Buckaroo Thandi

Glad to see the day when you can talk on the fone for free in M-Dubs. Finally! TNM's new service, in which, for topping-up on your pre-paid account with $1 minimum, you can talk on the night of your topping-up for free from 11pm to 5 am. Makes me remember Verizon fondly...free nights and weekends, uhhhh....so, yes, good start TNM. glad to be talking on the phone for free right here in Malawi. I hope that you'll keep bettering your services. Big up TNM!!

I went to the Police today to make a statement over some stolen goods. I was pleasantly surprised, my last visit to a Police station was more than miserable but today, I could actually touch my confidence in the system being built. Well done our Police, that's the way to go. In my last visit, which was some years ago, my sister and I had just been jumped and we walked barefoot to the police station. The first thing they thought was that we were ladies of the night. Granted, no one should be walking barefoot to a Police station at night but hey, give some ladies the benefit of the doubt... but that was then. Today I'm happy to walk with my head up knowing that things are getting better. Nuff respect men in blue (and Khaki).

Never been a party maniac but in Malawi, when the weather is good and you're feeling out of sorts...the Doctor orders a Braai (Bbq). Of course that's an imaginary doctor but I'll take his advice anyway, we're having a (hopefully) big braaii just to celebrate life. The "porn suspects" (as the paper calls them) have been arrested and released on bail I still say, arrest the computer geek who published the pix as well! To act and to sell, both wrong, innit? Justice should go across the board. That aside, I'm sad the Malawi Football team is out of the COSAFA tournament, and to think it was all because of Malaria.......

So now that prominent members of society have been exposed in this porn scandal, we're all pointing a finger at them. True it's bad what they were up to but the "computer fixing wizard" that uploaded the dirty pix file online is also bad. What happened to clients' rights to confidentiality. And the vendors selling the smut for MK600 are bad too. and so are the folks forwarding the pix as attachments. What happened to helping people see the light, things like counseling etc. ..we replaced that for public humiliation, shame on us. It's so sad that we can laugh at others when noone knows what we do in private. Remember what Jesus said, "He who has no sin cast the first stone...."

I’ve had a chance to encounter some unique ways of spelling English names. The first time I encountered this was when I was 16 and attempting to tutor neighbor kids. One kid told me his name was Christopher. I asked him to write his name, he wrote “Khilisitofa”. As a tutor I wanted to teach him the right way to write his name but as a romantic I decided he was, at age 13 or thereabouts, already attached to his name spelt that way, the “proper” spelling would be strange and alien to him. Today, I came across a list of names, many were spelt funny but “Bulesingisi” took the cake. How many letters in “Blessings”: 9 and “Bulesingisi”:11. I say, this Chichewarising of names i.e. insertion of a plethora of vowels- can make our hands weary of writing. Make no mistake, Jan is to John as Blessings is to Madalitso so what to do about “Bulesingisi”? Alas… I am of the mind to launch a “Spell Right” campaign… As a matter of interest, some choose to spell the name “Thandi” as “Thandie” (T

Again, Malawi carries the day with a 1-0 victory over Lesotho. Now I'm beginning to think our past run of losses was due to one coach who shall remain nameless at this point in time. Malawi, especially you Chiukepo Msowoya (yeah, you, you scored against Egypt as well) well done! Go Flames!!! Flames woyeeee!! Inenso woyeeee!!

I've enjoyed boogeying quite a lot this past year. I've had so much energy (a little bit of stress here and there) pent up during work weeks that it's been a joy to go out there on the weekends and just get down to boogey and refresh. Problem is, a lot of people don't see why a Christian should be out there boogeying in the midst of all that chaos (if you've been in some of those places you know what I mean). Paul in the Bible said, "all things are permissible to me" as he understood what he was doing but went on to say that he would not allow himself to be a stumbling block. Neither do I, if people are going to put question marks on this boogierthat will lead to matters of faith, well, I'm fixin' to... matter of fact, I've already fixed to be an ex-boogier. So, goodby "Place of Lighted Stars" and "House of Nt.." I'll miss boogeying but I won't miss being a stumbling block....so long loud music and light....alas

The Church I attend hosted an intercession session for Levy Mwanawasa's healing so I'm glad to hear he's alive That said, what are we going to do about the Budget here in Malawi?

One thing I love about going on a long bus trip here in Malawi is that without fail, there shall always be talkative people who don't mind airing their intimate opinions to strangers they are never likely to meet again. I was on one such trip on Friday night, I got off work very late and took three buses home to the City of Zomba. The first and longest was in BigFoot Bus. Everyone was quiet to begin with until a drunk or mad man (we were not sure which) stood in the middle of the road and the bus had to swerve violently to avoid him. From the back of the bus a man could be heard lamenting, "Driver, if that happens again, stop the bus so we can beat the living daylights out of such a person. You know, important people are in here, if we were to pool the money in all our wallets together, do you know how much it will all add up to? A lot. some people in here have frowns on their faces, they might be on the verge of separation and they are busy thinking about how to apologize

Finally, the week-end is here, the week was shorter, thanks to Independence Day but everything was packed into the week, it's actually busting (sp) at the seams! Anywho, I am yet to post the Tri-National basketball pix. had net problems itolo (yesterday). Going to Zomba City right now so will try again later on. In the meanwhile may the week-end be SWEET~!!!

We'll start with the Ugly: Malawi came out position 3 out of 3. Zimbabwe won first position, Zambia was second. I won't be a fair-weather Malawian and diss our team. True, things would have been better if...but this is what we have on our plate now, let's go back to the drawing board somebody and let's kick some butt next time. Now the Bad: My phone broke, and I've misplaced my usb cord, so can't download the basketball pix right now. Hopefully the next post will be all basketball pix. Let's hope tomorrow. The Good: I had the most fabtastic week I have ever had. It was sweet, I'm reveling in the memories of it all...Hmmmmmm... and, yes, Malawi drew 0-0 with the Harambee Stars (Kenya). Not bad eh?

It was a good game, one we all thought Malawi would win last night at ABC Gym. But victory wasn't meant to be, we lost to Zimbabwe by ten points. The top five (longest playing) were Chikondi Mwendera, Dan Khomba, Daud Suleman, Weluzani Chingota, and I forget the other one (oops) more games tomorrow. it will be Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe playing tomorrow. I hope that I will have my camera handy!!! Go Malawi!!! Malawi woyeee, inenso woyee!!

Happy 4th of July to one and all! It’s a great day and I’m irritating everybody I’m meeting with my flag I’m waving (the star-spangled banner), Washington DC tee and Take 6’s rendition of the Star-spangled Banner. I don’t know if I’m getting to have a solo bbq fest this evening or even have fireworks BUT it’s all good!!!!!!

Still can't believe Uncle Bob's government told the West to "Go Hang" how ever many times they want. Wow! Could this be history in the making, Oh, Zimbabwe?

I don’t know if it is just me but I feel that every year winter in Malawi gets colder and colder. I remember waking up fine in June or July several years ago but now I wake up with a headache and I can’t do with my flannels anymore. Last night I went to bed with a fleece jumper on. I tell you, soon we’ll need to stop building our houses with brick because we’ll need insulation!! I once joked about “Global Cooling” the other party took it as an opportunity to lecture me on the non-existence of such a thing: “You see Thandi, things need to “warm up” before they can actually “cool down” . Hence the term Global Warming, you see what is happening is…….” La da da, da da! Whatever. So as things cool, (or warm up first and then cool) my brain found itself in a jam. The usual man issues. I took 2 tests, the problem is I took one in, like, April or thereabouts and the other only recently. So the first one was on what type of people I am attracted to. Result : Super-Hero Macho types. And then rec