Showing posts with label School. Show all posts
Showing posts with label School. Show all posts

Thursday, March 30, 2023

Girl, Six Starts School After Life Changing Surgery in Senegal

 Mercy Ships

PRESS RELEASE

Girl, Six, Starts School After Life-Changing Surgery in Senegal

Six-year-old Mariama from Sedhiou in Senegal, West Africa, was just four when her legs began to bend outwards.

DAKAR, Senegal, March 20, 2023/ -- A mother who feared her daughter could never go to school and thought her bowed legs were incurable is calling her transformation by a surgical charity ‘a miracle’.





Six-year-old Mariama from Sedhiou in Senegal, West Africa, was just four when her legs began to bend outwards.

Her mother, Sifaye, said: “When I noticed her legs like that, I was really worried. I wasn't able to sleep enough. I was so scared.”

Mariama’s condition worsened as she grew, and her mother was concerned she would face more and more isolation. She could not run and jump like her friends and became self-conscious.

“Her friends laughed at her because she couldn’t walk fast or run, she was always behind,” Sifaye added.

Her parents made the difficult decision to keep her out of school.

Sifaye, a mother of four, said: “The school is so far, that is why I didn't send her there. Because she can't walk a long distance without complaining that she was tired. If she went to school, she wouldn’t be able to walk back home.”

The family sought hard for a cure for the next year but found nothing.

Her mother said: “During that period, we tried every type of medicine, but nothing changed. When we took her to the hospital, they told us that they can’t cure her.”

They were told that her legs would likely continue to curve for the rest of her life.

A year later, in a village two hours away, Sifaye’s brother Mane heard about Mercy Ships, an international charity with two hospital ships that deliver free surgeries to those with little access to safe medical care. He met a member of the charity’s patient selection team assessing potential surgical patients.

Mane said, “He told me they would offer free surgeries for patients. He showed me photos of people they had already treated. The pictures of the previous patients convinced me. I wished the same for my niece.”

He immediately told his sister.

Despite the fact that Sifaye was full of fear and had never travelled more than two hours from her home village, she travelled two days with her daughter to get to the port of Dakar, where the hospital ship the Africa Mercy was docked.

Sifaye said, “I was absolutely afraid of taking her [Mariama] to the ship.”

She said the first few days were constant bouts of homesickness, but the team on board quickly made them feel at home. For the first time, they also met children with conditions like Mariama’s.

“I was happy to meet other mothers who knew what I was going through, and it was good for Mariama to see she was not alone,” Sifaye said.

Volunteer orthopedic surgeon Dr. Stan Kinsch from Luxembourg, who treated Mariama, says that bowed legs can occur due to malnutrition.

Unfortunately, due to inadequate medical access in some African countries, the condition is more prevalent on the continent compared to other parts of the world.

“In developed countries, these conditions are treated early so they don’t require surgery. But here they are recognized late, and appropriate treatment isn’t available, so they develop into extreme forms,” said Dr. Kinsch.

After surgery and three months of physiotherapy, Sifaye and Mariama were ready to go home.

When Sifaye saw her daughter’s straight legs for the first time, she was overwhelmed with joy.

She exclaimed, “I was so surprised; I thought her legs would always be bent for the rest of her life. Seeing them like that today was wonderful. We were never going to afford to get her surgery, so this is a miracle for us.”

Mariama has now successfully started school.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Mercy Ships.

Notes to editors:

Mercy Ships operates hospital ships that deliver free surgeries and other healthcare services to those with little access to safe medical care. An international faith-based organization, Mercy Ships has focused entirely on partnering with African nations for the past three decades. Working with in-country partners, Mercy Ships also provides training to local healthcare professionals and supports the construction of in-country medical infrastructure to leave a lasting impact. 

Each year, more than 3,000 volunteer professionals from over 60 countries serve on board the world’s two largest non-governmental hospital ships, the Africa Mercy® and the Global Mercy™. Professionals such as surgeons, dentists, nurses, health trainers, cooks, and engineers dedicate their time and skills to accelerate access to safe surgical, obstetric and anesthetic care. Mercy Ships was founded in 1978 and has offices in 16 countries as well as an Africa Service Center in Dakar, Senegal. For more information, visit www.MercyShips.org and follow @MercyShips on social media.

For More Information Contact:

Saran Kaba WAGUÉ

APO Group

saran.kaba-wague@apo-opa.com


SOURCE

Mercy Ships


Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Ubongo Launches Girl Champion Campaign Toolkit in Celebration of the Day of the Girl Child

PRESS RELEASE
Ubongo Launches Girl Champion Campaign Toolkit in Celebration of the Day of the Girl Child
The Ubongo Girl Champion campaign toolkit invites the public to partake in hosting screenings of Ubongo’s girl-power episodes for girls and boys of ages 7 to 14

Access Multimedia Content

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, October 11, 2022/ -- Africa’s leading creator and producer of children’s educational media, Ubongo (www.Ubongo.org), is delighted to announce the launch of Ubongo Girl Champion campaign toolkit as a resource to inspire action for the Girl Child. This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to amplify African girls’ voices and experiences in a fun and educational way.


“We believe that girls’ voices should always be amplified no matter the day. Today simply marks the start of a journey to empower the general public to become advocates for the girl child. Through the campaign toolkit, we are leading a movement to celebrate girls in all of their glory and invest in a future that believes in their agency, leadership and potential,” said Ubongo’s Outreach and Communications Manager, Tamala Maerere-Kateka.

The Ubongo Girl Champion campaign toolkit invites the public to partake in hosting screenings of Ubongo’s girl-power episodes for girls and boys of ages 7 to 14. The screenings can take place in both formal and informal settings, such as, at home, at school, in girl-focused programs and at the community level. Those who take part in hosting the girl-power episodes will stand a chance to win an Ubongo Girl Champion award in recognition of the incredible work being done to celebrate and champion girls. The public is encouraged to use #UbongoGirlChampion and tag @ubongokids (https://bit.ly/3CNZkrh) when sharing posts about their screenings on social media platforms to help with the recognition process.

To support the girl-power episode screenings, Ubongo has also created a guide to help with the registration and setting up of girl-led Utu Clubs to empower girls in different communities. Utu Clubs are a fun, interactive way for kids to build knowledge and skills in STEM, do good in their community and work together to act with Utu (shared humanity).

Research shows that girls learn as much as boys from Ubongo edutainment (Borzekowski, 2017). The episodes will introduce viewers to the five remarkable girls of Ubongo Kids (Kibena, Kiduchu, Amani, Nina and Tabasamu) who navigate and overcome challenges while learning STEM and 21st century life skills.

“We are already elevating learning for over 31 million African kids, and our vision is to equip the 500 million kids in Africa with the educational foundation, critical skills, and mindsets to change their lives and the world,” added Mrs. Kateka.

To access the Ubongo Girl Champion campaign toolkit and Utu Club guide, visit www.UbongoKids.com
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ubongo.

About Ubongo:
Ubongo is Africa's leading producer of kids' edutainment. As a non-profit social enterprise they create fun, localised and multi-platform educational content that helps kids learn, and leverage their learning to change their lives. Ubongo reaches over 31 million families across Africa through accessible technologies like TV, radio and mobile phones. Learn more about Ubongo at www.Ubongo.org




SOURCE
Ubongo



Monday, August 1, 2022

Motherhood is a Full Time Job

Motherhood is a Full Time Job

Read the heart breaking news of the loss of three young sisters left in the care of a babysitter in Texas in the United States of America.
They were missing and later found dead in a neighbor's pond.
https://www.nairaland.com/7257370/3-sisters-went-missing-found

#Motherhood #parents #parenting #mothers #children #daughters #sisters #fathers #safety #protection #Lagos #Texas #America #Nigeria #home #school #work #job #babysitting

I have always been an advocate for mothers of minors to stay at home and take proper care of their young children until they become teenagers before getting another job outside the house.
Babysitters, nannies or housemaids cannot replace mothers.
If you cannot take care of your children, please don't have them.
Motherhood is a full time job
No work is more important than the precious lives of your children.
If you lose your job, you can always get another job.But if you lose your child or children, you can never replace them again.

Two weeks ago whilst about to cross a busy road with speeding vehicles on four lanes, I was standing by the roadside in front of the Zebra Crossing on the mainland of Lagos in Nigeria, a young girl returning from primary school was afraid to cross the Herbert Macaulay Road. The nearest footbridge was far away from the Alagomeji Bus Stop. There were three traffic wardens at the junction and one of them should have helped the unaccompanied little girl to cross the road, but they ignored her.
"Do you want to cross the road?" I asked her.
"Yes," she replied nodding her head.
I took her right hand and waited patiently, looking right and left until no vehicle or motorcycle was near the junction and we crossed the road safely.
"Your father or mother should have accompanied you to go to school and return home," I said to her.
"They went to work," she replied.
She asked me if I was going in the direction of her street in the neighborhood. 
"No. I am staying nearby," I replied.
"You should take a bus or tricycle to the bus stop of your street," I said.
"I don't have any transport fare," she said.
I gave her enough transport fare and waited until she boarded the right bus going to her street.
I will not even recognize her if I ever see her again.
This was not the first time I have done so. 

Dear Parents, do your duty for the safety of your children.

- Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
Author of "Children of Heaven", "Diary of the Memory Keeper" and other books distributed by Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other booksellers worldwide.



Friday, May 27, 2022

HAPPY CHILDREN'S DAY!

#Childrensday #children

#Nigeria #thankyou #opportunity #education #digital #love #future #health #safety #network #school

HAPPY CHILDREN'S DAY!
Children are my best true friends and that is why my life is focused on doing my best for them to secure the future of our children.
The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of my company, International Digital Post Network Limited is focused on the education and welfare of the millions of underprivileged girls out of school in Nigeria.

Let us pray for the health, safety and well-being of our  children.

O, Lord JESUS Christ,
We pray for a heart that loves you.
Give us the strength to love others more than we love ourselves.
We thank you for this day.
We thank you for another opportunity.
Amen.

Lord,
I ask that you would direct our mind to know, investigate and seek the truth
and to understand the difference between wise and foolish choices.
Make us prosperous and victorious triumphant overcomers in the world.
In the mighty name of our MESSIAH JESUS Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever
AMEN.

Monday, October 11, 2021

United Nations' International Day of the Girl Child: My Voice, Our Equal Future

 


What's the 2021 theme?

The 2021 theme is: 'Digital generation. Our generation.' This theme is a call for equal access to the internet for girls as well as digital devices. It also supports targeted investments to facilitate opportunities for girls to safely and meaningfully access, use, design and lead technology.

For International Day of the Girl (11 October) 2021, girls from across the world are speaking up against false information online.

UN Women has said on its website girls are a "fundamental source of transformational change for gender equality, and technology is a crucial tool to support their work, activism and leadership".

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person” – Mother Teresa

"My mother always told me, ‘hide your face people are looking at you.' I would reply, ‘it does not matter; I am also looking at them.” – Malala Yousafzai

My Voice, Our Equal Future

Digital generation. Our generation.

Girls know their digital realities and the solutions they need to excel on their diverse pathways as technologists for freedom of expression, joy, and boundless potential. Let’s amplify the diversity of these tech trailblazers while simultaneously widening the pathways so that every girl, this generation of girls – regardless of race, gender, language, ability, economic status and geographic origin – lives their full potential.

In 2021 we commemorate the Generation Equality Forum (GEF), launching 5-year commitments from civil society leaders, governments, corporations and change makers from around the world for bold gender equality impacts. At the same time, we are in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has accelerated digital platforms for learning, earning and connecting, while also highlighting girls’ diverse digital realities

The gender digital divide in connectivity, devices and use, skills and jobs is real. It is an inequity and exclusion gap across geographies and generations that is our challenge to address if the digital revolution is to be for all, with all, by all. Let’s seize the momentum to drive action and accountability of GEF commitments made, for and with girls to achieve a bold vision of bridging the digital gender divide.

Ways to get involved

Share stories / blogs / videos of inspiring adolescent girls who are tech trailblazers while collectively amplifying our call to action to expand these pathways for every girl, everywhere.

Amplify your GEF and other commitments to address the gender digital divide experienced by today’s generation of girls, illustrating that we must take a strong generational gender lens to the digital divide if we are to achieve meaningful and sustainable change for a digital revolution by, with and for all.

https://www.un.org/en/observances/girl-child-day

Photos Courtesy of Dreamtime httpshttps://www.dreamstime.com/photos-images/computer-kid-africa.html

Saturday, July 10, 2021

Our Daughters Are Like Herds Of Sheep Without Shepherds

Our Daughters Are Like Herds Of Sheep Without Shepherds


They are like herds of sheep without shepherds.

Our churches have failed to guide and guard them.
Our Mosques have failed to guide and guide them 
Their fathers and mothers have also failed to be their role models.



See the.birthday parties of these impressionable and vulnerable teenage girls, they play and dance to psychedelic songs about romantic and erotic pleaures in the presence of their parents who claim to be Christian or Muslim families. 
I have left one of such dirty parties by a family fellowshipping with the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Surulere. The parents ignored my call to stop playing pyschedelic songs of Davido and Wizkid to their teenage sons and daughters.
Their principals and teachers play the same songs at the school parties. 



Many years ago when I was mentoring a young woman and never touched her and she told her father, he laughed at me and asked if I was impotent. And many parents are like that.
We have seen young daughters of poor parents are pimped to Rich older men. And life goes on.  
They said "Mind your business!"
Yes. It is my business when anyone in my community is showing misguided lifestyle to others in the community. It becomes our business when little girls are raped by men and some gruesomely raped to death and dumped on.the streets and horrifying deeds terrify us with headlines of the news.
If you want to help a poor girl, you can sponsor her education without making her your fifth wife or girlfriend and making her a mother when her mates are in the university. 

Many years ago, I had a dream of Rev. Chris Okotie leading a group of male secondary school students on the Marina by the General Post Office and I wrote him a letter about it that Almighty God has called him to be a leader of the youths in Nigeria. But he ignored me. That was before Yahoo-Yahoo and GSM came out in the country.
Then in 1988 as a young national Program Consultant for the UNICEF Nigeria, I submitted a project for Nomadic Education for herders and their children, but it was ignored. Now, the chickens have come to roost. 
A stitch in time saves nine.
Prevention is better than cure.
There is no smoke without fire.

I know why since 2013, I have organized the Nigerian premiere.of "Girl Rising" to celebrate the United Nations' International Day of the Girl Child for the first time in Nigeria at the Silverbird Cinemas in the Solverbird Galleria on Victoria Island and also organized another one with the Nigerian premiere.of "HE NAMED MALALA" in 2015 at the same Silverbird Cinemas on Victoria Island, Lagos. Followed by the Nigerian premiere of "In the Name of Your Daughter" in 2019, for the promotion of girl education and public enlightenment on the dangers of the deprivation of.the education of the millions of underprivileged girls out of school in Nigeria. Because, we must secure the future of the mothers of our nation. But have you noticed that, no one else organized it in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018 when I did not organize it? 
Meaning?
None of the secondary schools, NGOs, Federal Ministry of Education and state governments cared about doing so. 
The biracial wife of a retired general in the Nigerian Army queried me that if every girl goes to school, where will they get the housemaids for their households? Because the underprivileged children of the poor are the regular supply of housemaids and houseboys used for the chores and errands in the households of the middle class and upper class Nigerians, including the public officials.
That is why they lured hundreds of the poor with N1, 000 per person to join the Pro Buhari supporters against the June 12 protests yesterday in Abuja, while they kept their privileged sons and daughters far away from the chaos caused by the political crisis in Nigeria since 1999 to date. 
The bandits, hoodlums and terrorists on rampage are the underprivileged children of the poor who never went to school decades ago.
The chickens have come home to roost.
The worst is yet to come if we fail  to do what is best and right for Nigeria.


- Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima







Friday, March 19, 2010

Sculpture of Girl Killed in Car Crash Stolen From School

18 Mar 2010 19:36 Africa/Lagos

Sculpture of Girl Killed in Car Crash Stolen From School

LONDON, March 18, 2010/PRNewswire/ --


- With Photo


We wanted to make an e-mail statement regarding the theft of the sculpture of our daughter Camilla in the early hours of Thursday 11th March.


Both my wife and I are absolutely devastated and numb with shock with regard to what has happened. The sculpture was paid for by donations to Camilla's memorial fund following her tragic death in a car accident on June 28th 2003. Camilla was a very popular and very happy pupil at Felsted School. Although none of you knew her personally, if you had, you would have been touched by her kindness, her generosity, her zest for life and her ability to see the good in every person she came into contact with. She was a very successful young sportswoman representing both school and county at hockey and would have been a very successful individual in whatever she did until her life was cut so tragically short.


The sculpture was commissioned as a sign to recognise her beautiful and positive outlook of her too short life. The sculpture was a positive statement celebrating her life and was a very popular commission supported by the school and all of her friends. For us as parents, we felt that her legacy would live on in an environment where she was so happy.


With regard to the theft, words fail us to describe our thoughts of the people who committed this crime. However, we want to focus our efforts on trying to get the sculpture back and would suggest this may be possible if all parties pull together in the same direction. The sculpture is the responsibility of the school so my wife and I do not intend to be interviewed or want to make any statement. This is the responsibility of the school and I have spoken to the Headmaster, Dr Mike Walker, who is fully supportive of our actions. In fact, he has already been interviewed by the BBC and this has appeared on television as well as their website (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/8574274.stm).


We have sent details of the theft to the British Metals Recycling Association, the body that monitors the industry and they have promised to send out details to their members. Apparently, metal theft is a serious crime now but the perpetrators have no conscience as to what they steal and the money they make in selling on such a precious item as "scrap" is minimal.


We believe that the media will be interested in this as the original events surrounding the accident was high profile in both the local and national media. I feel that the media should contact the school for comment and any views on the circumstances of the theft. We are hoping that this be reported in as many newspapers as possible, in the hope that this precious sculpture can be returned to the people who love it most. It is almost a week now since the theft, so your urgent assistance is greatly appreciated.


I am willing to accept phone calls to talk but neither my wife or I want to be interviewed in front of cameras or microphones.


In anticipation, thank you for your help, in trying to recover this beautiful piece that represents such a beautiful, wonderful and kind person.


A picture accompanying this release is available through the PA Photowire. It can be downloaded from http://www.pa-mediapoint.press.net or viewed at http://www.mediapoint.press.net or http://www.prnewswire.co.uk.



Kind regards

David Hamilton
+44(0)7720-898524

Source: Protel

David Hamilton, +44(0)7720-898524