Amma hugs millions to healthThe day Amma � also known as Her Holiness Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi � comes to Nairobi, I intend to be at the head of the queue waiting for the special type of healing she dispenses. Amma is an Indian guru who heals by giving two-minute cuddles. The Times called Amma a "chubby guru with the comforting bosom of a Carry On matron". Some admirers say she is the next Mother Teresa. During a 30-year career, The Independent says, 30 million people have been "wrapped in, and knocked out, by the refreshing bosom of the woman some regard as the next Mother Teresa". Last week, 500,000 people descended on the southern Indian state of Kerala to begin celebrations to mark Amma�s 50th birthday. Amma has an impressive list of admirers, including our own homeboy UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who arranged for her to address a peace conference in New York. There is no man in Amma�s life. As a little girl in the early stages of her physical and spiritual development, Amma took a vow of celibacy and dedicated her life to the service of others. In fact, research continues to show that men are not always good for women�s health. The Independent newspaper notes, correctly, that "Allowing men into the delivery room has been one of the great transformations of our time. Four of five births are now attended by the baby�s father". Except in Africa, I should add, where perhaps it's more like 1 to 50. Anyway, it was always presumed that the father�s presence at his child�s birth was good for him, the mother and the baby. The paper, however, reports new research, involving almost 13,000 women, which suggests that the presence and support of a female friend is the best guarantee of a good birth. Men's presence during childbirth, it says, could be behind the soaring rate of Caesareans, which has doubled in 20 years. Russia seems the kind of country where, like Africa, few women attend their children�s births. Still, birth rates are falling. Many government officials and the Orthodox Church, no doubt, feel one reason for the declining birth rates in Russia is the high level of abortions. Moscow has, as a result, curbed legal abortion, reducing the reasons a woman can terminate a pregnancy from 13 to four. The numbers are staggering. There are an estimated 4.5 million abortions in Russia, a year. The Guardian says that is four times the number in the US. In six years, Russian women abort 30 million "children"; equal to the present population of Kenya. For every 10 children born, 13 are aborted! Women's rights groups have denounced this as an attempt to curb women�s right to choose. It is arguments like this that get the Vatican all worked up. Now it has drawn a new line in the sand. Our good ailing Pope has authorised a document that seeks to bring discipline and banish the ways of the devil from the church. The document would bar altar girls. It gets more severe. It would stop millions of Catholics around the world from dancing, and even clapping, in church. There is consternation in the church, says The Guardian. In Africa and Asia, Catholics can�t imagine a mass without drums and dance. And in Europe, Catholics in Italy have been shaken by the possibility that clapping could be banned. For an Italian wedding, baptism, and even funeral is not considered complete without clapping. It�s best to move away at this point from things religious, and go pagan. Therefore, I nominate Per Johann Adolfsson, a 28-year-old Swede, smuggler of the month. Adolfsson's luck ran out as he disembarked at Sydney, Australia. Customs officers searched him and found packages of smuggled goods strapped to his legs. The truly impressive thing is that the packages contained tree boas and cobras! A man whose legs have done better, and made him one of the richest sports personalities in the world, is former Manchester United midfielder David Beckham. Beckham has a new admirer in the person of Mr Charles Clarke, Britain�s Secretary of State for Education. Clark had spent several frustrating years urging more of his countrymen and women to make Spanish their first foreign language. Single-handedly, Beckham, who has now taken his silky skills to the top Spanish club, Real Madrid, has changed that overnight. His British fans are switching to other European satellite TV for Real Madrid�s games, but cannot understand the commentary. The Open University reports that the number of students applying to join its Spanish-for-beginners has increased by more than 300 per cent since Beckham signed with Real. One Briton who is in need of help is prime minister Tony Blair. Blair�s popularity has crashed, and the country is turning against him for lying in making a case for the US-British led war that toppled Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq. Despite the fact that Britain holds the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council, it has 12,000 troops in Iraq, and Blair was all over the UN early this year thumping his chest. He went into hiding last week during the General Assembly. Maybe we shouldn�t be too hard on Blair. After all, President Kibaki didn�t go either. However, Iraq is George Bush's and Blair�s mess. The British PM left it to his Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. Remarkable, considering that there were 86 presidents (including Bush) and prime ministers in New York for the landmark meeting on the future of Iraq. The Shadow Foreign Secretary, Michael Ancram, couldn�t let an opportunity to take an easy shot at Blair pass without exploiting it. He said; "It is quite extraordinary that this prime minister, who set himself up only two years ago as a major world statesman, is not prepared to face his colleagues at the UN." Just how meagre Blair�s fortunes are was illustrated by a recent research in Britain, which showed that children are becoming increasingly more frightened by what they see on television. Asked "What makes you sad?", girls cited cruelty to animals and children, guns, and �Tony Blair. Comments\Views about this article |
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