Morning all you good people, where ever u are....Hope that you are all in good spirit, healthy and at the least have the energy to muster up all the muscles required to form a smile.

This week i have no quips, nor complaints so i'll take the opportunity to excercise a phrase that i heard plenty times when i was growing up...should have practiced it more often, but i guess i prefferd the consequences of not...and that phrase is..."if you have nothing useful to say, just say nothing"

Wish you all a good week, and a fantastic weekend, if you are writing CFA on saturday, all the best to ya....

I tried but i failed, just cant shut it, got this litlle passage from Nasrin, thx, thought it best not to keep it to myself...happy reading, it holds a great message!!

Every morning you should ask yourself "What one thing could I do today that would make a positive difference in my life and the lives of those around me?" And then go out and do it. "ME" I hear you say "Me, little old me, how can I possibly make a difference. I am not important, or powerful, or rich, I am just an ordinary citizen struggling to make a living. How can I make a difference?"
Well the very first thing that you should do is to change your attitude about yourself, because until you think that you are special you won't be. Until you can recognise the magnificent potential that is locked up in side you, strapped down by all those negative beliefs, you will not be able to release it and live to your full potential.
The great tragedy of life is that so many people go to their graves with their lives unlived. They had dreams that they never acted on. They were too busy living the sort of life that was expected of them. They were so busy trying to please other people, often at the expense of their own desires, that they had no time for their own happiness.
This you must know, there are people who love you, there are people who care about you but until you learn to love yourself, until you learn to care about yourself, until you learn to respect yourself, you will never truly appreciate the love, care and respect of others.
You have the greatest power of any living thing on this planet. You have the power of choice. You have the power to chose how to behave, what to say and when to say it. You have the power to control your attitude. You have the power to make a difference.
You have the power to choose whether your words build or break. You can choose whether your contribution is constructive or destructive. You can choose whether your influence is positive or negative.
Choose to make difference. Choose to look for the positive in all things and if you really cannot find something positive to say or do, then rather do and say nothing. What ever you do, do not add to the negative. Choose to be a centre of certainty in an uncertain world. Choose to create a climate of hope and enthusiasm in yourself and the people around you.
Realise that you do not have to do something earth shattering to make a difference. It's the little things that often have the greatest impact. A smile, a friendly word, a compliment, a helping hand, a sympathetic ear, these are the things that you can do every day and the only cost is that you put your ego in your pocket for a while and you give your attention to the other person's feelings.
Learn to get your satisfaction from helping others to feel better about themselves and their lives. Have the courage, because you love and respect yourself and you realise that you are a wonderful person, to reach out to others confident and secure in your own strength.
When you were born you were given the gift of life, may to-day be the day that you accept that gift. Realise that you were designed for accomplishment, engineered for success and endowed with the seeds of greatness. Strip off your suit of worry and despair, put on the armour of belief and enthusiasm then march boldly into life. Take no timid steps, think no timid thoughts. Dare to become all you are capable of becoming. Dare to "Change your life from making a living to making a difference."

This weeks birthdays...

27th Madam Monica Pawadyira
29th Lauren Wick, Delia F, and Little Nyame Kye (this little kid is the stud of all studs, his name translated means Gods gift, if u wanna hear the story mail me and i'll fill u in)
31st AC Simonsz

Happy bday to u all hope your birthdays are or in the case of Monica, were, great and in the words of Bernie Mac...good livin, good livin!!

Quote(s)
Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well. Mahatma Gandhi
As long as you derive inner help and comfort from anything, keep it. Mahatma Gandhi
Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity, or undue depression in adversity. Socrates

Respect...

When the nite has come and the land is dark and the moon is the only lite we will see, no i wont be afraid no i wont be afraid, just as long as u stand, stand by me...

Eita amacherries and amajitas,

Whats going on? Not a heluva lot this end of the world, as usual just keepin on keepin on...News in SA today, well there is the trial of 21 right wing Boeremag members in Pretoria this week. They are facing charges of treason. And I hope the motherforkers get the firing squad, nothing boils my blood more than racists, think i have said that before.

So here i sit another week, what the future holds know not i do, what to write again me fails. A topic i have though borrowed it might be, a noteable one indeed it may be. For those of us who in this concrete world...oh fork it. Guess i wasnt meant to be a poet. Guys how often does the weekend dawn upon us and we dont know what to do, should we like go out to the same wack clubs we go to all the time cos there is nothing else to do, just sit at home and think oh crap i should go out, or do u sometimes think like i do and feel i just wish i could get away...and u can, but instead u choose to do the same ol same ol.

Well thanks to my mate Guilia, i have decided that sometime soon, i a gonna try round up a possie, and we go out to the outskirts of Joeys and beyond even...but me being the useless guy that i am, i have no idea where to go, this is where u guys come in. Please do us all a favour and go onto the much talked about and visited website...not, well here is your chance, even gonna put the link here http://mondaymail.blogspot.com, all u gotta do is go on the site tell us where u been that was worth going to, around south africa for now, guess u could add overseas too. Cos in the words of Bobby Brown, oh so long ago..."i gotta get away..." need the time away time to ponder, time to reflect, time away from this madness we call life, time to pull yourself towards yourself, u know that whole let your soul be your pilot thing and in my case time to conjure(confirm not a bad word for so late a monday afternoon) up new stalking techniques

Birthdays this week...
22nd Sir Lancelot...happy ...st my cous, hope it's a ripper, perhaps we go get hammered, u know me and thursdays
23rd Auntie Millie, for all who know her, dont forget to holler at her
24th Amrain, been a long time las, hope u well, have a fanatastic saturday.

Anyone else i may have overlooked, if its not in my head or in my diary, its cos ur punkarss aint given it to me, but happy happy and may the one who has made u, shine their lite on ur path...

Quotes
Life is too important to take seriously. Corky Siegel
And with the word at war as it currently is here are some applicable quotes (rui thanks for the idea)
The name of peace is sweet, and the thing itself is beneficial, but there is a great difference between peace and servitude. Peace is freedom in tranquillity, servitude is the worst of all evils, to be resisted not only by war, but even by death. Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)
First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others. Thomas a Kempis(1380 - 1471), 1420
On that note i am out like a lightbulb that has just blown out....

As always respect to the masses, and remember be safe, cos as true as my name is Yaw, AIDS is out there and it can get U. In the words of Dr Alban, roll down the rubber man....

Hows about a blast from the past, remember this song at the school discos, u know the song that had all the boys scampering to find the las to slow dance with, and all the ladies standing there lookin all pretty hopin THE one would come ask her to slow dance....it goes a little something like this "if i had to live my life without you near me the days would all be empty, and the nights would seem so long, you i see forever oh so clearly, i might have been in love before...our dreams are young and we both know they'll take us where we wanna go, hold me now, touch me now i dont wanna live without u....Glen Madieros. Some of us scampered to go find the one to dance with, others of us decide to serenade the one with this very song on their wedding day...Big up Mr H, maximum respect!!

Another full week, well not unless u live in the UK, bank holiday yesterday. I guess the honeymoon is over. Oh well!!

2 new additions to the list, Thuli, Maud, Smangi, Nhlanhla, Zaheer, Swati and Fiki, welcome to u both, comments are very welcome on http://mondaymail.blogspot.com, speaking of the site, for crying out loud, sum of u all tell me we need a forum to comment on matters raised and yet there are hardly any comments left on the site, come on now!! Another thing, please, if at anytime you feel that this is a waste of space, please drop me a line and i will remove you from the list.

Sue and Peters, lovely seeing u all this weekend, pleasant surprise! Other than that nuffin exciting going on in Yawza's life, no one is complaining cos i is stalking too close, no new complaints of me being a deranged, useless lunatic, kinda boring int'it, but its all good

No war to speak of, even though no weapons of mass destruction have been earthed, the whole Iraq issue seems to have been sept under the carpet and life goes on. Speaking of life, unfortunate to hear that the great Walter Sisulu passed away of natural causes last nite, he was 2 weeks short of his 91st birthday. Now who is Walter Sisulu some might ask, well here is a little story about him and the system against which he fought. Most of the details here are from Walter Sisulu's Hero file, which I sourced from the internet, www, what a gem!!!

Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu was born on the 18th May 1912 in Engcobo in the Transkei(loads of good people were raised in those parts ;-)). He joined the ANC in 1940. He together with the late Oliver Tambo and the great Nelson Mandela formed the ANC Youth League in 1944. 4 yrs later the National Party won the all white South African election. The backbone of their campaign that was based solely on instituting apartheid as a law. So when they came into power, they set out implementing their plan of totally separating all the races, because by this time, every person in south africa had been classified as either black, white, coloured and asian. Anyway so off to work they went, every single race was allocated an area in which to live, own facilities like parks, beaches, toilets...(and trust me there were more than enough signs alerting you to the fact that u could not use the 'nice' facilities), mixed marriages were prohibited, separate universities were set up for ACI's(african, coloureds, indians), even the education imparted at the schools of the non-whites, was what the government saw as fitting for a native. To supress the 'non-whites' even more, you could not travel without a pass and the police were given the powers to presume a man guilty until he could prove his innocence. There was even and act of government called the native administration act passed in 1950, that banished africans to rural areas...Shaite was tight back then, and someone had to do something

So in 1949, 17 December to be exact, the youth league's 'program of action' was adopted by the ANC. The intention of this action was to use boycotts, strikes, civil disobedience and noncooperation to achieve full citizenship as well as direct parliamentary representation, for all the citizens of SA. During this same year, Walter Sisulu was elected the ANC's secretary general.

In 1952, the ANC called on the government to repeal its hugely discriminatory laws, during this period Walter Sisulu led the first wave of passive resisters. The governments response...well F U K@##$%S here are some harsher penalties for protesting againt apartheid. 8500 people were arrested including mr sisulu, he was sentenced to 9 months, but it was suspended for 3 years due to the non-violent nature of the campaign, but imagine this, now here is a court that hates u cos u r black, and do u know what he stands up in the court and says before his sentencing "I wish to make this solemn vow and in full appreciation of the consequences it entails. As long as i enjoy the confidence of my people, and as long as there is a spark of life and energy in me, I shall fight with courage and determination for the abolition of discriminatory laws and for the freedom of all south africans irrespective of colour or creed. Well time passed and they carried on in their non-violent ways in the hope that they could convince the government to abolish their laws.

in 1953, OT, Nelson and Sisulu along with 153 others were arrested for high treason and charged under the supression of communism act(u see back in the day if u were against the government, then u were a communist and communism in SA was outlawed back then). Any way in 1961, all of them were acquitted on all counts.In 1959, an extremist group slits from the ANC and the PAC is born. in 1960, the forced relocation of ACIs from areas designated for whites begins to homelands and other other areas began. In 1963 the PAC called on africans to meet outside police stations without their passes and challenge the police to arrest them, dumb move...anyway the protest turns violent, and 69 africans lose their lives a further 186 are wounded, most of the dead were shot in the back...nice one!! this all happened in sharpville by the way. Well the protests and plenty people were arrested, including the leaders of the ANC and PAC. Both parties were banned and Walter sisulu was arrested and detained without trial for 5 months, dont even wanna know what happened to him in those 5 months, i watch movies, i know what interrogators do to suspects ;-). Well the ANC at this time went into stealth mode.

In 1961, SA is exelled from the commonwealth and on 31st May the Republic of SA is born.This came about through a whites only referendum, the ANC was bleak so they stepped out of stealth mode for a sec to organise a mass protest, once again the government responds in the same old fashion and brings in even harsher and tougher laws, the ANC was as bleak as David Banner, just before he becomes the Incredible Hulk, gloves were off, no more Ghandi style protests. in November MK (Uukhonto we Sizwe...'the spear of the nation') was formed, this was the military wing of the ANC. Walter Sisulu was placed in charge of MK's political commisioner, and he sets about putting up regional commands. Soon after they started sabotaging the government and economic installations. Sisulu was arrested 6 times and placed under a 13 hr house arrest. in 1963 he was convicted of promoting the aims of the banned ANC and sentenced to 6 years in prison. He was released on bail pending an apeal, on 19 April he went into stealth mode, but whilst underground, he broadcast a message that MK will fight..'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, sheesh, there could have been a whole lot of blind and toothless people in those times, might explain some of the bergies in CT ;-)

On the 11th July, Walter, Nelson and other ANC leaders are arrested in a larney house in Rivonia, and unfortunately for them there is plenty arms and ammunition there, hence a charge of treason and plotting to overthrow the government is what they had to defend against in during the so caled 'Rivonia Trial',. On 11 June 1964, 8 of the accused in the Rivonia Trial, including Sisulu and Mandela are convicted, their punishment? Life imprisonment on Robben Island, 7km off the coast of Cape Town. During his time in prison, Walter Sisulu completed his BA in art history and anthropology.

In 1973, the UN declared apartheid a crime against humanity. The Portugese withdrew from Angola and Mozambique in 1975, and this facilitated the setting up of training camps for MK in these countries. on the 23 October, with the blessing of the Yanks, South africa was given the all clear to invade Angola, the SA forces came within 100km of Luanda, the capital of Angola, and they had to hightail outta there cos Fidel Castro had sent some 10000-12000 troops to assist the Angolan cause.

16 June 1976 was the start of the Soweto uprisng, it was the uprising of the scholars against the use of Afrikaans as a medium of expression in the schools. Their protests were met with clouds of tear gas and a hail of bullets, to which their response was mad looting and rioting and burning down of government buildings, more than 500 people lost their lives, thousands were arrested and plenty more went into exile. another important event this year, was the birth of Yaw Peprah.

In 1977 there was an embargo placed on arm sales to SA, capital was fleeing the country due to uncertainty, the economy was in a bad way, apartheids flaws were begining to rear their welcome heads. In 1983, the UDF was formed to try and persuade the government to alter its stance, Bishop Desmond Tutu steps to the plate as the Fronts loudest voice. Anyway in 1984 in the face of a struggling economy, the governmenr decides cool lets allow coloured and asians to have their own separate little houses of parliament, but sorry for the negros, u all still smell bad so stay away. it didnt work! by 1985 879 poeple had died as a result of unrest, about 90 US companies pull out of SA, things are not looking good in SA, standard of living drops, inflation rises, a state of emergency is declared..the first since 1960, sharpville. In 1986, sanctions against SA are instituted, bank loans, air links, investments..u name it, they are all terminated, even the importation of certain goods from SA, shaite is thigther than frogs bum. Raids from MK worsen, police retaliation escalates so too the price of bread, thanks to inflation, in 1989, Nelson meets PW Botha, Botha resigns and FW becomes king, during this time they start negotiating the terms of the release of Nelson. on 2 Feb 1990, FW announces that Nelson is to be released, the SACP, ANC, the PAC and any other banned political party are also 'unbanned. On the 11 Feb Nelson is released. By April 1991, 833 of the countries 2500 political prisoners were released, on 5 June it became alright for Negros to own land in urban areas, thanks hey guys, now brothers can own land where they were born, with this came the abolishment of the group areas act, most of the sanctions were lifted by the international community. And can u believe it, in 1992 white south africans overwhelmingly voted yes in a referundum, seeking to find out if the reform of apartheid should be continued...which leads me to the next question, if u hated apartheid so much, y didnt someone speak out? could have saved so many lives, so much suffering.

Neway in 1994 the ANC wins the national election and the rest is history.

Walter Sisulu was just about 30 when he set out to fight for what he belived in, took him a good 50 years to win the war, many battles were won in the interim, how many of us today would make so great a selfless sacrifice? Who me, hell, all i want is my fat paycheck and R600k Porsche!!

Go in Peace

Birthdays...
5th Peace and Nana Sao happy birthday to both of u all, hope u had wonderful days
7th Shakira happy happy girl
9th dear sis Nana hope friday is all that and a bag of potatoes, keep smiling cos everything will be as u wish it to be!!

Happy mothers day for the 11th and if i missed anyones day, hope its a blast.

respek