#New Year&039;s Day Edition

[raiyine]

SHORT STORY: Powdered Creamer Campfires by Chris Garrett

SHORT STORY: Powdered Creamer Campfires by Chris Garrett

Powdered Creamer Campfires:An Are You Afraid of the Dark Fan Fiction Short Story She doesn’t understand anything that has happened in the last 24 hours. Meghan was in Florida when the day started. But now in the late hours of the night, she is tied up and blindfolded somewhere in the great white north. For what seemed to be hours of walking, she was asked to sit down. Terrified, she began to…

[pingjoseph2-blog]

Chance the Rapper's Mayoral Endorsement Is a Pretty Big Deal

Chance the Rapper has 7.9 million Twitter followers — more, it’s safe to say, than all 17 candidates for mayor of Chicago combined. Right now, they’re all reading about a woman who until today was one of the race’s more obscure entries: Amara Enyia, the 35-year-old director of the Austin Chamber of Commerce, and a former policy analyst for Mayor Richard M. Daley. (At the time of this writing, Enyia has 2,944 Twitter followers.)

This morning, on the second floor of City Hall, in front of a dozen TV cameras and twice as many reporters, the hip-hop star gave Enyia what is probably the second most valuable mayoral endorsement out there, after only Barack Obama’s. Chance the Rapper is the most famous person who actually lives in Chicago, and he connects with young people who might not otherwise vote for a mayoral candidate.

“Chicago needs new leadership,” said Chance, wearing his trademark “3” cap at the podium. “It needs a new mayor, so I’m proud to announce that I will not be running for mayor.”

The crowd cramming the hallway outside the City Council chambers laughed, and Chance went on: “It was a lot of different candidates that expressed their worries about me not endorsing them — because they have a higher percentage chance or they were higher in the polls or had more recognition in their name. But I’d like to say, very narcissistically, [that] if I back you, you have a chance. I want to work with somebody that’s about change, that’s about our community, that’s about equity.”

And with that, he backed Enyia.

What’s so significant about Chance’s endorsement is that it represents a generational change, not just in Chicago politics, but in his own family. Last month, Chance’s father, Ken Bennett — an old-school politico who served as an aide to Harold Washington, Barack Obama, and Rahm Emanuel — emceed Toni Preckwinkle’s mayoral announcement at the Chicago Lake Shore Hotel in Hyde Park. That hotel, those in attendance were reminded, was also the site of Washington’s mayoral announcement, and the kickoff of Obama’s campaign for state senate. It was clear that Preckwinkle was hoping to reassemble Washington’s coalition of African-Americans, Latinos, and white liberals — a goal that still motivates aging Chicago progressives today.

But Washington is the avatar of an older generation. The youngest Chicagoan who could have voted for him in 1987 will be 50 years old by next year’s election.

At the Hyde Park event, Bennett talked of meeting Preckwinkle while she was an alderman in the 4th Ward. He said he saw her as “that change agent, that reformer in Chicago [who] was going to take on [the] system of government that has historically locked out individuals throughout the city.”

But that was an earlier version of Toni Preckwinkle — before she raised sales taxes as president of the Cook County Board, and before she endorsed Joe Berrios for county assessor. Today, the 71-year-old Preckwinkle is one of a half-dozen old warhorses who’ve been kept from the mayor’s office for decades by Richard M. Daley and Rahm Emanuel. For her, this represents a final chance to make it to the Fifth Floor. That’s not the kind of mayor a 25-year-old rapper wants.

Asked about his father’s endorsement of Preckwinkle, Chance said, “At the end of the day, I’m always gonna love my dad. I’ll always rock with my dad. But that has nothing to do with what I see as the future of Chicago.”

Enyia, who’s run on a platform of police reform, steering private and public dollars to neighborhood development projects, and requiring Community Benefits Agreements for large construction projects, now has a citywide profile she didn’t have a week ago — and a chance to attract young, left-of-center voters. (She’ll also move up from tenth place in our Mayoral Power Rankings next month.)

After Chance wrapped his endorsement, Enyia talked about defending the police department’s consent decree, which would stipulate oversight of CPD by an independent monitor, from a challenge by the Trump administration. She also discussed recruiting progressive aldermanic candidates who will act independently of the mayor. They’re issues she largely lacked a platform to speak about before. But with Chance’s imprimatur, she can now sell herself as the new generation of progressive Chicago leadership.

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Source: http://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/October-2018/Chance-the-Rappers-Mayoral-Endorsement-Is-a-Pretty-Big-Deal/

[monique-snyman]

What's New Wednesday #15: The Busiest Time of the Year

What’s New Wednesday #15: The Busiest Time of the Year

The title of this post was supposed to be “Working on my Shhh”, but I had no idea how to work that into the SEO, so I’m going with the mediocre “Busiest Time of the Year” title instead. Dull? Yes. Pragmatic? Maybe. Either way … *wave* … Hey! How’s it going? Miss me? 🙂

Sorry for not updating sooner, but I do have a reason, which I’ll talk about right now.

Busiest Time of the Year NaNoWriMo2019

So…

[woundepoxy53-blog]

Chance the Rapper's Mayoral Endorsement Is a Pretty Big Deal

Chance the Rapper has 7.9 million Twitter followers — more, it’s safe to say, than all 17 candidates for mayor of Chicago combined. Right now, they’re all reading about a woman who until today was one of the race’s more obscure entries: Amara Enyia, the 35-year-old director of the Austin Chamber of Commerce, and a former policy analyst for Mayor Richard M. Daley. (At the time of this writing, Enyia has 2,944 Twitter followers.)

This morning, on the second floor of City Hall, in front of a dozen TV cameras and twice as many reporters, the hip-hop star gave Enyia what is probably the second most valuable mayoral endorsement out there, after only Barack Obama’s. Chance the Rapper is the most famous person who actually lives in Chicago, and he connects with young people who might not otherwise vote for a mayoral candidate.

“Chicago needs new leadership,” said Chance, wearing his trademark “3” cap at the podium. “It needs a new mayor, so I’m proud to announce that I will not be running for mayor.”

The crowd cramming the hallway outside the City Council chambers laughed, and Chance went on: “It was a lot of different candidates that expressed their worries about me not endorsing them — because they have a higher percentage chance or they were higher in the polls or had more recognition in their name. But I’d like to say, very narcissistically, [that] if I back you, you have a chance. I want to work with somebody that’s about change, that’s about our community, that’s about equity.”

And with that, he backed Enyia.

What’s so significant about Chance’s endorsement is that it represents a generational change, not just in Chicago politics, but in his own family. Last month, Chance’s father, Ken Bennett — an old-school politico who served as an aide to Harold Washington, Barack Obama, and Rahm Emanuel — emceed Toni Preckwinkle’s mayoral announcement at the Chicago Lake Shore Hotel in Hyde Park. That hotel, those in attendance were reminded, was also the site of Washington’s mayoral announcement, and the kickoff of Obama’s campaign for state senate. It was clear that Preckwinkle was hoping to reassemble Washington’s coalition of African-Americans, Latinos, and white liberals — a goal that still motivates aging Chicago progressives today.

But Washington is the avatar of an older generation. The youngest Chicagoan who could have voted for him in 1987 will be 50 years old by next year’s election.

At the Hyde Park event, Bennett talked of meeting Preckwinkle while she was an alderman in the 4th Ward. He said he saw her as “that change agent, that reformer in Chicago [who] was going to take on [the] system of government that has historically locked out individuals throughout the city.”

But that was an earlier version of Toni Preckwinkle — before she raised sales taxes as president of the Cook County Board, and before she endorsed Joe Berrios for county assessor. Today, the 71-year-old Preckwinkle is one of a half-dozen old warhorses who’ve been kept from the mayor’s office for decades by Richard M. Daley and Rahm Emanuel. For her, this represents a final chance to make it to the Fifth Floor. That’s not the kind of mayor a 25-year-old rapper wants.

Asked about his father’s endorsement of Preckwinkle, Chance said, “At the end of the day, I’m always gonna love my dad. I’ll always rock with my dad. But that has nothing to do with what I see as the future of Chicago.”

Enyia, who’s run on a platform of police reform, steering private and public dollars to neighborhood development projects, and requiring Community Benefits Agreements for large construction projects, now has a citywide profile she didn’t have a week ago — and a chance to attract young, left-of-center voters. (She’ll also move up from tenth place in our Mayoral Power Rankings next month.)

After Chance wrapped his endorsement, Enyia talked about defending the police department’s consent decree, which would stipulate oversight of CPD by an independent monitor, from a challenge by the Trump administration. She also discussed recruiting progressive aldermanic candidates who will act independently of the mayor. They’re issues she largely lacked a platform to speak about before. But with Chance’s imprimatur, she can now sell herself as the new generation of progressive Chicago leadership.

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Edit Module Source: http://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/October-2018/Chance-the-Rappers-Mayoral-Endorsement-Is-a-Pretty-Big-Deal/

[newssplashy]

Sam Loco's son has shared some intimate details about the late actor seven years after he was found dead in his hotel room in Owerri, Imo State.

Omoruyi Loco Efe, one of the sons of late actor, Sam Loco Efe, has shared some intimate details about his father.

Omoruyi made these revelations in a recent chat with Punch Newspaper.

On August 7, 2018, exactly seven years since the actor passed away, Omoruyi took to Twitter to remember him.

 Here are four intimate things Omoruyi shared about Sam Loco

Sam Loco wanted son to follow his Nollywood steps

Omoruyi revealed that his father had wanted him to follow in his footsteps before his death. He said, "I admired my daddy as an actor. All through my primary school days, I was into acting. He wanted me to go into acting after my WAEC before I got admission into the university and I was enrolled into the acting academy for a while before I gained admission into the university. I am very sure if I go into acting full time now, my dad would be very proud of me but I don’t think I would go back to acting anytime soon."

 Sam Loco was funny even at home

The hilarious actor was not only funny on movie sets and in movies but also very funny at home with his family.

Omoruyi said, "We really miss him in the house because he had a very good sense of humour but he was a very busy person."

Sam Loco was planning his retirement before his death

ALSO READ: Remembering Sam Loco Efe 7 years after death

The late actor was planning his retirement before his sudden and shocking death in 2011. His son confirmed this when he said the actor was already working on retiring and going into large scale farming.

“We all expected him to retire so that we would have enough time to spend with him. He was also planning towards his retirement by building a farm in Abakaliki but death took him away suddenly,” Omoruyi said.

No one dared spoke to Sam Loco about his smoking habit

Sam Loco had always appeared upright and strict despite his hilarious roles. And yes, this was confirmed by his son, who said he was so strict no one could talk to him about his smoking habit.

"Nobody could tell him to stop smoking because he was a very strict person. You couldn’t tell him something like that, so we didn’t see it as our business," Omoruyi said.

On August 7, 2011, Nollywood legend, Sam Loco Efe,  was found dead in his hotel room. He was 66 years old.

The late actor and producer had just finished shooting a movie titled "The Unknown Prophet," and was in Owerri to edit the movie when he passed away in Rapour Hotel, Owerri.

via Nigerian News ➨☆LATEST NIGERIAN NEWS ☆➨GHANA NEWS➨☆ENTERTAINMENT ☆➨Hot Posts ➨☆World News ☆➨News Sp

[raiyine]

GUEST BOOK REVIEW by Jeff Parsons: Worlds Before Our Own

GUEST BOOK REVIEW by Jeff Parsons: Worlds Before Our Own

[shuying877]

Graphic and Web Visual Communication Designer@ D’sara Heights job at Comfort Works Malaysia

Comfort Works aims to breathe new life into living rooms across the globe, and we do this by creating beautiful handmade slipcovers for your old, tired sofas. Every aspect of our operations is done in-house, from web development to online marketing and content creation. To product design and product manufacturing. Nothing is outsourced. We design with the belief that we can live simple and beautiful by trying to revive the hidden potential of our old furniture and doing our part for the planet. Before we knew it, Comfort Works expanded into a huge range of products specializing in IKEA sofa covers, custom furniture slipcovers and other complementary accessories.

  Why Join Us?

Comfort Works’ team members make an impact from day one. They have an opportunity to enjoy early responsibilities and be involved in making impactful decisions. Our team is encouraged to use their initiative to shape their roles and keep themselves on track to develop individual expertise. We love DIY Projects, hacking, shopping, discussing great design, collecting quirky items, up-cycling, decorating and re-decorating. Upon being on board you will enjoy an autonomous workflow, development opportunities, training, travel and an environment of like-minded people who don’t settle for anything less than doing what they love!

Pursuing growth and learning is one of our core values so expect to brainstorm cutting edge solutions for everyday problems on a daily basis. Imagine having the freedom to propose and execute even your most out-of-the-box ideas.

At Comfort Works, we foster a culture of experimentation, teamwork, equality, humble confidence, and infusing hard work and fun. You’ll get hands-on experience and support in a team-oriented environment and have some fun along the way. If you are tired of boring work environments, singular task jobs, and typical "office rules", screw that and join a collaborative environment that's all about innovation.

  Cliff Notes

A work hard play hard group with solid management and resources.

Opportunity to learn about e-commerce, online marketing, reputation management, international online customer service, product design and web development.

Great international workmates from Australia, Poland, China, Indonesia, Singapore, Morocco.

Cool office space with a fully stocked fridge.

We make pretty things comfort-works.com

We are looking for a Graphic Designer to interpret our brand messaging via the use of visual communication by creating high-quality designs for digital marketing collaterals. You will be part of a stellar team responsible for the end-to-end design of our marketing campaigns, viewed by an international audience who appreciate clean and practical visual aesthetics. This is where you will flex your design prowess to bring internationalism and social intelligence to your creations.

The ideal candidate believes in designing for your audience, and that great design needs to be based on more than just personal taste. Great design serves a purpose. Your vocabulary consists of words like typography, vector illustration, print and responsive design. This is where you will create and work with our seasoned team of web designers & developers to implement lickable visual elements across our existing and furiously expanding web properties.

Responsibilities

Develop visual design for a different mix of communications media, traditional and new channels.

Contribute to opportunities to develop original content and concepts for effective communication solutions that reinforce key business and marketing objectives.

Responsible for the creation, implementation, and adaptation of design solutions across print/digital platforms.

Improve the quality of social media content to boost customer interaction.

Support production team by creating visual graphics for video content.

  Requirements

Diploma / Advanced / Higher / Graduate Diploma or Bachelor's Degree in Graphic Design, Visual Communication Design or equivalent.

Min 2 years working experience.​

Well-versed with graphic, multimedia softwares such as Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere.

A solid portfolio demonstrating strong technical design knowledge for both print/web.

Fun and friendly attitude with a passion for personal development.

Able to work independently to solve design problems, not just a paint a pretty picture.

Bonus Points

This is not a coding role, but familiarity with HTML, CSS, AJAX, prototype.js, jQuery, etc. would be a bonus.

If you've published your own website, blog, web shop/web app or edited any kind of CMS (e.g. WordPress).

Experience in video editing for web/digital.

Note: For all applicants, please include link(s) to your portfolio (we'd like to see samples of vector art / illustration, typography, and marketing collaterals for print/web).

From http://www.startupjobs.asia/job/35338-graphic-and-web-visual-communication-designer-d-039-sara-heights-design-job-at-comfort-works-malaysia

from https://startupjobsasiablog.wordpress.com/2017/12/18/graphic-and-web-visual-communication-designer-dsara-heights-job-at-comfort-works-malaysia/

[ameliamike90]

Graphic and Web Visual Communication Designer@ D'sara Heights job at Comfort Works Malaysia

Comfort Works aims to breathe new life into living rooms across the globe, and we do this by creating beautiful handmade slipcovers for your old, tired sofas. Every aspect of our operations is done in-house, from web development to online marketing and content creation. To product design and product manufacturing. Nothing is outsourced. We design with the belief that we can live simple and beautiful by trying to revive the hidden potential of our old furniture and doing our part for the planet. Before we knew it, Comfort Works expanded into a huge range of products specializing in IKEA sofa covers, custom furniture slipcovers and other complementary accessories.

Why Join Us?

Comfort Works’ team members make an impact from day one. They have an opportunity to enjoy early responsibilities and be involved in making impactful decisions. Our team is encouraged to use their initiative to shape their roles and keep themselves on track to develop individual expertise. We love DIY Projects, hacking, shopping, discussing great design, collecting quirky items, up-cycling, decorating and re-decorating. Upon being on board you will enjoy an autonomous workflow, development opportunities, training, travel and an environment of like-minded people who don’t settle for anything less than doing what they love!

Pursuing growth and learning is one of our core values so expect to brainstorm cutting edge solutions for everyday problems on a daily basis. Imagine having the freedom to propose and execute even your most out-of-the-box ideas.

At Comfort Works, we foster a culture of experimentation, teamwork, equality, humble confidence, and infusing hard work and fun. You’ll get hands-on experience and support in a team-oriented environment and have some fun along the way. If you are tired of boring work environments, singular task jobs, and typical “office rules”, screw that and join a collaborative environment that’s all about innovation.

Cliff Notes

A work hard play hard group with solid management and resources.

Opportunity to learn about e-commerce, online marketing, reputation management, international online customer service, product design and web development.

Great international workmates from Australia, Poland, China, Indonesia, Singapore, Morocco.

Cool office space with a fully stocked fridge.

We make pretty things comfort-works.com

We are looking for a Graphic Designer to interpret our brand messaging via the use of visual communication by creating high-quality designs for digital marketing collaterals. You will be part of a stellar team responsible for the end-to-end design of our marketing campaigns, viewed by an international audience who appreciate clean and practical visual aesthetics. This is where you will flex your design prowess to bring internationalism and social intelligence to your creations.

The ideal candidate believes in designing for your audience, and that great design needs to be based on more than just personal taste. Great design serves a purpose. Your vocabulary consists of words like typography, vector illustration, print and responsive design. This is where you will create and work with our seasoned team of web designers & developers to implement lickable visual elements across our existing and furiously expanding web properties.

Responsibilities

Develop visual design for a different mix of communications media, traditional and new channels.

Contribute to opportunities to develop original content and concepts for effective communication solutions that reinforce key business and marketing objectives.

Responsible for the creation, implementation, and adaptation of design solutions across print/digital platforms.

Improve the quality of social media content to boost customer interaction.

Support production team by creating visual graphics for video content.

Requirements

Diploma / Advanced / Higher / Graduate Diploma or Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic Design, Visual Communication Design or equivalent.

Min 2 years working experience.​

Well-versed with graphic, multimedia softwares such as Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere.

A solid portfolio demonstrating strong technical design knowledge for both print/web.

Fun and friendly attitude with a passion for personal development.

Able to work independently to solve design problems, not just a paint a pretty picture.

Bonus Points

This is not a coding role, but familiarity with HTML, CSS, AJAX, prototype.js, jQuery, etc. would be a bonus.

If you’ve published your own website, blog, web shop/web app or edited any kind of CMS (e.g. Wordpress).

Experience in video editing for web/digital.

Note: For all applicants, please include link(s) to your portfolio (we’d like to see samples of vector art / illustration, typography, and marketing collaterals for print/web).

StartUp Jobs Asia - Startup Jobs in Singapore , Malaysia , HongKong ,Thailand from http://www.startupjobs.asia/job/35338-graphic-and-web-visual-communication-designer-d-039-sara-heights-design-job-at-comfort-works-malaysia Startup Jobs Asia https://startupjobsasia.tumblr.com/post/168667308639

[startupjobsasia]

Graphic and Web Visual Communication Designer@ D'sara Heights job at Comfort Works Malaysia

Comfort Works aims to breathe new life into living rooms across the globe, and we do this by creating beautiful handmade slipcovers for your old, tired sofas. Every aspect of our operations is done in-house, from web development to online marketing and content creation. To product design and product manufacturing. Nothing is outsourced. We design with the belief that we can live simple and beautiful by trying to revive the hidden potential of our old furniture and doing our part for the planet. Before we knew it, Comfort Works expanded into a huge range of products specializing in IKEA sofa covers, custom furniture slipcovers and other complementary accessories.

 Why Join Us?

Comfort Works’ team members make an impact from day one. They have an opportunity to enjoy early responsibilities and be involved in making impactful decisions. Our team is encouraged to use their initiative to shape their roles and keep themselves on track to develop individual expertise. We love DIY Projects, hacking, shopping, discussing great design, collecting quirky items, up-cycling, decorating and re-decorating. Upon being on board you will enjoy an autonomous workflow, development opportunities, training, travel and an environment of like-minded people who don���t settle for anything less than doing what they love!

Pursuing growth and learning is one of our core values so expect to brainstorm cutting edge solutions for everyday problems on a daily basis. Imagine having the freedom to propose and execute even your most out-of-the-box ideas.

At Comfort Works, we foster a culture of experimentation, teamwork, equality, humble confidence, and infusing hard work and fun. You’ll get hands-on experience and support in a team-oriented environment and have some fun along the way. If you are tired of boring work environments, singular task jobs, and typical "office rules", screw that and join a collaborative environment that's all about innovation.

 Cliff Notes

A work hard play hard group with solid management and resources.

Opportunity to learn about e-commerce, online marketing, reputation management, international online customer service, product design and web development.

Great international workmates from Australia, Poland, China, Indonesia, Singapore, Morocco.

Cool office space with a fully stocked fridge.

We make pretty things comfort-works.com

We are looking for a Graphic Designer to interpret our brand messaging via the use of visual communication by creating high-quality designs for digital marketing collaterals. You will be part of a stellar team responsible for the end-to-end design of our marketing campaigns, viewed by an international audience who appreciate clean and practical visual aesthetics. This is where you will flex your design prowess to bring internationalism and social intelligence to your creations.

The ideal candidate believes in designing for your audience, and that great design needs to be based on more than just personal taste. Great design serves a purpose. Your vocabulary consists of words like typography, vector illustration, print and responsive design. This is where you will create and work with our seasoned team of web designers & developers to implement lickable visual elements across our existing and furiously expanding web properties.

Responsibilities

Develop visual design for a different mix of communications media, traditional and new channels.

Contribute to opportunities to develop original content and concepts for effective communication solutions that reinforce key business and marketing objectives.

Responsible for the creation, implementation, and adaptation of design solutions across print/digital platforms.

Improve the quality of social media content to boost customer interaction.

Support production team by creating visual graphics for video content.

  Requirements

Diploma / Advanced / Higher / Graduate Diploma or Bachelor's Degree in Graphic Design, Visual Communication Design or equivalent.

Min 2 years working experience.​

Well-versed with graphic, multimedia softwares such as Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere.

A solid portfolio demonstrating strong technical design knowledge for both print/web.

Fun and friendly attitude with a passion for personal development.

Able to work independently to solve design problems, not just a paint a pretty picture.

Bonus Points

This is not a coding role, but familiarity with HTML, CSS, AJAX, prototype.js, jQuery, etc. would be a bonus.

If you've published your own website, blog, web shop/web app or edited any kind of CMS (e.g. Wordpress).

Experience in video editing for web/digital.

Note: For all applicants, please include link(s) to your portfolio (we'd like to see samples of vector art / illustration, typography, and marketing collaterals for print/web).

StartUp Jobs Asia - Startup Jobs in Singapore , Malaysia , HongKong ,Thailand from http://www.startupjobs.asia/job/35338-graphic-and-web-visual-communication-designer-d-039-sara-heights-design-job-at-comfort-works-malaysia

[zcnadm]

FEATURE-In drought-hit Zimbabwe, women's "second shift" burden grows

By Andrew Mambondiyani

MARWENDO, Zimbabwe, Jan 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Rhoda Mhlanga looked tired.

Even so, Mhlanga, who lives in a remote village in eastern Zimbabwe, managed to smile as she served food to her customers – mostly long-distance truckers traversing the Mutare-Chiredzi highway.

She serves food 12 hours a day at her small eatery in the Tanganda business centre – but it wasn’t the day job that was overwhelming her.

It was the double shift so many women around the world face – their paid work as shift one, and the second shift of hours of unpaid, domestic work they are often expected to do in addition.

For Mhlanga and many other women, that unpaid work has been steadily increasing over the past few years for what may seem like a surprising reason: climate change.

Over the past decade, Zimbabwe has received erratic rainfall, which experts have linked to climate change. That makes agriculture more unsustainable and unpredictable.

The droughts have taken a toll on the country’s agriculture-based economy. Crops and livestock, starved of water, have died, leaving many families food insecure.

During last year’s drought, one of the most devastating in decades, over 4.5 million Zimbabweans were left without enough food.

Life has become especially difficult for many people in rural areas, particularly women who are traditionally responsible for providing food, water and firewood for their families.

For Mhlanga, the droughts, the lack of stability, and the constant threat of falling deeper into poverty mean she must wake up very early in the morning and not sleep until late at night, balancing her business with providing her family the most basic necessities.

She spends up to three hours a day looking for firewood, she said.

“There are no more trees left around here, and we need to look at new spots. We have no choice; we need to cook for our children,” she said.

With only a few drought-resistant baobab, mopani, and acacia trees still standing in her sun-baked area, many women sneak into off-limits areas such as game parks to find wood, risking arrest and hefty fines.

Their efforts are consuming huge chunks of their working hours, making life harder for them and their families.

And as droughts lengthen, the amount of time they can spend on paid work – the kind that shows up in a country’s GDP – is shrinking. Meanwhile, unpaid work is growing – a little understood side effect of climate change.

LIVES AT A ‘VIRTUAL STANDSTILL’

Until a decade ago, Chisumbanje, which lies about 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Tanganda, was a thriving cotton and maize farming region. Now it’s essentially a desert, and a place where women spend hours, and travel sometimes six miles a day, looking for water, food and firewood.

Because only 40 percent of Zimbabweans have access to electricity, according to the World Bank, many of these families need firewood to cook.

Sekai Siyapeya, who lives in the region, often starts her day at 4 a.m. and goes to bed around 9 p.m. after cooking supper for her family. In the morning she prepares food for her children before they dash off to school, after which she rushes to do odd jobs at Chisumbanje Ethanol Plant.

A mother of nine, Siyapeya ekes out a living doing menial jobs at the plant, but the pay is barely enough to sustain her big family.

A few years ago, before worsening droughts began, Siyapeya and her family could grow their own food and had enough to eat, she said. They also used to grow cotton, which they sold, giving them enough money to take them until the next harvest.

But with the drought, income from cotton farming has dried up, and they cannot grow their own food anymore. Nor does Siyapeya have the time, given her large family and the hours she must spend to find the essentials to feed them, to build skills to find other work.

On the days that she goes to fetch firewood instead of working at the plant, she loses much-needed money as the family breadwinner; her husband is unemployed. But he is also one of the highly traditional men – common enough in rural Zimbabwe – who maintains that household chores are reserved for women.

Society still frowns at men who fetch water or firewood or cook. So while Siyapeya’s husband spends most of his time at home, he does not help with domestic work.

Ultimately, men must be part of any solution to cut the time women spend on unpaid work, said local traditional leader Kudzai Mungazi. His wife, Christine Mungazi, wakes at 3 a.m. to look for water before she takes her products, including tomatoes and green vegetables, to sell at her roadside market stall.

“My life is now revolving around looking for water,” she said. “At times I don’t get the water until 12 p.m., which means I have to bring my wares to the market late in the afternoon. This is affecting my business.”

“Without water, our lives have come to a virtual standstill. We can’t do any other activity except looking for it,” she said.

In the past, the local government helped communities drill boreholes to increase access to water. But Kudzai Mungazi said his family had not received help despite pleas to local authorities.

Effectively dealing with worsening drought, however, may require not just well drilling but efforts to change the traditions that leave women solely responsible for much household work.

“Yes, culturally these duties were part of the daily lives of women. But with these recurrent droughts we should find a way of helping women,” said Kudzai Mungazi, who said he helps his wife collect firewood. “The problem of water should not be a women’s issue – it affects all of us.”

MEN STEP UP?

In an effort to encourage men to help with household work, volunteers trained by international humanitarian organisation World Vision are talking to rural communities, and in particular men, about the importance of sharing housework.

Prosper Hobwana from Farai village in Chipinge district is one such volunteer. During household visits he speaks to villagers on the importance of sharing responsibilities among men and women, pointing to the changing climate and the burdens it is putting on women.

The initiative, launched in 2015, is slowly gaining traction. But Hobwana said there were still resistance.

“Some men still find it hard to help women cooking or looking for firewood because of our cultural beliefs. Men believe these jobs are for women,” he said.

Creating effective policies and other interventions to address the problem and improve women’s lives and incomes will likely require better data on and understanding of the hours that women spend every day on unpaid work, including what that is “worth” to the economy, experts say.

“An income-generating (government) project targeting women cannot succeed if the women are spending most of their time looking for water or firewood”, warned Kudzai Mungazi.

A senior official in Zimbabwe’s Statistics Agency (ZimStats), who asked that his name not be used because he was not authorised to speak to the press, said most of the surveys conducted by his agency to measure hours of work were funded by donor agencies.

“At the moment we have not been commissioned to do a survey specifically on unpaid work. I hope soon we might get funding for research on unpaid work,” the official said.

He added such data would help the government come up with policy and economic interventions to benefit women.

Eddie Cross, a Zimbabwe legislator and economist, said that quantifying unpaid labour – not just measuring it in hours, but attempting to assign it a market value – would be a daunting task.

“Unless you do a detailed field survey on a comprehensive basis, you can have no idea what women are doing with their time each day,” he said. “If you then value that at the minimum wage ($250 a month) the results would be huge – (unpaid work would) probably be bigger than all other economic activities,” Cross said.

CLEAN COOKSTOVES

In Africa, collecting fuel for cooking accounts for up to an hour each day for many women, said Corinne Hart, director of gender and humanitarian programmes for the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.

“Women can spend up to five hours per trip and sometimes have to sleep overnight in the forest because they have travelled so far,” she said.

More widespread use of energy efficient or renewable energy-powered cooking could help cut the time needed to gather fuel and cook food, she said, pointing to successes in Africa and South Asia.

Many of today’s more efficient cookstoves reduce fuel use by 30-60 percent, resulting in fewer greenhouse gas emissions and reducing impacts on forests, habitats, and biodiversity.

Zimbabwe’s Finance and Economic Development Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, acknowledged the impact of the current drought on women in the country, and admitted there was no clear government policy to tackle the issues surrounding unpaid work.

He said the government was working towards ensuring the availability of clean water to drought-stricken areas by fixing broken boreholes and sinking new ones, and said the national government, rural district councils and development partners were working to ensure the availability of water in stressed rural communities.

But for Rhoda Mhlanga of Marwendo, working lengthening double shifts remain a reality as Zimbabwe’s droughts strengthen.

“Our local river has dried up, and we now have to queue at the local borehole for water for drinking and other domestic uses,” she said – one more hour each day in her already long workday.

(Reporting by Andrew Mambondiyani; editing by Laurie Goering :; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, climate change, women’s rights, trafficking and property rights. Visit news.trust.org/climate)

http://zimbabwe-consolidated-news.com/2017/01/06/feature-in-drought-hit-zimbabwe-women039s-second-shift-burden-grows/

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