World AIDS Day 2009 in Abengourou

Since 1988, the international community observes World AIDS Day on December 1. This year's theme is "Universal Access and Human Rights", and Abengourou did not stand asside as activities went on from Saturday 28 November through December 1.






On December 1, students from various schools in Abengourou, public authorities, representatives of local, national and international NGO’s as well as people form different walks gathered in the beautiful square of the City’s Hall in the presence of H.M. Nanan Boa Kouassi III, the King of the Indénié Kingdom.





Much was said and done including reading of speaches, dance and play performances, awarding individuals, associations, NGOs and corporate bodies working to fight HIV/AIDS in the Moyen Comoé Region. T-Shirts were distributed, and there was naturally, a VIP cocktail at the end.

H.M. Nanan Boa Kouassi III, the King of the Indénié Kingdom.












I only had my camera and a document carrier, but seemed to look like an organiser, as a few people came to me asking for T-Shirts or possible gadgets. I wondered what gave that impression after all.


The message on the shirt: Stop AIDS - Parents, Take the HIV test to protect your baby. Don't mind... I'm not the one putting the T-Shirt on.

Main block of the Abengourou City Hall.














World AIDS Day en bref...
Since 1988, the international community observes World AIDS Day, a result of an agreement between health ministers from around the world on the idea that such a day is "an opportunity for all of us to come together to demonstrate the importance of AIDS and show solidarity for the cause."

Visit the 2009 World AIDS Day website to read more about this year’s theme.

A view of the Abengourou City Hall's square.

With this picture, I invite you to read and see more about World AIDS Day in Abengourou on Elia's blog "Twiga".

What's the 2009 Most Popular Word?

Have you ever heard of the most popular words, phrases or names? Well yes, they do exist and according to the Global Language Monitor (GLM), the word "change" was the most popular word in 2008.

GLM announced on November 29 that the 2009 most popular word is... "Twitter" in its annual global survey of the English language, followed by "Obama" and "H1N1" ranking 3rd.

On the other hand, the top 3 popular phrases are "King of pop" ranking first, followed by "Obama-mania" and "Climate change" ranking 3rd.

Top names are left out and "Barack Obama" takes the lead. Guess who follows... Yes, the King of pop "Michael Jackson" while "Mobama" ranks 3rd. Who's Mobama? "Mrs. Obama, sometimes as a fashion Icon"

Check out more popular words, phrases and names at the GLM website.

Ban Ki-moon's Message on UN Day, 24 October 2009

A video of UN Secretary General on UN Day. October 24, 2009

Secretary General's Message for UN Day 2009

On this United Nations Day and every day throughout the year, the United Nations is at work — for the planet, for jobs, for “we the peoples”.

We deliver more humanitarian aid than anyone — and to the toughest places. We vaccinate 40 per cent of the world’s children. We feed more than 100 million people and are helping more than 30 million refugees, most of them women and children fleeing war and persecution. We are deploying more peacekeepers than ever — more than 115,000. In the last year alone, we provided electoral assistance to almost 50 countries. And the entire UN system has mobilized to face global economic turmoil and the social unrest it threatens.

People look to the United Nations to defeat poverty and hunger, to keep the peace, to expand education and stand up for human rights in every corner of the globe. They look to us to stop the spread of deadly weapons and disease, and to protect people and families hit by disasters. In December, they will look to us to seal a comprehensive, equitable and ambitious deal on climate change that will protect us all and pave the way toward a greener, more sustainable economy.

This is a unique moment in world affairs. Multiple crises — food, fuel, financial, flu — are hitting at once. Climate change looms larger every day. Each illustrates a 21st-century truth: we share one planet, one home. As people, as nations, as a species, we sink or swim together.

The United Nations is doing its utmost to respond — to address the big issues, to look at the big picture. We are forging a new multilateralism that can deliver real results for all people, especially those most in need. But I am also painfully aware of the distance to go and the gap between commitment and action. On this UN Day, let us resolve to redouble our efforts on behalf of the vulnerable, the powerless, the defenceless. Let us stand more united than ever – united in purpose and united in action to make the world a safer, better place.

Ban Ki-moon

Source: UN Website.

Preserving the Ozone Layer: Actions and Results.

Following resolution 49/114 of the United Nations General Assembly, the international community observes the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer -- also know as “World Ozone Day”. A day observed every 16 September since 1995, to commemorate the signing of the Montreal Protocol on 16 September 1987.

According the Ozone Secretariat’s website, “This commemoration around the world offers an opportunity to focus attention and action at the global, regional and national levels on the protection of the ozone layer.” I think it was a mistake to exclude local actions related to such a question, but on that website you an also find Ozone Day information from 1998 through 2006.

What is the Ozone Layer?
Simply defined the ozone layer is a deposit in Earth’s atmosphere which contains high concentrations of the gas called ozone, whose single molecule is made up of 3 atoms of oxygen -- in chemistry, it is represented as O3.

(Image from thinkquest.org)

The ozone layer is formed after ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun split molecules of oxygen. These single oxygen atoms then combine with oxygen molecules (O2) to form ozone (O3).

O2 + UV ---> 2O
O + O2 ---> O3

(see the right equations here)

The layer is found between 10Km – 50Km above sea level depending on the season and the observer’s geographical position. Its thickness varies, from being smaller towards the tropics and thicker towards the poles. The thickness also changes with the seasons, being thicker during the spring (March to May) and thinner during the autumn (September to December) towards the northern hemisphere.

Reasons Why We Should Preserve the Ozone Layer?
A good number of reasons are valid prompting us to preserve the ozone layer, the first of which is to prevent diseases and to keep life on Earth on. Nearly every living thing depends on the ozone layer for protection against the sun’s harmful UV light. Excessive exposure of the human skin -- no matter its nature -- to UV light can cause sunburn at a minor level, but further cause skin cancer and cataracts.


We should preserve the ozone layer because many manmade substances have the negative impact of depleting the it -- make it thinner --, allowing much solar UV light and other forms of dangerous radiations to penetrate into Earth’s atmosphere, and hence causing the above mentioned damages. These manmade substances are generally called Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS). The most common ODS are chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were found in cooling systems such as air conditioners and refrigerators. CFCs can also be used as aerosol spray propellants and to clean delicate electronic equipments.

When the ozone layer depletes, and more UV light gets into Earth, there is increase of the green house gas (GHG) effects, which results to global warming, currently experienced through out the world. The devastating effects of global warming include among others, unpredictable hurricanes, tsunamis, heavy rain falls, excessive temperature rises and much more. These effects directly affect food production in terms of quality and quantity, as well as renders entire regions inhabitable.

Action and Results! Not reasons.
We have many reasons to talk about protecting the ozone layer. However, since the signing of the Montreal Protocol, one is tempted to believe that nothing is done to preserve the ozone layer. Discovery of a hole in the ozone layer above the Antarctic, average global temperatures increasing yearly, frequent and closer hurricanes, devastating heavy rain falls, you name them.

Results could however be arrived at from the reverse direction. That is, the sum of individual actions (instead of institutional actions) to produce global impacts. More time and money should therefore be devoted to educating people on new behaviours to adopt, that will slow down our devastating impact on our beautiful blue planet. Hence, in addition to industries striving to reduce their GHG emissions, individuals can opt to act in the following ways:

• Rely on drying clothes on a washing line, instead of resorting to a drying machine;
• Shutting down the computer when not in use
• Replacing incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent light bulbs
• Buying electric or hybrid cars instead of petrol or gas oil vehicles
• Jog instead of using a treadmill
• Using recycled stuff such as paper
• Using a timer to prevent appliances from turning 24/7

These are just a few behaviours we could adopt to contribute to protect the ozone layer, and be confident to offer a world worth living to future generations.

Tell Us Your Story / Racontez-Nous Votre Histoire

Lire ce message en français juste après la version en anglais.

In preparation for the next issue of the 2009 JCI Africa & Middle East Newsletter, the entire team working on the neswletter -- incuding me -- we would like readers to contribute further with stories they would like to share with other JCI members in particular, but also with world wide.

Are you a JCI member in Africa or the Middle East? Then this article is meant for you. So pick up your pen and paper and send your story to us for publication latest on September 30, 2009.

In the upcoming issues of the nesletter, you could also:

• Send us a message. Write to the team working on the newsletter to tell it what you like, dislike or what you would like to see or read in upcoming issues.

• Ask a question. Is there a question to which you don’t have an answer about JCI? We will be delighted to help you get the simplest and best answers.

We are ready to help you share your project info, events and other news. Hence, we look forward reading from you by September 30, 2009.

Send your message through this email: zuprodva@gmail.com or call "Joe" through thsi Skype ID: 'zuprod'.

Read or download previous issues here.

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En préparation pour le prochain numéro du bulletin d’information JCI de l'Afrique du 2009 et Moyen-Orient, nous aimerions savoir si tu as une histoire que tu voudrais partager avec d'autres membres JCI. Si oui, prend ton stylo et du papier et envoyer nous ton article pour publication plus tard le 30 Septembre, 2009.

Note également que tu peut:

• Envoyer un message. Ecris à l'équipe qui travaille sur le bulletin d’information afin de lui dire ces que tu aimes, ce qui te déplais ou encore aimerais voir ou lire dans les prochaines éditions.

• Poser une question. Y a t-il une question à laquelle tu n'as pas de réponse à propos de la JCI? Nous serons ravis de t’aider à obtenir les réponses les plus simples et les meilleurs.

Nous sommes prêts à vous aider à partager vos informations de projets, manifestations et autres nouvelles. Par conséquent, nous attendons impatiemment de recevoir ton message d’ici le 30 Septembre, 2009.

Envoi ton message à l’adresse suivante : zuprodva@gmail.com ou appel "Joe" via cette adresse Skype: 'zuprod'.

Lire ou télécharger les éditions prédédentes ici.

Did You Know About This International Day?

It’s Monday, so take this new week with positude*, and you’ll end it smiling more or better than when it started.

My Monday Glimpse
On this day, many things happened since the beginning of humanity. Listing them here will not change what was done, but I hope can serve to reflect on making our present and future better.

On Tuesday, September 13 1898 a retired Priest, Hannibal Goodwin was granted the Patent #610861 for "a photographic pellicle . . . in connection with roller cameras". He died of injuries following a street accident and his patent was sold to Ansco, a photographic company which produced inexpensive cameras for most of the 20th century.

On Wednesday, September 13 1922 the temperature in the shade at Al 'Aziziyah, Libya reached a world record of 57.8°C (136.04°F). Unless due to other reasons, I think global warming was already serious at work.

On Thursday, September 13 1956 IBM officially introduced the first computer disk storage unit, the "RAMAC 305" (left picture) which was also the first commercial computer that used a moving head hard disk drive for secondary storage. My goodness! What a size...

In 53 years, technology has considerably evolved especially in making devices smaller and more efficient. I'll simply mean "miniaturisation".

Learn more about this device.

On Thursday, September 13 1979 South Africa granted independence to the "homeland" of Venda, which was not recognised outside South Africa. The Non-State was re-absorbed into South Africa on Wednesday, 27 April 1994. Listen to Venda’s national anthem here.

International Days Observed This Week
During this week, at least 3 international days will be observed worldwide. The International Days of Democracy and that for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, days recognized by the United Nations, on September 15 and 16 respectively. A number of activities are surely organised in your country or community to commemorate these events.

The third international day of the week -- which many like me might have not known until now -- is the “International Talk Like a Pirate Day” (ITLAPD) which is a parodic holiday created in 1995 by John Baur and Mark Summers. The day is "the only holiday to come into being as a result of a sports injury” during a racquetball game between to M. Summers and J. Baur. One of them reacted to the pain with an outburst of "Aaarrr!", and the idea was born… The observance of this day, related to humour recommends everyone in the world to talk like a pirate. In case you need hints on how a pirate speaks, don't hesitate to rent or bye a copy of pirate movies such as the The Pirates of The Carribean or simply visit the original website of the ITLAPD found at talklikeapirate.com.

Well, in case you decide to observe ITLAPD, I wish you reasonable fun.


From Abengourou in Cote d'Ivoire, have a wonderful week.

*Positude is the abbreviation of positive attitude. As simple as that :)
My Monday Glimpse is derived from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Elu meilleur mail de l’année

Voted best mail of the year (Elu meilleur mail de lannée)... Don't ask me who voted this presentation the best of the year... I received from a friend and thought to share it world wide.

Feel free to share it in return.



Feel free to share it.