Getting stopped at a road block by a metro that should probably be our president… South Africa is a wonderful and interesting country!

 

It’s always THAT time of the morning when you are tired, irritable, being pushed off the road by a taxi, who seems to think that waving circles with his hand, outside his window is suffice to say “ I’m taking your lane move over”, that you spot those orange beacons……. dum dum dum (cue jaws music)

Needless to say I am blonde and the roadblock is in the same place EVERY morning yet I still quickly put my mobile down, make sure my safety belt is tightly in place and even though I know I have no outstanding fines, my licence disc is up to date and I have a valid driver’s licence (yes my family and friends are still under the impression I paid a fortune or wore a short skirt to the test. It pleases me to no end that it was a tracksuit, no make-up and an old Afrikaans guy who recognized my surname from my dad’s Bok days that I think did the trick… let’s just say I didn’t get into the parallel parking nor the alley docking and when we got on the road my instructor said “are yous gaaning to jol on celebrations tonight? That was K53 out the window and me and my drivers in hand…when I asked my folks if I could do an advanced driving course recently the response was “Why don’t you so a beginners course instead”!)

Well back to the story, went off the beaten track there,. So I still always feel like a nervous schoolgirl being pulled over and today was no exception. Out came the licence and the next thing I knew my car was searched for weapons et al!

Well… the thoroughness of this cop was amazing. When I jokingly said no guns “ but I should have one for Totsi’s” he launched into an educational insert on the different words for “thief” in each African language. Next was a lesson in the basic greeting’s and I  have to admit at this point he had me captivated and I wanted to drive him to the closest school and say this man will make sure your next class passes ANYTHING!

Next we were onto the topic of politics. Now as someone who keeps my nose out of this area I was hesitant to listen or comment and now I am writing about it. One man’s words made such an impact yet a thousand presidents speeches bore me to death!

He started of by telling me he knew God wanted him to teach poor white children African languages… GULP… working in a BEE environment I did choke a bit, here was this black man explaining to me that out government did not want to acknowledge the growing number of poor white families in South Africa and he wants to help. He does so at the police station already.

He then went on and asked me why I thought COSATU had held a strike? Well … i don’t know they don’t want the toll system in place i guess… but not his analogy was amazing it started like this “How can a man and woman who are married and sleep in the same bed, strike against one another?” this struck a chord COSATU and the ANC are definitely very cosy and spooned up in bed! He believed that again it was a play to prey on the uneducated, get the masses involved as they believed they truly were striking against the implementation of tolls, when in fact the little minions at the top were saying to their allies “If you don’t give us a piece of the action i.e. the money we will strike, give us a portion of the tolls and Hey who cares about the masses who will struggle further when everything from petrol to bread, milk and transport costs increase.”

Just before we ended our conversation, I was quite sad to move on; I asked him if crime had dropped in our country. His response was yes BUT more “violent crimes” were on the rise… why? Because of hatred bred in a society where apartheid is no longer a factor and crimes committed out of racism are carried out by those who were not affected by this cruel and awful era.

Another thing to remember when you get pulled over and you feel anger or irritation that the “STUPID and uneducated” metro has pulled you over AGAIN think about this…. my cop, as he will now be known, after all I will see him every morning as I hurriedly put mascara on in my rear view mirror, before he catches me, went and trained with Scotland Yard and the FBI …. he says they have the same problem as we do illegal immigrants committing crimes and they cannot be caught because they are not registered in the country…. he travelled with a large number of our police and metro force so let’s just say that we shouldn’t be muttering stupid metro’s any longer… their intelligence might just surprise you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A fab thing I found on Mashable … Charity via Social Media

As you all know Charity is close to Jojo’ heart so I found this page on http://mashable.com it truly makes it easy to give without having to even move from your PC, Mac, Tablet or any other gadget you use. Click on the links to read more.  Its always more rewarding to give than to receive Peeps.

7 Easy Ways to Do Good Online Beyond Donations

7 Easy Ways to Do Good Online Beyond Donations
Let’s say you want to give back, but your pockets aren’t overflowing with cash. What can you do? There are many meaningful ways to give … http://mashable.com/2011/07/07/social-good-online/
Gates Foundation Releases Interactive Malaria Map [INFOGRAPHIC]
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has released an interactive map to raise awareness about its campaign to end malaria. The map is the first inte…http://mashable.com/2011/07/05/gates-foundation-malaria-infographic/

Craigslist Founder Launches $100,000 Social Giving Competition

Craigslist Founder Launches $100,000 Social Giving Competition

Craig Newmark’s non-profit project,craigconnects, will pit four non-profits that work with U.S. veterans and military families against each ot…http://mashable.com/2011/06/29/craigconnects-competition/

Social Media is Giving Birthdays Back to Disadvantaged Children

Social Media is Giving Birthdays Back to Disadvantaged Children
Children hit by the Alabama tornadoes or the Haitian earthquake are getting a second chance to have a birthday. When 16-year-old Morgan Burnard went…http://mashable.com/2011/06/16/social-media-birthday/

A Look Inside HP’s Social Good Machine
HP is launching three social good campaigns aimed at improving health tech in developing countries. Best known for its printers and laptops, the compa…http://mashable.com/2011/06/06/social-good-hp/
So many more cause online click here to see Mashable Social Good Webpage and learn how to help  http://mashable.com/social-good

 

 

 

With a click of your mouse donate to an African girls education and future

 

How easy has the web made it for us to contribute to an African school girls education? By a simple click of your mouse,  Join My Village will send $1 to women and girls in Malawi, one of the world’s most densely populated and least developed countries.

Throughout 2011, Join My Village is giving viewers different opportunities to engage with female empowerment by clicking, texting or watching videos on its site. The companies supporting the initiative believe these easy digital interactions will increase awareness and combat global poverty.

This social model combines the power of an informed citizenship with major corporate donations.  While click-to-donate campaigns aren’t necessarily new, it’s a nice touch to have that one click — in this case, a monthly video — showing just how that click will be put to use.

General Mills and Merck, the companies funding the campaign, pledged to contribute up to $900,000 to CARE by the end of December. The Click-to-Commit campaign has already raised more than $700,000 for CARE. The companies are matching additional user donations at a dollar-for-dollar amount.   Each month gives viewers a new educational token opportunity, stemming from Join My Village’s mission to help girls. The month of July offers the “Token of Sisterhood,” celebrating the shared experience of women, fighting for equality around the world.  See other ways you can do good online beyond donating.

Click here to join My Village and Click-to-Commit http://www.joinmyvillage.com/Home.aspx

 

Mobile Payments Will Disrupt, Just Not Immediately

I found this very interesting especially in South Africa where we are all to aware of fraud and crime…

Google, Amazon and Apple might be fighting to replace consumers wallets with smartphones. But a new report from Forrester indicates true mass adoption of mobile payments is still a few years away.

In the report “Mobile Payments Enter a Disruptive Phase,” Forrester analyst Thomas Husson says that only 12% of adults in the U.S. and 6% of adults in Europe have made transactions from their phones. Still, Forrester finds that mobile payments “have the potential to disrupt existing payment systems.” The speed in which this disruption takes hold of the industry, however, may be slow going.

When we talk about mobile payments, we’re really talking about two different types of solutions. The first is to use a mobile network to initialize and authorize a transaction. This can be done using SMS or carrier billing.

The second type involves the burgeoning NFC and contactless mobile payment systems. 2011 promises to be the year that NFC devices will ship en masse. Already RFID and NFC pilot programs have been tested by companies like Visa and Bank of America. Still, the first wide-scale demonstration of NFC and contactless payments probably won’t occur until the 2012 Olympics in London. Forrester says it likely will take until 2013 through 2015 for mobile payments to exist in a cross-market, interoperable way.

The transition will take time, Forrester says, because consumer interest in mobile payments is low. Vendors need to give users a reason to care. To create demand, they must adopt mobile payments for the systems to work. This becomes a catch-22 situation. Vendors and mobile payment companies may need to take the lead on convincing merchants and consumers to jump on board.

Still, the very real business and market realities not withstanding, mobile payments do have the potential to disrupt existing markets in the future. This is one reason that so many existing payment processors — like American Express and its new Serve initiative — are entering the mobile payment space with such vigor.