Source: Thomson Reuters
In some countries, people with albinism are targeted for their body parts which are prized in witchcraft
Six African women with albinism who made an attempt on the continent's highest peak, Mount Kilimanjaro, said on Tuesday the trek was just the beginning of efforts to raise awareness and dispel negative images of people with the rare skin condition.
The women - from Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Senegal - began their ascent up the 5,895-metre (19,340-ft) summit in Tanzania on Oct. 1, but only one made it all the way to the summit, Uhuru peak.
Zimbabwean educator Nodumo Ncomanzi, 26, who reached Kilimanjaro's highest point on Sunday, said the women's struggle up the mountain reflected the daily struggles of thousands of people with albinism in Africa, and across the world.
"We are feeling very accomplished. It's one thing to pledge to climb Kilimanjaro, and another to actually do it," Ncomanzi told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Moshi in Tanzania.
"Considering the extreme conditions we faced, we are all proud of our respective accomplishments.
"I don't think the message we were trying to send has been lost because five of us did not make it to the summit. The individual accomplishments of each climber speaks volumes and helps amplify the voices of persons with albinism."
The climb, said Ncomanzi, was just the beginning of their campaign and the women would organise more initiatives to highlight the challenges faced by people with albinism.
The rare genetic condition results in a lack of pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes. Sufferers are frequently shunned and attacked in Africa due to a lack of awareness.
In some countries, they are targeted for their body parts, which are prized in witchcraft for use as lucky charms or in magic potions. Women risk rape due to myths suggesting sex with a woman with albinism can cure AIDS.
The six women on the "Climb for Albinism" expedition have faced their own struggles growing up with the condition - some more horrific than others - and are now fighting the stigma and raising awareness about the condition.
One of the climbers is a rape survivor, while another climber was abandoned by her mother when she was born. One of the climbers, Tanzanian Mariamu Staford, had her arms hacked off 10 years ago when three men entered her home as she slept.
"I am happy that I challenged myself and realised that I am able to conquer anything," said Staford, 35, who reached 4,300 metres before developing severe altitude sickness and being airlifted.
Joining Ncomanzi and Staford, were Senegalese bass player Maah Koudia Keita, Nigerian optometrist Onyinye Edi, South African actress and singer Regina Mary Ndlovu, and Kenyan activist and expedition co-founder Jane Waithera.
Elia Saikaly, film-maker and co-founder of the expedition, said he was extremely proud of the six women, aged between 26 and 35. "Mount Kilimanjaro threw just about everything at us and in the end, the Climb for Albinism flag was raised on the roof of Africa," Saikaly said in a statement.
Source: CNN Africa
Diane Rwigara, a leading critic of Rwanda's President Paul Kagame, spent more than a year in prison before she was released on bail Friday.
Source: The Guardian
Activists trying to open Uganda’s first centre for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have been told their plans for a safe space are illegal. Simon Lokodo, minister for ethics and integrity, said opening the community centre would be a criminal act.
“They will have to take it somewhere else. They can’t open a centre of LGBT activity here. Homosexuality is not allowed and completely unacceptable in Uganda,” he said. “We don’t and can’t allow it. LGBT activities are already banned and criminalised in this country. So popularising it is only committing a crime.”
Source: Voice of America
It was during her first year of high school in rural western Kenya that Mary Kuket says she was "sacrificed to tradition" and her dreams of becoming a doctor shattered forever.
With no explanation, the 15-year-old was given away to another family, who forced her to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM), then married her off to their middle-aged son.
Source: AllAfrica
Soham El Wardini, former deputy mayor of Dakar, has taken over the position of her predecessor, Khalifa Sall, who was imprisoned in March 2017 for corruption. Wardini polled 64 votes against her opponent's 13 votes and 11 votes for Moussa Sy and Banda Diop respectively.
Source: AllAfrica
President Mnangagwa has said his administration wants to make the judicial system more efficient and fix stronger penalties for convicted rapists once Parliament passes the Bills to deal with rape and sexual abuses. He said Government remained concerned with the frequency of gender-based violence against women and girls, sexual harassment, early child marriages and child sexual abuse.
Source: The Guardian
With violence against women resurgent and the US president fuelling misogyny, this man is an inspiration. He deserves his Nobel prize.
Today’s announcement of the Nobel peace prize for Denis Mukwege, with co-winner Nadia Murad, is a deeply deserved recognition for an extraordinary man who has risked everything to heal, cherish and honour women. It is a call to men across the planet to do the same. There are many reasons why the world needs to know the story of my friend Mukwege, who founded the Panzi hospital and co-founded the City of Joy in the Democratic Republic of Congo. But in 2018, we need to hear that story more than ever.
Source: AllAfrica
A Nigerian policeman who served as a UN peacekeeper in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been sent home and barred from peacekeeping after an investigation found he had sexually exploited a woman, a UN spokesman said Tuesday.
The allegations against the Nigerian national date back to February and March 2017, but the woman later withdrew her complaint to the MONUSCO peace mission.
Source: The Star
Rwanda on Friday ordered the release on bail of a vocal critic of President Paul Kagame, further raising hopes for greater political tolerance in the country after the release last month of another jailed opposition figure
A Rwandan High Court judge ruled that Diane Rwigara and her mother, who was arrested along with her mother last year, would be released immediately but that they were not allowed to leave the capital Kigali "without the prosecutor's authorization".
Source: The Guardian
In a country where one in four women have a child by 19, and health workers offering birth control have been met by men with machetes, confronting myths about contraception is vital.
A woman lies on her back, a one-year-old straddling her. One hand is over her eyes, the other held out. A nurse gently inserts a small white strip of contraceptive implant into her upper arm while her baby plays on her. They beckon me in. Privacy hardly seems to be an issue here.
Source: Face2FaceAfrica
In Niger and certain parts of northern Nigeria, a form of slavery and sexual exploitation still runs rampant although it is not widely discussed in larger circles. It was outlawed in 2005, nevertheless, it is still carried out in secret with the assistance of tribal chiefs, traders and families.
Wahaya is practiced by men of wealth as a way to exhibit their riches and flaunt their social status. This includes noblemen, farmers, tradesmen and businessmen further fueling sexual abuse, exploitation, underage ‘marriage’ and sex trafficking.In Islam, a man is permitted to marry up to four wives, as long as he can equally and provide for all of his spouses. In the practice of wahaya, wahayu or sadaka, a man acquires a 5th “wife” via a sale in which this wife becomes a slave to her husband as well as any other spouses and children he may have.
Source: The Southern Times
Women in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries continue to be denied equal representation in political and decision-making positions at various levels of governance.
A damning document seen by The Southern Times discussed in the SADC Council of Ministers’ meeting held in Namibia last month shows that there has not been a significant improvement in the number of women representation at various levels of governance. In fact, women representation at various levels of governance has decreased in the last five years (2014-2018).
Source: Egyptian Streets
Detained Egyptian human rights activist and actress Amal Fathy has been sentenced for 2 years in prison and received a EGP 10,000 fine on 29 September for “spreading false news” and bad mouthing the state on a social media video.
Source: The Guardian
Despite high levels of violence within relationships in Nigeria, wedding vows are still regarded as sacred, and women are urged to stay with bullying husbands
Dr Perpetua Mbanefo was just getting ready to drive to her new internship in Lagos when her husband suddenly got upset, seizing her car keys and medical licence. “He said I am becoming too free. Then I asked him for my things back and he got very upset, dragged me and threatened to stab me with a broken bottle.”
Source: Voice of America
South Sudanese women leaders are calling on the president to give 35 percent of executive appointments to women, as agreed to in the recently revitalized peace deal.
On Tuesday, President Salva Kiir appointed 10 people to a committee tasked with starting the process to create South Sudan's envisioned transitional government. Only one of the 10 are women.
Source: CNN Africa
A Kenyan governor has been charged with aiding and abetting the murder of a pregnant student with whom, prosecutors say, he was in an "intimate relationship." Gov. Okoth Obado of Migori County in western Kenya is accused of killing Sharon Otieno, 26, who was abducted September 3 alongside local journalist Barack Oduor.
Johannesburg, 27 September 2018: On 28 September, International Day of Safe Abortion, organisations across the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will join hands to demand safe abortion for women as part of a broader “voice and choice” campaign.
Gender Links, SAFAIDS and the Southern Africa Gender Protocol Alliance will launch a campaign for access to services in South Africa and Mozambique (the only two countries in the region where abortion is legal) and decriminalisation of abortion in the 13 other countries in the region.
Source: Albawaba The Loop
Tens of Sudanese went to social media to argue over women rights and equality in the north African country, Sudan.
This came after a video was shared of a heated discussion between Sudanese women and the head of the Sudan Scholars Corporation, Mohammed Osman Saleh, over regulating female dress and reasons behind the rising sexual harassment rates.
Source: BBC News
A new study has found that nearly half of Kenyan mothers with disabled babies were pressured to kill them. The two-year research, carried out by the charity Disability Rights International, also found that such mothers are often blamed for the conditions of their children.
IN A dusty village in southern Niger, Fatia holds her daughter close to her breast, smiling, though the baby looks much too large for her. Four years ago she married at the age of 16, she reckons, but she may have been younger. Since then she has had two children.
Three out of four girls in Niger are married before they are 18, giving this poor west African country the world’s highest rate of child marriage. The World Bank says it is one of only a very small number to have seen no reduction in recent years; the rate has even risen slightly. The country’s minimum legal age of marriage for girls is 15, but some brides are as young as nine.