Girls back to school after lockdowns - Angola. Campaign with Sofonie Dala. Don't miss it! Webisode 16

After Covid-19, millions of girls may not return to the classroom. We can help them

The disruption to education has far-reaching effects for all, the impact is particularly detrimental to the most disadvantaged students and their families, especially in poorer countries.

“The longer children remain out of school, the less likely they are to return,”.

Our today's guest is Chelsea. Do you remember her?  She was with us in the beginning of #AfricaEducatesHerCampaign. Today she will share the challenges she faces due to Covid-19 pandemic.

1. Introduction

Greetings! My name is Chelsea dos Anjos, I am 23 years old, 2 year old university student and I am Angolan.

2. How has covid - 19 affected your student life?
The Covid-19 pandemic affected me a lot, so much that I can no longer go back to school because I had to find a job to meet my needs as well as save money to be able to pay my tuition fees.

3. Now that schools have reopened, have you gone back to school? Has your school distributed any biosecurity materials?

No, unfortunately I was unable to return to classes due to lack of financial resources. Before schools reopened, the government had promised to provide biosafety materials, today when I went to visit the university I did not see any strict conditions created for students to return to study safely. Not, I didn't see anything.

4. How do you feel?

I can't say that I'm happy about all this. But I didn't go back to school because I had to find a job to pay my tuition.

It is all I have to share with you all, thank you!

The educational consequences of coronavirus will last beyond the period of school closures, disproportionately affecting marginalised girls.

“When we deal with education, the decision that we make today will impact tomorrow’s world.”

We all want to see girls back at school, and we all want to make sure the schools are the safe and supportive learning environments they should be.

Click here to watch Chelsea's first interview: https://sofoniedala.blogspot.com/2020/09/africa-educates-her-campaign-with_15.html

African Women in Media Labour Migration Reporting Training Programme 2020 for female Journalists

 Application Deadline: November 9th 2020 

African Women in Media (AWiM), in partnership with the African Union (AU), International Labour Migration (ILO) and International Organization for Migration (IOM), have launched the Labour Migration Reporting Programme.

The programme features the Labour Migration Media AWards, Labour Migration Reporting Training Programme, and research into the lived experiences of labour migration journalists in Africa. As part of the Visibility Project, AWiM is also working with Wikimedia communities in Nigeria, Uganda, Cameroon and Algeria, to train women journalists on how to write on Wikipedia, and create more profiles and articles on labour migration in Africa.

Requirements

-You must be a female journalists working on labour migration in Africa

Click here: https://bit.ly/3oV0RTe

The Angolan dancers who helped the South African pop anthem “Jerusalema” go global

 In February the Angolan dance troupe Fenómenos do Semba created the viral #JerusalemaDanceChallenge video that showed off their dance moves to the South African hit song Jerusalema. Their video is set in a backyard in Luanda, where they break into a group dance, all the while eating lunch from plates in their hands.

In the age of coronavirus, the #JerusalemaDanceChallenge video generated a counter-contagion. Almost overnight everyone from police departments in Africa to priests in Europe were posting their own Jerusalema dance videos that repeated the choreography.

The challenge videos were swept along in a message of hope condensed in the single word “Jerusalema” and amplified through an electronic beat that its creator, Johannesburg-based musician and producer Master KG, describes as “spiritual”.

Putting together this beat in November 2019, he invited South African gospel vocalist Nomcebo Zikode to interpret it lyrically. The magic isiZulu phrase “Jerusalema, ikhaya lami” (Jerusalem is my home) arose through their jamming. Then the Angolans provided an irresistible choreography, and the rest is history.

The Angolan dance routine is both just repetitive enough to be picked up and just varied enough to tease. Videos flew around the world on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. Like the urge to dance to “the earliest Ragtime songs” described by Ishmael Reed in his novel Mumbo Jumbo, the dance challenge, too, “jes grew”.

“We are happy to bring the joy of dance to the whole world through this marvelous dance,” (“Estamos felizes por levar a alegria da dança para o mundo inteiro atraves desta dança maravilhosa”) Fenómenos do Semba declare in Portuguese on their Facebook page.

Source: https://qz.com/africa/1926803/south-africas-jerusalema-went-global-with-these-angolan-dancers/

Botswana Wants Angola’s Exiled Elephants to Return Home

 (Bloomberg) -- Botswana may have found a solution to its elephant overpopulation: It’s going to encourage some of them to leave the country.

Botswana’s tourism industry, which accounts for a fifth of the economy, is heavily reliant on the world’s biggest elephant population, but the animals have become a political issue as there are too many of them and they destroy crops and occasionally trample villagers. Now, elephants are beginning to migrate into neighboring Angola and the governments of both countries are helping them do so by removing land mines left over from Angola’s civil war and tearing down fences.

“It’s the idea that we have, particularly looking at the overpopulation we have,” said Philda Kereng, Botswana’s environment minister, in an interview. “We have to help Angola understand the value of elephants.”

Botswana’s 135,000 elephants mostly live in a 520,000 square kilometer (201,000 square-mile) area known as the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, which spans five countries and is home to almost half of the world’s African elephants. Angola’s elephants were pushed across the border by a decades-long civil war that ended in 2002. Illegal hunting elsewhere has also boosted Botswana’s elephant population.

Before the war, Angola had about 100,000 elephants, compared to less than 10,000 today, according to researchers. Most lived in the lush southeastern highlands, from which rivers feeding Botswana’s Okavango Delta wetlands originate.

“Southern Angola has prime elephant habitat, and, if conditions are safe for elephants, they will return to Angola in great numbers,” said Mike Chase, the founder and director of research non-profit Elephants Without Borders. “It is natural for elephants to leave areas where numbers are high and seek out areas with fewer elephants for uncrowded access to food and water.”

His organization has tagged almost 150 elephants with satellite tracking collars to map their movements in Botswana and neighboring countries. Chase said some are now returning to Angola.

“I am confident if afforded the right protection, elephant numbers in Angola’s conservation areas could increase quickly,” he said.

More funding is needed for the removal of barriers such as livestock fences, the protection of migration corridors and the education of local communities, said Tamar Ron, a wildlife ecologist who has acted as biodiversity consultant to the Angolan government, by email. Angola has allocated $60 million to remove land mines in the area.

“Angola needs to prepare for the expected migration and re-population of elephants and other wildlife into the country,” she said.

Coronavirus Cases: Angola

 

 Angola

Coronavirus Cases:

11,577

Deaths:

291

Recovered:

5,230

AMERICANS GO TO POLLS AFTER TUMULTUOUS CAMPAIGN MARKED BY DIVISION, CORONAVIRUS

 

WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - AMERICANS HEADED TO THE POLLS ON TUESDAY TO DECIDE WHETHER INCUMBENT DONALD TRUMP OR CHALLENGER JOE BIDEN WILL BE ELECTED PRESIDENT, AFTER A TUMULTUOUS FOUR YEARS UNDER THE BUSINESSMAN-TURNED-POLITICIAN THAT HAVE LEFT THE COUNTRY AS DEEPLY POLARIZED AS AT ANY TIME IN ITS RECENT HISTORY.

Biden, the Democratic candidate and a career politician, has had a strong and consistent lead in national polls.

But the Republican Trump is close in enough swing states to possibly piece together the 270 state-by-state Electoral College votes needed to hold on to the presidency, which he won in a surprise 2016 election result despite losing the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million ballots.

However, it may be days before the result is known, especially if legal challenges focused on postal ballots are accepted in the event of a tight race.

There is also fear about possible unrest. Several cities are boarding up buildings in anticipation of possible protests, including around the White House and in New York City.

Polls opened in some Eastern states at 6 a.m. EST (1100 GMT). The most closely watched results will start to trickle in after 7 p.m. EST (2400 GMT) when polls close in states such as Georgia, though definitive national results could take days if the contest is tight.

The voting caps a campaign dominated by the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 231,000 people in the United States and put millions out of work. The country has also been shaken by nationwide protests over racial injustice against Black Americans.

Biden, who has framed the contest as a referendum on Trump’s handling of the virus, promised a renewed effort to combat the health crisis, fix the economy and bridge America’s political divide.

Although more than 99 million Americans have already voted in early, in-person voting or by mail, Election Day marks a deadline for votes to be cast and still serves as a ritual for those who go to the polls on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

Anxious Americans brace for Election Day with faces masked, stores boarded up

What to expect on U.S. election night and beyond

The early vote total, as reported by the U.S. Elections Project at the University of Florida, set a record and underscored the intense interest in the election and concerns about voting in person on Election Day during a pandemic.

The number was equal to 72.3% of the entire turnout in 2016 and experts predicted turnout would easily surpass the 138 million who voted in 2016.

The election has already prompted a wave of litigation over whether to adjust voting rules in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Monday, a federal judge in Texas rejected a Republican bid to throw out about 127,000 votes already cast at drive-through voting sites in the Democratic-leaning Houston area.

Trump has questioned the integrity of the election results for months, making unsubstantiated claims that mail-in voting is rife with fraud and refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses.

Trump has also said votes should only be counted through election night, even though many states often take days or weeks to tally ballots.