Africa Daily

"The majority of the men who come into my life feel they want to be my saviours... they can say: 'I'm dating a blind girl. Guess what guys, I'm taking one for the team'."

Imagine losing your sight after 31 years of clear vision. The simple tasks like attaching a file to an email, entering an office building or going for a walk unassisted now become so difficult. And what about things like dating and socialising?

According to the WHO, about 2.2 billion people have a near or distance vision impairment.

And even though sudden blindness cases are rare - conditions like glaucoma, where there’s increased pressure within the eyeball causing gradual loss of sight, affects over 80 million people.

BBC Africa Daily’s Alan Kasujja speaks to Evelyn who - as a filmmaker – relied on her sight for work – but who lost her sight completely in 2020.

She now aims to educate, inspire and 'share her daily nonsense' with people via Youtube and her social media platforms.

Producers: Gbenga Ogundare, Tabitha Mwai and Muthoni Muchiri.

"Every one of us has his or her personal mountain to climb. It might not be Everest or it might not be a physical mountain. Yours might be in the boardroom, on a bicycle, in your family, at school... There's always something we need to achieve. Something big, something difficult and something meaningful... And when you get there, remember to be thankful and reach down and pull someone else up with you."

Africa has its fair share of mountains ranges – the Rwenzoris, the Drakensburgs, The Atlas mountains, the Nuba, Mt Kenya, and of course Mt. Kilimanjaro.

They all form a nice backdrop, but very few look at them and say: “I’m going to go and climb that mountain!” Those who do lace up their hiking boots and set out to conquer those mountains are a special group – the mountaineer extra-ordinaries.

But one woman is in a league of her own. Saray Khumalo has done all there’s to do with African mountains and once that was done and dusted, she turned her gaze to Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain on earth at 8,849m.

But that wasn’t enough. She recently travelled to the South Pole, and she’s now planning her trip in the opposite direction – the North Pole.

Presenter: Victoria Uwonkunda

On Monday, Egypt’s incumbent president Abdul Fattah al-Sisi won a third term in office with just under 90 % of the vote.

This is despite ongoing economic turmoil in the country, caused by high inflation.

A former army chief, Mr Sisi has ruled Egypt since overthrowing the democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, a decade ago. He will now be in power until 2029.

In this episode of Africa Daily, Alan Kasujja talks to BBC Arabic’s Mohamed Taha to find out why Sisi is so dominant and if he is likely to leave power after the next six years.

And he discusses the impact of the country’s economic crisis on ordinary Egyptians with economic journalist Doaa Abdelmoneim

The Ubo-aka is one of Africa’s oldest musical instrument and keeping the sound of this ancient instrument alive has been challenging.

Musician Gerald Eze says the number of young people playing this instrument has declined and that he wants to make sure this Igbo tradition survives by performing with the Ubo-aka and teaching people how to play it.

Africa Daily’s Alan Kasujja met Gerald when he was in Lagos a few months ago and learned more about why this instrument and sound are important to Igbo culture.

Producers: Chukwumerije Obiejesi, Chigozie Ohaka, Richard Moran and Sharon Hemans.

This episode discusses difficult issues including sexual violence and suicide.

“You have thousands of cases and you have one judge. So every day you go to the court, they say come back tomorrow. The families they just get tired.”

Miatta Grey is a woman with a very personal mission. She’s the founder of ‘Sister’s Hand’ - an organisation in Liberia which supports victims of gender-based violence – having herself survived rape and domestic abuse. She was also badly injured through female genital mutilation - or FGM - in a ceremony that killed her sister.

She – like many campaigners within Liberia’s civil society – have long been pressurising the government to improve the situation. But she says things actually got worse under the last government.

So what needs to be done to protect women from sexual violence in Liberia?

Millions of people will be voting in elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo this week. President Félix Tshisekedi is seeking a second, and final, five-year term in office.

Imagine paying off someone else’s debts from 30 years ago. That’s what the Somali government has been having to do, as it tried to pay off debts built up by governments in the 1990s.

Five years ago Somalia was using 64% of its Gross Domestic Product – the value of all the goods and services it produces – to pay off foreign debts. Now it’s only using 6%.

It’s come after a process of painful economic reforms – supported by the IMF and World Bank – which culminated in it having $4.5 billion worth of debts written off last week.

For Africa Daily, Mpho Lakaje speaks to Dr Hodan Osman, Senior Advisor & National Coordinator of Human Capital Development, in the Office of the Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Somalia, and to Laura Jaramillo, who led the IMF teams in talks with the Somali government.

“Our ancestors, our forefathers and our great grandmothers used to come together and have discussions and sing songs and dance. This is how we would document our lives and our history and this is how we would begin very important and critical conversations” – Masechaba Ndlovu, Rainbow Nation Music Fest ambassador.

Thousands of people are expected to attend the Rainbow Nation Festival in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province. It aims to bring different racial groups together and promote social cohesion.

This is particularly important as the country continues to be haunted by its apartheid past, with disturbing incidents of racism making headlines from time to time. The festival will take place on the 16th of December, a public holiday known as the Day of Reconciliation.

But can music really unite South Africans?

“The words ‘fossil fuels’ have never (before) made it into a COP decision. We’re finally naming the elephant in the room. The genie is never going back in the bottle again.”

So the talking is over and the weary delegates have headed home.

This year’s climate conference, COP28 – when world leaders, activist and lobbyists get together to discuss how to limit global warming - was certainly eventful.

$700 million was pledged to the Loss and Damage fund to help poorer nations deal with the impact of climate change before the conference had even began.

And the ‘elephant in the room’ – fossil fuels and how to wean ourselves off them – was mentioned in the final agreement for the first time in the history of COP… but only after a rejected first draft which took the conference into an extra 24 hours of argument and negotiation.

So has it been a good or bad conference for Africa? Peter Musembi – Africa Daily’s Environment enthusiast, gets an assessment from Mohamed Adow from Powershift Africa.

Today, Africa Daily’s Mpho Lakaje talks to Zimbabwean blueberry farmer Stuart Torr. He and his brother studied in the UK, before returning to Africa to farm.

Their company is among those exporting blueberries to countries like the Netherlands, Spain, France, Germany, Singapore and Malaysia.

They operate in a sector that has seen significant growth in recent years. Fruit industry analysis group, East Fruit says Zimbabwe has been increasing its blueberry exports by 63%, annually.

So, what’s behind these developments? Mpho is also joined by Zimbabwean economist Prosper Chitambara.