concerning the demise if imagination

Concernining the demise of imagination; what is it with poeple these days, If I must hear one more comment on, The time travelar wife, which incluedes the words, toughtouly unbilievable, I may just have yo delare, not unlike niche, imagination is dead. We have lost it somewhere in our internet genrarated univers, its gone on long enough, we must give the universal imagination a shock, with a difribulator.
It is not that we are not creative, but rather one can no longer believe in fairy tales, we are incapable of suspending disbilief, even for the hour or two it takes to tell a story. Even the finer joys of the story where lost on my book club. Must of which got lost in the impossible concept and never fully apreciated, the joy of the story just for the stories sake. Do we no longer, tell tales? or can we in our media drowned world find a point, to dream or imagine an alternative world just for fun?
And Why? at what point in our, individual naratives did we throw out, day dreaming and imaginative persuist as unimportant? One feels, where one lacks imagination, one lack's the simple joy of imagining alternative realities for ourselves and others. I can remembers a child hood filled with, talking rats and tales of secrete gardens , and magical kingdoms and puff and magic dragon , and georges marvelouse medicen, not to mention, revolting rhymes to name but a few favouriets, growing up with a black and white tv, might have hads its percs, the world devised by ones imagination is far more colourfull. I can all to well remember that place at the bottom of the farm where we were pirates, defending our ship, or mariens protecting our forts and so on and on. i vividly remeber being about 6 walking through the forest behind a fiends house with my brother singing "every where we go, people whant to know......" Am i an adult out of touch with reality? No on the contrary, i am able to feel deaply and imagine the plight of people everywhere, precicly because, my mum bother to cultivate out imaginations as widly as possible. Will we as a nation become less human as a result of being unimaginative? one wonders?

white linen live's

In my line of work ( design ) one often come's accross a client wanting just that something diffrent; Which may be why my house is decorated so incredibly dully. Its not that I am terrible at design or that I lack creativity, its more that I sometimes at our need for new and shiny. What is wrong with us that 'a huise bye die sea', two kids and a bicycle just doesn't cut it any more. Way do we constantly need more, more, more, while all the time longing for the shalom we achieved at age six, somewhere while carting a teddy bare and a pick nick basket to some warm corner of the garden. In our lust to achieve that, things we all long for, fame , fortune , a job and a morgage. Have we lost sight of white linen living? Must everyone be exeptional, or are some of us just plain old ordinary? more to the point is there anything wrong with that? Being avarage, can have its advantages. being able to go to the mall without being noticed may be one of them. Perhaps we have lost sight of right now; perhaps this is way everyone want to be French. There is something so alluring in their ability to just enjoy every minuite of life, bon vi vant? blue sky , green grass , vinilla ice- cream on hot summers days with your feet diped into a cast iron wash tub. languishing under neith that old gum tree. Whishing today could last forever.

At a loss

So what news, sorry i've not writen for a while my brain has by and large been firmly fixed on the serch for a new job. Since my company retrenched 5 workers last month. Which I could cope fine with expet for the fact that there apears to be national hold on all jobs for Architects with less than 5 years experiance and eventhose are currently hard to come by. any way since nothing seems to be forth comming I thought I may as wellburn some time bye writing you lovely people an email.

So what does one do with the 8 hous of the day normally taken up with the persuit of a carreer ? Well, For stareter for my sins ive been measuring up a building, for this random engineer, a friend of mine I was helping get a building through council, put me in touch with, but its proving quite lucrative anyway. Who would have thought. Any way 2# get building passed thruogh council, which may possible be the worst part of being an architect right after window and door scheduals. # 3 taking photos at kids parties, for a measily R500- I will come to your party and spend an afternoon in the company of sevral adorable toddlers. and get your 10 worked up images in black and white or colour to your choice. I have also work 2 days for an old lecturer , as a reaserch assistant. Baked 2 cakes , a quiche and several other treats and as of 2 hours later a wheat free pizza base. Since i'm so nice. I have fed the homeless..... twice, and clothed them once. No baby sitting so far but i'm always open to that. I have been attampting to run a renovation for Waynes bosses aditional flat. The man may possible be the worst comunicater know to man, is always buisy does not answer his phone or reply to emails. Hruumph . And read 5.5 novels 1.5 diatery books on blood typing and metabolic typing. I have sent about 87 Emails , made at lease 30 phone calls. and been for one interview for an interior job I have no idea why they bothered they deffinatly wern't looking for an architect !!! All in persuit of an extra months sallery to tide me over sigh ! And so far its been 6 1/2 Weeks. And NOTHING !!!

But seriously, there should be some sort of self help program for the unemployed. You know some sort of cunning thing to keep one from going insane. The world of the unemployed is rather, limiting appart from major with drawel symtoms from other human beings, people need poeple man. I dont know how my brother has done this for going on 12 years. i'd have been a basket case by now with genral hopelessness. there are not places one can go to feel less of a looser, and more normal. So word to the wise, if you find a job and your in the building industry, keep it. Hell if you find a job you hate keep it. Casue there is no on out there hireing right now.

Zuma's president...... what now?

There have been, several posts about - the where to from here question? Buy a ticket to Australia, cash in your ancestral rights, to live in Ireland or Sweden? Buy a life times supply of tinned beans and move into your back yard bunker. But for those of you, who either can leave or wont, what does one do in view of the trajectory one imagines our country might be taking? here's the thing....

Do it yourself, the government certainly wont do it for you?

Here are my thoughts on the matter, now for the first time in 15 years we have a unique opportunity to, get off our asses and get involved. From finding out who your local ward councilor is and getting involved in your local residents association. Or cleaning up your street yourself. We may even get to know our neighbors!
whether we like it or not, over the last 15 years since the end of apartheid we have become apathetic, and lazy. We have created a climate of entitlement, where we sit back and wait for someone else to solve our problems. We constantly hear cries of, the government must give us jobs , the government must give us houses, the government must provided good education. Here's the problem though, there are 20% of the population paying tax and 80% of the population waiting for the government, the government. The maths just doesn't work. We are heading into an abyss of demoralization and despair unless we take up our democratic right to get involved. To take what is near to our hearts, be it cleaning up the streets , or housing for the underprivileged or simply organizing a meeting about the problem of graffiti, or going to a PTA meeting at your child's school. All of us, have a social responsibility to look beyond ourselves. Now even more than ever, we need to be South Africans first , and a class, race or religion second.

Election 2009

South Africa will be holding its 4th election post aparteid come april 22, this year. Where will you be?
A) on another continent if at all possible.
B) at my neerest poling station.
C) in the pub day off dude.
Needless to say I, for one cincerly hope that your answer is (C). Enough people have sacrificed a great deal, for the right that you have to go along to your neerest poling station, that you should at least consider making your mark. Given of course you are registered to vote. step one in the whole proccess. "But" you say who do i vote for come election day? given the vast and offten contradictory infromation being flouted in the press at the moment. So in the intrest information, here in a nut shell are your bigest contenders, in no particular oarder.

a) Hellen Zilla
b) Jacob Zuma
c) DR. Mvume Dandala

Hellen Zilla : Democratic Alliance
who is she?

Leader of the Democratic Alliance

Helen was born in Johannesburg and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of WitwatersrandPrior to entering politics, Helen Zille made a name for herself during the apartheid era as a political journalist, working for the Rand Daily Mail, South Africa’s leading liberal newspaper. Working there, she emerged as a leading anti-apartheid critic, famously exposing the circumstances behind Steve Biko’s death in police custody in 1977.She became involved in various NGOs and organizations, including the Open Society Foundation, the Independent Media Diversity Trust, and the Black Sash.She joined the former Democratic Party in the mid 1990s, where she was asked to reformulate the party’s education policy and stand as a candidate on its election list for the Western Cape legislature. She also acted as Technical Adviser to the party at CODESA in the early 1990s. Helen was elected to the provincial parliament in the 1999 general election and appointed MEC for education.She served as MEC under the newly formed Democratic Alliance until 2001, and then as Leader of the Opposition in the Provincial Legislature until she was elected to the National Assembly in 2004.As a Member of Parliament she served on the Portfolio Committee on Education, and was the Democratic Alliance’s National Spokesperson.In May 2006, Helen was elected mayor of Cape Town and in 2007 she was elected Leader of the Democratic Alliance. On 14 October 2008, Helen was awarded the 2008 World Mayor award by City Mayors, an international urban-affairs think tank. ( http://www.da.org.za/our_people.htm )

what is their polotics?

There are five key components of an open society:

• improve quality of education
• build a system of hospitals and clinics that delivers prompt, quality service to all our citizens.
• increase the total number of police officers on the beat,
• improve detection rates,
• reduce court backlogs, and
• ensure that criminals serve the time they deserve. For the DA, “life means life”.
• protect and defend the Constitution, and to put power back where it belongs – in the hands of citizens.

Jocob Zuma: Afcian National Congress

who is he? Deputy President of the ANC (since 1997-2007)

Member of ANC NWC, NEC
Former Deputy President in the South African Government (1999-2005)

Jacob Zuma was born on 12 April 1942 in Inkandla, KwaZulu-Natal Province.Owing to his deprived childhood, Jacob Zuma did not receive any formal schooling. Heavily influenced by a trade unionist family member, he became involved in politics at an early age and joined the African National Congress in 1959. He became an active member of Umkhonto We Sizwe in 1962, following the banning of the ANC in 1960.While on his way out of the country in 1963, he was arrested with a group of 45 recruits near Zeerust in what was then the western Transvaal (now the Northern West Province). Convicted of conspiring to overthrow the government, he was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment, which he served on Robben Island.After his release, Jacob Zuma helped mobilise internal resistance and was instrumental in the re-establishment of ANC underground structures in the then Natal province, (KwaZulu-Natal) between 1973 and 1975.He left South Africa in 1975 and for the next 12 years, based first in Swaziland and then Mozambique, dealt with thousands of young exiles who poured out of South Africa in the wake of the Soweto uprising.He lived in several African countries working for the ANC, where he rose rapidly through the ranks to become a member of the ANC National Executive Committee in 1977. He also served as Deputy Chief Representative of the ANC in Mozambique, a post he occupied until the signing of the Nkomati Accord between the Mozambican and South African governments in 1984. After signing the Accord, he was appointed as Chief Representative of the ANC and was one of a few who remained in Mozambique to carry out the work of the organisation, crossing in and out of South Africa on a number of occasions.Jacob Zuma was forced to leave Mozambique in January 1987 after considerable pressure on the Mozambican government by the PW Botha regime. He moved to the ANC Head Office in Lusaka, Zambia, where he was appointed Head of Underground Structures and shortly thereafter Chief of the Intelligence Department.He served on the ANC�s political and military council when it was formed in the mid-80sFollowing the unbanning of the ANC in February 1990, he was one of the first ANC leaders to return to South Africa to begin the process of negotiations, and was instrumental in organising the Groote Schuur Minute between the FW de Klerk regime and the ANC that reached important decisions about the return of exiles and the release of political prisoners.In 1990, at the first Regional Congress of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), he was elected Chairperson of the Southern Natal region and took a leading role in fighting violence in the region. This resulted in a number of Peace Accords involving the ANC and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP)In 1991, at the first ANC National Conference held in South Africa after the unbanning of the organisation, he was elected the Deputy Secretary General of the ANC.In January 1994, he was nominated as the ANC candidate for the Premiership of the KZN province. He is generally regarded as the person most instrumental in achieving the peace that is now enjoyed by the people of KZN and in October 1998 he was honoured with the Nelson Mandela Award for Outstanding Leadership in Washington DC, USA.After the first national democratic elections in South Africa in 1994, Jacob Zuma was appointed as Member of the Executive Committee (MEC) of Economic Affairs and Tourism for the KZN provincial government.He is also a patron of the KZN Reconstruction and Development Project (RDP) Bursary Fund, which is linked to the RDP section of the Department of Economic Affairs and Tourism. He established this bursary fund, using funds that each cabinet member of the KZN province was given to use on any project of their choice. Owing to his rural background and empathy for the poorest of the poor, he decided to use his allocation to help educate poor people in rural areas by establishing the bursary fund. The fund focuses mainly on primary school children in the rural areas but has, from 1999, started assisting students at tertiary institutions. There is currently in excess of 1,000 pupils being assisted at primary level and 10 at tertiary institutions.In December 1994, Jacob Zuma was elected National Chairperson of the ANC and chairperson of the ANC in KZN. He was re-elected to the latter position in 1996.He was elected Deputy President of the ANC at the National Conference held at Mafikeng in December 1997.Jacob Zuma was appointed Executive Deputy President of South Africa in June 1999.

What is their politics?

The ANC has identified five priority areas for the next five years:

• creation of decent work and sustainable livelihoods
• education
• health
• rural development, food security and land reform
• the fight against crime and corruption.

Bishop Mvme Dandala: Congress of the people:

The Rev Dr. Hamilton Mvumelwano Dandala, known as Mvume, is General Secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) based in Nairobi, Kenya. He is the immediate past Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church in Southern Africa and President of the South African Council of Churches (an ecumenical fellowship of churches), positions he held simultaneously from 1997 to 2003. Dandala is known and respected worldwide as a peacemaker, visionary church leader, and passionate advocate for African social justice, and for his direct involvement in the liberation struggle of the South African people through his ministry in South Africa. His opinion is regularly solicited by leaders at the highest levels of government and civil society.

Dandala’s involvement in the ecumenical movement began when he was a young man during his studies at the Federal Theological Seminary in Alice, South Africa where he was trained alongside other aspiring clergy from multiple denominations. All students were challenged to see the common ground they shared in their diverse denominational traditions and to embrace the power of that common ground to press for social change. Dandala took the aforementioned challenge of his seminary days to heart, becoming the local chairman of the South African Students’ Organization (SASO), which played a critical role in the struggle against Apartheid. To this day the influence of his early ecumenical experiences in South Africa is evident in the General Secretary’s leadership of the AACC. In his AACC role, Dandala continues to emphasize an African Church world view that believes in the transformational power of the Church’s prophetic witness and that shows a deep commitment to social justice for the people of Africa. He also stresses the importance of the Church’s role in promoting self-sufficiency both for itself and for people across the African continent.

Rev Dr. Dandala holds a Diploma in Theology from John Wesley College of Federal Theological Seminary in South Africa and Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Theology degrees from the University of Cambridge. He has also been awarded Honorary Doctoral Degrees by the University of Transkei (South Africa) and the Faculty of Protestant Theology in Cameroon. Dandala is married to Phumzile Dandala. They have two children. Their daughter Gqibelo is a banker and their son Hlomla is a filmmaker.

what is their politics?

• To respect the sovereignty of the South African people;
• To pull our people out of the misery of abject poverty;
• To expedite our economic growth for large-scale labour absorption;
• To deepen and consolidate our democracy as this is a prerequisite for a modern progressive democratic state;
• To manage a modern and efficient depoliticised institutions of state;
• To recruit an appropriately qualified and professional civil service.
• Leaders who are honest servant of the people
• respect for the values and principals of the south african people
• growing the economy and increaseing productivity to creat decent work
• boardening peoles participation in the economy
• ensuring sustainable development
• improving the quality of health care
• educating and trainig our people for development
• ensuring safty for out citizens
  

So there it is in a nut shell, All of the abouve information, is availible on their web sites, if you would like to read more. A word of warning, the anc web site is a bit hard to navigate, it easier to good and go to the anc.org links as provided.

Happy voting come April 22.

angry generation

On reading the news in the last few years one my wonder ‘has the world gone mad? ‘Perhaps the question may better be put, what is wrong with our nation? A few weeks ago, while driving past a local night spot, I was caught in the midst of an act of violence. While walking down the street an incredibly drunk man arbitrarily decided to throw a bottle at a passing vehicle. The owner stop got out his car and proceeded to remove a crowbar from his boot. Within seconds the street flooded with people throwing bottles, wielding knives , throwing rocks. There I was watching, them chase this guy and his friends down. With murderous intent. I have no doubt if they had caught him they would have killed him. For throwing a bottle. What is wrong with a nation which feels it has the right to take undue revenge on another human being outside of the law. Has our criminal process failed so badly we feel this is the only solution to our grievances? For in my mine it’s fairly easy to kill a man with a gun you need not even see his face. But to chase after a man with a bottle, rock or crowbar revealed something else; this is personal this is some other sort of madness.
By way of illustration a few years go, I visited Rwanda. A country which has been marred by violence, of this horrendous sort. What drives a man to take the life of a family member or neighbour? The overwhelming sense was best summed up in this statement ‘I was over taken by some devil ‘ But what I came away with was the sense that unless we learn to love, we will learn to fear, and fear will turn to hate.
When over come by hate we turn to senseless violence, it would be as if we where overtake by some force of nature. If our countries recent events of mob violence against foreign nationals is anything to go on, then it is clear something needs to be done and soon. When one reads in the news that polices have fired upon one another over wage negotiations and the national leading party has killed their own members in violent factions one must become concerned.
One might ask how we could have gone from a national of peacefulness, to this state of violence in such a short time? The answer is simply, we have always been a violent nation. We are a nation with a lot of anger suppressed. Be it by apartheid oppression, joblessness, inability to support ourselves or our families. Lack of educational equality, inability to understanding today’s problems as global issues. If one Lacks faith in the government to defend one form global issues or local political problems. One may simply see no hope for a better tomorrow, all things which have lead to our current simmer.
One finds most disturbing perhaps is our inability to see other human beings as valuable, as indispensable to our well being. Gone are the slogans of ubuntu. Post 1994 south Africa has shown more and more to be a time of take what you can get. Line your pockets and screw the guy next to you. It is reflected in recent court cases of embezzlement, in charges of corruption , of wasting government funds ….We are a nation sick from the ground up. We are hungry and not fed, we are cold and not warmed, we are sick and not given access to medicine. While some few elite people line their pockets with money intended for others , while we lie steel and destroy. Were we believe I am the most important person we will only move closer to the cliff. One might blame poverty, one might blame the white man , one might blame the government . When what we aught to be doing is looking to ourselves. When last did we give a without asking anything in return? When last did we offer a kind word to a stranger or a seat to the elderly. When we realise that other people are people too, young or old , rich or poor , black or white , male or female. When we take a look around, and realise we need each other. When we realise violence aught to be a last resort. Then maybe we may be able to take a step back from the edge.
How do we begin to do this ? I believe the nation will go where it is lead. When our leaders change their attitudes and start to behave like leaders we will begin to see change. While our leaders advocate violence, and criminality of all kinds we will remain as we are.

Archi- Teck

Making buildings beautiful

So what is it exactly that you do? “Well I’m an architect” . Blank stare, “Oh that’s exiting”. More blank stares, and some muttering. You’d think that this statement would inspire more enthusiasm from people. But no, apparently beyond you design buildings right?

No one seems to have a clue what it is I do from eight to five, or why on earth they have to pay so much for the service.

Recently I had a brief discussion with an ex-client as to why after I’d already completed a significant amount of work on their project that sorry no they just thought R5000 was too much to pay for my having measured up and drawn their house plans because city council had lost the originals. Because and I quote “its too much to pay for a drawing”. As you can imagine,

“Well fine then.” Press end call. To put things mildly I was livid. More because this person was a lawyer, some one who bills in thousands of rand per hour, could not comprehend why I was changing this amount. The general feeling being what I do for a living is not valuable in their eyes as worthy of actually paying for.

Let me state out right, it’s not about drawings. Actually I give you an uneducated person the same task and I’d guarantee council would not pass your house. So no it’s not about the drawings, I did not study for 6 years in higher education to learn to draw. That’s I could do when I was five, but you don’t pay five year olds to draw up a house for you do you? Come on here people, I bring more than drawing to the table. I’ve studies as long as a doctor; surely there must be a reason why?

Think of the building as a body, the walls and windows as the skin. The rooms as organs, working together to make the building function properly. Electrics and lighting as nerves, Bring power on demand. pluming as veins and capillaries plumbing water at the right pressure and removing wastes from the ‘organs’, Air-conditioning as lungs, allowing the building to respirate

effectively and the whole building as the brain directing need and want, making sure everything works the way its supposed to. Designing a building is like designing a person , from scratch and making it look beautiful to boot.

The client comes to me, and says I want a house. I do ok, that’s great tell me what you imagine , most people would say, I have three kids I need 4 bedrooms, we like to entertain I need a big lounge and patio space. I love to cook, big kitchen. And I work from home so a study is important. You get the gist. Now what I do is look at all the wants and dreams and I may say, well how old are your children, or how long do you intend to keep the house for? Or perhaps where do you see yourself in 5 years? And quite importantly what can you afforded to spend. Possible I may send you out there to bring me back things you like textures or ideas. All the while making a picture of what it is you want in my head. Then I look at your site, its potential an possible problems, I look at your life style, what you love, who you are as a person or company. What your goals are and how you see yourself. And then only do I begin to design you a building.

I may consider in a renovation how to best maximise resale value on your house, in future. How to get the most benefit out of the least work. And then I begin to work on the system of how this building will function, how the systems will work best, where they are the most logical locations of various elements, what system you need in the foundation in order to support the roof. I look at how build able the project is in terms of who is available to build the project, what materials may be most accessible. I look at who the client is and bare in mind there may be other future client and uses you cannot imagine. And at the end of the day a year or two later, after many meeting and cross references to various other professionals who specialise in structural engineering, and air-conditioning and electrical ducting and construction, pluming, fixing. All this before we’ve even considered how it going to be finished all this hidden away stuff. You know nothing about, you never see except to turn on the tap or adjust the heating, I consult , on materials and colours and what handle is best on the front door. And at the end of the day you get a building beyond what you could imagine.

So next time you even begin to think, oh you draw pictures right. Stop for a second and remember this little article and go WOW!!! Don’t grumble when the architect want’s to charge you something for their services. Yes, sure you can get some drafts person to do it For less. Remember not to complain when they mess it up, don’t say the building industry is always a disaster. Take a step back and think for a minute, “is it a disaster because I the client was cutting corners trying to do it on the cheep.” Remember cheep equals cheep workman ship . You pay real money for quality. Try to smile happily as you sign the check. For The measly 5000 rand I’m charging you, for your home. To make it a better and more pleasant place for you. It a big part of you life you dream there, you grow there you spend a goodly portion of your time there if your house is lousy it will effect you work your mood possible even your relationships . Anyway that’s less money than you spent last week on your i-pod.