Just 4 Rubies

Did you know that among the 1.4 million people all over the world who are living below $1 a day, about 70% are women and girls? Did you know that women account for around two-thirds of the world's working hours and earn only 10% of the world's income? Did you know that women produce HALF of the world's food and own only 1% of its land? And of the 900 million adults worldwide who cannot read or write, about two thirds are women!? Need I say more? Simple put, women and girls are the most potentially capable untapped resource on the face of the earth. And this is why we need women empowerment. Also, this is why the Gender Equality goal of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals is so important. Women empowerment means marginalizing power in women and girls so that they can play a significant role in the society! After being suppressed in a patriarchal world for so long, women just need a little help to raise their voices against oppression, female foetici...

The President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, has been elected as the new Chairperson of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). She was elected at the 49th ECOWAS heads of state meeting which opened in Dakar, Senagal on Saturday. According to a Press Statement by Samuel Asante in U-Mobile, Sirleaf replaces Senegalese President, Macky Sall whose tenure ends after he took over from Ghana's President John Mahama in 2015. Her tenure will run for 12 months. President Sirleaf pledged to work towards achieving the objectives of the regional community's vision 2020 after her announcement.

The Way Out The first step to dealing with emotional distance between partners is to identify the root cause and to deal with it. Don’t settle for living in isolation. Here are some suggestions for re-establishing a loving connection with your spouse. Agree to talk At some point you have to agree to talk about the problems that exist between you. If you are going to resolve issues, there needs to be mutual commitment to listen to the other person’s concerns and to work towards improving the situation. Don’t corner your spouse with an unexpected lecture, but set a time and agree to start to work through your issues. Be prepared Before you talk, take time separately to think through the unresolved issues you will be discussing. What are your concerns in the relationship? In what areas do you feel you need to improve? What are your expectations from your spouse? To put your thoughts down on paper may be best, but either way, be prepared to be open and honest with each other ab...

Closing up your heart from the other person is an easy way to do this, but it has deadly consequences. Unforgiveness always leads to isolation. Overcoming it therefore requires a willingness to humble yourself and seek forgiveness when you have hurt your spouse, and it also requires that you be willing to graciously extend forgiveness when your spouse hurts you. This forgiveness step is based on desire to re-unite. Callous Treatment When I am careless in how I treat my spouse, it gets old really quickly. Whether its discourteousness, unkindness or something worse, it creates hurt that may start out small but can grow into deep wounds as it festers over time. To avoid this, each partner needs to look at his/her own behavior regularly and consider whether they are treating their spouse well. A male, above all people needs to be treated with gentleness and respect. Remember, your spouse is a gift to you, and he/she deserves to be treated as something precious. Lack of Effort ...

Isn’t it amazing how difficult it seems sometimes to reach someone with whom you are in conjugal bond? Life often sprouts this complaint from couples looking for help in their relationships. “I feel distant form my spouse” “I try to get my husband to open up but instead he just shuts down.” “My wife just doesn’t seem interested in me anymore, I feel like we’re a million miles apart,” “I don’t know if I love him anymore.” These are some of the comments we hear from people who are supposed to be soul mates. Obviously, this is nothing but emotional abandonment. It is a situation where, instead of physically leaving the relationship, your spouse simply checks out emotionally. He/she stops investing in the marriage, leaving you the mate feeling detached and unwanted. To the outside world the situation can still look rosy but in reality the relationship is dying a slow, quiet death. I once heard of a couple, who for the past five years of their marriage, never seemed to be together....

Increasingly, men will need to learn this skill in order to be successful leaders. What’s most striking about the 15 women in our new ranking of the World’s Greatest Leaders is how strongly they exemplify a new model of leadership. It’s a model in which leaders must influence a wide range of groups over which they have no direct authority, while those groups typically command much power of their own through their access to information and their ability to communicate with practically anyone. That kind of world demands a new kind of leadership, and while plenty of men on the list have mastered it, every one of the women has done it. And that’s no surprise. Am I really saying that women on average are just better at this kind of leadership? Yes, that’s what I’m saying. Many of the women on this list hold no direct authority over anyone. Johnetta Elzie promoting peaceful protest in Ferguson, Missouri, human rights activist Beatrice Mtetwa in Zimbabwe, leadership apostle Frances Hess...