When Strangers Care...

I have been off the blogs for some time now, mostly as a result of intoxication and laziness ..eer, well, mostly a combination of work and personal issues, not to mention writers' block. Being the type of person who does not open up easily or does not consider self to have lots of followers or something like that, it therefore comes as a surprise to me when I get emails, twitter DMs and Facebook inboxes from people who I only know online and have never met, inquiring about my well being. I mean some of these people are actually from other continents and countries. What am I supposed to make of that?

In the past I have mused about online friends, you can read that HERE, and also talked about the loneliness that can plague a soul in these time HERE, so at least this comforts me that there are actually some people who can notice that I am missing online ( I hope not only people I owe money to) and bother to try and found out what happened to this soul. Not that I probably make much of a difference but...

I am posting this from Dadaab refugee camp, the biggest refugee camp in the world with close to 500,000 Somali refugees. The last time I visited here was in 2010 and thought that it was my last visit here. I even blogged something about that HERE. However returning back here and thinking about the refugee population in a way makes you get a bit sober about life and appreciate the joys and privilege of living in a stable country. After the last elections we went close to civil war in this country, and this year the politicians continue with their tribal laced rhetoric aimed at dividing citizens and lining their pockets with votes, if such a phrase exists. Sometimes you shudder to imagine that the world you know could be lost and, if you are lucky enough, end up in a refugee camp. I get outraged when I see the pictures that come out of Syria as the rest of the world wines and dines....

Point to Ponder: Some (Un)conventional Wisdom

Friends, something I come across my inbox a while back (yes - once in a while I do read those forwards emails, only that I never forward to 10 friends as demanded and yet I am still alive!) A jobless man applied for the position of "office boy" at Microsoft. The HR manager interviewed him then watched him cleaning the floor as a test."You are employed" he said. "Give me your e-mail address and I'll send you the application to fill in, as well as date when you may start".The man replied "But I don't have a computer, neither an email.""I'm sorry", said the HR manager, "If you don't have an email, that means you do not exist. And who doesn't exist, cannot have the job."

No email, no existence

The man left with no hope at all. He didn't know what to do, with only $10 in his pocket. He then decided to go to the supermarket and buy a10Kg tomato crate. He then sold the tomatoes in a door to door round. In less than two hours, he succeeded to double his capital. He repeated the operation three times, and returned home with $60. The man realised that he can survive by this way, and started to go everyday earlier, and return late. Thus,his money doubled or tripled every day. Shortly, he bought a cart, then a truck, then he had his own fleet of delivery vehicles. 5 years later, the man is one of the biggest food retailers in the US.

He started to plan his family's future, and decided to have a life insurance. He called an insurance broker, and chose a protection plan. When the conversation was concluded, the broker asked him his email. The man replied, "I don't have an email ". The broker answered curiously, "You don't have an email, and yet have succeeded to build an empire. Can you imagine what you could have been if you had an email?!! "The man thought for a while and replied,  "Yes, I'd be an office boy at Microsoft!

"Moral of the story:1. Internet /email is not the solution to your life.2. If you don't have internet / email , and work hard, you can be a millionaire.3. If you had received this message by email, you are probably already an office boy/girl, and not any close to being a Billionaire.