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...