Friday 19 October 2012

How to grow calla lily Flowers

Calla lily makes fantastic Bridal Bouquets flowers and they are grown from tubers.  In addition it symbolizes magnificent beauty and purity. These plants blooms all the year-round, which makes it affordable. Some brides use white flowers in the bridal bouquet and colored ones, such as purple, pink, green and red, in the attendants' bouquets. While there are many ways to use them in a bouquet, a modern yet classic style where the stems show at the bottom compliments any dress or wedding theme. Add flowers food or a few drops of citrus acid to the calla lily vase. 

The stems can stain or drip water and therefore, the bouquet should be allowed to stand outside of water for at least 30 minutes before handling near a wedding gown.
Prepare the soil well before planting the flowers. The crop grows best in well drained loose soils. Mulch application will help to maintain moisture, a more constant soil temperature and control weeds.Dry out the calla lily tubers in a ventilated area prior to planting. 

Once they have hardened well, plant at 5cm deep with the foliage pointing upwards. Allow 60cm of space between the growing rows and 30cm between the lily tubers at planting time.
Water the tubers so that the soil is moist but not water logged. Calla lily need to be kept moist all the time during growth and they will bloom in about 60 days.
Dig up the tubers once the foliage dies and Store in a cool dry place until ready to plant in the following season. The tubers can remain in the ground for storage in climates that are warm year round and given a dose of nitrogen fertilizer to start the calla lily flowers’ growing process over again.

Thursday 11 October 2012

Empowerment is Urgently Needed to Rescue the Boy Child in Kenya


The girl child empowerment in Kenya has sidelined the boy child pushing him to the periphery. The boy child has been ignored for too long. The boy Child is suffering a life skills crisis and needs to be empowered. Life skills enable us to deal with day to day challenges. Consequently, family values are in danger since the boy child is expected to head the family. This has caused many families today to be dysfunctional. The nation which is built on the foundation of the family is standing on a shaky foundation. Our upbringing models us to be what we are. Current boy child has been brought up mainly by their mothers. Most fathers are absent physically or emotionally to act as role models to the boy child. Consequently, he has not been trained in the responsibilities of a man. It’s common to find family men who are running away from their responsibilities.


When challenges arise at home many men hide in work and in the bars getting home late. This takes them deeper into drugs and substance abuse which has become a national problem threatening to cripple the nation. Women though empowered bear the heavy burden of caring for the family single handedly. However all is not lost and we can start a new balanced empowerment legacy. As an individual, you can choose to become a role model and empower the future generation.

Partners in abusive marriages should seek outside help and not suffer in silence any longer lest the situation gets out of control. To those who are trying to avoid problems, gather courage and make deliberate effort individually to face the issues head on. Everybody is suffering from these past empowerment disparity, and it should come to a halt. Deal with your negative experiences, set realistic expectations and be optimistic. Lucky enough, today there are several initiatives that are focusing on the boy child empowerment which should be embraced and supported. However the current boy child empowerment efforts are far from adequate. More local and international organizations need to commit themselves to the worthy course in Kenya

Saturday 6 October 2012

Do You Know The Food You Eat Can Bring Health or Sickness?

Food can bring health or sickness depending on your eating habits. Inadequate helping and  wrong food mixtures leads to malnutrition. Good nutrition is not optional but a basic human need and a fundamental human right. Therefore it’s essential for all people individually and collectively to care for their nutrition. Global Food and nutrition security for the 9 billion by 2050 is the goal of all the world’s nations including Kenya. According to  surveys carried out by the Ministry of public health Kenya 70% of children less than 5years of age are found to have vitamin A deficiency, 55% of women and 47% of men have inadequate blood. These results are indicators of poor family nutrition.
Why should you eat? It’s important to feed for right reasons which include:-
  1. Body building in growing children and young people
  2. To get energy for daily activities for all people
  3. For maintenance and repair in adults
Millions of people globally feed with the following wrong motives and consequently they don't care what they are feeding on:-
    • To stop hunger
    • To fulfill routine
Malnutrition is a result of eating inadequate amount or wrong food mixtures while hunger is a result of food shortage. This means malnutrition can occur when there is abundance due to wrong mixtures. Good Eating habits observe the following:-
    • Distribution :Frequency: Eat 3 balanced meals + 2 snacks Daily
    • Contents: Eat balanced/diversified meals which provides all the nutrients required by the body.
    • Amount: eat enough/adquate to provide the body with the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of all the essential nutrients.
A balanced meal has the following 7 essential nutrients:-
  1. Proteins
  2. Carbohydrates
  3. Vitamins
  4. Minerals
  5. Fats/Oils
  6. Fibre
  7. Clean Drinking Water: At least 8 glasses  / person/ day taken 20 minutes after a meal, to avoid diluting digestive enzymes.
The  functions of water in the body includes:-
    • Refreshing and body cleansing
    • Age therapy
All these essential nutrients should be should betaken at every sitting to promote good utilization by the human body. When taken at different times, utilization by the body is poor leading to wastage and poor health.

The family farm should therefore  provide the following 6 key food groups for food and nutrition security achievement.
1.      Carbohydrates
2.      Legumes
3.      Fruits
4.      Vegetables
5.      Animal source
6.      Clean drinking water
High impact nutrition intervention areas according to ministry of public health Kenya includes:-
  1. Food production: Diversify production to ensure that all the above six groups are available on the family farm in order to provide the 7 essential nutrients. 
  2. Breastfeeding: Sole breast feeding of infants for the first 6 months excluding even water. This alone has been observed to reduce child mortality by 13% which is line with millennium development goals. Breastfeeding should then continue for two years during the period in which alternatives are introduced gradually.
  3. Expectant mothers:  intervention benefits both mother and child.
  4. Lactating Mothers:                         ’’
  5. Nutrition education for school children in order to develop the culture early
  6. Food security for all people including the toothless aged. You cannot say there is food security for this category of citizens when the only food available is maize and beans.