MJoTA.org

13 September 2009

This week is huge in New York City because after months of working hard listening to constituents and explaining what is being done about their concerns, the whole of New York City Council is up for election on Tuesday, which is 15 September.

MJoTA is currently published by Emerald Pademelon Press, but is transitioning over to being published by a non-profit foundation, MJoTA Africa Foundation, and one of the rules is that we do not take sides politically. We do not, and I have been most careful not to become at all involved in the political issues of New York City Council. From my point of view, I am impressed with anyone who wants to go through the grind and present himself or herself for election to public office. I had an inlaw who was Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, and I ran for New South Wales Parliament myself in 1978; but mostly, members of my family have stayed out of political office because we did not have a burning need to help in that way.

Two New York City Councilmembers are greatly of interest to MJoTA, and will continue to be whether they succeed in this week's election; first because they are the only Africans in New York City Council, and because they are both medical professionals. I have met both of them a number of times and know that neither of them wanted political office, but they stepped up to the plate when no-one else of their caliber did. They are both modest men, neither of them like having their picture taken at all, but they are both quietly confident as they battle for their largely African constituents.

I was delighted to see Dr Stewart at 3am on Labor Day as the Grandmarshalls and their media people gathered in Prospect Park surrounded protectively by 20 smiling policewomen and policemen.

I am the media person for Global Caribbean Representation, which is led by Brother Austin H Tuitt, aka Mighty Skylark, a well-known musician and singer from Trinidad. This meant that I collected him from his home at 2am, and we drove around explaining that we needed to park inside Prospect Park, yes inside, because Brother Tuitt was a Grandmarshall. We were waved in by Sergeant Myers, a competent policewoman who had organized the security logistics, and even brought out the Police Inspector to protect the Grandmarshalls.

A third Grandmarshall whom I know well is Sidique Wai, a charismatic community leader who was, I heard from the lips of the current Police Commissioner, a thorn in the side of the New York City Police for decades as he advocated for the African communities. Seems to me what happened was Mr Wai wore them all down, and eventually they realized that they could better serve New Yorkers in the African communities by hiring Mr Wai as community liaison. And so, since 2004, Mr Wai has been African communities liaison to the Commissioner of Police, Mr Raymond Kelly.

At 3:30 am we were all shepherded into a police van, and driven to the start of the parade at Empire Boulevard. So many smiling police. The Grandmarshalls, and there were 8 altogether, including a lady who runs a nursing home and the main Grandmarshall, who represents a union, were well photographed and well protected. At least 60 police immediately guarding us, and about 10 cars and vans, and more police all along the route.

The concept of having police guard and protect and nurture Africans is wonderful, and this has resulted largely because a huge institution, and the Inspector told me that NYPD has 30,000 police officers, has great leadership which is based on the understanding that each New Yorker has the right to be safe.

WAW 20090913

31 August 2009

West Indian Labor Day in Brooklyn

12 August 2009

Gosh, so far, I have met 1 Nigerian governor, representatives of 2 others and I will meet a 4th in 2 weeks. I have also met a man who wants to replace one of them. Nigerian governors are way cool; and they are all trying really hard. God bless them all, and God bless Nigeria.

The one I met, Governor of Edo State, spoke eloquently without notes for 90 minutes, and when he ended the audience of Nigerians from Edo State stood up and applauded. I know every Nigerian I meet wants to fix Nigeria, wants to bring prosperity, wants to stop women and children dying during birth, and if they survive that, from malaria, tuberculosis, polio, HIV/AIDS, and most often, diarrhea. The Governor talked about going back to the schools of his youth, and seeing that the roofs were falling in and they were lacking clean drinking water. This is modern Nigeria, outside Victoria Island, outside the houses and communities of the wealthy. In Nigeria, drinking water comes in plastic bags and bottles, and that needs to be addressed first. I know 2 Nigerian entrepeneurs who are trained engineers who are doing everything they can to bring sources of clean water to communities in Nigeria. They need to succeed.

WAW 20090812

11 August 2009

I saw this today and I am grieving. I met Ken in 2001, sent to him because he needed a medical writer who was a scientist and who understood his theory of blood viscosity, understood physiology, understood that all he wanted to do was bring understanding of a technology that would cost little and would bring care into the hands of patients. Ken had many, many patents, he was always larger than life, a tall, good-looking blond man who always looked like the farmboy and gymnast that he had been, with a razor-sharp intellect and an Achilles heel of trusting too many people. I published a book for him, and later on, worked on editing it for the second edition. I remember editing a chapter while watching on television American soldiers pulling down a statue of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. That was what Ken was trying to do: take down the parts of the medical establishment that refused to understand that the body works better when the blood isn't clogged. Ken is dead, and the world is bereft a genius.

24 July 2009

Definition of stupidity: police officer going on national radio saying he was right and he will never apologize when his Mayor and his President has said on CNN that he was an idiot to arrest Professor Gates. Freedom of speech is a beautiful thing. Even idiots have the right to say whatever they want.

Even so, I would say his days in his job should be numbered. Would another policeman want an idiot as backup? In Cambridge Massachusetts, they are probably looking for policemen whose mouths are sewn shut who don't have hands so they won't handcuff distinguished Harvard professors.

I was taught in Australia in Physiology in 1971 that the only requirement for a policeman's brain was that it be 6 feet from the ground. That may not have changed over nearly 40 years and 12,000 miles.....

But was the arrest of Professor Henry Louis Gates jr racism? Like the President, I know Professor Gates, although I am sure he would not remember me. The father of my 2 older sons, Raymond T Pekala MD graduated from Yale in 1973, in the same class as Professor Gates. I remember a lazy May evening sitting on the grass in the Yale University grounds, eating lobster and listening to chatter between members of the class that included Professor Gates.  I remember he was the only person of obvious African ancestry in that group of about 10 alumnae, of course we all came from Africa.

I would get the officers arrested for trespassing. You don't have to be black for this kind of nonsense; the first time my German ex-husband stayed at my house (he was visiting from Germany) he was upstairs and heard a noise, and stood at the top of the stairs and 3 policeman pointed guns at him. In my house! He called me and I talked to the officers and it took some minutes before they went away. He didn't argue with them, immediately stuck his hands up in the air. Otherwise I would have had to clean up a dead German from my stairs. The police are not your friends in the US: they are not there to protect the innocent. Professor Gates knew his rights, and that proved disastrous for a distinguished academic who believed he was right to expect a quiet night in his own house after an exhausting trip back from making a movie in China.

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27 June 2009

Two days of meetings to discuss the concept of creating a self-sustaining, indigenous pharmaceutical industry. We had 10 fully-engaged professionals talking about the concept for 2 days. We need to keep our eyes on the prize, and our hearts pure, and it will happen. So blessed to have so many brilliant professionals involved in the dialog.

After the sessions ended, pharmaceutical industry professional and medical writing teacher Angus Dodgson Pekala MS showed up and took medical writer Andrew J Reinhart MS and me to Philadelphia old city to stroll around his previous neighborhood, and watch fireworks bursting near the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. A perfect way to celebrate an extraordinary week, and the launching of the MJoTA Africa Foundation.

WAW 20090627

WASHINGTON D.C. -- In commemoration of the Day of the African Child, The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) today released a report titled Two Decades of Progress: USAID's Child Survival and Maternal Health Program. http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PDACN044.pdf

08 June 2009

Ethiopia celebrated 18 years of independence today in Manhattan. A community center was filled with Ethiopians who told me they live locally and from Boston, Philadelphia, to listen to a panel discussion, and celebrate.

Spencer Chiimbwe was there, so was Sidack and Siddique Wai. Mr Wai rose to his feet during questions to call for a United States of Africa, united as is the United States of America, or the European Union. This struck a cord with MJoTA, because we are calling for economic cohesion throughout Africa with the creation of a pan-African authority to regulate drugs, devices and biologics.

WAW 20090608

06 June 2009

What do you know, I own a 1994 black Mercedes 600! Last Friday I was called into the New York Echo Publisher's office and told that he had 2 surprises, one was a big contract he had landed, and the other was he bought me a car. I had it registered and insured after Chief Lookman Sulaimon (the Publisher) gave me the title. Well, the man he bought it from on Friday was killed in a car smash on Saturday. My God.

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The power of networking is strong. You have to know what, but to get the contract you want, knowing who can be enormously helpful. However, have no illusions that those who know who just fell into them: a lot of hard work went into this seemingly effortless encounter that resulted in a publisher's editor dancing on the ceiling of the moon:

"The deal with US publisher, Viking, was negotiated by Robert Barnett, better known as the literary representative for political leaders, like US President Barack Obama and former president, George W Bush. Barnett says he met Streisand through mutual friends and Barnett clients, Bill and Hillary Clinton."

The deal is for a book by Barbra Streisand, a favorite child of New York City.

How does this translate to an action plan for building a microcosm pharmaceutical industry in Africa, and starting the call for all-Africa pharmaceutical regulations based in the African Union? We have called a meeting on 26 and 27th June in South Jersey and we are starting with concept documents, and we have started a non-profit, MJoTA Africa Foundation Inc. Baby steps, but meanwhile we are shaking the hand of every African we can, telling all that we need their support, we need sparks set off in villages by sons and daughters of the villages, to make this work. Because the health and wealth of Africa depends on peace (first), and the ability to control the health of alll Africans by Africans.

01 June 2009

The Annual Yoruba convention was held in New York City over the weekend, starting off with a Democratic Liberty Forum. Talks about how 10 years of democracy in Nigeria have not reached expectations, and how murder is occasionally a tool to slience critics. Gosh. Saturday night was a Gala Ball, after which a group of us moved on to a 50th birthday party; Saturday nights when I am in the presence of Yorubas never ends before daylight on Sunday. After an hour or 2 of sleep, I was off to a church service in the Bronx, celebrating Pentecost with more cheerful Nigerians.

MJoTA has detected a disturbing trend in a small number of the many Nigerians of her acquaintance: the need to show wealth in poverty. She has discovered that a Nigerian she knows has bought a Mercedes to drive around when this person has a failing business, only debts, and lives in New York City public housing. She has also observed at close hand many celebratory parties and funerals that cost thousands of dollars, when those that pay the bills can pay for little else than the basic necessities, and have gone into debt to display their wealth-on-credit. MJoTA once heard a sermon about the evils of credit cards from Pastor Agbeja, senior pastor in the Washington district; and now realizes why the sermon was given.

WAW 20090601

25 May 2009

Happy Memorial Day!

I have been in New York City since Thursday, when I arrived to listen, photograph, and report on a 3-hour symposium at the American Bar Association, called "Conversations on Somalia". The American Bar Association building is on 44th Street, so when I came out of the subway I walked through Times Square and the theater district. So much on display. The building itself is a marble and gold beauty; we heard speakers bear witness to Somalia in an auditorium whose walls were lined with portraits on Supreme Court Justices.

Somalia is a failed country, which has the misfortune to have a majority with a religion that the United States, which is founded on the need to separate church and state, does not like.

20 May 2009

I met Mohamed Keita last night during a converstaion on Somalia by several knowledgeable Somalis, and an American diplomat. Mohamed and a colleague talked about how dangerous Somalia is to journalists. Mohammed sent me this news release this morning.

18 May 2009

I drove to Washington on Friday to hang out with some exceedingly successful humans who have rallied around an extraordinary family.

The family is headed by Dr Godwin Onyema, who has delivered a lot of babies the past few decades in Chicago. He was born to a poor family in a village in the middle of Nigeria, and was inspired to study medicine by his teacher's wife, Mrs Dr Phillips.  They were English missionaries. He wanted to be like her, and he was put in charge of the school dispensary to hand out sticking plasters and aspirin and wash cuts. Powerful stuff, healing, making a small difference. The taste of the power of healing was strong, and he focused on his studies when he had no chance of ever studying medicine at Nigeria's first medical school at the University of Ibadan. This is a man who believes in miracles, because he has seen them: he was successful in passing the exams for acceptance into medical school, and at the same time, the Nigerian government gave scholarships to everyone wanting to study medicine and agriculture.

When he graduated from medical school the whole village rejoiced, and as poor as they were, gathered all the cash they could to buy him a present. This story I heard in Washington from Dr. Dave Mbonu, the son of his best friend in the village in Nigeria. I was expecting to hear that they bought him a pen and awarded it to him in a ceremony. I have seen poor villages in Nigeria, and no-one from his village had never graduated from university. No, not a pen, the village bought him a car, a Volkswagen, in 1970. At that time in Australia my own father was 25 years past graduation in medicine, and drove a Volkswagen.

That is what impressed me most. The village was completely behind him, the community gave food out of their own mouths to buy the car because they did not want to just give him a present, they wanted him to know how much his achievement meant to them, and how much they expected of him. That present was a message sent over the decades that Dr Onyema has listened to every day of his life, and organized his career to answer.

Two years after medical school Dr Onyema realized he could not help his community as much as he liked by staying in Nigeria, so he moved to Chicago and started the long and difficult process of licensing as an obstetrician and gynecologist. Along the way he married a nurse, Josephine Nma Onyema; and together they produced 2 sons, Afam Onyema and Gozie Onyema, and 2 daughters, Ebele Onyema and Nche Onyem. I have only met the male half of the family, Dr Onyema and his brilliant and accomplished sons, who are both law graduates, and were both there on Friday night supporting their father's promise to his village that he made to them when he accepted his first car.

Dr Onyema has always kept in contact with his village, he returns there yearly or more frequently, he sends back money, he has relatives still living there. This village is his community, and sometime since 1970, probably before then, he decided that he needed to build them a hospital. To do this the GEANCO Foundation was started, a non-profit organization with the short-term goal of building a hospital in his village, but the long-term goal of restoring dignity and honor to the name of Nigeria. These are goals that MJoTA has too, and so MJoTA fully supports the GEANCO mission, and urges you to as well.

The hospital is still a business plan, but progress is being made.

I cornered Dr Onyema before the meeting started because I needed some questions answered. My main question was how he was managing to build a hospital without paying anyone bribes. He told me he has relatives in Nigeria who walked the permits through the state health ministry and public works ministry, and the governor of the state gave them 200 acres of land on which to build. I asked him what would happen if the next governor revoked the promise of land, he told me that the community would not let that happen. This is their hospital, they want it, they own it, and no-one is going to stop this happening.

So now we know what has to happen to build a hospital in Nigeria, and this probably works for all of Africa. The prime mover has to be extremely comfortable in both Africa and in a rich developed country. Completely comfortable. This will not work if the prime mover spends all his time in the Nigerian community in the developed country or only enjoying the fruits of the developed country. Afam graduated from Harvard College, where he played football, and then from Stanford Law School., and has frequently traveled to Nigeria. His Harvard friends came to the meeting, as did his Stanford friends. I read in an article written for the Stanford University magazine that the Law School has forgiven all Afam's debts so he can work full-time as Chief Operating Officer at GEANCO. Gozie is a lawyer in Washington, he organized the meeting, and has organized annual meetings in Washington the past 3 years. He works for a firm that investigates fraud, and has frequently traveled back to Nigeria for work investigating Nigerian firms.

We wish them well. They are hosting their biggest annual celebration in Chicago, in their American community Dr Onyema has faithfully served for some decades, on 26 June. More information on what they do and who they are on http://www.geanco.org.

13 May 2009

We are 3 months into the implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. I want to know: how are we doing? I heard this week that the favorite coffee shop for over 2 decades of school children, writers, small business people is being closed down because the cost of the lease makes the owners unable to make a living any longer. Three Beans, Haddonfield. This is the economic crash for me: a safe hang-out for kids with no alcohol, within walking distance for anyone in this town. Where will the kids and the small business people go now? I met Halina because of this shop; they adopted an old lady who had resisted the German attack on her beloved Poland and her beloved fellow artists and singers. They were part of the fabric of the community, more in need of foreclosure assistance than any business or home I can think of. We re-elected our Mayor yesterday, Tish Colombi. Just one question: where will the kids go now?

Postscript: Halina died on D-Day in 2004. Sixty years to the day when the promise that hope brings was realized, but at great cost. She had asked me to write her autobiography, but blindness, deafness and a lifetime of not trusting anyone made that an impossible task at 87. I listened to her, did my best to cut out anything she learned from the History Channel, and wrote a short story giving her story. This is part of a collection of short stories in Eagles Lightning Lavendar, which bears witness to young victims of the crimes of leaders that led to the European wars and turmoils between 1914 and 1945.

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08 May 2009

On 07 May 2009 I was privileged to witness 2 leaders in action in New York City: both are trained health professionals, one even now has an active practice in foot medicine and surgery (Dr Kendall Stewart); the other chose to not pursue United States credentialling in the practice of medicine (Dr Mathieu Eugene). They care about health in New York City, they care about health in Africans: they are both from Caribbean countries (Dr Stewart: St Vincent; Dr Eugene: Haiti) and they are both sons of Africa.

And they are good friends. After meeting with African Diaspora health professionals in Brooklyn, Dr Eugene drove to Dr Stewart's event, where he was given an award. Dr Stewart spoke first, explaining Dr Eugene's contribution to the health and well-being of New Yorkers, and of his connection to the African Diaspora in New York, as well as to Haitian-Americans. They both serve in the Black, Asian and Latino Caucus in New York City Council. On April 20,I heard them both speak eloquently in the need for immigration reform in the City Council Immigration Committee, in particular in support of Haitians in the United States being recognized for serving and dying in the United States military, and in support of Haitians being given asylum in the United States because for many, return to Haiti will result in rapid execution for speaking out against human rights violations. On that day I learned that recruitment for the United States military is not only of US citizens inside the 50 states, but of non-US citizens outside the United States. And I heard that a non-citizen soldier does not have the same rights, living or dead, as a US citizen soldier.

Dr Stewart handed out more than a dozen awards during the community event in the gorgeous ballroom in New York City. Local African Diaspora achievements were celebrated and friends and supporters  of the awardees were cheered on, as were the 2 Councilmembers; and MJoTA and New York Echo was there to bear witness.

WAW 20090508

Oramed Pharmaceuticals Announces Launch of Phase 2B Clinical Trials in South Africa of its Oral Insulin Capsule. JERUSALEM, Israel – May 5, 2009 – Oramed Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCBB: ORMP.OB; www.oramed.com), a developer of oral delivery systems, announced that Phase 2b clinical trials start this week on 30 volunteers diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. The study is intended to evaluate the safety, tolerability and efficacy of its oral insulin capsule ORMD-0801. OnQ Consulting, a clinical research organization (CRO) based in Johannesburg, South Africa, will oversee the clinical trials. Oramed will test its first indication for ORMD-0801 on a large group of volunteers over 6 weeks.

In this 6-week randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study, volunteers will be treated in 3 locations in Cape Town. The principle investigators of the study are South African Endocrinologists.

WASHINGTON D.C. - Across Africa, young boys and girls wake up each morning just like children here in the Washington D.C. area. The children are no different; they do chores, eat, play sports, and go to school. That is, if they can survive the mosquito bites that transmit the deadly malaria parasites. Those parasites kill an estimated 3,000 children each day in Africa.

23 April 2009

Happy birthday William Shakespeare! God bless all who through you, learned to love the English language and are excited by its possibilities! Happy St George's Day! The patron saint of my birthplace, England, who slayed a dragon just at the right time. Timing is everything. As it is in malaria. Anyone developing the symptoms of malaria can be dead within 24 hours. Quick and deadly. Or can immediately take 6 pills over 3 days and feel less ill than from a bad cold.

This came from WHO via the number 1 slayer of malaria in the United States, may God bless all that Bill Brieger does:

Malaria Control Program Toolbox launch on RBM website

It is with much pleasure that we are writing to inform you that the RBM Toolbox website for malaria control was launched at

www.rollbackmalaria.org/toolbox/

<http://www.rollbackmalaria.org/toolbox/>.

This new resource provides a critical arsenal of tools and methods to assist countries in their fight against malaria.

The RBM Toolbox contains a wide range of proven tools and methods to plan, manage, implement, and track the progress of malaria control scale-up. They can be adapted and applied to strengthen the capacity of malaria-endemic countries to rapidly scale up and sustain malaria control activities.

We would like to acknowledge and thank all the participating Partners who have contributed to the development of the current tools and look forward to additional tool contributions in the future.

The RBM Toolbox provides opportunities for shared learning by:
•      Promoting the use of tools to improve field results.
•      Promoting best or promising practices and evidence-based decision-making.
•      Facilitating tools sharing with partners and countries.
•      Limiting duplication of efforts.
•      Providing a mechanism for obtaining partner feedback to improve tools and website.
•      Helping identify additional tools needed to support country efforts.

The tools are organized into seven categories: Policies and Strategies, Assessing and Planning, Resourcing and Mobilization, Implementation of Interventions, Implementation Systems, Monitoring and Evaluation, and Advocacy and Communication. Some of the tools have been developed by individual RBM partner organizations; others have been developed by multipartner collaborations. All tools have been tested in malaria-endemic countries.

We would like to personally urge you to inform your colleagues about the RBM Toolbox by announcing the availability of this important new resource in your own World Malaria Day commemoration activities or other relevant events. In addition, you can help us promote its use by linking to the RBM Toolbox website from your organization’s site.

Achieving our ambitious collective goals, as laid out in the Global Malaria Action Plan, means that countries must have access to quality, proven means of tackling malaria. By promoting the toolbox, using and adapting the tools, and providing feedback on the tools and the website, you can continue to play an essential part in ending this disease.

The RBM Toolbox Task Force.

Volunteers for Prosperity was first established on September 25, 2003 by Executive Order 13317. The volunteers, working under the direction of U.S. nonprofits and companies, are deployed to developing countries on flexible, short-term assignments ranging from a few weeks to several months.

21 April 2008

News comes from Kenya, of violence in Central Province, of systematic murders in humans of Kikuyu origin. MJoTA deplores violence in any form, and murder on the basis of race is the most vile.

Reports from Business Daily Africa and other Africa news sources who are on the ground in Kenya are that these murders were motivated by the collapse of the Western economy. We read the flower exports from Kenya have dropped 30%, the transfer of small dollar amounts to family members by remittances has dropped. Less money is in Kenya, and the systematic murder of humans who are Kikuyu was by villagers, using the excuse that the murdered were members of extortion rings. MJoTA cannot say, does not know. But knows completely that murder is the worst barrier to good health, the worst barrier to children growing up healthy and educated.

MJoTA is united in grief for the fallen, for the loss of trust and love between neighbors. We ask for prayers for Kenya, prayers that these obscenties do not spread further, that the grieving and the murderers come to sit at the table together and heal, and that the children left behind are nurtured and loved, and grow up healthy and educated without hate.

WAW 20090421

20 April 2009

Today the United Nations conference on racism starts, and goes on until 24 April, which is St George's Day (the patron saint of England), and the birthday of Shakespeare. Today was the birthday of the most famous racist of the 20th century. Let us hope the conference follows the path of facing and defining racism, and then ending up celebrating with the victories of slaying a dragon and celebrating epic triumphs in stories and plays.

And who does MJoTA define as a racist? And what does MJoTA see as racism? Because of my peculiar lifestyle, I see racism everywhere. I define racism as getting the better of another human solely because of his or her ethnic background. I was the daughter of Irish and English physicians who migrated with my 3 brothers and me to New Zealand, and then, because 3 years in Paradise were all they could handle, to Australia. In Australia I was seen as a Pommie, a member of a filthy species that does not wash. I remember taking 3 showers a day to clean off whatever filth it was that I had carried from England.

The effects of racism are a small girl trying to get clean, and never succeeding. The effects of racism I have seen visited so many times in my African friends and students, who go back to university to acquire yet another master's diploma, another doctorate, and never getting the senior jobs for which these professionals were perfectly qualified several degrees ago.

I have been accused of being a racist by my daughter, whose father is a German physicist and who has an alarm clock for punctuality jammed somewhere high up in her DNA. I tell her that punctuality is German, she is so German. She is offended that what I see as inherited behavior, and she did not inherit it from me, is German. For her, since punctuality is in her DNA, punctuality cannot be separated from her essence of humanity. Which is not German, not British, not African. Today I celebrate her inner clock: she was awarded a silver medal in a boat race on Saturday. That girl can row, and her athleticism was a gift directly from her German ancestors.

Four German brothers grew up a a town in Bavaria, Noerdlingen. Their name was Solomon, they were Jews, and because they were prosperous they were permitted to shed their Jewish name and take the name of the town, so they became Noerdlingers. They all studied at university, one of them, Ernst, earned a PhD in Chemistry, and it was heard at his daughter's funeral that he was the same age and a student friend of Albert Einsten. Ernst and his brothers started a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility near the Main River, near Frankfurt. And after a few years, a rowing club. They all rowed. Ernst's grandson rowed for Germany, and was in the reserve team for the Rome Olympics in 1960. Ernst's grandson is a German physicist, father of my daughter.

All was lost in the second world war, when the racist whose birthday is today seized Jewish properties, ended Jewish lives. Two of the 4 brothers married Jewish women; one family was entirely murdered in the Nazi concentration camps, as were the families of their sister. One family managed to escape to the United States on the last boat that was accepted by the US government. That family stepped on US soil as Episcopalians and did everything they could to erase their history, their religion, everything that was a lightning rod for racism. The most famous family member was Anne Frank, her father was a cousin. My daughter is today in the United States, the closest living relative of Anne Frank. Which is not very close, but that is what racism does. Makes 2nd cousins twice removed closest living relatives.

So my daughter's silver medal is a triumph for racism. Racists have killed individual family members but have not killed the DNA that makes a girl punctual and makes her row fast.

19 April 2009

I have been in New York City a lot this week: Monday and Tuesday I was at the United Nations. MJoTA has been celebrating Immigrant Heritage Week in New York City with Mayor Mike Bloomberg and the Mayor's Commissioner for Immigrant Affairs, Guillermo Linares EdD.

Friday night was a memorial party for a prominent Nigerian musician. Different bands showed up to pay tribute. MJoTA showed up at 1:00am, and the dancing and the music and food really got going at about 2:30am. The drums continued until 4am.

On Saturday, the Nigerian mission to the United Nations hosted Afro American Venture at Nigeria House. Awards were given to Nigerians in the United States who are community leaders. Dr Linares talked about his migration from the Dominican Republic, and how the office was creatd in 2004 to work with immigrants from everywhere. Awardees, which numbered 12, included Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, and MJoTA Managing Editor, Chief Lookman Sulaimon Arohunfale. MJoTA congratulates them all.

After the awards ceremony in Manahattan, MJoTA went to a 25th birthday celebration in a yacht club in Coney Island; and when the club closed at 1:00am, to Newark to a huge hall jammed with dancing Nigerians. A celebration party hosted by a King for his Queen. The first time I have shaken hands with a king. For a decade or so he has run a successful pub in Newark. The drumming went on until 5:30am.

Not a whole lot of sleep before showing up with a bright, shining face to Beulah Church of the Nazarene in Crown Heights at which the Pastor has endorsed Mike Bloomberg for his third term as mayor. Before he went inside the church the Mayor gave a speech, and made a point of chatting with children gathered to see him, and to get his photograph taken with them. During the service, the mayor spoke to the congregation about discussions with President Obama's Administration about making Immigrant Heritage Week national, setting aside the third week in April every year to celebrate immigrant successes, work with immigrant problems.

He also talked about his hopes and dreams for immigrants and for humans of African origin. These are our hopes and dreams, and the hopes and dreams of all of us. MJoTA bears witness, takes no sides in political discussions. So also our partner, New York Echo, which bears witness to the successes and hopes and dreams of all candidates for election in the 2009 New York City elections.

WAW 20090419

12 April 2009

Today is Easter, and the middle of Passover.

I was in New York City yesterday to photograph the printing and delivery of NY Echo, which went to press late on Friday night. Rainy, cold, windy, not a day to photograph anything much, although when I got off the bus in Chinatown I fortuitously misinterpreted my directions and headed into a squall that turned my umbrella inside-out and led to the East River. AT MJoTA we adapt, and since I was in New York, I was able to immediately buy a new umbrella, and I happily took pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge and a ship passing under it.

I had agreed to be interviewed as a subject for a story on good health. I have it, and the author wants to know why. I met my son in 15th street, and together with the author we discussed my peculiar diet (mostly nuts, fruit and tea from Kenya and India) and energy. And Africa, and why so many African businesses that I have observed failing have failed. One word: focus. The focus has to be on a business plan, and the recognition that your people are your most valuable asset. The businesses that I have observed, and been badly burned by, have a single aim, to fulfill a vision the CEO has of being fabulously wealthy,  after capital investment by other non-family members, but have no weekly plan, no daily plan, no routine, and no understanding that when I am working on the business, I see everything that can hurt, everything that can help.

After the interview, and after I bade my son and his wife goodbye to happily buy Thai foods in Chinatown (his wife is a Thai pharmacist with a PhD), I was blown by the cold and wind down 14th Street, where I took refuge in a restaurant so I could figure out how to get to NY Echo. Which was when I saw discord turn into love, and I watched the story of Easter being played at the table where I was sitting writing an assignment for my medical writers.

The blond woman who bought coffee in front of me settled in a table next to a dishevelled old lady, next to the table where I settled. I booted up my computer and got online, and the old lady turned to me and started rolling her eyes and making comments about how she couldn't believe what she was seeing, she couldn't believe what the other woman was doing. I smiled neutrally, no idea what was going on, and not willing to take sides. Finally she said "this is not a flop house." the other woman replied "you should know." The old lady shot back, "takes one to know one." Somewhere in the next few minutes the blond lady decided she had been nasty to someone who life had dumped on, and started asking the old lady if she liked cookies, and would she like coffee, what about a hamburger? The old lady took a while to accept, but finally did, and was happily eating cookies and drinking coffee when the blond lady left, after saying ":I really should not have changed my socks in here, you are right, but my feet were so wet." The old lady said that she was sorry she yelled at her, she shouldnt have.

And then my phone buzzed, and I had a text message from Sophia, whose Jamaican Christian church was putting on a concert that evening. Faced with no information about NY Echo, and a cold and windy Saturday in New York City, I immediately gathered myself and got myself back to Philadelphia for the concert.

The Church is on 53rd Street in Philadelphia, which is an area jammed with African churches. Down the road on 52nd Street is a Nigerian Christ Apostolic Church, down Baltimore Avenue on 58th Street is another Christ Apostolic Church, sister church to the 1st in the Americas Christ Apostolic Church in Brooklyn. That I have tried to get to a number of times, but have yet to get there.

The Jamaican church is large, lively and fun. I chatted with Sophia, and Andrew, and the Lady Doctor who is beautiful, but does not like being photographed: all professionals whom I have photographed in a meeting of the Mayor's Commission on African and Caribbean Affairs, and at a social event for Angola and the Liberian Ball in March. We are all working together on a project to celebrate Africans and Caribbeans in Philadelphia, which is in line with the mission of MJoTA.

I have a long tradition of church hopping and going to revivals. Growing up in Australia, I didn't drink (don't now either) and was not interested in bikes, blokes and non-intellectual pursuits that did not involve books, performance arts or learning. So I checked out different churches and revivals; the best was when Billy Graham showed up in 1968 because of the urgent need to convert Australia to Christianity before the communist domino effect moved across Malaysia and Papua-New Guinea down Australia and grabbed us by the throats. I had exams, 2 years before I finished high school, but after they were over, I went every night to soak up the crowds, the singing, the emotion, watching as my friends took the call to be saved. My closest friends were both pregnant within the year, to other saved people, and being saved they were married quickly. God bless them all.

The call to be saved by Billy Graham is "Just as I am, without one plea, but that my blood is shed for me". I remember watching hundreds, thousands, walk forward to be saved. We all want to be saved, we all need to be saved, we all need to get our act together. And if this walk of humility does it for you, gets you on track, gets you focused, go for it. A number of humans walked forward to the same hymn yesterday, on Sunday morning. I pray that they will all get what they are looking for. And not believe that they are the only ones that know the answer to a good life.

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10 April 2009

Today is the holiest day in the church I was baptized into, the Anglican Church in Ireland. And the holiest day  in a lot of other Christian churches. A day to remember that, after a blooming of hope, all hope can be cut down, vaporized, nailed to a tree, rolled into a tomb. Two days to reflect on the results of the complete abandonment of love and life and total embrace of despair, and then we know that liife goes on and can soar into the heavens, way past the stratosphere.

I really do enjoy Good Friday, and Yom Kippur. Not eating or drinking for a day spent in prayer. My daughter tries to observe Jewish traditions in respect for the genocide of her German Jewish relatives. Ramadan, I remember from sharing a house in the middle of winter in Sweden, with a nuclear engineer from Sudan. My room was next to the kitchen, and I could hear him cheerfully rattling pans as he cooked and ate before sunrise in Mecca. hours before sunrise in Uppsala. Charles Dodgson, my youngest brother,  is a journalist who bears witness to the communications industry throughout Asia; he has fond memories of Ramadan in Afghanistan in the Khyber Pass.

My favorite Good Friday was in my German marital home, a 10-bedroom former hotel on the top of one mountain, but at the foot of another. Winds really rattled around the Black Forest, and the Good Friday in 1996 they mixed with snow which was dumped on us accompanied by thunder and lightning. It really felt like Good Friday, abandoning hope, being punished for sins past and future, cathartic. Especially when interrupted twice for sprints to the Catholic Church surrounded by graves.

Two years ago I celebrated Good Friday by first driving from Philadelphia to Maryland to watch video shot on the beaches and streets of Lagos for a movie on malaria I was making with a Nigerian pastor, drove back to Philadelphia to take part in a service of the Nigerian pentecostal church, Christ Apostolic Church. I was given a Bible verse to interpret, which was interpreted by my Nigerian pastor film-maker as meaning that God turned away from humans. I knew that was not true, God never turns away, but we might think so. Never. I realized a long time ago that as devastating as it is for humans, death is not a tragedy for God. How can any part of the cycle of life be a tragedy for the Creator, the giver and taker of life?

Personally, pragmatism in religion frightens me. I am scared when I hear pastors and chaplains and priests talk about one true way, and everyone who does not know it is damned. When I hear anyone say that, I can smell the blood burning of humans herded into churches and set on fire. My message for Good Friday is that love is inclusive. I cannot support a religious community that insists that everyone outside the community is damned.

Going to a church or a temple or a mosque or a meeting house to pray with friends and family is great, we all should do it if it does not harm us. But if we want to build hospitals, transform lives, our whole lives should be prayers. because the only way to pray is without ceasing, and with love for all humans.

WAW 20090410

08 April 2009

Publication Day! Yesterday we published MJoTA vol3 no3. We have not yet published the complete vol 3 no 2 (see yesterday, Spring fever, deadlines). We will start publishing articles in vol 4 on April 15.

NY Echo is also being published today in New York City. It goes to press tonight, and is distributed free throughout New York City Friday morning. Only 50,000 copies are printed, so you have to be quick.

07 April 2009

Daily Updates is still suffering from Spring fever, coupled with tight deadlines. Good combination for publications and for New Jersey, but a bad combination for immediate communication.

Our medical writers have been discussing presenting data in our MJoTA online discussion board. We have read articles writen about how terrible Powerpoint is, and how it should be abandoned. The discussion quickly dissected the issues: the need for the audience to know content vs the need for the presenter to stand up in front of the audience. In good writing, in good presenting, in good manners, the needs of the audience are paramount. Each member of the audience has given up 1 hour or more of his or her life to listen to what you have to say. The presenter's role is to say it to them. Not confuse the issue by reading off bullets, reading text.

I am detecting a trend in national and internatiuonal conferences, which has been spawned by misuse of Powerpoint. No Powerpoint! I have heard speakers in Wanhington and New York speak without Powerpoint, speak directly to the audience in the 19th Century manner.

What if you are required contractually to use Powerpoint? Use it sparingly. At the MJoTA conference we will not be using Powerpoint as a tool to inform. Anything the audience needs to read and see will be presented in handouts.

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29 Mar 2008

On 27 and 28 March 2009, Columbia University hosted a forum on Economic Development in Africa. MJoTA Publisher showed up and enjoyed listening to Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who, interrupting a long career at the World Bank, served for 3 years as Finance Minister in Nigeria and removed a few billion off Nigeria's debt. Dr Ngozi, now Managing Director of the World Bank, preached hope and success, which is the message about Africa that MJoTA likes to tell. Dr Ngozi made a call for service in Africa to young elite African students studying at Columbia. At the end of her talk, one young lady approached her, said she wants ti go back to work in Africa. Dr Ngozi asked her qualifications, nodded, and said she would give her a job. I like the way Dr Ngozi does things, like the way she carries herself, adore her brilliance. I have for some time been a huge fan of Dr Ngozi, and can only dream about what would happen if she and Professor Dora Akunyili (Former head of NAFDAC, now Nigeria's Minister of Information) teamed up to run Nigeria.

On 28 March MJoTA switched gears from considering economic development in Africa, and the whole world, to considering economic development in Brooklyn, New York. I was taking pictures at a fund-raiser for Dr Kendall B Stewart, a Caribbean-American with a large African and Caribbean constituency. I chatted at length to 2 senior nurses at Brooklyn Hospital, who described the barriers they face daily as Americans of African and Caribbean African ancestry. They care for humans in wretched circumstances daily, violence and dispair causes a lot of illness, a lot of death, and their work is good and MJoTA applauds them.

MJoTA switched gears again on Sunday, and showed up in the Apollo Theater in Harlem for a Sunday morning church service, the non-denominational Rev. Dr. Suzan D. Johnson Cook (known as Dr Sujay, who is a police chaplain), in which some wonderful humans of African ancestry were honored. And the choir was numerous, dressed in long flowing robes, and fabulous. We listenened to Dr Sujay and Dr. Marian Heard, President and ECO of Oxen Hill Partners, Boston, who told us that we need to model ourselves on the fabulous future we are promised. We applauded and took pictures of MJoTA friend, Harlem Hallelujah honoree Mr Sidique A Wai, who is President and National Spokesperson of the United African Congress, who introduced us to Mr and Mrs Rodney, who for 28 years have faithfully published CaribNews.

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27 Mar 2009

From MJoTA friend in South Africa, Sandra Pires <sandra.pires@civicus.org>

Dear South African friends,

Despite its denial this week, our government appears to have refused the Dalai Lama an entry visabecause of fears it may affect the burgeoning trade relationship with China. 

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has called this act a ‘total betrayal of our struggle's history’ and along with other Nobel laureates including FW de Klerk has announced he will boycott the World Cup peace conference, which the Dalai Lama was planning to attend before it was postponed today. 

Generations of South Africans fought long and hard for cultural respect, political equality and democracy in this beloved country. They struggled hand in hand with friends around the world for freedom. We appeal to you to sign the petition to President Motlanthe reminding him that the New South Africa is a country built on solidarity and calling on him to safeguard our sovereignty from unwanted Chinese government intervention. If enough of us sign, our voices will be heard by the President to reverse his decision and allow the Dalai Lama into the country before the World Cup: 

http://www.avaaz.org/en/visa_for_the_dalai_lama/?cl=205787635&v=3058 

South Africans have a proud history that must not be bargained away. Global solidarity and international leadership were instrumental in the demise of Apartheid. While economic ties with China have grown, culminating in last year's undisclosed agreement between our two countries, this opportunity should not come at the expense of human rights or support for one of the world's leading lights of peace and non-violence. 

The Dalai Lama has been campaigning non-violently for autonomy for the Asian nation of Tibet from China for more than 50 years.Denying him a visa will weaken the resolve of other nations to stand up for human rights. It will certainly not serve the interests of South Africans. Almost a century ago, Mahatma Gandhi was thrown off a train in South Africa because of apartheid abuse. We must appeal to our government not to mete out similar disrespect to one of the most revered international figures of our times. 

A Chinese official has admitted that they asked South Africa not to grant the visa citing the danger it would do to their bilateral relationship; the South African government has in turn said “it would not be in the interests of South Africa” to allow the Dalai Lama in. Let's together let our President know that abandoning an international human rights struggle for a trade relationship is a rejection of South African history,and unacceptable for the South Africa of today: 

http://www.avaaz.org/en/visa_for_the_dalai_lama 

This recent visa decision comes on the back of the South African government blocking vital UN Security Council decisions which would have encouraged human rights and democracy in Zimbabwe and Burma. Now China appears to have been successful in telling our government who should and should not enter South African territory. This sets a dangerous precedent and we must appeal to the President of South Africa not to bow down to bullying tactics. 

As we commemorate the 50 year anniversary of the Dalai Lama being forced to flee his home in Tibet, let's together call upon the government to issue a visa to enter the land known internationally for its commitment to political freedom and human rights. 

With hope, 

Elinor Sisulu, Human Rights Activist

and the Avaaz team

25 March 2009

Spring fever is at high pitch, especially today, because in 1981 I gave birth the first time to a very small boy. The first thing I saw was a tiny hand waving at me.

He still does that, waves at me, calls me, visits me, connects constantly with his 3 siblings, feeds them, comforts them, and cares for his wife with total fidelity: he has even learned to speak Thai because that is her language. He also speaks fluent German, because we lived in Germany on and off until he was 17.

A son born waving when Spring is bursting. A son healthy, happy, tri-lingual, well-educated, well-employed 28 years later: life does not get better than that. I want what my son has  for all sons and daughters, because the birthright of every child is to grow up healthy and educated. And at MJoTA we believe that bearing witness to what is working in Africa and in Africans improves health.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On 23 and 24 March 2009, Philadelphia was visited by a delegation from Ocean State, Nigeria. Stanley Straughter co-ordinated the delegation, which included the wife of the Governor and the Ocean State Minister of Health, who is a pharmacist. And who knows Professor Coker and Professor Ifudu. Pharmacists know each other. Especially Nigerian pharmacists; but I found that Nigerian and Kenyan pharmacists know each other too, and a lot of sub-Saharan Africa separates the East and West coasts fo Africa.

I took pictures, a lot of pictures, first because I use them for stories in MJoTA, and second, because I am now the Philadelphia events photographer for the weekly free newspaper (circulation 50,000) published in New York City, the NY Echo. Not only that, but I am now the Managing Editor for the NY Echo. This newspaper is the only one published for Afrcian and Caribbean readers. NY Echo has the same goals as MJoTA: to celebrate African successes. NY Echo and MJoTA are pooling resources to better serve our readers.

WAW 20090325

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 25, 2009
Press Office: 202-712-4320
Public Information: 202-712-4810
www.usaid.gov

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
March 24, 2009

Our government is taking steps to address the global burden of TB. The U.S. Government is the largest contributor to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, which has detected and treated over 4 million cases of TB. The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is working to improve the diagnosis and treatment of TB for co-infected persons, and is engaged in infection control efforts to prevent new cases of TB. In addition, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has tuberculosis programs in more than 35 countries and is working to strengthen the capacity of health systems to identify, detect and control TB, particularly MDR and XDR TB.

While much has been accomplished in the fight against this disease, there is still much more to be done if we are to meet the Millennium Development Goal of halting and reversing the spread of TB by 2015. I strongly believe the State Department should continue and expand its commitment to reducing the global burden of TB, and I look forward to working to improve the global response to this and other leading causes of death for the world's poorest communities. PRN: 2009/252

15 March 2009

Last night Philadelphia celebrated Africa twice: Angola and Liberia. The Angolan event was in a church hall in North Philadelphia. Philadelphia's Stanley L Straughter was there, as was the Consul-General of Angola. MJoTA Publisher sat at a table of leaders in the Philadelphia Diaspora community, who all showed up later at the Liberian celebration.

The Liberian ball was in a church hall across the street from a park that surrounds Cobbs Creek; Mr Anthony Kesselly was inaugurated as President of the Union of Liberian Associations in the Americas.

MJoTA was there as a guest of Mr Anthony Kesselly, who first came to the attention of MJoTA in December when news reports appeared that 6 Liberians and 1 Ivorian had perished in a house fire, and that Mr Kesselly was there at the site comforting family members and getting them to keep breathing in the cold, long winter night.

The church hall was filled with cheerful Liberians, Philadelphia leaders of Diaspora groups, these included MJoTA good friends, Africom leaders Dr Eric Edi (Cote D'Ivoire) and Sophia Scott (Jamaica). Around 300 members of the Liberian community flew in and drove in from all around the United States to support their leader, and listen to a keynote speech by journalist, lawyer and former University of Liberia Student Union President Counselor Kwame A. Clement. MJoTA will be reprinting Mr Clements speech. Be prepared to weep.

11 March 2009

Today from Dr Tewodros Teketel:

04 March 2009

Two very interesting articles in the New York Times today. One by a Nobel laureate African leader, the Right Rev Desmond Tutu, former Anglican Archbishop of South Africa, the other by Franklin Graham, an evangelical leader and the son of the greatest American evangelist of the 20th century, Billy Graham. The African leader is calling for accountability and justice and trial for genocide of the President of Sudan. The European-American leader is calling for not arresting the President of Sudan because when Mr Graham talked to him, he stopped bombing a hospital that Mr Franklin's organization runs, after bombing it 9 times.

Mr Franklin and Dr Tutu's professional lives have interwined with the lives of my own family. Dr Tutu has been an establishment voice crying for peace and justice and love for decades. And he is establishment, I do not know more establishment positions than being an Archbishop in the Church of England, even in South Africa, and a Chancellor of a university. My late cousin, the Right Rev MAP Wood was for 15 years the Bishop of Norwich, and the first time I wanted to visit him, he put me off for a weekend because he was preaching to the Queen of England. My cousin had one non-family picture in his sitting room of his retirement apartment: that of himself with his good friend Billy Graham, the father of Franklin Graham, whom he supported during his crusades to convert English people to Christianity. My Cousin Maurice's son, my cousin the Rev John Wood, is a Church of England priest of a packed London congregation which comes from all over Africa.

MJoTA does not take sides politically, but cheers on any leader wanting to bring peace and prosperity to regions in Africa. Peace and prosperity are the bases of health, and growing up healthy and educated. Nothing destroys lives and futures faster than war, or genocide. Nothing encourages war or genocide faster than perpetrators being forgiven and kept in place. MJoTA has a zero-corruption, complete transparency and total accountability policy. Personally, as the Publisher of MJoTA, I find the comments of Mr Graham appalling and racist. How dare he believe that the good people of Sudan are not capable of producing a better leader than the current president. How dare he support corruption and evil and talk about love, and trust, and prayer?

WAW 20090304

03 March 2009

Today is a snow day, a wonderful invention in North America because the region gets snow, but not enough for government and business to figure out how to keep going when the ground, the trees, the buildiings, the parking lots are 6 inches deep in snow.

Snow days are joyful, because everyone stops. No school, so while I was talking to medical writers by webinar and African professionals by phone and e-mail, my daughter brought me first hot Kenyan tea, then strawberries dipped in chocolate. This was after she had gone outside for shovelling and snowmen, and before she walked a mile to meet her brother for downhill sledding. And the morning after she heard that the schools had closed, and yelled praises to the divinity that sounded exactly like the praises I listen to on my recordings of sermons and prayers from my favorite African church, Christ Apostolic Church in Hyattsville (in the Maryland in the US, not Lagos).

Huge blessings for MJoTA came from this snow day because our numbers increased, the commitment from the African community increased, and MJoTA has embarked on a partnership based on prayer, trust and love. I believe that only these 3 things are real, because only these 3 things survive life and death and snow and thaw.

17 February 2009

From Matthew Norton , Executive Director, Maasai Heritage Preservation Foundation www.cycleforafrica.co.uk

Matthew and his wife are based in England.

16-18 January 2009

Publication of Vol 3 Issue 1 is rolling out! We published 4 articles yesterday, watch for more today and tomorrow and next week. The biggest articles are on the Corporate Council on Africa Health Forum.

Andrew Reinhart MS has installed a search engine on the front of the site. Many gems of articles which I am slowly organizing in pages for writers, and in pages on topics. Andrew's piece on DDT.

I was slowed down yesterday because I received a letter from a Japheth M Matemu Esq of Carmel New York, on behalf of Macharia Waruingi, demanding within 14 days USD1 billion. Stop harassing me Macharia. I am not your wife.

My heroes are Florence Nightingale, who followed a vocation as a single woman, and my mother, Patience Uprichard Dodgson MD (Belfast 1940), who met my father while working in the hospital Miss Nightingale founded. I cannot imagine either woman harassing a man, especially after he has accepted her hospitality for 7 months. My mother raised 4 children and paid all expenses when my father decided that running after young girls and living in nudist colonies was more important than practicing medicine. The world is full of clever men squandering their gifts, talents, and abandoning children. MJoTA ignores them and celebrates heroes, like Florence Nightingale, who did not have to do anything except be rich and die, but instead she transformed the world.

Because I love what I do, I adore my volunteer staff, and my main focus at the money is figuring out how to get them paid. We are offering resume writing services, and we will always accept medical writing contract assignments. Contact MJoTA Business Manager Deidre Adore at mjota@rocketmail.com.

So many exciting things are happening, my gosh, you will know when the time is right! MJoTA is still dancing in the streets at the peaceful transition of power after a close election in Ghana! My Ghanaian friends and colleagues were holding their breath for days. Spectacular!

27 Nov 2008

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States. I remember flying back home to Australia with 2 small sons and the Australian passengers looking with deep suspicion at the Thanksgiving food they were given.

MJoTA has published an article by Ustawi CEO Macharia Waruingi MD, DHA. He was trained in medicine in Kenya and France and worked in neurology and neurophysiology testing after coming to the United States in 2000. In the past 2 years he has switched careers to medical journalist, online teacher and meeting planner.

Dr Waruingi has written several articles for MJoTA since May, when he moved to New Jersey to live in the house of the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief after living a year in Marshall, Missouri in the house of the KDNC treasurer Ms Betty Macharia. We will continue to publish his articles and give you frequent updates on the health conferences he is planning with us. All correspondence about MJoTA should be addressed to mjota@rocketmail.com. All staff working on MJoTA have access to e-mails coming to address.

25 Nov 2008

MJoTA has published an article by Elana Stolpner MD. She was trained in medicine in Russia where she was accredited as a cardiologist, pediatrician and gerontologist. In the United States she works as a regulatory writer, and is Editor of the new section, Resources for Clinical Professionals.

This article is the second she has written for MJoTA, and the first in a series of articles she is writing for clinical professionals who want to learn how to write documents for regulatory agencies. (The US regulatory agency is the Food and Drug Administration). Dr Stolpner welcomes submissions from regulatory markets everywhere, especially Africa. She can be reached at ehealthcare@hotmail.com.

WAW 20081125

24 Nov 2008

Amazing times last week. MJoTA went to DC on 20 Nov to attend the Health Forum of the Corporate Council of Africa as accredited press. The forum was great; I was swooning at seeing panels of 5 pharmaceutical manufacturers; 5 pharmaceutical distributors. I really enjoyed the panel on pharmacology and biotechnology. My goodness, these are the professionals who we need for our Global Health, Technology and Business conference Ustawi is planning.

What really resonated with MJoTA was the call pharmaceutical manufacturers made for a pan-African regulatory authority for drugs, devices and vaccines. MJoTA wants this, and wants to publish anything relevant to making this happen from anyone who wants to work towards it.

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13 Nov 2008

Dr Macharia Waruingi, Deidre Adore and I went to the November meeting of ACRP: American Clinical Research Professionals. I was on a panel as a clinical medical writer, along with several clnical trial monitors and clnical reserach associates.

We heard a talk from a pharmaceutical industry sponsor, and a university principal investigator. They both described problems they had working with their counterparts; but both were happy the system works. Which it does, mostly.

WAW MJoTA 20081113

Today is Veterans' Day in the United States, Remembrance Day in Britain and former and present colonies. The day the guns stopped in World War 1. My Dodgson grandfather had 4 cousins killed, my grandmother lost her first husband and her only brother. MJoTA abhors the hazard to health and well-being that is war. We celebrate the memories of those who lives were cut short in war and because of war. I wrote a tribute to World War 1 dead after visiting the son of Grandfather Dodgson's cousin.

WAW MJoTA 20081111

08 Nov 2008

MJoTA is starting a course on Monday that has a single goal: to get health and science professionals jobs as medical writers. I have been working as a medical writer and training medical writers for a decade, after a career as a lab scientist. I can walk you through what you need to work as a medical writer. Our greatest strength is that MJoTA publishes articles that focus on the pharmaceutical industry in Africa and the United States, and we walk our medical writers through these articles. In the first week we focus on putting together resumes and post them in places where employers look. Meanwhile MJoTA is making agreements with employers to hire our medical writers. They tell us what they need to hire one of our professionals, and MJoTA Courses makes sure our professional gains the skills.

Our courses are individual for each professional. We offer to work with each professional on 3 articles over 4 months, but we will also work on 15 articles if the professional is willing to devote himself or herself entirely to the process. I guide professionals through databases, grammar, style guides, FDA and EMEA documentation and African regulations. The articles our professionals write are reviewed by outside reviewers, as are all MJoTA articles.

We are very excited about the Ustawi-MJoTA conference which will be held in Philadelphia: dates kickied around include 07 to 11 October 2009, but th eorganizers tell me the date will probably be later. More on this web-site. MJoTA will be publiishing abstracts and willl invite presenters to prepare full papers for publication.

MJoTA will publish health policy papers from governments, universities, NGOs, non-profits and individuals. Contact us and we will tell you if we will publish your paper.

06 Nov 2008

All day yesterday everyone was in a daze. Macharia Waruingi and I drove to the local library to work on the Africa health conference that Ustawi and MJoTA is organizing. We are working with our leadership team Dan Cassino (dan at dlc-consulting dot net;) and Deidre Adore (deidre45 at juno dot com) to put together a program and funds. In the library I stopped everyone who had a little or a lot of African ancestry and asked them, “So, you like our new President?” Great times. So many beautiful smiles, hugs.

We are a Kenyan company so we are ecstatic. My Kenyan brothers I drank a celebratory iced tea with yesterday are ecstatic, so are my Nigerian brothers and sisters I spoke with today. The President of Kenya called a national holiday in Kenya today, and we have been hearing from Nairobi that everyone - Kikuyu, Luhya, Luo, Kalenjin, Kamba, Kisii, Meru and more - is cheering, laughing, and claiming relationship to President Obama. Kikuyu are the largest ethnic group in Kenya, the target of genocide by the British Army in the 1950s, and victims of the ethnic clashes (the other victims were Luo) earlier this year. President Obama’s father was Luo.

WAW MJoTA 20081106.

And happy birthday today to my baby brother. Charles Heathfield Dodgson, Australian journalist extraordinaire, was born in New Zealand when our parents were living in the grounds of Cook Hospital Gisborne. Dad was the hospital pathologist and Mother took off 3 years from medical practice to hang out with doctors' wives.

Charles speaks Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, and Mandarin Chinese with his wife, who is a Malaysian-Chinese architect.

My mother went into labor when my father took my 2 other brothers and myself to a beach for fireworks and a bonfire. I remember eating sausages that were sandy and suddenly being told to get into the car. I was 8 when Charles was born, and I had no idea Charles was being incubated. None.

WAW MJoTA 20081106.

04 Nov 2008

Today the United States of America elects a lot of Americans to public office. Congressmen, senators, county officials - and new President, who brings with him a vice President. MJoTA is hoping, praying, standing on its head and whistling, wanting this President to be the son of a Kenyan man and European-American woman. Because that is what MJoTA has become: the two principals are Kenyan and European-American. And the European-American voted for the first time today, because after 30 years in the United States of America she became an American citizen in June 2008.

The Editor-in-Chief of MJoTA walked with her daughter Patience to the polling place in the

local elementary school that educated Patience and her 3 older brothers one after another from 1986 until 2005.

This is an exciting time for the US, for Kenyans, for European-Americans who are sick to death of the way black humans are treated (notice I said "are", more on that later) and the whole world who rejoices that a good man, a decent man, a brilliant man, a well-educated man who is slow, slow, slow to anger, has a very good chance of becoming the most powerful man in the world!

As we say in the Nigerian Pentecostal church, pray, pray, pray and when you pray, praise God without ceasing!

WAW MJoTA 20081104

MJoTA is the only publication that focuses on health industries in Africa, and MJoTA knows a lot of hard working oprofessionals throughout the 54 African countries have stories to tell. MJoTA was founded because the Publisher wants a complete and indigenous pharmaceutical industry in Africa, and believed that creating a forum for a dialog between professionals in Africa and the United States was the first step.

Our Publisher and Editor-in-Chief has dedicated the rest of the years of her life to making this happen. In May 2008 she partnered with Dr Macharia Waruingi because he has the same vision and he is brilliant. He has pledged to work with her on MJoTA, on her search for visionary African professionals. In humility for the Kikuyu genocide so the Editor-in-Chief has discarded the names given to her by her English ancestors, Susanna Jane Dodgson, and taken names that are Kikuyu Wanjiru Waruingi and Luo Akinyi.

Wanjiru Akinyi Waruingi