Code mending fences with Juna
…‘Were I not evicted I would have broken the bond with Maureen’
…Juna got in touch with Richard’s estranged wife Ricki
Code talks exclusively to Malawi News’ Emmanuel Luciano
The lion roared in the den called Big Brother House. Like a typical predator, the Malawian lion did unusually good job at defending itself where necessary and sometimes killing its prey to survive in the game. There was time to be intimate to preserve sanity and time to be real. Such was the manner of the game.
The threat the lion posed to other remaining dwellers of the house was so big that in the lion’s own words “it was time he was evicted.”
But five minutes before his eviction Code was having a discussion with Maureen about how it was not making sense to be intimate. Time for reckoning had finally come for the lion in the house.
“We had to think positively because we had lost a lot. It was me re-awakening. I have to be honest with you, if I had survived I would have gone back to my room and live my own life.
“I had to break the bond with Maureen especially on the kissing. Of course I would still hold respect for her,” said Code.
That moment before eviction Maureen was talking about her plans to come to Malawi and how Code would “affiliate her to something she wanted like a vocational centre and she invited me to her country purely on a business front,” Code said.
When Code’s name was announced as the next housemate to leave the, the one he planned to break the bond with had he survived clung to him like a leech, kissing him on end yet more drama was unfolding outside the house.
“In as far as the kissing was concerned. I was giving her moment because she had asked for it. I really wanted to go but I thought if I had refused, I would have left her in a terrible situation.
Five minutes after eviction the lion was facing the facts of life.
“Outside I knew what I had done was wrong. But it was something that I had to do to be sane because in that environment you need to be attached to someone.
“I think people have a right to have their perception. But that was just good companionship. Maureen opened up to me in a major, major way.”
The confrontation was as scary as it was emotional.
“Seeing my girlfriend was pure manifestation of her deeper love.” While still in that emotional embrace, “I told her I am sorry and she said, ‘don’t worry too much’. It’s gonna be okay’. I love you still and we will talk’.”
Great expectations make frustrated men but the night Code shared a room with his girlfriend did not seem to bring any frustrations.
“She was telling me how she got to the Big Brother forum and how she started responding on the forum until the last day. She told me how she got in touch with Richard’s wife Ricki after she had left Tanzania for Canada.
“She also talked about how some of the things that were being said were affecting are. They were some bad things that were being said about me which she thought were total ridicule. On things like the pro and cons of our relationship on a multicultural basis which were basically racist comments,” said King Code.
On their relationship, Code said:” One of the things she highlighted on was trust. She asked me if she could still trust me. We are mending fences now. That’s where we are. We are mending fences.”
“She showcased a deeper love for me and I would be a fool to disappoint her and I am not fool. She is the one I love, and you know I composed two songs in the house Cry no More, and Nyenyezi. I told her before we went into the house that; look, Every time you are thinking about me just look into the sky and when you see two stars its me and representation of our unborn baby.”
Asked why on the eve of his eviction he asked Maureen that he “wanted to have quality time with her”, a thing that many viewers interpreted to mean sex, Code said: “What I meant was that we needed time for us just to rectify things that were not rightly said, to thank her for providing emotional support. Basically we needed each other for the emotional support.
“And of all the nights in the world why should she choose the night that is supposedly my last in the house to say she wanted to sleep? Instead of spending sometime with someone you were close with there she was sleeping. Because I am a person who can easily adapt, I moved on. That’s why she apologised and said sorry about last night.”
Asked what could be the first thing she would tell Maureen if she got evicted, Code said: “I would tell her thanks for the emotional support. Tell her shorty is pregnant and I am gonna be a dad. I got back to shorty and that we can still pursue the business plans.”
The Malawian representative who is fondly called King Code by his fans said ‘Guzzle’ was one way of keeping sanity in the house. Guzzle had a way of detoxing us; opening us to each other about our deeper feelings or just having fun,” he said.
‘Malawi lets guzzle at Blue Elephant’
MALAWIAN’s ambassador to Big Brother Africa II, Code Sangala says he is ready to guzzle at his homecoming party at Blue Elephant today as the euphoria of his homecoming from the Big Brother House is hitting Malawians.
Code said he didn’t expect to thousands of Malawians to receive him.
“Honestly speaking expected people to welcome me but not that big multitude that included Honourable Billy Kaunda, Roy Comsy and honourable Aleke Banda. I was even excited to meet my Chichiri Dance Troupe,” he said.
“It was a grand welcome. No disrespectful to the president, it felt like a presidential welcome, I felt like a king,” he said.
On today’s homecoming party, Code said he expects a “peaceful and joyful drinking and dancing.”
“There is a guy inside me that likes partying. I am looking forward to guzzling. Some of the hottest deals are done at guzzle places,” he said.
Tapuwa Bandawe of Mathalala Label who are bringing Tay Grin, Dan Lufani and Edgar ndi Davis to the party said all is set.
“We want it to be a hell of the party. We didn’t want it to be only a disco that’s why we brought these guys so that Code and his friends should also have an opportunity to perform,” he said.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
A bite away from death
A bite away from death
By Emmanuel Luciano
There is a killer on loose. Rabies is mercilessly decimating Malawians.
“Rabies is a very scary disease. Once signs have shown in a man it’s a death sentence. It is very dangerous unlike Aids which you can survive through ARVs. When you have signs you cannot live more than seven days. The maximum one has lived in history is 14 days. ”
That’s how the veterinary surgeon, Dr. Kholiwe Mkandawire, portrays the threat that rabies poses.
On a daily basis, dogs are biting more and more people in Malawi. The press statement from government, which Secretary for Health Chris Kang’ombe and secretary for Agriculture Patrick Kabambe signed, says “Blantyre ADD is leading in registering dog bites cases with an average of 125 dog bites cases per month.”
This staggering statistic translates into 1500 people being at risk of dying of rabies in a year in Blantyre ADD alone if they don’t access the anti rabies vaccine.
It appears all over sudden dogs are on the loose in the country as more people are dying of rabies.
The current rabies status, Dr. Mkandawire says, warrants calling it a crisis.
“One case of rabies in a dog is enough to call it an outbreak because that dog is likely bite another dog, a person and wildlife. One bite can cause 100 cases of rabies,” she says.
Of the reported deaths, Blantyre recently registered two deaths while Malawi News’ investigation revealed that seven people died of rabies in Mulanje alone.
Dr. Mkandawire believes there are many unreported deaths of rabies throughout the country. Many people, says Dr Mkandawire, who take dog bites as normal in villages and do not bother to seek medical attention.
“No where in the world are people are people dying of rabies at the rate Malawians are dying of it. Three to four people die of rabies in Viphya every month.”
But a report of the study done at Queens Elizabeth Hospital for three years beginning March 2002 and posted on the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention website, indicate that rabies encephalitis is an important cause of death among children in Malawi.
The study also showed that 14 of 133 children who died from suspected Central Nervous System infections had rabies.
The report of the study says since this was a hospital-based study, the number of rabies cases in the community was likely to be much higher.
According to the report, “in some parts of Africa, up to 100 rabies cases are estimated to occur for each 1 officially reported.”
The report further says lack of diagnostic facilities and difficulties with the system hinder national reporting of rabies in Malawi.
Dr. Mkandawire however says cases of rabies are supposed to be rare occurrences.
“I remember my university professor telling me that you will never see a rabies case because it is rare in Europe and America,” she says.
The cases of the Dowa and Dedza beasts, in the eyes of the veterinary surgeon, are a pure scenario of rabies that was transferred to wild animals.
“We don’t control rabies in the bush. The rabies virus perpetuates itself by causing the madness to attack but villagers don’t know how to explain these things,” she says.
The ministry of Agriculture’s department of Animal Health and Livestock Department has “introduced annual rabies week vaccination campaign whereby dogs across the country are vaccinated free of charge.”
But Dr. Mkandawire, says, the campaign is not effective.
“The vaccination campaign really is very cosmetic. For you to control rabies really you must have coverage of 80 to 90 per cent of the vaccination of all the population of dogs. You cannot cover that in two to three weeks.
“There are no enough funds to give the boys allowances for the two weeks that they would be vaccinating the dogs.
“Inside sources told me that those who were doing the campaign in Blantyre were only given allowances for three days. You can’t take for granted the allowances of the workers in this campaign,” she says.
The Department of Animal Health and Livestock Development hasn’t been conducting shooting campaign of stray dogs because, as Malawi News understands, of problems in procuring bullets since through decentralization, each assembly has to buy for itself bullets.
But director of animal Health and Livestock Development Dr. Wilfred Lipita told Malawi News recently that it was no longer easy to carry a shooting exercise of stray dogs.
“The dogs are being clever these days. During the day they are not seen around and probably come out at night,” he said.
Dr. Mkandawire says it is 150 times cheaper to prevent rabies than to cure it hence government should pull its resources together on vaccination of dogs.
“For instance anti rabies vaccine for dogs cost K100 while a brand of human anti rabies vaccine cost K3000 on average per dose and for one to be treated he needs five injections which translates into K15 000,” she says.
“We don’t need to wait. We can control rabies. Government needs to import veterinary surgeons from countries like Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana while we are sending our young men to school. Imagine they are only four doctors in the whole Animal Health and Livestock Department,” she says.
The rabies crisis has prompted Kholiwe to hire a Kenyan veterinary surgeon to assist her in combating rabies.
“If Kholiwe can do it what can stop government from hiring veterinary surgeons? We also want sanity in the department of Animal Health and Livestock Development. This should be government’s priority,” she said.
By Emmanuel Luciano
There is a killer on loose. Rabies is mercilessly decimating Malawians.
“Rabies is a very scary disease. Once signs have shown in a man it’s a death sentence. It is very dangerous unlike Aids which you can survive through ARVs. When you have signs you cannot live more than seven days. The maximum one has lived in history is 14 days. ”
That’s how the veterinary surgeon, Dr. Kholiwe Mkandawire, portrays the threat that rabies poses.
On a daily basis, dogs are biting more and more people in Malawi. The press statement from government, which Secretary for Health Chris Kang’ombe and secretary for Agriculture Patrick Kabambe signed, says “Blantyre ADD is leading in registering dog bites cases with an average of 125 dog bites cases per month.”
This staggering statistic translates into 1500 people being at risk of dying of rabies in a year in Blantyre ADD alone if they don’t access the anti rabies vaccine.
It appears all over sudden dogs are on the loose in the country as more people are dying of rabies.
The current rabies status, Dr. Mkandawire says, warrants calling it a crisis.
“One case of rabies in a dog is enough to call it an outbreak because that dog is likely bite another dog, a person and wildlife. One bite can cause 100 cases of rabies,” she says.
Of the reported deaths, Blantyre recently registered two deaths while Malawi News’ investigation revealed that seven people died of rabies in Mulanje alone.
Dr. Mkandawire believes there are many unreported deaths of rabies throughout the country. Many people, says Dr Mkandawire, who take dog bites as normal in villages and do not bother to seek medical attention.
“No where in the world are people are people dying of rabies at the rate Malawians are dying of it. Three to four people die of rabies in Viphya every month.”
But a report of the study done at Queens Elizabeth Hospital for three years beginning March 2002 and posted on the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention website, indicate that rabies encephalitis is an important cause of death among children in Malawi.
The study also showed that 14 of 133 children who died from suspected Central Nervous System infections had rabies.
The report of the study says since this was a hospital-based study, the number of rabies cases in the community was likely to be much higher.
According to the report, “in some parts of Africa, up to 100 rabies cases are estimated to occur for each 1 officially reported.”
The report further says lack of diagnostic facilities and difficulties with the system hinder national reporting of rabies in Malawi.
Dr. Mkandawire however says cases of rabies are supposed to be rare occurrences.
“I remember my university professor telling me that you will never see a rabies case because it is rare in Europe and America,” she says.
The cases of the Dowa and Dedza beasts, in the eyes of the veterinary surgeon, are a pure scenario of rabies that was transferred to wild animals.
“We don’t control rabies in the bush. The rabies virus perpetuates itself by causing the madness to attack but villagers don’t know how to explain these things,” she says.
The ministry of Agriculture’s department of Animal Health and Livestock Department has “introduced annual rabies week vaccination campaign whereby dogs across the country are vaccinated free of charge.”
But Dr. Mkandawire, says, the campaign is not effective.
“The vaccination campaign really is very cosmetic. For you to control rabies really you must have coverage of 80 to 90 per cent of the vaccination of all the population of dogs. You cannot cover that in two to three weeks.
“There are no enough funds to give the boys allowances for the two weeks that they would be vaccinating the dogs.
“Inside sources told me that those who were doing the campaign in Blantyre were only given allowances for three days. You can’t take for granted the allowances of the workers in this campaign,” she says.
The Department of Animal Health and Livestock Development hasn’t been conducting shooting campaign of stray dogs because, as Malawi News understands, of problems in procuring bullets since through decentralization, each assembly has to buy for itself bullets.
But director of animal Health and Livestock Development Dr. Wilfred Lipita told Malawi News recently that it was no longer easy to carry a shooting exercise of stray dogs.
“The dogs are being clever these days. During the day they are not seen around and probably come out at night,” he said.
Dr. Mkandawire says it is 150 times cheaper to prevent rabies than to cure it hence government should pull its resources together on vaccination of dogs.
“For instance anti rabies vaccine for dogs cost K100 while a brand of human anti rabies vaccine cost K3000 on average per dose and for one to be treated he needs five injections which translates into K15 000,” she says.
“We don’t need to wait. We can control rabies. Government needs to import veterinary surgeons from countries like Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana while we are sending our young men to school. Imagine they are only four doctors in the whole Animal Health and Livestock Department,” she says.
The rabies crisis has prompted Kholiwe to hire a Kenyan veterinary surgeon to assist her in combating rabies.
“If Kholiwe can do it what can stop government from hiring veterinary surgeons? We also want sanity in the department of Animal Health and Livestock Development. This should be government’s priority,” she said.
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