Summer Pix

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.
John Ruskin

 

Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.
Walt Whitman

 

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.
Helen Keller

 

 

Enjoy the Summer !

Doing it for London 2012

Volunteering at the Games: be a part of London 2012.
http://www.london2012.com/
The count down for the London 2012 Olympics has begun. Be there for London.
London 2012 promises to be an inspirational experience – especially for those involved in making it happen.
Find out about the different ways to be involved with the London 2012 Games.
There is a vast array of opportunities for volunteering and for jobs:
London 2012 volunteers are called ‘Games Makers’.
Applications to become a Games Maker are now closed, but there are other ways to get involved with the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
You could also be a:
*London Ambassador
* Member of the Changing Places programme
* Pre Games Trailblazer
You can log into the the London 2012 website for more news and updates and you can manage your application online.
For many of the volunteering roles you will need to be 18 or over by 1 January 2012.
Some volunteer positions may require criminal record checks.
See 'Criminal record checks - an introduction' for more information.

Become a London Ambassador
London Ambassadors - Home Page
You can still take part in the London Ambassadors programme, which is recruiting up to 8,000 volunteers.
London Ambassadors will be located at key points across the city - including transport hubs, outside Games venues, and at popular visitor spots. They will provide much needed information on what to see and do, where to stay and how to get around the capital.
If you are given a role, you'll be given full training and you’ll get your own uniform, a meal and free travel (within London Underground Zones 1-6) for every shift worked.

Changing Places community programme
London 2012 is not just about sport – it’s a great opportunity to improve the capital's environment and its prospects for the future.
The Changing Places programme encourages volunteers to get involved in their local area by improving the bad parts and celebrating the good.
For advice on how to get started and change the face of your neighbourhood, you can take a look at the Changing Places toolkit. This has guidance on what to consider when creating your own project, like health and safety and using the right equipment.
Download 'Changing Places toolkit' from the London 2012 website (PDF, 2.8MB)
Changing Places grants
Changing Places has teamed up with Keep Britain Tidy to provide grants of up £1,000 to help kick-start neighbourhood projects.

Trailblazers - helping out before the Games start
Most volunteers will be needed at Games time, but a small number of volunteers, known as Trailblazers, are needed in the run-up to the Games.
Three hundred Trailblazers have already been recruited since January 2009.
Each Trailblazer volunteers one day a week, for a minimum of four months. Trailblazers perform a wide range of administrative duties across many parts of the London 2012 team.

Visit the London 2012 website for more information about the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.
http://www.london2012.com/n2012.com/">

Fatherhood : It Takes Two.

Parents owe it a duty to their unborn children to take on parenthood with all the seriousness it deserves by choosing to procreate with , not just any man or woman they admire; but by making babies with the right partners who are willing to commit to a life-time of parenthood .
Men must, consciously decide, to be fathers indeed and to make efforts to be involved with the rearing of their children.
There is a world of benefits to be gained by being a hands-on father.

It takes two persons ; the mother and the father to decide to give birth to a child.
Fatherhood can not be forced on any man by any woman or any government.
One-sided decisions to saddle unwilling men with fatherhood would continue to breed a myriad of social problems and emotional problems .
You should not and cannot force an unwilling horse to the water-trough so no one should trap, bribe, or beg an unwilling man to remain in a relationship.
If a man does not want to be with you on a permanent basis as a husband and father to your unborn children , so be it!
Let him "walk "; for your own peace of mind and for the sake of your unborn children!

Parents , especially mothers , you owe your children the duty to know and vet the full details as to the character , background, and disposition of the men or women you choose to make babies with!
One-night stands and patronising Sperm Banks are NOT the best options for your children's future emotional well-being.
"You shall not cast your young". Amen.
If you waste your seed by giving your semen to strangers, you have "casted"( wasted) your seed and this would invoke a curse on you. Genesis 38:8-10.

Be alert , be in the Spirit; watching for tell-tale signs of perversions in your relationship and marriage.
Never take any body or anything for granted.
It never ceases to amaze me when I see intelligent women who , weeping profusely, come to Social Services for help ; and then I hear them say , they do not know how Social Services can trace their run-away men !
They do not even know the National Insurance number or passport numbers of men they were married to or had co-habited with for many years!
They went on foreign holidays together, several times and yet no idea of his passport number?
"How could I have known he would do this to me?! He has abandoned me and our four children with thousands of pound debts; bills ,incurred mainly by him! "
Some women are so laid-back that they were not even aware that their men had changed his job and re-routed all his mail to another address, even three months , before he moved out!

Just as there are men who are unwilling to enter into the commitment of marriage with any woman and do not want the responsibilities of fatherhood, so also there are women who do not desire marriage or a serious relationship with any man.
This group of unwilling women want babies but they have decided that they do not have the time nor the space in the lives for , what they call , problems from men or " Man Stress".
Women desiring "designer babies" with anonymous fathers , pay huge fees to view and choose from the photos and bio-data of donor men listed by the Sperm banks.
Then they select out of many , their preferred male as to the desired height , race , skin tone , hair and eye colours , looks , IQ and even the profession of the sperm donor; who they think would make the cutest IVF babies!

The chosen man's semen is then used to fertilise the women's eggs and make human embryos which are then frozen and stored , until when these women are ready to take on the responsibilities of motherhood.
Some young girls and women have stored more than a dozen frozen embryos, for future use; to guarantee their ability to give birth to their own children, even after they reach menopause.
Men who sell their semen must sign a contract relinquishing all claims to fatherhood of any child born from such sold sperm .
Also, these IVF contracts forbid all attempts by either the man or woman to try to trace the identity of each other.
Children born from these sperm - donor arrangements would then find it impossible, in future, to trace who their fathers are.

Mothers, in future, when any of your "designer" children ask you the inevitable question :"Mum , who and where is my father?"; does your child deserve to hear this from you?
"Oh yes, your father! Honey, he was a nice bloke and gorgeous! Just like you, darling.
We met somewhere and y'know..., but, oh gosh, I FORGOT to get his name and phone number! Sorry!"
"You say he was a nice bloke? Then, Mum, why did you not ask for his contact details and why did you not stay with him?"
"Why did HE not ask for MY contact details ?
WHY? WHY? Don't make me laugh! You are a child! Don't worry ! Some day , you will understand WHY it is so that in this life; since hunters have learnt to shoot without missing , birds have learnt to fly without perching!"

OR are you going to tell your child this ?;
"Your Dad? Whao ! Unforgettable! Tall, fantastic eyes and physique, lovely smile; he was, all-round Drop-dead gorgeous! Very intelligent, too.
His bio data stated that he was a top-flight stock-broker but I never had the pleasure of meeting him because he was just a face and a code number with no name, which I downloaded from the website of a Sperm Bank!"
May the Lord have mercy and deliver the human race from self-destruction. Amen.

Fatherhood in the 21st Century.

A Father is , biologically, the male partner who mates with the female to produce a baby .
Fatherhood entails much more than the sexual aspect of baby-making.
Fathers were made to " rule as lords , priests , guides , providers and protectors over their households".
Their children should be "arrows in their quivers and polished stones in their courtyards".
The ideal situation after a child is born would be for the father to be present and be willing to cooperate with his child's mother to rear their offspring by contributing not only his money, but also his time to do this.
Millions of fathers worldwide can be credited for doing an excellent hands- on job of caring for their children.
This millennium has been an era for changes and for a continuation of positive advancement in leaps and bounds in all facets of human life; especially technologically , financially and socially.
Fathers and mothers have to work harder than before to meet the demands of modern living which include giving the best to their children.
Despite the challenges of modern living , the demands of their jobs or professions ,most fathers , make time off to bond with and to spend quality time with their wives and children.


In the absence of conscious efforts and determination by men to perform their roles as fathers, what could happen is they could miss out of sustaining a loving relationship with their children .
There are various reasons given by men who have decided to abandon their parental roles.
This write up is not about the reasons for couples breaking up or about the "pros and cons" of strained love relationships or marital upheavals.
Whatever the reasons for the break-up or break -down of a relationship, the children of the union suffer the adverse effects more than their separated parents do.

For every man who is an unwilling father , there are ten fathers who are very willing and very involved in bringing up their children.
Different men have different reasons why they have decided to abandon some women and their children but these same "reluctant men " are known to have moved on to form long-standing and loving relationships with other women and even set up happy homes with other women and the children they have had with the new women in their lives.

The worrying phenomenon of absentee or run-away fathers is a not recent one and is not peculiar to the 21st century.
For centuries , there has been cases of unwilling fathers and abandoned pregnant girls, or pregnant women , pregnant wives and their children.
Men who are sexual predators , think it is the woman's problem to "take care of herself" and so they would not want to hear the "P" word!
When men like that they hear the word "I am pregnant!" from any woman; the woman would not even see their break lights , for dust!

Increasingly in this era, responsible governments world wide , have set up laws to curb the adverse effects of the problems arising from these social problems.
Unfortunately, all through the ages , there have been men and women who are obsessed with sex; but are not bothered about the repercussions of unbridled sexual liaisons.
The present outcry against this unwholesome practice of unwilling fathers is due to the spotlight by the various societies on the plight of abandoned children and the financial burden on governments to provide for the upbringing of children whose fathers have abdicated their responsibilities.

Fathers who miss out on bonding with their growing children could be classified as absentee , run-away or anonymous fathers.
Nowadays ,some caring and loving fathers see their children, occasionally because they work abroad or they work long hours in order to earn fatter pay cheques.
Also, there are fathers who are willing but unable to perform their fatherly duties because they are incarcerated; serving long prison sentences.
Then, some fathers are willing but unable to be involved with their children's growth, because they have been denied access to them by court orders which have classified such fathers as "Unfit fathers" and the courts have given sole custody of their children to the Social Services or to the children's mothers.
These fathers have formed various protest group to draw attention to their plight.
One of such groups in the UK is "Fathers 4 Justice", which demonstrate occasionally ,sometimes using dramatic antics to register their protests.

"Fathers 4 Justice" protesting on the Balcony of Buckingham Palace.



Run-away fathers are those who have deliberately, decided to put as much distance as they could between them and their children .
They would start their decline into being run-away fathers by ,first, refusing to have anything to do with the up-bringing of their own children even when they live under the same roof with them.
Reluctant fathers are men who do not desire a long-time commitment to any woman or to their own children.
Then from being reluctant and indifferent fathers, they graduate to disappearance.
Such men have been known to relocate to foreign lands, thousands of miles from where their children are; just to avoid their responsibilities.
Sometimes they could be men who have been forced into fatherhood by women who deliberately foist pregnancies on unwilling men, as means of pinning such men down in a relationship.
Before , taking their leave, unwilling fathers could engage the mothers of their children in protracted arguments , quarreling and or severe beatings ; because of the fathers' refusal to to commit and contribute to the upbringing of their children.
Eventually , such face-offs would lead to the situation whereby the unwilling fathers would move out of the home and abandon the kids, for good.

Anonymous fathers are those fathers who do not even know that they have fathered dozens of children,already!
These are men who engage, regularly as a life-style, in "one-night stands" or "flash-in the pan" sexual relationships with various women ; without even knowing the real first names or contact details of their female sexual partners!
Such female partners themselves , also , could be girls who desire one-night stand to make babies only ; but they do not wish to have a committed relationship with any man.

Also in the category of Anonymous fathers are those fathers who have fathered children by either donating or selling their seminal fluid to Fertility Clinics, Sperm Banks and Research Institutes.
Very attractive boys and men from all levels and all walks of life, are selected and invited to sell their sperm to Sperm Banks. These banks store the sperm , labelling the test-tubes with the men's specifications and photographs in their data bank .
Some Fertility Clinics and Sperm Banks advertise their services on the Internet and their target-market are girls and women who desire to make and store their embryos, for future use as single mothers.
Such girls prefer to be busy pursuing their education or busy building their careers and they prefer to delay motherhood till they are in their late 30s when they would be ready to take on the responsibilities of single motherhood.

Usually ,when the fathers shirk their fatherhood responsibilities , mothers are left high and dry; left "holding the baby", literally!
When young children are abandoned by their fathers; the responsibilities of child-rearing fall on their mothers or on foster parents , provided by Social Services.
Abandoned mothers would have to either stop working , or take on part-time employment ; in order to find time for caring for the children.
This affects the family income and therefore, the well-being of the children.

There have been stereotypical blanket statements that children from single parent households or from divorced parents , would end up as social miscreants, criminals and emotionally bankrupt adults who cannot remain married.
This is a false view as it is also very unfair to label people with the wrong tags!
Also, the over-used excuse by some adults that they have not done well in life because " you see, I was abandoned by my father as a child"; is no longer tenable !
There are kids who were single-handedly reared by single mothers and today ,they are well-behaved and they are doing very well , excelling in their chosen careers.

Some people would even say ,"It is sinners who do things like this. This is not our portion !"
Nobody would pray for such "portion" in their life.
But is it only "Sinners" who do "things like this"?
What of wife-beating "saints" who live under the same roof with their wives and children but do not contribute a dime towards the family upkeep; they abandon all the child- rearing burdens for the woman?
Then how do we explain cases of children from normal, decent homes with married doting parents ; even Church ministers' children who have turned out to be children of sorrow? Despite their sound Christian upbringing some children have become habitual criminals such as drug addicts ,drug peddlers , robbers , fraudsters and prostitutes!
Millions of children from happy homes have been unfortunate to choose the wrong marriage partners and they have had to , unwillingly, go through the trauma of divorce .

The lot of abandoned children is much better in Western societies where the governments provide for free and subsidised facilities such as housing, medical care , education and weekly cash benefits to the abandoned mother and children.
In the UK , apart from providing such benefits, efforts are made by the Department of Social Services and the Child Support Agencies to trace the unwilling runaway fathers who would have disappeared from the radar of Social Services.
It is a sad fact that millions of men have to be traced and forced by court actions to contribute , at least half of their income to their children's care.
Even these measures have been condemned by those who think they are "Ungodly ,anti-family -values laws which give too much power to single mothers and non-submissive wives to control men and wield authority in the home!"
And what are the "holy and acceptable" alternative laws to solve the problems of abandoned and fatherless children?
Are we advocating that the government should abandon single mothers and abandoned wives and their children to "their fate"; for them to starve and to live on the streets?
Empowering women in every way , to assist them to be in a strong position to take proper care of themselves and their abandoned children is NOT ungodly!
What is ungodly is some women abusing the Benefits system by irresponsible child-bearing.
And what is MOST ungodly is allowing unscrupulous and heartless men and fathers to get away, SCOT FREE, with maltreating their women and children!
These problems of malfunctioning homes could be solved by starting from changing the mind-set of men who litter the landscape with unwanted children and the mind-frames of women who use pregnancies and babies as bargaining chips to get what they desire.

In Loving and Evergreen memory of Dad .

Wishing all Fathers a Happy Father's Day.
Give your Dad a hug and kisses. Be good to him , tell him you love him ,often .
Dads are wonderful; appreciate yours because they do not live for ever.
I wish my Dad was here today , so that I could shower him with love , praises and gifts on Father's Day!

This week , my siblings and I were discussing our father and as always , we remembered him with pride , with love and gratitude as a man of vision and peace.
We remember him ,even more so during this year's Father's Day, because we , recently, celebrated the first anniversary of our mother's passing on to glory.
We bless both our parents for the gift of life and for the love they shared with each other and with us during their 45 years of happy marriage.
Our father was a rare gem; he was a loving father and a husband in a million.
He went the extra mile to ensure that we lacked nothing and were well-grounded in life.
His regular prayer while we were young, was that God should give him the grace to live long enough , to guard and guide us all to the point in our lives where we would be able to stand on our own two feet and where we would never be afraid .
Our Dad got his heart-felt wish. We thank God that God answered this prayer, before Dad left us for eternity , 17years ago.
"The wicked are overthrown, and are not: but the house of the righteous shall stand.”
Proverbs 12:7.
Happy Father's Day!

What an Exciting Fortnight!

The past two weeks have been a time for exciting events and dramatic "Breaking News" in the UK and from around the world .
These news and events are worthy of note because ; apart from been dramatic , each of them had a lesson or two to impart to the human race.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, now on their honeymoon got married a fortnight ago, on 29th April.
The excitement of the unforgetable Wedding of the Century had hardly died down before the world was stunned to hear the news that Osama Bin Laden had been caught in his hideout in Pakistan
He resisted arrest and he was promptly "taken out" by gun shots to his eye and head.
Since the death of bin Laden there has been either jubiliation or condemnation for the daring and successful attack by American SEAL officers who carried out the Presidential order to arrest bin Laden.
Depending on regional inclinations, reactions to his death varied from shouts of " God bless America" and "Good riddance!" from different parts of the globe ; while in some parts, the reactions were the usual street protests, riots, killings, arson , bombings and the shouts of "Revenge", " death to ALL infidels!", and so on.
Some commentators even expressed their views that the US government should have accorded Osama bin Laden "the honour of a civilised arrest, respect for the rule of law, justice , his human dignity, his human rights, mercy, forgivenness and a proper burial"!

On the UK political scene, the AV (Alternative Vote) Referendun and the Local Government elections took place in the first week of May.
These elections caused major upheavals for the main political parties; whereby many MPs lost their seats leading to demands for the resignation of the Deputy Prime Minister and the results triggered renewed demands for Scottish independence.
The AV Referendum on the 5th of May, resulted in the expected "NO" vote from the populace.

The UK Premier league Football clubs gave us thrilling and amazing semi-final matches which resulted in the two surprise emergence of Manchester City FC and Stoke City FC as finalists for the prestigious FA Cup .
To attain this elevated status, the two low division clubs had surprised every body, even their ardent fans , by seeing off football "gaints" like Chelsea , Man U, Arsenal, Liverpool and others.
At the weekend, it was with great pleasure that millions of football fans, worldwide, watched Manachester City FC and Manchester United , the two clubs from Manchester, clinch the FA Cup and Premier League Cup , respectively.

Among other news which made flashing headlines was the breaking news that dozens of prominent citizens in the UK had applied for court injunctions to prevent the media from publishing stories about their " private lives", a.k.a. "Sexual escapades".
These celebrites through their lawyers had applied to the courts for super injunctions to , according to them , prevent the UK media from causing "embarassment and emotional distress" to their wives and children with "these false allegations" !
As if these men did not know they had wives and families before playing " away games".
They could succeed in getting the courts to restrain the electronic and print media, but not possible with Twitter and Facebook .
Last week, the two networking sites went viral with full details of the applications for super injunctions . They featured Tweets and comments, revealing the IDs of the celebrites who have applied for court injunctions to gag the press and the secrets they were desperately trying to cover up.

On this note, what news could be more befitting to crown the fortnight of dramatic news than the breaking news of the arrest of the head of the IMF for allegation of attempted rape , on Sunday ? !
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, IMF chief and French presidental hopeful was accused by a hotel maid in New York, during the last weekend, of unlawful imprisonment, criminal sexual acts and attempted rape.
Strauss-kahn , now is in police custody in New York.
He has denied all accusations while his lawyers and his wife , as most wives and lawyers do in cases like this , have spoken in his defence. " He could never do a thing like that !" " We have been happily married for years!"
Indeed you have been !
Strauss in handcuffs , unshaven and looking very nervous before the cameras of the world press was a pitiful site to view on TV , as he appeared in court on Monday.
The next breaking news could be that these people have taken out court super injunctions to gag not only the world press, but also Twitter and Facebook, from reporting on Strauss-Khan's past and latest sexual escapades.
That would be a tall order, indeed.
Have an exiciting week !

Hearty Cheers to Kate and Wills !

Two Billion viewers worldwide and hundreds of thousands of spectators lined the wedding venues at Westminster Abbey ,at The Mall and at Buckkingham Palace in London , to celebrate with Prince and Princess William on their Wedding Day today ,29th April , 2011.

The happy couple

The Golden Kiss

At Westminster Abbey and at the Palace

 

After the ceremonies , the happy Couple drove off from the Palace ,for their honeymoon amidst hearty cheers from the mammoth crowd.
Celebrations in 5500 party venues all over London and the UK will continue well into the weekend.