Say NO to Xenophobia

For the last few days anti-immigration volience has been spreading across South Africa. It is heart breaking seeing all these barbaric actions taking place in a country where the global community has once fought for to gain  independence, acceptance and the eradication of prejudice and racism. So why are some South Africans refusing to move on from the negativity and accept the fact that  foreigners are not the reason for high unemployment rate in their country. It is difficult to see a country where liberation and  multiculturalism was celebrated the most can engage in such animalistic behaviour.This unacceptable and shamful events has been going on for far too long and it is time the global community come together to put an end to this cural attacks. 

Many questions keeps running through my head as I read headlines after headlines. 

What measures is the government of South Africa taking to rectify this long over due issue? What happened to Africans being united?  Don't we all bleed the same red blood? Or do some of us bleed purple or green blood?  Why are people being burned alive? Why are hard working people being slaughtered like animals? Why is it okay to resolve issues with such volience? We are all foreigners in this strange world and we seem to forget that our time on this earth is temporary. 

It is sad to say,  but the black man is their own worse enemy but yet we are quick to point our fingers and blame the white man for our misfortunes. Africans are suppose to have each others back, fight for each others battles and praise each other. Instead, we flight againt each other and kill each other because we don't want to see our own brothers rise.  No wonder why the continent of Africa is always suffering. Jesus must really come down soon because the wickness of this world is at its highest peak. 

Noone deserves to be hated because they are immigrants; we are all foreigners somewhere . However, in the light of this tragedy we must all come togther in solidarity for our voices be heard loud and clear. We should use our social media platforms as  a tool to bring change in our world. And say NO to xenophobia because all Africans lives matter.

30days Gratitude Challenge : Day 5-9

My day 5 -9 of my gratitude challenge has been very personal. And I wish I can share my gratitudes with my readers but I can only share it during my personal time with God. But in all I am grateful for my life and grateful to live through out these days without any tragedy.  I am grateful. On the bright side, I have 21 more days to go. Stay with me :) God bless.

30days Gratitude Challenge : Day 4

Sundays are my official lazy day but today  was far from that because I received a call from a family friend who really needed a favor from me. At that moment, I knew my sunday nap time will not be taking place because I couldn't decline her request.  I had the beautiful opportunity to baby sit four boys between the ages of 7 years to 11 months including my boys (everyone that knows me know that babysitting is my cup of tea). But, thank God for my husband because he was the defination of devin helper on this blessed day. I always knew he was a helper but this situation really reinforced the reasons why I married him. Although my lazy Sunday was disrupted, I am glad the evening went smoothly because of him. I am grateful for my helpful husband. I am grateful :)

30days Gratitude Challenge : Day 3

Many times, we as human beings don't appreciate and give credit to our past friends that we believe were toxic at some point in our lives. But it is important for us to recognize and give credit to our past friends for dropping in our lives and teaching us lessons in certain seasons of our lives. Because without them, we will not learn to appreciate and acknowledge our present family and friends who are depositing good into our lives. So today I'm grateful for my past teachers, who have taught me life lessons in my previous semesters and have enabled me to overcome obstacles in my current semester as I transition into the future. To my past teachers, thank you for giving me the tools and abilities to choose my present friends wisely. Now I'm am surrounded with people that speaks good and thruth into my life, people that pushes me to do better and people that encourages and uplift me in this confusing world.  I am grateful for my past teachers because I've learned to appreciation and show gratiude for my present teachers. I am grateful.

30days Gratitude Challenge : Day 1

At 2:33am today, I heard my son Ezra crying out loud but I refused to get up because I was too tired. I laid in my bed awake with my eyes closed for few minutes; thinking to myself , why oh why?  After a hard struggle to open my eyes, I saw my son standing in his crib facing the wall, which was unusual. At that moment, I knew he was crying in his sleep; maybe due to a bad dream. So I placed my hand on him and said a little prayer and put him back to bed. Few minutes after going back to bed, Ezra  started crying again. 

When I got up to carry him, it dawned on me that my five weeks vacation in Ghana without my kids was really over. My long relaxing and sleeping nights has ceased; now I am back to mommy duties again. With a frown face, I placed him on my left  shoulder and took him down stairs to feed him. I started reminiscing again about my vacation and now I'm back to sleepless nights and yelling in my house. This was definitely a change I was not looking foward to, however I smelt the cheese  thousands of miles away.

But in all, I am embracing this change because I'm grateful to see my family again. I am grateful to hear the cries of my babies because not every mother lives to see their children.I am grateful to hear the cries of my babies because they are  blessings.

During my trip to Ghana, I had the opportunity to visit  Mampong Babies Home and held babies as young as Ezra in my arms with no parents or  family to care for them. I am thankful and grateful to see and hold my children  in my arms. I thankful to be able to wake up in the middle of the night and feed my babies. I'm grateful for the strength I have to conduct my mommy duties even when i'm extreamly tired. I am grateful for healthy and normal children. I am grateful!

Make Your Time Count

As I write my first article for 2015, I feel a sense of accomplishment because it has been over a year since I composed my thoughts. For several months now, I have been contemplating if I should start writing again, however I have been giving myself excuses after excuses

“Oh I’m too busy with my boys.”

“Oh my family is keeping me too occupied, so I don’t have time to write.”

“Oh I will start writing tomorrow when I find time.”

“Oh when the time is right, I will start writing again.”

With all these excuses I still find myself on my social media platforms, reading, engaging and consuming in materials that do not add value to my life or my purpose.

Hence the other night, while I was conversing with a friend, he asked me, “Why did you stop writing?” I wondered why he was asking such an off the topic question (I was definitely not ready to this conversation). He said, “I loved reading your write ups; it had inspired me and others in the past. So why did you relinquish the very thing that makes you who you are.” I replied, “But wait I’m not a quitter, I just can’t find time to write anymore.” He pulsed and said, “But you have time to talk on the phone, use Instagram and Facebook right?  If you have time to do all these “important” things then you are not too busy to dedicate sometime for your passion”. 

Boom!! There it was; he switched on the light bulb inside my head. 

I started to analyze our conversation after we hung up the phone and his questions kept lingering in my head.

I started to question myself. “Am I really a quitter? What does the word quitter mean? Quitter means loser right? I’m not a loser; cafter all I still got a lot accomplished this past year right?”

While processing everything and trying to reason with myself, I saw my two and half year old son throwing his soccer ball over my head; in attempt to hit the Christmas and birthday card decorations above the fireplace. At that moment, I made the decision not to yell out the usual ‘DANIEL STOP’.  I observed him for about three minutes trying to get the cards down through his little tactics. After many attempts, his plans did not succeed. He proceeded with plan b in hopes to achieve his ultimate goal. He picked up one of his long toy and placed it on the side of the TV stand, which is about 20 inches way from the fireplace. At that moment, I was wondering what else he was really trying to attempt. He skillfully climbed on top of the TV stand and sat close to the edge of the stand, allowing himself to get closer to the fireplace. He picked up his long toy, stretched his right arm and started to bring all the cards down. After he completed his goal, he slowly got down from the stand and started laughing and jumping. He looked at me with a smirk on his face to see if I was going to speak out about his victory. Surely it was a huge accomplishment for him after trying many times. However, I still kept quiet to observe what his next move would be; he proceeded to pick up some of the cards to tear them up. But, of course I got up and stopped him from destroying my cards. 

A moment after, I sat down to marinate on Daniel’s little performance. It was definitely a learning experience for me. Never to give up and never give excuses because there is always a way when one path seems impossible.

I started writing poems in my dollar store journals in grade 7. Throughout my high school years, I turned every circumstance in my daily life as a writing piece to express myself. I remember in grade 11, my English teacher told us to select any topic and write an essay on. I chose to write about “love” when I had little experience in relationship. When I turned in my paper, I thought I did awful because I didn’t believe in myself as a writer.  I recall being the last student to receive back my essay but I was extremely shocked to see the letter A on my paper. While I was puzzled about my mark, my teacher very impressed; she confidently encouraged me to continue writing. Before I left her class, she asked my permission to keep my paper and use it as an example for her future student. At that moment, my perception about my passion to write confidently changed.

As I sit here to write this piece, I feel extremely awesome because one of my 2015 goals was to start writing again. If you are reading this article, I trust you have outlined your goals for this year. Please believe in yourself that you are a winner and don’t quit until you achieve your goals. Stop given excuses; make time for your passion.

Because, if you can reply to text messages, pick up a phone call, Facebook, Instagram and have time to read this piece, you definitely have time to work on your goals. Don’t procrastinate; get started on that project, career, school or business you wanted to start, because time does not wait for anyone. Wasted time cannot be retrieved, therefore maximize the little free time you have. Capture your dreams in real time and increment value to your purpose. Make the time and make it count!

Express and reflect on your world**

Sincerely

Priscilla  Birago