TwitterFacebookInstagram

Yearly Archives: 2023

Girls and Young Women. Broken Lives.

The waves break gently on the shore. The crystal-clear water glistens invitingly under the rays of the sun. Eleanor sits on the shore and looks out to sea. Her palms shade her face. Eleanor is twelve years old and she can’t wait to be grown up. Some distance from the sea stands her wooden house.…

Read more

Africa. Close to the People.

Three African women speak of their social commitment. Kenyan Catherine Ngila is one of the most prestigious scientists on the African continent. In 2016 she was named South Africa’s best scientist and in 2021 she received the L’Oréal / UNESCO Prize for Women in Science. She was born in Kitui, 62 years ago, the first…

Read more

Africa. The French Group Bolloré Changes Strategy.

The sale of the logistics segment to the Mediterranean Shipping Company of the Italian-Swiss shipowner Gianluigi Aponte opens up new scenarios. The Bolloré dynasty looks to communication, agriculture and energy. The change had been in the air for a while now, but the official announcement came shortly before Christmas: Bolloré sold its transport and logistics…

Read more

Zimbabwe. Big Brother is watching you with a little help from China.

The country is embarking on a vast Cybercity project and on the promotion of digital technology. The downside of it is that this technology is used to build a surveillance state. Zimbabwe is entering the digital age with determination. On the last 20 July, President Emmerson Mnangagwa launched the US. $ 500 million Cybercity project…

Read more

DR Congo. North Kivu. The Word that Sets you Free.

Every Saturday they meet in a modest place where they share their creations and subject themselves to criticism from others. They learn to express feelings, reality or their outlook on life while improving their pronunciation, bodily expression and expanding their daily references. Slam poetry (a mix of poetry recital, rap, comedy and performance) has become…

Read more

Education for Girls. A Challenge to Learning Poverty.

Despite the extraordinary progress made in the last 25 years, there are still 129 million girls who do not have access to education (32 million in primary, 97 million in secondary). Globally, primary and secondary school enrolment rates are approaching parity (90% male and 89% female). However, the gender gap widens if school completion rates,…

Read more

The qualities of a Tuareg sheikh.

At the foot of the Atlas Mountains, a mountainous massif in the Western Sahara, there was a powerful kingdom ruled by a sheikh as wise as he was good. He had married the princess Hamida, which means gazelle. The young queen deserved that name because of her grace and fragility. A year after the wedding…

Read more

South Sudan. Pope Francis. “We want to give wings to your Hope”.

To politicians: “It is time to move from words to deeds. It’s time to move on, it’s time to commit to an urgent and necessary transformation”. To refugees: “You are the seed of a new South Sudan”. To the church: “We cannot remain neutral in the face of the pain caused by injustice and violence”.…

Read more

Precocious Marriages. Increasing Due to Crises.

The terrible drought which – for the third year in a row – plagues the Horn of Africa region and the rise in food prices caused by the war in Ukraine, have led to an increase in child marriages in several countries of the region. The alarm was raised by UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s…

Read more

The War in Ukraine Calls for an Increased African Unity.

“How Africans voted on the Ukraine War is an indication of the plurality of views [in the continent]. If the weather forecast is a cold front, it is likely immense pressure will be exerted on African countries to choose sides. We know what follows, and we have been there. Better be united and cautious.” The…

Read more

The USA in Africa. Boots on the ground.

The presence of American soldiers on the field is still strategic. General Michael Langley, the new commander of Africom, has the task of forging military pacts with many African countries and of facing new threats: from jihadist hotbeds to the expansion of Beijing and Moscow’s spheres of influence. Michael Langley is the new general at…

Read more

Lost for Words.

To save biodiversity, we must save human diversity. Many Indigenous languages are ‘dying out’. What is not often discussed, however, is the fact that the languages in question do not just disappear naturally. Rather, their speakers are often wiped out – by outsiders. Even today, where Indigenous people survive, their languages can still be ‘lost’.…

Read more

Advocacy

Yvette Mushigo, Breaking the Silence.

The Congolese activist and jurist Yvette Mushigo is the coordinator of the Synergie des Femmes pour la Paix et la Réconciliation (SPR), a network of…

Read more

Baobab

The qualities of a Tuareg sheikh.

At the foot of the Atlas Mountains, a mountainous massif in the Western Sahara, there was a powerful kingdom ruled by a sheikh as wise as…

Read more

Youth & Mission

Pope Francis to Congolese Youth.

Looking at the hands with which a different future can be built, Pope Francis suggests "five ingredients for the future", like the five fingers. In the stadium…

Read more