Babu claims to have a stronger herbal therapy

                                                   

          

The renowned retired pastor Ambilikile Masapila of Loliondo District, Arusha Region in Tanzania has made a fresh appeal to patients who took a cupful of the herbal therapy to go for a second more potent one. The pastor popularly known as ‘Babu’ who announced the ‘cure’ in 2010, saying it was revealed to him by God in a dream, justified the second helping as having stronger healing powers. When launching the therapy, the pastor said it was capable of treating chronic diseases, including HIV/Aids cancer and diabetes and making barren women conceive.

                                                 

                                    

In an interview in ‘Super Mix’, a mid-morning East Africa radio show Masapila said that he has been told by God that he will start performing new miracles very soon using a herbal medicine that will be much stronger compared the ‘Babu cup’. He said currently there are still people going for the cupful at his Samunge village in Arusha. He said they are from different places including Mozambique, Malawi, Rwanda and Mombasa in Kenya. The price for a single dose of the miracle cure is 500/- per person or Kenya’s 100/-. The retired pastor declined to state whether there were still some top government officials going for the cure. He refuted public claims that he has constructed an expensive house worth 200m/-, saying his new residential house was worth less than 10m/-. He clarified that he owned a saloon car and a lorry which is used to fetch medicinal plants from the forest.

                                                             

 

The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare endorsed the “miracle cure” as fit for human consumption, but said further medical research was being conducted on it. Addressing the Parliament in November last year, Health and Social Welfare minister Dr Haji Mponda said that they were waiting for scientific results from a sample of not less than 200 people, conducted jointly by the Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH), the government and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Africa zone based in Brazzaville. A Synovate Tanzania report released August, 2011 showed that at least 78 per cent of people who have drunk the herbal concoction administered by pastor Masapila were cured of diseases they were suffering from. Only 7 per cent of the patients said were not cured.

                                                                          

Flooding Pounds Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

                                                                                                                 

Heavy rains and dangerous flooding has killed more than a dozen people in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in East Africa, and left thousands homeless this week. The Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA) said the country has not witnessed such extreme rains since 1961 when it became an independent nation. The unexpected historical floods led to the loss of  lives and properties as many houses and cars were swept away in floods to the sea. Many were displaced especially children in the flood confusion. As rains continue to pound Tanzania, health officials are also concerned about the potential for a cholera outbreak. However, local police officials say they are frustrated by the refusal of some people to abandon their homes during the rain. TMA director reported that a cloud, which has formed over the Indian Ocean due to building of pressure, will continue to cause heavy rains in some areas. The situation will last for the next two days.

                                                                                                      

BBC reported that business and life in the city has come to a virtual halt, with several principal roads and bridges either destroyed or flooded. The government has provided some temporary accommodations for those who have been flooded out of their homes though some citizens claim to not received any Government attention. The Citizen reported that the Red Cross is sending food relief for stranded Tanzanians, while the Tanzania People’s Defense Forces (TPDF) is engaged in rescue operations. In the event the President of the United republic sympathised with the victims: "My heart goes to all those who have been affected by the disaster from the heavy rains which continue in Dar es Salaam."

                                                                                                            

On the outset, the city has been  a victim to floods for many years due to poor city planning: citizens have left to form residents in dangerous valley like in Jangwani and Manzese. Also poor sewage system lead to floods in the slightest of rains as the syetem blocks the natural flow of material over the surface.

The Sistine Chapel

The Sistine Chapel is a small chapel found in the Vatican, Rome. To many Catholics the chapel is a monument, the pope's chapel, an important symbol of faith. The chapel makes the building in which the “Conclave” meetings to elect the Popes takes place. Thanks to the extraordinary talents of Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), the Sistine Chapel (Cappella Sistina) has become one of the most famous art galleries in the western world. But the Sistine Chapel is more than the sum of its artistic wonders: it is a symbolic statement of papal authority and a UNESCO world heritage site. The Sistine Chapel was commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV, from whom it derives its name, in 1475. It was consecrated and dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin on August 15, 1483.

Michelangelo's famous Sistine ceiling depicts scenes from Genesis in dramatic and moving detail, while The Last Judgment on the end wall is striking and powerful. As if that were not enough, the side walls are covered with important Renaissance frescoes by other artists, depicting biblical scenes and contemporary popes. The art work came to be realized by painters from from Florence including Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio and others. It is said that the fresco project took eleven months to be completed (July 1481 – Many 1482).

The wall frescoes, though often missed by visitors captivated by the ceiling, are stunning in their artistic beauty and fascinating in their meaning. The fresco cycle consists of scenes from the Old Testament on the left wall that correspond with scenes from the New Testament on the right wall. From the famous Sistine ceiling can be see Michelangelo's work including 9 scenes from Genesis, 4 corner pendentives, 4 pairs of bronze nudes above the pendentives, 8 triangular spandrels with pairs of bronze nudes, 7 prophets (4 major: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel; and 3 minor: Zechariah, Joel and Jonah), 5 sybils, and 20 ignudi, 10 medallions. Michelangelo's other great work is The Last Judgment, on the altar wall. This powerful work centers on Christ the Judge, who compels the damned to hell with his left hand and lifts up the saved to heaven with his right. Surrounding Christ are the planets, the sun and saints.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel  

LA PREGHIERA È HI-TECH SU iPHONE E iPAD

Oggi con hi-tech nei mezzi di comunicazione, in un modo particolare l’iPhone e iPad sotto gli occhi di tutti stanno profondamente e rapidamente trasformando il modo di vivere sia al mondo secolare che al mondo cristiano. Da “Apple addicted” sacerdote, don Paolo Padrini, parroco di Stazzano in Alessandria, vienne la rivoluzione della preghiera su iphone e iPad. Don Paolo è il programmatore di iBreviary, il breviario digitale che migliaia di utenti in tutto il mondo hanno installato nel proprio iPhone o iPad. Questo è un successo che porre le nuove tecnologie al servizio della preghiera. Sull’ applicazione iBreviary non abbiamo soltanto la preghiera del Breviario ma abbiamo tutta la Chiesa in preghiera nel senso che ormai sul iPhone o iPad possiamo fare varie tipi di preghiera per esempio il santo Rosario, le letture della santa messa, le preghiere per la comunità cristiana, l’angelus e altri tanti tipi di preghiera.

L’iPhone e l’iPad colpiscono tante persone per il loro carattere estremamente innovativo, soprattuto per quanto riguarda il rapporto uomo-machina, basti pensare alle sue portabilità e alla possibilità di essere sempre connessi. Anche il Breviario nasce come una raccolta di preghiere “portatile”, utilizzata dagli ordini mendicanti durante gli spostamenti. Quindi iBreviary nasce da questa forte analogia, l’idea di portare la preghiera in ogni luogo e in ogni azione della vita quotidiana attraverso l’iPhone e l’iPad così fruibile in modo veloce e user friendly.

L’iBreviary è venuto con grande successo per quanto riguarda i dati sui download e dai commenti lasciati sull’iTunes Store. Se per tradizionale il Breviario era relegato all’ambiente religioso dei monaci e dei sacerdoti, oggi grazie anche a questi instrumenti, è diventato un’opera alla portata di tutti. Dopo tre anni dal lancio, il bilancio è quindi più che positivo: i download mensili sono in aumento e risulta tral 200 applicazioni più scaricate, in Italia e all’estero, soprattutto in America dove ha avuto molto successo. Secondo il programmatore e diretore del iBreviary, l’internet e nuovi tecnologie come l’iPhone o iPad  non sono solo strumenti per veicolare dati e informazioni ma una casa, un luogo di relazione che cambia il modo di rapportarsi con gli altri. Nel futuro sarà sempre più in grado di modificare le idee, la percezione di sé e del mondo. Un po come è avvenuto con l’invenzione della ruota: non solo ha permesso all’uomo di spostarsi più velocemente ma ha anche cambiato il modo di percepire le distanze.newsletter del registro.it, nr 17, 2010, pg 40ff