Category Archives: People

blogging, Life, Living, People, Poetry, Stories, Women, writing

Wandering Spirits of Restless Hearts

4 Comments

il_340x270.496120204_7iqk
Halloween Photography. This photo was taken at the Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery. Public Domain.

The universe has her own way. You never know when she will strike next – and whether it be for better or worse. Every day of living is a routine of heading for the ending. We must continue to believe in living for the moment. I believe we must also question each action we take and its consequences. In my culture, my grandma has taught me, after a soul leaves the body it moves to the resting place, but a restless spirit will always wander. Peace and forgiveness has to prevail before a dead man’s spirit can find the resting place.

In the past few days I heard of three deaths. Of the three deaths, two I knew and respected. Their news was very sad for me. One left me feeling winded, overwhelmed, surprised and it tugged at deeply buried emotions from cruelty and pain. unresolved living can change life. It was a timely beginning of the ending for me. I feel a new phase in my life. It was time to let go. In the hours after I received the news last night, strange things happened. It should not but the Universe has her own ways.

For what I know and believe in, I question, when those that are cruel to you die, where do their spirits go? Are the wandering spirits seeking forgiveness or are they playing on your mind.  I pray for the former and I hope for a peaceful resolution – one of forgiveness, healing and moving on. I know one day this feeling shall pass.

 ( JLeahy Copyright)

Farewell Monster      

He died, leaving behind

privately and securely,

a legacy few desire

Markings made by his hands

Unbeknownst to audiences

Secret exhibitions

Wounded, bruised and broken

A heap in doll repair shop

A thread shall patch

Gauze will cover

A wig shall alter

Like salt, familiar

each time memory stings

And, like animals, cowards,

we will cower as shadows lurk

It happened in the mind,

his father’s trade

That was how he started,

his father’s legacy.

Admittedly, one

he never admired

Only hope shall turn fate

I pray for his sons

authors, blogging, Life, Living, People, Stories, writing

Malcolm Fraser: Australia’s 22nd prime minister dies aged 84

9 Comments

I have personally met Malcolm Fraser in my reporting days in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. It was very sad this afternoon to hear of his passing.

6335636-3x2-300x200

ABC News reported former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser has been remembered as “a giant of Australian politics” and a “great moral compass” following his death early this morning at the age of 84.

“It is with deep sadness that we inform you that after a brief illness, John Malcolm Fraser died peacefully in the early hours of the morning of 20 March, 2015,” a statement released by his office said.

5831196-3x4-340x453
Malcolm Fraser Australia’s 22nd prime minister, in power from 1975 to 1983, and founding chairman of CARE Australia

“We appreciate that this will be a shock to all who knew and loved him, but ask that the family be left in peace at this difficult time.”

Mr Fraser — Australia’s 22nd prime minister — was born into a wealthy pastoral family in 1930 and first entered Parliament in 1955 as its youngest MP.

An important and extended conversation between Phillip Adams and the late Mr Fraser, recorded fourteen years ago, in his office back in February 2001.

They discuss his heritage and early life, his decision to get into politics and his political legacy.

Malcolm Fraser’s Life recorded interview in 2001

blogging, Life, Living, People, Stories, Women, writing

New Love

30 Comments

I turned 50 a few days ago and I got asked how I felt and what were my plans etc. I have had a good life so far. To be honest, I felt nothing different physically nor mentally. My present goal is to publish my memoir and a book of short stories. I also want my boys to complete university and do what they love.

20150319_205431
At half my age I had travelled and seen over 50 countries. Here in Geneva, in 1989, I was eating strawberries and ice-cream. If you had asked me then, how my life would be in the next half – I would have had no idea. Life is full of surprises. I love it.

When I look back at it, I have led a life that has not been ordinary and I am so grateful for many things. One thing worth mentioning is that I do know now as I have grown older, life is not complete without  love. Every human craves love and nothing can replace love. I treasure the love in bonds I have with my sons and my family and friends. My belief in love came from those who loved me and the ones who continue to love me. Every human deserves to be loved.

I am a ‘closet poet’ that writes love poems sometimes.  I was asked recently if I could write poetry (and I guess I can) and if I had any. I have never been taught, but I love to read poems and I have written a few as gifts over the past decades for friends and family. I believe poetry is one great way to express love.  Lucky for those men I have loved and written free poems for, I hope they still appreciate the verses, even if they don’t want to remember…

Here is one such collection of lines which you may call poetry if you wish to. I am happy for my blogger friends and the real poets out there to critique me. 

(JLeahy copyright)

New Love      

A mess of feelings

Soft strings twisted and tangled

Intoxication

A lore to be unfold soon

Waiting, yearning the unknown

Once for-warned heart dazed

Consumed in immense chaos

Riddled with beauty

Warmed and rendered with lightness

 

 

authors, blogging, Culture and Heritage, Life, Living, People, Stories, writing

Remains of Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, ‘identified in convent’

5 Comments

0384d459-cbe2-4973-9555-0f85ee2d5160-2060x1236
The parts of a casket discovered at Madrid’s Convent of the Barefoot Trinitarians. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Spain says it has unearthed the apparent remains of the literary giant Miguel de Cervantes in a Madrid convent almost 400 years after his death.

In a Guardian report, Anthropologist Francisco Etxebarria said after a year-long search his team had positively identified “some fragments” of the Don Quixote author in an alcove in a convent crypt.

Though there is no genetic proof of the find at this stage, Etxebarria’s anthropologists and archaeologists said they were confident on the basis of the documentary research they carried out.

In January the team announced the discovery of part of a casket at Madrid’s Convent of the Barefoot Trinitarians during excavations aimed at solving the mystery of the writer’s final resting place.

Cervantes is recorded as having been buried at the convent’s chapel in the centre of the Spanish capital a day after his death on 22 April, 1616, but the exact whereabouts of his grave were unknown.

His bones went missing in 1673 when building work was done at the convent. They are known to have been taken to a different convent and were returned later.

In April 2014 Etxebarria’s team launched what was the first significant search for the remains of the greatest writer of the Spanish Golden Age.

Using infrared cameras, 3D scanners and ground-penetrating radar, they identified 33 alcoves where bones could be stored.

Cervantes, who was born near Madrid in 1547, has been called the father of the modern novel for The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, which was published in two parts in 1605 and 1615.

His influence on the Spanish language has been so great that it is often referred to as “the language of Cervantes”.

the guardian

blogging, Life, Living, People, Poetry, Stories, Women, writing

We Should All Be Feminists

6 Comments

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie a renowned Nigerian novelist was born in Nigeria in 1977. She grew up in the university town of Nsukka, Enugu State where she attended primary and secondary schools, and briefly studied Medicine and Pharmacy. She then moved to the United States to attend college, graduating summa cum laude from Eastern Connecticut State University with a major in Communication and a minor in Political Science. She holds a Masters degree in Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins and a Masters degree in African Studies from Yale University. She was a 2005-2006 Hodder Fellow at Princeton, where she taught introductory fiction. Chimamanda is the author of Half of a Yellow Sun, which won the 2007 Orange Prize For Fiction; and Purple Hibiscus, which won the 2005 Best First Book Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the 2004 Debut Fiction Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. In 2009, her collection of short stories, The Thing around Your Neck was published. She was named one of the twenty most important fiction writers today under 40 years old by The New Yorker and was recently the guest speaker at the 2012 annual commonwealth lecture. She featured in the April 2012 edition of Time Magazine, celebrated as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. She currently divides her time between the United States and Nigeria.

Kindness, Life, Living, Nature and Climate Change, Nature and Environment, People, Stories, writing

Aid flows in for Vanuatu, Death Toll Still Unknown

2 Comments

pacificisland1
A home-owner tries to make sense if what Cyclone Pam left of his sago palm roof.

As world-wide aid flows in for Vanuatu, death the toll is still unknown.

Communications and some electricity have been installed in parts of Port Vila, after Cyclone Pam’s weekend devastation.

…………………….

Thank you very much to all the friends/bloggers who shared my post calling for help for Vanuatu. For the latest news, there is power connection and communication in Port Vila. All outer islands still cannot be reached and death toll is still unknown except for the eight initially reported.

Those who are interested to donate to assist recovery work in Vanuatu, please click on the link below. I am sharing this link from Vanuatu friends (including a senior minister and member of parliament)

Donate direct to Cyclone Pam/Vanuatu’s Recovery programme – click here

What are the funds for?

As a community of researchers, volunteers, aid workers, friends and family we are saddened by the loss of life and injuries caused by Cyclone Pam. As an international community with links to Vanuatu we want to help.

Our hearts go out to all our friends and family in Vanuatu.

Funds will be spent directly in Vanuatu on rebuilding essential infrastructure at the Central Hospital, Port Vila. The Central Hospital sustained significant damage and flooding during the cyclone. This is significantly impacting on the care that the hospital can currently offer its patients.

Allocation of funds will be administered on-the-ground by a Committee made up of the Vanuatu High Commissioner or his representative, a representative of the Australian Friends of Vanuatu, and a representative of the Vanuatu Department of Finance.

Who will manage the funds?

This is a joint initiative based on an ongoing partnership between ‘the Australian Friends of Vanuatu’ and the Vanuatu High Commission, located in Canberra.

The request to set up this funds comes directly from the Vanuatu High Commission. The Vanuatu High Commissioner Kalfau Kaloris has been involved in developing this fund with representatives from the Australian Friends of Vanuatu.

The bank account attached to this fund is located in the Vanuatu High Commission, in Canberra. All funds will be properly acquitted to donors.

blogging, Life, Living, Nature and Environment, People, Stories, Women, writing

Bobcat Dirt-nap

13 Comments

Screenshot_2015-03-14-14-17-27

At 9am yesterday, after watching the news on the cyclone in Vanuatu I started cooking pan cakes and my older son Nathan made coffee. My younger son Chris and his friend Cameron, both 16 were outside, moving the soil. I hired a bobcat to move some clean fill (soil) into an area in my garden. We were raising the ground level and  turning the spot into an outdoor living place. This change to our landscape would level a slight hill and give us an additional 100 square metres of flat area to entertain and enjoy the gardens outside.

The ‘cat’ was a few hundred dollars per day so time was crucial. The Hire company dropped the machine on Friday afternoon and I had a quick lesson on how to drive the 1.5 tonne machine.

When Chris arrived from high school yesterday, I showed him how to drive the machine. He was excited and took to it easily. He started moving the soil and filling up the enclosure. He had already built the wall and enclosure in the last two weeks.

Half hour later, while watching through the kitchen window, I saw the bobcat capsized with Chris in it and started screaming his name and running out to the balcony with his brother.  Chris’s friend Cameron had his ear-phones on and did not know, Chris and the bobcat capsized. The machine was on its side, as if it was taking a dirt-nap. I could see Chris inside the sitting cage of the bobcat.

I was still trying to get to Chris when he crawled out shaken, but without any scratch or injuries and said, “Mum, I’m fine”. He had a bemused face on. Apparently he tried to dig into the side on the dirty mount and the bobcat flipped over.

The bobcat’s ‘head’ rested on my garden bed, crushing everything I had been planting the last six months. Its two left tyres were up in the air and the other two buried in the soft dirt.

For the next hour, the boys told me not to ring for help because the cat was only on its side, and we could lift it back up. We could not. We tried.

Two more, and the ropes tied to my Honda to tow were snapped. We were exhausted and the pancake mixture dried in the mixing bowl when I got back into the kitchen to drink water. I was too afraid to leave the boys on their own – for safety reasons and we all decided, best to get a chain to tow the sleeping cat. Our local hardware charged a ridiculous $28 per metre for the largest sized chains. We bought four metres, and returned to the site and used the chain to join the cat to the Honda. We tried to pull and lift it up. The bobcat came up half way and fell back.

My sons decided it was easier to use the car jack to lift the sleeping cat part of the way  to help the Honda (to lift it). The boys still refused help from the hire company and I did not want them to feel, I underestimated their intellect or their determination to get the cat back on its feet their way.

Inch by inch, they car-jacked the 1.5 tonne cat up with a combination of counting, wrenching, and inserting off-cut timber slippers to raise the cat. Another half hour and Nathan said, “Mum! we are ready to tow”.

I started the Honda and revved it and at the first go, the cat was till too heavy and rocked back, instantly killing the Honda’s engine. On the second attempt I floored the poor Honda’s accelerator and although I burnt off the outer front tyre skin – it was not an intended burn out, the Honda smoked, jerked forward and pulled the cat to its feet. The boys jumped with joy and cheered and I honked. We all laughed and Chris got back inside and rolled the cat forward. Everything was in good order and we started working about 2pm until seven in the evening.  The bobcat stayed on its feet all day today and completed the job. Thanks to Chris and Nathan, all the hard work is done. I am a proud mum.

20150315_121226
The project manager Chris and I on the new reclaimed living area.

 

blogging, Life, Living, Nature and Climate Change, Nature and Environment, People, Stories, writing

Vanuatu Needs Your Help

16 Comments

1426389521013
Paradise pounded: Vanuatu in the wake of Cyclone Pam 20150315_Vanuatu_Port Vila Cyclone Pam damage_CARE_Inga Mepham4.jpg Photo: CARE/Inga Mepham

Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop announced an initial $5 Million Aid recovery package for Vanuatu. The Category 5 Cyclone Pam that struck Vanuatu on Friday has devastated the country. This cyclone is possibly the strongest ever in the south Pacific region. Tens of thousands of people are homeless, without adequate food, water, shelter or sanitation.

The Government of Vanuatu estimates that 80% of homes have been either destroyed or have sustained significant damage. Communications infrastructure has been knocked out in the hardest hit islands and there are grave fears for rural communities that were directly under the path of the cyclone’s eye.

Essential services have been wiped out on most islands, and even in the nation’s capital Port Vila, home to about 60,000, restoring water and electricity may take weeks.

Vanuatu needs your urgent assistance. Here are our suggestions on how to help:

Australia is coordinating drop off points in Australia for relief supplies such as tarps, tents, ropes and tinned food. Please visit their page for details.

Emergency appeals you can donate online to are:

Donate to UNICEF Australia Cyclone Pam appeal

Donate to Red Cross Cyclone Pam Appeal or call 1800 811 700 to make a secure donation

Donate to Oxfam Australia International Crisis Fund – Cyclone Pam

Donate to CARE Australia Cyclone Pam Response or call 1800 020 046

Save The Children Cyclone Pam Appeal or call 1800 76 00 11.

New Zealand
Donate to Red Cross NZ Pacific Disaster Fund

UK and Europe
Donate to UNICEF UK Cyclone Pam fund

USA
Donate to UNICEF USA Cyclone Pam fund
Remember, give responsibly: some fake donation appeals are already circulating on social media. Only give to reputable organisations.

blogging, Life, Living, Nature and Climate Change, Nature and Environment, People, Stories, writing

Vanuatu After Cyclone Pam Last Night

3 Comments

11008586_788509844563388_761084741217907697_o
Storm damage to boats caused by Cyclone Pam in Port Villa (UNICEF Pacific)
11009856_788512884563084_6378003344459726858_o
Residents search for belongings amidst storm damaged property (UNICEF Pacific)

Australia offers help to Vanuatu. Strong winds still prevents the authorities from confirming the number of deaths and cost of damage.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said that Canberra was ready to assist, and had medical and search and rescue staff on standby while New Zealand immediately announced NZ$1 million in an initial funds to assist Vanuatu, Fiji, Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands.

Aid agencies have launched appeals and are hoping to start flying in emergency supplies of food, shelter and medicine from Sunday, when the airport in Port Vila is expected to reopen.
“We are extremely concerned for the safety and wellbeing of tens of thousands of people as one of the most intense cyclones to ever hit any Pacific country continues to batter Vanuatu,” said Australian Red Cross’ head of international programmes Peter Walton.
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon, speaking from Japan, said while the impact was not yet clear “we fear the destruction and damage would be widespread” as he offered his deepest condolences to the people of Vanuatu.
Fiji Weather Service meteorologist Neville Koop said the cyclone was weakening as it slowly moved away from Vanuatu, and would pass between Fiji and New Caledonia before brushing the North Island of New Zealand on Monday.
Koop said Pam was not the strongest cyclone for the South Pacific, with Zoe packing bigger winds when it hit Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands in 2002. But he said the current storm had gusts of 320 kilometres per hour and sustained winds of 250 kilometres per hour.

blogging, Life, Living, Nature and Climate Change, Nature and Environment, People, Stories, writing

Dozens Feared Dead in Vanuatu

13 Comments

The UN is checking reports 44 are dead in Vanuatu’s outer islands in Penema Province by Cyclone Pam. The winds are still very strong in Vanuatu and Pam heads towards New Zealand. No images of destruction is available, communication is still down.

Another major cyclone, Cyclone Olwyn is looming on Yeppoon in Rockhampton, Queensland. Olwyn has been running down the coast of Australia at the same time as Cyclone Pam.

Pam, a category 5 cyclone made a direct hit on the Vanuatu archipelago’s capital Port Vila, after travelling through Kiribati, Tuvalu and Solomon Islands.

Pam crashed through the 80 islands of the archipelago last night as an unexpected change of course put key populated areas in the path of its destructive 270km h winds.

Watch Nine News

UNICEF team on the ground

LATEST: UNICEF Pacific Communications Specialist Alice Clements spoke to Radio New Zealand where she mentioned unconfirmed reports of deaths.

“We have some very unconfirmed reports of casualties from the outer islands as well but we’re waiting to get official confirmation on those, which is very sad news if it’s true.”
Speaking to Mashable, Alice described the devastation in the capital of Port Vila, where she sheltered from the storm.

“There’s still really strong winds. There’s debris everywhere, there are buildings that are destroyed… this is really a catastrophe,” she said. “People haven’t experienced a storm of this strength here.”
Alice also told Radio New Zealand the storm had gone on far longer than anyone expected.
“I stayed in a concrete hotel that was three storeys high, and even so I’d lost the sliding doors from my room, I had all the wind howling through the room. It was terrifying.”