Beloved Country

A Bit of Praise

Posted on February 2nd, 2009 by annanomsa.
Categories: Uncategorized.

I’ve spent all morning getting myself frustrated and irritated. I was on hold to the Post Office and Speed Services all morning. The Post Office had lovely hold music, which I would have happily patiently listened to all morning, were it not for the recorded voice interrupting every fifteen seconds to thank me for my patience. I finally discovered that my bead parcel has been collected by somebody else from the Post Office, and no they won’t take a tracking number over the phone and investigate it, I have to come in. Arghh! We need those beads!!!

But then I phoned Wizzit bank. They are slowing making a name for themselves here in SA. I first heard of them when talking to a researcher about my students’ problems accessing banking facilities. Then I heard them mentioned on Radio 2000, my new favourite radio station. I went to the website, and wow! What I love is that even though their primary target market is people who don’t even have access to landlines, never mind internet, they have still built an exciting and professional website. Brilliant. So often when you come across goods marketed towards poor people in this country, it is seriously old school. Not to mention dodgy, quite frankly. But not at Wizzit!

So anyway, I called, and asked what documents they would accept. ‘Asylum seeker papers? Not a problem, just fax us a copy! Or even better, email it to us.’ How 21st Century are they? (South Africa’s heavy carbon footprint must be contributed to by our use of fax paper. Everyone else realised that fax machines are the crappest invention know to man ten years ago, but not us!). ‘Ok’, I ask, ‘and what other documents?’. None, that’s it. They just need ID. They’ll give you a tracer number, it must match the starter pack they send you. You send it back filled in, and you instantly get a card and a sophisticated cellphone banking facility at a low rate. I’m sure they’ve got their security down pat, they seem to know what they’re doing, and yet they’ve managed to make it so easy for poor South Africans.

Just think about it for a minute. If you don’t have a landline, water or electricity, how are you supposed to get proof of address? If you do freelance work, producing craft, or selling vegetables on the street, how do you prove an income? If you are often unwell or have a large number of children to care for on your own, how do you get to the supermarket a half hour walk away to buy electricity, or pay your water bill? And what if your relative has had all her cash stolen, and she’s stuck in the Eastern Cape, needing to get home, and its Saturday afternoon and all the banks are closed? And when you only earn R1000 a month, and you get charged a good R5 every time you take out cash at an ATM, how do you keep your money safe yet not lose it all in charges?

Wizzit’s principle aim is to ‘bank the unbankable’. They seem to have thought through these every day problems, and found ways round them. They have a good service and low charges. (I promise I’m not being paid to say this, I am just so impressed!)

So, fan-bloody-tastic I say. Let’s hope more of SA’s companies will followsuit, and start treating the barriers faced by the poor as the rule rather than the exception.

P.S. I’m busy working on a new product today. I’ll post photos as soon as I’m done.

0 comments.

Egg Mayonnaise and Big Questions

Posted on January 28th, 2009 by annanomsa.
Categories: Uncategorized.

I must confess to being in a slight state of mid-twenties crisis. I’ve spent a fair few of the last six years being quite unsure as to who I was, what I was doing and where I wanted to be. And now, having barely had enough time to take stock of the past year with my lovely new partner and job(s), there are suddenly huge work-related questions which need to be answered, and fast. Either way that I turn I risk big disappointment, but one way could also be incredibly exciting.

Beyond the immediate, there’s the bigger questions. Do I want to live here forever? Do I want to go back to University? I look at friends like P and J’s lives with great envy at times, wondering if I’m fulfilling my potential as much as they are.

In the midst of the chaos, I find increasing comfort in routine. For the last two and a half years I have made school lunch for B, the little girl I care for in the home round the corner. This evening I boiled some eggs whilst I did the washing up, and left them to cool on the counter. She goes through phases with her lunches. Sometimes its cheese and tomato, then just cheese, then tuna mayo. At the moment egg mayonnaise with lettuce is her one and only heart’s desire. She’s not so keen on yoghurt at the moment, but since she tried very hard to convince me to give her a few crisps with her lunch, I said she could have them as long as she ate a yoghurt. Fruit and drink options also differ, usually at the point where I’ve just bought a huge bag of oranges, or a big tub of Milo! For a child who can’t really speak, she really does manage to get a lot across!

P.S. Moneo is slumbering at my feet. I never imagined having a dog would be this lovely.

0 comments.

Hello again!

Posted on November 19th, 2008 by annanomsa.
Categories: beauty, disability, happy, photo, in love, just fine, film, flickr, cape town, link, him, not so single any more!, getting it together.

Well, it has been a terribly long time since my last post. Its funny how life swallows you up sometimes. So much has happened since February. I now lead a very settled and happy life with my partner, R, and our puppy, Moneo. I spend half of my week working as a manager/designer/teacher at our little beading project in the leafy suburbs, and the other half working with a group of carers at a special care centre for disabled children, helping to make the kids’ lives a little bit more exciting.

I plan to start blogging again, as part of my never-ending quest to be a bit happier, and a little less moany! I’m really loving Adri’s blog. Adri and I work at the same premises, though in different projects. She has such lovely up-beat view of things, one I need to learn from I think. And today I discovered Heather Moore’s blog. She’s another fabulous local artist, and has stock in Adri’s shop (as do we). What a lovely small world of happy people!

So to start this new blogging spree off on a good note, here’s a photo of our lovely little puppy, Moneo. I love how the hair behind his ears gets kind of crimped-looking when he gets wet trying to drink from the hosepipe! There are more photos of him on my flickr page.

1 comment.

I live in stereotype suburbia

Posted on March 19th, 2008 by annanomsa.
Categories: Uncategorized.

have a look here

I love it!

5 comments.

On being British

Posted on February 20th, 2008 by annanomsa.
Categories: transnationalism, pressure, bbc, rant, immigration, politics, proudly south african, modern south africa, anger, contradiction, contrast, honesty, modern britain, fear, dignity.

British Citizenship Tests Planned

“In the future… immigrants would have to earn the right to become citizens, by demonstrating a commitment to the British way of life. In practice, this would mean undergoing a probationary period, lasting several years, during which they’d be expected to obey the law, work, pay taxes, pass an English test, and become involved in their local communities, possibly through voluntary work”. BBC Radio 4 news, this morning.

This makes me terribly uneasy, for a number of reasons. To begin with, it amounts to racial discrimination. Only people coming from outside the EU would have to undergo this, meaning that those from the Caribbean, India, Pakistan and so on, would have to undergo the process, but people from Eastern Europe not. Furthermore, the implication is that this does not happen at present, whereas in fact immigrants are already net contributers to the national treasury, and in my opinion, do enormously well to fit into what is a pretty culturally confused nation (i.e. British people long ago forgot their own cultural identity, and that had nothing to do with immigration, more to do with a sudden rise in wealth and too much beer.)

Despite my unease, I have ironically often suggested that such a test would be appropriate here in South Africa, and in countries like Spain and Portugal, for potential British immigrants. Whilst not meaning to sound too unpleasant, I have to say I have lived here for a number of years, and met a fair few British idiots. In fairness, many have absorbed some local culture and ideology. Unfortunately that is more often than not a racist culture and ideology, and I often have a sudden need to find a toilet as a means of avoiding conversation with them in social situations. In public, when I hear a British accent, I no longer ask people where they’re from, how long they’ve been here or if they enjoy living here, so fearful am I of the response I will hear.

Imagine if British immigrants to Spain had to pass a Spanish test, or migrants to Cape Town had to demonstrate a basic knowledge of Afrikaans and Xhosa (and a complete ignorance of words and phrases like ‘native’, ‘the Africans’, ‘the locals’, ‘nothing every happens like it should’, ‘our domestic’, or ‘I must introduce you to a little shop I know. They only sell imports, its just lovely’). This is not to say there aren’t some great Brits living here, because truly there are. But my goodness we also have our fair share of utter fools (Mark Thatcher ring any bells?!).

So I have a suggestion. How about we use the excess money generated by the many hard working immigrants to the UK to administer language and citizenship tests, not to them, but to Brits abroad. After all, there are more people leaving Britain than arriving, so in terms of volume those emigrating should be our biggest concern. Perhaps when the results came out, we might learn not to be so harsh on immigrants after all.

0 comments.

a very good article about working as a rural doctor in modern day South Africa

Posted on February 20th, 2008 by annanomsa.
Categories: politics, modern south africa, HIV, dignity, cape town.

can be found here. I strongly suggest you read it.

We went to the launch of the In Our Lives series, newly published by the Treatment Action Campaign at a bookshop in town. It was a truly lovely evening.
Over a drink later, Kat told us about a brilliant South African invention. I’m so proud of South African inventions, we are such a creative nation. This one really tops the bill, go have a look!

0 comments.

Bizarre statement by the Kwazulu-Natal Department of Health

Posted on February 19th, 2008 by annanomsa.
Categories: communication, politics, modern south africa, HIV, what utter bollocks!.

This has just arrived in my inbox from the Treatment Action Campaign. I can’t decide what I’m most horrified by. The fact that a key doctor is being pulled out of a job in a massively under-staffed hospital, the fact that he is being punished for using his initiative to stick to his Hippocratic Oath and to the National Strategic Plan for HIV/Aids, or the absolutely atrocious English!:

TO: ALL MEDIA
DATE: 11 FEBRUARY 2008
EMBARGO: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SUBJECT: Disciplinary action against Dr. Collin Pfaff

The Department of Health in KwaZulu-Natal has charged Manguzi Hospital Acting Medical Manager, Dr. Collin Pfaff for misconduct after he allegedly acted beyond his authority in accepting a donation and implemented a Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission (PMTCT) dual therapy to pregnant mothers and newborn babies without prior permission of his superiors.

Further, it is alleged that he sourced funding from outside the department without following procedures as prescribed by the legislation. If true, this is tantamount to misconduct.

With all these allegations reported to the Department, the matter was investigated and a charge for misconduct was laid against Dr. Collin Pfaff.

We have observed that certain opportunistic politicians takes pleasure to use this matter as a political pawn to score points. We will not allow anyone to pull vulturistic theatrics to mystify this matter for their own political gains. We will continue to put the interest of our people first, unlike these opportunists. We will go ahead with the matter following the prescribed legal process to the letter.

Ends

Issued by:
Mr. Leon Mbangwa
General Manager: Corporate Communication
KwaZulu-Natal: Department of Health

0 comments.

Disability… whose disability?

Posted on February 19th, 2008 by annanomsa.
Categories: disability, communication, bbc.

This was a brilliant reflection by Archbishop Rowan Williams on BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours program, and I implore you to go and listen. And as an added bonus, here’s the transcript, copied from here.

WILLIAMS
I’ve got what I suppose could be described as a very, very mild minor disability in that I have a completely non-functioning left ear, it’s there purely for decorative purposes. And what strikes me about getting used to living with that, which I’ve had since I was two years old, is I suppose the need to explain an invisible problem to people and to do that in a way that doesn’t immediately put them at a disadvantage. Do you start a conversation at the dinner table by saying incidentally I shan’t be able to hear a word you’re saying, I’m deaf in my left ear? And where do you go from there? But I’m also aware of how it impacts on other things - the fact that in a strange way it helps me sleep better because I only have to put one ear on the pillow and that it also gives me a strain in my neck and shoulders if I’m turning round at an odd angle to listen to people on public occasions. So this very, very small experience is one that sends out tendrils in different directions. It makes me think about invisible disability - what is it that I don’t see that’s likely to be a problem; it makes me think about how something apparently very trivial and very local can actually affect the whole of your body without your quite realising it.

The business of invisible disability and how you explain also makes me think a bit about disability and communication and the fact that quite often people feel, in a very metaphorical sense, disabled when they meet people who have a very visible, very obvious, disability, they don’t know what it’s like and they don’t know what to say. And one of the most common problems, I think, that people feel when they’re introduced, let’s say, to somebody who has cerebral palsy, cases like that, people don’t know how to talk to them. They can be jolly, they can patronising or they can just be dumb and sometimes all of them at once in different degrees.

A friend of mine who has a very severely challenged son, who’s now a young adult, once said that her experience was it wasn’t her child who had learning problems, it was she who had learning problems, she didn’t know how to learn what his life was like. And in a different degree I think that’s something that comes home to anyone who’s had to deal with the question of how to communicate and for me quite a turning point, as when I was a student many years ago and I used to go and work at weekends at a residential home for children with cerebral palsy and the struggle to understand what they were saying and to work out what it was that the uncoordinated movements of the limbs were about always left me feeling utterly powerless, helpless and stupid. And I wonder if that’s not what people are sometimes afraid of. When you’re with people who have real challenges, deep disabilities, you’re left being put in touch with your own vulnerability and your own uselessness, your own lack of omnipotence. And that’s quite hard work. And in a society which really does value being on top of the situation, being cool and powerful and in charge, it’s very threatening and that’s why I think sharing that experience with someone who has real challenges, that’s something that’s actually pretty good for us, for our maturity.

1 comment.

Finally sorting B’s communicator

Posted on February 18th, 2008 by annanomsa.
Categories: disability, communication, B, honesty, getting it together.

I am at a ‘desperately need to get myself together and get things organised’ point in my life. I struggle greatly to motivate myself to complete the simplest of tasks, and it is making me miserable.

Last year in February, I recorded some simple words and phrases on B’s communicator and made the paper grids with a felt pen, as an interim measure. Last time I checked, interim measures shouldn’t last for a year! But I’ve finally sorted it. Last sunday I went to my neighbour’s house and asked her daughters to record the communicator full of words and phrases that myself and B’s teacher had worked on. (Ideally, B should have been part of this, I know, I’m not following best practise here. But logistics and time just do not allow). And today, after seeing the look of delight on her face yesterday when I handed her a communicator that sounds like she would sound if she could speak properly, I’ve finally got round to making the grids on the computer that her teacher will laminate, using a free trial of a communicator program I found on the internet. It feels great to get stuff done, I really should learn from this sense of satisfaction and complete things on time that I have promised more often.

0 comments.

Happy Valentines Day, you’re going to hell…

Posted on February 14th, 2008 by annanomsa.
Categories: happy, in love, him, not so single any more!.

In fairness, we’ve done pretty well until now. I expected to meet more judgement than I have about R and I’s relationship and the way we decide to conduct it. We do get a lot of racist stares, its true, but until today I hadn’t heard the phrase ‘living in sin’. Imagine my shock, at 7am whilst buying bread, to find myself at the receiving end of a lecture from the corner shop owner. ‘Qur’an or Bible, it all says the same thing’. I thought about retorting with some theological point, something about ‘let him who is without sin cast the first stone’ and what Allah would think about him selling cigarettes, but it was 7am and I really couldn’t be bothered.

Anyway, Happy Valentines everyone. For the last, oooh I don’t know, twelve years maybe, I’ve hated this day, with mutterings of ‘bloody commercial crap’ and an avoidance of going out at all costs. But now that I’ve met my love, I can’t help but enjoy today. Not because I like it necessarily, but because it is nice to realise that every other year on this day I have felt lonely, and today I am not.

So it is that I find myself cooking cannelloni for the first time, looking for recipes for plum tartlets on the internet, making special earrings (picture later, when they’re finished!), and generally just being a girly girl. Bugger it, sometimes I don’t have the energy for being a cynic!

2 comments.

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