Showing posts with label WEIRD NEWS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WEIRD NEWS. Show all posts

29 Jan 2011



Mourners for hire
Saturday, 29 January 2011 08:17

By Polycarp Machira
The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. Would you cry at the funeral of somebody you don’t even know, a person you never met during his or her lifetime? How would anybody work himself into a sombre mood at the funeral of a total stranger and break into sobs, shedding lots of tears?Well, faced with economic hardships and lack of jobs, some young people in Dar es Salaam are doing something that would never have been imagined only a few years ago. In fact, the traditionalists would have been shamed to death in the face of such a scenario.

But the young people are going to extremes to earn some money, and in some cases doing what to many would consider rather weird, such as offering to cry at funerals for a fee.

And this is not a scene from a stage play about death and funerals. It is the real thing – a new profession, mourning for hire, is taking root in Dar es Salaam.

While death has always been a source of income for funeral homes in the urban centres, coffin makers, transporters, grave diggers, and providers of other services, including catering, to give the dead a grand send-off, the idea of “professional mourners” is a brand new one.

But the rather morbid business of professional mourners is gaining popularity, with many families hiring strangers to cry at their relatives’ funerals.

The Umoja wa Waombolezaji Misibani (UWAMI), a group of ‘professional mourners’ in Dar es Salaam is already gaining ground by offering what is increasingly becoming a major part of funerals in the city. They charge Sh150,000 for a day’s service, which ends when the person is buried.

The business is fast catching on as the greater society opens up to adopt the traditional rites of communities or things that happen in other countries.

Some traditions demand the holding of grand funerals, where loud crying by close relatives, acquaintances, friends or associates, is meant to demonstrate deep love for the deceased.

The gift of acting (crying) among the UWAMI group members has been nurtured by their daily activities of making and selling coffins in the Manzese suburb of the city.

Comprising six members, the group was established in October last year to provide “crying services” at funerals for a fee.
Speaking to The Citizen of Saturday, UWAMI chairperson Frank Anthony said the members had been inspired by the search for a livelihood amid hardships due to lack of steady jobs to find an alternative source of income.

He said the idea was born, when, as they sold coffins, they would ask some of their customers to consider hiring some “readymade” mourners, as well.

A customer, who told them that he had heard on radio that such groups were already operating in Kenya, got them to turn their idea into reality.

They started out as a group of three, but as more city residents heard about the service and demand increased, more members joined.

In less than six months, the group has provided mourners for hire at three funerals, but is looking forward to a business boom as more people get to know about the service.

“We hope to provide well organised funeral crying services based on the needs of our customers from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds,” said Mr Anthony.

But the chairman conceded that the group would have to work hard to cope with the different requests for their services.
He said that at some funerals, relatives asked them not to cry, but to “joyously sing along with the family members”. He quipped: “It is serious business…crying.”

To prepare for a job, they need information on the age, sex and occupation of the dead person. They should also know about where he or she used to work, relations with the neighbours, workmates and family members.

The group must find out what exactly the family expects them to do. “In some communities, they do not cry all the time, but just sit waiting for relatives who come in crying, and they join in.”

UWAMI members cry along with funeral music.
The professional mourners are served with ugali and meat and provided with alcoholic drinks to stimulate their crying.
For a session, a crate of beer, konyagi and banana, a local alcoholic drink, are sufficient.

Group member Faida Yassin said that judging from the income earned in the short time they have been offering the services, the future is promising.

Mr Yassin, a father of three children, said he was able to pay school fees for his son in secondary school with his earnings.

“This service will really change our lives if the society responds positively,” he said.

However, he conceded that it had not been easy at the beginning, as they learned how to cry for pay.
A lecturer in psychology at the University of Dar es Salaam, Prof Issa Omari, said the phenomenon was part of society’s development, and should be viewed positively.

“It is not a new thing, as it started in Kenya almost a decade ago. It is just a money making enterprise for jobless youth,” he said. “There is nothing strange in a money-dominated society about allowing people to buy anything they want.”

But Dar es Salaam residents have received the news of the “professional mourners” with mixed reactions.

Some of those interviewed said the emergence of such groups “simply shows the levels of frustration in the society due to lack of job openings”.

Mr Stephen Maina, a 70-year-old resident of Mabibo, said it “is not part of Tanzanian culture”.

He added: “Crying in a funeral is an act that close relatives or friends of the deceased can do. Having some hired people crying is shameful and unethical.”

He said that in some traditions, having a stranger crying at a funeral was seen as an act that could result in a bad omen in the bereaved family.

“In Germany, France, China and England, where I’ve lived, the practice is quite different. They hire people to perform at funerals but not to cry.”

He added: “I think even those who hire mourners must have some problems.”
Mr Rashid Juma, a businessman at Kariakoo Market, said: “Tanzanians should not just copy anything, including services that add no value to our norms.”

The vice-chairman of the Christian Council of Tanzania, Bishop Peter Kitala, dismissed UWAMI’s services as ungodly, adding that crying at a funeral was a way of sharing the grief of the bereaved and should not be for financial gain.

“I urge the public to shun the services of the professional mourners. I find it really sorrowful that Tanzanians can go to that level of pretending just to get money,” he said.

The clergyman said it was sinful to pretend to be in a certain state for personal gain.

SOURCE: The Citizen

7 Sept 2010


Picha na Habari: Daily Mail

5 Sept 2010


ONE of the trapped Chilean miners is dreading his rescue - his wife has discovered his secret mistress.
Yonni Barrios' wife Marta Salinas and lover Susana Valenzuela were both holding vigils for him

Marta was stunned when she heard Susana shouting his name amid a crowd of miners' loved ones.

Marta, 56, is said to be "horrified" - but is determined not to give up her man to her love rival.

She told friends: "Barrios is my husband. He loves me and I am his devoted wife. This woman has no legitimacy." But Susana said the 50-year-old miner, who she met on a training course five years ago, has been planning to leave his wife for her.

She said: "We are in love. I'll wait for him."

Barrios has been one of the heroes of the landslide drama - using his first-aid training to treat sick colleagues.

He has also vaccinated all 33 men, including himself, against flu and pneumonia. Meanwhile, the captives have been hit with a booze and tobacco ban by Nasa experts helping the rescue.

The space agency's doc James Michael Duncan said: "We need to get their nutrition up before we consider drinking." Two of the smokers have been dropped nicotine patches and gum to deal with their cravings.

But the miners - who may not be drilled out until Christmas - have started eating proper meals of 2,000 calories a day.

Their rations include yoghurt and cereal for breakfast, chicken sandwiches for lunch and jam sarnies for dinner. They each have tea and five litres of water daily.

And yesterday the stranded men had their first hot meal in a month, shredded beef and rice. But they were denied the traditional side dish of beans - to stop them getting wind.

7 Aug 2009



Kwa mfumo wa tarehe za "kwetu" tunaanza na tarehe kisha mwezi,tofauti na wenzetu wa kwa Obama ambao wanaanza na mwenzi kisha tarehe.Yaani,kwa hapa,na kama ilivyo huko nyumbani TZ,ni tarehe 07/08/09 japo kwa wenzetu wa US itaandikwa 08/07/09.Basi,leo mchana kulikuwa na tukio adimu katika uhai wa wengi.Kama inavyoonekana pichani juu,kuna muda saa na kaelnda ilisomeka 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9,yaani saa 12 na dk 34 na sekunde 56 tarehe 7 mwezi wa nane mwaka 2009 (12:34:56 7/8/9).Ulikumbuka kuhusu tukio hili?

MHAMASISHA VITA DHIDI YA MAFUA YA NGURUWE NAYE AAMBUKIZWA....


Na the funny side ya "maadhimisho" hayo ni habari hapa Uingereza kwamba jamaa aliyetumika katika tangazo la "Wizara" ya Afya katika runinga kuhamasisha jamii dhidi ya mafua ya nguruwe (swine flu) nae ameambukizwa ugonjwa huo.Msanii Davidi McCusker (pichani juu).Hata hivyo,lililo dhahiri ni kwamba maambukizo hayo hayana mahusiano na ushiriki wa msaanii huyo David McCusker katika tangazo hilo.

26 Jun 2009


Ana umri wa miaka miwili tu,lakini anavuta pakti zima la sigara kwa siku.Huyo ni Tong Liangliang,mkazi wa mji wa Tianjin nchini China.Dogo huyo anaaminika kuwa ndio mvuta fegi mdogo zaidi duniani,at least miongoni mwa waliojitambulisha kama watumiaji wa tumbaku.

Tong alianza kuvuta fegi akiwa na umri wa miezi 18 baada ya baba yake kumpatia mche kwa minajili ya kupunguza maumivu ya henia aliyozaliwa nayo dogo huyo.Kwa sasa hakuna dalili za yosso huyo kuachana na sigara kwani amekataa katakata ushauri wa kumtaka a-quit.Pia kiserengeti boy hicho hakioni aibu kuomba sigara pindi kikutanapo na mvutaji mwingine,na husononeka anaponyimwa sigara.

Mwaka 2005,mkazi mmoja wa China alituma maombi kwenda Kitabu cha Rekodi za Guinness akitaka atambuliwe kama mtu aliyeanza uvutaji sigara akiwa na umri mdogo zaidi (duniani),ambapo alianza kuvuta fegi akiwa na miaka mitatu.Japo ombi lake lilikataliwa kwa minajili kwamba "rekodi" hiyo ingechochea tabia mbaya,ni dhahiri kwamba hata ingekubaliwa ingekumbana na upinzani kutoka kwa Tong.


24 Jun 2009

Kontebo wa Polisi,Tariq Dost (pichani juu) amefungua mashtaka dhidi ya mwajiri wake na Mamlaka ya Polisi ya eneo la Midlands,hapa Uingereza, kutokana na matamshi ya mwaka 2007 kwamba anafanana na gaidi nambari wani Osama bin Laden (pichani chini).Nadhani kisa ni huo "mzuzu".Je wanafanana?
CHANZO: The Daily Mail

10 May 2009


A woman accused of tormenting her neighbours with her noisy love-making has appeared in court. Skip related content

Caroline Cartwright, 48, was remanded in custody until May 5 charged with three breaches of her Asbo in ten days.

Magistrates in Sunderland slapped her with a four-year order on April 17, banning her from "making excessive noise" anywhere in England.

But Houghton le Spring Magistrates' Court heard that police arrested her on April 18, April 22 and April 26 after neighbours complained she was flouting the ban with the help of husband Steve.

Prosecutor Claire Ward said there were complaints of early morning shouting, moaning, groaning and the sound of a bed banging against the wall. Cartwright was arrested on Sunday and charged with three counts of breaching her Asbo.

Cartwright, of Hall Road, Concord, Washington, Tyne and Wear, whose husband sat in the public gallery, elected trial by jury and her case will be transferred to Newcastle Crown Court.

A bail application from defence solicitor Peter Lothian was refused.

Cartwright was remanded in custody and ordered to appear via video link before Sunderland Magistrates' Court on May 5.

On April 17, she was convicted for five breaches of an abatement notice and fined a total of £515.
Magistrates also imposed the Asbo, banning her from making excessive noise, knocking, shouting, screaming or vocalisation that can be heard in neighbouring properties or outside the house, and playing loud music.


SOURCE: ITN

9 May 2009


1 May 2009

A woman who twisted her knee while playing the children's game of 'stuck in the mud' has been left in constant pain and paralysed for life. Devastated Hannah Boyle, 20, thought she had suffered only a minor injury when she jarred her knee while 'messing around' with youngsters at a martial arts class...continue

A man who slept with his gun may have to rethink that particular life strategy, after he shot himself while sleeping. The 24-year man, of Northport, Alabama, told police that he must have accidentally let off the .40-caliber pistol by knocking it with his hand.

The gun discharged, hitting the man in the shoulder
. (Source)





30 Apr 2009

Ex paratrooper 'waged guerrilla war and spied on neighbours'

A former paratrooper waged a back garden guerrilla war against his neighbours when a petty dispute got out of hand, a court heard yesterday.

Rod Scott, 64, set up a 16ft viewing platform draped in camouflage netting in his garden to observe Tony and Janet Durkin 'morning, noon and night.'

The retired teacher and his wife felt 'under siege' from his never-ending 'surveillance' and became prisoners in their own home.

He kept flood lights trained on their house and they were forced to fit reflective film on their patio windows to stop him peering inside, Sheffield magistrates were told.

Other tactics he was blamed for included poisoning trees, throwing a dead rat into their garden, lighting fires and blasting out opera music.

The eight-year long suburban feud culminated in Scott being taken to court charged with threatening behaviour against Mr Durkin on August 9 last year and harassing the couple between September 8 and 29 at their £300,000 home in Millhouses, Sheffield.

Mr Durkin said the dispute began when Scott cut down brambles in their garden to reveal an 'eyesore' in his garden, which backed on to their property.

Scott refused to paint green an assortment of door frames and old timber panels that he used to screen his garden sheds and this led to relations between them deteriorating rapidly.
Mr Durkin planted a row of trees but Scott poisoned them with diesel, the court heard. Scott left noisy rotivators running for hours to disturb their peace and played Pavarotti opera music so loudly the whole neighbourhood could hear it.


He said Scott's viewing platform was erected on top of a shed. 'He had found a point from which he could look into all our rooms at the back of the house. We are regularly surveyed from that platform.

'At one point he put what looked like a bivouac shelter or a sniper's hide up there. He could see out but we couldn't see in - our privacy was more or less non-existent by that time.'

Asked if he had ever tried to speak to Scott about the problems, Mr Durkin replied:'It's difficult to discuss anything with a psychopath who is intent on this course of action.

'We tried to talk to him at the start of this. All that did was invite a seven year war of attrition - his words - which is still going on. The whole purpose of a war of attrition is to wear people down drip by drip, day by day. I find it difficult to sleep.'

At 1.30am on August 9 Mr Durkin went to investigate after seeing Scott carrying out one of his regular patrols of the area in his car. He said Scott pulled up, wound down the window, and swore at him.

'He issued a torrent of verbal abuse and threats in a high pitched, threatening voice as I was walking along the pavement.'

Mrs Durkin, 68, who has lived there for 35 years, told the court of her fear of the 'trained killer' watching from next door.

She said: 'He is an ex para who has been dehumanised and has no sensitivity to anybody else. He has been taught about surveillance and gadgets and stuff that we have no knowledge of.

'This man has three guns in the house and admits to being a trained killer. How do you think that makes me feel? You can't imagine that fear and distress it has caused me.

'I did try to overcome my fear and distress over this man but I gave up and I don't go in the garden any more. I have developed a heart condition brought on by the stress.

'I just want him to leave us alone. He doesn't seem to care about the damage , he doesn't care. It's like being under siege. I have not been in my garden since November.There's never any peace in the garden.'

Scott was a serviceman for 38 years and told the court he was in 'special forces' before working as a freeelance helicopter pilot. He retired five years ago after suffering serious injuries in a helicopter crash.

Scott said the dispute with his neighbours began after Mr Durkin had killed 10 of his beech trees by tying chicken wire around them.

There had been a disagreement about building a fence between their gardens, he said. He denied threatening the Durkins and described Mr Durkin's behaviour towards him as 'obnoxious.'
The trial continues.

SOURCE: The Daily Mail


15 Apr 2009

Two years after winning Europe's biggest weekly lottery prize, a Portuguese couple are still waiting to get their hands on the €15m (£13.3m) prize, which remains locked away in a frozen bank account.

Cristina Simoes, 20, and Luis Ribeiro, 23, were lovers who planned to study hard and leave behind the harsh rural life of their parents in the Portuguese countryside near the northern town of Barcelos. Friends expected them to marry.

Then they won the EuroMillions prize. They had played the pan-European lottery together every Friday, but that week Cristina called her boyfriend to buy an extra ticket when he placed their normal bet of €4. That was the ticket that won. Cristina says that she paid Luis back the €2 for it. Cristina and Luis picked up the prize cheque, and opened a joint bank account partly controlled by her parents. That was in January 2007. Now the couple only see each other in court, and a judge has frozen the prize money account. The couple broke up after Cristina's parents refused Luis permission to withdraw money. He challenged them in court and Cristina now says she wants all the money.

"I'm not desperate about this," Luis told a newspaper. "But I'll follow it through to the end. She didn't want to give me a cent of it." Cristina says Luis lied to her, claiming he was at college when he had secretly travelled to Lisbon to see the bank manager. Luis's lawyers say he is quite happy to divide the prize in half. Luis still gets up at 6am to milk the cows before going to college, while Cristina studies to become a pharmacist and lives behind bolted doors in her parents' house - convinced someone is going to kidnap her. Attempts to reach agreement broke down last month when Cristina failed to appear in court. Now the judges must decide.

SOURCE: The Guardian

29 Mar 2009

A retired US police chief said he was robbed by “probably the dumbest criminal in Pennsylvania” at a police officers’ convention attended by 300 narcotics officers.

John Comparetto said that as he came out of a stall in the men’s room, a man pointed a gun in his face and demanded money.

Mr Comparetto gave up his money and mobile phone. But when the man fled, Mr Comparetto and some colleagues chased him.

They arrested 19-year-old Jerome Marquis Blanchett of Harrisburg as he was trying to leave in a taxi.

When a reporter asked Mr Blanchett for comment as he was led out of court, he said: “I’m smooth.”

About 300 police from Pennsylvania and Ohio were attending the narcotics officers’ convention near Harrisburg.


SOURCE: AP
Well,may be he's not the dumbest criminal ever...Look at the list below according to the Daily Mirror:
1: A stupid armed robber held up a petrol station in Vancouver and then returned to ask the cashier for directions. The 22-year-old man was chased by cops at 100mph after holding up staff at knifepoint but got lost and so pulled into a petrol station for help unaware it was the same one he had just robbed.

2: Dozy Californian thief Claud Gipson-Reynolds stole a fire engine and then radioed for help when it got stuck in the mud. Drunk Gipson-Reynolds called for a tow truck on the vehicle's radio – and was surprised when cops turned up instead. He said: "I could probably get on that show, World's Dumbest Criminals. I was pretty intoxicated at the time. My thinking was not the best." Sure was…

3: Brainless burglar John Pearce was left dangling upside down from the window of a house he was breaking into for an hour after getting his foot stuck. Home owner Paul Ives said: "He must be the world's dumbest thief." Pearce admitted a charge of burglary with intent to steal at Dartford magistrates.

4: A not so clever thief obviously didn't consider how easy it would be to spot him when he stole the prototype of a unique high-performance sports car worth £2m. The British-built Delfino Feroce, which has a maximum speed of 150mph, was being driven from a film studio when it was stolen from outside a flat in Fulham, west London
5: Dim-wit joyriders smiled for a speed camera as they raced past in a car they had just pinched. Police later used the photograph in court which clearly showed the teenage louts - nicknamed Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest by cops - turning round to make sure the camera got their best side. Police could not believe their luck when they found the speed trap picture - taken three hours before the Escort was torched.

6: Yob Andrew Kellett was slapped with an Asbo banning him from posting films of his antisocial antics on YouTube. Kellett, 23 - who calls himself Mr Chimp - was seen taking part in high speed car chases and boasting of 140mph speeds. In one of 80 clips, a car drives from a petrol station without paying, in another a wheelie bin is blasted with a firework and a third shows a man taking drugs. He said: "I'm not Britain's dumbest criminal - I'm just misunderstood."

7: Dopey burglar Peter Addison made it easy for police to track him down - by scrawling his name on a wall at the crime scene. The 18-year old wrote "Peter Addison was here" with black marker pen as he and friends raided a campsite for underprivileged children and went on a drunken wrecking spree. And when police tracked him down he did them another favour, by wearing a T-shirt he had stolen from the site to prove they had the right man.

8: Two would-be car thieves had their plans scuppered when they couldn't understand how to drive a manual. After holding up the owner at gunpoint the duo then spent several minutes trying to fathom out how to drive the Honda Accord to make good their escape in Georgia, U.S. However, before they could drive off police arrived and arrested them.

9: Germany's dumbest criminal was jailed for four years after he attempted to rob a bank wearing a mask that he couldn't see out of. He had to lift up his mask so he could demand money from the cashier which allowed cops to identify him.

10: Dim thieves stole presents from under a Christmas tree at a council's offices only to find out they were fake. Despite the boxes being unbelievably light and when shaken, would make no sound, they still made off with them thinking they had got their hands on a festive haul.

12 Feb 2009

Soma zaidi HAPA.

11 Feb 2009


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