http://www.afroterminal.com/blog/ Latest Blogs http://www.afroterminal.com/bisi3/blog/relationship/ Who are more inquisitive in relationship, men or ladies? Why? Who are more inquisitive in relationship, men or ladies? Why? http://www.afroterminal.com/bisi3/blog/relationship/ Fri, 18 May 2012 15:36:11 +0000 Oracle http://www.afroterminal.com/bisi3/blog/bane-ofafrica-s-problem/ http://www.afroterminal.com/bisi3/blog/bane-ofafrica-s-problem/ Thu, 17 May 2012 15:18:49 +0000 Oracle http://www.afroterminal.com/The_Afroterminal_Team/blog/200-promo-is-on-it-s-your-turn-to-win/ Blessing, then it was Ugochukwu...Now, it's your turn to win $200!


2 EASY STEPS TO FOLLOW:


1. Login to Afroterminal


Don’t have an A...]]> Blessing, then it was Ugochukwu...Now, it's your turn to win $200!


2 EASY STEPS TO FOLLOW:


1. Login to Afroterminal


Don’t have an Afroterminal account? No problem! Sign up or login with your Facebook account here:


www.afroterminal.com/user/register


2. Follow the link below and invite your friends to join Afroterminal:


www.afroterminal.com/contactimporter


The member with the most invited friends that join Afroterminal will receive $200 in cash. The cash will be sent by Moneygram, Western Union or Paypal.


If you've already invited your friends and they haven't yet joined, you can re-send the invitations here:


www.afroterminal.com/contactimporter/invitations


This promotion will close on 16th June 2012, so HURRY!]]> http://www.afroterminal.com/The_Afroterminal_Team/blog/200-promo-is-on-it-s-your-turn-to-win/ Fri, 11 May 2012 13:22:09 +0000 The Afroterminal Team http://www.afroterminal.com/tolumyne/blog/how-you-can-invest-in-the-real-property-industry/
Week 1 (02/05/2012)

Buy, Hold and Sell (BHS)

What you want to do ...]]>
Week 1 (02/05/2012)

Buy, Hold and Sell (BHS)

What you want to do as a Real Property Investor operating at the BHS level is to buy properties at a low price and hold unto the property for a period of time knowing full well that within a period of 12 months, property value appreciates marginally.

The speculative period can be as long as sustainable until there is a need to sell off the property. Assuming you buy a land or a newly developed house for N10 Million in 2010 and you hold unto the property till 2015 when you probably would have experienced a yearly 10% marginal increase before disposing the property. You stand the chance of selling the property for about N15 Million in 2015.

Hence making N 5 Million in 5 years! None of the banks can give such an interest in 5 years! The good news is that you don’t need to resign from your paid employment to make this money; it can be done on part time basis.

As long as you have your money in place, a good real property practitioner can arrange the transaction and oversee it on your behalf.

It is as easy as that, Myne Properties & Investment Limited is poised to do that on your behalf.
mpioffice.ng@gmail.com, +234 808 375 6688.]]> http://www.afroterminal.com/tolumyne/blog/how-you-can-invest-in-the-real-property-industry/ Wed, 09 May 2012 10:50:44 +0000 Tolu BISADE-PHILLIPS http://www.afroterminal.com/lineker/blog/science/ the scientific name of the red fox is vulpes vulpes. the scientific name of the red fox is vulpes vulpes. http://www.afroterminal.com/lineker/blog/science/ Fri, 04 May 2012 15:34:48 +0000 zedicus zui zuranda http://www.afroterminal.com/The_Afroterminal_Team/blog/can-an-african-green-revolution-help-feed-the-world/ Her bare feet coated with mud, Sabena Gitau trudged down the rain-sodden hillside to her banana plantation, machete in hand.

She chose and cut severa...]]> Her bare feet coated with mud, Sabena Gitau trudged down the rain-sodden hillside to her banana plantation, machete in hand.

She chose and cut several giant bunches of bananas, which she strapped to a motorbike to be taken to nearby Saba Saba town, 77 km (48 miles) north of Nairobi, to be weighed, graded and sold.



A decade ago, Gitau made the same 10 km trip a couple of times a month, on foot with her bananas on her back, earning about 420 shillings ($5) for the dawn-to-dusk trek.

Today, after planting improved varieties and working as part of a cooperative to boost her access to markets, the 59-year-old grandmother earns 30,000 shillings ($360) a month from her bananas, selling them at 13 shillings a kilo rather than three.

"I am not educated. My father denied me that chance. But I've made something of my life," said Gitau, who has bought seven dairy cows with some of her profits.

She also recently planted 100 passion fruit vines as part of an $11 million project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Coca Cola, to have 50,000 Kenyan and Ugandan smallholders produce fruit for Minute Maid juice and double their incomes in the process.

As the world looks for ways to boost food production by at least 70 percent by 2050 to feed an increasingly hungry planet, many people are looking to sub-Saharan Africa -- a region with 50 to 60 percent of the planet's unused arable land.

Crop yields in Africa average about one metric ton per hectare. That's well below many other parts of the world that produce up to seven tons per hectare, suggesting there is potential for big boosts in production.

Experts say efforts like Gitau's banana project -- which combine improved seeds and crop varieties, better access to markets and information for small-scale farmers, improved transportation and the like -- could be part of the blueprint for a 21st century agrarian revolution in Africa.

'THE LAST FRONTIER'

"Africa is now the last frontier in terms of arable land," said James Nyoro, the Rockefeller Foundation's managing director for Africa. "With the population growing to 9 billion, the rest of the world will have to depend upon Africa to feed it."

Some in the sector see huge promise.

"I have no doubt whatsoever that Africa can feed itself and that Africa can be a major contributor to world food security," Namanga Ngongi, the former president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), told AlertNet.

"If you only increase productivity by 50 percent in Africa, Africa will go from food deficit to food surplus. And that can be done with access to simple inputs that are available today."

The barriers that have so far held back Africa' agricultural success are formidable. They include lack of land tenure, particularly for women, and shrinking plot sizes; limited use of irrigation and fertilizer; unreliable water supplies; and inadequate access to credit.

Unpredictable weather, degraded soils, inefficient markets and poor infrastructure compound the problem, while a history of political instability, conflict and poor governance has made investors reluctant to pump money into agriculture.

But experts say the formula for increasing yields for African smallholders, who make up 80 percent of the continent's farmers, is relatively simple. Just organize them into larger groups, provide them with better materials and training and connect them to markets.

"In a sense, it's a no brainer," said Gordon Conway, a professor of international development at Imperial College, London. "Give them fertilizer. Give them seed. Give them water. And they can do it."

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) projects that sub-Saharan Africa's share of the total world production of cereals will be 8.6 percent in 2050, up from 4.5 percent in 2005-07.

"That said, with improved management and inputs, in many places African crop yields have the potential to double or even triple," said Christopher Matthews, the FAO's media relations officer in Rome.

Gitau formed an association with 100 other farmers, so that they could aggregate their produce and attract big buyers from Nairobi, instead of being exploited by local middlemen.

They started selling bananas by the kilo, instead of using the "eyeball" method, where buyers size up the fruit - and the degree of desperation on the farmer's face - and haggle.

Secondly, Africa Harvest, a non-profit organization headquartered in Nairobi, taught Gitau's group how to grow higher yielding, disease-resistant tissue culture bananas.

The big question is how to scale up these scattered success stories and turn around Africa's dismal record as the only continent where per capita food production has declined over the past 20 years.

SEEDS OF CHANGE

One of the biggest challenges lies right at the start of the chain: seed production.

"If you're able to have good seed and appropriate fertilizer, and on time, I think really the production side of agriculture would probably be resolved," said AGRA's former president, Ngongi.

AGRA is providing technical support to 70 seed companies across Africa to produce more seed. In 2011, they produced 40,000 metric tons of seed, which AGRA hopes will rise to 250,000 metric tons by 2018 and reach 5 to 10 million farmers.

In drought-prone parts of Kenya, as few as 10 percent of farmers buy seeds.

"They just save seed and recycle," said James Karanja, director of Freshco, a private seed company set up after liberalization of the market in the late 1990s.

"You have to train them and show them: ‘Just sacrifice those few coins, that 200 shillings ($2) you have. Buy this seed. It's going to make a difference in your life.'"

Yet farmers living on the edge of hunger are understandably wary about spending money on the unknown.

"It's not as simple as saying: ‘Hey, the seed is out there. Why the hell aren't you using it?'" said Kostas Stamoulis, director of the FAO's Agricultural Development Economics Division.

"If I use it and it fails, then my family will die from hunger. If you have a family that lives from hand to mouth, you are not going to take that risk."

Rajiv Shah, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), believes greater investment in agricultural research is the number one priority for Africa to achieve a green revolution.

"Agricultural research in sub-Saharan Africa pays off a return on investment of $25 for every dollar invested," he told AlertNet, highlighting a USAID-funded project that has tripled maize yields in Kenya with better seeds and improved techniques.

Farmers also need information about improved seeds and training in better crop management to maximize their yields.

"I believe farmers could double their yields just from knowledge," said Rachel Zedeck, founder of BackPack Farm, a for-profit enterprise that sells organic farming products in a canvas rucksack and teaches farmers how to use them.

"It's really all about education so farmers know what they should be buying," Zedeck said. "Then it's linking to finance so that they can afford to buy better quality products."

WAKING UP

Crucially, after decades of neglect, African governments appear to be waking up to the importance of investing in agriculture -- if not for food security, then for political stability.

"I think governments are more conscious today for almost the selfish reason of staying in power," said Ngongi, referring to riots over high food prices that affected several countries in 2008. "A lot of them were African countries that came close to the brink of civil unrest."

Whatever their motivation, key players are talking up Africa's Green Revolution ahead of global meetings this year, from the G8 and G20 to Rio+20, where food security initiatives will take centre stage.

"Every other part of the world has done it, so we are very confident we can see that kind of productivity growth leading to food and hunger reductions here in Africa as well," USAID's Shah said.





Katy Migiro (and Laurie Goering, Tim Large, Sonya Hepinstall) | Reuters
Photo: siwi.org]]> http://www.afroterminal.com/The_Afroterminal_Team/blog/can-an-african-green-revolution-help-feed-the-world/ Wed, 02 May 2012 14:58:19 +0000 The Afroterminal Team http://www.afroterminal.com/aggreio/blog/make-easy-money-per-hour/
Moneymagpie’s Number One...]]>
Moneymagpie’s Number One Way To Make Serious Money Online
Claim your FREE money making newsletter and eBook today
Be paid for your opinion – online surveys
Pick the best competitions
Can’t get credit? There’s a card for you!
Cash for old CDs, DVDs and Games
Improve your credit rating
Get up to £100 for switching your current account
Earn up to £400 a month as a mystery shopper
Make up to £200 a month with ads on your car

Moneymagpie’s Number One Way To Make Serious Money Online

More and more of you have been asking Moneymagpie how you can make ‘real’ money whilst working from your computer – not an extra £50 here and there, but a substantial income that will make a genuine difference to your finances.

There are an awful lot of scams out there – especially when it comes to the internet – so it’s taken us a while to find a tip we’re really comfortable with. Then Greg and Fiona came along.

Greg and Fiona Scott are the masterminds behind the Online Business Workshop, a 2-day intensive training course designed to empower YOU with the skills to get your online business up and running, and making serious money, as soon as possible.

You DON’T need to be a whizz on the computer or even have an existing business – Greg and Fiona are pro’s and will be on hand to guide you every step of the way.

Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it? That’s why we sent Moneymagpie reader Alice Dogruyol along to test-drive the service. Here’s what she discovered:

Find out more about Greg and Fiona’s Online Business Workshop right here
Claim your FREE money making newsletter and eBook today

Sign up for FREE to our Make Money Newsletter and every Tuesday we’ll send you the inside tips YOU need to succeed.

Grab hold of our expert cash advice and run with it – it’s been created with the sole purpose of making you money. What’s more, each issue also contains special bargains designed to save you cash, PLUS every new subscriber receives a FREE ‘How To Make £80 An Hour’ eBook.

Not yet a newsletter member? Become part of our team today and discover what you’ve been missing.

“Jasmine is the secret anyone wanting to save money or make money needs to know about. She is a treasure trove of information, expertise and advice.”

Doug Richard, original Dragon from BBC series Dragon’s Den

Your Name:
Your Email:
Please type "human":

Be paid for your opinion – online surveys

This is a sporadic way to make money and it brings in a relatively small income, but it’s low effort and you’ve nothing to lose. It’s a great way to make quick cash from the comfort of your computer but make sure you NEVER pay to join an online survey site or reveal your credit card details.

Inside Tip! Here are our favourite online survey sites. They’re completely free and have received a big thumbs-up from many of you. For maximum earnings why not set-up a separate email account (so your personal one doesn’t get flooded with survey related emails) and then register for free to all of them:

Lightspeed
PaidSurveysUK
Toluna
Valued Opinions
GlobalTestMarket
MySurvey
Inbox Pounds
SurveyHead

If you like the sound of online surveys make sure you check out our full article right here on the safe way to earn money by taking paid surveys.
Pick the best competitions

Most of us never bother with competitions because we think our chances of winning are so slim. Wrong! Your chances are often a lot better than you’d think, but as the saying goes, ‘You gotta be in it to win it!’.

We’ve found loads of competitions for you to enter in our Online Competitions article, but competition site Prime Prizes is a great place to get started. The site is free to join and has plenty of fantastic goodies up for grabs, including luxury holidays abroad, hampers, shopping sprees and more. Take a look at their current competitions below…
Can’t get credit? Don’t worry – there’s a card for you!

If you’ve been turned down for credit but want all the benefits of a credit card, look no further! The Capital One Classic Credit Card offers sensible, manageable starting limits of £200-£1,500, helping you keep control of your finances while spreading the cost of your purchases.

As long as you keep on top of your balance, you can get up to 56 days’ interest-free credit on purchases, giving you the breathing space to manage your money. While you spend you’ll also be repairing your credit rating, helping make your financial future much brighter.

The simple, five-minute online application is quick and easy – and you’ll get a response within 60 seconds.

Apply for your Capital One Classic Card here.

T&Cs apply. You will not be accepted for this card if you’ve been declared bankrupt in the last 12 months. Always remember to pay off your balance within the 0% period to avoid paying interest charges (34.9% representative APR).
Cash for old CDs, DVDs and Games

Make money by selling your old CDs, DVDs and Games at MusicMagpie.com.

The site has made it incredibly easy to swap your junk for money – simply enter the barcode of your CD, DVD or Game right here, and MusicMagpie.com will tell you how much they’ll pay you for it.

On average users trade in £50 of DVDs, CDs and games per visit!

When it comes to posting in your items, MusicMagpie.com have made that FREE and easy too. Simply print off the FREEPOST labels they provide you with, or ask them to post them to you. Just attach the labels to the package you’re sending in and you won’t have to pay a penny.

Do you have any old CDs, DVDs or Games cluttering up your home? Then why not trade them for cash today. Click here to get started.
Improve your credit rating

Improve your credit rating by having a Free Credit Check courtesy of Experian. Your free 30 day trial will include advice on how to improve your credit rating, help managing your report, access to expert tips and tools, and the chance to find out your credit score. Once you’ve finished your trail you’re under no obligation to continue with the service, so you really haven’t got anything to lose. Claim your Free Credit Check now.

But does it really matter that my credit rating is poor? It matters very, very much. Having a poor credit rating could stop you from getting a loan or a decent credit card deal. It could also mean you end up paying extortinate interest rates on any financial deals that the bank is prepared to offer you.

Our advice? Get your Free Credit Check from Experian now.

Tips on how to clean up your credit record
Get £100 for switching your current account

Switch to a First Direct 1st Account and they will give you £100. What’s more, if you’re not happy after six months First Direct promises to help you move banks AND pay you another £100 for the inconvenience.

In the words of First Direct, ‘That’s £100 if you like us and £200 if you don’t.’

Inside Tip! This is Jasmine’s favourite bank account. She has her personal account with them and has been consistently impressed by their level of service. Go here to join her.
Earn up to £400 a month as a Mystery Shopper!

Fancy getting paid to eat out, shop and even go on holiday? Try mystery shopping!

Our editor Jasmine has been a mystery shopper for over five years now, earning decent money on the side while bagging brilliant freebies left, right and centre.

Now you can too! Download your special guide for:

A step-by-step walkthrough on how to become a mystery shopper
Details of all the best mystery shopping firms
Essential tips on how to make the most money, and land freebies that’ll make your friends jealous!



For a limited time you can nab your indispensible guide to mystery shopping for less than half price – just £3.49 (RRP £7) when you enter the special code MAG10.

http://www.moneymagpie.com/article/10-easy-ways-to-make-quick-cash

Claim yours now!
Make over £200 a month with ads on your car

Vehicle wrapping is a fantastic way to pull in a lot of money each month without having to get your hands dirty and actually do some work! If you don’t mind having an ad plastered over your pride and joy, there are plenty of companies out there willing to pay serious cash for the privilege.

You don’t need to drive a fancy car to be considered for a wrap, but most vehicle wrap companies will require their drivers to have:

a clean driver’s licence
a current MOT and road tax for the vehicle
valid insurance for the duration of the contract
no convictions for drink driving, manslaughter or dangerous driving causing death.

If you meet the above criteria there’s the potential for you to make well over £2000 a year from vehicle wrapping – how great is that?
Vehicle wrapping is a firm Moneymagpie favourite, which is why we’ve dedicated an exciting new article to it here: Make Over £200 A Month With Ads On Your Car.

Give the article a good read as it contains everything you need to get started, including our favourite vehicle wrap companies and more information on what the whole process involves.
P.S Moneymagpie’s number 1 way to SAVE money this summer

If you plan to attempt a spot of DIY this summer (over a quarter of us Brits are expected to) you don’t have to go it alone. DIY guru Bubsy the Dog will be on hand to answer any questions you might have, from how to fix that leaky tap to the simplest way to put up a shelf. Just think of Bubsy as your personal DIY teacher – however small the problem is we promise she won’t laugh!

Bubsy’s advice is completely FREE and could save you an absolute fortune on hiring in help. Moneymagpie loves her and we’re sure you will too.

Submit your DIY question for Bubsy right here.
To make more money now read….

Online Surveys: make money taking paid surveys
Best money-making websites
Make over £200 a month with ads on your car
Ways to Make Money]]> http://www.afroterminal.com/aggreio/blog/make-easy-money-per-hour/ Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:06:54 +0000 Aggrei Marshall http://www.afroterminal.com/AMOAKOJOSEPH/blog/do-you-wanna-study-abroad-with-free-accomodation-and-job/ Description:
Both China and Philippines is widely recognized as the education gateway to the...]]> Description:
Both China and Philippines is widely recognized as the education gateway to the rest of the world. With the 2 country’s high literacy rate, it only proves one thing- that education is its primary concern. Needles to say, many foreigners of different nationalities from various countries often travel to the China and Philippines for quality and affordable education.
Moreover, the both China and Philippines are known for its higher standards of education and high-caliber educational institutions. In fact, these 2 countries are one of the major exporters of English Teachers, Nurses, Engineers,Business Administrators, Doctors and other skilled workers abroad. Academic excellence is the prime objective of China and Philippine education. With JEEBANDEEP INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION & TRAINING PROGRAM viable partnership with distinguished universities in the China and Philippines, this core objective will come into realization. Foreign Students Admission requirements;
1. Certified copy of Transcript Records of Bachelor’s Degrees (For Masters) / High school (For Bachelors)
2. Certified copy of Birth Certificate 3. Certificate of good moral character, 4. Police clearance/BNI clearance
5. 4 pieces of latest 2/2 photos 6. Certificate of citizenship & 7.Passport
Benefits & Features are:
1. Assist students to select University and assist to enroll in University.
2. Assist students for registration and conversion form 9A visa to 9F visa and assist them on time to Extend per year.
3. Assistance will be given to students make University ID, Library card & BNI clearance and arrange hostel/dormitory in economic rate and proper safety.
4. Assist students with reference books alongside referred soft copy & handouts by professor.
5. Online Tuition for all of our students in all Medicine Subjects will be given online tuition from our Parent Campus via Online Experts.
6. Students enrolled in this program will be awarded a dual degree, one form enrolled university & the other from our Education Partner University.
7. We have has 16 clinical sites in the US where our students do their Clinical Rotation, students who are enrolled in this
program at our china /Philippines Linked Universities also have a option to do their 4thyear in US Hospitals.
8. Students will be given special training via expert professors for better career and job training.
9.Assist students to have Study/Education Loan including accommodation cost .
Universities represented Via TAU in China:
China Medical University / Dalian Maritime University / Dalian Medical University / Guangzhou University of TCM / Gulin University of Technology / Huazhong University Of Science & Technology / Nanjing University Of Aeronautics and Astronotics / North China Electric and Power University / Qingdao University / Shandong University of Science and Technology / Shanghai University of TCM / South China University of Technology / South East University / Nanchang Hangkong University / Zhejiang University Education Partner University via ALLTERE in South America:
Texila American University

DEGREE COURSES OFFERED ARE AS FOLLOWS:
BS (Nursing/Pharmacy), BSHIM/HRM, Caregiver, Civil/Electrical/Technical Engineering BSBA along with Masters
Degrees (Public/Business Administration /Public Health/Engineering) or BS-Premed/MD or Doctor of Medicine, Masters
of Medicine and also PHD(Various subjects).

CONTACT ME FOR MORE DETAILS AND HOW TO ABOUT THE ADMISSIONS:
E-MAIL: josephamoako99@yahoo.com
MOBILE NUMBER: +233244445942
OUR FACEBOOK PAGE IS: Studyabroad Wid Freeaccomodation
GOD BLESS AND GOOD LUCK!"]]> http://www.afroterminal.com/AMOAKOJOSEPH/blog/do-you-wanna-study-abroad-with-free-accomodation-and-job/ Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:49:41 +0000 AMOAKO JOSEPH http://www.afroterminal.com/The_Afroterminal_Team/blog/egypt-pudding-and-politics/ When an Egyptian news channel reflecting the aims of the Tahrir Square revolutionaries introduced some light relief to the schedules, it inadvertently...]]> When an Egyptian news channel reflecting the aims of the Tahrir Square revolutionaries introduced some light relief to the schedules, it inadvertently created a new star more popular than the news coverage.



There are - I hope we can agree - too many cooking shows on the telly.

From the glamorous to the foul-mouthed, by way of the cheeky chappy and the toff, we have had all types of celebrity chefs serving up delicious scoff.

We gawp and we salivate, but then we return to our sadly untelegenic kitchens and fry another egg.

So the last thing the world needs right now is a new star of the stove.

But what can I tell you? I recently went to Cairo in search of the enduring spirit of the Tahrir Revolution and I fell in love with a television cook.

Ghalia Mahmoud is what Egyptians fondly call a "Set" - a term reserved for strong women respected for their ability to keep hearth and home together.

Set Ghalia is in her 30s, sturdy of build, with an electric smile. She raised two daughters while working long hours as a maid for one of Cairo's upper-class families.

'Tasty and cheap'

Until last January's revolution, her life consisted of little more than cooking and cleaning for her employer and caring for a demanding family back home in Warra'a, one of the city's poorest suburbs.

But then Set Ghalia's life, like Egypt's, was caught up in revolutionary currents. Soon after the downfall of President Mubarak, her employer's brother - the founder of a pro-revolutionary TV station - had an idea.

He wanted a new show - something entertaining - to leaven the diet of news and current affairs, and his mind turned to Ghalia, much loved for her delicious food and her gift of the gab.

The concept was simple. Ghalia could lead a kitchen uprising on television - no more fancy cuisine using unaffordable ingredients and complex recipes but plain fare for plain folk. Tasty and cheap.

A year on and Set Ghalia's cooking show on 25TV is an extraordinary hit.

Her ratings are so good she does a live 90-minute show in prime-time.

She is watched on satellite throughout the Middle East. She does not have a computer but she has 40,000 Facebook fans.

"I'm like 90% of Egyptian women," she told me, when I visited her cramped studio set complete with ancient stove and battered pots.

"I take the bus to work, I get my bread from the baker, my vegetables from the market and I'm happy in my skin."

She should be. The day I visited was the show's first birthday.

Her studio kitchen was visited by an Islamic cleric who showered her with blessings, and a troupe of Nubian singers who serenaded her while she made a selection of Egyptian desserts.

As Set Ghalia put the finishing touches to a huge round tray of basboussa - a fatally attractive concoction of semolina, sugar syrup and rosewater - her guests chorused "Ha namr Misr" (we will build Egypt).

A potent mix here of pudding and politics.

Media 'darling'

In the words of 25TV owner Mohamed Gohar, Set Ghalia allows Egyptians - and other Arabs too - to see themselves as they really are - poor, struggling to make ends meet.

Her budget runs to $4 (£2.50) a day. Her haggling skills have become a Cairo legend.

And as she cooks she talks, taking calls from all corners of the Middle East. Rima from Saudi Arabia says her children are too picky, what should she do?

Answer - give them beans and rice.

Senaa from Tunisia says her husband has gone off her food. "He loves you, Set Ghalia. He says he wants to marry you."

Set Ghalia roars with laughter.

There is an irony here, of course. 25TV was created to be the media voice of the Tahrir Square generation.

One of its news anchors lost an eye in clashes with Mubarak's security forces. Another was a doctor who gave up medicine for activism during the uprising last year.

And now these young activist journalists see the ratings for their programmes dwarfed by the popularity of a cooking show but, far from resenting Set Ghalia, they have embraced her.

In the words of station owner Gohar, "She is a part of the new Egypt."

Ghalia no longer works as a maid but she and her bus-driver husband still live in the same cramped apartment with two children and a dozen other family members to feed.

But for how much longer, I wonder?

A group of Egyptians - clearly unimpressed by the official list of candidates for next month's presidential election - issued an online plea for Set Ghalia to run for the highest office.

Set Ghalia for president?

Then Egypt's revolution really would be cooking on gas.




Stephen Sackur | BBC
Photo: africandaydreams
Photo:]]> http://www.afroterminal.com/The_Afroterminal_Team/blog/egypt-pudding-and-politics/ Sun, 29 Apr 2012 21:06:05 +0000 The Afroterminal Team http://www.afroterminal.com/The_Afroterminal_Team/blog/is-africa-really-interested-in-the-london-2012-olympic-games/
Yes of course it is already split north and south by the River Thames - a split that...]]>
Yes of course it is already split north and south by the River Thames - a split that can be revealed, for instance, when an invitation to dinner on one side of the river is followed by the line: "Don't worry you won't need a passport", suggesting you're coming to or from a foreign country.



But it is another divide that I speak about, the Olympic divide.

It has been ages since anything split London and Londoners this much:

* They are divided between those for and those against the Games

* Those who cannot wait for the sports fiesta and those who feel it will all be a nightmare for the city

* Those who feel that £9bn ($14.5bn) is too much to spend on the Games especially in these tough economic times versus those who feel nothing is too much to put London in the spotlight

* And not to mention the divide between those who managed to get tickets to the Games and those who applied but did not get a single ticket.

Oh yes, with less than 100 days to go before the Olympic flame is lit in the spanking new stadium, everything including the arguments about the Games have moved up a few gears.

I was particularly taken by the comments of Sebastian Coe.

Speaking to the media last week, the double Olympic English gold medallist of the Moscow and Los Angeles Games - and now London Games supremo - said with incredible confidence: "There has been interest in other Games. But I don't think I've ever witnessed a level of excitement at this level in so many different countries for what we are doing."

Really? Now I have no way of measuring excitement, but where on my beloved African continent is this overwhelming excitement?

Of course the athletes and sports men and women of the continent are training hard and in some cases already measuring by how much they will break the records.

But overwhelming excitement? I just have not felt it yet.

Kony anger

I was in Ghana last week where all the talk was about the biometric registration for the December elections.

On a home visit to Uganda last month, it was anger at the way the Kony 2012 You Tube film had depicted northern Uganda which was the talking point.

In the last few days I have spoken to friends and colleagues in Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Ethiopia - they are all into sports, but not one mentioned the Olympics

As so often happens because something is happening in a particular place, frequently in the Western world or to do with the West, it becomes the most important thing and thus we should all see it as the main issue.

This of course speaks to many other things besides sports, including the news agenda.

Often it is not our agenda but that of someone else.

Thus Afghanistan and all its problems and issues remains on the international news agenda, but not the nodding disease which saw further outbreaks early this year in South Sudan, Uganda, and Tanzania.

But back to the London Olympics; what is clear is that there will be no consensus on their staging.

Those onside point to the giant numbers in a bid to impress, 20,000 athletes set to take part, the visitors that will be attracted to London to watch the Games… I just hope that, unlike me, they have tickets.

And perhaps worth mentioning is the regeneration of a large part of east London where most of the events will take place.

Oh yes it will be a party alright. But I remain conflicted, wanting to be a part of the party yet not relishing the even more crowded trains and possible traffic chaos.

Either way, the TV remote will be on hand to ensure I do not miss another record-breaking run from Usain Bolt.

You see, I told you London and Londoners are split about the Olympics and these differences will be the subject of many dinner parties both north and south of the river long after the Olympic caravan has moved on.





Joel Kibazo | BBC
Photo: goafrica.about.]]> http://www.afroterminal.com/The_Afroterminal_Team/blog/is-africa-really-interested-in-the-london-2012-olympic-games/ Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:32:37 +0000 The Afroterminal Team http://www.afroterminal.com/The_Afroterminal_Team/blog/should-madonna-be-africa-s-president/ Let us imagine that Africa was really like it is shown in the international media.



Africa would be a country. Its largest province would be Somalia...]]> Let us imagine that Africa was really like it is shown in the international media.



Africa would be a country. Its largest province would be Somalia.

Bono, Angelina Jolie and Madonna would be joint presidents, appointed by the United Nations.

European aid workers would run the Foreign Affairs Office, gap year students from the UK the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Culture would be run by the makers of the Kony2012 videos.

'Wholesome and ethnic'

Actual Africans would live inside villages designed by economist Jeffrey Sachs.

Those villagers would wear wholesome hand-made ethnic clothing, dance to wholesome ethnic music and during the day they would grow food communally and engage in things called income-generating activities.

For our own protection, American peacekeepers and Nato planes would surround the villages - making hearts and minds happy and safe.

We would give birth to only one baby per couple - this way we would not overwhelm poor, suffering Europeans with our desire to travel outside our villages and participate fully in a dynamic world.

We would not be allowed to do business with the Chinese and we would not be allowed to do business with the country formerly known as Gaddafi's Libya.

Africa would discover the child in itself, and stop trying to mess around and be a part of the rest of the world.

Getting back to here, and now.

Any sensible person would say that to cede power to others to decide what you are has never been a good idea.

That is one of the reasons why Al-Jazeera exists.

Already, after 20 years of economic growth, as our countries - which are all very young - start to evolve and grow rapidly what starts to happen is that we start to look less cartoonish to ourselves and to others - as we export our entrepreneurs, our writers, our skilled people within the continent and to the rest of the world; as we continue to invest aggressively in digital technology; as we begin a new agricultural revolution; as our countries start to make larger political and economic unions.

Africa's image in the west, and Africa's image to itself, are often crude, childish drawings of reality.

These pictures and words are crude because crude things come out of little investment: Of money, of time, of attention, of imagination.

The picture becomes clearer, the more progress arrives. The more politics becomes lucid and accountable, the more roads, cables and railways are built.

Africa 'not Switzerland'

That process has been accelerating for a while now.

The human ability to learn, grow, and innovate is our most valuable tool.

Africa will never look like Switzerland.

One of the problems with the way it is written about is that it is measured in the present tense by how different it looks from the places that have developed a sophisticated and deeply documented sense of themselves.

Those nations and regions that got in earlier found themselves better able to project their own image to the rest.

There are parts of Africa that are not yet even committed to being in a nation-state as drawn in 1885 at the Berlin Conference, and in the 1960s by the great powers.

There are nation states that will survive those - and new nation states will emerge, new arrangements of people, new ways to manage resources, to use what is there.

There is work to be done. That is no question. Work for the brave, those full of imagination and desire.

There are a billion of us - of every human persuasion you can imagine.

Eight years ago, in my country Kenya, we had stopped imagining we could make anything work. Now Kenya is overwhelmed by new ideas, businesses, frictions, paint work, books, movies, magazines, and industries.

Everywhere I go, I see young people: Confident, forward looking. I have seen them in Lagos, in Rwanda, in the suburbs of London.

There is fresh concrete all over the continent. There are great challenges, but there is aggressive movement - and movement causes conflict.

What is much, much worse is stagnation. Places where people just sit and wait for fate. The post-IMF 1990s were like that - but that was more a moment than a permanent reality.

Things are changing fast.

The truth is, we have only started to see what we will look like.

The truth is, with the rise of China, we do not have to take any deal Europe throws at us that comes packaged with permanent poverty, incompetent volunteers and the occasional Nato bomb.

As the West flounders, there is a real sense that we have some leverage.

The truth is, we will never look like what CNN wants us to look like.

But that's fine - we can get online now and completely bypass their nonsense.





Binyavanga Wainaina | BBC
Photo: taringa.net]]> http://www.afroterminal.com/The_Afroterminal_Team/blog/should-madonna-be-africa-s-president/ Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:58:21 +0000 The Afroterminal Team http://www.afroterminal.com/The_Afroterminal_Team/blog/greetings-from-the-new-africa/ For hundreds of years, outsiders have been divided sharply between Afro-pessimists who believe that Africa is permanently programmed to fail and Afro-...]]> For hundreds of years, outsiders have been divided sharply between Afro-pessimists who believe that Africa is permanently programmed to fail and Afro-optimists who see it as a cornucopia that could produce unimaginable wealth.



In the 17th and 18th centuries, the slave trade made Europe rich, and Timbuktu was believed to be paved with gold. But then Africa became the "Dark Continent." In the 1960s, it was the rising giant while Asia was seen as a basket case. By 2000, the Economist was calling Africa the "Hopeless Continent."

Just now, most African countries have enjoyed more than a decade of economic growth at rates we in the West can only dream about. At the same time Congo, the massive heart of the continent, has suffered the most murderous conflict since World War II. Next door in Uganda, the capital Kampala has boomed while less than 200 miles to the north Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army has abducted children and committed appalling atrocities. Africa is so big and so diverse that it contains both horrendous disasters and extraordinary successes.

Stephen Ellis, a professor of social sciences in Amsterdam, and Jean-Michel Severino, a former vice president of the World Bank and for 10 years the head of France's international aid agency, have been at the forefront of analysis and debate about Africa for almost three decades. Mr. Ellis in "Season of Rains" and Mr. Severino in "Africa's Moment" both offer up their optimistic views of the continent and its prospects. Both believe that Africa is transforming rapidly and will play a global economic and political role in the 21st century. Both begin their books by discussing Africa's booming population and the likely effects of its expected doubling to around two billion people by the middle of the century. And both agree that our images of Africa and attitudes toward it are out of date.

At first, in the 1960s, the independent African nations, supported by aid, did well. They funded development plans with massive borrowing backed by mineral deposits and raw materials. Aid was politically influential, too, during the Cold War, when it mattered whose side you were on. But after 1989, Africa was abandoned. Europe and the United States walked away, leaving a simple prescription for the future: democracy, human rights and the free market. (As one American official quipped to me in 1993: "If you get the third one right, you might get a discount on the other two.")

The continent was essentially handed over to the World Bank and the IMF. They imposed "structural adjustment programmes." African governments were forced to slash health, education and infrastructure budgets (laying off a generation of employees) and float their currencies in the belief that less government and more open markets would attract investment. But African currencies sank like rocks in the 1990s, and millions of people were impoverished. Aid halved as the European Union and the United States instead poured support into Eastern Europe.

As the African state patronage machines dried up or broke down, more than a dozen rebellions and wars broke out or intensified—in places as diverse as Togo and Somalia. Once-favored dictators like Congo's Mobutu Sese Seko were overthrown, and instability followed insurrection. Investors stayed away, fearful of war, disease, hunger and poverty. Worse, the HIV/AIDS pandemic erupted, the biggest and deadliest human catastrophe since the Black Death. According to the United Nations, 17 million Africans had died of AIDS by 2004, and an additional 24.5 million were infected with HIV.

In the last years of the 20th century, two new factors came into play. Neither had much to do with the West's preferred prescription for a sick continent. First, the Chinese government decided that Africa would be a key source of the raw materials that it desperately needed for its booming manufacturing industries. The Chinese went where white men feared to tread, and their voracious demands for African minerals pushed prices up and began to revive African economies. Second, small mobile-phone companies set up masts in African capitals, believing that maybe the top 2% or 3% of Africans might want a mobile phone. They were wrong. In a continent of talkers with fewer than 27 million landlines, everybody wanted one.

Africa was a lot richer than the World Bank's figures indicated. The bank missed the "gray economy" on which much of the continent survives and, in some places, thrives. Cellphones and the scratch cards that supply minutes to any phone sold like crazy, not least in the lower tiers of the economy, in the new millennium. By 2008 more than 40% of Nigerians were mobile-phone subscribers. But according to U.N. human-development indexes, over 60% of these people were poor—living on less than $2 a day. Drivers of battered old taxis and pavement-stall sellers were suddenly talking and texting, buying and selling. Meanwhile entrepreneurial middle-class Africans, many of whom had studied outside their own countries, took advantage of the economic growth and newly available communications to set up service businesses. It was a good decade in Africa.

For Mr. Severino, in "Africa's Moment," what matters now is the demographics: the coming African population explosion and the mass movement of people from rural areas to towns. The population boom is partly due to a decline in infant mortality. According to the World Bank, in 1970 there were 136 deaths per thousand live births; by 2009, the number had dropped to 72.6. But the birthrate itself remains very high in many African nations. The U.S. fertility rate is estimated at 2.1, Europe's is 1.59. Sub-Saharan Africa's is estimated at 4.94. One simple fact is clear: Many Africans want to have many children.

Africa, Mr. Severino notes, had a fifth of the world's population in 1500 and then suffered four centuries of mortal disruption. It is only now catching up. But this raises a question. Historically, when populations have exploded—such as Europe's in the 19th century—the answer was emigration. But tomorrow's young Africans will have nowhere to go. The African population boom, Mr. Severino believes, will be "the most incredible demographic adventure that human history has ever known. A time neither for rejoicing nor for fear, but simply for recognizing the facts. . . . Africa's demographic advance over the next fifty years is unstoppable. The worst thing to do would be to ignore it."

"Africa's Moment" is a wake-up call. The book—which Mr. Severino wrote with Olivier Ray, one of his former colleagues at the French aid ministry—is a broad survey of contemporary Africa. Its message is simple: Look out world, here comes Africa. Early on, Mr. Severino dismisses Afro-pessimist theories that claim that the continent is immutable because of its culture or climate. He predicts that the Africa of the future will be urban. The cities will enable social freedom that will melt ethnic and cultural differences and allow people to form communities of choice.

Mr. Severino thinks that churches rather than the ethnic groups will be the particular glue that will bind people together in the future and offer them solidarity in hard times. The growth of evangelical Christianity all over Africa is an extraordinary recent phenomenon—whole communities forming around a single pastor. Funded by American fundamentalist churches, these pastors and preachers are quickly drawing members away from the traditional established churches. Their equally dynamic counterparts are fundamentalist mosques supported by benefactors in Saudi Arabia.

What Africa lacks right now are the manufacturing businesses that might employ the new millions. At present, cities are largely unplanned slums, and Africa's rulers have allowed their countries to become rentier states. The continent's rich resources are extracted and shipped out with revenues and kickbacks going to politicians, not their populations. Mr. Severino estimates that between 30% and 50% of the national incomes of Africa's oil producers disappear, being either stolen and exported to secret tax havens.

Yet we can easily find real success stories. Ghana and Mozambique have both turned their economies around by taking advantage of the resource boom and creating regulatory frameworks that attract local and outside investment. Ghana has achieved a consistent 5% growth rate since the turn of the century, when political stability encouraged the rising middle classes to create a domestic market for goods and services. Consistent government policies, not to mention politicians who accept election results, have encouraged long-term investment in property and local manufacturing. Mozambique has a similar recent history and is heading for a growth rate of over 7% this year.

There is no magic recipe for turning countries around, Mr. Severino writes, only good cooks. He believes that 20 years after democracy was prescribed to Africa by the West, there are the beginnings of local democratic activities all over the continent that are forcing governments to deliver. One hopes this is true, though he offers no concrete examples. Uganda, another economically successful country, suggests the opposite. Yoweri Museveni, in his successful bid to remain president after 25 years in the job, went around the country last year handing out cash to village chiefs and others who might swing the vote his way. It worked. He was re-elected.

What Mr. Severino worries about more than local government is Europe. The continent closest to Africa has turned its back on its neighbor and is ignoring the rising threat of unmanageable migration from Africa to Europe (an obvious outcome of the population explosion). It is not just that China is driving—and taking full advantage of—Africa's transformation. So is India, whose corporate giants and ambitious small fry sense opportunity. Companies like China's Sinopec and India's Tata are buying up or setting up manufacturing and services industries in Africa. European nations are paying no attention to the boom.

Stephen Ellis would certainly agree. "Africa's exclusive relationship with West European countries imposed in colonial times is gone forever," he says in "Season of Rains." Africa is becoming master of its own destiny, and the continent is heading "neither to perdition nor redemption." Like Mr. Severino, Mr. Ellis sees China as the main driver of Africa's current transformation. His short book—just six chapters—is calmly analytical rather than alarming or predictive.

He has an eye for inverting widely held beliefs. He attacks, for example, the militant pan-Africanists who blame the continent's predicament on colonialism and neocolonialism. On the contrary, he says, it is the African rulers who were always in control, deftly manipulating former colonial masters into giving aid or else. He recalls Claude Ake, a Nigerian academic, who showed in the 1990s that it was often in the interests of African rulers to keep their countries from developing. The aid relationship offered them funding "beyond the limits of any tax contract with their own citizens," and they used the threat of chaos to warn donors that the aid must keep flowing.

Yet sometimes Mr. Ellis goes too far. He says that Africa gets the leaders it deserves, and he believes it pointless to analyze Africa through the Really Great Man/Really Awful Man dichotomy. But that can't be right. Nelson Mandela and Robert Mugabe ruled neighboring countries. One chose to step down after one term and helped his country to take an astounding leap forward. The other wrecked his country and wants to rule till he dies. Individuals are important.

But Mr. Ellis does show how African states are influenced by familial or ethnic networks of obligation and control that flourish beneath the veneer of apparently modern states. There is an official system of government, and there is a shadow world. Between them is a "reality gap" in which crucial decisions of state are taken, dictated by hidden but powerful relationships. Angola's impenetrable allocation of oil concessions is the most egregious example. The president's daughter and son-in-law sit on the boards of companies that have been awarded lucrative oil concessions. In many African countries, a local partner is needed to steer a foreign investor past the sharks and shoals. This is where family connections to power thrive.

He also shines a light on the widespread belief in spirits with effective powers over the material world—spirits that can be appeased or manipulated by certain individuals. In his book on Liberia, "The Mask of Anarchy" (1999, but revised in 2006), Mr. Ellis recounted how Charles Taylor, former president of Liberia now awaiting the verdict of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, became a Zo, an elder of one of the secret mystical societies who claim to control powerful spirits. This, Mr. Ellis says, may be Africa's equivalent of the West's belief in the hidden hand of the market, and just as powerful. An alarming thought.

Traditional African cultures and belief systems have survived into modern times. Africans will thus do things differently from other parts of the world, and many ventures by outsiders have come unstuck because they did not take this fact into account. The attitude to land outside towns is a good example. A large British-based corporation recently developed a new sugar estate in southern Africa. The day after it opened, a line of about 90 people formed outside the headquarters claiming that the new estate was on their land. The head of the company admitted to me that he then made a big mistake. There being no written records, he agreed to pay them off. The next day twice as many were claiming the land as theirs.

Will Africa's growing economies and increasing freedom from Western influence mean a reversion to African values? Mr. Ellis would say yes. Western companies will have to abide by African rules that may not be compliant with the codes of conduct of their home country. Or perhaps a convention will develop whereby, as part of an investment, a company makes a substantial contribution to development in the area it is investing in. Mr. Severino would disagree, seeing economic development as likely to take its usual toll and overwhelm local traditions.

My own sense is that Africa's ways of doing things are as resilient as Mr. Ellis suggests. But Mr. Severino is right about the popular demand for change. I see more and more young and connected Africans, many inspired by the Arab uprisings of last year, realizing that the future will not be given to them. They will have to create it for themselves. It may be a rough ride, but increasingly it will not matter whether the rulers are Mandelas or Mugabes because, good or bad, they will be forced by the people to deliver livelihoods for the people. Good and bad, Africa cannot be ignored in the 21st century as it was at the end of the 20th.






Richard Dowdend | (TheWallStreetJournal Bookshelf)
Photo: Reuters]]> http://www.afroterminal.com/The_Afroterminal_Team/blog/greetings-from-the-new-africa/ Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:00:56 +0000 The Afroterminal Team http://www.afroterminal.com/omaricha/blog/repent-or-perish/ He that covers his sins shall not prosper: but whosoever confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy.

1. If a sinner do not acknow...]]> He that covers his sins shall not prosper: but whosoever confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy.

1. If a sinner do not acknowledge his sins; if he cover and excuse them, and refuse to come to the light of God's word and Spirit, lest his deeds should be reproved, he shall find no salvation. God will never admit a sinful, unhumbled soul, into his kingdom.

2. But if he confess his sin, with a penitent and broken heart, and, by forsaking every evil way, give this proof that he feels his own sore, and the plague of his heart, then he shall have mercy. Here is a doctrine of vital importance to the salvation of the soul, which the weakest may understand.]]> http://www.afroterminal.com/omaricha/blog/repent-or-perish/ Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:51:40 +0000 omaricha http://www.afroterminal.com/omaricha/blog/think-about-this/
Zech 13:9; Mt 25:30; Lk 16:24; Lk 23:30; Rev 6:16; Isa 5:14; Mt 25:41; 2 Thess 1:7-9
(((shared from biblical proof...!)))]]> http://www.afroterminal.com/omaricha/blog/think-about-this/ Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:46:20 +0000 omaricha http://www.afroterminal.com/omaricha/blog/if-you-want-a-very-loving-man-or-a-women/ (as a husband ,brother ,friend or a wife ,sister and friend ) go to God in prayer
Only God can give the right...]]> (as a husband ,brother ,friend or a wife ,sister and friend ) go to God in prayer
Only God can give the rightful man ,for a good loving and lasting marriage.
Not sleeping around with many men or women (will find you a wife or a husband)
but by following the steps of God(his will) .
... (((This QUOTE goes to MEN AND WOMAN or ((boys and girls) PLACE YOUR HEART IN GOD'S HANDS AND HE WILL PLACE IT IN THE RIGHT HAND)
hold yourself for your half,
STOP SHARING AND WASTING YOUR MARITAL BLESSINGS AROUND
you're at the risk of been possesed by SEXUAL DEMONS IF YOU ARE SLEEPING AROUND (fornication ,adultery and lust demons)
NOT EVERYONE YOU SEE WITH THE IMAGE OF HUMAN IS REALLY A HUMAN
BEWARE THERE ARE DEMONS AROUND...BECAREFUL AND PRAYERFUL
STAY AWAY FROM EVIL AND SIN...!
((SEXUAL IMMORALITY IS THE MOST POWERFUL TOOL THE devil use in taking people TO HELL ,don't be a victim)) God loves you ,run from sin and return to God.]]> http://www.afroterminal.com/omaricha/blog/if-you-want-a-very-loving-man-or-a-women/ Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:42:50 +0000 omaricha