Ladies without plastic - Green Menstruation. Environmental challenge by Sofonie Dala, Angola. Day 10

 Women without plastic - Key to reduce our carbon footprints 👣 

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, 

Welcome to tenth day of our environmental challenge Women Without Plastic - Key to reduce our carbon footprints! 

Amenorrhea is when a girl’s menstrual bleeding (period) doesn’t occur. Primary amenorrhea is when the first menstrual bleeding at puberty doesn’t occur by age 15. Delayed puberty in girls occurs when breasts don't develop by age 13 or menstrual periods do not begin by age 16.

Although most girls get their first period when they're around 12, our today's guests have already reached 14 years of age and are still not menstruating.~

 Interview with Georgina

Good afternoon young lady!

Good afternoon.

What is your name?

My name is Georgina.

How old are you?

I'm 14 years old.

Which of these pads do you use?

None of them.

Why?

Because I'm not menstruating yet.

Oh, haven't you started menstruating yet?

Not yet.

Is this normal to happen in your family?

Yes.

How old do girls start menstruating in your family?

With 16 years of age.

Who started menstruating at the age of 16 in your family?

My mother and my sisters.

Is this natural to happen in your family? Have you ever consulted a doctor to find out why you have late menstruation?

No, we didn't consult the doctor.

If your mom didn’t get their period until they were 15 or older, chances are that being a late bloomer runs in your family. That may especially be true if your aunts, grandmothers, and cousins also started menstruating only after they were well into high school. 

 Girls usually start their periods between 10 and 16 years of age. Most girls get their first period when they're around 12. It’s a sign that your body is maturing, so that one day, if you want to, you should be able to have a baby.

Interview with Vilcya

~

Hey, good afternoon!

Good afternoon!

What is your name?

My name is Vilcya.

Vicya how old are you?

I'm 14 years old.

Okay, can you tell us which of these pads you use?

Well, I don't use any.

Why?

Because I haven't started menstruating yet.

oh, 14 years old, and still not menstruating?

Yes it's true.

Are these cases common in your family?

Yes.

At what age do women usually start menstruating in your family?

Women in my family start menstruating at the age of 17.

Seriously?

Yes Yes,

OK thanks.

How does climate affect your menstrual cycle?

While climate change does not directly affect your period, it results in a lot of other changes that can throw your cycle off-balance: changes in your food habits, differences in your exercise patterns, increased levels of stress. Moreover, many factors that affect the timing menarche in girls could be affected by climate change.

Research from climatology was incorporated to describe how climate change events, including increased hurricanes, avalanches/mudslides/landslides, and extreme weather events could alter the age of menarche by disrupting food availability or via increased toxin/pollutant release. These perturbations in the timing of menarche are likely to increase the disease burden for women in four key areas: mental health, fertility-related conditions, cardiovascular disease, and bone health. In summary, the climate does have the potential to impact women’s health through perturbation in the timing of menarche and this, in turn, will affect women’s risk of disease in future.

Nigeria boat capsize: At least 29 die in Kano state

 At least 29 people, including schoolchildren, have died in northern Nigeria after a boat capsized in a river in Nigeria’s northern Kano state.

Most of the victims were Islamic school pupils aged between six and 12 who were travelling to a religious event.

Police say seven survivors have been taken to a hospital as search and rescue operations continue.

The cause of the capsize is unclear, but previous accidents have been blamed on overloading and poor maintenance.

There is also a lack of proper regulations to ensure the safety of passengers.

The vessel was carrying more than 50 people from the village of Badau to the town of Bagwig when it capsized.

Just two weeks ago, at least seven girls drowned when a boat overturned in neighboring Jigawa state, while in May more than 100 people died in Kebbi state in a similar accident.

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SA president chides African states for Covid travel bans

 South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has lashed out at African countries that have followed western countries in restricting travel to and from southern African states.

He said it was unfortunate, and that he would have preferred if they did not react like their former colonisers over the discovery of the new coronavirus variant Omicron.

“I am concerned and of course out of respect to them, I mean they have their reasons. But we would like to have a discussion with them in a way where we would prefer that they do not react like our former colonisers, who are very quick to close Africa down,” he told journalists ahead of his visit to West Africa.

Rwanda, The Seychelles, Mauritius, Egypt and Angola are some of the African countries that closed their borders soon after the discovery of the new variant.

The Omicron variant was first reported to the World Health Organization from South Africa on 24 November, and has since been identified in other countries.

South Africa has been condemning travel bans imposed against it and neighbouring countries as unjustified and not based on science.

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Munich WW2 bomb blows up near station, wounding three

 Three people were hurt, one seriously, when a World War Two bomb blew up on a railway construction site in the German city of Munich.

The fire brigade says it happened during drilling work near Donnersberger Bridge, close to the main station.

As a result rail traffic in much of Munich has come to a standstill.

Unexploded wartime bombs are frequently found in Germany and prompt big evacuations, but most are defused by experts without exploding.

Local reports described a loud bang followed by a column of smoke. An excavator was overturned by the force of the blast.

Emergency services rushed to the area and bomb disposal experts were quickly at the scene examining the remains of the bomb.

Rail operator Deutsche Bahn suspended travel to and from the central station.

It is not unknown for entire towns to be evacuated in response to the discovery of old World War Two bombs, usually dropped by British and US forces.

Seventy thousand people had to leave their homes in Frankfurt in 2017 when a 1.4 tonne British “blockbuster” bomb was discovered.

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Tel Aviv named as world’s most expensive city to live in

 Tel Aviv has been named as the most expensive city in the world to live in, as soaring inflation and supply-chain problems push up prices globally.

The Israeli city came top for the first time in a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), climbing from fifth place last year and pushing Paris down to joint second with Singapore.

Damascus, in war-torn Syria, retained its place as the cheapest in the world.

The survey compares costs in US dollars for goods and services in 173 cities.

The EIU said the data it collected in August and September showed that on average prices had risen 3.5% in local currency terms – the fastest inflation rate recorded over the past five years.

Transport has seen the biggest price increases, with the cost of a litre of petrol up by 21% on average in the cities studied.

• UK inflation: Family spending predicted to rise £1,700 a year
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Tel Aviv’s climb to the top of the EIU’s World Cost of Living rankings mainly reflected the soaring value of Israel’s currency, the shekel, against the dollar. The local prices of around 10% of goods also increased significantly, especially for groceries.

The survey found Tel Aviv was the second most expensive city for alcohol and transport, fifth for personal care items, and sixth for recreation.

Tel Aviv’s mayor, Ron Huldai, warned in an interview with the Haaretz newspaper that rising property prices – not included in the EIU’s calculations – meant the city was heading towards an “explosion”.

“Tel Aviv will become increasingly more expensive, just as the entire country is becoming more expensive,” he said.

“The fundamental problem is that in Israel there is no alternative metropolitan centre. In the United States, there is New York, Chicago, Miami and so on. In Britain, there’s Greater London, Manchester and Liverpool. There you can move to another city if the cost of living is too onerous.”

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Last year, Paris, Zurich and Hong Kong shared joint first place in the EIU’s survey. Zurich and Hong Kong were fourth and fifth this year, followed by New York, Geneva, Copenhagen, Los Angeles and Osaka.

Tehran climbed the most in the rankings, jumping from 79th to 29th, as US economic sanctions continued to cause shortages of goods and rising import prices in Iran.

The EIU said the rankings continued to be sensitive to shifts brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Although most economies are now recovering as Covid-19 vaccines are rolled out, the world’s major cities still experience frequent surges in cases, prompting renewed social restrictions. In many cities this has disrupted the supply of goods, leading to shortages and higher prices.”

It added: “Fluctuating consumer demand has also influenced purchasing habits, while investor confidence has affected currencies, further fuelling price rises.”

The EIU said it expected price rises to moderate over the coming year as central banks cautiously increased interest rates to stem inflation.

The five most expensive cities

• 1 Tel Aviv
• 2 Paris and Singapore in joint place
• 3 Zurich
• 4 Hong Kong

The five cheapest cities

• 1 Damascus
• 2 Tripoli
• 3 Tashkent
• 4 Tunis
• 5 Almaty

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Kenya’s president gets sums wrong in national address

 Kenyans online have been pointing out errors made by President Uhuru Kenyatta during a national address on Tuesday, outlining what he said he’d achieved during his eight years in office.

He praised the army for helping revive the previously loss-making state-run Kenya Meat Commission (KMC), but got his sums wrong in the process.

He said under the army, the KMC had collected one million Kenyan shillings ($8,900; £6,700) each day at one of its new retail outlets.

“This one million translates to 30 million every month, and 3.6 billion Kenyan shillings annually in just one outlet,” he said.

But that doesn’t added up. With 12 months in a year, the correct figure should be 360 million Kenyan shillings – not 3.6 billion.

President Kenyatta also appears to have got it wrong when talking about Kenya’s expansion in power-generating capacity during his term.

He said when he took over in 2013, capacity was at 1,300 megawatts, and that the figure had doubled to 2,600 megawatts.

“This translates to 325 megawatts installed every year under my administration,” he said.

Again, that seems to be an error because an increase of 1,300 megawatts over eight years equals around 162 megawatts a year – not 325 megawatts.

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Travis Scott’s funeral costs offer rejected : Half of victims’ families ‘Astroworld’

Travis Scott’s offer to pay the funeral costs of Astroworld victims has been rejected by half of the bereaved families, Rolling Stone reports.

This includes the family of nine-year-old Ezra Blount – the youngest of 10 concertgoers killed during a crush at the rapper’s festival in Texas.

Scott made the offer last week, amid multiple lawsuits over the tragedy.

A lawyer for the family of 14-year-old John Hilgert called the gesture “demeaning and inappropriate”.

“Of all the things this case is about, that’s the least of any concern,” he told Rolling Stone.

“This family is set on making change, and ensuring this never happens at a concert again.”

The crowd surge occurred during Scott’s headline set on Friday, 5 November. At the time, there were about 50,000 people attending the festival at Houston’s NRG Park complex.

Ten of the victims have now died. The eldest was 27.

Blount, who lived in Dallas, died nine days after the concert. He had previously been placed in medically induced coma due to the severity of his injuries.

‘Lessen public outcry’

Scott’s lawyer, Daniel Petrocelli, wrote to the nine-year-old’s family the day after his funeral, on 23 November, offering to pay for the service.

“Travis is devastated by the tragedy that occurred at the Astroworld Festival and grieves for the families whose loved ones died or were injured,” the letter read.

“Travis is committed to doing his part to help the families who have suffered and begin the long process of healing in the Houston community. Toward that end, Travis would like to pay for the funeral expenses for Mr Blount’s son.”

The family immediately declined the offer, said their lawyer Bob Hilliard.

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“I have no doubt Mr Scott feels remorse,” he wrote in a letter to the musician’s representative. “His journey ahead will be painful. He must face and hopefully see that he bears some of the responsibility for this tragedy.”

Other families have portrayed the rapper’s offer as an attempt to repair his public image.

Philip Corboy, the lawyer for the families of 21-year-old friends Jacob Jurinek and Franco Patino, said the rapper’s approach through legal teams had left the impression “that all he was trying to do was trying to lessen the public outcry”.

“If he’s trying to impress upon the families that he’s sincere and has concern for them and realise that funerals can be expensive, what Scott’s team did is not the way to do it,” Corboy added.

“You don’t get a piece of paper in the mail from a lawyer in Beverly Hills who says he represents Travis Scott. These families are raw right now; that lacks any personal touch.”

Tony Buzbee, representing the family of Axel Acosta, 21, also questioned Scott’s motives in choosing to make the announcement through “a press release for everyone to see”.

“He says he feels sorry for them but he’s quick to say it wasn’t his fault. He’s no different than any defendant pointing fingers to someone else. They don’t want funeral expenses from him. Whatever we get from him we’re going to get through the court system.”

Scott, one of the biggest names in rap music, launched Astroworld with concert promoters Live Nation in 2018.

“I’m honestly just devastated” – Travis Scott posted this video on Instagram

The 30-year-old has asked victims to reach out to him, saying he “desperately wishes to share his condolences and provide aid”, according to a statement.

He also stated in an Instagram video that he was not aware how bad the situation had become during his set.

“Any time I could make out anything that’s going on, I just stopped the show and helped them get the help they need,” he said. “I could just never imagine the severity of the situation.”

‘Time to grieve’

Separately, rapper Megan Thee Stallion has cancelled a Houston tour date this Friday, as a sign of respect to the Astroworld victims.

The Houston native performed at a previous edition of Scott’s festival in 2019.

“Houston is still healing and it’s important that our community be given the appropriate time to grieve,” she said in a statement on Wednesday.

“My heart goes out to all the families that are suffering during this difficult time,” she added.

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