An overcomer of the massacre that cleared Rwanda more than two decades back is impacting the world forever as the nation’s first female neurosurgeon

Claire Karekezi longed for turning into a specialist in the midst of a youth scarred by massacre. Toward the beginning of July, the 35-year-old will return home as the solitary female neurosurgeon in Rwanda.

As a kid experiencing childhood in Rwanda amid the 1980s and ’90s, Claire Karekezi longed for turning into a specialist. In any case, what she calls her “directing star” has taken her a long ways past that underlying objective to join the positions of what is maybe prescription’s most requesting claim to fame.

Claire Karekezi was brought up in Rwanda. She finished her therapeutic school and qualified as a Medical Doctor (MD) from the University of Rwanda (UR) in March, 2009.

Claire’s LinkedIn Profile:

“My story with Neurosurgery starts In June, 2007 while on my 5th year of Medical training; I had the opportunity to be in an exchange program through the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) and the chance to be in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Linkoping Teaching Hospital (Sweden) under Professor Jan Hillman, Professor of Neurosurgery, Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery; who became a crucial element in my career becoming my very first Mentor. This was a huge inspiration to Neurosurgery as for the first time I had seen and touched the “Human Brain”.

Later in February 2009, I was selected for the very competitive “Elective program” at Oxford University/John Radcliffe Hospital (Neurosurgery Department), and spent 6 weeks observing Dr Cadoux-Houdson. It was then clear in my head: I knew I wanted to become a Neurosurgeon!! Where? How? I had no idea!!! That time Rwanda barely had 1 Neurosurgeon/11M and no local training program in Neurosurgery!”

Despite almost insurmountable difficulties for such practice and training in my Country and the rest of Africa, I did not give up. April 2011, I was finally admitted for a full five-year residency program at Mohamed V University/Rabat WFNS Reference center for the training of African Neurosurgeons thanks to Pr. El Khamlichi A and his team. I graduated as a Neurosurgeon in may 2016.

I, from July 2017 joined my clinical fellowship in NeuroOncology and Skull Base Surgery at Toronto Western Hospital/UHN/UofT for a year and have had an incredible opportunity to be with the Giants in Neurosurgery.
I wish to contribute to the Neuro-Oncology Practice in Rwanda and SSA. I will be becoming the first Female Neurosurgeon in my country and hope to be an inspiration to young female wishing to become Neurosurgeons.

Claire has spent the last year at Toronto Western Hospital, honing her skills in neuro-oncology and skull base surgery, specializing in the removal of brain tumours.

Providing that service to brain cancer patients in a country with only one hospital-based MRI and few CT scanners will be a daunting task, but it’s one Karekezi is determined to overcome, just as she has all the challenges and sacrifices needed to fulfil her childhood dream.

Source: Women Africa

An Italian woman who took her pizza-sized turtle out for a walk has been fined 400 euros (₦169,838.82) by the Roman police for breaking strict coronavirus confinement rules.

Italians need a justifiable reason to be out on the street in the middle of a pandemic that has officially claimed more than 20,000 lives in the Mediterranean country since February according to AFP.

Taking your dog out for a walk is viewed as a good enough reason to leave your home. But it seems taking your turtle out for one is not.

The Roman police said,

The 60-year-old woman was caught outside her home without a justifiable reason” and fined. The woman was walking with a turtle.

Roman police spokesman Nunzio Carbone said that the woman was fined 400 euros because it was “not a justifiable excuse”.

Italian authorities reported issuing a record 16,545 fines on Easter Monday, a national holiday in the largely Catholic country.

Another 13,756 fines were issued on Sunday.

Italians have been joking on social media about renting out their dogs to anyone who was going stir crazy and needed a good excuse to go out.

The spokesperson said the turtle was “as big as a pizza” but not wearing a leash.

The death rate due to coronavirus has been very high in Italy. However, the US has overtaken Italy with the highest coronavirus deaths.

Source: Guardian

About half the world’s women can make their own decisions on sexual consent and health care, according to the United Nations. It cautions that such limited rights stand in the way of gender equality.

According to a study by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) that found women’s rights declining in some countries, one in four women were not free to say no to sex, and a higher proportion were unable to make their own decisions about health care.

“Women’s ability to make decisions on reproductive health, contraceptive use and sexual relations is pivotal to gender equality and universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights,” the UNFPA said in the report.

The UNFPA looked at women’s access to health care and whether they could make their own decisions on contraception and say no to sex but just 55% of women were able to say yes to all three questions, according to survey data collected from 57 countries.

“If she can make those decisions in all three areas, that woman is seen as empowered,” Emilie Filmer-Wilson, UNFPA human rights adviser told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The research found that for one in 10 countries, women must be married to get maternity health care, and more than 25% of countries have age restrictions for access to contraception and require married women to get their husband’s consent for an abortion.

Filmer-Wilson said that factors affecting women’s abilities to make their own decision included their education levels, the age they married and the views of their husbands. “For the general public, I think it’s a wake-up call,” she said. “We’ve got more work to do in terms of women’s empowerment.”

The research also found that three-quarters of the countries it studied had laws in place to guarantee women’s rights, but those laws may exist in countries with cultural or religious customs and practices that restricted their rights.

Source: Face to Face  Africa 

Danielle and Miah Pasha are a mother-daughter duo who are taking the cosmetic world by storm with their new company, The Beat House Cosmetics. Teasing customers with their highly sought-after Knockout Pallet in 2019, the pair are now preparing to launch their website officially this spring and the excitement is everywhere.

Danielle (known by friends and loved ones as “Pasha”), who is the architect behind the line stated, “I am so blown away by all of the positive feedback I have received from everyone, it’s so surreal.” This is understandable when you figure that Mrs. Pasha has been in Afghanistan for the last 3 years while developing this line. “I remember facetiming my daughter, giving her instructions and task to help me out with the business in my absence and now we are partners!”

Yes, you heard that right, partners! Danielle recruited the most beautiful person she knew to team up with for this makeup line, her 13-year old daughter who has set the internet a blaze as the face and acting CEO of the company.

“Most teenagers are irritated by their parents and wouldn’t dare want to work with them, (I’m still irritated at times lol) but I remember missing my mom and not knowing when I would see her again, so I enjoy every second we get to spend together. Besides, I loooooove make up,” says Miah.

Source: Black News