I lost my arms and feet after bum boost injections

A MUM of two told last night how her quest for a bigger bottom left her a quadruple amputee – and 24 hours from death. Apryl Michelle Brown had black-market silicone injections which turned out to be BATHROOM SEALANT.
It left her in agony and led to her losing her hands and feet, as well as her buttocks.
Apryl Michelle Brown
Bubbly ... before backstreet beauty procedure
The 46-year-old former hairdresser blames “vanity” and wants to warn others of the terrible dangers of such illegal treatments.
Apryl said: “I’ve paid a terrible price for vanity and I’ll pay for the rest of my life. But I blame no one but myself.
“I want to share my story to warn others about these so-called ‘quick fix’ surgeries.
“I didn’t realise the dangers. I thought it was a harmless injection that would give me the perfect bottom. But the reality was the silicone used wasn’t suitable for humans. It was, in fact, bathroom sealant only suitable for DIY.
Apryl Michelle Brown
Triumph ... with relatives after finishing the triathlon
“My body had a massive allergic reaction to it which left me at the brink of death.
“I was in so much agony that, by that point, dying would have been a release. The only way doctors could save my life was to amputate my buttocks, my hands and feet.”
Teased as a child about her “pancake” bum, Apryl vowed to buy a shapelier one when she was older.
She said: “I didn’t know if I wanted mine to look like Janet Jackson’s or J-Lo’s.
“I didn’t even know how you could do it. I just wanted a new, bigger bottom.”
The moment that changed her life came in 2004, when two women walked into her successful beauty salon to get their hair done.
One of them ran “pumping parties” — where unqualified practitioners inject illegal silicone into “patients” at their home.
Apryl, from Los Angeles, said: “One of the women told me how she had given bottom injections to the friend who was with her.
“I remember thinking it was a miracle she’d walked into my life. Her friend showed me the work she’d had done and it looked great.
Shapely bum
Enhanced ... shapely bum
PLANET PHOTOS
“In a split second I made the decision that I was going to go to this woman and let her inject silicone into my behind.”
That decision nearly killed her. Apryl paid the woman, who had no medical background, around £650 for two lots of injections. Doctors later discovered the substance used was industrial-grade silicone.
Apryl admitted: “I didn’t do any research. A combination of naivety, misplaced trust and insecurity led me to take this disastrous decision.
“I trusted her because she seemed so professional, and I had no reason to think anything awful was going to happen.
“She carried out the procedure in her daughter’s bedroom. She assessed my bottom and said, ‘You’ll need three or four sessions to get the result you want’.
“The first procedure took an hour. I remember asking, ‘Is it meant to be so painful?’ and she said, ‘Yes’. It felt like it was squeezing through my nerves.”
Within weeks Apryl returned for her second treatment.
She said: “After going through it again I had an epiphany. As I left her house I thought, ‘What am I doing? I have no idea what she’s putting in my body’.
“I never returned. But though I didn’t know it then, my life had already changed forever.”
Over the next two years the area where she’d been injected became hard and the skin blackened.
Apryl, mum to daughters Danye, 22 and Courtney, 21, said: “Within a few months of the second injection my buttocks began to harden. I knew something wasn’t right. But shame stopped me seeking medical help. As time went on it got worse as the skin blackened. I developed hard lumps. Then the searing pain started. I had to tell my doctor what I did. I was so ashamed.”
Apryl spent the next four years in constant pain. Two surgeons told her it was too dangerous to remove the silicone.
She said: “I was in so much agony I became a regular at hospital asking for medication to ease what was like a combination of a migraine, childbirth and toothache localised in one area.
Apryl Michelle Brown
In training ... Apryl
Kawai Matthews/ TAMU Artist Agency
“I suffered day and night, so I was willing to do anything — including remove my buttocks.”
In February 2011 a surgeon operated unsuccessfully. Apryl developed a hole in her buttocks — thought to be the trigger for an infection that in June was nearly fatal. She said: “I was 24 hours from dying. I didn’t think of leaving my family. It was a relief I’d finally be free of pain.”
Doctors put her in an induced coma for two months while performing 27 surgeries — starting with amputating her buttocks — and doing extensive skin grafts.
She said: “They saved me but gangrene set into my hands and feet. I was brought out of sedation shortly before I became a quadruple amputee.
“My hands looked like those of a dead person. I knew then I was going to lose them.”
She added: “At first you try to register your new limbs. The real comprehension comes when you start to live this new life.
“I had dark times. I cried a sea of tears. I had to face the fact I’d lost my hands, feet and buttocks because of complications from bottom injections. I was overwhelmed by shame and guilt... all because I wanted a bigger bottom.
“I was six months in hospital. By the time I was discharged I was determined to turn this terrible thing into something positive.
“I decided to do a triathlon. I told myself if I could achieve that I could do anything.
“I took my first steps again by the end of 2011. I built up to training six days a week, learning to walk, cycle then swim again using my residual limbs.
“I’d be crying in pain but I’d push through it. And six weeks ago I did it — completing a three-mile walk, ten-mile cycle and a 150-metre swim.
“When I crossed that finishing line with my family cheering me on, I cried tears of joy.”
She added: “I haven’t sued or sought compensation. I just want to move on. There are things I miss dearly — I’ll never be able to do my girls’ hair or feel sand between my toes.
“But I believe I survived to share my story.
“I want to warn others of the dangers of black-market surgery. We were born whole, perfect and complete.
“My greatest message is we have to learn to love and accept ourselves for who we are.”

SHISHA: THE SILENT KILLER

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It has become the latest craze in town every young kenyan wants to be associated with shisha smoking and many shisha bars or cafes have sprung up in Nairobi,Mombasa and other major towns in this way increasing the demand for this highly addictive lifestyle,indeed people who avoid cigarette smoking but smoke shisha are the ones at risk to get lung cancer, heart problems,stroke and pregnancy complications.

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According to research carried out by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the volume of smoke inhaled in an hour-long shisha session is estimated to be the equivalent of smoking between 100 and 200 cigarettes. The estimated  findings go on to show that, on average, a smoker will inhale half a litre of smoke per cigarette, while a shisha smoker can take in anything from just under a sixth of a
litre to a litre of smoke per inhale.
  Another major danger is breathing in dangerous toxins from the burning charcoal knowing very well it produces carbon monoxide which is harmful,shisha smoking can lead to addiction in that one will be forced to use alot of time and money to satisfy the addiction.
The sweet smell and colourful fruit flavours of the tobacco and herbs used in shisha have acted to hook up many young people but before only old men smoked shisha but as time has changed this craze only seems to bring more pain and suffering in the future as signs of cancer will take time to develop but for blood poisoning and miscarriages in pregnant women the danger is more present at the blink of an eye.
   The solution to prevent this past time from becoming a tragedy in the future is to educate young people on the effects the tobacco can cause to the human body as one usually smokes a cigarette for a few minutes in the case of shisha a session can take an hour and this is exposing the body to more toxins which a very dangerous.
  So when you are at your favourite shisha joint smoking your favourite fruit flavour just think of the danger you are exposing your body to.

Baker Stove: An Energy Efficient Cookstove for the Developing World


Baker Stove is a product by Top Third Ventures Ltd, a company registered in Kenya, run by a locally based team and a vast network of professionals around the world dedicated to empowering women in the developing world.
The majority of women in the developing world prepare food and purifiy water on a technology called a three-stone fire. It is basically three rocks that support a pot with a open fire in the middle. This cooking style is very inefficient and leads to many environmental and health problems.
A woman in Kenya cooking with a three-stone fire
A woman in Kenya cooking with a three-stone fire.
The Baker Stove replaces the traditional three-stone fire. Since the three-stone method has been in use for thousands of years, to be succesul the Baker Stove must allow the user to keep their cultural traditions and way of life intact. To achieve this, we conducted thousands of hours of fieldwork, research, and socioeconomic studies in Kenya alone to understand these women, their circumstances, local food, and how it is cooked.
But we will not not stop there. Accross the developing world there are inumerous cultural differences between countries and communities and Top Third Ventures will achieve a truly sustainable solution by modifying our Baker Stove designs for each.
The Claesson Koivisto Rune design team in Stockholm
The Claesson Koivisto Rune design team in Stockholm.
The Baker Stove Campaign seeks to raise funds to further its dream of providing women in developing countries with an energy efficient cookstove solution to the three-stone fire problem.
Your contribution to this campaign will catalyze our social impact venture, enabling the widespread production of Baker Stoves to improve the lives of millions of women, reduce deforestation, boost the local economies, and combat climate change.
Baker Stoves on the factory floor in Nairobi
Baker Stoves on the factory floor in Nairobi.

The Baker Stove

Indoor air pollution kill 4 million people every year. This is more than malaria and HIV/AIDS combined. The high thermal efficiency rating of the Baker Stove allows women to cook with only a third of the wood they used to use and in much less time. This saves lives because less wood means less smoke. The Baker Stove not only achieves impressive technical performance, it also has excellent usability and cultural adaptiveness.
NEMA endorsement of Baker Stove
Finally, Baker Stove is an aspirational product. The aesthetic aspect of the design was added by the world-renown Swedish architectural/industrial designer trio Claesson Koivisto Rune. Watch the video detailing the product design process here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQt5cu0c79w
Baker Stove is also 100% locally manufactured, contributing greatly to the local economy and manufacturing sector. To learn more about the production process, watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0no8yITISM
The Baker Stove technical specifications are shown below:
• Thermal Efficiency - 32 %
• Wood Savings - 69%
• Reduced Particulate Emissions - 38 %
• Reduced Carbon Monoxide Emissions - 56 %
• 7-year product guarantee
University of Nairobi Baker Stove Efficiency Certificate
The first Baker Stove store opened on March 29th, 2013 in Kenya, specifically in Laikipia county, just outside Nyahururu. Currently, the store is selling Baker Stoves faster than our facilities in Nairobi can produce them. Here is a link to a video showing our sales and impact:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG9X5Gbf8DU

What We Need & What You Get

The first 250 Baker Stoves are being produced as you read this, and are selling in our Baker Store everyday.
A customer leaving the Baker Store with her new efficiency cookstove
A customer leaving the Baker Store with her new efficient cookstove.
If interested investors see 1,000 products sold, they will join us to sell millions of Baker Stoves across the developing world.
This campaign is raising $30,000 to close the gap, i.e. produce and sell another 750 Baker Stoves. The money is 100% dedicated to covering production costs.
This is a fixed funding campaign; if we do not raise $30,000, the money is returned to the funders. If you help the campaign exceed its funding goal, you will ensure more women receive the Baker Stove faster.
Your contribution will not only help put a Baker Stove in the hands of an amazing woman in Kenya, it will catalyze a social impact business that will change the lives of millions of people. People who really deserve a change.
A Baker Stove Customer in Laikipia, Kenya
A Baker Stove Customer in Laikipia, Kenya

‘Sex for cab fares’ cases up


http://www.tourkenya.org/admin/media/advertisment/thumb/1329370433kenatco.jpgFor many taxi drivers in Nairobi their greatest fear is either being carjacked or killed while on duty.
However, they are now faced with a bigger threat. Female clients now prefer to pay for cab services in kind.
They demand that taxi drivers have sex with them to ‘clear the bill’
Jeff, a taxi operator in Upper Hill, recently fell into the trap.
He drove a female customer from Westlands to her home in Umoja and what transpired later baffled him.
“One of my loyal female customer gave her colleague my number. The friend requested me to be picking and dropping her home everyday. I did not suspect anything fishy deal and was happy this was a good,” he said.
“On the material day she called me around 6pm to pick her in Westlands. But when we arrived to her place in Umoja, she claimed the money was in the house and requested that we go pick it.”
Half-heartedly Jeff agreed. He was ushered in the beautifully furnished sitting room and was told to feel at home. The lady later dashed into another room.
“I could not believe my eyes when the woman emerged with a towel tied to her waist. She said she was willing to pay for the services by having sex with me. I took off before she could utter any other word,” Jeff said.
Another taxi operator in Industrial Area, Tony, said: “What can you conclude when a woman in a mini-skirt insists to sit with you in the front seat? That is a temptation. Some drivers can’t concentrate on the road,” says Tony.
Jeff added: “I have encountered more than 20 female clients willing to pay me through sex. It is outrageous. Recently, one client told me my daytime services were not needed, but ‘myself’.”
Source: Pkemoi Ngenoh - Standard

There's Nothing Wrong To Compare MPs With Pigs: Dida

There's Nothing Wrong To Compare MPs With Pigs: Dida
Former Presidential Candidate Mohammed Abduba Dida has differed with Muslim MPs on the recent use of pigs in a protest outside Parliament. Dida says there was nothing wrong with the conduct of the demonstrations against MPs' demands for higher salaries.
Contradicting Majority Leader’s stance, the former presidential candidate has said there is nothing wrong to equate MPs' greed to pigs even if the animal is regarded as unclean or 'Haram' to Muslims. Quoting the Bible and the Koran, Dida advised current MPs to adopt exemplary decorum.
Speaking to the media yesterday, Dida said the protestors should not be condemned for equating MPs to pigs saying what the legislators are doing is bad and equivalent to the pig. “It is not wrong for protestors against the salary increment to compare the MPs’ behaviour to pigs”, Dida said adding, “It is okay to compare human being to pigs if they behave like them.”

Meet The Mombasa Women Who Were Allegedly Having Sex With A Dog

Meet The Mombasa Women Who Were Allegedly Having Sex With A Dog
10 Mombasa Women and A Swiss Man Were Earlier Arrested For Allegedly Shooting P0rn With A Dog.
The girls in the dog sex drama are students of Mombasa polytechnic. The girls allegedly busted in the act with the dog are:
Janet Akoth
Mercy Waithera
Beatrice Mueni Muosa
Mercy Nyambura
The rest were allegedly bystanders at the moment the arrest was made, according to police records. Reports say that the ladies were being paid 3,000 bob each for the scene with the dog. Here they are being arraigned in court for the charges to be pressed against them:

Mother-In-Law’s Wanade Eulogized


Wanade
Beth Nyambura Mbaya who took on the character of Wanade in popular Citizen TV program Mother-in-Law is dead.
The first announcement of her death came via actor Abel Mutua who plays Freddy in  Tahidi High who posted a message that read; 
“R.I.P. Beth Mbaya aka Wanade. The entire Mother In Law team will miss you dearly. You fought a great battle, it’s time to rest mama. Rest well my dear”
The actress had  been hospitalized at the Meridian Equator hospital in Nairobi since late April.
Ms Mbaya’s admission to Meridian had been announced by actors.co.ke in a message that read:
“Beth Mbaya aka Wanade of Mother in law, has been hospitalized at Meridian Equator hospital Nairobi West St Pauls Ward where she is very unwell. Only Family and close friends can visit her at the moment. Thank you for all for the prayers and well wishes coming in. We hope for the best.”
Wanade has left behind two sons Kamau Mbaya AKA Baha of ‘Machachari’ and KNOWZONE presenter, Mungai Mbaya.

Boniface Mwangi receives prestigious Prince Claus award

Boniface Mwangi


Image via Flickr user Joshua Wanyama. [Creative Commons]
Kenya's twittersphere was abuzz on Wednesday afterguards arrested photojournalist Boniface Mwangi during a protest against the country's trade union leader. 
 
According to reports, Mwangi was seized by security guards after attempting to disrupt a speech by Francis Atwoli, head of Kenya's Central Organization of Trade Unions. 
 
Activists accuse Atwoli of defending pay increases demanded by Kenyan Members of Parliament. Theyclaim that a salary hike for MPs would set a bad precedent and is undeserved so soon after national elections held in March. 

Boniface Mwangi is man of many hats. He is a photojournalist, visual artist and activist. After leaving formal employment in 2008, he gained worldwide acclaim by bagging the CNN African Journalist of the Year award for his documentation on the Police crackdown of the Mungiki sect. 
However, it is his photographic series, 'Post Election Violence' that has earned him the prestigious Prince Claus award from the Prince Claus Fund of the Kingdom of Netherlands. 
He joins an elite group of ten others worldwide who were also feted namely Habiba Djahnine of Algeria, Yassin al Haj Saleh of Syria, andMaxamed Ibraahim Warsame popularly known as Hadraawi
Mwangi was honoured on Tuesday morning at the residence of the Dutch ambassador Yoost Reintjes, who presented him with the award making him the youngest ever recipient. Chief Justice Willy Mutungadescribes Mwangi as "a courageous young man who is like theWangari Maathai of our generation."
The Prince Claus awards recognise and celebrate achievements in the field of culture and development. 

President Uhuru Caters for Otongolo boy’s Education


Daniel Oriwa at State House
Daniel Oriwa at State House
Daniel Owira a form two student at Highway Secondary School,is famous for his National Drama Festival performance that had President Uhuru Kenyatta and his wife Margaret Kenyatta laughing out loud.Daniel had a very amazing encounter with the president something that is very rare to find.He had the opportunity of going to State House having received an invite by the President.Accompanied by his mother and sister Susan on Wednesday afternoon, the boy was given a State House tour by the president himself.
Apart from that, he was also awarded a full education scholarship all the way to the University.What a priviledge.Uhuru was quoted saying ‘You are now my son make sure you give me your report  form every end of term.’This was during his meeting yesterday afternoon after gracing Labor Day celebrations at Uhuru Park.Owira is expected to board in his current school Highway Secondary School and not walk like he used to from his home situated in the Nyayo slums of South B.
His family might also get the chance to leave the slum after Uhuru promised to finance his mothers business.Owira says his mother had a fish business which got burnt out but after getting help from the president she can now  have a fresh start.Susan was also not left out.The mother of one says she came to Nairobi from Kisumu to help her single mother out. She got employed as a househelp and is now currently working with teenage girls in the slum to help them avoid teenage pregnancies.
Daniel says he felt honored to shake the president’s hand the very first time after his performance and after his visit to state house he feels like he is the luckiest boy in the world. Having been catered for his education we hope that Daniel will have a bright future and will get to nature his talent as well.

ICC Judge withdraws from Uhuru, Ruto case


Belgium Judge has withdrawn from cases facing President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto at the International Criminal Court
In her withdrawal, Judge Christine Van den Wyngaert questioned the prosecution’s conduct
“I fully concur with the elucidation in the decision of the prosecution’s rights and obligations under article 54(1) (a) of the statute. However, I would have gone further in that I am of the view that there are serious questions as to whether the prosecution conducted a full and thorough investigation of the case of the accused prior to confirmation,” said Wyngaert.
“In fact I believe that the facts show that the prosecution had not complied with the obligation under article 54 (1) (a) at the time when it sought confirmation and that it was still not even remotely ready when the proceedings before this Chamber started.”