As one of his last acts as Nigeria’s President, Goodluck Johnson signed the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act in May 2015, outlawing female genital cutting (FGC) in the whole country. Nigeria is home to a quarter of the 140 million women and girls who have undergone FGC globally, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Bonfils Ngabonziza is one of Rwanda’s most talented young contemporary artists. After finishing high school he realised that his true passion lay in the arts and decided to teach himself to become a painter first, then a muralist. Inspired by children and women, he uses art to portray his inner feelings, spreading peaceful, loving and
8.5 billion people will inhabit the Earth within 15 years, compared to the current population of 7.3 billion people. This figure is projected to rise to 9.7 billion people by 2050 and 11.2 billion people by the end of the century. These are the United Nations’ most important data on global population growth released on 29 July 2015,
In the slums of the Kenyan capital of Nairobi nearly all fresh products are sold in little kiosks run by women vendors known as “Mama Mbogas”, of which there are over 80,000 in this city alone. Mathare, for example, is the second biggest slum in the city, housing over 500,000 people. As the
We’re used to seeing Africa portrayed in the news as a hotbed of conflict, disease and poverty. Africans are rebelling against the image of the troubled continent through #TheAfricaTheMediaNeverShowsYou. Under this hashtag you can find over 42,000 tweets and retweets covering topics ranging from architecture to fashion, landscapes to social initiatives, history to modern innovations.
10 talented and ambitious women living in the village of Cyeza, in Rwanda’s Muhanga district, formed a cooperative in 2006. They wanted to develop their artistic specialty, weaving with sisal fibres, and make a living out of it. Each woman has her own story to tell, but they all share one thing: the determination to
Roger Federer is 34 and since 1998 – when he was 17 – is a professional tennis player. Thanks to his class, technique, tenacity, and his elegant and unique style he became one of the world’s most important tennis champions in history. Federer, from Basle, Switzerland, is one of those champions that when will decide
On 22 July 2011, the right-wing extremist Anders Breivik killed 69 young people in the island of Utøya, Norway. People sympathizing with the Labour Party who gathered for the youth section’s annual meeting. Their only fault was being part of Norway’s liberal, progressive new generation. They were both physical and intellectual enemies to be eliminated,
Don’t judge a man by his hat (the one Pharrell wore at the 2014 Grammys and which became an international sensation). Williams, born in 1973 in Virginia, U.S.A., is an international music superstar who has teamed up with the United Nations, Al Gore and Sea Sheperd’s Paul Watson on different occasions but always under the
Within Milan’s global exhibition, there’s a place exclusively dedicated to organic farming and (agricultural but even non agricultural) biodiversity. It is called Biodiversity Park and it is an area of 8,500 square metres realised by BolognaFiere to highlight the importance of biological diversity as a universal precious thing we must protect everywhere in the world, in Italy
