MY FIRST TIME IN PORT ALFRED

My first time in Port Alfred


On the 26 of April, for the first time ever I went to Port Alfred. I have been in Grahamstown for 11 months now and ever since I got here I have been told that Port Alfred is one of the most beautiful places in Eastern Cape. As a Cape Tonian I have been missing the beach so I was determined to go to Port Alfred not only to smell the beach but to be able to say “I have also been to Port Alfred” and to experience it myself. I along with two of my friends, Loyiso and Noxolo, and her brother drove to Port Alfred for the night, it felt like a mini road trip. When we got there, we had supper at the hotel the Royal Guesthouse, and drove around taking pictures, but we couldn’t really site-see because the weather was terrible and most of the places were closed. We decided to create our own entertainment by playing games and swimming. It was not what I fully expected but I still had lots of fun, having my friends there really contributed to my experience and now I can give my own opinion about Port Alfred, which is that it’s indeed a beautiful place that is ideal for holiday getaways

Gett' Ya Scandal Out...

The very fascinating background and layout of the blog is what’s bound to catch and capture your eye, it becomes proof that the RUScandalous blog has some scandalous business going on behind it.

The RUscandalous blog is definitely a bloggers spot. It is not only a focus tool for information but also a mission drive that gets you thinking about the very scandals that occur in our daily normal lives and whilst doing that the blog includes article about the fears that we think we got under control but actually have a huge impact in our productive and phobic lives – homosexual and the death of music. What’s more appealing and compelling are the thoughts and views that you are left with in every article that is written. The blog makes you realise that either way, you are or become part of the daily scandals in this world.

RUScandalous is what we need to keep in touch with the world and our inner thoughts, because scandal can damage or concrete our reputation. The blog also serves as an encouragement to doing things that do not require much effort but which can lead into greater self esteem and courage – the post smiling, which is emphasises the importance and motivation a smile can bring in ones daily life. So RUScandalous?

The Blind Library

When passing by the Blindlib (Blind Library), I’ve always wondered how the visually impaired make their way to the library, and how do the librarians deal with a bunch of blind people.

I chose the SALB (South African Library for The Blind), because it has always caught my eyes attention when passing by it – just wondering if all the people who are library members can read Braille, I guess I was also a bit ignorant because I’ve always thought that all the members of the Blindlib are fluent with Braille, otherwise they would not make use of the library.

I also didn’t know that there could be Braille magazines, especially produced for the visually impaired.

Before going to the SALB, I anticipated coming across a few visually impaired people making their way in and out of the library, like a normal daily routine of a library, but to my surprise the SALB has a totally different operational system.

Other than having a flock of visually impaired people into the library, the library produces and borrows their clients’ books in a form of a tape or cd recording. Members and clients of the library who are fluent with Braille request books (maximum of six) and then in turn the book is delivered to their door.

They different kinds of sections and services namely,

the library services – dealing with administrative work which includes managing and maintaining the electronic management system and making certain that the library members get what they want in time.

the audio production – this section of the library deals with maintaining the standards of the material the library provides and delivers i.e. producing, converting and copying various print magazines to the digital audio medium

the Braille production – which makes sure that a high quality of Braille material is produced including books in Braille in all the 11 official languages (of South Africa) and that the library staff members are fluent with Braille.

the production support services – helps with the training and monitoring of volunteers and temporary staff members in the production of audio and Braille titles, provides advice where it is needed and assists the external clients of the library.

the Braille consultancy – “ it encompasses an additional function of standard setting”.

Under the Information technology and technical services:

•the technical services – “managing and administrating the transport and vehicle needs of the library”
•information technology – responsible for the development and support of the technological requirements of the library.

Marketing – promotes, produces and markets the library material and services.

Management Services – “this section is primary responsible for providing support to the SALB Board, the Director and all section heads of the library. It is responsible for recording, reporting and providing relevant information required by the Public Finance Management Act and various other legislations relating to finance and human resources”. This section comprises:

•Financial Management and Fundraising
•Human Resource Management and Development
•Administration and Cleaning Services

Together these sections and the great, willing and welcoming staff of the Blindlib help maintain and manage the library.

Facts about the library:
●The SALB was founded by Josephine (Josie) Wood in 1918
●The SALB is not only a national library for the blind, but it is the only library for the blind in the continent of Africa.
●The SALB has members and clients all over the world including, Australia, United Kingdom, Spain, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and so on.
●The SALB provides and distributes free information service to its clients including free Daisy player
●The SALB has over 24, 000 title books
●The SALB provides their readers with magazines i.e. National Geographic, Bona, Oprah, Chess Magazines and Sports Magazines as readers digest.
●The SALB has a membership base of 5, 773 members

a special thank you to the staff of the Blindlib especially Mr F. Hendrikz (director) for a great co-operation, and making my visit worthwhile.

Mamma had a chicken... Mamma had a cow!

Mamma had a chicken… Mamma had a cow!
By Robyn Selles

In reading the articles posted on “cowandchickenandcoward”, I found myself immediately drawn into them and excited to continue reading. It was not only political issues covered, but personal issues – feminism, working hard and the typical weight problems that can often plague the media. I believe that a blog such as this one is important in a society so that people reading this blog are able to grasp on to that one last shred of hope in this world. Blogs and online magazines that constantly tell people to be who they are not are everywhere – and it is just sickening http://heat.co.za/ .
With the media enslaving us all, it is a relief to see personal opinions about important issues in the world as well as the seemingly small ones.
It is evident that the authors of this blog are not well-accomplished, world-famous journalists; instead they represent the mediocrity of the world – the average student, the people we know best. There is something so personal in a blog such as this one. Emoticons and abbreviations are used as they are used in all communicative media among students. They are not pretending to be who they are not. They are blogging every day life for the rest of the world to see and make sense of.
I really believe that this blog could go far with a lot of followers – it’s bright, inviting and exciting and definitely something I will continue to read.
http://cowandchickenandcoward.blogspot.com

Rain, rain go away... I'll blog again another day

Rain, rain go away...I'll blog again another day
By Robyn Selles

Generally, rain annoys me and I do whatever I can to stay away from it. Yet, this particular day was no ordinary day – my Japanese test had been cancelled which meant that I could get back to watching movies while curled up in bed. But the rain had other plans for me… and so instead of doing the normal thing – running as fast as I can all the way back to res – I took a deep breath in and spun around in the rain. I then took out my (waterproof) camera and continued to parade around in the rain until I was thoroughly drenched and shivering. It was such an exhilarating experience for me, because I always do whatever it takes to avoid moist situations such as this one. I took many pictures and jumped in all the puddles barefoot. I laughed by myself in the middle of the street – with people giving me strange looks.
Spending time in the rain is not something I plan on doing every day – but on that odd occasion when I know that a warm bed and hot chocolate awaits me, there is nothing wrong with taking some time out of my day to dance in the rain and take pictures of the flooding gutters. It’s such a freeing experience and the perfect way to end off a busy day.
The sky was a fantastic mix of pinks and greys and everything around me was so peaceful – well, except for the students acting like cats in the rain. The smell of almost-summer rain and the high humidity in the air was all so much to take in. I couldn’t stop smiling – and who can blame me?

chained freedom

#rublogs my blog post on www.JournalismJargen.com are my views on the media being bias and goverment contributing political idealogies

Liberal bias in the media occurs when ideas are influenced. Some bias exists within many media channels like the SABC and CNN as well as newspapers, and sometimes radio stations. Media bias is the bias of journalists and news producers, from the way they choose their stories to which story is good enough to get published. Government plays a big part in media influence by having some kind of ownership of the news, staff selection and first choice on target audience, therefore contributing to journalists being politically prejudice. I believe that the media is a product of manipulation of ideologies that is greatly influenced by the government. I don’t believe that favouritism only exists in print; racial bias in media is also evident. “Political activist and one time presidential candidate Rev. Jesse Jackson said in 1985 that the news media portray black people as less intelligent a we are.” The media sometimes depict blacks as the people responsible for crime and being backward. Yes media is a tool for us to know what is happening around us and unfolding scandals and human interests but the question is whose interest is the media protecting and are we getting the full unbiased story?

Payed for Being in Prison!

Former eNdumeni municipality mayour, Thandeka Nukani, her driver Peter Khumalo and her boyfriend Bongani Shangase were denied bail by the Utrecht magistrate’s court last week but she is continuing pocketing her monthly salary of R18661 despite the languishing in jail. The package includes a R17830 salary and R831 cell phone allowance.

She is being overwhelmed and saluted by the tax payers’ money for being in prison and facing charges of conspiracy to commit murder and allegedly conspired to poison her nephew. Who gets a cell phone allowance whilst still in prison? I have no doubt that if she was an ordinary accused, and not in the governmental position a different procedure will be followed.

Municipal manager David Cebekhulu said: “We will continue paying her salary because she has not been found guilty. It is her party (ANC) or the MEC that can take a decision.” The municipality is being thankful and proud of what she’s accused of. She was denied bail which is an indication that there is something fishy about this conspiracy. It is such nonsense and an insult to tax payers. What will happen when she is found guilty?

She is no longer serving the community because she was obviously not a suitable candidate. The words of Cebekhulu are proof that our governmental system and governmental representatives are not considerate about the people. It shows that if you’re in the cabinet in South Africa money is in abundant, and you need not to work for it.

Goodbye Cruel (South African) World!

As South Africans – young, vibrant South Africans – we try so hard to make a good foundation for our future lives, but sometimes older, “wiser” people think that we are not good enough as we are; they do not stop to think about the incredible potential we all have inside of us. Many students around South Africa have come to realise that living here and finding a good job will be much harder than moving overseas. And I understand how some South Africans find this shocking, and I have heard that “South Africa has made you who you are, taught you all you know, and you leave without so much as looking back”. I make myself who I am because I have come to realise that not everybody is willing to help make me “great”. When applying for vacation work, I sent out 24 emails to newspapers, magazines and radio stations asking them to help me with my 40 hours for my application to Journalism 2. Three replied positively, 20 did not even bother to reply and the last one told me that as a first year, they would want nothing to do with me because they only deal with the more advanced, third years. I only wished I had phoned them and asked – if they will not help me to get through first year, how will I ever make it to third year? If staying in South Africa will be like this, then I want nothing to do with it.

Zuma meets religious leaders

ANC president Jacob Zuma has requested that all religious leaders work together in irradicating the racial divide in the Western Cape. President Zuma wants all religious leaders to deal with the idea that the Western Cape has the most racial challenges."religious members have a role in society and said it was time for goverment and churches to be united in leading communities."

The article was interesting for me because as a black Cape Tonian I could relate to the issue at hand that President Jacob Zuma is trying resolve. There is indeed a racial division in the Western Cape and the face that something is being done about caught my attention.Naturally this story was covered by Western Cape newspapers the Cape Times and Weekend Argus, since it concerns them. It is well written and a well reprted story, it is short ,straight forward story that deals with a shadowed issue.Anather reason i find this particular article interesting is because it is directed at religious leaders which immediately made the fight against racial division into a spiritual one.Anather point that intrigued me about the article is that even though places like Bloemfontein,Freestate and Pretoria are originally afrikaans yet dont have the same problem as the Western Cape which is more diverse.

for more information:
http://www.capeargus.co.za/?fSectionId=3571&fArticleId=nw20091017152405659C387438
http://www.capetimes.co.za/

Julius "The Best Drama Queen" Malema

“I’m not a queen because a queen refers to a woman; I’m a man, so why include me in that category?” asks Julius Ju-ju Baby Malema. Categorising him as a queen clearly did not please him, and thus the “Feather” award nomination had to be withdrawn.

Ju-ju has become the nation’s favourite when it comes to blogging, but for the first time I actually agree with him. Nominating Ju-ju for the “best drama queen” award is not suitable for his well being (I mean which man would jump at his feet for being nominated as a “drama queen”?) although it might well suit his character and behaviour.

I think out of all this controversy the word that got him ticking was ‘queen’ which of course is used to direct to females, I would have been offended myself. Withdrawing the nomination was one of the best moves Ju-ju has ever taken; imagine what an insult it would have been to his followers and to the ANCYL (African National Congress Youth League), besides the fact that it has been a huge insult to him.

If he did not refuse the nomination, it would have proved that he is obnoxious by nature though he does make obnoxious comments and has always been considered by some South Africa’s as a ridicule buffoon. Call him obnoxious or dramatic but he will not tolerate a nomination under the “best drama queen” category. Maybe “drama king” would have been better, after all he is dramatic.

feast your eyes on these sites...
http://iluvsa.blogspot.com/2009/10/malema-agrees-to-shut-up.html

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-drama-queen.htm

http://www.scribd.com/doc/20568738/The-World-According-to-Julius-Malema

http://www.google.com/imgres?

http://www.witness.co.za/portal/witness_db1/UserFiles/SysDocs/bb_content/22037/p3-malema.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.witness.co.za/index.php%3Fshowcontent%26global%255B_id%255D%3D22037&h=351&w=400&sz=72&tbnid=clZprAAQco5oZM:&tbnh=109&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dphotos%2Bof%2Bmalema&usg=__0DbMKtF-s4_Vb7h4eEmuqNsPT58=&ei=AVPXSrCiJNbajQeJofXQCA&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=4&ct=image&ved=0CBEQ9QEwAw
http://www.witness.co.za/portal/witness_db1/UserFiles/SysDocs/bb_content/22037/p3-malema.jpg

Yes, we can't

Yes, we can't
By Robyn Selles

Barack Obama has been named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize candidate and there has been so much controversy about this. While it is true that Obama will bring about change for the United States of America and their allies – it is also true that he is in the middle of two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama had been in office for two weeks when the nominations were decided upon. I do not believe that he deserved this award as he is not nearly as great as Nelson Mandela or Albert Einstein. I know that the United Nations had nothing to do with the candidates, and that it was left to five Norwegian judges to decide on the winner; but I believe they made a mistake which will have more devastating effects than an earthquake. The word “peace” cannot be used in the same sentence as “The United States of America” as the wars they fight are messier than a bull in a china shop. The Islamic countries have a right to speak up about this as their people are the ones dying every day in a war that has been going on since before Obama’s time. These wars are ones that he promised to end when he entered into office. Can we see change? No, we can’t. Perhaps in the years to come, Obama will find a solution to world hunger and then he will receive a deserving Nobel “peace” prize. It’s not just me who thinks this: http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-10-10-barack-obamas-nobel-prize-why-now

candid camera

Mr Shabalala

Be proud and have fun!