Going Green with Wooden Houses?

Green is no longer just a colour is a symbol for peace and care for our planet. As I have said it over and over, when most Africans think of Europe and US, they always think of countries of justice, equal rights, care for environment and the first liners for planet green. But when you land your foot on these countries you realize that things are completely different.

My big question is in this current movement of going green and saving the mother earth is, why are houses in the US still built from wood? Even here in Belize. In fact when I got here first I was surprised to see wooden houses.

We don’t have new wooden houses in Kenya, only the old ones built during colonialism are still standing. I don’t even think the government allows building of wooden houses. Even if they would,

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Wooden House in Belize

I was surprised the first time I got here to see how many wooden houses they have and are still building. I later on learned that it is normal for people in the Americas to build wooden houses. It made me wonder how much wood is consumed especially after seeing in the US media the number of wooden houses being constructed as of now. I guess it made me look at the green movement completely different.

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The Importance of Stupidity in Scientific Research

I read this essay and realize that it’s applicable in many areas, most people will appreciate reading.

Essay by Martin A. Schwartz

I recently saw an old friend for the first time in many years. We had been Ph.D. students at the same time, both studying science, although in different areas. She later dropped out of graduate school, went to Harvard Law School and is now a senior lawyer for a major environmental organization.

At some point, the conversation turned to why she had left graduate school. To my utter astonishment, she said it was because it made her feel stupid. After a couple of years of feeling stupid every day, she was ready to do something else.

I had thought of her as one of the brightest people I knew and her

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Eating Manners Taught by my Parents

We eat three times a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner in the evening.

We must drink water after eating.

Do not eat or drink while walking, standing, resting or leaning against anything. Must be sited upright.

Do not talk while eating (with food in your mouth).

You must stand up from the table immediately after eating.

You eat the food in front of you or in front of your plate first, you cannot start eating food from the back of your plate.

Do not eat very hot food; wait for it to cool down a bit. It is

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Migrating to the US/Europe: Is the Grass Really Greener?

It is so sad to see everyday the number of Mexicans trying to illegally cross the US border in very dangerous conditions. Even after they cross successfully, they are faced with the big desert in Arizona and they have to go for days without water or food. Few of them make it but those who do not, they die as a result of starvation and dehydration and the remains of their bodies are discovered later by the police. What an awful way to die, very sad.

I always wonder if it is worth all that risk. I mean if you cannot qualify to enter US in the right legal way, what makes you think you can live there? How are you going to survive? Where are you going to live? Get money for food, job? The people from Mexico don’t even

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Healthy Living: Genetically Modified Food

I always read news about my country from one of the Kenya's local online newspaper and I came across "Dose for healthy living' article under budget analysis which was read early this month. The finance minister want Kenyans to eat healthy by eating white meat. To do that he has exempted some import duty on chicken feeds.

In the newspaper they went on outlining the dangers of the red meat that it causes cancers and diabetes.

In Kenya chicken is the most expensive meat followed by mutton and beef is the cheapest. I have never seen or heard of factory farm producing red meat in mass production. All the cattle and goats in Kenya are free roaming on pasture and feed on grass, they are

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World Cup Opening Ceremony – African Show Stolen by the Americans?

I don’t know what happened in South Africa on the biggest event they have ever hosted; what was that? I have never seen anything so tasteless and boring like what I saw on that world cup opening ceremony.

I was really looking forward to the show especially for me being away from home, I wanted the show to make me homesick and proud. I expected the show to be a showcase of Africa to the world, make other people fall in love with Africa. What I saw was not historic at all. I was wondering if that was actually happening in South Africa, very disappointed.

Not memorable at all, in fact I have even forgotten about it, I’m

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Tourism in Kenya

As I was writing the article about National Parks and Wildlife Reserves, I felt the need to link Kenya wildlife so I went to the Kenya Wildlife Services website. (I did not want to link any private website because I’m not promoting any particular company; it is just a general topic). The website is so plain and boring. This should be the most colorful and lively website full of all the marine park and wildlife photos which I saw in the list provided that is quite long than I expected. The Ministry of Tourism website is like an old page plucked from the early 80’s magazine.

It’s funny how my country expects to attract more tourists by not

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National Parks and Wildlife Reserves

Growing up, we always used to see documentaries, movies, circus and especially animal cartoons of course in English. So I automatically assumed that there is wildlife all over the world. I had no idea that most of the wildlife portrayed in the media was actually only in Africa and some in Asia. I was very disappointed to learn that.

Unlike what most people think, as a Kenyan, very few of us really get to see the animals like the foreign tourists do, we actually don’t see the need to do that. The only close way we could get to a wild life is to go to an enclosed national park where animals are caged.

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Bloggers Introduction Lines

I have been searching for blogs to follow and inspire me. It is not easy to search for specific blogs; there are so many commercial ones that always come up first when you search. Maybe there is something I’m not doing and I need help.

There are also many blogs which should not even be there. I‘m not a writer but I strive to make my posts interesting and try not to offend people.

I think some people should just stick to Facebook or other social

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Everything was Just a Click Away?

Did you know that you just need to subscribe to FeedBurner, a service that is already available for you if you have a Google account to get your visitor’s counter statistics? Few days after I published my blog, I realized other blogs have visitor’s counter. I got excited and I wanted to have one because that it’s the best way to know that people are reading your blog.

I started looking for the gadget online and found so many, visitor’s counter, geo or neo counter to name a few, but I wanted a fancy one. I made a mistake of not reading fully the terms and conditions. I just assumed that because there is a link of the source website

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Mutton Soup

Ingredients

1 kg mutton with bones
2 onions cubed
1 big tomato cubed
2 tablespoons ginger-garlic paste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Bunch of fresh coriander(cilantro) finely chopped
Bunch of fresh mint finely chopped
2 tablespoons cooking oil
2 tablespoons lemon or 3 tablespoons vinegar
2 cups oats

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Sesame Pan Bread

Ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour
2 ½ cups coconut milk or dairy milk
1 tablespoon yeast
Salt to taste
½ cup sesame seeds
2 tablespoons butter or oil
Sticky pan and a barbecue grill

Mix flour and butter with fingertips, then add yeast and continue mixing. Lastly add coconut milk and mix thoroughly until the dough becomes smooth and no visible lumps. (The dough is normally very

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Beautiful Butterfly

  

I saw this red thing outside my doorstep that looked like a leaf only to notice that it's a butterfly. Moments later when I tried to get closer, it opened its wings thinking it was scaring me by giving me this spectacular view. I know you can take good photos of beautiful butterflies if you go to a park or a place they are concentrated. This one came to me, I was not looking for a butterfly to photograph. (Not very good quality photo due to rush).

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