Itika Teferi, a singer in Afan Oromo, one of the widely spoken languages in Ethiopia, found himself inside the Millennium Hall, a kilometre away from Addis Ababa’s international airport, a couple of weeks ago. The...
Richard Jurgens
Tackling COVID-19 and looking beyond
On 7 January, 2020, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) published an article about ‘The top 10 crises the world should be watching in 2020.’ Then countries potentially facing devastating crises in 2020 were...
C-19 in Kenya: Youth job scheme: a real deal or an empty promise?
Kenya launched an ambitious plan dubbed Kazi Mtaani in early June that sought to shield thousands of jobless young people from the biting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. State Department of Housing and Urban...
As Covid empties plates, is it time to go BIG?
South Africa already had a hunger crisis before the Covid-19 pandemic struck. As early as 2014, Oxfam reported that one in four South Africans went to bed hungry every day. About 17 million South Africans rely on the...
Zimbabwe: caught between the pandemic and an incapable state
The Zimbabwean government’s plans to pay ZW$ 300 a month to a million households were screamed in a headline in the state-controlled Sunday Mail edition of 26 July. The article also ran in the weekly Sunday News the...
C-19 in Ethiopia: Cautious during the day, disarmed at night
Burial rituals are an elaborate affair in most of Ethiopia. Burials here have their roots in the Jewish culture of “Shiva”, and they are followed by a period of mourning in which an entire community is engaged as a...
