Afghan mama

And yes I am a proud Afghan Mama.

Didnt know much of this cty, hell I would even have probs spelling it. However am taken by this ngo's mission of removing orphans and needy children( even with parents) from the streets and getting them back into schools through one-to-one child sponsorships. The idea was to enable the children to receive a decent education in a poverty plagued cty as such, by providing them with support on having enough money to cover basic necessities like food, so parents of the kids would not let them roam the streets begging for money or food. Education is the way out of poverty I totally agree with that.

Plus the referral to JAHAN was from my journalism friend who specialises in the arabic world and have many of his friends donating to this cause as well. So read more from the JAHAN link.

My prime minister earns more than the most powerful man in the world

Singapore's Lee, Nathan to Get 25% Salary Increase 2007-04-09 04:47 (New York)

By Jean Chua

April 9 (Bloomberg) -- Singapore will increase the pay of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and President S.R. Nathan by 25percent as the government revises the salaries of its officials,said Teo Chee Hean, minister-in-charge of the civil service.

Lee will be paid S$3.1 million ($2.1 million) annually, Teo said in Parliament today. The starting pay for new ministers,which includes bonuses, will rise to S$1.6 million from S$1.2million a year, said Teo, who's also the defense minister. The salaries put the island's ministers among the world's highest paid government officials. Singapore has said the better compensation has helped to draw talent from the private sectorand prevent corruption in the 41-year-old nation, with apopulation of 4.5 million. The salary increase also comes as the $134 billion economy enjoys its longest expansion in six years.

As long as the economic performance remains robust, peoplewon't begrudge their healthy compensation,'' said David Cohen, aneconomist at Action Economics in Singapore. Lee's salary is five times higher than the $400,000 U.S.President George W. Bush receives a year, based on Bloomberg data.

Still, it's a third of the overall pay for Wee Cho Yaw, chairman of United Overseas Bank Ltd., Singapore's second-biggest lender, who's the highest paid executive at a local bank. Lee will also receive a bonus tied to the performance of the economy, Teo said. Top civil servants may receive an additional bonus equivalent to seven months' pay based on their performance,he added. The monthly allowance for members of Parliament will increase to S$13,200 from S$11,900, he said. The salary revision will increase the government's wage bill by 4.7 percent, or S$214 million.

The amount budgeted for the salaries of top political appointment holders will increase by 23 percent to S$56 million.--With reporting by Michele Batchelor in Singapore. Editor:L.Chua (kkk).

death

an email from hr came in yday, breaking the news of the death of one of my colleague. it was quite a shocker as he was not that old, around 40s and he was seen walking around the company, looking pretty healthy in fact. hence the shock. The thing was I did not know him personally, only seen him around the lifts and in the building. But its just sad you know to know that life has ended for someone too early.

Whats sobering too, was when we had a short meeting in my dept head's room, we talked about this shocking news for say 10 mins then moved on to other more "pressing" things at hand. And many of them forgot about the lost for the rest of the day.

Perhaps this resonated with the "Start with the end in mind" from Stephen Covey's 7 habits of highly effectively pple where there was this exercise where you were supposed to imagine that you were at your own funeral, and hearing what other pple would say about you in the eulogy.

So those 10 mins in the dept room, made me think too, what would pple say about me, if I were to pass away. "Its a pity but you know what, we have another pressing thing at hand, lets not think about depressing stuff that you cant do anything about and then you move on."

Sad yet sobering isnt it. Isnt this how we normally deal with difficult decisions in life or problems bigger than our selfish selves?

Live life, be happy for every min of it, you really dont know whats going to happen in the next min. Ah look, another min has passed.

bitches

do you call your close friends bitches? or some other 'derogatory" words? Would they get offended?

DNA by pics

Nicked this off Sharon's blog, pretty cool, using photos instead of words to find out who u are... try it!

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Happy Birthday Dad!

His words of wisdom to his peers, " Spend your money, stop saving it for the kids( meaning 20 and above). Its about time you enjoy life"

Happiness is an infectious feeling!

Sorry for the late posting, my posts just couldnt be published for quite some time....

Many things have happened since the past 1+ mth, and I feel that I am not quite sure where to start, but I will slowly yet surely spill the beans on the recent happenings.

But just for today, though I was a little disappointed with a personal stuff, but there are TOO many good things, really good things that are happening to people who are dear to me that I can say that Happiness is an infectious feeling! I feel happy when the pple who matter are happy, be it finding someone to share their life with, or finally securing that elusive job. :D

:)

I am back