Corona Voice - Angola. The tok show with Sofonie Dala. Don't Miss Out! Day 31

 Our Corona Voice show is live in Angola. Day 31

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, social media and online communication have become essential tools for maintaining social connections. Many young people have been independently promoting positive narratives and engaging in peacebuilding activities during the COVID-19 crisis.

Our today's guest is Blackokay (not his original name), he will sing us a very original covid-19 song invented by him.

We have to fight against covid-19. Okay? Let's fight because we need to, Unity is strength.

Girl good afternoon, let's fight against this pandemic

Lady good afternoon, let's fight against this pandemic

I know the Devil is here but God is stronger

We will have to fight against it, we will have to fight

There is a lot of suffering, everyone is fighting on their side, Oye

I know that God is here with us,

let's fight with them

Everything is difficult in this world, Ok '

I lost my job, I don't know

But God is with me, Oye

Suffering is too much

I know we'll make it and we'll get out of it all now

After singing he decided to make some brief remarks about covid-19.

Okay my family I am Blackokay Fireman (not his original name)

We have to stay at home to protect ourselves from this pandemic, this invisible disease.

Always wash your hands with water and soap and bleach, always use face mask because it is essential.

Goodbye!

Click here to watch free full webisodes: https://coronavoice-angola.blogspot.com/

This is the first and the only Coronavirus show in Angola where the most ordinary citizens show their brilliant talents.

The heroes of the program are the most ordinary citizens - they share with the audience their songs, poems and real stories of how the Coronavirus pandemic affected their lives.

We launched the “Corona Voice show” campaign to provide a space for young women and men around Angola to share their views, experiences and initiatives.

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Your sponsorship will help the most affected people by covid-19 to take the first step out of poverty.

Africa Educates Her Campaign - Angola. Season 3. Don't Miss Out! Webisode 17

 Our girls back to school campaign is ongoing. Day 17

Returning to school has taken on new meaning and a new set of worries for parents and other caregivers during the age of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Schools must now balance the educational, social and emotional needs of their students along with the health and safety of students and staff in the midst of the evolving COVID-19 pandemic.

Our today's guest is Esperança, she will share with us her academic experience during the time of Covidd-19 pandemic.

Hello, how are you?

Hi I'm fine.

What is your name?

My name is Esperança João

Esperança  do you study?

Yes I study in the 7th class.

How did the coronavirus impact your studies?

Well, I didn't study for a long time.

Now that the classes have resumed, have you returned to study?

Yes I went back to study.

Did the school distribute any biosafety material?

No, they didn't distribute anything.

What are the preventive measures against the coronavirus that you have been following?

I follow the following preventive measures: Always use hand sanitizer, maintain social distance of 1 meter, always wash hands with soap and water and wear face mask.

Is there any security at your school?

No, my school is not safe.

Schools should encourage routines that encourage frequent hand-washing and following good hand hygiene practices, such as asking children to cover their mouths and noses with their elbows or tissues when they cough or sneeze and then washing their hands.

If your child attends in-person schooling, develop daily routines before and after school that foster healthy habits, such as packing a back-up face mask and hand sanitizer in the morning and washing their hands as soon as they come home.

Click here to watch free full webisodes: https://she-leads.blogspot.com/

We launched this campaign to ensure that every girl is able to learn while schools are closed and return to the classroom when schools safely reopen. Everyone can play a role in supporting girls ’education - whether you’re a teacher, parent, student, journalist, policymaker, or simply a concerned citizen.

Don't miss this opportunity to bring girls back to school. Tell us your story!

Do you have a personal experience with the coronavirus would you like to share? Or a tip on how your town or community is handling the poverty among women?

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Your sponsorship will help the most vulnerable girls and women to take the first step out of poverty.

Ghana Beyond Agenda embodied in Ekumfi Fruit Juice Factory

 Cape Coast, Jan. 02, GNA - In 2017 President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo declared the 'Ghana Beyond Aid' Agenda with the vision to getting the country to depend more on her abilities and resources for the wellbeing of the populace than to depend on foreign donors.

The vision, among others, included a plan to industrialize the country, hinged on a campaign promise of creating a factory in every district, dubbed: the “One District, One Factory” (1D1F) initiative.

This flagship program is geared towards creating jobs to alleviate poverty and create wealth for all.

Lo and behold, in August 2017, the President performed a sod-cutting ceremony for the construction of Ekumfi Fruits and Juices Factory in the Central Region. This pineapple processing factory is the mother of all the new factories under the IDIF initiative.

When President Akufo-Addo launched the initiative he said the policy was not a political gimmick but one that would change the fortunes of the economy.

He said the country could not grow if it continued to export its products in its raw state without adding value and entreated Ghanaians, particularly financial organizations, to support the government to make the project successful. That will stop the specter of young and able-bodied men and women leaving the rural areas for urban areas in search of non-existent jobs.

Ownership

The factory, a wholly-owned Ghanaian company, has one of the most modern, automated agro-processing plants in West Africa. It was the first factory to be eyed under the 1D1F initiative but its operations materialized last year when it was commissioned on Friday, August 21, 2020, by President Akufo-Addo.

“Nearly three years down the line, we have confounded the doubting Thomases, and I am very happy to be back here in Ekumfi and, indeed, very proud to commission the Ekumfi Fruit and Juices Factory. As we can all see, this project has been well-planned and well-thought-through, with the raw materials needed for the successful implementation of this project already present, and an out-grower scheme in place, ”the President said.

Sited on a 50-acre land with a 100-meter length and a width of 50 meters, the factory processes 10 tonnes of fruits per hour into 100 percent natural juices in three great variants; pineapple, pine-ginger, and pine-tropic under the brand name Ekumfi Pure Juice.

The Ekumfi Juice factory requires four acres of pineapple fruits to be harvested for processing every hour. The juice produced here has no additives, therefore, putting its products ahead of its competitors.

The Factory is currently the largest pineapple juice processing factory in West Africa, placing Ghana on the international radar in terms of competition.

capital

The Factory has a total investment capital of fifteen million dollars, ($ 15,000,000) of which ten million dollars ($ 10,000,000) is a facility from Ghana Exim Bank.

The Chief Operations Officer of the Factory, Mr. Frederick Kobbyna Acquaah, said it was very keen on procuring its raw materials, that is planting the pineapples, which takes 12 to 16 months to mature, and then process it into juice.

Product label

Justifying the decision behind the product label, Mr. Acquaah said it was the most convenient and market-friendly name the company could generate.

“We are not looking at Ghana as our only market, we are considering the international market, so we have the Ekumfi Pure Juice,” he explained.

Employment Capacity

The factory has 60-acre pineapple farmland cultivated by 20 fishermen as an alternative livelihood, Mr Acquaah said, and estimated that at full capacity, the factory is expected to run three shifts; each shift will have about 150 persons directly working at every point in time.

This excludes the farmhands and other casual workers who may be brought in to provide assistance or services. The impact of the factory is already being felt across the town as well as the community.

“The youth among them insist that the farming business gives them an opportunity to occupy themselves and avoid engaging in vices that may derail their growth and future prospects,” Mr. Acquaah said.

Land Size

He indicated that the factory hopes to acquire more lands, about 15,000 acres, for pineapple plantation and engage more people.

“Per our projection, we are doing 500 acres per annum but we are saying that we don't just need 500 acres, we need triple of that because with time we will have to let the current land rejuvenate while we move to another land to plant, ”he said.

GEPA Support

To boost the raw material base of the Factory, the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) also provided five million pineapple suckers for cultivation in February 2018.

Mr. Eric Amoako Twum, Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GEPA, said out-growers from Agona, Gomoa, Ekumfi and other adjoining districts that had subscribed to pineapple plantations, would supply their produce to feed the factory.

Traditional Leaders Support

In response to the factory's plea for support, Okyeame Adams Sanei, Linguist of Ekumfi Abor, said the various clans in the area had agreed to give the land free of charge to complement the government's efforts to bring development to the area and the country as a whole.

“So today we the chiefs of Ekumfi Abor are giving our land free of charge to the government in order for our farmers to get a job to do,” Okyeame Sanei said.

Bye-product uses

The multiple effects of the Ekumfi Fruits and Juices Factory are resonating in all facets of the lives of people in the Central Region, as other investors have expressed interest in setting up factories to use its by-products as their raw materials.

From an initial plan of three uses of the by-product, more proposals have been received to increase it to more than five, Mr. Acquaah said, adding that they include compost / manure and animal feed.

Effects of COVID-19

Touching on the effects of the COVID-19 on the gains of the Factory, he said: “It has slowed down projections in terms of even our farming, our production and our marketing,” adding that before the lockdown in many parts of the world , market standardization had been ongoing to export to Germany, the United Kingdom and other parts of the world.

Mr. Acquaah said production had been cut down by one-third of targets and had taken a toll on export timelines.

Support from Civil Society Organizations

The Alliance for Development and Industrialization (ADI) has expressed its unflinching support and congratulations on the timely completion of the project and prospect.

Mr. Godwin Arthur, the Convener, said: “We at the ADI have attached ourselves to the commitment of the chiefs and people to this project. The ADI has continued to monitor all these and can attest to the fact that the Ekumfi Project will be one of the largest sources of revenue for this country ”.

He said if the Government could replicate such projects in 10 regions, the country would accrue a total revenue of GH ¢ 5.3 billion a year.

This was corroborated by President Akufo-Addo when he said: “The Ekumfi Fruits and Juices Factory is yet another example of the Government’s determination to promote the industrial transformation of our country.

The government will continue to partner the private sector to establish similar modern factories, and which would be globally competitive, and take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area, that will begin trading on 1st January, next year. ”

He urged all the farmers and workers to be disciplined, and eschew any negative tendencies that may undermine the success of this great project.

Gratitude

The Ekumfi Traditional Council gave President Akufo-Addo the title, “Nana Oyeadze Nokwarfo I” for his hard work and vision, unflinching support, direction and passion to industrialize Ghana through the 1D1F Program, of which Ekumfi Fruits and Juices Ltd is proud, the first.

Management of the factory is also grateful to Odeefo Akyin VIII, Paramount Chief of Ekumfi Traditional Area, under whose auspices the commissioning of the factory was held, and all the paramount chiefs who graced the occasion.

The contribution of the Factory to the economic growth of the nation cannot be overstated. Among other things, it is helping to transform the industrial landscape of the country and building the capacities of local enterprises to produce high-quality products and services for both domestic and foreign markets.

It is also creating employment, particularly for the youth, in rural and peri-urban communities and improving the income levels and standards of living, as well as reducing rural-urban migration.

UK judge to rule on US extradition for WikiLeaks’ Assange

 LONDON (AP) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will find out Monday whether he can be extradited from the U.K. to the U.S. to face espionage cartoons over the publication of secret American military documents.

District Judge Vanessa Baraitser is due to deliver her decision at London’s Old Bailey courthouse at 10 a.m. Monday. If she grants the request, then Britain’s home secretary, Priti Patel, would make the final decision.

Whichever side loses is expected to appeal, which could lead to years more cool wrangling.

However, there’s a possibility that outside forces may come into play that could instantly end the decade-long saga.

Stella Moris, Assange's partner and the mother of his two sons of hers, has appealed to U.S. President Donald Trump via Twitter to grant a pardon to Assange before he leaves office on Jan. 20.

And even if Trump does n’t, there’s speculation that his successor to him, Joe Biden, may take a more lenient approach to Assange’s extradition process.

U.S. prosecutors indicted the 49-year-old Assange on 17 espionage cartoons and one charge of computer misuse that carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.

Lawyers acting on behalf of the U.S. government said in their closing arguments after the four-week hearing in the fall that Assange’s defense team had raised issues that were neither relevant nor admissible.

“Consistently, the defense asks this court to make findings, or act upon the submission, that the United States of America is guilty of torture, war crimes, murder, breaches of diplomatic and international law and that the United States of America is a lawless state ', ”they said. “These submissions are not only non-justiciable in these proceedings but should never have been made.”

Assange’s defense team argued that he is entitled to First Amendment protections for the publication of leaked documents that exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan and that the U.S. extradition request was politically motivated.

In their written closing arguments, Assange's legal team accused the US of an “extraordinary, unprecedented and politicized” prosecution that constitutes “a flagrant denial of his right to freedom of expression and poses a fundamental threat to the freedom of the press throughout the world. "

Defense lawyers also said Assange was suffering from wide-ranging mental health issues, including suicidal tendencies, that could be exacerbated if he is placed in inhospitable prison conditions in the U.S.

They said his mental health deteriorated while he took asylum inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for years and that he was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. Assange jumped bail in 2012 when he sought asylum at the embassy, ​​where he stayed for seven years before being evicted and arrested. He has been held at Belmarsh prison in London since April 2019.

His legal team argued that Assange would if extradited, likely face solitary confinement that would put him at a heightened risk of suicide. They said if he was subsequently convicted, he would probably be sent to the notorious ADX Supermax prison in Colorado, which is also inhabited by Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

Lawyers for the U.S. government argued that Assange’s mental state “is patently not so severe so as to preclude extradition.”

Assange has attracted the support of high-profile figures, including the dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and actress Pamela Anderson.

Daniel Ellsberg, the famous U.S. whistleblower, also came out in support, telling the hearing that they had “very comparable political opinions.”

The 89-year-old, widely credited for helping to bring about an end to the Vietnam War through his leaking of the Pentagon Papers in 1971, said the American public “needed urgently to know what was being done routinely in their name, and there was no other way for them to learn it than by unauthorized disclosure. ”

There are clear echoes between Assange and Ellsberg, who leaked over 7,000 pages of classified documents to the press, including The New York Times and The Washington Post. Ellsberg was subsequently put on trial for 12 cartoons in connection with violations of the Espionage Act, which were punishable by up to 115 years in prison. The cartoons were dismissed in 1973 because of government misconduct against him.

Assange and his legal team will be hoping that developments in the U.S. bring an end to his ordeal if the judge grants the U.S. extradition request.

France’s giant curfew-busting party is over after two nights today

 PARIS (AP) - A French prosecutor said police detained seven people Saturday, including two alleged organizers, after a New Year’s Eve rave party drew at least 2,500 people in western France despite a coronavirus curfew and other restrictions.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted that actions by police around the site at Lieuron, in Brittany, “led to the end of the illegal party without violence” on Saturday morning, 36 hours after it began.

Prosecutor Philippe Astruc said an investigation has been opened for “endangering others’ lives, ”“ deliberate violence ”against police officers and drug-related offenses. Investigators found that organizers requested a financial contribution to take part in the party and that illicit drugs were in plentiful supply, Astruc said.

Police detained two people born in 1998 suspected of being organizers after a police search found money, illicit drugs and sound equipment in the Brittany town of Iffendic. Five other people were arrested as they were leaving the party for drug-related infractions and transporting sound equipment.

Emmanuel Berthier, head of the local state authority, said in a news conference Saturday that police issued at least 1,200 fines, including 800 for not respecting the virus curfew, not wearing a mask and illegally taking part in a gathering. Hundreds of people were also fined for using illicit drugs, he said.

Ravers from France and abroad converged on a hangar in Lieuron on Thursday night to party into the New Year. Officials said ravers attacked the police on the first night, torching one police vehicle and slightly injuring three officers with volleys of bottles and stones.

Video images showed lines of ravers ’trucks and cars leaving on Saturday morning.

The party took place despite France’s nationwide night-time curfew, which seeks to dissuade people from gathering during the pandemic.

The Regional Health Agency of Brittany warned that party-goers had a high risk of spreading the virus and urged participants to self-isolate for a week and get a test in seven days.

France has reported more than 64,000 virus-related deaths.

Fast roll out of virus vaccine trials reveals tribal distrust

 FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) - The news came during a hopeful time on the largest Native American reservation.

Daily coronavirus cases were in the single digits, down from a springtime peak of 238 that made the Navajo Nation to a U.S. hot spot. The tribe, wanting to ensure a COVID-19 vaccine would be effective for its people, said it would welcome Pfizer clinical trials on its reservation spanning Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

Right away, tribal members accused their government of allowing them to be guinea pigs, pointing to painful times in the past when Native Americans didn’t consent to medical testing or weren’t fully informed about procedures.

A Navajo Nation review board gave the study quicker approval than normal after researchers with Johns Hopkins University’s Center for American Indian Health made the case for diversity. Without Native volunteers, how would they know if tribal members responded to vaccines the same as others?

“Unfortunately, Native Americans have effectively been denied the opportunity to participate in these clinical trials because almost all of the study sites are in large, urban areas that have not done effective outreach to Native Americans,” said Dr. Laura Hammitt of Johns Hopkins.

About 460 Native Americans participated in the trials for the vaccine by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, including Navajos. The enrollment reflects a growing understanding of the role that people of color play in vaccine development and the push to rapidly deploy it to curb infections among populations that have been disproportionately affected by the virus.

Yet, few of the country’s 574 federally recognized tribes have signed on for the studies, a hesitation often rooted in suspicion and distrust. Many tribes also require several layers of approval for clinical trials, a challenge researchers aren’t always willing to overcome and don’t face in the states.

While vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna Inc. roll out across Indian Country, others are being studied.

In the Pacific Northwest, the Lummi Nation and the Nooksack Indian Tribe plan to participate in a vaccine trial from another company, Novavax Inc. A Cheyenne River Sioux researcher plans to enroll Native Americans and others in South Dakota in the Novavax trial and another by Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline.

On the Navajo Nation, Arvena Peshlakai, her husband, Melvin, and their daughter Quortnii volunteered for the Pfizer trials.

Arvena Peshlakai said the rumors were rampant: Navajos would be injected with the virus, and researchers would use plasma from people who got COVID-19.

She was assured that it wasn’t happening and let the words of her parents and grandparents guide her: Don’t let our struggles be your struggles, begin with our triumphs.

“What else am I supposed to do? Just sit back and say, ‘No, I don’t trust them’ and not try something new to see if we can find a breakthrough? ” Peshlakai said. “We have to do something, we can’t just sit by and wait and hope and pray.”

She overcame her fear of needles to get the doses and keeps track of her well-being daily on an app. As trial participants, the family can get the vaccine if they initially received a placebo.

The Pfizer trials among the Navajo and White Mountain Apache tribes enrolled 275 people, about 80% of the Native American, Hammitt said. It wasn’t as many as researchers had hoped for, but she said it’s enough to compare immune and antibody responses in Native patients to others.

Vaccine trials nationwide have been moving quickly, which doesn’t always align with tribal guidelines on considering research proposals.

"It must be done with respect for tribal sovereignty and knowing that each individual has truly been given informed consent," said Abigail Echo-Hawk, director of the Urban Indian Health Institute in Seattle.

It helped that Johns Hopkins has a decades-long history with the Navajos and Apaches, including other clinical trials. Hammitt said the Navajo Human Research Review Board was receptive to a quick review of the vaccine trials because of the devastating impact of the pandemic.

In South Dakota, the Cheyenne River Sioux tribal health committee initially pushed back on Dr. Jeffrey Henderson’s proposal for trials of the Novavax vaccine. Henderson, a tribal member, was sent into the community to gauge support.

He expects to get approval from a newly seated tribal council but for now, he plans to set up a mobile unit outside the reservation.

“We refuse to do this type of research or any research within the boundaries of a tribe without having explicit approval from the tribe,” Henderson said.

In Washington state, the Nooksack tribe is set to begin enrolling volunteers in the Novavax trials Monday, said Dr. Frank James, the tribe’s health officer.

“I expect a slow start to it, and we have to get a few brave people who are comfortable with it and then people to follow,” he said.

The nearby Lummi Nation is moving forward with a three-part review and approval process for the Novavax trials.

Initial hesitation among the tribe stemmed from a researcher who took photos of Lummi children years ago to develop a tool to diagnose fetal alcohol syndrome but didn’t offer any ways to address it, said Dr. Dakotah Lane, executive medical director of the Lummi Tribal Health Clinic.

“I had already known and was aware of certainly some distrust with any kind of research within our community,” Lane said. “But I also knew the only way out of this pandemic was with access to vaccines.”

Other stories about the sterilization of Native American women, noted in a 1976 federal report, and military testing of radioactive iodine on Alaska Natives have bred distrust.

The Havasupai Tribe also settled a lawsuit a decade ago that accused Arizona State University scientists of misusing blood samples meant for diabetes research to study schizophrenia, inbreeding, and ancient population migration without the tribe’s permission.

That case came to mind when Annette Brown, a Navajo woman, heard about her tribe’s willingness to participate in COVID-19 vaccine trials.

“There’s this historical distrust when it comes to any type of experimenting,” she said. “It’s just experienced, I don’t know that there are many families out there who haven’t been touched by some sort of experimentation (or) biological attacks on tribal communities.”

Brown has mixed feelings because she previously participated in a vaccine trial with Johns Hopkins.

It was related to research that determined the first generation of vaccines for bacterial meningitis was less effective among Navajo and Apache children 6 months and younger, Hammitt said. The rate of the disease used to be five to 10 times higher among those children than the general population.

Researchers and doctors in Native American communities also have found that standard doses for medications like blood thinners weren’t always the best fit for tribal members.

For Marcia O’Leary, helping with a study that indirectly discovered HPV vaccines don’t protect against a strain that’s a leading cause of cancer among Native American women in the Great Plains shows the importance of having more Native researchers and being involved in clinical trials.

“We can’t wait for this to trickle down,” said O’Leary, director of Missouri Breaks, a small Native American-owned research group on the Cheyenne River Sioux reservation. “It seems like in Indian Country, we keep chasing the ball of health and we never get ahead of it.”

PRODESI EXPORTS YIELD USD 37 MILLION

 The total value of exports of products listed by the Program of Support to Local Production, Exports Diversification and Imports Replacement (Prodesi), carried out until last December 21, reached $ 37 million.

Thirty-seven million dollars (AKZ 24 billion) is the total value resulting from exports of the products listed by Prodesi. Of the most exported products ten stand out, of which clinker, beer and sugar lead the top three, making up a third of the total value of exports (USD 37 million).

In addition to those goods, the "Top 10" are disposable diapers, soft drinks, Portland cement, Banana, glass packaging, wheat flour, napkins, toilet paper and kitchen paper rolls are included.

Regarding the main export destinations of Angola, the list is led by African countries. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) comes ahead of Congo Brazzaville and Cameroon, with a volume of purchases valued at 20.1 million dollars (AKZ 13.1 billion), 54% of the total value of exports.

São Tomé and Príncipe, Portugal, Brazil, Namibia, Spain, China and South Africa are others that are part of a list of 10 countries that imported most of Prodesi's t goods in 2020.

In the year that just ended, Prodesi - which was created in 2018 - financed 661 projects (55.1%) valued at 727 billion kwanzas ($ 1.1billion Equivalent), out of a total of 1,199. Of the total projects submitted to banking institutions 191 are in negotiations, allowing the creation of 5,4241 jobs and the registration of 4000 products.

With Prodesi, according to the Ministry of Economy and Planning - the department that runs the program - imports have reduced and there was an increase in products such as potatoes, corn, cereals, roots and tubers, vegetables, eggs, among other.

Prodesi is an Angolan Executive program that aims to accelerate the diversification of national production and generate wealth.