted as the curve in the spine worsens. In Ashleigh’s case, this is not possible because of her vascular problems, and renal bypass in the area he needs to operate on, and an anesthetist would be reluctant to put Ashleigh under anesthetic for so long. Ashleigh suffers severe pain in her back and neck, muscle spasms, thigh and leg pains, and weakness, and is unable to have any pain medication or anti-inflammatories so has to live with the constant, unbearable pain.

Nearly every rare disease has many different offshoots, caused by the main disease. Ashleigh’s eye sight has deteriorated rapidly in a short space of time. It is always difficult for doctors when treating patients with rare diseases, as there are so many different symptoms, which may just be a common cold, or something really serious or dangerous.

www.helphealashleigh.com 

"Give me what you have within ........"

There was once a wise woman travelling through the mountains, when she found a precious stone in the stream. The following day she met another traveller. He was hungry, so the wise woman opened her bag to share her food.
He saw the precious stone in her bag, and asked the woman to give it to him. Without hesitation, she gave it to him. He left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew that the value of the stone would give him security for the rest of his life.

But a few days later, he came back to return the precious stone to the wise woman.
"I've been thinking," he said. "I know how valuable this stone is, but I give it back to you in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me this stone."
Sometimes it is not the wealth you have, but what is inside you that others need.

~ 

I was being continuously pestered for one of my Corvettes by someone who just wanted, but could not afford one. Eventually worn down, I let him take the car, hoping to make arrangements for eventual payment. Soon afterwards he was divorced, and then lost his business (and conveniently also lost contact with me). Recently I saw my old Corvette for sale in an advertisement. On further investigation, I learnt the man who just had to have my Corvette had died, broken and miserable.

'Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting' is Lynn Grabhorn's attempt to re write 'The Law of Attraction'. After reading her book, and not being convinced by nor comfortable with her energy, I set out to research her, only to discover that she had died. While she had penned about positive thoughts and feelings, I have my doubts whether or not she actually mastered the art of fine tuning and releasing her inner demons.

Lions in the wild, after making a kill, do not then proceed to drag all the useless bones around with them. After all, they are not bone collectors. Once they have eaten their fill, they move on without hoarding the weight of useless, material junk. This allows them to laze in the sun for days on end, without a single worry.

Hamsters are famous hoarders. In fact, their name originates from the German word 'hamstern' meaning 'to hoard'. The downfall of hoarding comes when the collection is raided; all possessions, as well as non replaceable time, are lost. Hoarders spend most of their lives strongly defending their possessions. Hamsters and mice are constantly in the proverbial 'RatRace' to snatch, gather and hoard. They are notoriously suseptable to diseases and the spread of them. Their stressed temperment ensured that their worried little lives have a very short lifespan. 

Throughout my life I have happily given to people who wanted what I had. Interestingly enough, once they were in possession of what their greed had lead them to want, they had absolutely no idea how to appreciate their new aquisition. It would soon be abandoned as that person spiralled downwards in a displaced attitude.

Sadly, most people believe that taking possession of something will bring contentment. Some of us know for a fact that true happiness is simply enjoying the contentment of being alive - everything else is merely incidental.

So the question is ........ Do you wish to live the life of a lion, have the lions' share and live in the sun, or are you living the life of a diminutive hamster in your quest to build a personal empire of material wealth and worry? 

"Happiness is wanting what you have, not having what you want"

"Laughter is the medicine of life....life is too short to wear tight shoes"

The amber light of the half night embraced her velvet coat. Through African mist on scented ‘yesterdays and tomorrows’ her tales carried across the open air. A lynx and crested crane, true companions came to be. Her constant feathered friend would listen attentively though the night. Summer migration had brought him home to the southern hemisphere, now amidst fireflies and glowworms, crickets and honeybees, he listened with delight to the stories by the lynx, who had been previously engrossed in Yeats…

‘See how the sacred old flamingoes come,

Painting with shadow all the marble steps

Aged and wise, they seek their wonted perches

Within the temple, devious walking, made

To wander by their melancholy minds.

Yon tall one eyes my supper; swiftly chase him

Far, far away. I named him after you.

He is a famous fisher; hour by hour

He ruffles with his bill the minnowed streams.

Ah! There he snaps my rice. I told you so.

Now cuff him off. He’s off! A kiss for you,

Because you saved my rice. Have you no thanks?

                                      ~

Far away in hospital corridors dark, the constant drip of acid treatment scorched through the course of my veins. Bleeps of monitors, immobility, feverish sweats, blinding ice-pick headaches, needles, cool relief of the floor, through the MRI tunnel, a mindless voice announces “plotting with enhancement” iodine burnt within upon waves of nausea, the jarring elevator fired pains through every nerve, legs crushed through the mattress,  muscle tearing spasms. Blindness. Confusion. Limbs void of all feeling, suddenly just a mind floating away from all physical sensation. Breakaway point, welcome to the place of pain and colours where purple is orange, nurses are magenta, surgeons painted green and white is noise…the bitter taste in your mouth becomes a sound that you have not ever heard. All sensations a blur of being one in madness of agony. Corticosteroids, Interferon, pethidine, morphine, tramil, benzodiazepams…cardiac catheterization, femoral artery pressure…stop the bleeding! End the pain! Stop everything!

                                

At home the lynx, keen eyed and curious had been staring at the animated pictures on the screen close by. Not too convinced by amateur photography, she had in her wisdom begun absorbing what was written in between. With the next glance of anticipation from the crane outside, she continued her story, with a wink of her eye and a flick of her tail, she read the posts on the social network page;

Friends had updated : -


" had a dream that someone switched out my computer keyboard at work, and I was really upset about it. LOL what's wrong with me that I'm having dreams like that?!? Good morning all... Saturday Morning Train is calling all aboard... see you ate 6am...
Oh my word! I'm standing outside at 4:30am like a crazy person! No meteor shower and no apace station sighting for me.
She has to go to a pack of dogs with a lady who has trained dogs for 21 years. Her behaviour is getting worse, and she bit/attacked 2 people. I know, hard to imagine. And after her resocialization, she should stay with people outside of the city. Herd some sheep. She doesn't like the city. It's too stressy for her. Blegh. My babyyyyyyj.
What do all people do when it is nearly 2AM and you cannot sleep?..
The wild combination of Mars with transformative Uranus and Pluto is likely to take us to unfamiliar places. Retreating to more familiar emotional and physical territory is, as mentioned above,, a natural response with the warrior planet...
All men and women are connected by an energy which many people call love, but which is, in fact, the raw material from which the universe was built. This energy cannot be manipulated.
Ok there is the shop I go to buy my wine and there is a guy who gets in my nerves so today he asked where my husband was ? ( I had forgot I had lied to him that I was married). Lol so I started cursing him in Swahili ( mjinga huyu chukua pesa sina mda mchafu) means hey fool take the money I don't have the dirty time. Guess what the guy is an Indian born in East Africa he speaks Swahili and told me ok I don't drink I don't smoke but I love women!!! in Swahili
I did ask the man to remove it but then he said, with the rope there it is the only way that they could handle the cows...
The feeling of being a stranger in a strange land vanished, and great joy manifests. One begins to feel consciously to be on the way home in a spiritual sense, no longer flailing in the dark
One translation from the Latin takes this saying to mean 'Launch Forth into the Deep'. This means that you should be forceful in your persuits and rise to the important challenges which lie ahead of you. The man who 'launches forth into the deep' escapes from the smallness and narrowness of life; he thinks in a big way about life.
Yohimbe, an herb used in African marriage ceremonies and included even in testosterone supplements, will give you good wood, no problem. Viagra is extremely dangerous mixed with other drugs, which is how I've seen it taken, primarily--everyone I ever met who took it, usually used it to be able to get wood while tripping on who knows what
Do you suffer from frequent diarrhea or constipation? It may be IBS
I just got pulled over..seriously bout shit my pants ! Hahah
A true friend reaches for your hand and touches your heart...
Is feeling very loving,and kind right now. I better end the night on that note (and go to bed) if I stay awake any longer I am sure one of my evil personalities will take over... so goodnight
So what does your inner bitch tell you? You're not worth it? You're too fat, too old, not lovable... if you're feeling defeated choice new words and emotions... people are sick because of what we say to ourselves and the body responds in anarchy and the spirit screams for love... do yourself a favor and slay your super bitch and reclaim the truth of who you are
'Life's too short to wear tight shoes.' - Grandma Ros
Enjoy wearing flip flops, or better yet, going barefoot today! "

"Laughter on one's lips is a sign that the person down deep has a

pretty good grasp of life

Laughter is the medicine of life"

"Believe in yourself...

With a recent shock diagnosis of my daughter now having a rare metabolic disorder called Ornithine Transcarbamylase deficiency, the last few weeks have been turned upside down.

In OTC deficiency, the enzyme that starts a specific reaction is missing, and nitrogen accumulates in the bloodstream in the form of ammonia. Ammonia is especially damaging to the nervous system, so this deficiency causes neurological problems as well as eventual damage to the liver.  Since the disease results in the inability to handle large amounts of nitrogen, treatment includes the decrease of protein intake, prevention of excessive body protein breakdown, with the use of medications for scavenging nitrogen (sodium benzoate and sodium phenylbutyrate)  In cases where OTC enzyme production is low, coma and death can occur. In many patients a liver transplant is an option. The fact that my daughter Rachel has only one kidney is also a complication, having a more profound effect on her diet, meaning that we have to lower sodium, phosphate and potassium levels of intake.

Currently the days are engrossed in finding a suitable low-protein diet, with what we always thought to be healthy high protein foods all thrown out of the equation. Upon investigation, one quickly discovers just how few foods there are with zero protein. Just when the worlds health food companies are all promoting high protein energy shakes, everything these days seems to come with the opposite to what we need. Meals consist of eight small starch portions per day, with hardly any vegetables, since vegetables can be a dangerous high source of protein, and plenty of purified water in order to flush her kidney.

                                                                                 

Now with the recent disaster in Japan, debates of radiation are the order of the day. Studies of Chernobyl have proven one definitive fact;  Interaction of ionizing radiation (alpha, beta, gamma and other radiation)with living matter may damage human cells, causing death to some.

Ingestion of food contaminated with radioactive iodine did result in significant doses to the thyroid of inhabitants of the contaminated areas of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, with levels of ground contamination and milk consumption. Drinking milk from cows that ate contaminated grass immediately after the accident was one of the main reasons for the high doses to the thyroid of children, and why so many children developed thyroid cancer. The thyroid gland is one of the organs most susceptible to cancer by radiation.  It is most likely that a large fraction of thyroid cancers observed to date among those exposed in childhood are attributable to radiation exposure from the accident. The public has been exposed for more than twenty years to both external sources on soil, and via intake of radionuclides in foods, water and air.  It is also expected that the increase in thyroid cancer incidence from Chernobyl will continue for many more years. Contamination in the soil will remain for hundreds of years.

                                                                               

Studies in patients treated with radiotherapy, or occupationally exposed in medicine and the nuclear industry, have shown that ionizing radiation can cause solid cancers and leukaemia. Recent findings also indicate an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases in people exposed to atomic blasts and radiotherapy.

So, when governments and leaders stumble over their words and say it’s all OK, or “all under control”….more than often they are simply clueless, and just buying time.

                                                                                 

"Believe in yourself

And all that you are

Know that there is

Something inside you

That is greater

Than any obstacle"

    "I postpone death by living, by suffering,  by error, by risking,

    by  giving, by losing."

    Anaias Nin  
   

Letter to William A. Burke, Ed.D., Chairman-South Coast Air Quality Management District.

I am just now in receipt of your mass email below.  I looked at the link you sent indicating a radar to detect any Nuclear fallout. In case you didn't know, the last updated Radar reading on your website was from June 2009.  I do not see a link to your site that shows any current continuous radiation detection.   This is why people have their own radiation detecting radars and are smartening up over any government body.

I am taken aback by the context of your email because it is contradictory to the facts.   People do not trust the government.  Our governments never cease to display lack of care, propagandizing in order to profit off any man-created disaster and consequential health maladies and malicious intent on destroying the planet and people.   

When government officials tell us all is "ok", it lulls people into a false sense of security and discourages intelligent preparedness.

People are taking their health into their own hands.  Better safe than sorry because everyone knows there is enough Plutonium, Cesium 137, Strontium 90, MOX fuel and Radioactive Iodine to burn every living cell on the planet, and you send us this atrocious email?  This is adding insult to injury.

The earthquake and subsequent tsunami are natural disasters for this time in history with regard to the alignment of the planets and sun; they have been numerously predicted by the best of geologists in history.  But Nuclear power plants were created by man.  The Nuclear meltdown is already declared worse than Chernobyl.  How can you say everything is ok?

Had Man not created Nuclear power plants, you wouldn't have had to send out your email below.  I also know that the administration, just months ago, asked Congress to provide a $4 billion loan guarantee for two new nuclear reactors to be built and operated on the Gulf Coast of Texas - by TEPCO and local partners. As if the Gulf hasn't suffered enough. I am extremely disgusted with our governments sheer and utter malicious poisoning of our planet and human race.  

Not only are we very concerned of Nuclear fallout from the world class disaster in Japan, but there is one other world issue I have to mention.  We have been incessantly bombarded with CHEMTRAILS since the weekend of Thanksgiving 2010.      CHEMTRAIL grids are seen daily across our skies from horizon to horizon; CHEMTRAILS spraying aluminum and boron nano-particles.  Someone is playing God and spraying the entire planet.

Enough is enough.  I'm knowledgeable in physiological and biological processes.  I happen to know what Aluminum does to all living cells; it literally creates a "plaque" over the dendrites of cells in every living thing on the planet.  Nature, people, plants, animals, insects are being destroyed by CHEMTRAILS.   Bee colonies are dying off in massive amounts (if you didn't know bees pollinate 75% of our agriculture and plant life)   Palm trees are brown and dead, leaning over about to fall dead across the roads.  I have never seen a dead palm tree till today. 

This is totally unacceptable.  Our air quality is hazardous.  The aluminum blanket over our skies will eventually kill people and the planet.  That combined with MOX fuel and Nuclear fallout will create the worst kinds of cancer and illness ever in history. 

There is nothing more toxic than MOX as it emits high-energy alpha radiation with intense ionization power that burns the lungs, skin, unravels DNA and diminishes afferent neuron sensitivity to disable the bodys inner physician. Ionizing radiation consists of electromagnetic waves that detach electrons from atoms or molecules producing intense oxidative stress or free radical pathology. When inhaled, it has a long half-life, staying in the body while emitting alpha radiation. It enters the bones, blood circulation, liver and genitals where it is enriched. The DNA and cell nucleus damage escalates over time as the longer it stays in the body the faster it enriches itself. Scientists and physicians present the facts and the evidence against MOX @ http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/mox/puupdat4.txt

I am petitioning you in your role with a Southern California Air Pollution Control District to stop the obvious daily CHEMTRAILS and create a budget to chelate the radiation out of our water and food supply with the abundant use of black Mica extract like Japan used in their agriculture after US dropped atom bombs on them in August of 1945.

If murder is illegal, why is war not?   The government is not immune to acts of murder.  Instead of trying to convince people all is ok, I suggest you collaborate with others in your field of Air Quality to stop the above and start creating Solar energy for our future, add Black Mica Extract to our water reservoirs and stop the CHEMTRAIL spraying.

By Lauren Kattuah.

                                  

Shell 'fracking' our South Africa for fuel...

Our South African Karoo has an area of four hundred thousand square kilometers, a vast inland basin for the past two hundred and fifty million years. This unique and beautiful area, with enormous deposits of underground coal, was to be one of the pillars of the economy of South Africa today. Volcanic activity once took place on a titanic scale. Ancient reptiles and amphibians prospered in the wet forests and their remains have made the Karoo famous amongst paleontologists.

                                                                                

Large herds of antelope, thousands of zebra and large game roamed this region. It is also where the Khoi and Bushmen, the last of the African Stone Age people, wandered far and wide. With the arrival of European settlers, sheep grazing started the huge industry of wool production in this area. This soon became one of the worlds’ largest wool producing regions.

During the nineteenth century, a railway track was built from Cape Town in the south; eventually all the way up through to Bechuanaland and Rhodesia in the north. The impact of this railroad on the history of southern Africa cannot be emphasized enough.

Currently sheep farming is still the economic backbone of the Karoo, with other forms of agriculture established where irrigation is possible. Recently game farms and tourism have made a large economic impact here.

With recent climate change, Southern Africa is having a severe drought, with predictions that we could just run out of water within the next few months. No one has come up with a solution to this. What has happened despite this dilemma is that some money hungry politicians have decided to allow an oil company, Shell, to start the controversial process of mining unconventional gas in the Karoo. This type of mining is called ‘Fracking’, a process of hydraulic fracturing of the earths’ surface using water (which we are already short of).  This ‘fracking process has already been banned in certain USA states.

Shell intends to drill and frack at levels down to 4000m , but at a press conference they would not say what the chemicals pumped into the ground were. According to their presentation, the chemicals were a cocktail of reducers, biocides, corrosion inhibitors, scale inhibitors, surfactants and breakers, which certainly make us and all the Karoo farmers feel just great! So much for their time to address our concerns about our mother earth.

The community shouldn’t worry about water either, they assured us.  Shell would “engage” with the community. Water is the biggest waste product in the process, they said, but if it is recycled and maybe even purified it could be used for human consumption!  “We promise not to compete with the people of the Karoo for their water needs”  they said, a statement of painful ambiguity. We would have to wait and see who would address the water needs of the already thirsty Karoo people.

Shell intends to sink twenty four wells in the area, at a cost of $15 million each!  Of course, we should not worry about the impact the fracking process would have per square kilometer, especially after they assured us that the drilling where the greatest amount of disruption would occur would only take two weeks. Didn’t we just agree it took two hundred and fifty million years to create?

Shell did not stop short of promising unicorns and eternal rainbows.

Oh, and if you, as a Karoo landowner, are still unhappy, then go ahead, sue Shell. The exact quote to a question about why the Dutch royal family are complaining about the fracking process was, “ The sister to the princess of the Netherlands has a democratic right to say ‘no drilling in my backyard’ “.  I personally, along with many farmers, would agree that this government is overdosing on too many bananas and beetroot-curing  AIDS foodstuffs.

Meanwhile our President travels the world, blissfully unconcerned for his native and ancestral land. A man voted into power despite recent charges of rape, corruption and fraud related to the $5 billion weapons acquisition deal. This is a government that is allowing thousands of Somalians to pour across our borders into our once safe land. Perhaps they should just consider scrapping the ‘fracking’ by Shell, and allow the Somali’s who are here already to use the Coega deep water harbour to operate a hijacking  business from. After all, this harbour was designed to accommodate large oil tankers. We could then save the Karoo, have free oil from the hundreds of oil tankers that pass by, and simply create more flights to return the ships’ crew back to their home countries. The airline companies would then also all benefit. That would be job creation without any environmental impact. During the evenings the Somali pirates could play soccer in our now empty world cup soccer stadiums. Our rainbow nation would remain intact instead of fracked !

 "The riches that the earth yield up have become a curse, fuelled by the greedy, to the disadvantage of the poor ..."

On another lighter note….

After having dug to a depth of 10 feet last year, British scientists found traces of copper wire dating  back 200 years and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network more than 150 years ago.

Not to be outdone by the Brit’s, in the weeks that followed, an American archaeologist dug to a depth of 20 feet, and shortly after, a story published in the New York Times: “American archaeologists, finding traces of 250-year-old copper wire, have concluded that their ancestors already had an advanced high-tech communications network 50 years earlier than the British”.

One week later, The Cape Times, in South Africa reported the following:

“After digging as deep as 30 feet in his backyard in Thabazimbi, South Africa,  Lucky  Simelane, a self taught archaeologist, reported that he found absolutely nothing at all. Lucky has therefore concluded that 250 years ago, Africa had already gone wireless. “

Doesn’t this just make you proud to be from Africa?

eish!

                                                         

The Lion Sleeps Tonight [The Beauty of Africa]

“...A hungry lion was roaming through the jungle looking for something to eat when he came across two men; one was sitting under a tree reading a book while the other was typing away on his typewriter. The lion quickly pounced on the man reading the book and devoured him proving even the king of the jungle knows that readers digest and writers cramp.”

The following you are about to read is in fact a true story.

One Friday, a day the same as any other, was spent side by side with a pride of lions. Males with huge manes and more than a dozen lionesses lay around soaking up the midday African sun. The groups of lions gathered around were more than fifty including cubs. I had personally spent many hours together with these majestic lions, walking with them and often just lying around in the sun with them.

                                                                     

Inside the farmhouse, a friend of mine had just spent the morning in an argument with his girlfriend. By midday, having had enough of this persistent nonsense, he walked out through the back door of the kitchen. On his way out the ever caring native cook, who had heard this constant bickering handed him his favorite meal, a small curry breadloaf. I often wonder what his thoughts were as he sat on the rock just outside the kitchen, eating his favorite food while enjoying the sun, peace and quiet of the African bush…the calm stillness only disturbed by the occasional insect or distant call of a bird. These would be the last conscious thoughts and moments of his life.

Still annoyed at the petty argument which had started the night before, he decided to get to work and busy his mind with more constructive things. Aproximately fifty metres away the groups of lions lay around under the shade of scattered trees. Nothing stirred as he walked among them, on his way to the boundary fence which needed attention. Perhaps it was the female lionesses who were in season a short distance away, or the two males seeking her attention, in addition to his anger from the argument minutes before, no-one will ever know; suddenly without any warning the lions at his side lept and attacked. A swipe from a lions forearm and open claws delivers a blow that can break a human neck, tearing out the throat along with arteries and trachea. The bite to his head tore his face and skull open from forehead to chin. All of this happened within a second. This was no chase, no need for the large cat to stalk or hunt, just a strike and attack at lightning speed. Two or three fast blows accompanied by a thrashing bite from the huge jaws and it’s all over. As he lay in the dust choking and bleeding from the open neck wound, the lions backed off, tugging at his trouser leg, almost as if in confusion as to what they had just done.

The helicopter ambulance eventually arrived and flew to the hospital trauma unit almost fifty kilometers away. Although unconscious from the extensive head injuries, and despite massive blood loss, at this point he was still alive. It would take hours of surgery into the night for a team of surgeons to attempt to close up the head and neck wounds and stabilize him. During the weekend family and friends gathered, waiting for any signs of improvement. There was increased swelling on the brain, and despite all efforts within a few days the surgeons had made the decision to turn off the life support.

The funeral was an emotional service, with the entire community filling the church. Everyone who knew this man came from far and wide to pay their last respects. He was laid to rest not yet fifty years of age. His coffin was draped with a lion skin from an old lion that he had known years before, until it too had died a natural death. As the draped coffin was lowered into the ground to rest in this dry open arid land, a gentle gust of wind blew across the people gathered. The African people who had respected him so much stood and sang an old tribal song.

In the days to follow, every time I would visit his grave, in this dry flat landscape with the mountain in the distance, a warm breeze would suddenly appear stirring up dust around where he lay.

At night the only sound across the plain would be the lions roar calling out, as though in need of an answer or awaiting his return.

“Look deep, deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better”

Albert Einstein

The Earth is man's only friend.


Sean
                                                                                                                                                              

Surviving a gunshot, and a snake bite..not to mention all the rest !

It was a typical dark winters night that I lay awake unable to sleep. My constant companion the lynx, who at this time of night would be fast asleep alongside me, was also wide awake. Continuously jumping off the bed and hissing loudly at the dark open window, where something else was hissing back. After a few hours I swung my legs out of bed and walked through the darkness to the window. As I drew the curtain back the pain and impact of what felt like a gunshot at point blank range went through my right hand. Leaping back and screaming in pain, I ran into the bathroom, where to my horror my punctured hand was swelling by the second. As I clutched it under the cold running water, I saw the two distinctive holes, one having pierced right through the third joint. My hand continued to swell at an alarming rate, and within minutes we were speeding through red lights to a nearby hospital. The swelling at this point had started to travel up the arm to my elbow. Whatever was inside felt like a destructive cutting torch burning through tissue and bone.

                                                                             

The doctor on night duty casually gave me a tetanus injection, stopped the bleeding and bandaged it up, dismissing it he then sent me home. During the next few days through the worst pain I slipped into a state of delirious hallucinations. My neck and face had swollen and started turning blue. Two days later, on an unexpected visit from my sister in law who is a trained theatre nurse, she persuaded me to return back to the same hospital, supposedly our best private one. This time it was midday and the trauma unit responded swiftly. My body had started going into shock, with the venom now absorbing throughout my system. An ultrasound immediately showed a fluid collection along the dorsal surface of my hand. While being hospitalized, a couple of experts from the snake park had arrived, and confirmed their thoughts that it had been a large puffadder.

                                                                                  

During the surgery that followed in the operating room, the surgeon first performed a debridement. The surgeon removed tissue and the open top part of my hand would eventually be closed up, soon after only to cause a haematoma. Infection had set in, and as is often the routine, an amputation of the limb is considered. Bearing in mind that I had been a goldsmith and creative person my entire life, this was the most terrifying thought. Weeks in hospital would be endured on injections of Pethadine, morphine, and anything the sisters could administer, but nothing could help for this type of pain. I was in an orthopaedic ward, together with someone who had just had his hand re-attached, and another who had both his arms torn off in a machine. The nurses called it the pain ward, as the pain medication wore off, everyone would start screaming, and nurses would come running with syringes of whatever would take the edge off. This was where they kept patients ready for repeated surgery. The surgical procedure would be repeated, with weeks turning into months of continuous pain, and most days spent at the hospital having X-rays, scans, and bone density tests. Hours of physiotherapy treatment everyday proved futile. Eventually this particular surgeon suggested that I see a more specialized hand surgeon. (Isn’t that what he should have done in the first place) Apart from the third metacarpal joint being  destroyed, scar tissue had formed along with tendon adhesions. By this time I had acute septic osteomyelitis.

                                                                               

I had gone through everything possible, only to be back at the start again. As I walked into the Plastic Surgeons rooms he recognized me. He had recently performed a re-attachment of an entire hand on someone else who had put his arm through a timber yard saw. This surgeon took one look at me, asked what I’d had for breakfast, and calmly said that he would do the operation within a few hours! He was keen to attempt to repair all the previous damage and trauma. Later that night in hospital I awoke from yet another procedure to repair and reconstruct the fine and delicate structures within the hand.

For many weeks to follow, most Fridays were spent on flights to Johannesburg, more than a thousand kilometers away, where a professor of hand surgery attended to me. There was no option of replacing the joint, as the damaged metacarpal bone would not accept this procedure. Once again there was a suggestion of simply amputating the finger in what is called a ray amputation, removing the finger along with the bone right down to the wrist, then reconstructing the hand. My entire arm was then put into a traction brace, with external wires from each finger in traction down to my elbow...it looked like a bionic arm! This attempt to prevent the joints from fusing again did help to some degree.

                                                                                  

Despite having gone through all the trauma and pain, I was still alive, as well as having both my hands.

This event was reminiscent of many years ago when I had been shot, and bleeding profusely had gone through all the same smells and sounds of Operating Rooms and surgeons.

 Seeing the reality of how life can change within a split second, you then begin to appreciate every single moment that you have survived, and live with more determination.

                                                     One life,  live it now