World over, there are more than 821 million people who regularly go to bed hungry, out of which over 100 million suffer from acute hunger, largely due to man-made conflicts, climate change and economic downturns. These are the people who have been drastically impacted by the economic and physical consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has moreover adversely increased the depth of hunger globally.
By Miracle Nwankwo
“If someone as privileged as me is worried about managing her periods during the lockdown, you can only imagine how tough it is for women in containment zones with no new income.”
On hearing the announcement on the governments’ decision to instigate the lockdown policy early this year, we all ran into panic buying, but a few persons rather swung into a panic over the poor and less privilege. We cannot imagine the kind of pain and lack these set of people must be facing especially the women and girls who have to deal with stereotyped issues like menstrual hygiene.
The story of FedEx’s First Black Woman CEO
By Miracle Nwankwo
Years ago in America, a young single mother went searching for a regular day job to support herself and her six-week-old baby. She joggled between work, motherhood and night classes and finally found a steady 8-5 shift as a receptionist.
‘’full and productive employment and decent work for all’’.
Around the world, finding a job is much tougher for women than it is for men. When women are employed, they tend to work in low-quality jobs in vulnerable conditions.
Data from the international labour organization shows that women who want to work have a harder time finding a job than men. This problem is particularly marked in Northern Africa and the Arab States, where unemployment rates for women exceed 16%.
Motherhood is a beautiful thing, but we all agree that it entails a lot of work and can be overwhelming. The returns of motherhood are invaluable.
It takes a lot to achieve excellence in motherhood, which may involve being a part of an online group that helps you connect with like-minds and to share your happy and sad moments.
The COVID-19 pandemic has upturned family life around the world. The fact that schools and businesses were forced to shut down to flatten the curve of the virus spread has forced parents who also have to work remotely for this same reason to be locked down with their kids who would otherwise be in school at this time. This sudden disruption to our daily routine is a lot to navigate for anyone, but especially for parents who now have to work from home with the distractions engendered from having the kids around while trying to get serious work done.
Having great friends to share your life with is a gift like no other, after all, friends are the family you choose.
On Wednesday, March 14, 2018, my 23-year-old neighbour ‘’Vicky’’ took her own life. We were later to discover she had posted a suicide note on a well-known social networking site where she had over six thousand followers. Her message had sounded like a desperate plea for attention. Although she had all those social network “friends” online, not one came to her aid. Vicky had locked herself up in the kitchen of her apartment and taken a bottle of sniper (a poisonous insecticide) mixed with an equal dose of morning fresh (a common dishwashing liquid). A suicide note was later to be found in ‘’Vicky’s room.
