like you never left

I sparked some debate on Twitter when I asked this question a few of days ago. In fact, the debate went on for about three days. The two guys I was debating with, Josh & Max, said no.
The following is a brief summary of their arguments:

1. It’s Murder
- It’s taking the life of a child, a child unable to speak for him/herself. The prohibitive laws therefore act as the voice of these children.

2. Legalisation Will Encourage Promiscuity
- It’ll be an excuse for the already high levels of promiscuity to shoot through the roof. (However no statistics were given to support this point.)

3. Legalisation Will Encourage The Spread Of STDs
- Higher rate of STDs is bound to arise as people will disregard the use of contraceptives once abortion is introduced.

4. Legalisation Will Increase Infant Mortality
- The legalisation will lead to higher rate of infant mortality. (A point which I managed to crush by pointing out that infant mortality is defined as “the number of infant deaths (one year of age or
younger) per 1000 live births.” and since these babies are NOT born, their deaths don’t at all contribute the infant mortality rates of Malawi.)

I said yes, abortion should indeed be legal in Malawi.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t really agree with abortion and if I was ever in a situation like that, I highly doubt I’d go through with it; I just think abortion is…. a necessary evil, if you will. But I even told these guys that when looking at matters that affect an entire nation and its people, there comes a point when one must abandon cultural and religious beliefs and even morality itself. We’re looking at the well being of women in Malawi here as well as the economic development of the nation. Here’s a brief summary of my arguments:

1. To Decrease Maternal Death Rate
- A staggering 39 in every 1000 females die from botched abortions. Legalising it would help government, hospitals, NGOs and concerned individuals reduce this number significantly.

2. To Decrease Infant Mortality
- Just think of how many unwanted babies are left on the street and in pit latrines. Too many mothers are concealing births and throwing the babies away like yesterday’s candy wrapper. A lot of them die in such conditions; legalising abortion could help reduce the occurrence of this problem.

3. To Help Sustain Our Ill Funded Orphanages
- Some women don’t have the heart (or guts maybe?) to leave their unwanted babies in lavatories but they do leave them in orphanages. Place that are already flooded with children, each one needing just as much attention as the next child, perhaps even more. Legalising abortion could help relieve the great pressure placed upon the shoulders of these institutions as well as individuals forced to look after the children.

4. To Aid Victims Of Rape/Sexual Abuse
- Rape (sexual abuse as well) is an unfortunate occurrence and I pray no woman goes through it. But fact is, it happens and some women are left pregnant as a result of it. I feel these women are owed the opportunity to determine the course of their futures.

5. It Will Discourage Use Of Unsafe Means To Abort
- Women will do crazy this to get rid of pregnancy. Some drink dangerous traditional concoctions, rat poison, washing powder solution and such. If a safe and sterile environment is provided where these procedures can be handled with the utmost care them the use of unsafe means will decrease.

So that was the little debate we had, very hard to carry out such a debate with a 140 character limit but we managed. I just love hearing different thoughts on things and backing up my beliefs as well as adopting new ones so I love the debate we had there. One of many more to come :).

And by the way, Josh, Max and I failed to reach a conclusion.

*** To find out how you can spot a potential rape victim as well as help rape victims, please visit the following websites;
www.stoprapenow.org
www.mencanstoprape.org
www.stoprapeindrc.org

**** Tumblr really doesn’t allow much room for comments so if you want to comment to express your views, please visit my WordPress blog: www.mschanza.wordpress.com

Late last month I posted an article that was inspired by the following poem. I won’t type too much as the poem is already long.

“So it seemed that it was cool, for everyone to be in a relationship but me.
So I took matters into my own hands, and ended up with him.
Him who displayed the characteristics of a cheater, a liar, an abuser, & a thief.

So why was I surprised when he broke into my heart?
I called 911, but I was cardiac arrested for aiding and abetting,
Cause it was me who let him in…
Claiming we were “just friends”.
It was already decided for me by the first date, that even if he wasn’t!
I was gonna make him ‘The One’
You know, I was tired of being alone.
And I simply made up in my mind, that it was about that time, 

So I decided to drag him along for the ride,
Cause I was always the bridesmaid & never the bride.
A virgin in the physical, but mentally just a grown woman on the corner in heat!
Who was tired of the wait!
So I was gonna make him ‘The One’.
He had a… form of Godliness… but not much.
But hey, hey I can change him! So (honey) I’ll TAKE him, I mean he’s close… enough.
Ready to sell my aorta for a quarter, not knowing the value of its use to me.
Arties so clogged with my will, it blocked His will from flowing through me.
So, I thank Christ that His blood pressure gave this heart an attack,
That flatlined my obscured vision, put me flat on my back
Through my ignorance He sawed,
Through my sternum He sawed & cracked open my chest
To transplant Psalm 51:10
A new heart & a renewed right spirit within!

So now I fully understand,
Better yet I thoroughly comprehend,
How much I need to wait… for You.
See, the bad thing is that I knew he wasn’t you from the beginning..
Cause in the beginning was the Word
And he didn’t even sound or shine like Your Son
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks,
And all he could whisper was sweet, empty nothings –
Which meant NOTHING.
He couldn’t even pray when I needed him to,
Asking him to fast would be absurd!
So forget about being cleansed & washed with water through the Word…
But I know You.. 
You were already praying for me.
Even never having met me,
Let me assure you, I will wait for you.

I will no longer date, socialize or communicate with carbon copies of you
To appease my boredom or to quench my thirstiness I have for attention
And short-lived compliments from ‘sorta kindas’.
You know…. 
He ‘sort kinda’ right, but ‘sorta kinda’ wrong?
His first name LUKE,
His last name WARM.
I, I won’t settle for false companionship
I won’t lay in the embrace of his arms,
Attempting to find some closeness,
But never feeling so far apart cause, I just wanna be held
Cause ”all I gotta do is Say” No!
No more ‘almost sessions’ of ‘almost coming close’
Passing winks & buying drinks,
I’ma, I’ma, I’ma flirt!
Who flirts with the ideology of,
‘Can you just tell me how much I can get away with & still be saved?’
NO more.
I’ll stay in my bed alone, and write poems, about how I will wait for you. 
He won’t even come close,
Our fingers won’t even interlock
We won’t even exchange breath
Cause I have thoughts that I’ve ‘saved as’ in a file that God has only equipped you to open.

I will no longer get weighted down,
From so-called friends & family talks,
About the concern for my biological clock
When I serve the Author of Time.
Who is NOT subject to time,
But I’M subject to Him,
He has the ability to STOP, FAST FORWARD, PAUSE, or REWIND at any given time…

So if we could role play,
You would be Abraham & I would be Sara
Or you can be Isaac & I can be Rebecca – a servant’s answered prayer
I am bone of your bone, flesh of your flesh,
Made up of your rib Adam!
And once we meet, like electrons
I will be bound to your nucleus, completely indivisible atom.
We even speak the same math: 1 + 1 + 1 = 3, which really equals 1 if you add Him.
We were all created in His image,
But you have the ability to reflect, project & even detect the Son.
If I were to explain what you looked like,
You would have to look like a star,
A son of the Son..
I would gain energy simply from the light on me.
I would need you , in order to complete my photosynthesis
I await your revelation, but once again from the genesis, I will wait for you.

And I will know you… because when you speak I will be reminded of Solomon’s wisdom,
Your ability to lead will remind me of Moses,
Your faith will remind me of Abraham,
Your confidence in God’s Word will remind me of Daniel,
Your inspiration will remind me of Paul,
Your heart for God will remind me of David,
Your attention to detail will remind me of Noah,
Your integrity will remind me of Joseph,
And your ability to abandon your own will, will remind me of the disciples,
But your ability to love selflessly & unconditionally will remind me of Christ.
But I won’t need to identify you by any special Matthews or any special Marks,
Cause His word will be tatted all over your heart.

And you will know me, and you will find me,
Where… the boldness of Esther meets the warm closeness of Ruth.
Where the hospitality of Lydia is aligned with the submission of Mary,
Which is engulfed in the tears of a praying Hanna.
I will be the one, drenched in Proverbs 31… waiting for you.

But to my Father, my Father who has known me before I was birthed into this earth
Only if you should see fit…
I desire Your will above mine,
So even if you call me to a life of singleness,
My heart is content with YOU – the One who was sent.
YOU are the greatest love story ever told,
The greatest story ever known
You are forever my judge & I’m forever Your witness
And I pray that I’m always found on a mission about my Father’s business
Oh, I will always be Yours!
And I will always wait for You Lord, more than the watchmen wait for the morning
More than the watchmen wait for the morning…

I will wait”

Rape, by far the most disrespectful act against a female.

Visit the following sites to know more and see how YOU can make a difference.

www.stoprapenow.org/
www.mencanstoprape.org/

And this site especially for the many girls and women in DRC fighting for their innocence.

www.stoprapeindrc.org/

I cried yesterday. Not just my eyes turning watery but tears streaming down my face.

Most people think that crying is a sign of weakness/infirmity. It’s not. From the very moment we are born crying has been a sign, showing we are alive. Let me say that again, CRYING SHOWS WE’RE ALIIIIVE! It shows we are BEING human. This is why we are called human BEings.

I cried yesterday and I felt my soul was cleansed. Funny how before I did so, I was failing to meditate. But as soon as the tears started falling I felt a sense of inner peace. I unashamedly cried and in doing so I cleansed myself. All the negativity I was feeling, which was a whole damn lot, escaped through the windows of my soul.
I usually don’t talk about religion here but doesn’t the shortest Bible verse say “Jesus WEPT”?

Just try it. Let it all out. Wash it away. Cleanse yourself and be made new. Let it rain.

Since the introduction of the internet, social networking sites and other technological advancements, communicating has become a little easier. And so has, unfortunately, bullying.

“It was only a joke”, “He took it too seriously”, “It wasn’t meant to go so far”. Petty excuses used by cyber bullies when things get too much, when the victim decides to end his/her own life because the harassment has become intolerable.

Before I go on, perhaps I need to give the definition of a cyber bully.
Cyber bully; An individual who feels the need to harass others from behind a computer screen.
Accurate no?

Well hundreds of kids are getting bullied through Facebook and other social networks. To make it worse, more and more kids feel that there is no way out apart from suicide. Just Google the story of a lovely girl named Phoebe Prince, who killed herself because of physical and cyber bullying. So how many more children must take their own lives before we realise that the internet, as good as it is, is providing a gateway for bullies to terrorise their victims from the comfort of their own homes.

Schools fail to detect these things. The slander, the lies, the deceit that goes on when the teacher’s back is turned. It’s about time something was done about it. How much longer will we claim we are powerless to correct the situation.

Most people think cyber bullying consists of a mean person just emailing their victim saying “Everybody hates you” or “You’re a, excuse me for sounding so crude, a slut”. No. It goes so much more deeper than that. It’s the gossip and back biting as well that are driving kids these days over the edge. Ever sat down and wondered how many vicious rumours are started on Facebook, Twitter and other sites?

“But I didn’t DO anything!!” That’s right you didn’t DO anything but you SAID a whole damn lot. That “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me” poem is a load of garbage. Words hurt, words bruise, words cut and worst of all words KILL.

And this is why no man has ever invented a weapon that does quite as much damage as the tongue.

So respect yourself and keep your negative words to yourself. It’s always fun and games until someone is found dead, hanging in their closet.

Someone said something about me. And though I’m not usually one to wallow in my own misery over someone’s view of me, these particular words cut me deeper than any wielded butcher knife. This is what bullies do, they belittle you and make you feel like crap. A sort of anti-bullying article I guess.

So the following poem is a remake of the traditional Sticks And Stones. Words hurt so please think before pollution escapes your mouth.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can also
hurt me.
Stones and sticks break only skin, while words are ghosts
that haunt me.
Slant and curved the word-swords fall, it pierces and sticks
inside me.
Bats and bricks may ache through bones, but words can
mortify me.
Pain from words has left its’ scar, on mind and hear that’s
tender.
Cuts and bruises not have healed, it’s words that I remember.