“My responsibilities as a captain became more… A player would receive a call telling him he’d lost a brother or a relative or a dear one.”

After war broke out in Sudan, the football team Al Hilal Omdurman had to flee from Khartoum like many of those around them. They spent months looking for a new home, but eventually were welcomed to Mauritania where they have played competitively in the league there. They've now finished top of the league with two games to play.

In this final episode of Africa Daily, Alan Kasujja looks at how footballers and athletes have continued to compete at the highest levels – despite facing tragedy and loss.

GUESTS:

From next week, you can hear stories from Africa on the Focus on Africa Podcast.

Today, Africa Daily’s Mpho Lakaje sits down with Johannesburg mother Mankepe Matsoakeletse.

12 year old Mary has spent most of her life in an Internally Displaced People’s camp in north-east Nigeria.

Anyone who has spent time in hospital will know just how vital nurses are. They’re often the people we have the most contact with as they look after our comfort as well as our medical care.

CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains references to violence against children, which some listeners may find distressing.

Three young girls - Ingrid Maasdorp, Rosvind Fabian and Beyoncé Kharuxas - were found dead in the Namibian town of Okahandja within weeks of each other.

Their deaths, though separate, shared chilling similarities and sparked a wave of grief, protests and urgent calls for justice.

What do these tragedies reveal about gender-based violence in Namibia? How are families and communities confronting their grief and demanding change?

BBC Africa Daily’s Alan Kasujja spoke to grieving grandmother Dollie Maasdorp, Windhoek-based journalist Frauke Jensen and former teacher and activist Jané Lowesi, who helped lead one of the first protests.

It’s more than six years since Joseph Kabila stepped down as President of the Democratic Republic of Congo…handing over power to Felix Tshisekedi.

This week the first group of Afrikaners arrived in the United States, as part of President Donald Trump’s initiative to resettle them in his country.

“Even the patients, their relatives had to carry them on make-shift stretchers trying to escape. We had 38 cholera patients and they all fled. Which means they spread the disease in other areas, and some of them might have died in the bush.”

The number of African countries now allowing Elon Musk’s company Starlink to provide internet services has been growing rapidly - six have granted permission in 2025 alone. And there are reports that Uganda might be next.

“90% of Somali people don’t know the value of art. That is the problem.”

Maslah Abdi Dahir has been threatened by the Islamist insurgent group Al Shabaab who believe portraiture is ‘haram’ or forbidden under Islam. Other Somalis have told him art is a waste of time with so many people out of work.

But the Prime Minister spotted and praised his work and he has 250K followers on TikTok.

So what drives the 28 year old founder of Mogadishu’s art centre and school?

For today’s Africa Daily, Peter Musembi speaks with Maslah Abdi Dahir – and one of his students Anisa Abdulahi Farah.

Produced by Mohamed Gabobe in Mogadishu.