Sofonie Dala - Young Talents from Africa : 11/01/20

Sunday 1 November 2020

Girls back to school after lockdowns - Campaign with Sofonie Dala. Don't miss it! Webisode 13

School systems struggling to meet the financial and logistical challenges of reopening safely will need to carefully weigh teachers’ concerns.

This year, though, everything is upside down, the anxiety is everywhere, and the prospect of returning to the classroom is tinged with fear.

Today we invited Augusta. Do you remember her? She was with us in the beginning of #AfricaEducatesHerCampaign. Now She will share with us her challenges during covid-19 pandemic and her school observation.

1. Introduction

My name is Augusta Esteita, I am Angolan, I am 10 years old, studying in the 4th grade.

2. How has covid - 19 affected your student life?

Covid-19 affected me a lot as a pupil because I had lost contact with my teacher and colleagues.

3. Now that schools have reopened, have you gone back to school?

Yes, I went back to study, but with preventive measures.

4. Has your school distributed any biosecurity materials?

Yes, my school distributed various biosafety materials such as building new washbasins, they also offered us soap, water and alcohol gel.

5. What are the prevention measures against covid - 19 you saw that the government/ school created to ensure your safety?

Always maintain social distancing, always wash hands with water and soap, put alcohol gel and follow all the instructions given by the government.

6. How do you feel? Are you enjoying going to class or you are scared?

I'm scared, but I always go to school with biosecurity equipment and I always wash my hands.

Click here to watch the first Augusta interview recorded in September: https://sofoniedala.blogspot.com/2020/09/africa-educates-her-campaign-with_2.html

We are celebrating the Africa Youth Day

AFRICA YOUTH DAY

The African Youth acknowledged as key actors towards implementing Africa’s Agenda 2063 as Africa celebrates Africa Youth Day

About Africa Youth Day

The 1st of November was proclaimed and instituted as The Africa Youth Day on the occasion of the African Youth Charter adoption in the Executive Council Decision of the Banjul Summit 2006. Africa Youth Day is a day set aside every year to promote the increased recognition of youth as key agents for social change, economic growth and sustainable development in all areas of African Society.

About Agenda 2063

Agenda 2063 is the new Africa’s development framework that was adopted on the 24th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly on the 31st January 2015. It is anchored on the AU Constitutive Act, the Pan African vision of “an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the international arena”, the 50th Anniversary Solemn Declaration 2013 as well as the national, regional and continental priorities. For more information, please visit our website: http://agenda2063.au.int/.

African Union Commission highlighted the critical role young people will play for the achievement of the 7 aspirations of Agenda 2063. He recalled that our founding fathers committed themselves when they were young to liberating the continent from colonialism in order to guarantee the empowerment of the African people. It is therefore the responsibility of the African youth to ensure that the vision of an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa becomes a reality.

“I am not sure that I will be there to see the achievement of this beautiful vision. However, I strongly believe that the African youth will be able to turn this dream into reality”, said the Commissioner.

More than 90 million Americans have voted so far

(CNN)More than 90 million Americans have voted so far with three days left until Election Day, as a majority of states are reporting record early voting turnout in the 2020 election.

More than 90 million Americans have voted so far

These votes represent almost 43% of registered voters nationwide, according to a survey of election officials in all 50 states and Washington, DC, by CNN, Edison Research, and Catalist.

Fourteen states have already seen more than half of their registered voters cast ballots ahead of November 3.

Nationwide, the more than 90 million ballots already cast represent about 66% — almost two-thirds — of the more than 136.5 million ballots cast in the 2016 presidential election.

Build your own road to 270 electoral votes with CNN’s interactive map

As pre-Election Day voting surges nationwide amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, many states are seeing record turnout in early voting in-person and an influx in mail-in ballots compared to last cycle.

As of Friday, Texas and Hawaii surpassed their total turnouts from the 2016 general election.

Thirty-five states and Washington, DC, have crossed their halfway marks for total 2016 ballots cast, including 13 of CNN’s 16 most competitively ranked states — Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Wisconsin, Maine, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Nebraska.

About half of the votes already cast this cycle come from those 16 key states, which will play a crucial role in determining who wins the presidency this year.

Some voter information comes from Catalist, a company that provides data, analytics and other services to Democrats, academics and nonprofit issue-advocacy organizations, and is providing insights into who is voting before November.

The early voting numbers come amid an ongoing pandemic, leading many states to extend their early voting period or expand access to mail-in voting. Voters in some states have braved long lines and endured hours-long waits to cast their ballots in-person.

Supporters of Democratic nominee Joe Biden have shown a strong preference for mail-in voting, while most President Donald Trump’s supporters say they want to vote on Election Day.

Not all states report party affiliations of early voters, but in several states — including Florida, North Carolina, Nevada and Iowa — Republicans are beginning to narrow the Democratic advantage in pre-Election Day voting.

Trump and Biden’s schedules in the final stretch of this campaign have reflected the focus on those competitive states.

In the last weekend before Election Day, Trump is spending Saturday in Pennsylvania, while Biden is campaigning in Michigan with former President Barack Obama. Biden then heads to Philadelphia on Sunday, as the President has five rallies planned in five key states — Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

CNN’s Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report.

England To Enter New National Lockdown As COVID-19 Cases Rise

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that England will enter a second lockdown on Thursday.

England To Enter New National Lockdown As COVID-19 Cases Rise

England will be placed under a new national lockdown as COVID-19 infections rise across the country, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced in a press conference Saturday.

The new lockdown is set to begin Thursday and last until Dec. 2.

Nonessential retail, leisure and entertainment businesses will be closed. Restaurants, bars and pubs will be allowed to offer take-out and delivery only. Schools, including universities, will stay open, as will workplaces where working from home is impossible — like those in the manufacturing and construction sectors.

Johnson said that people may only leave home for specific reasons, including education, work, outdoor recreation, medical appointments, shopping for essentials and providing care for vulnerable people. He noted that “exclusive support bubbles” between households will be permitted, and that children will be able to move between homes if their parents live separately.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a press conference on Saturday, during which he announced new restrictions to help combat a coronavirus surge.

“No one wants to be imposing these kinds of measures anywhere,” said Johnson. But, he added, “no responsible prime minister can ignore” the rising numbers.

Previously, Johnson had ordered local lockdowns in coronavirus hotspots, The New York Times noted. He said at the press conference it had been his “hope” had been that “strong local action” would have been sufficient to quell the rates of infection.

“Alas, as across much of Europe, the virus is spreading even faster than the reasonable worst case scenario of our scientific advisers, whose models now suggest that unless we act, we could see deaths in this country running at several thousand a day, a peak of mortality, alas, bigger than the one we saw in April,” he said.

He stressed the importance of preventing health care systems from becoming completely overwhelmed.

“Doctors and nurses would be forced to choose which patients to treat, who would get oxygen and who wouldn’t, who would live and who would die,” if the virus continued to spread unchecked, Johnson said.

Professor Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, said there was “a significant rate of increase” seen “across virtually the entire country now.”

“We now have around 50,000 new cases a day, and that is rising,” he said.

The nation’s “furlough scheme,” which provides financial support for people unable to work because of the restrictions, will also be extended into December, Johnson said. Under that plan, employers have the option to furlough workers ― instead of laying them off ― and have the government pay up to 80% of the employees’ wages, with a cap of $2,500 a month per person.

The announcement comes after scientists from the British Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies told Johnson that the disease was spreading in England faster than previously forecasted worst-case scenarios, The Guardian reported.

Many of the new cases are women between the ages of 20 to 40, “because they’re exposed in retail, hospitality and some educational settings,” SAGE member Calum Semple said in an interview with BBC Radio 4 ahead of the press conference on Saturday, according to CNN.

But he added that the outbreak is “running riot across all age groups.”

Over the past week, the U.K. as a whole saw 158,864 new cases and 1,658 new deaths, bringing its total since the pandemic began to 992,874 cases and 46,319, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Suspected ADF attack in DRC village kills more than 20 civilians

Local group says 15 of the 21 people killed in raid on Lisasa village in eastern DRC were women.

Suspected ADF attack in DRC village kills more than 20 civilians

More than 20 civilians have been killed in an attack on a village in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to local authorities.

Authorities on Saturday blamed the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group for the attack the previous evening, saying its fighters first attacked a rival group of Congolese militia members before killing inhabitants in the village of Lisasa.

Local administrator Donat Kibwana, from the Beni territory in North Kivu province, put the “preliminary death toll” at 21. The figure was confirmed by the head of the Buliki area, where Lisasa is located, according to the AFP news agency. A local NGO called Cepadho said in a statement that of the 21 killed, 15 were women.

All three sources were quoted as saying by AFP that more people were kidnapped. A health centre was also ransacked, while homes were set on fire and a Catholic church desecrated.

“Everything happened yesterday between 8pm and midnight – the armed men carried out a raid,” local leader Kalunga Messo told the Reuters news agency on Saturday by phone. “They killed our brothers without mercy.”

The ADF, which originated in the 1990s in western Uganda with the aim of creating an Islamic state, is one of dozens of armed groups that plague the eastern provinces of the vast DRC.

About six years ago, the ADF started to attack villages, killing people using machetes and guns and abducting hundreds of others.

The ADF has never claimed responsibility for attacks.

Several attacks attributed to the ADF have also been claimed by ISIL (ISIS), although United Nations experts have found no evidence of a direct connection between the two groups.

A year ago, the Congolese army launched a large-scale campaign against the ADF.

In response, the group abandoned its bases, split into smaller, more mobile groups and retaliated against civilians.

On October 21, hundreds of prisoners escaped from a jail in Beni following an attack by armed men. Police blamed the ADF while ISIL took credit for it.

The latest attack comes only days after the ADF killed 19 people in the remote village of Baeti on Wednesday night. The village’s church was torched, as were about 40 homes.

“During the month of October, the ADF has targeted Christian churches. This is not insignificant,” Cepadho head Omar Kavota told AFP.

ISIL on Friday claimed responsibility for the Baeti attack.

SOURCE : AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES