LONDON, England (CNN) — A British businessman jailed in Dubai after being convicted with a female companion for having sex on a beach said he had acted naively as he spoke publicly Monday for the first time since returning to the UK.

Vince Acors said he had been “extremely naive” about Muslim law.

Vince Acors, 34, and Michelle Palmer, 36, were arrested on a Dubai beach in July and convicted to three-month jail terms in October on charges of public indecency and for having sex outside marriage. Their jail sentences were suspended on appeal and both returned to the UK last week.

Acors, a telecommunications executive, admitted being drunk at the time of the incident after an afternoon of drinking but denied that sex between the couple had occurred and said that worldwide media interest in the case had given authorities no choice but to convict them.

“Sex in this country (the UK) is not the same as sex in Dubai,” Acors told a news conference, adding that there was “physical contact but intercourse did not take place.”

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But Acors admitted he had been “extremely naive” about Muslim law in the Middle Eastern country.

He described how drinking was commonplace in the Emirate’s Western hotels, and how his “champagne glass was never empty” during a Friday afternoon “all-you-can-drink” reception where he met Palmer.

Acors said the Dubai authorities had confiscated his passport during deportation proceedings that took three months. He returned to Britain on Christmas Eve and is now looking to sell his story.

He said he and Palmer had since spoken only to discuss the case and don’t have a relationship. She was not at the news conference.

Lifted from cnn.com/europe

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

There is always a time for everything and now is a time for Christmas hence we at Habari1 and Habari Newsletter wish all a Merry Christmas and Happy New year.

Onyango Okeyo

Timing:What does it mean to you?

Recently, I read a story by Lieh Tzu in The Chinese Looking Glass. It

was about a man by the name Shih who had two sons: one loved
learning, while the other loved war. And so the father sent the first
son to the court of `Chi' where he excelled in the exploration of
knowledge and was ultimately made a tutor.
 
The second son talked strategy and studied war at the court of `Chu'
and was made a general. Hearing of this successful story, a man by
the name Meng decided to follow the example of the Shih boys.
 
He therefore sent his two sons to pursue knowledge and war. The first
expounded his moral teachings at the court of `Chi' and showed
exemplary performance. But the King was in a continued state of
anxiety and did not like his cleverness. Instead of making him a
tutor, he had the fellow castrated.
 
The second son displayed his military genius at the court of "Wei".
The King was very impressed. But he argued that his state was a weak
one and if he relied on force instead of diplomacy, he would soon be
swept out. He further argued that if he allowed this fire-eating
soldier to go, he would offer his services to other states and cause
his kingdom much trouble. And so the good King had his legs cut off!
 
Both Mr Shih and Mr Meng did exactly the same thing with their sons.
However, one had the right timing, while the other had his timing
completely wrong.  Could timing be the main reason why most Nobel Laureate
are awarded at elderly age or bad timing for snus business in Baltic Sea.

Onyango Okeyo.

Nobel:President Martti Ahtisaari

Photo Lehti Kuva

President Martti Ahtisaari accepted a Nobel Peace Prize today at town hall in Norwegian Capital Oslo.

In his acceptence speech,President Ahtisaari wished USA President- elect Barrack Obama well and hoped that he will look into making peace in the world his priority.

President Martti Ahtisaari  is a world known peace maker, having negotiated peace in Africa, Asia and Europe.

Habari1 wish him well.

Onyango Okeyo

Positive Signs

It has been a positive development and encouraging sign to see the Åland Island and Mariehamn town in particular showing respect to the disabled by building disable tracts in buildings entrances.

It was through Habari Newsletter and Habari1 blog, that we pointed out this problem last last year. We Condemned it to the highest point as discrimination against disabled people in our society. We at Habari look forward to see this development in each and every building in the Island including residential houses.

Onyango Okeyo.

Is It Another Racial Discrimination?

We as human beings hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal,that they endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

These simple words, that we arrive in the world with a bundle of Rights which cannot be taken away by any person or any State without any just cause makes me belief that Finland is one of the racist country I have ever been.

Partly to this reason is because of how its system is structured, from the governmental, Socio-geopolitical,Educational, Health Sector, Labor Organization and preferences, and Immigration Laws are structured to support racial discrimination.

And partly, because because the way the system is structured and governed. The force used for the implementation of this racial structured system by the authorities eg the police, immigration officials or tax authorities(they are the same,difficult to know who you are dealing with) as if they happen to stop and interact with you,because it seems like they are always looking for the immigrants as their main duty!, no introduction to the sort is made prior to their forceful assumptions that you cant speak Finnish, you’re of foreign originality results that you are guilty.

This time all around my encounter was not in Mariehamn harbor where I have always been singled out by the authorities to be stripped naked and body searched couple of times without no fruitful results, but to endure the humiliation with the only available explanation from the officers is that I looked different.

This bullying,continued whenever I traveled from the Island until I complained on my blog, in this newsletter and threatened to contact a leading local and international media about this treatment did it stop.

The devil came back to haunt me on 29^th November in Turku. This time I was with my children on the way to öströbotten (my kids were going back to school after a brief holiday)that I was singled out and pulled a side, holding my little girls hand and my boy standing by my side, I gazed shocked as I could not belief what I was seeing and what was going on.

The same usual question then followed “Can you speak Finnish?do you have finnish passport? Can we see your passport?

To my bewilderment, I produce my Finnish drivers license and gave it to them at the same time informing them that I live in Åland.

He took the license and told me to wait while I also informed him that I had a bus to catch to oströbotten, this was the only bus for that evening and if I missed it all the events could have been catastrophe leading to me spending a night in Turku.

While we were waiting, a huge crowd passes by, some giving us suspicious looks while other cheered.

The next victim to join us was another black man of foreign origin, they asked him the same question as they did to me to the realization of my kids that we were the only different people sorted out(even though my kids mother is from Finland) I could see they felt racially discriminated even though they are Finnish citizens.

While we were still standing and waiting for the relaxed officer to come back and release us they asked me, Daddy, why are they doing this?,I answered what?, are they just only stopping black people? I had no answer for them at that moment, but looked into the eyes of the immigration officer who was also listening and wondered what type of hatred they were breeding in this country in terms of passport control. I suggest they should do it in discriminatory.

Simply by seeing my drivers license and noticing that I am a family man, they should have used their common sense and avoid wasting my time,embarrassing me in front of my children and entertaining the some how rowdy, some how drunk cheering Finnish crowd after a drinking spree from the ferry.

The relaxed officer come back and shouted at me, it is ok!,I wondered what was ok, I saw it as a totally racial motivated act, disrespectful and violation of my human rights, leave a lone my kids rights.

US President- elect Barrack Obama could have classified Finland among the countries of Indonesia and Kenya where he spend some of his early years and described them as countries where ones basic human rights are determined by the generals, the ruling elite, and the corrupt system(extracts from Audacity of Hope)

Onyango Okeyo

The Consequence of HIV/AIDS

Every day an estimated 4,400 Men, Women and Children die in Sub-Saharan Africa from this preventable, treatable disease. The AIDS pandemic has been described as the greatest public health challenge the world has ever faced. And the epicenter of this crisis is Africa, where AIDS is the leading cause of death.

But, it is a preventable and treatable disease. In fact, the difference between life and death can come down to just two pills a day for a cost of around 40 cents a day. That’s 2 pills a day that could save the lives of the estimated 4,100 men, women and children who dies in sub-Saharan Africa every day because people living with HIV/AIDS who cannot afford to buy the medicine they need to stay alive.

68% of all HIV positive people live in sub-Saharan Africa, even though it is home to only 11% of the world’s population. That’s 22.5 million people more than all the people living in New York, equal to two-thirds of all of Canada’s population and more than the entire population of Australia.

And unlike other regions, the majority of people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are women – a whopping 61%.

Halting the spread of HIV is a key issue in fighting this pandemic and as a result, Global Fund and (RED) money finances both treatment and prevention activities. An estimated 4,600 Africans contract HIV every day including 1,000 African children. In total, 1.7 million people contracted HIV in sub-Saharan Africa during 2007.

HIV/AIDS pose an enormous hurdle to economic development in Africa. Typically, the disease affects people in the most productive years of their lives. So, men and women who need to support their families can no longer do so, or worse, they die. In fact, an estimated 12.1 million African children under the age of 18 have lost at least one parent to HIV/AIDS. The result is families left severely handicapped by the disease, or in the worst case, households led by children. Children left without parents must fend for themselves

Lifted from Africa on line(edited by Onyango Okeyo)

Stigma Causes Spread of HIV/AIDS

Some Aids patients are intentionally spreading the disease due to stigmatization. An NGO working in Nyanza province,Kenya says, as a result, cases of infection had almost doubled, putting the province at the top with a prevalence rate of 15.8 per cent.

“There is still a lot of finger pointing in the community hence the infected want to revenge for being disgraced and viewed as immoral,” said Ms Mary Jane Musungu, community care adviser of the Aids Population & Health-Integrated Assistance program (APHIA II).

Marginalized

The stigma is deeply rooted in Kuria and Kisii district areas, which she noted had been marginalized in HIV/ Aids sensitization and intervention programs.

“The communities have missed out on several programs as most are focused on Luo Nyanza,” she said.

She added: “Residents in the remote areas of the mentioned towns, however, still view it as a curse out of ignorance, hence the stigma.”

Musungu said if residents learn to embrace the infected, the spread arising from vengeance could be reduced.“If these people are shown love, care and support they wouldn’t do such a thing,” she said.

Wife inheritance

She noted that continued wife inheritance and early girl-child marriages impeded the battle against the disease through new infections daily.

She was speaking during a press briefing at a Kisumu hotel.

Elsewhere, people living with HIV/Aids have been urged to speak out on critical issues affecting them to help in the fight against the disease.

USAID/Health Policy Initiative Regional Director Angeline Siparo has called on the affected to stand up and voice their concerns.

Unchecked silence

Speaking at a workshop for organizations for people living with HIV/Aids at the Sports view Hotel, Kasarani, she said the silence of positive people posed a serious threat, which if unchecked, could wipe out many lives.

“There are HIV positive people who fought for treatment in the mid- 90s. Because these people spoke out, we now have ARVs. This does not mean we should take things for granted,” she said.

Lifted from www.eastandard.net.(edited by Onyango Okeyo)

Åland Marks World Aids Day

International World Aids Day was marked in Åland Island with several activities taking place in different towns in the Island. The information at our figure tips is that red cross(Åland District) was engaged in couple of activities from giving press conferences to the leading local media and interviews to local journalist to highlight the importance of that day.

It is in our knowledge that red cross troops and volunteers were available in major towns like Godby and Mariehamn distributing free condoms, educating about safer sex and briefing about the spread of HIV/AIDS and its effects in a society at large.

There was an elaborate and eloquent Musical Cafe at red cross hall in the evening which was well attended by the locals and professionals alike. The event was organized by a selfless lady called Heidi Öst who had been in Africa, Kenya, Rusinga Island on a volunteer mission. Personally, I had been in regular consultation with Heidi on this subject as I am quite familiar with the situation on the ground in Rusinga Island where the funds realized is to go to aid Kanyala Little Stars, a local women group engaged in assisting the orphans,widows,widowers and the community at large who have been affected by HIV/AIDS.

During the event there was a magnificent presentation by Doctor Birger Sandell of Åland who elaborated about the causes of HIV/AIDS, its spread and how to prevent HIV/AIDS. He talked about his personal experience with people living with HIV/AIDS in Mozambique in Africa.

The event also elaborated about tolerance and acceptance of people living with HIV/AIDS as part of capable and productive people in a society.

Onyango Okeyo

International World Aids Day

A brief history of HIV/AIDS can be summarized as one of the most devastating epidermic human race have experienced and have to live with in recent times. There are many different conflicting theories about the originality of HIV/AIDS with some projecting that it was created in a modern laboratories and others suggesting that it came from Africa where it has been highly saturated.

HIV/AIDS first came on the scene back in early 80s(estimated)and has since ever been around.1^st.December 2008, the world marked 20years of campaign against HIV/AIDS with a message that there has not been no cure for this devastating and dreadful health hazard. The closest cure human beings have explored is the anti retrovirus drugs which have helped sustain but not cure the HIV/AIDS virus.

World Health Organization has led in the campaign against the spread of HIV/AIDS and have engaged in cooperation with other health research institution’s and individuals in search for the cure of this epidermic. The devastation has been so huge that it become a global phenomenon. In every continent, if one is not infected, by HIV/AIDS virus then he or she is affected from its end results or effects for example,global economic growth is affected, global demographic is affected, socio-geopolitical globally is affected, global literacy standard is affected etc.

1st.December was declared the International World Aids Day by the world governing body United Nations in consultation with the World Health Organization in order to create awareness about this epidermic .

Many people have died because of related curable diseases such as typhoid, fever,malarial virus, just to mention a few due to the fact that they are HIV/AIDS positive. The researchers have discovered that the HIV/AIDS virus stays in the body cells grows in the body cells and spreads in the body cell thereby weakens the immune system making the system vulnerable and nonresistant to the virus attack and attacks from other curable diseases.

Habari Newsletter has been in the fore front in creating the HIV/AIDS awareness and this time around we were not to be left behind in this campaign as the first kind of its own event took place in Åland Island in form of Musical Cafe.

Habari Newsletter is seeking to register a foundation(Habari Foundation) which intends to directly deal with such issues and more related topics in Åland Island.

Onyango Okeyo