Africa Educates Her Campaign - Angola. Season 3. Don't Miss Out! Penultimate webisode 40

 Penultimate webisode

Our girls back to school campaign is ongoing. Day 40 

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit schools, and their students, the hardest. Many students in Angola have been forced to give up school studies for financial reasons, after the country’s coronavirus lockdown resulted in the problems with family income.

Today we invite Aldia, she will share with us the impacts that Covid-19 caused in her studies!

Hello!

My name Is Aldia Paulo, I am 15 years old and I am a 9th grader. I'm going to talk about how the Covid - 19 has hurt me academically.

Well, I stopped studying due to this covid-19 disease, it damaged my studies so much because I could no longer see my teachers and my classmates and I had also forgotten some things I studied before the pandemic.

Some schools have already reopened. Did you go back to school?

Yes, I went back to study.

When did you return to school?

On October 19, 2020.

Could you share with us a brief explanation of what you observed at school?

Well, I noticed that my school created biosafety measures by placing hand washbasins, a thermometer to check our temperature and sanitizer machines.

What are the rules that the school created against covid-19?

We cannot enter without the mask, we must maintain social distance and we must not crowd.

Have all your colleagues who studied with you before the pandemic returned to school?

Not all of them. Some were banned from attending school by their parents for fear of taking covid-19, others did not return because they were no longer able to afford their tuition fees.

Have you been following the coronavirus prevention measures?

Yes, I keep on wearing the mask when leaving the house, maintaining social distance, using gel alcohol  and always washing my hands.

Aren't you afraid of the coronavirus?

I am afraid of the coronavirus because it is a totally contagious disease, it has killed many people and it is very dangerous.

What impact has covid-19 had on your life?

It caused several impacts, I have family members who got this disease and my sister lost her job because of the covid-19.

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 are 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?

FIND SOMEONE TO SPONSOR TODAY

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

Pan African Women Empowerment Network (PAWEN) 2021 Aspiring Entrepreneurs Program

 Application Deadline: February 12, 2021 

The foundation of a building is a major part of the building that supports its weight and should be built with care because it determines how strong and firm the building will stand.

The Aspiring Entrepreneurs Programme (AEP) was birthed to equip aspiring women entrepreneurs with the Competence, Confidence and Connections to build a strong foundation for their businesses. Participants receive practical knowledge and guidance on how move from idea to startup using a framework that will improve long-term sustainability and profitability of their businesses

Benefits

Practical Knowledge to help you start-up and grow your business
Network of women to help and support you
Mentoring from successful women entrepreneurs across Africa
Resources to help you grow and scale your business
Opportunity to network and collaborate with other African women and access startup grants.

Click here to apply: http://bit.ly/3abErXs

The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) Women in Wind Global Leadership Program 2021

 Application Deadline:14 February 2021 

Diversity in background and geography are driving principles of the program. In 2021, its third year of operation, the program will welcome 12-15 participants across all disciplines of the sector.

Making the case for diversity in developing countries and emerging markets is a core principle of the program. Applicants must be citizens or residents of the following emerging markets for wind power: Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Philippines, Russia, Senegal, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.

Requirements

Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field;
4+ years of professional experience in the wind energy industry;
A track record of leadership and achievement in professional career or otherwise; and
Professional working proficiency in English (written and spoken)

Click here to apply: http://bit.ly/2YllcFp

Challenge Campus 2030 for students and university professors/researchers worldwide (all-inclusive International incubation week abroad)

 Application Deadline: February, 7th 2021 

University campuses are at the heart of the change: in 10 years, they should have achieved the 17 SDGs to be able to welcome and educate the next generation! What will these Campuses be like?

Imagine a solution that will allow these sites to be considered socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.

Your mission?

Are you a student or university professor/researcher? Do you want to have a major impact and help to build the university environment of the future? Upload your project online and be noticed by the United Nations (UNRIC) and Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF).

Requirements

Student. Any individual aged eighteen (18) years and/or with full legal capacity, who (i) is currently enrolled at a post-secondary institution during the current scholar year 2019-2020, with a student card as verification . Each Student may only participate once in each Challenge. If the participant is a minor, he/she must provide this authorization signed by a parent or guardian.

Benefits

First Team

International incubation
The winning "student" or "university staff" team will receive an all-inclusive International incubation week abroad (valid for two people in a team: flights, training courses, professional meetings and accommodation).

Second Team

International incubation
The winning "student" or "university staff" team will receive an all-inclusive International incubation week abroad (valid for two people in a team: flights, training courses, professional meetings and accommodation).

Click here to apply: bit.ly/3qy5DHk

The Collective Action in Tech (CAiT) Fellowship 2021 for tech workers, researchers, journalists, and content creators.

 Application Deadline: March 1st 2021 

Collective Action in Tech (CAiT) is launching a Fellowship with funding from the Jain Family Institute.

Fellows will receive $500-1000 to share a story of collective action in the tech industry, past or present. This can be a protest, strike, display of solidarity, community-building effort or any other kind of collective project that empowers tech workers speaking out on workplace or broader social issues. For this fellowship, the “tech worker” has an expansive definition. We’re interested in stories not just of software engineers and data scientists, but of all workers in the tech sector including content moderators, warehouse workers, gig workers, and contractors. Content will be published on our website and through one of our media partners.

This year’s theme will focus on collective actions in the Global South (South and Central America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia). The technology industry is a global one, but labor actions in the U.S. and Europe receive disproportionately more media attention than those in the Global South. We seek to address this inequality by giving talented content creators the resources and channels to tell their stories.

Benefits

$500-1000 per project based on team size and resources needed for the project
Publication on our website AND with one of our media partners
Membership in a community of fellows and CAiT members and contributors; optional virtual workshops for providing feedback and reviewing pieces

Click here to apply: http://bit.ly/3pAm7O8

UN Environment Young Champions of the Earth Prize 2021 for young environmental leaders.

 Application Deadline: February 12th 2021

The Champions of the Earth award is the United Nation’s highest environmental honour. It recognizes outstanding leaders from government, civil society and the private sector whose actions have a transformative impact on the environment. Champions of the Earth inspire, defend, mobilize and act to tackle the greatest environmental challenges of our time.

Every year, individuals, groups and organizations who have made outstanding contributions to the protection and restoration of the environment are recognized in four categories:

Policy leadership
Inspiration and action
Entrepreneurial vision
Science and innovation

Selection process

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Champions are selected from over global 1,500 nominations. These are received from the public nomination process.

A team of UNEP staff and subject experts reviews and considers each nomination, creating a list of finalists. These are sent to a high level jury who select the laureates. In 2020, the jury consisted of five leaders of United Nations and other international organizations.

The criteria for selection are:

Impact - Have the nominee’s actions resulted in profound environmental gains or demonstrated significant potential for replication and scaling?

Novelty - Has the nominee done or achieved something new and innovative?

Power of the story - How compelling and inspiring is the nominee’s story?

Click here to apply:  http://bit.ly/2YqAiJB

Biden is the first US president to openly oppose the death penalty

 The president has the opportunity to prevent another federal execution spree, but the window to act may be narrow.

Four days before President Joe Biden was inaugurated, the Trump administration carried out its 13th execution, concluding a historically unprecedented federal killing spree.

Tossing aside a de facto 17-year moratorium, the Trump Justice Department conducted the greatest number of federal executions in a single year since 1896. In the rush to kill as many people as possible before leaving office, the government, in some cases, executed people who were still fighting their cases in court.

Death penalty abolitionists don’t want that to happen again. And the new president has what may be a fleeting chance to make sure it doesn’t.

Biden is the first U.S. president to publicly oppose the death penalty, despite having risen through national politics by championing policies that expanded the use of capital punishment. He also enters the White House in a political climate that presents the best chance in decades to end the death penalty on the federal level, as well as in some states.

Nationwide protests against racist police conduct have led to a more widespread awareness of racism within the criminal justice system — a bias evident in the disproportionate number of Black people who have been sentenced to death. Medical experts have shown how the supposedly humane lethal injection execution process may actually be a torturous way to die. The exoneration of 173 people on death row has exposed that safeguards in place to prevent the killing of innocent people are unreliable. Polls show public support for the death penalty is at its lower point in nearly 50 years. And the Trump administration’s executions made clear the risk of leaving the death penalty on the table.

“We started out so naive with the death penalty that we thought we had the best court system in the world and that the appeals would work — that if they made mistakes at trial, they’d handle it in the appeals,” death penalty abolitionist Sister Helen Prejean told HuffPost. “But there’s a waking up in the country that thing isn’t working and we’re making a lot of mistakes.”

But Biden’s position is no guarantee that the federal death penalty will end under his watch. To do so requires legislation passed by Congress, which will depend on sustained pressure on lawmakers from the White House and constituents. Still, there’s plenty the president can do on his own. Death penalty opponents are calling on Biden to announce an immediate pause on federal executions and death sentences — and to commute the sentences of those who are already on death row, as a failsafe against Congress failing to act.

The early indications of Biden’s willingness to take unilateral action are unclear. The president has so far been noticeably quiet on the issue. He has not commented publicly on the people who were hurriedly executed in the six months before he took office — or spoken about how he plans to ensure that it can’t happen again under a future president. The only hint of Biden’s plans comes from his campaign platform, in which he vowed to “work to pass legislation to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level, and incentivize states to follow the federal government’s example.”

That’s a promising goal and congressional Democrats have already introduced legislation to ban federal executions. But with the Democrats’ razor-thin majorities in the Senate and House, leaving the matter entirely to lawmakers risks leaving the people on federal death row vulnerable to execution under a future president. Biden’s platform made no mention of halting federal executions and death sentences or commuting the sentences of those on death row.

Although death penalty abolitionists are broadly in agreement about the steps the Biden administration should take to end capital punishment, nailing the strategic timing of each step is a challenge.

The window to pass legislation to abolish the federal death penalty may be narrow. Democrats could lose their control of either or both congressional chambers in the 2022 midterm elections. And as those elections draw near, vulnerable lawmakers will be reluctant to cast a vote on such a politically fraught issue.

“My view is the death penalty package should be sooner rather than later,” said Henderson Hill, senior counsel at the ACLU’s capital punishment project. “And the question for me is, do we do it in 45 days, do we do it in 60 days, do we do it in 90 days?”

Noting the need to educate the public about problems with the death penalty and to solidify congressional backing for its abolition, Hill added, “I just don’t know that I want it in the first couple of weeks.”

“Someone who was at all outraged by how horrific and barbaric this has been should just commute the row.”Jessica Brand, Texas Defender Service board member

The most obvious first step for the Biden administration would be to direct the Justice Department to stop seeking and defending death sentences in federal cases. That would mean prosecutors would stop requesting death sentences in new cases, withdraw requests for the death sentence in pending cases, and notify courts they will no longer defend death sentences that have already been imposed and are being challenged in post-conviction litigation.

“The new administration should not be working to fill up the death row cells that have been emptied by this execution spree,” David Bruck, a veteran death penalty defense lawyer, said in an interview. “They should stop the machinery of death within the Justice Department.”

As president, Biden could also commute the sentences of the 49 people on federal death row to life in prison without parole or a lesser sentence. This would prevent a future president from executing those on death row in the event that Congress fails to pass abolition legislation. Even if Congress succeeds in getting rid of the death penalty, there is no guarantee that the final version bill will be retroactively applied to people who have already been sentenced.

“The reason commuting the row is so important is obvious — [Biden] may not be here in four years,” said Jessica Brand, a board member for Texas Defender Service, which seeks to expose deficiencies in that state’s imposition of death penalties.

Referring to the 13 executions under the Trump administration, she said, “If you don’t commute the whole row, this can happen again. Someone who was at all outraged by how horrific and barbaric this has been should just commute the row.”

The Biden administration has declined to answer questions about the president’s willingness to commute federal death sentences, but pressure is mounting on him to do so. Since his inauguration, 37 members of Congress and a group of nearly 100 current and former prosecutors, attorneys general, law enforcement officials and judges have called on the administration to commute the sentences of those 49 people on federal death row.

Such a move could signal Biden’s commitment to the larger issue of abolition and assuage skeptics who view former President Barack Obama — Biden’s former boss — as a cautionary tale in failing to act with urgency.

As president, Obama acknowledged the death penalty was “deeply troubling” but stopped short of calling for its abolition. His attorney general during most of his White House tenure, Eric Holder, oversaw a “review” of the death penalty, an exercise that didn’t amount to much.

On his way out of office, Obama commuted the sentences of two people on federal death row but declined to help the rest — presumably under the assumption that the long hiatus on federal executions would hold. That decision meant that when Trump entered office, there were dozens of people he could choose from to execute.

There are some anti-death penalty lawyers and activists who believe that as long as Biden is committed to ensuring that no one is on death row before he leaves office, he does not need to act on the commutations during his first days in office. Commuting the row would mean reducing sentences for some high-profile and notorious people, including Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was sentenced to death for the Boston Marathon bombings that killed three people ― including a child ― and injured hundreds. Political blowback from the right-wing is inevitable, and the family members of victims of those on death row could feel betrayed if the administration doesn’t take the time to do thoughtful outreach.

Commuting the row before Congress moves forward with legislation to repeal the death penalty “seems to me to be a little putting the cart before the horse,” Hill of the ACLU said. “Does that make it harder to get the repeal? I know when we’ve had state campaigns, what we’ve traditionally done is get repeal done, and then we work on the row and get the row commuted.”

The Biden administration should use the legislative process to educate the public and lawmakers about the problems with the death penalty, Hill said. Legislative hearings could include testimony about the death penalty’s historical roots in racist lynchings. People who have been exonerated and freed from death row could testify about how close we’ve come to killing innocent people. “You can make a fairly good case that this policy just doesn’t make sense,” Hill said.

As Democrats in Congress work to whip up votes for death penalty abolition, the Biden administration could create a national commission on the death penalty and provide funding for states to do their own in-depth studies. Comprehensive information on wrongful convictions and how race and poverty are linked to death sentences could help move public opinion and lay the groundwork for its abolition.

“A national commission that investigated and laid out all of the facts for and against our status as an outlier among all the democracies of the world as an executing country would be useful,” Bruck said. “It would be helpful to the American people and it would be useful to the states to have a benchmark of reliable information about the whole range of issues that are tangled up with the death penalty.”

Many people can point to a case where they believe the death penalty is appropriate, Bruck noted. “But that’s not the issue,” he added. “The issue is whether we can design a system that identifies those cases and only those cases within a reasonable amount of time and at a reasonable cost and without making mistakes. And that’s the question that should be put before a commission. The answer is obvious: we’ve had a 50-year experiment on that and the answer is no. We can’t design such a system, so let’s stop trying.”

‘Simple is beautiful’: One-shot vaccine proves effective

 The first one-shot COVID-19 vaccine provides good protection against the illness, Johnson & Johnson reported in a key study released Friday, offering the world a potentially important new tool as it races to stay ahead of the rapidly mutating virus.

The pharmaceutical giant’s preliminary findings suggest the single-dose option may not be as strong as Pfizer’s or Moderna’s two-dose formula and was markedly weaker against a worrisome mutated version of the virus in South Africa.

But amid a rocky start to vaccinations worldwide, that may be an acceptable trade-off to get more people inoculated faster with an easier-to-handle shot that, unlike rival vaccines that must be kept frozen, can last months in the refrigerator.

“Frankly, simple is beautiful,” said Dr. Matt Hepburn, the U.S. government’s COVID-19 vaccine response leader.

J&J plans to seek emergency use authorization in the U.S. within a week. It expects to supply 100 million doses to the U.S. by June — and a billion doses globally by year’s end — but declined to say how much could be ready if the Food and Drug Administration gives the green light.

Defeating the scourge that has killed more than 2 million people worldwide will require vaccinating billions. The shots being rolled out in different countries so far all require two doses a few weeks apart for full protection. More than 21 million Americans have received the first dose of Pfizer or Moderna shots since vaccinations began last month, but just 4 million have gotten their second dose.

Also Friday, regulators cleared a third option, AstraZeneca’s vaccine, for use throughout the European Union. The decision came amid criticism that the 27-nation bloc is not moving fast enough, as well as concern that there’s not enough data to tell how well the vaccine works in older people.

J&J studied its one-dose option in 44,000 people in the U.S., Latin America, and South Africa. Interim results found the shot 66% effective overall at preventing moderate to severe COVID-19, and much more protective — 85% — against the most serious symptoms. There were no serious side effects.

“Gambling on one dose was certainly worthwhile,” Dr. Mathai Mammen, global research chief for J&J’s Janssen Pharmaceutical unit, told The Associated Press.

The vaccine worked better in the U.S. — 72% effective against moderate to severe COVID-19 — compared with 66% in Latin America and 57% in South Africa, where a more contagious mutant virus is spreading.

The reduced protection against that mutation is “really a wake-up call,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious-disease expert.

The more the virus is allowed to spread, the more opportunities it has to mutate. Vaccine makers are looking into how to alter their shots if necessary.

For now, the findings are an incentive “to vaccinate as many people as we possibly can,” Fauci stressed.

Data is mixed on how well other vaccines being used around the world work, but the Pfizer and Moderna shots were 95% protective in large U.S. studies.

It’s not fair to compare studies done before the record surges of recent months and discovery of new mutants — they might not turn out the same today, cautioned Dr. Jesse Goodman of Georgetown University, a former FDA vaccine chief.

The J&J protection is “good enough to help attack a pandemic,” Goodman said. “The advantage of having more vaccine, in a single shot, would be significant.”

Congratulations! We are Celebrating the successful completion of the 1st edition of ''Corona Voice'' - Angola. The tok show with Sofonie Dala. Don't Miss It! Day 55

The grand finale. Corona Voice - Angola

The first edition of our show Corona Voice - Angola, came to an end. This is the first and the only Coronavirus show in Angola where the most ordinary citizens show their nonfiction story and brilliant talents.

The brilliant idea was invented and led by our internet superstar Sofonie Dala.

As prepared for delivery

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for always being here with us!

This morning we prepared for you awesome festival of dance, songs, poems and a special praise from the ''Gospel Group Asael with the song - reckless love''.

Entry praise - reckless love

We are the ministry Asael, we will present a praise in order to comfort people at home during this pandemic.

Brings light to the shadows

Climbs mountains

To find me

Tears down the walls

Destroys the lies

To find me

Oh, awesome, endless

And God's daring love

Oh, that leaves the ninety-nine

Just to find me

I can not buy it, nor deserve it

Even so, He surrendered

Oh, awesome, endless

And God's daring love

We want to wish strength and courage in this moment of the covid-19 pandemic and we must trust in God that everything will pass. Be strong!

Report of the program

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic loss of human life worldwide and presents an unprecedented challenge to education, public health, food systems and the world of work. 

We launched the “Corona Voice” show to provide a space for young women and men around Angola to share their views, experiences and initiatives.The heroes of the program are the most ordinary citizens - they share with the audience their songs, dance, poems and real stories of how the coronavirus pandemic affected their lives.

Since December 2020 until today, we have been running this show to disseminate information in regards to Covid-19 issues in Angola. On the program participated children, youth and adults of all ages and different social statuses.

Our campaign came to an end, collecting over 50 video with musics, dances, poems and nonfiction stories.

Citizens ’experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic have been very varied. For some, it has been an opportunity. For others, it has been challenging or traumatic. Many lost their homes, jobs and acute hunger increased.

However 98% of participants reported that they were hit heavily by the pandemic and were pushed into extreme poverty. Only 2% of respondents reported that the pandemic has been a great opportunity, many have discovered new talents, found jobs and had time to reflect on their lives.

Students were the most affected. Covid-19 school closures around the world have hit Angolan students the hardest, affecting their education, their rights and their future. There's no doubt that COVID-19 pandemic will have long-term effects on students and will impact their education, their mental health and social and emotional well-being.

                                            It's time to show our art

Covid-19 dance from Nisha and Engracia. Ladies and gentlemen, please meet our dancers!

Coronavirus hits the poorest hardest. It has further exposed inequalities within societies. Often it is those at the bottom of the economic ladder who are suffering the most.

The measures taken to contain COVID-19 is affecting households in many ways, including job loss, loss of remittances, higher prices, rationing of food and other basic goods, and disruptions to health care services and education.

Very emotional Covid-19 poem by Meury

Ladies and gentlemen, please meet our poet Meury!

Covid-19

A disease that has attacked the whole world

And made the world its hostage.

The world has reached an extreme where tomorrow is uncertain

People now walk in fear of a faceless enemy 

An enemy that we don't see;

Before, going out was routine 

Now it became an extreme need

People don't just go out for leisure or just to have fun, 

People now go out for a need

They leave their houses because they have to fulfill an activity that can not be left for tomorrow or that can not be postponed

Now everything we do is cautious, 

We use a mask to protect ourselves

Before, we didn't have all this care,

 Because we didn't have a threat. Now that we have, 

We are giving importance to friendships, 

We are giving importance to being with someone we love.

Thank you.

Our show came to an end. The end of the campaign is not the end of the movement.

Thanks largely to many of you here! We are not saying good bye, we will come back soon with new webisodes.

Here’s a glimpse of what living with the covid-19 pandemic looks like for people in Angola.

Please click the link below to watch all the series, from 1 to 55.

1. 1st edition of ''Corona Voice'' - Angola. The tok show with Sofonie Dala: https://coronavoice-angola.blogspot.com/

THE END!