Making A Better World - Milton Louw

Jou ma se kinders - Eish, I miss daai lippies vannie Kaap - Sunday World (South Africa) 27 February 2011 Bitches Brew Column: Nomakula Roberts Being from Cape Town, I miss say I miss Cape coloured women. When I was young, I used to love playing with their silky hair and wished I could get rid of my kinky course variety. "What’s wrong with you?" asked my friend while applying skin lightener. "Black is beautiful, why would you wanna be any other race?" I ignore her and her weave and go back to my dreams of being yellow and speaking like I’m singing. Coloured girls are the future for various reasons: They will never leave dark foundation on your shirt after a hug; You will never run out of cigarettes; You will always be assured of a large family as many of these girls breed as if Allan Boesak sent them on a mission to increase the coloured race; They don’t have to fork out thousands on their hair as they mostly have silky hair that doesn’t need relaxers o...

Why is Reconciliation important to me - My father was in the South African Army that occupied this country. Even when I was arrested in 1988 as part of the uprising, he could not understand my views. With the policy of reconciliation, I was better able to understand and forgive him. It was disturbing today to look at some of the pictures printed by the Swapo News Editor, Asser Ntinda, today 25 February 2011. The pictures were truly gruesome - but that was not the most disturbing.The writer seemed to miss completely the spirit of what Reconciliation is. Identifying ways in which offenders are assisted to redress the material and emotional damage they have inflicted through self-reflection, acknowledgment of responsibility, remorse, and compensation would be an important step towards establishing an environment of reconciliation. I therefore cut some excerpts from an online paper to once again define what our National Reconciliation should entail in Namibia What Does Reconcil...

What Does Reconciliation Entail? taken from: Reconciliation as a conflict handling mechanism entails the following core elements: a) Honest acknowledgment of the harm/injury each party has inflicted on the other; b) Sincere regrets and remorse for the injury done: c) Readiness to apologize for one’s role in inflicting the injury; d) Readiness of the conflicting parties to ‘let go’ of the anger and bitterness caused by the conflict and the injury; e) Commitment by the offender not to repeat the injury; f) Sincere effort to redress past grievances that caused the conflict and compensate the damage caused to the extent possible; g) Entering into a new mutually enriching relationship. Reconciliation then refers to this new relationship that emerges as a consequence of these processes. What most people refer to as ‘healing’ is the mending of deep emotional wounds (generated by the conflict) that follow the reconciliation process. The essence of reconciliation is the voluntary ...

Many business owners and managers need to have reference textbooks close at hand when dealing with issues outside their usual focus. To assist, the Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (IMEN)put together this short list of free text books available online to assist you in your business. The same textbooks are used in the curricula for the International Diploma in Business. Business Organisation Management Basics - http://alturl.com/rp6fk Commercial Awareness for Managers - http://alturl.com/ew5di Thinking Strategically - http://alturl.com/jj96b Effective Business Communication Effective Communication Skills – http://alturl.com/yz2am Finance Finance for non-financial managers - http://alturl.com/4dmn7 Human Resources Managing the Human Resource in the 21st century - http://alturl.com/2f2rm Generational challenges in the workplace - http://alturl.com/gm2hi Marketing Effective Marketing - http://alturl.com/ggeim Customer Relationship Management - http...

The whole world is becoming focussed on social media and the number of users on Facebook, Twitter, etc. However, very little reliable information or statistics seems to be available about Namibian user and their preferences. So, while I had very little to do this weekend while sitting in a cold Düsseldorf, I decided to look at what figures I could put together. This first place to start was Twitter. Twitter is the site where I get most of my introductions to a topic after which I may decide to look into it further and click on the link. Because of the limit of only 140 characters, I don’t have to worry much about missing a comment by a friend because some other “friends” has loaded dozens of pictures or played lots of games. News providers I started my Twitter search by looking at the Namibian media, that is, the companies or websites who provide information on Namibia. This is what I found in order of the most followers (as at 22.02.11): #namibia_news - 1,980 followers. Mos...

I quote from a paper by R van der Ross at the Symposium on Slavery 2008 – “The question of identity is one which elicits wide, wordy and largely useless response. In this country there is continuous debate about the matter, and mostly about and from the Coloured people. Who are we? Why? Where from? Where to? Some even ask: Are we? Are there Coloured people? The ridiculousness of these questions is compounded by the attempts at answers: “We are not; we are not Coloured; we are simply human; we are, but we refuse to be called Coloured,” and so into various degrees of assininity. If the matter of mixed descent is raised, it will most likely be met with the response that all the peoples of the earth are mixed. Of course there is some truth in this, but it evades the other truth namely that which the philosophers call “immediate perception.” We are Coloured because people look at us and regard us as Coloured. Finish en klaar.” http://alturl.com/f4k9w

by Dietrich Bonhoeffer Dietrich Bonhöffer, a young theologian of great promise, was martyred by the Nazis for his participation in a plot against the life of Adolf Hitler. His writings have greatly influenced recent theological thought. This article appeared in the Journal Christianity and Crisis, March 4, 1946. Who am I? They often tell me I stepped from my cell’s confinement Calmly, cheerfully, firmly, Like a squire from his country-house. Who am I? They often tell me I used to speak to my warders Freely and friendly and clearly, As though it were mine to command. Who am I? They also tell me I bore the days of misfortune Equally, smilingly, proudly, Like one accustomed to win. Am I then really all that which other men tell of? Or am I only what I myself know of myself? Restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage, Struggling for breath, as though hands were compressing my throat, Yearning for colors, for flowers, for the voices of birds, Thirsting fo...

.... on the future of social networking from the consumer point of view, based on Cheskin Added Value’s research in this area: Multiple linked social networks: We will be able to customise our social networks for different purposes, and the one-size-fits-all Facebook-type network will decline. We’ll have networks of college friends, real personal friends, personal acquaintances, business contacts, fellow book lovers, Zynga game players, neighbors, foodies, etc. And we won’t have to log into multiple different networks with different rules to make this possible. Track responses across social networks: We’ll be able to easily track and find posts across different networks and email services. Right now, I communicate with people on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, my Android phone texts, work email, and personal email. It’s hard to remember which service I need to respond to in order to get back to someone. Reduction of information overload: It will be easier to get relevant articles, b...

I have just received a briefing paper from the Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik / German Development Institute concerning "The potential of pro-market activism as a tool for making finance work for Africa: a political economy perspective". The author argues that: " This suggests that information on creditworthiness is basically a public good, in the sense that it is non-rival in consumption and it is very costly to exclude anyone from using it. When the market fails to let banks appropriate the returns of information about their costumers, banks will under-invest in the acquisition of such information. ..... Credit registries give access to clients’ credit history and increase the transparency of borrower quality, which makes it safer for financial institutions to lend to new customers. ....... The Kenyan Central Bank (CBK) took the initiative and issued a regulation which mandated financial institutions to share information with credit bureaus ." ...

'Simoné Ziegelmüller Abdul Khadar Abdul Salaam Ya David Abel Tcheeli Tcha Willy Abigail Ntlai Abiud Karongee Abner Axel Xoagub Abrida Gaoses Adeline Husselmann Adminus Teamus Adrian Schofield Adrianus Smith Afra Schimming-Chase Africa Climate Agnes Kleophas Agnes Nandjila Anghuwo Aida S Nocturnal Aimy Aimlizo Aishah Shigwedha Akuunda Josef Alan Tait Alayshya Meredith Clarke Albert Ndopu Albertina Anderson Albertina Niilonga Nangolo Aldrin Chantell Abrahams Alex Madjarov Alex Pfeiffer Alex Zacharia Alexander Priburk Alfred Ilukena Alfred Ward Ali Tee Alistair Arthur Africä Alistaire Marquard Allysiah Emvula Alynsia Platt Alzenna Roxanne Fayne Thomas Ama Klutse Amalia Vixenne Laz Amanda Rhode Ambrosius Nameya Amor King Amor Mc Nab Amunyela Gwanuusiku Analize Olivier Andeline Kloppers Andi Meng Andre Grobbelaar Andre Le Roux Andre Van Vuuren Andre Vd Merwe Andreas Oshefi Kalumbu André J. Gariseb Andréa Guerreiro Angela Angie Ochur...

The following was received from a member of the public I hereby wish to lodge a formal complaint against Reliance Motors cc for poor after sales service delivered to us. I also want to put forward a serious vote of no confidence in this dealer. Reliance Motors cc is not as trustworthy as their name implies, maybe their cars but definitely not their service. The truth is that they are very reluctant to deliver good after sales service. We had a mechanical breakdown with our car on the 3rd of November 2010 and took it to them on the 4th of November for repairs. The staff of Reliance Motors is simply not concerned about time, the inconvenience and humiliation we suffered throughout this ordeal. Client service is not a priority for them. They did not even have the decency to inform us once about their progress. We were the ones to phone and enquire on daily basis and even offer our help to speed up things, but to no avail. They simply have no sense of urgency to get the work done ...

I read a very interesting piece on “Solving Africa’s Commercial Poaching Pandemic” by Ron Thomson and use his analogy below in relation to our economic problems. “To begin to solve the problem we have to identify its real causes. This can be likened to the approach to the AIDS pandemic. In AIDS, like in economics, there are two levels that must be looked at. The underlying or “proximate” cause of an AIDS patient’s death – even though he dies of pneumonia or TB – is his primary infection with HIV. Pneumonia and TB – the “ultimate” cause of death – can be treated with modern medicines; but they do not work when the patient’s immune system has been destroyed by HIV. You cannot save an AIDS patient’s life by treating only the ultimate disease unless the proximate cause of the illness is removed. Namibia’s economic problems have both proximate and ultimate causes, too. The solution must eliminate its proximate causes which are multiple and complex. They include: a hugely expanding...

Just tried to help the National Theatre of Namibia. Told them not to repost so often (every minute four times come on! All this does is show their own link over and over again on their advert - they of course do not see it, but the rest of us get it posted under each other four times) Guess what they do. Tell me that is marketing. Well they are now officially part of the type of marketing not to do. They also get the bad customer service award for this week for not appreciating customer feedback. (BTW got a picture of the post for posterity) If anyone knows the person responsible at NTN - PLEASE help them.

I am just finishing off this note then I am on my way to my flat here in Düsseldorf, Germany. The past few months have been an uphill battle to get here, but WOW, it was worth it. This morning I woke up and looked out the window. (First, I must add, that the flat I am in has the most wonderful central heating;-) The view was one of the Rhine river and the skyline of Düssledorf. After a shower, small breakfast with some great coffee - it was off to work. My office is less than 10 minutes walk away and the pathway travels along the river almost the whole way. At the office most of the collegues greet me and always have time to ask how I am getting along with the German langhuage, and the updating of my knowledge on their new software systems. At lunch, have to choose from so many various types of bread to go with my chees and salami sandwich (Have decided to take the same filling, just change the bread everyday.) After lunch, received my laptop (the iPad is not yet ready - damn...