How privileged are you?

The idea of privilege; that some people benefit from unearned advantages, is not something new. This has been in existence for sometime now. This term privilege is the reason why some people feel superior over others. We have all heard or experienced or at some point being oppressed or marginalized by the white privilege or male privilege. 

Recently my professor asked us to join her in a privilege walk and it was quit an eye opener. I was amazed firstly by some of the privileges i have that i did not even realize that i did, then I was somehow surprised when some people who i thought were more privileged than me too few steps back. The most surprising that that day was the white male amongst us who i expected to be the most was at the back of the line. sometimes i wonder how people feel when they are told to check their privileges. I do not think i have ever really being in a situation where i was directly asked to check mine, but hey i am a black female who has always thought that i hold little or no privileges. How privilged are you? when you really think of it and look deep down you just might be very surprised at what you discover. And like me you might be shocked at the fact that some people we consider privileged are not really privipeged, but the society today has determined who gets taken seriously, whose voice is heard over the other, who is given more importance.....

Embrace natural

Today I am going to tall about something that is very personal to me.... MY EDGES. I have struggled with bad hair edges almost my whole life. My natural hair is very nappy and thick and making it as a child was always a battle between my mum and I so she decided to let me use a relaxer to soften the texture. That was the beginning of my horrid hair journey, as i grew older i tend to used different product to be  able to maintain the soft texture but all these products did was destroy the quality of my hair and damage my edges. I eventually decided to go natural 2years ago, I cut my hair really really low you could see my scalp..lol. Gradually my hair started growing back and I used only natural hair product, the one product that helped me in my hair growth journey was Shea butter. I applied this product religiously everyday. Seeing the great improvement my hair had i was moved to teach others so they can learn from my experience. I organized a small group meeting of some of my friends that have been asking me to teach them how I care for my hair. We were a group of 6 ladies, and I explained how I make all my hair and skin care product naturally using shea butter as my main base. I got most of my recipes online and I just add a personal twist to either change the fragrance or consistency. That day I was able to show them and let them make their own personal body and hair cream. This was one very interesting event and I was glad to be able to promote natural products as i have always had concern about synthetic products and the ingredients they put in them.

Embrace People Living with HIV

I work part time at my uncle's tax office where we help people file their taxes. Today as I went up stairs to eat my lunch i could not but notice this young girl who sat by herself. Usually people come into this restaurant in pairs or groups and I asked to share same table with her as there wasn't any free one and she gladly obliged. As soon as we got talking she was full of smiles and some kind of joy that I could not explain. I had to ask why, and she said she was used to people running away from her, when asked why she said she had HIV, i was moved with so much compassion that i reached out and just held her hands. Her smile turned to tears and i said, don't cry, u don't have to cry at this point i was almost in tears. She said "my tears are those of joy, I am used to people rejecting me and instead of doing  same you reached out to touch me". I smiled because I understood what she meant, and i said but thats not how people contact the disease. I began to talk to her about a lecture i received one time regarding the way to treat people with HIV. I was a member of a non governmental organization called project 360 and one of our duties was to educate people on how to cohabit with friends and family living with the disease and how to treat others generally. 

I gave her a ride home that day and she introduced me to her siblings who were all looking at me in a strange way, wondering if i knew their sister's status or if I have similar status. We got talking and i had the opportunity to educate them. I spoke from my experience of working with people living with the disease, showing them how they can live with others infected by the disease without being scared of contacting it. I also spoke to them about prevention methods as all of them were sexually active. It was quite a great experience, I went home feeling really fulfilled. 

No to bottled water!

Being in school with a major in Nursing and one of the classes I took last semester is biology 110. This class seem to be the headache for all science major students. I managed to pass the class as almost everyone I started the class with dropped out before mid term. It was a major struggle because I had just had my baby 2 weeks before school resumed. Oh the sleepless night and constant pain from my breast being engorged while at school.

One of the topics we had in this class was knowing the Ph level of things, whether they were acid, base or salt. To drive home her point my professor told us we could check for the acidity of stuff we had at home just for practice purpose. I did not get the chance to do this as I was very busy with my new bor.

Recently I remembered that class and decided to do my own little experiment on water as I have heard that most bottled water we consume do not have the right Ph level.  Using my sister inlaw and my kids as my audience I began my experiment, I got the test kit from a local store near the house and got about 12 bottled water including garber pure baby water, Fiji, Aquafina, evian, Dasani, walmart distilled water, walmart spring water, ice mountain, smart water, voss  essential, function water and some of these water were very experiment, I had to pay about $3 for a bottle of some of the water. I was more curious to know what the Ph level of those were because that was what I was giving my baby and also my husband and I have discussed about our concern because these water have been in plastic bottles for a long long time. From the factory to when they get to the store. There was no particular reason why I only gave my baby the baby water, it is because it was labeled purified water.

At the end of my experiment I was shocked at the revelation I got. Most of this bottled water and purified water were all extremely acidic. The safest was was essential whose Ph was around 9 but it is very very expenisve. My sister inlaw was happy I did the experiment and we both sent out a broadcast to as many people as we know, we headed out to the store and got jugs for purifying water and resorted to tap water. Now I am an advocate for purifying your water at home, I tell everyone I come across, it is the safest thing to do.

I love this feeling.......

I have been meaning to post this for a while now but got caught up with life. Lol

Today I will be talking about the fulfilling feeling I felt, a feeling of happiness and satisfaction. I felt like I accomplished a huge thing, just being part of the activist that helped stop Donald Trump’s health care bill. I joined a group of people who send me daily actions to either call a senator or house of rep member in order to influence the decision that will yield positive change.

So that evening I was home playing with my kids when I got the text, I screamed out loud my 7 months old baby started crying because he thought something bad had happened so I picked him up and started dancing to no music only words, I kept saying YES! YES! My little girls joined me in the dance not kowing what mummy was excited about.  The text read WE DID IT! Our calls helped.

When we got exhausted my 7 year old daughter asked  “mummy, why are you so happy”? I sat them down and explained it to them in the best way I could and I said your mummy was a part of that baby can you imagine? My four year old daughter said wow mummy you are a super Hero. That brought tears to my eyes. I did not feel like one, I had not done so much but this little act of activism felt that way. It is extremely important to act and be the change you want to see. I refuse to sit and watch things happen, I will always be a part of positive change!

Nursing Licensure Law

Currently I am a nursing major student and being a nurse has always being my passion. I love helping people and I love the fulfilling feeling of knowing that I was part of the healing process for a sick person. The law that I chose to learn about is a proposed change in the licensing of nurses which could have a big impact on health and social care. Different states have distinct nursing practice licensing bodies that are unique, and usually not recognized in other states. The proposed law seeks to conduct a revision of the current State Board of Nursing - Nurse Licensure Compact (General Assembly of Maryland, 2016). If the nurse licensure law is passed, an Interstate Commission of Nurse Licensure Compact Administrators will be formed. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing would hold the mandate for ensuring that all its nurses are well-qualified, and hold valid licenses. The nurses would have to pay a reasonable amount of money per annum to be licensed. The money would go towards the administration costs and exam fees for the licensure exam, which would be held at partner nursing schools. The licensure exam would be like the bar exam for lawyers.

 The licensure of nurses would be critical for the recognition of professionals in the field. Nurses make major contributions to human health through multiple roles, such as advocating for better health, and giving medical care and advice to patients about their after being discharged from the hospital. Most professionals have to move for personal reasons, such as their spouses being transferred to a different state. If nurses have to, or want to move to other states, they should still be able to practice their profession without having to go through major hurdles such as waiting for several months to do exams. 

            I support the bill because nurses play a major role in patients’ well-being. The country would go into a crisis if there was a sudden shortage of nurses. One of the ways that a crisis can be prevented is through ensuring that all nurses can practice in diverse states, as long as they have a national license, regardless of their current state of residence. I had a meeting with some of my friends who are nursing major students as well and enlightened them about my findings and I also encouraged them to support the bill as it affects us directly. I was also able to show them how to call their senators and speak to them concerning a bill or issue that affects us and our society. Like my professor once told me; these senators are there to serve you.
 

References

General Assembly of Maryland. (2016). Status of All Senate Legislation Introduced 2017 Session. Retrieved from http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?stab=01&pid=billpage&tab=subject3&ys=2017rs&id=SB0041

Not my president day!

So.... Yesterday 02/20/2017 was #notmypresident day. While others sat at home to enjoy thier holiday,I went to school, wrote a test and went about my business as usually. I also had the opportunity to discuss with a group of young people I asked how they were celebrating their president's day and their responses were quite intriguing. They all had different reasons why President Trump is not their president so I decided to make a video and post it online for other young people to view and join in the #notmypresident campaign. 

This got me thinking really hard though, the future is really in our hands, what we make of it is dependent on us........ who we are today will build what we become.

The links below are for the video, you will have to copy and paste it on your browser to be able to watch it. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9jMf3T6l5DsOTZ6N1FQcGxxSlU/view

https://doc-08-2k-docs.googleusercontent.com/docs/securesc/uirut3bv0t2untitplf7eddtaoa62ftj/ep160tcv0mupe8kq6dts7cph6gmjsvbc/1494460800000/12992376705602684089/09153464706519496532/0B9jMf3T6l5DsOTZ6N1FQcGxxSlU?e=download&nonce=nvhv44tmrl01s&user=09153464706519496532&hash=nhefeq2cvibcdrflv9ffqt8r2kfee4bf