IMPORTANT MUSEUMS TO VISIT IN AFRICA

4 important African museums every culture enthusiast should visit in their lifetime

Echoes from times past lay immortalised in various locations across the continent including the following museums.

Ouidah Museum of History (Flickr)

Museums are an essential part of our civilisation as they house materials and artifacts from time past.

Africa is a continent with very rich cultural heritage and history, ranging from the flourish of the various empires across various times to the colonial era.

Echoes from these times lay immortalised in various locations across the continent including the following museums.

Here are 6 important African museums every culture enthusiast should visit in their lifetime.

Apartheid Museum (South African Hotels)

1. Apartheid Museum: The Apartheid movement stands as one of the darkest periods in South Africa, and indeed, the continent. Located in Johannesburg, the museum is dedicated to illustrating apartheid and the 20th century history of South Africa, one of the most significant times in Africa's long history.

2. Benin City National Museum: The Benin empire in Nigeria was one of the most oldest and most developed civilisations in Nigeria, and West Africa. As such, the museum has a significant number of artifacts related to the Benin Empire such as terracotta, bronze figures and cast iron pieces.

3. Egyptian Museum: Undoubtedly the most advanced civilisation in Africa, ancient Egypt has played a significant role in modern history and culture. The museum is home to no fewer than 120,000 antiquities.

4. Ouidah Museum of History, Benin Republic: This museum was last year nominated for the prestigious Leading Culture Destinations 2015 awards, in the Best Emerging Culture Destination of the Year, Africa category. The museum displays artifacts on the history of Dahomey Kingdom, Voodoo religion and slave trade amongst others.

http://pulse.ng/arts_culture/culture-guide-4-important-african-museums-every-culture-enthusiast-should-visit-in-their-lifetime-id4923049.html

#FocusAfrica

FIVE FACTS OF AFRICA'S PROGRESS

Much of the news from Africa is about civil war and suffering. Yet for the most part, life on the continent of 1.1 billion is getting better

George Osodi—Getty ImagesA cyclist stops to make a mobile phone call on a newly surfaced boulevard at the Eko Atlantic City site, developed by Eko Atlantic, near Victoria Island in Lagos, Nigeria on Feb. 12, 2016.

It was just a couple of years ago that “Africa Rising” was a hot story, as a continent best known for tragedy gained attention for rapid economic growth and real hope. The slowdown of the global economy and slumping commodity prices have dampened that enthusiasm a bit, but there are still positive longer-term trends across Africa that deserve attention. These five stats tell some of those stories.

1. Promising Demographics

As I've detailed before, demographics are destiny. That may well prove good news for Africa, which will account for more than half the world’s population growth by 2050. By 2100, the continent’s population will have quadrupled relative to today. At a time when much of the developed world’s workforce will be shrinking, Africa’s will be expanding.

And Africa needs this population boom—for every 100 Africans of working age today, there are 80 children/elderly that depend on them for support. This figure, known as the “dependency ratio”, is high; the global average for 100 workers is 53.9 dependents. If birthrates continue to fall, Africa should reach a more sustainable level of 100:60 workers-to-dependents by 2055. Of course, if the Arab Spring taught us anything, it’s that having a bulging youth population without creating decent jobs is a formula for real trouble.

(United Nations, The Washington Post, The World Bank)

2. Growing Middle Class

Fortunately, Africa is making progress on the economic front. Africa’s urbanization rate is already at 37 percent, comparable to China’s and larger than India’s. It’s expected to be the fastest urbanizing region from 2020 to 2050. Over the last decade, real income per person jumped 30 percent after shrinking 10 percent in the preceding 20 years. Extreme poverty remains a problem though: Of the regions where data is available, sub-Saharan Africa has the highest proportion of people living in abject poverty at 35.2 percent, but that figure stood at 42.6 percent just three years ago. Today, one third of the continent is considered middle class according to the Africa Development Bank, spending between $4 and $20 a day. By 2060, more than a billion Africans are expected to join them.

(United Nations, The Economist, The World Bank, Quartz)

3. Financial Inclusion

But earning more money isn’t enough. Access to credit remains low in sub-Saharan Africa, where just a third of the adult population has a bank account. Here, the rise of mobile banking offers a lot of promise. In 2011, just 42 percent of Kenyans had access to bank accounts, but by 2014, 85 percent were using mobile money transfers. Some $23 billion was transferred via mobile over the course of the year, equal to 42 percent of the country’s GDP. And it’s not just a payment tool. New innovations including Kenya’s M-Shwari—a collaboration between the Commercial Bank of Africa and mobile network Safaricom that enables Kenyans to quickly open mobile money accounts complete with interest and deposit insurance—offer loans to budding entrepreneurs and the ability to save safely. In Cote d’Ivoire, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe, more people have mobile money accounts than bank accounts. Just as geography and lack of funding for infrastructure led many African countries to skip landlines and go straight to mobile phones, technology has also enabled Africans to leapfrog decades of financial development in just a few years.

(Quartz, BuzzFeed)

4. Strengthening Civil Society

Technology has also made its mark on Africa’s politics. Just 9 percent of people across the continent currently use social media, but this small minority has made good use of it. Look to Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. 2011’s #OccupyNigeria strike demonstrated how effectively social media could capture social discontent and channel it into real action. 2015’s #BringBackOurGirls campaign went viral and brought Nigerian security issues to the global forefront. But social media’s greatest contribution to African political life is in ensuring that democracy functions as advertised.

Historically, African elections have been “stolen” according to the old principle that it’s not who votes that counts but who counts the votes. As results from Nigeria’s 2015 election began trickling in, volunteers at polling precincts tweeted unofficial vote counts under the #NigeriaDecides handle, helping ensure transparency throughout the vote-tabulation process. The result? Power was transferred peacefully to Muhammadu Buhari, the first opposition candidate to win a free and fair presidential election in Nigeria. That may be why Yoweri Museveni, Uganda’s recently re-elected strongman, shut down WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook on polling day. There’s a reason he’s been in power for 30 years. Transparency in that country will take a little longer.

(CNN, BBC)

5. Fewer Civil Wars

Maybe the best development in Africa though is the falling number of civil wars and violent coups. Since the cold war ended, the number of armed conflicts on the continent has fallen from more than 30 to about a dozen today. Organized violence still plagues the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Somalia and South Sudan, but the risk that war will metastasize to neighboring countries is not what it was.

Other forms of violence remain a problem. In 2014, 11,934 Africans were killed in terrorist attacks, a 250 percent increase from the previous year. Nigeria’s Boko Haram (aligned with ISIS) and Somalia’s al-Shabab (affiliated with Al Qaeda) have been particularly brutal. But managing the threat from Islamic militants gives African governments more in common with Europe and the United States, increasing opportunities for mutually profitable cooperation. That’s progress.

http://time.com/4246821/these-5-facts-explain-the-good-news-about-africa/

African wars, African woes

African wars, African woes

•The AU should step up its profile to save a broken continent

Africa is usually defined by pervasive property. But it can be defined just as validly by violent upheavals and civil wars that claim tens of thousands of lives, disrupt the livelihoods of millions and make national development, difficult even in more quiescent conditions, almost impossible.

In part, this is the unwholesome legacy of colonialism. Entire communities were partitioned for the administrative convenience of the colonial powers, without their consent and without regard to the history and culture of the people.

Rather than repair the damage, the post-colonial period consecrated it. At its inauguration in 1963,the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) made “non-interference” by member-States in the “internal affairs” of other member-States a cardinal principle. For all practical purposes, non-interference translated into indifference. And although the OAU Charter contained an elaborate mechanism for conflict resolution, it pertained only to conflict between or among states.

The African Union sought to correct this defect by instituting the African Peer Review Mechanism, designed to encourage conformity in regard to political, economic and corporate governance, values, codes and standards among member–States. But it has remained largely ineffectual.

At a special summit of the Committee of Heads of State and Government two weeks ago, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Kenya’s president and chair of the African Union Peer Review Forum, Uhuru Kenyatta, spoke of the challenges that have undermined the “vitality, visibility” and success of the APRM, among them waning enthusiasm and commitment, dwindling financial capacity, and what he diplomatically called the “slowdown” in operations.

Unless and until these challenges are addressed, the APRM could not be expected to fulfill its mandate, Kenyatta said.

At the 26th Summit of the AU which followed the APR Forum’s meeting, President Muhammadu Buhari and President Idriss Deby, of Chad, the AU’s new chair, spoke in the same vein.

“Everything that we are doing now will be in vain and without purpose if we allow Africa to go through these perpetual crises,” Deby said, citing specifically the upheavals in South Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Burundi, and the Lake Chad region.

He could have added Uganda, Eritrea, Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Niger, Mali, Nigeria, Congo DR, and Zimbabwe.

“Through diplomacy or by force,” Deby continued, “we must put an end to these tragedies of our time. We cannot make progress and talk of development if part of our body is sick. We should be the main actors in the search for solution to Africa’s crises.

Burundi, convulsed by murder and mayhem, evoking frightful memories of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, presented the AU with a test case of this new resolve. In April 2015, mass protests against President Pierre Nkurunziza’s design to hang on to power beyond the two terms stipulated by the country’s Constitution, and a failed coup attempt to stop him, drew savage reprisals that moved the AU to resolve to dispatch a contingent of 5,000 peacekeepers under an African Prevention and Protection Mission.

Nkurunziza would hear none of it. He warned severely that his forces and Burundians in general would attack the peacekeepers if they ever set foot on Burundian soil. In the face of this bellicose response the AU has had to drop the plan.

But the AU cannot give up its efforts to end the conflicts that blight the lives and hopes of millions of Africans and call into question its reason for being. It should explore diplomatic options to the fullest. But when such efforts fail, the AU should consider military intervention, to protect the civil populace.

The wholesale slaughter of innocents cannot be the” internal affairs” of any country.

http://thenationonlineng.net/african-wars-african-woes/

ADOPTION OF WESTERN CULTURE BY AFRICANS

ADOPTION OF WESTERN CULTURE BY AFRICANS

By John Pam

It has become evident of recent that Africans have this mentality that we must emulate the culture of the Americans and Europeans even to the extent of absurdity. I think an example or two in even our daily endeavors’ will make things plain.

As is said in Europe, ladies first, so I guess I will start with them. Nigerian women have adopted the beautifying of the facial features to the point where a black woman now thinks its faux pas to not apply the complete ensemble including as they call it blush. For those whom are ignorant of what blush is, it is a sort of reddish brown powder which females apply to their cheeks in Europe to help offset a pale or sickly color so as to look healthy or even simulate the physical phenomenon which occurs when a white female is feeling euphoria at being complimented which produces a reddening of the cheeks and hence the physical manifestation was called blushing and hence the name of the cosmetic. I doubt I need to go any further to prove that a black woman applying such to her cheeks does herself no favors but to show her ignorance of the true purpose of such a cosmetic. However, you would probably receive hatred from her, if you were to tell her she ought to not apply such merely for fashion but for the purpose which it would serve. Which I have heard is now been done to even the tone and is commendable.

Next I suppose come our men who have appropriated some of the most unappealing part of western culture as their new identity. Football hooliganism is frowned upon even in the countries where the fans have a valid reason to support a club due to geographical proximity. However, you will see Nigerian men getting into violent confrontations over an identity that is not theirs, merely borrowed.

Now, far be it from me to castigate any man who enjoys a good game of football or the lady who goes out of her way to try to look her best, what I have a grouse against is those who imitate western culture merely for the sake of it being western culture hence they reject their culture and adopt that which does not serve the ends they desire.

Now that I have laid a foundation I suppose on the resentment of those who would assume I am merely being critical for no reason, I best proceed with the core issue which spurred me to write this article.

First , I think I must make it clear I am trying to show that if even on a basic level we cannot truly translate foreign cultures to their best purpose what makes us assume that adopting all their values will solve our problems. I hear people complain all the time that if only Nigeria would adopt the culture of America (Europe , Saudi or place your favorite country that describes utopia to you ) we would leap forward at an unprecedented pace . What I think most people seem to forget is that to begin with these countries have their own peculiar problems that emanate from their particular form of government but as they say the grass is always greener on the other side, and consequently although we see there are lots of positive aspects to their culture we should not attempt to transplant what they have without reflection.

Anyone who has kept abreast of foreign news must have heard of the recent spike in violent crime in the united states ranging from white nationalists, police violence and other unpleasant occurrences that this media might be inadequate for me to exhaust. If we look to Europe we see disillusioned British citizens fleeing their countries to participate in war in the middle east despite the social amenities their country provides on a basic level not being available and if we look to the middle east we see social unrest. Now considering that these nations practice what we see as ideals based on our individual motivations, isn’t it evident that the problems that confront most governments is not a social or political one but a human problem. Let me explain lest the ambiguity create more confusion, I think to a large extent the core issues that face these countries do not stem from the intentions of the system of social and political governance but from the reality that a single system cannot attend to the multiplicity of human situations no matter how well-intentioned. So hence it’s not a failing of these systems but the systems are run in such a way that there is inevitably bound to be a schism. People tend to assume that the government is there to make life better for all but that is completely unrealistic. I think personally a government is merely there to ensure social cohesion and prevent breakdown of the core ideals that drive the aspirations of a nation. Hence, it’s not the government’s responsibility to build that social cohesion but it’s on us as individuals to engage in our society at the minutest level and hence produce a bond that goes beyond mere sharing of geographical space.

The African social mentality is something I find to be priceless towards this end where in Nigeria being your neighbors’ keeper is not seen as a moral imperative but as an obligation. I know it can be irritating to have to always help the needy but think of what it means in a world where people are drifting further away from each other due to affiliations with ideals which though noble can only be lived and not imagined. So in conclusion I suppose what I mean to emphasize is that in our haste to adopt other cultures let’s not forget our own culture which has so much to offer and has created the template for the best society, for the government is not meant to force you to love your neighbor for only you can do that by your daily actions.

things you probably don’t know about Africa

things you probably don’t know about Africa

Africa is a huge continent made up of 54 countries and over a billion people. But did you know that in Ethiopia, clocks are upside down with our 6:00 at their 12:00? This, and the 12 other incredible facts we’re about to impart are sure to turn you into the captain at your next trivia tournament…

1. Africa and Europe are separated by less than 9 miles at the Strait of Gibraltar, which separates Spain from Morocco.

The view of Morocco from Spain across the Strait of Gibraltar.

The two countries are discussing constructing an undersea rail tunnel to connect the rail systems on the two continents.

2. In South Africa you are legally allowed to attach flamethrowers to your car in order to deter car jacking.

Seriously. Can we just say, we’ve got no stats on the success rate of this technique and *definitely* wouldn’t recommend trying it!

3. Timbuktu, Mali is home of one of the oldest universities in the world, established in 982 CE.

Sankore Mosque, part of the University of Timbuktu in Mali.

By the 12th century, the city was such an intellectual hub that National Geographic has referred to it as the Paris of the medieval world.

4. The world’s biggest frog is found in Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon.

African Goliath Frog

Named the Goliath frog, it can grow up to be a foot long and weigh up to 8 lb.

5. The word “Crossword” in Kiswahili, a language spoken mainly by people in eastern and central Africa is “chemshebongo” which, when translated, means “boil brains”.

I suppose after trying to do the Sunday New York Times puzzle your head might feel like exploding!

6. The official title of Idi Amin, the Ugandan dictator, was “His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular”.

7. People living in what is currently Swaziland were the world’s first miners.

Ngwenya mountains – site of the world’s oldest mine.

In the late 1960s a hematite mine was found in the Ngwenya mountain range along with 300,000 artifacts and stone-made mining tools that were later dated to be 43,000 years old!

8. Mozambique native, Graca Machel, is the only women to have ever been first lady of two different countries (Mozambique and South Africa).

9. Sudan has more than 200 pyramids, double the number found in Egypt.

The Meroe pyramids in Sudan.

 The Meroe pyramids were part of the Nubian Kingdom of Kush and are up to 4,600 years old.

10. Almost half of the gold ever mined on Earth has come from a single place – Witwatersrand, South Africa.

11. AND, that without the discovery of gold here, a little place called Johannesburg would probably never have been established.

Aerial view of Johannesburg

12. From 1977 to 2011, Libya was the only country in the world with only one colour for its flag, with no insignias, design or other details.

The Kingdom of Libya’s flag.

Libya’s current flag, introduced in 2011 after the overthrow of Gaddafi’s government, is a red-black-green triband featuring a white star and crescent. However, before then the Green design was chosen by Gaddafi since it symbolized both Islam and his political philosophy (after his Green Book

http://www.one.org/international/blog/12-things-you-probably-dont-know-about-africa/

Child marriage has been outlawed in Zimbabwe!

This is indeed a first step in the right direction for Africa on child marriage...especially in Africa!

 

AMAZING: Child marriage has been outlawed by Zimbabwe’s top court

On Wednesday, Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court made the commendable decision to outlaw child marriage. This is a good first step in the right direction when it comes to achieving gender equality and eradicating sexist laws, which can severely limit a woman’s progress by taking away their ability to make their own life choices.

  

The case was bought after two former child brides, Loveness Mudzuru and Ruvimbo Tsopodzi, took the government to court in an attempt to challenge the discriminatory nature of Zimbabwe’s Marriage Act, because it set the minimum age at 16 for girls and 18 for boys.

In Zimbabwe, nearly a third of girls marry before they are 18, with 4 percent marrying before they’re 15. Throughout the developing world, child marriage often exposes girls to domestic violence, cuts short their education, increases their risk of contracting HIV, and traps them in a cycle of poverty. Despite all of that, it is still seen as a culturally acceptable practice in too many places. 

Fifteen-year-old Mantegbosh (far left) is now in school in Ethiopia and unmarried thanks to DFID support. (Photo credit: Sheena Ariyapala/Department for International Development)

This decision to outlaw marriage to anyone under the age of 18 is especially relevant in the wake of the UNICEF report at the end of 2015 that predicted child marriages in the continent of Africa could double unless changes to laws are made.

Speaking to Thomson Reuters Foundation about the ruling, Mudzuru, who was married at 16 and had two children before she was 18, said, “I really am happy that we have played an instrumental part in making Zimbabwe a safe place for girls.”

The court ordered that “No person, male or female, in Zimbabwe may enter into any marriage, including an unregistered customary law union or any other union, including one arising out of religion or a religious rite, before attaining the age of eighteen (18).” Creating a standard legal age of marriage between men and women is a positive step in the right direction. The Zimbabwean government must now work with local communities to enforce this law and work towards changing societal norms that approve of child marriage to ensure that girls in Zimbabwe have the same opportunities as boys.

“This is a great day for gender equality, women’s rights and children’s rights and the fight against poverty,” commented Veritas, a local NGO which sponsored the application.

We know that Poverty is Sexist—raise your voice and help us tell world leaders to make more changes like this one.

Written with information sourced from Reuters.

http://www.one.org/international/blog/amazing-child-marriage-has-been-outlawed-by-zimbabwes-top-court/

Nigeria needs moral leaders to kill corruption —Buhari

Nigeria needs moral leaders to kill corruption —Buhari

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo (left), receiving an award as Grand Patron of Save Democracy Group Africa, on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari, from former Deputy Senate President/National Council Chairman, Save Democracy Group Africa, Senator Ibrahim Mantu, at the summit of the group, in Abuja, on Monday. With them is the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki. PHOTO: NAN

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday, said Nigeria can only tackle corruption successfully if it gets moral leaders who will not steal the commonwealth.

The president, who made the submission in a speech presented on his behalf by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, at the opening ceremony of the National Political Summit in Abuja, said for the country to sustain its democracy and gain respect across Africa, it must evolve moral leaders.

The summit, organised by the Save Democracy Africa, headed by the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Ghali Umar Na’Abba, had as its theme: 2015 General Election: The Gains and Building Positive Political Culture for Sustainable Democracy in Nigeria.”

According to the president, “every step to the balance of a stable democracy is worth it. My support for sustained dialogue amongst political stakeholders and key actors in our country will help in speeding up the political evolution of our country, grow our politics, building understanding and definitely help our people.

“For the Save Democracy Group Africa, as the name implies, has one objective of positively impacting the different culture in Africa, politics at the end must serve the people, the task of nation building primarily rest on the political elite, the strength of democratic institutions also rely on the commitment of that same elite to the success of these institutions.

“I say selflessness and self respect because it requires a deep understanding of one’s role in the destiny of one’s people and those yet unborn to hold political power and yet allow one’s self to be subject to the rule of law and other restraining rules and conventions.”

Also peaking at the summit, Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, said Nigerians were no longer attuned to excuses from public office holders, adding that the countrymen would vote out any leader who fails to perform.

Saraki said the Eighth Senate, under his leadership, would ensure that there was no longer room for diversion of public funds.

According to him, the National Assembly would work with the executive to fight corruption in all sectors, adding that discretionary spending of government resources, unbudgeted expenditures, procurement abuses and diversion of public monies must stop.

“The 2015 general election has changed Nigeria for good. Its implications will continue to redefine the Nigerian political space for sometime to come. For the first time, the voice of the Nigerian people was definitive and unmistakable. They wanted change.

“For those of us who, by this election, have been entrusted with shaping the destination we travel from now, there is a clear and distinct warning, the change demanded by Nigerians from the 2015 election are not without consequences. The victory was won out of turmoil and strife. It was an election won on the belief that Nigeria, together, is our best chance of becoming the greatest of all black nations,” he said.

Saraki added that Nigerians had called on their leaders to stamp out corruption, improve governance, accountability, transparency, service delivery and human right protection, adding that the National Assembly was ready to roll out an array of reforms to ensure accountability.

In his presentation at the summit, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Yakubu Dogara, said the decision of the legislature to stop the third term bid of former President Olusegun Obasanjo was the greatest achievements of the Nigerian legislature.

He said the decision by the lawmakers helped to save Nigeria’s democracy from going the way of some emerging democracies in Africa, adding that the legislature had contributed immensely to the stability of Nigeria’s democracy.

He said the 2015 general election was a success as technology impacted greatly on the exercise, adding, however, that there was the need to amend the Electoral Act to accommodate electronic voting.

“Perhaps, the greatest achievement of the legislature in Nigeria was the unanimous rejection of the third term bid of former President Obasanjo,” he said, adding that the National Assembly was vehement in its rejection of a proposal to elongate the tenure of the president to 12 years.

Meanwhile, a former interim leader of the Government of Liberia, Professor Amos Sawyer, has said Nigeria needed to build on the outcome of the 2015 elections.

Speaking on the topic: “Building positive Political Culture for Sustainable Democracy in Africa,” Sawyer, at the summit on Monday, said the 2015 presidential election in Nigeria was historic, adding that its success averted breakdown of law and order in spite of tension prior to the poll.

Elder statesman, Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule, who also spoke at the event, said if Nigeria as a country must get it right, it must revisit and revive the past and produce leaders that would not steal.

In his opening remarks, the Director- General, Save Democracy Group Africa, Dr Ifedi Okwenna, had stated that the summit would be an annual event, adding that the concept was put together in the absence of credible platform for continuous dialogue in Africa.

http://www.tribuneonlineng.com/nigeria-needs-moral-leaders-to-kill-corruption-—buhari

Meet Rasheeda Yehuza: Africa’s tech ‘It Girl’

Rasheeda Yehuza: Africa’s tech ‘It Girl’

Rasheeda Yehuza is a Ghanaian software engineer and social entrepreneur. She is the founder of Nasara Tech and co-founder of Tech Needs Girls Ghana.

Rasheeda Yehuza is having quite a time as one of the most recognisable names in Africa’s technology scene. In December 2015, she received the Future Awards Africa prize in technology for her work with Tech Needs Girls Ghana, a science mentoring scheme for girls, and for her work with Nasara Tech, a company she founded in 2013 to create tech-based solutions for problems in local communities.

True to its mission, Nasara Tech is behind the Nasara Voting System, a cloud-based innovation that electronically simulates the manual voting process, with the aim of improving how elections are conducted in Africa, from voter registration to balloting and collation of results. It is also the parent company of Nasara Mobile, a platform that provides bulk SMS services for individuals and organisations.

With her inventions, Yehuza told Women In Computer Science (WICS), she wants to project her country, Ghana, and by extension, Africa, onto the tech map and dispel negative stereotypes about the continent.

“I have a burning desire to improve systems in Ghana through technology as well as an entrepreneurship spirit to be a leading force in technology in the country and Africa as a whole,” she added.

Yehuza, 2nd from left, with friends on the Mandela Washington Fellowship. Photo: Yehuza/Facebook

Rasheeda Yehuza is from Yendi, in the northern region of Ghana. She graduated from the St. Mary’s Senior High School, Accra, and went on to study Computer Science at Kwame Nkrumah’ University of Science and Technology, Kumasi. She is currently running the Master of Philosophy, Computer Science program at the same institution.
About her venture into technology, Yehuza said that when she was introduced to computer at the age of eight, she knew immediately that she would want a career in the field – not medicine as her parents wished for her.
Her story: “I knew I didn’t want to be in the health sciences even though it’s super cool and all. I was at a crossroad and my friends encouraged me to choose Computer Science. I secretly chose to pursue it and was offered admission at KNUST. I was also offered admission to study Nursing at a different university. I was pressurized to study Nursing (in fact it wasn’t even a choice). But when I received money to pay my fees, I paid for Computer Science at KNUST. I finally informed my family about my decision, and surprisingly, they were cool and told me to do what I wanted to do even though they clearly thought I made the wrong decision.”
She definitely made the right decision for herself, considering the number of projects she has launched and the accolades she has received.Rasheeda Yehuza. Photo: Yehuza/Facebook

2015 was a particularly good year for her. Besides winning The Future Awards, she received an Engineers Without Borders, Canada, Kumvana Program fellowship, which saw her touring technology company and innovation labs in Canada, with the objective of experiencing, learning and, hopefully, adapting some of the methods to her country. In the same year, she was awarded a Mandela Washington Fellowship, which gives young people from Sub-Saharan Africa a chance to study for six weeks at a university in the United States.
It was for her leadership roles and commitment to public service on such projects as the Tech Needs Girls Ghana, which she co-founded with her friend, Regina Agyare, and The Hour of Code, which saw her mentor 70 schoolgirls in web programming and game development, that she won the Mandela Washington Fellowship.
For the fellowship, Yehuza studied a customised course in business and entrepreneurship at the University of Nevada, Reno.
“Aside from software engineering, I have a strong interest in business and social entrepreneurship,” she said on her website.
Yehuza has described herself on a different platform as “a driven technology enthusiast, software engineer, product and project implementer, problem solver, social entrepreneur” who has ventured into entrepreneurial work, leading and managing teams and products.
Her pastime is reading ‘random articles’ online, and she has admitted to a fascination with space, aliens, history, medieval inventions and human evolution.

http://www.risingafrica.org/success-stories/science_technology/rasheeda-yehuza-africas-tech-it-girl/