lets sing this song together...

nyama nyama nyamaa..,
nyama,
nyama ya ng'ombe,
nyama,
nyama ya mbuzi,
nyama 
nyama ya ............

nyama?

CAN A RAT SAVE A LIFE?

life saver rats on a mission, BY EBELLE ORAKPO

YOU see them everywhere! In homes, offices, market places, places of worship, on the streets, in the gutters, dumpsites, just name it, they are there live! They come in all shapes, sizes and colours. There are the locals and the expatriate variety popularly called Belgium rats which by the way, came into Nigeria ‘legitimately’ with all the travel documents complete, courtesy of the importers’ containers. In Lagos, they are known as landlords or tenants depending on how daring they are. Some only come out to the sitting room when you have visitors, announcing their presence boldly. 

detecting TB

Although all these may sound funny, but the fact is that they are dangerous as they have been reported to be reservoirs of the bacterium which causes Leptospirosis, a disease considered the most widespread disease that is transmitted by animals in the world. Like Eneke the bird said in Prof. Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, since men have learned to shoot without missing, he has learned to fly without perching and so has the fierce battle between man and rats been as the rats are becoming wiser by the day and refusing to be caught by the various traps set by man to destroy them. However, it is not all bad news.  Rats are useful after all, according to APOPO, a Belgian NGO with headquarters in Tanzania. This group researches, develops and disseminates detection rats technology for humanitarian purposes. This has once again proved that nothing in creation is totally useless. These researchers have found a means of putting the ‘bad guys’ to good work. A report on the website of The Neu Afrika said in Tanzania, rats instead of being killed through traps and poisons, are fed, housed and trained to be able to sniff out land mines and tuberculosis and in so doing, lives are saved. These rats are called Hero Rats. The report went on to say that rats were chosen because of their exceptional sense of smell as they can detect explosives if well trained. Comparing the use of Hero Rats to the use of metal detectors for the job, the report said: “Unlike metal detectors, they can detect both metal and plastic-cased landmines. 

They save lives by detecting unexploded land mines which can then be handled safely. “Once fully trained, a Hero Rat can pinpoint the location of landmines quickly and effectively, or sniff out deadly tuberculosis (TB) faster than traditional laboratory microscopy. Not only that, they work for peanuts! In short, Hero Rats provide a simple, innovative and cost-effective solution to some of the complex global problems facing humankind today. The rats can evaluate 40 sputum samples in just seven minutes, equal to what a skilled lab technician will do in a full day’s work.” In the same vein, “two of APOPO’s mine detection rats, working with two human handlers, can cover 300 square meters of land in one hour while it will take two full days for two manual de-miners using metal detectors to cover same.” Hero Rats are not only faster, they are also more accurate. In the area of tuberculosis diagnosis, the rats are very useful. The World Health Organisation has said that tuberculosis kills1.7 million people each year, with 9.4 million new cases a year. In Africa, over 50 per cent of cases go undetected. Once fully trained, a Hero  Rat can sniff out deadly tuberculosis (TB) faster than traditional laboratory microscopy. In their 2010 annual report, the Head of Operations, APOPO, Mr. Håvard Bach said “APOPO has trained and internally accredited more than 150 rats for landmine detection.  “In Mozambique, APOPO has cleared more than twice the area of land in 2010 as the previous year and the aim is to clear between 1.5 and 2 million square meters of land in 2011. Operational land release APOPO is continuing to refine its operational land release methodology, which will likely result in the release of additional areas in Mozambique through a combination of non-technical and technical surveys.” It will be recalled that Mozambique is one of the 66 countries affected by mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) after nearly 30 years of conflict that ended in 1992. Reports Think Africa Press, an online magazine, “APOPO has managed to train rats to accurately identify the TB virus in human sputum samples and, after successful trials earlier this year, is set to take its cost-effective, virus-detecting rodents to Mozambique, a country with a high TB incidence of an estimated 431 cases per 100,000 people.” 

The New York Times of January 3, 2011, reported that researchers have found a new way of testing for tuberculosis that is fast, cheap and widely available: large rats that can smell the bacteria in a sputum sample.” But while the Gambian rat is accepted as a diagnostic tool in Tanzania, “the medical community is still skeptical,” said a researcher. Conventional method of diagnosing tuberculosis involves expensive and complicated laboratory tests which many people cannot afford. Recently, the World Health Organisation endorsed a new machine that can give accurate results in less than two hours. But the machine costs $17,000, and each test requires a $17 cartridge which is way beyond the reach of many. Not only that, smear microscopy, the most commonly used detection method in developing countries, is not very sensitive unless there is a high concentration of the bacterium. The result is that between 60 and 80 per cent of positive cases go undiagnosed. So the use of Hero Rats is a blessing as they are affordable, fast and accurate. A Hero Rat, according to reports, “can smell the difference between tuberculosis bacilli and the myriad other germs that inhabit human phlegm. Alan Poling, a professor of psychology at Western Michigan University and the lead author of one study on the rats said:“while the animals had been accepted as a reasonable diagnostic tool in Tanzania, “the medical community is still skeptical.” In the December issue of The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Dr. Poling and his colleagues report a test of the rats using samples that were confirmed by laboratory culture as either positive or negative. “The animals’ sensitivity- that is, their ability to detect the presence of tuberculosis- ranged as high as 86.6 per cent, and their specificity, or ability to detect the absence of the germ, was over 93 per cent. In another test that compared the rats’ success to microscopy, the rats picked up 44 per cent more positive cases. Enumerating the advantages of using Hero Rats over metal detectors and the microscope to detect landmines and tuberculosis, the report said that apart from the rats having an exceptional sense of smell, and can easily be trained to detect explosives, the animals “provide a low-tech solution to the landmine problem, especially in low-resource environments. They are light-weight (approximately 1.5 kg or less) therefore, will not set off mines when they stand on them (it typically takes 5 kg to set off a pressure-activated landmine). Rats are very sociable and easy to train, and they don’t mind performing repetitive tasks in exchange for a reward!. When a rat spends at least five seconds at a positive sample, it is rewarded with peanuts and bananas. Eventually, the rats learn that a longer sniff at a positive sample gets a reward, and that negative samples are unproductive and should be skipped over quickly. “Rats are small and very cheap to feed, maintain, and transport. They are motivated by food, and are less emotionally tied to their handlers than dogs – it is therefore easier to transfer them between handlers.  Rats require little veterinary care, are resilient to many tropical diseases and are highly adaptable creatures. African giant pouched rats have a long life span (6-8 years) which means a solid return on the initial training investment.” According to APOPO’s annual report, in 2010 alone, 26,665 sputum samples were evaluated by Hero Rats, 12,347 patients second-line screened by Hero Rats, 716 tuberculosis patients detected only by rats. There was 43 per cent increase in case detection rate at partner hospitals and 7,160 new TB cases potentially prevented. 

SOURCE: vanguardngr

Let's cook with MRS CRUNCH

Sausage rolls - 26p per serving.

makes 16

preparation time: 20 minutes

one sausage roll contains 195 cals (9% of recommended adult daily intake), 13g fat (18%), 5.7g sat fat (20%), 2g sugar (2%), 0.6g salt (10%)

YOU NEED

6 Cumberland sausage (approx 400g)

the best quality you can get

small bunch of fresh sage or rosemary, or a mixer of two'

1 lemon

1 small apple

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

plain flour, for dusting

500g good-quality all-butter puff pastry

1 egg, preferably free-range or organic

splash of milk

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 220C.

Using a small sharp knife, cut a slit in each of the sausages.

Rip off and discard the skins, then put the sausage meat into a bowl.

pick and finely chop the herbs and add to the bowl, with finely grated lemon zest.

Halve and core the apple, then chop into rough 0.5cm chunks. add to the bowl with a pinch of salt and pepper, scrunch and mix everything together with your hands. 

Lightly flour a rolling pin and clean up surface. roll your pastry out until its about 25cm 

by 35cm (like a tea towel) and just under 0.5cm 

Cut the sheet of pastry in half length-ways so you have two long strips and divide the sausage stuffing into two, before rolling each half into a sausage shape.

Lay each one down the center of the pastry strips.

Beat the egg with a splash of milk in a small bowl and use a pastry brush on both sides of the meat.

Fold it together so the edges join, then use the back of a fork  to mark and seal the pastry so it is wrapped. pinch the ends closed.

Egg-wash the top of the rolls , then cut each into 8 pieces. 

Place on a baking tray and cook for around 20 minutes, or until golden crisp, puffed up and the meet is cooked through. 

TIP: YOU can freeze uncooked. just wrap them in cling film and pop in the freezer.

the sun

LOOKS FROM THE MET GALA 2015

PLEASE KENYAN DIVAS TRY THIS OUT...
especially along hoods like Kibera, Mathare, Gomongo, Koch and may be Obunga in Kisumu. 

NIAJE MZITO

'NIAJE MZITO' by KENNON KEN 

Niaje Mzito is a new release by gospel artiste/producer @ Klimax Music Kennon Ken, it is the most trending song currently in the streets of Nairobi and major radio stations in East Africa as a whole,
we only give thanks to God for bringing Kennon this far.
The video is available on YouTube

niaje mzito si unaenda faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa................ 

JAZZ LOVERS.......

Sons of Kemet

One of the best live jazz bands in London right now is SOK, they mix up New Orleans, African, Caribbean and dub sounds, and feature UK jazz stars Seb Rochford and Shabaka Hutchings. Catch their double-drumming wallop at BAC's Borderless series. 

sons of kemet fotos:fb

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NAMELESS

BIRTHDAY SHOCK IN CUBA LIBRE BAR IN ROUEN

13 killed after candles on birthday cake start fire at bar.

A Policewoman's 20th birthday party ended in tragedy when the candles on he cake sparked an inferno at a bar in Rouen, killing 13 people and injuring 6 other people on 6th August, an urgent investigation is under way amid questions about whether Cuba Libre bar in the northern French city complied with the fire regulations. the victims are aged 18 and 25. 

One guest, who suffered burns to 90% of her body, is fighting for her life at a hospital in Paris. The blaze broke out at midnight after a guest or staff member stumbled while curing the birthday cake, lit with candles and sparklers, down steep wooden stairs into the basement. witnesses say wall were covered with soundproof material that caught fire immediately . the basement , parked with about 20 people, rapidly filled with smoke and toxic fumes.

The horrific fire plunged Rouen into profound shock for the second time in 10 days after Islamist terrorists slit the throat of an 85-year-old priest in near Saint -Etienne-du-Rouvray.

source: sunday telegraph

BLACKBERRY BRINGS IN FULLY TOUCH ANDROID DEVICE

Blackberry DTEK50 is very beautiful, its 5.2'' scratch resistant display, and a set of dazzling cameras, 617 processor 3gb of RAM and 16gb of storage which is expandable by 256GB. Its powered by a 2,600mAh battery and has a reare 13MP camera and MP front camera facing the phone. in Kenya it goes for around USD 300 or Ksh 30,000/=. currently its the most secure Android device in the market.

blackeberry DTEK50

PRESIDENTIAL COMPLIMENTS- USA

It feels so good to be recognized by most powerful man in the world, it gives hope to the sons and daughters, other family members and most importantly  to the nation as a whole, this were the President Obama’s words during the remembrance of JO CX

“Today, people on both sides of the Atlantic are coming together to honor the remarkable life of Jo Cox. I did not have the privilege of knowing her. But I know the spirit that defined her life. When I first ran for President, she came to America and volunteered on my campaign. She gave her time and passion to a country that was not her own because she believed in an idea that transcends borders and cultures - the power of people to bring about change, from the grassroots up.

She later described being in North Carolina on election night watching an elderly African American grandmother holding her granddaughter on her knees. And through her tears, she told her granddaughter, "When I was your age they said we couldn't sit on the bus, now we're the President. We must never doubt how much things can change.

Jo knew that our politics, at its best, still works - that, if we recognize our humanity in each other, we can advance the social justice, human dignity and peace that we seek in the world.

Reflecting on a difficult time in university, she once said that it made her realize that it mattered where you were born, how you spoke and who you knew.

In her radiant life, Jo turned that truth on its head. She was such an effective public servant for her beloved Yorkshire because she was born there. She earned the respect of her colleagues in Parliament because she was unafraid to speak her mind. And countless women, children and refugees around the world live with more dignity and hope because they knew Jo Cox and were touched by her work on their behalf.

Today, we stand united - British, Americans and people around the world - to affirm that the hate and violence that took her from us are ultimately no match for the love and compassion that she spread in her life.

On behalf of the American people, I offer our deepest condolences to Jo's parents, sister, husband Brendan, son Cuillin and daughter Lejla. May these two young children, like all our children, never doubt how much things can change. With our help, may they grow up in a world of greater tolerance, justice and peace - a future that would make their mum proud .”

DOGS ON HOLIDAY! not in Africa

Its sounds funny, really .....

An estimated 1.4 million people will stay in the UK for a holiday this year so they can take their dog with them, according to a new study.

A survey found that 8% of holidaymakers planning a domestic break in 2016 are doing so because they do not want to be away from their dog.

This is twice as many who are choosing this option in order to watch the Olympic Games, which accounted for just accounts for 4%.

source: mailonline UK.

Wow call it mama Africa's swag

Rihanna rocked the streets with this amazing style by DOLCE AND GABBANA .
most of celebrities wont dare to put on "a thing" of this kind just because it shows not "goods" its always nice to be unique once in a while......

Gareth Bale and girlfriend Emma

GARETH BALE FASHION TASTE

EVERYONE VIEWS LIFE DIFFERENTLY

joe-c ndong mwenyewe.

a journey of a thousand miles only begins with a step