Overview of Africa Educates Her Campaign Angola. Interview with Sofonie Dala. Bonus

COVID-19 lockdown in Angola has had a devastating impact on children and young ladies with 80 percent saying they learned little or nothing during the pandemic. According to the results, 60 percent of the children reported had no contact with teachers at all during and after lockdown.

This short video provides an overview of the challenges and issues that girls in Angola have faced during the COVID-19 related school closures (this include some of the issues the girls we interviewed shared with us) and what actions we have taken as part of the #AfricaEducatesHer campaign to promote girls re-entrance to school.

Hello! We are here again, to give some brief considerations of Africa Educates Her Campaign that was carried out in Angola from August to November 2020.

My name is Sofonie Dala, I am the organizer of the Africa Educates Her Campaign in Angola, which aims to bring awareness around issues that hinder girls and women from accessing education during the COVID 19 pandemic.

This campaign was divided into two stages, during the schools closures and after school reopening. In the first phase we recorded over twenty video interviews and over thirty interviews in the second stage, where students shared with us their fears and challenges during the pandemic and how the covid-19 affected their studies.

The second part of the program we call ''Girls Back to School After Lockdown Campaign'' aiming to certify that there is no weak compliance to COVID-19 measures in schools and also to help us understand why children and youth may experience anxiety and concern (as schools reopen)".

Today I am here with Laura, one of the girls who participated in the interviews, she will talk about her life and how the covid-19 affected her as a student.

Laura's Feedback

Hello, my name is Laura, I am a 12th grader high school student. I am here once again to share with you how covid-19 has affected my academic life. 

The coronavirus affected me a lot in the sense that I stayed a long time without studying (over 6 months). I would like to say that at school we are complying with social distancing and we are following the prevention rules against covid-19.

I also would like to mention that I already forgot some subjects that we studied in the beginning of the academic year, but fortunately, some teachers have been recapping the classes so that we can remember what we have forgotten.

How have teachers behaved? Do they attend classes?

Teachers have been attending classes, but sometimes they enter the classroom in a bad mood fearing to catch the virus.

How is the dynamic at school? Have all students returned to classrooms?

No, not all of them, some students did not return to school because they are afraid of covid-19.

Has your school been following the covid-19 prevention rules?

Yes, they have been checking our temperature with the thermometer, we constantly wash our hands with water and soap and we keep a distance of 1 meter from each other in the classroom.

And what do you think about our campaign? What is the impact that it caused on you?

I really liked the campaign, it gave me an opportunity to express how covid-19 affected me, since this virus affected not only my academic life but other work activities  I use to do.

Click here to watch Laura's first interview

https://sofoniedala.blogspot.com/2020/10/girls-back-to-school-after-lockdowns_31.html

In addition to what was said above, we distributed some school and bio-safety materials to some of the most vulnerable girls.

Distribution of school and biosafety materials

Click here to watch Ivete's interview

https://sofoniedala.blogspot.com/2020/09/africa-educates-her-campaign-is-ongoing.html

Click here to watch Flavia's first interview 

https://sofoniedala.blogspot.com/2020/09/africa-educates-her-campaign-angola.html

Common picture with children

We intended to distribute more materials and reach the rural areas to cover those girls who have been left behind. Unfortunately, due to lack of financial resources, we were unable to reach them this year. But we will do our best to get there next year if we manage to raise some funds to address these challenges.

Click here to see the entire campaign from August to November 2020

1. Celebrating the completion of Girls back to school campaign: 

https://sofoniedala.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-grand-finale-congratulations-we-are.html

2. Celebrating the successful completion of Africa Educates Her Campaign - Angola:

 https://she-leads.blogspot.com/2020/10/congratulations-we-are-celebrating.html

Link to signup form and pledge: 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1hGOHt-E0TDUBT_oNswL1I34ynB1FtLZLsq_m3HjEnDY/edit

Don't miss this opportunity to bring girls back to school. Join us!

Share your experiences learning / teaching during the school closures & the projects or initiatives you've launched to get girls back to school post #COVID-19 in your local communities.

ANGOLAN EXECUTIVE INVEST IN TRAINING AND ECONOMIC ORIENTATION OF YOUTHS

 The Ministry of Youth and Sports alongside the Ministry of the Economy and Planning will implement until 2022 a training and economic orientation program for the youth, within the framework of a cooperation protocol.

According to a note from the Ministry of Youth and Sports (Minjud) to which ANGOP has had access, the program will be managed by the Angolan Youth Institute (IAJ) and the National Institute of Small and Medium Enterprises (INAPEM).

It is an initiative of the Angolan Executive, with a national scope that covers several areas of training, with emphasis on preparation of business plans, management of companies and cooperatives, accounting, technical assistance, formalization of business and entrepreneurship.

According to the note, the program expects to reach a total of 20 thousand young people across the country, in the period between 2020 and 2022, and will essentially benefit young people with a vocation for entrepreneurship.

“This is an innovative and comprehensive program, which aims, essentially, to guarantee the capacities within Angolan youth in view of the structuring projects that the Executive has been developing within the scope of the Production Support, Export Diversification and Import Replacement Program (PRODESI) ”, The note states.

The program was formalized and endorsed by the referred ministerial departments last August and it will be managed through the provincial representations of IAJ and INAPEM.

The cooperation protocol aims to promote entrepreneurship and qualified youth cooperatives as an essential tool for generating self-employment and promoting economic participation by young people.

It also aims to provide economic literacy programs for young people, so that their businesses are better structured and thus become feasible, reliable and safe, to boost business models based on innovation and creativity, to ensure greater viability and flexibility in supporting projects of young entrepreneurs , as well as to identify young potential entrepreneurs and support the development of their skills.

The program foresees, among other actions, training, monitoring, consultancy and monitoring, support in setting up companies and cooperatives, guidance on management, the market and access to credit within the framework of ongoing programs, formalization of activities.

It also includes certification, business incubation and acceleration, access to finance, support for setting up startups and skills development.

COVID-19: ANGOLA WITH 16 NEW INFECTIONS, ONE DEATH

 The Angolan health authorities announced, last Sunday, the registration of 16 new infections and one death, in the last 24 hours.

According to the secretary of State for Public Health, Franco Mufinda, who spoke at the usual Covid-19 data update session, the new cases were all diagnosed in Luanda, as until 3pm no cases were registered in other provinces.

The list of new patients, whose ages range from 1 to 68 years, comprises 11 males and 5 females.

Regarding the death, Franco Mufinda informed that he is a 57-year-old Angolan citizen that resided in Luanda.

Angola registered so far 15,103 cases, with 346 deaths, 7,763 recovered and 6,994 active ones.

Of the diseased patients, 6 are in critical condition with invasive mechanical ventilation, 16 severe, 174 moderate, 177 with mild symptoms and 6,621 asymptomatic.

The Angolan health authorities take care of 373 patients admitted to treatment centers in the country.

Damage to burned GCB building in Ghana manageable

 The SIC Insurance Company Limited, insurers of GCB bank, has inspected the extent of damage caused by fire on Liberty House branch of the GCB Bank at Kantamanto, in Accra.

The inspection was done to assess the extent of damage on the Bank’s properties.

Mr Emmanuel Simpiney-Mensah Jr., the Head of Corporate and Risk at SIC Insurance Company Limited, told the Ghana News Agency after the assessment that the damage was manageable.

He said the fire was concentrated at one place but the smoke billowed around.

He said SIC would be meeting with the Management of the Bank soon to forge ahead with the next step.

He said for now they could not come up with any estimate, unless the Bank provided them with their estimate of things damaged.

He called on the public to patronize insurance packages to protect their properties.

Preliminary investigation have established that the wildfire that gutted the Bank, in Accra, on Saturday, started from a storeroom packed with sanitizers, papers and batteries.

Earlier, Mr Ellis Robinson Okoe, Divisional Officer 1, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ghana National Fire Service, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that, “only a small part of the first floor of the building got burnt, And that firefighters determined the cause of the fire in time.

Mr Okoe said his office got a distressed call around 1059 hours that the GCB Liberty house branch was engulfed in fire and rushed to the scene with eight fire tenders.

He said the personnel within an hour, brought the fire under control and stopped it from spreading to other parts of the building.

Elite runners brave Delhi half-marathon dubbed ‘suicidal’

 Some of the world’s leading long-distance runners have participated in a half-marathon in New Delhi as India’s capital grapples with a surge in COVID-19 cases and air pollution that has recently been among the world’s worst.

More than 60 professional runners participated in the race on Sunday, while several hundred enthusiasts ran in other cities on routes of their choice, using a mobile app to post their race timings, said the event organizers.

The route was sprayed with chemicals to minimize the effect of the annual toxic smog that blankets the megacity in winter due to traffic and industrial pollution, crop stubble burning, and cold temperatures.

The air quality index - which monitors tiny PM2.5 and PM10 particles that get into the bloodstream and vital organs - was at 244 and in the “poor” category, the Central Pollution Control Board said on Sunday.

Doctors last week said it would be “suicidal” for runners to take part in the competition given the twin risks.

Ethiopia’s Amdework Walelegn won the men’s race with a course record of 58.53 minutes with last year’s champion Andamlak Belihu just a second behind.

The previous best was 59.06 set by Ethiopia’s Guye Adola in 2014.

"The course was very good," Walelegn said. “In earlier years there were a lot of U-turns, but this time it was flat and good to race on.”

In the women's race, Yalemzerf Yehualaw of Ethiopia won in 1.04.46 - also a record - with Kenya's Ruth Chepngetich second.Avinash Sable, who qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, was the top Indian finisher with a record national time of 1: 00.30.

The Airtel Delhi Half Marathon 2020 “is a very significant moment for Indian sports since the pandemic began”, said Abhinav Bindra, brand ambassador for the event and India’s only individual Olympic gold medalist.

The event is a step towards resuming competitive sports in India and will be a benchmark for other sports to follow, he said.

The race also took place as thousands of farmers, riled by new agricultural laws, staged a third straight day of protests, blockading some arterial roads into the capital.