₦airaland Forum

Also,

https://www.nairaland.com/6060136/growing-raising-small-home

Wow. The sellouts have arrived in record time.

Also, let's imagine that someone has a "teaching" position, and then one day they find themselves unemployed. It's Vietnam, not America. They're racist af and they do not have the economy or social safety net of west Europe or something. The racism you face there is different from anything you'll encounter in west Europe or North America. These people are basically a naked remote tribe holding a cell phone. And if they even have laws against racism, it's only paper. It means nothing. This is not a place for any sensible black man/woman to go. Also, your visa is tied to your teaching job. If you're unemployed, your visa is done. Let's say you have permanent residence. Cool. But you're still unemployed.

NaijaVietnamese:
Look at him talking boldly about something he has absolutely no knowledge about. Where I am living, the locals treat me like I’m royalty. I have never experienced racism, not even once.

You're either lying or don't possess the reasoning skills, education, and self-respect to understand and admit it's happened.

A place where people will, I mean total strangers on the street will see you and shout hello while smiling and waving at you.

It's unfortunate that a grown man such as yourself (1) thinks that's rare, and (2) is impressed.

Some will beg to snap pictures with you.

This is an example of the backwardness and racism of the country. These aren't actions of admiration. I could say more, but it's not necessary.

Some will leave what they’re doing just to show directions.

Again, no grown man, especially one that's traveled, should be impressed by this.

A place where as a Black person, you’re working as an expert and earning far above what the locals who are doing same thing with you are earning and they accept it without hating.

Unless you're a senior professional or middle management or higher working for a foreign firm there, it's not accurate to describe your position or status in this way. You "teach" English in Asia in for-profit "schools." No one who does that is considered an expert in their field unless they're doing so at a university. They also aren't that respected outside of general cultural respect that is given to any/all who have the title of teacher. If they treat you well, it's only because that is the standard way they treat teachers in that region.

How could skyscrapers mean that a place is developed or great? Are there no skyscrapers in Lagos and Abuja? Are there no skyscrapers in many African countries?

It's unfortunate that you're both a teacher and a teacher of English, and you did not understand my statement.

You’re really a deluded dunce with no capacity to think objectively. I had a chance to travel to US with a tourist visa and overstay in 2017. I passed it off because the idea of living in a place for donkey years without the chance of traveling out is a no no for me. Why would anyone even travel illegally and expect to live a good life?

Let me explain the statement to you, English teacher, since you're having trouble. My statement did not encourage overstaying or being an illegal. I was making the point that the social-economic-cultural gap is so wide between the entire Asian region and US/Canada/etc that even someone sneaking across the border has a better shot at a good life than anyone setting foot in Asia.

I would rather work 80 to 100 hours a month doing a professional job like teaching than work as a cleaner in UK.

It's a white collar job, but teaching English (in for-profit shops) there is hardly a profession. In many places, they'll hire anyone that looks white regardless of their English language skill or qualifications. In places where they can't afford to be picky, they'll hire just about anyone, qualified or not.

People earn from 11 dollars per hour in Vietnam with free accommodation, free utilities, free transportation and very low cost of living.

Many scammers and scammer companies will try to sell foreigners (even Americans) on these things. And if they even get a fraction of that, it's very substandard.

Can you enjoy that in the more advanced countries?

In advanced countries, you can enjoy a high standard of living with the ability to build and choose the life you actually want. Vietnam is not such a place.

Teachers have lots of time to do other things if they want despite working 80 to 100 dollars monthly. There are other opportunities available in places like China and Vietnam which you can’t get in Europe as an immigrant there. It’s not everything I will say online.

The UK recently expanded countries that it wants to tap for teachers. I made a thread on this. America is also facing teacher shortages, and it really doesn't take that much to qualify. Anyone trying to claim that teaching anywhere in Asia, especially English, is better than those countries is lying.

Also, US (public) teachers work 180 days a year, but basically get a decent full year salary. They can get paid very well working in private schools and prep schools. They also get every national holiday and holiday weeks off. They have a strong union. And given that they're truly qualified, they can tutor and do private instruction for high pay, and easily spend their summer teaching abroad in real teaching roles making real money, and living in desirable places, e.g. Spain.

But a smart person can spend about $3500 including flight, accommodation and certificate and get a teaching job within one month of arriving in Vietnam. Those that travel and become stranded are ignorant ones like you who can’t apply common sense.

Let's pretend this is true (and it's not). The preferred teacher there fits a certain profile: female, caucasian, specific training in education, and experienced. This is so strong of a preference that Asians born in English-speaking countries have trouble getting hired. The only reason any place hires outside of this profile is because no one wants to teach there. The second that changes, those opportunities disappear for anyone who doesn't fit that profile. No sensible person will bet on that flimsy "opportunity."

Furthermore, because this isn't a real industry and profession, it's full of scamming and abuse. These often aren't real schools. They're just random shops. Real schools don't hire random people. These are body shops. Another strong preference they have is for filipino women. Why? Because they can get away with abusing them in various ways. The potential for scamming and abuse is greater for those that don't come from US/Canada/etc. And even people from America have found themselves basically kidnapped in a remote village after accepting a "teaching" job.

Why are White people abandoning sane Europe to travel to Asia to teach since it doesn’t make sense, according to you?

LOL This is why you see whites teaching there:
-They can't find a job where they are, and they heard anyone with a white face (it's true) gets hired there. These people plan to do this for a few years, and go home to see how they can utilize the experience. They don't plan on staying.
-They're an ex-convict that can't get a decent job in their own country, and again they heard being white gets you a job in a low COL country.
-They want to abuse minors.
-They retired very poor, and this is going to save them from suffering.
-They're fresh out of college, want to travel, and want to get some valuable experience. They'll either go from country to country, or stay in one for no longer than a year.
-They're obsessed with Asian women and animation.
-They're training as or have completed studies in being a foreign language professional, e.g. government workers. It's an inexpensive way to get immersion and practice.

Deeegbee:
Great thread, this happens a lot in the West.

For some like me who is bold and outspoken because I fear nobody except God and my parents, you bring the racism bias to my doorstep especially in the Workplace. I immediately give you a stern warning straight up and give you reasons why you should not throw shit to me. I do make them understand I don’t belong to the categories of other Africans...This method has worked for me as they tend to be very scared, they later choose to be friends and accord me respect thereafter.

I do advise my African brothers to be confident of themselves, be outspoken and they should always exercise their right no matter what!

Bro, I would love to see the look on their faces when you step to them.

New Materials Combo Uses Non-Linear Phononics to Make Smaller, More Powerful Wireless Devices

New synthetic materials could enable device sizes to be reduced by a factor of 100, researchers claim, while requiring less signal strength and using less power.

Researchers at the University of Arizona Wyant College of Optical Sciences and Sandia National Laboratories have discovered that by combining highly specialized semiconductor materials and piezoelectric materials not typically used together, they could generate giant nonlinear interactions between photons. Combined with previous innovations demonstrating amplifiers for phonons using the same materials, their work opens up the possibility of making wireless devices such as smartphones or other data transmitters smaller, more efficient, and more powerful. The recent study was published in Nature Materials.

There are approximately 30 filters inside a cell phone, which transform radio waves into sound waves and back. These piezoelectric filters, made on special microchips, cannot be made of the same materials, such as silicon, as the other important chips on the front-end processor.

This makes the size of a device much bigger that it needs to be, and there will be losses from going back and forth between radio waves and sound waves that can degrade the device’s performance, explained the study's senior author, Matt Eichenfield, who holds a joint appointment at the UArizona College of Optical Sciences and Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM, in a news story on University of Arizona's news site. “Having all the components needed to make a radio frequency front end on a single chip could shrink devices such as cell phones and other wireless communication devices by as much as a factor of a 100,” he explained.

"Normally, phonons behave in a completely linear fashion, meaning they don't interact with each other," he said. "It's a bit like shining one laser pointer beam through another; they just go through each other.”

The synthetic materials produced by the research team caused the phonons to exhibit giant phononic nonlinearities, and they interacted with each much more strongly than in any conventional material, Eichenfield said. "In the laser pointer analogy, this would be like changing the frequency of the photons in the first laser pointer when you turn on the second," he said. "As a result, you'd see the beam from the first one changing color."

The team also showed that the components can be made using acoustic wave technologies instead of transistor-based electronics on a single chip. Specifically, they took a silicon wafer with a thin layer of lithium niobate—a synthetic material used extensively in piezoelectronic devices and cell phones—and added an ultrathin layer (fewer than 100 atoms thick) of a semiconductor containing indium gallium arsenide.

While lithium niobate is one of the most nonlinear phononic materials known, its usefulness for technical applications is hindered by the fact that those nonlinearities are very weak when used on its own. By adding the indium-gallium arsenide semiconductor, Eichenfield's group created an environment in which the acoustic waves traveling through the material influence the distribution of electrical charges in the indium gallium arsenide semiconductor film, causing the acoustic waves to mix in specific ways that can be controlled, opening up the system to various applications.

"The effective nonlinearity you can generate with these materials is hundreds or even thousands of times larger than was possible before, which is crazy," Eichenfield said. "If you could do the same for nonlinear optics, you would revolutionize the field.”

"Now, you can point to every component in a diagram of a radiofrequency front-end processor and say, 'Yeah, I can make all of these on one chip with acoustic waves,'" Eichenfield said. "We're ready to move on to making the whole shebang in the acoustic domain."

https://www.designnews.com/materials/new-materials-combo-uses-non-linear-phononics-to-make-smaller-more-powerful-wireless-devices

Teen though? But congrats.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan teenager Emmanuel Wanyonyi ran the fastest 800 meters since 2012 and his time of 1:41.70 on Saturday makes him the third-fastest man ever in the event.

The 2023 world silver medalist’s dominant performance at the Kenyan athletics Olympic trials qualified him for the Paris Games.

Only world record holder David Rudisha — Kenya’s two-time Olympic and world champion — and Denmark’s Wilson Kipketer have run faster times.

The 19-year-old Wanyonyi almost failed to qualify for the finals after he was tripped and fell during Friday’s semifinals, where he finished sixth.

“If I didn’t fall yesterday I would not have run like this today, so everything happens for a reason,” Wanyonyi said.

Rudisha holds the world record of 1:40.91 and has also run the second- and third-fastest times, followed by Kipketer with the fourth-fastest time of 1:41.11.

Ferdinand Omanyala set the world-leading time in the men’s 100 meters and qualified to represent Kenya in Paris. He ran 9.79 seconds and seemed to have regained the form that saw him setting the African record of 9.77 during the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi in 2021.

“I feel great but I just feel like we can go faster,” the 28-year-old Omanyala said. “Today was just a confirmation of what is coming because this part of the season we did not do much, it was about touching each and every aspect of the race so now we are going into the Olympic camp and we are going to press even more so I am expecting a very fast time in the Olympics.”

At the Tokyo Games three years ago, Omanyala dropped out in the semifinals.

Faith Kipyegon, double world champion and record holder in the women’s 1500m, won in a time of 3.53.99.

“I wanted to execute and ran as fast as possible because people think you can’t ran fast at altitude, and I am really grateful I ran that quick,” she said.

Kipyegon said she hopes she can maintain her current form heading to the Olympics.

Women’s 800m world champion Mary Moraa qualified for Paris in second place with her sister Sarah Moraa in third.

https://apnews.com/article/wanyonyi-kenya-800-paris-olympics-d750555ceb464506e6b5a306ad71d8ab

NaijaVietnamese:
Your ignorance is quite disturbing. Dumb people always generalize and give themselves reasons why something will never work. However, smart people often make research and can see opportunities where others see nothing...

This person is a scammer. If you listen to people like this, you'll end up in a racist, backwards country with no visa, no job, and possibly in prison.

Another thing about these Asian countries is that they're full of organized crime. Organized crime basically runs a lot of their countries and people are terrified of them. People talk about human trafficking, but they also have a whole organ trafficking industry. The last thing you want to do is put yourself in a situation where you're vulnerable, with no protections, no options, and surrounded by these sick racists.

Also, many people foolish enough to go to these countries simply because they see skyscrapers end up committing crimes to survive. In the US, maybe you get deported, or you go to prison. In Asian countries, they execute.

Some Asian countries only LOOK like west Europe and North America. They are NOT the same. Don't waste your time, money, or effort. Frankly, even if you illegally go to west Europe/North America, you can still survive and hustle your way to something. You're not doing that in Asia.

76
77

Asians will still find a way to cheat. They're like, addicted to cheating.

Of course they love the snow. Those sellouts will rub their face in anything white.

When Adenia, an Africa-focused private equity firm, was weighing up whether to invest in Kenyan retail, it did not seem like an obvious sector in which to get involved. Several Kenyan supermarkets, Uchumi, Nakumatt and Tuskys, had either gone bust or were about to do so, while foreign retailers, including the mighty Shoprite of South Africa, would soon pack up and leave.

Adenia went ahead anyway, taking over not one but two family-run concerns. In 2018 it bought Tumaini. The following year, after adding five new stores, it acquired the Quick Mart business, bringing the number of outlets to 24.

At first, growth was breakneck, with a new store opening nearly every month, a strategy made easier by the fact that Quick Mart leases all its properties. It became the fastest-growing supermarket chain in Kenya and in 2022 was number 11 in the FT/Statista ranking.

Growth has slowed since then, more than management intended. After the Covid pandemic, which finished off several competitors, the business environment remained tough as inflation spiralled and the Kenyan shilling plummeted. That added to the cost of imported goods, which make up about 40 per cent of Quick Mart’s offering, including made-in-China electronics. Adding to its woes, President William Ruto, elected in 2022, increased payroll taxes, squeezing customers’ disposable income.

The company is adding about five stores a year and is up to 60 in 14 of Kenya’s 47 counties, with more openings planned. Adenia has put in about $25mn to fund expansion, though it is mainly funded through cash flow derived from high operating margins. This year, Quick Mart comes 34 in the FT/Statista ranking.

Martha Osier, partner at Adenia, says that, before taking on Kenyan retail, her firm consulted with Jérôme Loubère, a former executive at French retailer Carrefour, who is now Quick Mart’s chair.

Loubère judged Kenya a nascent retail market with potential to grow in both scale and sophistication — the sort he had witnessed develop in eastern Europe.

Adenia’s strategy was two-fold. First, it replaced the Kinuthia founding family with professional management, bringing in Peter Kangi’iri, with a background in retail, logistics and finance, as chief executive, and Jacques Dôme, who had been in retail in Dubai for 15 years, as his deputy. Members of the Kinuthia family retain two seats on the seven-member board, which includes Osier.

Second, it sought to strike better deals with Kenyan suppliers, many of which enjoy dominant market positions. They command high prices and determine the terms of distribution, such as the size of packaging, even if these do not always meet customers’ preferences.

Quick Mart says it has been able to negotiate better terms thanks partly to Carrefour, which blazed a trail after it entered the market in 2016 by using its bargaining muscle. Quick Mart, now the second-largest retailer after Naivas and ahead of Carrefour and Chandarana Food Plus, has acquired the scale to follow suit, it says.

The FT visited two Quick Mart outlets, including its very first, opened in 2006 in the bustling Shabab neighbourhood of Nakuru, Kenya’s fourth-largest city, where the company was founded. The shop floor was cramped and the shelves crammed with a variety of goods. A quick scan revealed tubs of Cowboy cooking fat, Quencher orange-flavoured drink, Pure Wimbi porridge and crisps in flavours including grilled goat meat, as well as aisles of flour, pulses, biscuits, spices and other dried goods.

Betty Komuhangi, an auditor and regular customer, was in the pasta section. Prices had skyrocketed, she said. Though a professional, she had to watch her budget, and was looking at Butterfly pasta, a cheaper brand than she normally bought. “This is a bit more affordable,” she said, adding that Quick Mart was generally price competitive with good customer service.

At the other end of the scale, in Kileleshwa, a fast-growing high-rise residential area in Nairobi, a new much larger and more modern store offers customers 13,000 different items in a shop floor space of 20,000 square feet. Kileleshwa is one of 25 Quick Mart outlets that open 24 hours a day. Customers can shop online, in a partnership with Glovo, the Spain-based delivery app, but this accounts for less than 1 per cent of business.

Unlike the store in Nakuru, the Kileleshwa outlet has its own bakery and large fresh fruit and vegetable section, an attempt to entice customers accustomed to shopping in open-air markets. Food aisles offer ugali, a maize staple, mabuyu (baobab tree seeds) and little dried omena fish. A range of Geisha soaps promises upwardly mobile consumers that they are “sustainably sourced”.

Even the Kileleshwa branch caters to more price-conscious shoppers: a “milk ATM” allows customers to fill their own containers more cheaply than pre-packaged equivalents.

Dôme says that although the macro-environment is not easy, Kenya remains a growth market, with only 30 per cent of retail done in modern shops, against 70 per cent in South Africa, leaving room to grow. Women work in Kenya, he adds, meaning middle class families have two incomes, plus political devolution had spread wealth, making it profitable to open outlets in secondary cities.

Quick Mart is looking to expand into other east African countries, possibly starting in neighbouring Uganda. Eventually it hopes to do business in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it deems that Kinshasa, the capital, is ripe for the sort of retail modernisation Kenya is undergoing.

https://www.ft.com/content/37cdde93-8e6e-4678-80d9-1e17dac23753

Stackable planters and making your own stackable planters

I'd say this is a great option for herbs, chili peppers, spices, and berries. And while you can buy ones made to stack, they're pretty easy to make out of just about anything. Also, you could easily use this approach for larger stuff like growing potatoes in large pots, but you obviously need to be careful about securing everything, ensuring you can access it properly, and ensuring that the plant gets proper heating/cooling, sun exposure, moisture balance, and etc.

How-to on making your own (one method, there's many):
https://www.loghome.com/articles/how-to-create-diy-vertical-garden

Another way to make them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE8WSw6bxuQ

Some store bought examples (you can make these too):

Organisers of Africa’s premier men’s and women’s international football tournaments have admitted they face a “scheduling nightmare”, but dates for forthcoming editions are closer to being agreed, the BBC has been told. During a rare in-depth interview Veron Mosengo-Omba, general secretary of the Confederation of African Football (Caf), promised that an announcement on the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) in Morocco would arrive by the end of this month – revealing there is a strong chance it could be switched to next year.

“We are supposed to play this year but we have teams engaged in the Olympics, so we have to find another date,” Mosengo-Omba explained to BBC Sport Africa.

“We are talking with Uefa, because most of the players are playing in Europe, the European Club Association and also with Fifa in order to find [a] suitable date.”

Meanwhile, Mosengo-Omba confirmed that Caf could stage the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), also set to be hosted by Morocco, in early 2026 because of the timing of Fifa’s new 32-team Club World Cup in June and July next year. “For the men, we need to make sure that the dates that we'll be choosing will be in the interests of the players,” said the Swiss-Congolese, highlighting issues around the workload of the continent’s elite players.

“For this we need to balance different aspects and also discuss with our partners and then we complete [the dates]. Scheduling is a nightmare for everybody.” Caf’s statutes say both iterations of the Nations Cup should be held once every two years - rather than once every four as is the case with most major championships organised by other confederations. However, that puts pressure on the African game’s governing body to fit its competitions into an ever-more-crowded international calendar. Qualifying for the 2024 Wafcon was completed last December, but deciding when to hold the 12-team finals is complicated by the fact that record nine-time winners Nigeria and Zambia will be participating in the Paris Olympics during July and August. Desiree Ellis, coach of reigning continental champions South Africa, says the crowded schedule is evidence of rapid growth in the women’s game – but she remains critical of Caf’s handling of the situation. “If it (Wafcon) is postponed or cancelled, it will be a huge, huge disappointment,” the 61-year-old told BBC Sport Africa, pointing out that the 2020 Nations Cup was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, unlike the men’s 2021 tournament which was merely postponed.

“The growth of women's football over the last couple of years has really shot through the roof, especially on the African continent.

“Just communicate whether it's happening or whether it's not happening so we know how to prepare going forward.” The growth of women’s football in Africa has been made clear this year by two record-breaking transfer fees paid for Zambian players. In February, forward Rachel Kundananji set a new world record when joining American team Bay FC for $860,000 (£685,000) and the next month Copper Queens skipper Barbra Banda moved to fellow National Women's Soccer League side Orlando Pride for $740,000 (£581,000). Mosengo-Omba says Caf’s only option for scheduling Wafcon this year would involve playing it outside of an agreed international window – meaning club sides would not be compelled to release their stellar names.

“Do we play Women's Afcon without our best players? This is something that personally I think is not good,” he said.

“We cannot come back by using only local (domestic-based) players. They are good, but the standard would not be the same.”

The alternative is a postponement until 2025. When it comes to the men’s Nations Cup, Caf’s “nightmare” has been caused by global governing body Fifa introducing its expanded Club World Cup. The 32-team tournament will be played in the United States from 15 June to 13 July next year – dates which potentially could have been earmarked for the 2025 Afcon, with Caf having previously stated its aim of aligning its flagship competition with the European summer window. “We have a problem that we're still discussing now with the same stakeholders and partners: the European Club Association, Uefa and Fifa,” said Mosengo-Omba. He denied that Fifa has pressured Caf not to hold Afcon at the same time as the Club World Cup – something that Concacaf, the continental confederation for North and Central America, has decided to do with its Gold Cup competition. Fifa has been forced to defend its new addition to the football calendar after criticism from unions that players are being “pushed beyond their limits”. “We can play after the Club World Cup, but is this good for the interests of the players who have played all the season and then they travel to America to play [and then] immediately come to play Afcon?” Mosengo-Omba continued. “We have to put this in balance before [we] take a decision.”

Despite concerns around heat, the 2019 Nations Cup in Egypt was hosted in June and July that year and the 2021 and 2023 editions were also due to be staged around the same time of year to avoid the regular club versus country clash caused by the tournament’s traditional January-February time slot. However, the 2021 tournament in Cameroon was pushed back to early 2022 because of the pandemic and weather concerns, while the 2023 tournament was held in Ivory Coast earlier this year to avoid the West African rainy season.

Despite Caf failing to meet its aim of aligning the past two tournaments with the European football calendar, Mosengo-Omba admits it could very well happen again in Morocco. “If this is for the interests of the player, why not? Because we have to focus in terms of the player," he said. Meanwhile, the date for the qualifying draw for the 2025 Afcon is set to be announced after the next meeting of Caf’s executive committee.

Qualifiers are expected to be held in September, October and November this year.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c299ng4r370o

Should be interesting.

We use glass for a lot of things. We use it to brighten up the rooms of our house by creating windows that let sunlight in. But glass has some inherent problems that scientists have been trying to solve. Now, a new glass-like material could help solve some of those problems.

The new material is called Polymer-based Micro-photonic Multi-functional metamaterial, or PMMM if you want to save yourself some breath. It was created by researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, and featured in a new study published in Nature Communications.

What makes this new glass-like material more appealing over the standard glass we're used to using is that it's not only more transparent, but it's also better at keeping out the heat that regular glass windows let into your home. This alone could be a huge improvement for many places where heat levels get to outrageous levels.

The lead author on the study, Gan Huang, says that the material can be used in both roofs and walls, and that when used it "allows for bright yet glare-free and privacy-protected indoor spaces for work and living." I don't know about you, but being able to have windows in my house I don't feel like I need to bury under curtains for a little privacy would certainly be nice.

The real superpower that PMMM offers, though, is its ability to dispel heat directly into space using a phenomenon called radiative cooling. This takes advantage of the fact that Earth's atmosphere is transparent to infrared wavelengths and then uses space as a kind of universal heatsink.

The researchers say the new glass-like material kept a room six degrees cooler than the ambient air during tests. It's also self-cleaning, thanks to a surface full of tiny little pyramids, which help keep a layer of air under any water droplets that might hit the surface. This causes the droplets to just roll right off, taking any dirt or dust with them.

We've seen some pretty crazy developments around glass in recent years, including a new glass material stronger than steel. This latest development is just as crazy, and could help revolutionize the glass industry in new ways.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/new-glass-like-material-can-clean-itself-and-keep-rooms-cooler/ar-BB1nyD7s?ocid=BingNewsSearch

NAIROBI — A community-led consortium in Kenya’s tea-growing region is fighting to stop a global private equity firm selling the renowned Lipton tea estates to a Sri Lankan conglomerate in a deal estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars.

It comes after the consortium’s own bid to reclaim the estates failed last month.

The Nairobi-based agricultural firm Sasini was the other bidder for the Lipton Kenya estates which include 11 plantations and eight factories in Kericho, Bomet, and Limuru counties. Sri Lankan firm Browns won with a promise to allocate a 15% stake in the Kenya operation to the community through a cooperative society.

Luxembourg-based CVC Capital bought the Lipton estates in Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda in 2022 from Unilever for €4.5 billion ($4.8 billion). The tea estates in Kericho, a highland town in southern Rift Valley, sit on lands from which members of the Kipsigis community were first forcefully evicted by British colonialists over a hundred years ago. In more recent years, the community has faced off with the multinational firms running the estates over layoffs due to mechanization, as well as alleged sexual abuse violations against female workers.

Two people close to the latest discussions told Semafor Africa that the Kipsigis Community Clans Organization — an umbrella group of elders, clans and cooperative societies claiming to represent over 340,000 members — had earlier sealed a partnership with London-based management consultancy firm 101 Partners with whom they formed a consortium and sought financing for the bid. 101 Partners is owned by Guy Chambers, who spent nearly seven years as chief executive of UK tea multinational James Finlays before leaving in July 2022.

Members of the consortium claim their bid was not considered despite their willingness to match the highest offer, and that the community was not adequately consulted on the sale. They said they are planning to file an objection to the sale with the Competition Authority of Kenya (CA) and also with the United Nations Human Rights Council over alleged violations by Lipton of requirements of free, prior and informed consent from communities on use and transfer of their ancestral lands.

Browns and CVC did not respond to emails and phone calls from Semafor Africa.

“The people drinking Lipton tea should know that they are drinking blood tea,” Nicholas Kirui, a member of Kericho’s tea mechanization task force and former CEO of the Kenya Tea Growers Association, told Semafor Africa.[b] “The land was forcefully taken from the Kipsigis people without compensation. [/b]There was an expectation that once the [colonial-era] leases expired, the community would get its land back.”

Chambers, who was backing the community’s push to take over the estates, was a previous top executive of James Finlays, a tea company.

For the new Lipton deal, Chambers’ 101 partners and the community organizations are said to have agreed on an ownership structure that would see 101 Partners secure financing from a multilateral development bank in exchange for 45% of the newly-formed entity. The community cooperative societies would secure a 40% stake and 15% would be held by a community trust.

In the only post on its website, published in February, 101 Partners highlights the brutal history of the tea plantations of Kericho and teases its vision for a future that is more beneficial for the community.

“Social injustice sits within the DNA and founding story of these estates,” it reads in part. “So, it is no wonder that strong feelings remain today regarding land in Kericho. The quest by the local community to share in the value created on their ancestral land is existential.”

Read the rest here:
https://www.semafor.com/article/06/04/2024/the-battle-for-lipton-tea-in-kenya

What's happening in Guyana is just beautiful. Do it, Guyana!

That said, here's a vid showing Guyana's Easter celebration:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4-G3SY6J48

Major construction projects


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqOQ2b5LUos

Random vid from a medical student studying in Guyana:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAr4orbJTl0

Bongadu:
LATAM women are overrated

The real deal is middle eastern women especially Iraqi women

They look about the same: hairy, shaped like white women, and faces like white women. Middle eastern women may look worse because of all the inbreeding that goes on among Muslims. But given the "colorism" of LATAM society, I'm sure there's a fair amount of inbreeding there too. The difference is that they have a bunch of Euro immigrants in LATAM, so that stops that from happening as much as it does in say the Dominican Republic. "Colorists" will inbreed to keep a certain complexion. Sickening.

The image of LATAM women in media doesn't really represent the reality. And the only reason that they're boosted up so hard is that white men will promote any country where:

- He can easily access the local women, especially countries where human trafficking is big.
- The people are really trashy and/or uneducated.
- They don't totally reject foreigners, especially white ones.

Colombia is a country where it's common for women to drug men and rob them. These criminals have no idea how the substances they use work, and don't care. So it can cause more than a few lost dollars.

Besides drugging food/drink or putting it on their body, they also do this thing where they blow dust in someone's face.

More info here:

https://outofofficegal.com/blog/scopolamine-devils-breath-colombia

Beyond that, south and central America are incredibly racist and backwards places. In Brazil, there are people who don't even have a birth certificate because the father didn't want to sign it because the child was female or black.

The only place worth visiting in the region is Guyana (black country). Info here:

https://www.nairaland.com/6199307/guyana-experiences-info

Guyanese women are beautiful and fun btw.

Melagros:
COMRADES, why these South Africans hate us?

Many of these SA aren't even actual black people. They're tragic mulattos. So they're racist.

The poverty rate of actual SA is like 64% while it's 1% for oyinbo SA. They've also lived under these conditions (oppression and racism) for generations. It's traumatic. Like Black Americans, it's messed with their minds. Stockholm syndrome is one of the effects. Others are nihilism and violence.

A nonprofit should help them sue the airline.

Blue3k:
Lol they realized it was a stupid policy and welcomed the white farmers back 🤣. A year after the old man dies they reverse that decision.

The current president was put there by whites. That is why they've done this.

(WO) – ARA Petroleum announced that the Ministry of Energy in Tanzania has granted a 25-year Development Licence over the Ntorya natural gas discovery area to the Ruvuma joint venture.

The Development Licence was received by the operator of the Ruvuma JV, ARA Petroleum Tanzania Limited (APT), a wholly owned subsidiary of ARA Petroleum.

The award of the Development Licence allows APT to proceed with Tanzania’s largest onshore natural gas development with the goal of producing gas for the growing domestic market in the next year.

“We are delighted to receive this licence from the Ministry of Energy and thank all the Tanzanian agencies involved in achieving this major milestone. We are ready to launch work immediately to bring this onshore development project into production,” said Erhan Saygi, General Manager of APT.

APT has prepared a field development plan that includes, but is not limited to, converting an existing well into a producing well, building in-field gas processing facilities and contracting a rig operator to drill a third well to appraise the field further.

APT expects to produce 40 MMcfd in the first year of production and to increase that to 140 MMcfd within a few years’ time, according to a Gas Sales Agreement signed with the Tanzanian Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) earlier this year. Such volumes will increase Tanzanian natural gas production significantly.

Additionally, APT believes the potential for gas production from the field is far larger having commissioned, acquired and interpretated 338 km2 of 3D seismic data over the Ruvuma JV licence area.

Following the interpretation of the seismic data, APT considers the area to yield a matured unaudited Contingent Resource estimate of 3.45 Tcd of Gas Initially In Place (GIIP), with an mean unrisked GIIP potential of 16.4 Tcf and a risked mean potential of 6.9 Tcf for the wider Ruvuma JV area.

Acknowledging this wider potential, the Development Licence divides the original “Mtwara Exploration Licence” area into nine blocks: five blocks containing the Ntorya discovery, and four blocks labelled as “adjoining blocks”.

The Ruvuma JV parties are required to undertake geological, geophysical and geochemical studies in the area and drill at least one additional exploration well within 5 years while spending a minimum of $10 million.

“We are excited about further exploration and appraisal work in this area as we consider it to hold truly enormous volumes of gas. We believe the Ntorya gas field and wider area could be game-changing for Tanzania’s efforts to alleviate energy poverty, spur further economic development and potentially transform the country into a regional energy hub,” APT General Manager Erhan Saygi said.

https://worldoil.com/news/2024/5/29/ara-petroleum-to-develop-tanzania-s-largest-onshore-natural-gas-discovery/

Botswana has marked a significant milestone in its digital transformation journey with the inauguration of the Botswana Kalahari Fibre (BKF) project developed by internet connectivity firm Paratus Botswana.

Botswana Ministry of Communications, Knowledge and Technology deputy permanent secretary Cecil Masiga on Wednesday hailed the BKF route as a triumph for the nation’s people and economy during the project’s launch at Paratus Botswana’s head office in Gaborone.

“The launch of the Botswana Kalahari Fiber (BKF) route by Paratus Botswana is not just a testament to the power of innovation but also a pivotal step towards achieving our national goals as outlined in Vision 2036,” Masiga said.

He noted that reliable and high-speed internet connectivity is the backbone of modern economies, a vital tool for businesses and an essential service for our communities.

“The strategic endeavour by Paratus Botswana to lay an 840-kilometre fibre route from Gaborone all the way to the Namibian border is a ground-breaking project that promises to revolutionise our digital landscape.”

Spanning from the Namibian border to Lobatse in Botswana, the BKF completes the Paratus-built Trans Kalahari Fibre (TKF) route and offers the lowest latency transit path from Johannesburg in South Africa to Swakopmund in Namibia, and onwards to Europe.

Paratus Botswana and Paratus Namibia have worked closely together in a bid to connect South Africa to the Equiano cable in Swakopmund.

By connecting to Equiano in Namibia, the BKF route is expected to enable more product options and will help stimulate economic growth.

Equiano is forecast to more than double internet speeds and increase internet penetration by 7.5 percent by 2027, while acting as a catalyst for considerable growth, job creation and sustainability in both Namibia and the whole southern African region.

https://apanews.net/botswana-inaugurates-kalahari-fibre-project-to-boost-connectivity/

-The Chevron-Hess deal was originally slated to close in the first half of 2024, but that timeline has been delayed due to a dispute with Exxon Mobil.
-Exxon claims a right of first refusal over Hess’ lucrative assets in Guyana under a joint operating agreement.
-Exxon filed for arbitration in March with CEO Darren Woods recently saying the process could drag into 2025.
-If Exxon prevails, the Chevron-Hess deal would terminate.

Hess Corporation shareholders on Tuesday approved the New York-headquartered oil company’s pending acquisition by Chevron
for $53 billion, even as the timeline for when the deal may close has become increasingly murky with the companies locked in a dispute with Exxon Mobil
.
A majority of outstanding Hess shares voted in favor of the merger agreement, though the company did not immediately provide a tally of the vote. Hess’ stock was little changed on the news.

“We are very pleased that the majority of our stockholders recognize the compelling value of this strategic transaction and look forward to the successful completion of our merger with Chevron,” CEO John Hess said.

But the pending deal is in potential jeopardy amid Exxon’s claim to a right of first refusal over Hess’ assets in Guyana under a joint operating agreement that governs a massive offshore oil patch called the Stabroek Block.

Hess has a 30% stake in the Stabroek Block, while Exxon leads the development with a 45% stake. China National Offshore Oil Corp. holds the remaining 25%.

Exxon filed for arbitration in March to defend the rights it claims under the joint operating agreement. Chevron and Hess have told investors the pending deal would terminate if Exxon prevails.

Hess Corp. said Tuesday that the deal’s completion depends on the resolution of the arbitration proceedings. The companies are working to complete the merger “as soon as practicable,” according to Hess.

Ahead of the vote, Hess shares were trading at around $152, which means the deal spread has widened since when the transaction was announced. That suggests some investors fear the agreement is at risk.

Chevron has repeatedly maintained that the Exxon’s claims under the joint operating agreement do not apply to its acquisition of Hess.

“We are confident our position on the preemption right will be affirmed in arbitration and are working to advance the process on this straightforward matter,” said Chevron spokesperson Bill Turenne in a statement Tuesday. “We look forward to completing the transaction and welcoming Hess to our company.”

But Exxon CEO Darren Woods has said his company is in a good position to prevail in arbitration, telling CNBC in April that the oil major wrote the agreement.

The Chevron-Hess deal was originally slated to close in the first half of 2024, but that timeline has been delayed due to the Exxon factor. Chevron CEO Mike Wirth told analysts on a conference call last month that Hess has asked the arbitration court to issue a ruling in the fourth quarter, which should allow the companies “to close the transaction shortly thereafter.”

Woods told CNBC in April that he expects arbitration to drag into 2025. The CEO has said Exxon does not intend to make a bid for Hess. Exxon is seeking to confirm its rights under the joint operating agreement and find out the value placed on Hess’ Guyana assets under the deal, Woods said.

If Exxon prevails and the Chevron-Hess deal terminates, Hess would remain a stand-alone company and maintain its stake in the Stabroek Block.

The Chevron-Hess pact is also facing scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission. Turenne said Chevron expects to the FTC review to move toward a conclusion in the coming weeks.

Institutional Shareholder Services had called for Hess shareholders to abstain from the vote on the merger agreement to allow for more details to emerge on how long the arbitration process will take.

ISS said Chevron and Hess did not promptly notify shareholders of the risk posed by the joint operating agreement, waiting months after the deal was announced. Hess shareholders would bear the risk if the deal terminates because Chevron is not obligated to pay a termination fee, according to ISS.

Shareholders would also not be entitled to Chevron’s dividend during the arbitration process, according to ISS. The dividend was touted by Hess as one of the main benefits of the merger, according to ISS.

Glass Lewis, on the other hand, recommended that shareholders vote in favor of the deal. The firm acknowledged that the dispute with Exxon has created uncertainty, but said “the strategic and financial merits of the proposed merger are sound and reasonable, on balance.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/28/hess-shareholders-to-vote-on-chevron-deal-amid-guyana-dispute-with-exxon.html

Postmasters who were given prison sentences have reacted as ex-Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells broke down in tears during her testimony to the Horizon IT scandal inquiry.

In the first of three days of testimony, Ms Vennells insisted she did not know until 2012 that the Post Office conducted its own private criminal investigations, despite joining the organisation in 2007. Ms Vennells began her evidence to the Horizon IT Inquiry in central London on Wednesday by apologising to subpostmasters and their families.

She told the inquiry: “It was an accepted reality, it was a status quo that I joined and accepted”, adding: “I shouldn’t have done”. The former Post Office boss also claimed she was “too trusting” of the information she had been given while chief executive.

She broke down in tears when asked about her response to the death of former subpostmaster Martin Griffiths, who died following an attempted suicide in 2013 and there were long pauses before she answered some questions put to her.

Postal worker’s union CWU posted a video of her tearful testimony accusing her of “crocodile tears”.

“No tears when postmasters were tragically taking their own lives due to stress,” they added. “No tears when postmasters were being jailed. “No tears when postmasters had their whole communities turning against them. Tears now are too late. Paula Vennells must be held to account.”

But despite the ordeal they had been put through, there was mixed reaction from sub-postmasters to the first day of evidence.

Janet Skinner, who began working for the Post Office in Bransholme, Hull in 1994, took a plea bargain and pleaded guilty to false accounting in the hopes of avoiding jail, but was sentenced to nine months in prison.

After leaving prison, Ms Skinner lost her home and was forced to pay the Post Office compensation of £11,000.

The 53-year-old told The Independent as she sat in the inquiry room opposite Ms Vennell’s: “I felt her tears were quite sincere, she is currently carrying a great deal of weight on her shoulders.

“I felt very sorry for her this morning, eyes of hate pearling towards her. These three days are her opportunity to defend herself and correct the information she has been involved in.

“Everybody has chucked mud at her, it’s time for her to open up and be quite open and honest about who was at the forefront of it all.

“I’m not quite sure she was grilled enough today, hopefully tomorrow will be much more informative.

“I’m surprised she was the CEO and didn’t have any clue or understanding of what was happening within the business.

“Overpaid and under-qualified, that seems to be the position within Post Office head office.”

Speaking outside Aldwych House after Vennells gave evidence, Alan Bates said: “The whole thing is upsetting for everybody, including for so many of the victims. I’ve got no sympathy really.

Asked if he thinks she is genuinely sorry, he added: “I wonder about these apologies, these are just words.”

Seema Misra, who ran a post office in West Byfleet, Surrey, was jailed in 2010 after being accused of stealing £74,000. She was pregnant at the time. She said she believes there is still a “cover-up and denial” going on.

She said: “It’s a cover-up and denial, it’s still a cover-up, that’s what my take is. Was she emotional due to the scandal or the warnings she had been given before? They still don’t accept it, how on earth did authorities in high positions not know how the company works?”

Lee Castleton, made bankrupt after he lost his legal battle with the Post Office over an alleged £25,000 shortfall at his branch in 2004, said he did have some empathy for Vennells.

“She’ll never shed as many as I have, I’m afraid, or my family, or the rest of the victims or the wider group. Not that I have no empathy for that, because I do, I understand completely. I’d imagine a lot of it’s nerves too and doing her best. I think she’s got a need or want to do the right thing.”

https://ca.style.yahoo.com/overpaid-under-qualified-sub-postmasters-174606918.html