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Meet Nigerian Nneka, world-class physicist with big int’l award

Professor Francis Nneka Okeke is a physicist who made a mark in science at a time when such was not common with women – With a PhD in ionospheric geophysics, the outstanding academic contributed greatly to the understanding of climate change –

Among her many laudable accolades was the L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women and Science Award, a marker of great recognition to women in science Professor Francis Nneka Okeke is one of the few Nigerians who are making remarkable achievements in the academic world. She is a strong contributor to the understanding of climate change.

For the above contribution, she was given the L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women and Science Award. A known Nigerian physicist, she is also the first female head of the department at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Nneka had her BSc in Physics in 1980 before proceeding to PGD in education in 1983. In 1985, she got her MSc in education and another masters in applied earth geophysics in 1989. Six years after in 1995, she got her doctorate degree in ionospheric geophysics.

The professor also said she believes in setting an example with good leadership.

In her interview with the media, she said she had always wanted to be a physicist right from childhood, adding that she wondered how the firmaments were the way they were as a little girl. The professor also attributed her early interest in science to her father who was a mathematician. She became a brilliant physicist at a time when the field was very much male-dominated. Apart from the sought-after UNESCO award she got in 2013, she is a fellow of world-class academies like the World Academy Science, African Academy of Science, and Japanese Society for Promotion of Science, among several others. She has also published several papers and written 15 books.

Article from Legitng

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Nollywood Actress Gets Chieftaincy Tittle

Kemi Afolabi has been honoured with an Islamic chieftaincy title the “Imole Adinni” by an Islamic group in Lagos State on Sunday, 8th of March.

The 41-year-old actress shared beautiful pictures of her self on Instagram dressed in white. She expressed her gratitude and acknowledged the new title.

She captioned the photos: “Yesterday Sunday 08/03/20 I was conferred with the title “IMOLE ADINNI” by HIZBULLAHI INT’L PRAYER OUTREACH MINISTRY. “IMOLE” means LIGHT and it is more than a honour to be recognized as a light and huge influence in this generation.

“I have been saddled with the responsibility of being a role model to many and I promise to carry out this responsibility with utmost commitment and dedication to Allah, Insha Allah. Alhaja Anotallah Kemi Afolabi,” she wrote.

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African Tech Genuis Ivy Barley joins Microsoft as progamme manager

 

Ivy Bartley is a Ghanian social entrepreneur and a profound tech-woman. The CEO and Co-founder of Developers in Vogue, an organization helping and motivating women to pursue careers in the tech industry.

She recently joined tech giants, Microsoft as a programmes manager. She has attained a remarkable feat after she recently joined Microsoft.

Ivy’s organization trains and equips thousands of women in Africa with digital skills. The young Ghanaian achiever will continue to direct affairs at her organisation alongside her new role as programmes manager at Microsoft. She noted in the post below that she remains optimistic about the new opportunity.

 

In a competition organized by billionaire businessman Strive Masiyiwa thBartley won a $10,000 prize as one of the 10 finalists of the Kwese #GoGettaz.

Her company, Developers in Vogue, is a social enterprise that is aimed in creating highly skilled female developers who are passionate about using technology to revolutionize Africa and the world.

Bartley provides, training, mentorship including job placement for African women in tech.

Great woman in tech!

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This is Omowunmi Sadik, Inventor Of Biosensors That Detect Bombs

Omowunmi Sadik is a professor, chemist and an inventor of microelectrode biosensors that can detect foreign materials, to spot drugs and explosives.

She was born in 1964 in Lagos, Nigeria. While growing up in Nigeria, she got introduced to science by her father, who was a pharmaceutical technician. Sadik was interested in physics, chemistry, and biology.

Omowunmi Sadik

Sadik is currently a professor at Binghamton University in Upstate, New York while formulating technology that will recycle metal ions from waste for industrial and environmental purposes.

Diagram of nano-particle and intra-cross linking…photo credit: Binghamton University

In 1985, she earned her Bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Lagos. She btained a Master’s degree in chemistry in 1987.  In 1994, she earned her PhD from Wollongong University in Australia.

Sadik is the recipient of several fellowships to include the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the National Research Council to name a few.

She is also a collaborator with the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, UNESCO in Romania, Turkey, and Japan; and previously a panel member for the National Institution of Health on Instrumentation and Systems Development.

Sadik in conjunction with Barbara Karn formed the not-for-profit Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization in 2012.

Currently, Sadik is a professor at Binghamton University in Upstate, New York while formulating technology that will recycle metal ions from waste for industrial and environmental purposes.

Her contributions are greatly honoured as a woman.

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Meet Sheryl Swoopes, the first player to be signed in the WNBA

Sheryl Swoop is the first player to be signed in the WNBA born March 25, 1971. She is an American former professional basketball player. A three-time WNBA MVP.

Swoop was named one of the league’s Top 15 Players of All Time at the 2011 WNBA All-Star Game. She has won three Olympic gold medals and is one of ten women’s basketball players to have won an Olympic gold medal, an NCAA Championship, and a WNBA title. She was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.

From dunks, adrenaline rush and victory points in basketball Sheryl Denise Swoopes knows it all too well.

Swoopes developed an early passion for the game, playing pick-up games with her three older brothers. Soon after, she began competing at age seven in a local children’s league called Little Dribblers. She later played basketball at Brownfield High School. Although recruited by the University of Texas, Swoopes enrolled at South Plains College.

After playing at South Plains for two years, Swoopes transferred to Texas Tech, near her hometown, setting several basketball records before moving on to become a professional basketball player for the Houston Comets and later the Seattle Storm.

Image result for sheryl swoopes
Sheryl Swoopes

A few of Swoope’s noted accomplishments in her lifetime include; the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship in 1993, 1993 Sports Woman of the year by Women’s Sports Foundation, three Olympic gold medals, 1993 Female Associated Press Athlete of the Year Award as well as the Honda Sports Award for basketball in 1993.

Others include being named one of the 20 Female Athletes of the decade (2000 to 2010) by Sports Illustrated and being inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016. She was also later inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017. Swoopes is also the first Women’s basketball player to have a Nike shoe named after her: The Air Swoopes.

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Why girls deserve love and respect: Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie american actress and humanitarian who happens to be a contributing editor with Times shared an essay, “Why Girls Deserve Love and Respect” on International Women’s Day,begins with her sharing her family’s recent health issues.
First daughter zahra
First daughter zahra

“I have spent the last two months in and out of surgeries with my eldest daughter, and days ago watched her younger sister go under the knife for a hip surgery.

 

They know that I am writing this, because I respect their privacy and we discussed it together and they encouraged me to write. They understand that going through medical challenges and fighting to survive and heal is something to be proud of.

She wrote, “I have watched my daughters care for one another. My youngest daughter studied the nurses with her sister, and then assisted the next time. I saw how all my girls so easily stopped everything and put each other first, and felt the joy of being of service to those they love.”

She then praised her girls for their strength.
“I also watched them face their fears with a resolute bravery,” Jolie said, adding, “We all know that moment when no one else can help us, and all we can do is close our eyes and breathe.

Angelina also gave her three boys a special shout-out, writing that they have been “supportive and sweet”.

She concluded the essay with a message.
“My wish on this day is that we value girls. Care for them. And know that the stronger they grow, the healthier they will be and the more they will give back to their family and community,” Jolie wrote.

Jolie shares her six children with former husband Brad Pitt. The couple split after two years of marriage and 12 years of been together previously.

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MEET THE BRITISH WOMAN CREATING WATERPROOF SCARVES FOR BLACK SWIMMERS

Our hair can be major detractor when it comes to swimming. While swim caps are an option for some, most do not accommodate Afro texture hair which is usually too thick for the cap and doesn’t protect it fully.

For 38-year-old Danielle Obe, living in London, she wanted to find a way to encourage her daughter to learn how to swim. Six-year-old Kayla began to dread going to the pool because of her hair; Obe had given up on swimming for over two decades because she did not want to risk damaging her fragile coils. She told Metro UK that she was tired of the time-consuming routine when it came to her hair.

“The chlorine dries out the hair, causing it to be frizzy, brittle and ‘thirsty,’ which is what causes breakage, hair thinning, and—in some cases for women with processed, delicate hair—it falls off if the hair is not thoroughly washed out, conditioned, and rehydrated,” said Obe. “Getting into any type of aquatic activity then was a huge no-no. I couldn’t go swimming in the evening after work. If I did, how would I turn up for client meetings the next morning? Kayla hates getting soap in and around her face, so when it came time to wash her hair after swimming, she would scream and scream.”

This constant problem led her to create, Nemes, waterproof headscarves specially designed for black women’s hair.

Afro texture hair is more fragile than other types of hair and is specifically more vulnerable to chemicals in the chlorine found in swimming pools that makes hair drier. The time it takes to replace that moisture after swimming and styling can be very off-putting for black women looking to swim on a frequent basis. Obe and her daughter decided to experiment with different swim caps and nothing worked. It was through trial and error that led Obe to create something of her own.

Obe invented her swim caps, based on ancient Egyptian designs, to protect all hair types in the water. Now her entire family uses them. She also created the Black Swimming Association in partnership with Swim England after a recent report from Sport England revealed that 95% of black adults and 80% of black children living in the United Kingdom do not go swimming.

“After I created the design, I began sharing it with people. My aim was to encourage more people to go swimming, but we have also found many people use them in the shower, or to re-hydrate their hair,” she said. “The Nemes can be used by everyone, not just BAME [black, Asian and minority ethnic] people, to swim, steam, spa or shower, and protect color-treated hair in chlorine water so hair color lasts longer, and most especially, designed for Afro-Caribbean hair and hairstyles.’

The headscarves are currently available for pre-order and will go on sale this spring.

 

Source: Black Enterprise

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Meet 27 year old Lady Who Shares Her Story On Living With HIV

“If all people living with HIV disclosed their status publicly we would realize that they are truly happy and successful people.There is a beautiful life out there with this HIV.. Believe me when i say this coz i’m a testimony” said 26 years old Doreen Moraa Moracha. She was only 13 when she got to know that she was HIV positive.

“My parents knew about it when I was 8. But they informed me about my status when I was 13,” she opened up in an exclusive interview with TUKO.

“AM A BEAUTIFUL STORY” is her mantra.

How did she contract this deadly disease. She was born with the virus to an HIV discordant couple whereby she is the only child among her siblings to have been diagnosed of HIV. Due to the fear of stigma and rejection, she was asked to remain silent about her condition through her teenage years. A relative of hers once disinfected her utensils after Doreen used it.

However, she could not continue to do this. In 2015, Doreen decided to go public about her status, a move aimed at offering encouragement and for others living with HIV. She also wanted to use her story to raise awareness about the virus and to help the fight against the stigma HIV still has in her community. She got protest from her dad on this.

“I was doing my attachment at TSC and most of the times we would go out to learning institutions for outreaches and HIV testing and while at the field, that is when I learnt that there was need for more information about HIV out there. My boss then, also pushed me that I should come out and try make a change with my story,” she recalls.

She, however, disclosed that this was certainly not an easy process and that disclosure took a lot of courage. “I was afraid considering the stigma associated with HIV. The first time my story came out and NTV shared it on their Facebook page and my friends were commenting how they know me and all that, I got scared and deactivated my Facebook account temporarily,” she said.

Emboldened, Doreen has been unstoppable at this ever since. She has been able to share her story at  conferences, talk shows, and the very latest – the internet. Shee has turned to Facebook to share her 25-year journey with HIV. In a Facebook post, Doreen shared how she, and her mother traveled over 500km from Kenya to the remote village of Loliondo in Arusha, Tanzania to get a cure for the virus.

This village had shot to fame with the notion they have a herbal concoction purported to cure HIV/Aids, cancer, diabetes, epilepsy, asthma, hypertension and any other ailment. “I wanted to get well so bad that I convinced my mum that we head to Loliondo for a cup of the herbal medicine. She agreed, but I didn’t get better and this led me to defaulting from taking my ARVs for 2 years which most definitely affected my health,” she narrates. “The journey has not been easy but I finally accepted my status and i’m using my story to end stigma related to HIV and to encourage people infected that they shouldn’t let a small virus that cant talk to control their lives,” she contends.

Her posts have since been gaining so much traction, commending her for being bold enough to share her story. Despite her condition, her photos have still attracted potential suitors who would love to get into a relationship with her. “I use my social media mostly Facebook for advocacy and motivational purposes and yes, I do get men sliding into my inbox, some even promising to take Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) dr*gs as long as I agree to date them,” she recounts. Her greatest piece of advice to the young people is : abstinence or use protection.

 

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Google celebrates International Women’s Day with a new doodle

This Google doodle made for International Women’s day celebrates the achievements of various women all over the world.

By clicking the play button on the doodle, a multi-layered, a paler mandala animation video comes up created by two females: Julie Wilkinson and Joyanne Horscroft of Makerie Studio and animators Marion Willam and Daphne Abderhalden, according to a news release.

What exactly is International Women's Day?
International Women’s Day?

The mandala’s black-and-white inner layer depicts women around the world from the late 1800s to the 1930s. The middle layer reflects women from the 1950s to the 1980s, which Google describes as “a landmark era in the wake of pushes for gender equality and rapid changes to the status quo.”

The outer layer symbolizes women from the 1990s to the modern day, documenting what Google says are the results of progress made over more than 100 years of women’s rights movements.

“It pays tribute to breaking barriers from former cultural and gender roles, as women continue to question, reclaim and redefine ideas about the roles women take on in society,” Google says.

The doodle portrays women, from various such as educators and gymnasts to pilots and homemakers.

article video

“There was so much thought put into each of the 35 characters and how they were placed within the mandala,” said Abderhalden, who works at DRASTIK GmbH in Zurich, in a Q&A on Google’s site. “Starting from the center, it walks us through different time periods and depicts the issues women were facing in these times. Our biggest takeaway from the artwork is that we were reminded of how women fought and evolved through history so we can live the free life we live today.”

The heroines in STEM: 10 women in science you should know

The first International Women’s Day was celebrated by members of the women’s movement in Russia on March 8, 1913, to peacefully protest World War I.

International Women’s Day is given a theme every year by the United Nations — with this year been “I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights,” which focuses on equality and human rights for all women and girls.

Melinda Gates: The women who showed me the way forward

“Without these women, the world would look much different,” Abderhalden said.

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Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala Gets New South African Appointment

Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, who is an international development expert, had served two terms as finance minister of Nigeria (2003-2006, 2011-2015) under former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Jonathan respectively.

Former president Jonathan, in a post via his Facebook page, expressed delight in her new appointment.

He said, “I congratulate Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who served as the coordinating minister for the economy/finance minister in my cabinet, on her appointment as a member of South Africa’s Presidential Economic Advisory Council.”

“As a two-time minister in Nigeria, you left indelible marks as an astute manager of the nation’s economy and resources. I am delighted that you have continued to place your substantial wealth of experience as a development economist at the service of many nations and international organisations to aid global growth and progress.

“I have no doubt in my mind that you will excel in the new assignment,” Mr Jonathan said.

Congratulations to her!

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