How women are defying barriers and making a mark on Africa | DW News

This is our last program for the year 2023 and we’re dedicating it to the women who’ve made outstanding achievements despite the barriers they faced we begin with the story of falia leuku she is a fast and designer from Kenya’s largest informal settlement opportunities are hard to come by where

She is from but as you’re about to hear that has not got in the way of her pursuing her dream my mom was against it she usually told me that fashion is not a career worth working for in Kenya you cannot be a designer here in Kenya because that doesn’t exist you

Know she wanted me to do nursing I wasn’t into it so I just told her I can’t do nursing I want to do fashion so she said if you want to do fashion then you have to look for is that you’ll go to college and pay for your own fee so

So that’s what I I did mostly when you come from the slam you don’t get this uh so many opportunities that other others get so like you get girls After High School they don’t know what to do with their lives they’re just here roaming around but instead of roaming they can have

This platform where they get to create something I feel like men are part of women fearing to wear what they feel they they will make them look sexy or nice because they will be judged but I want to make women feel comfortable in what they wear they shouldn’t fear what

They wear for as long as they are comfortable in It suff marri there’s so many special thing about the Fashion Week for me I’ve gotten the chance to meet with other other designers and they’re challenging me to push myself to work hard it also is a community thing so it’s helping so many people and it’s creating job for people like us you Know it is now that something that’s helping me pay for things help my mom I want to start my own business my fashion business I I want to have so many employees to work for Me see myself as an upcoming young designer who will be an inspiration for to [Applause] Others so excited about what I do yeah I appreciate my work so much thank you so much M designer for the amazing amazing work that you’ve been able to present to Us and what a way also to change the narrative about a place like kibera next we go to tamale in Northern Ghana where we met Aisha Baba isahak the job she chose to do is considered a man’s job and despite all the criticism she stuck it out and it’s paying

Off Brick by Brick Aisha is determined to lay the foundations for her future future a lone woman brick layer in the midst of a team of men she’s building a wall for their clients she purposefully chose brick laying as a career I decided to choose my work which is different from others

Female work that’s why I choose bricks laying and Thailand breaking into building hasn’t been easy women brick layers are close to 0% in Northern Ghana even her family friends were hostile her job nearly cost her her marriage as we talk she gets emotional I nearly divorced because of

This work for now I have two kids and I can afford for them I pay their schw fees now my husband is not working I’m able to feed them in a patriarchal society like Ghana Aisha is fighting a lonely fight the idea of women being confined to the kitchen and

Childbearing reasonless and Indigenous communities to others young Aisha’s career in the brick laying business is a trailblazing effort seen a young girl like this engaging herself in this construction work is very motivative and it’s it it tells us that if um so many girls invest themselves or bring themselves into this construction zones

That able to um cater a lot and improve their lives despite the challenges she faces becoming a break layer has proven to be lifechanging for Aisha because of this work I’m able to save money and able to buy plot for myself and I’m planning the future I’m

Planning to build a house in it one day I can tell a story Aisha wants to inspire other young women so that they can start building their own stories and one woman building a story of her own is Cindy Gamba she’s a boxer from West Africa who competed at this

Year’s European games in Poland as part of the refugee team but as you’re about to see for yourself she has a fighting Spirit and the obstacles that she’s faced outside of the Ring only motivate her winds like this are bringing Cindy and gamber closer to her Dreams she was part of the first ever Refugee team at the European games the latest step towards her ultimate goal the Olympic dream being being able to get in on the number one stage and everyone looking at me everyone everyone watching not only as a refugee but as

Cind the gamber but you know someone that that just put the I put the work in Cindy grew up in Cameroon but moved to the United Kingdom aged 11 supported by GB boxing she’s progressed through the sports ranks winning major International competitions now 24 Cindy would be a

Medal Contender for Great Britain at the Olympics but she needs citizenship first it’s a long and arduous process and she thinks politicians could do more for athletes like her told you not only for in boxing any other the sport I think a lot of opportunity need to be

Into people I think there’s a lot of Crisis happening around the world and you know and and too many excuse that are made I think there are eyes some eyes are are blinded some eyes are closed and they act like they can’t see it’s more than about the medals

Though Cindy considers the UK her home now her sexuality means she wouldn’t be welcomed back in Cameroon it’s legal to be my country if I was send that I can get beaten I can get in prison or can have trouble even if I I do go there and I and I’m fine

There I can get I I can trouble can follow me around just because of my sexuality and that gives perspective when she’s in the ring Cindy says she likes to smile her way of disarming opponents what what I do is I I smile and people think I’m crazy I smile cuz

I’m thinking my body’s waking up now my body is is ready now my body is telling me yeah and I can see it all I can see I’m ready now ready for more success and if that follows the smile will surely get even Bigger you’re watching DW news Africa with the special endia program honoring remarkable women whose stories we’ve brought you in 2023 still to come Nigeria’s Junior chess champ Champion she’s set her sights on competing at the top of the game want to L chair so that I did of to make be real

Master also coming up the Nigerian Chef who set a new world record but first to a group of women from Cameroon who initiated a platform that is promoting dialogue for peace and Reconciliation in the country the First National Women’s convention for peace in Cameroon is an alliance with 80 member organizations that

Represent the 10 regions of Cameroon they were awarded the 2023 German Africa prize now Sim buen is the founder and the executive director of one of the alliances organization it is called common action for gender development their work focuses on women and girls’ rights to reproductive Health in Benda which is in

The english- speaking part of Cameroon where separatists are fighting to create a state of their own and this has resulted in years of conflict now Sally joined me in the studio where she began by telling me about the challenges women are facing in her home City Banda with

The coming of conflict in Banda women have lost their s of livelihood they have gained new responsibility added burden of caregiving and they are also at the middle of the conflict because they are being harassed sexually molested because part of the Dynamics of the conflict is attacking women to show

Supremacy so these women have now had multiple roles to carry out and typically women in this moment that Community are women who do a subsistent farming for a living or pity trading to be able to feed their families with this new D Dynamics these women are not able

To find themselves coupled with our traditional structures of women being excluded in leadership and can you tell us about how through your foundation you’re helping to address these challenges um common action for gender development believes in the potential of women and it believes in giving them access by uh respecting their sexuality

And their reproductive Health rights so with all of this we are struggling to bring together these women to have like support system to discuss with each other look at what is happening within the community we try to push these women to bring their voices into spaces where discussions are being taking place we

Try to support them to discuss about their their sexual and reproductive health because we realize it is a core issue that they need to be addressing if they have to uh attain their full potential we have these Community outreaches where we work in communities we have Community mobilization to

Respond to governance issues that are taking place within the community because we believe that there is a life postc conflict and if we don’t start preparing women and girls to not look at their sexuality as something to exclude them but something to include them with some uniqueness in the whole

Conversation um I’ve I’ve read a little bit about the work that you’re doing and it’s really um it’s inspirational stuff and I wonder as you sit here today as a community leader when you look back at all the work that you’re doing back home what are your what is one of your

Highlights ah the Highlight is like changing narrative where I got young girls to be able to talk to municipal authorities at the level of the local Council telling them exactly how the one Health Services to be given to them especially the Family Planning units and the use of contraception within my

Country I was very happy because that moment I could lead these girls to be able to evaluate those Services by themselves make decisions interact with those who run those services and came up with a policy brief I felt like okay this is it this is how people can take

Their Destiny into their hands and discuss the things that concerns them which is something we can use for any other thematic and tell before you go we have a few moments and I wondered if you could just share with our audience today uh what this award means to you and for

The hundreds of women that you’re representing in receiving this award here in Berlin women’s work is usually some difficult work because of the pmics around what it is a recognition like this the award is a recognition is a validation of the efforts of cameronian women who have been responding to the multiple crisis

Of our community so it means a lot and it means more work because if we have been recognized with this award we need to move and continue serving our communities Sal congratulations to you and all the women who’ve won this award and thank you so much for being on DW

News Africa thank you very much our next story takes us back to Ghana where Coastal communities depend on water bodies for their livelihoods but these vital resources are rapidly losing their beauty and Purity due to constant pollution so to draw attention to the problem IET T an environmental

Activist swam 450 km in Ghana Lake VTA that’s the world’s largest man-made lake she’s calling on authorities to urgently preserve water bodies for a cleaner sustainable future activist and entrepreneur IET T is passionate about gares environment proof of that is her swimming through gares Lake V for more than 40 days

Covering an overall routee of 450 km this Lake the world’s largest ficial Reservoir is one of the few waterways in Ghana still clean enough for her to swim in it is so encouraging and so amazing to be able to swim in the VTA River like this and I’d love to see other water

Bodies in GH and specifically aara be the swimmable again tet’s expedition was to draw attention to the pollution of ghanes water bodies some of which come from secondhand clothing waste 15 million secondhand clothing items pour into Ghana every week over 50% ends up in waste heaps like here in the K Lagoon in

Acra T campaign against environmental pollution was organized by the O Foundation scientist Isabella breu is part of the team her role was to take water samples at various points for testing in this solar powered boat she analyzed the water samples for several elements in this small laboratory it depends on the places

Where we are if we are Clos to Villages for example we will be collecting some samples for bacteriological tests if we are close to factories or industrial areas we’ll be uh checking for heavy metals for example Ghana’s water bodies continue to be heavily polluted LGE from mining activities managers of the Water

Resources say many of them are in critical condition they are concerned about the devastating impact T wants to continue to raise public awareness her hope is that GH waterways will one day be free of all pollution not just the rich world’s cast of clothing and now to the game of strategy

That played by millions around around the world we caught up with one young chess star in Nigeria IIA uro who is sharing her passion for the game to inspire others in her community to play meet iier uro the next Queen of the Chess World she started playing when she

Was just four now she’s advancing up the ranks the 8-year-old is a junior chess champion and Ambassador for the game of Kings it helps you to have a strategy it helps you to think critically it helps you to control your emotions it helps you to

Have a plan A and A Plan B it helps you not to be too comfortable when school’s over Eva spends her Spare Time practicing her moves in the game she loves competing against adult opponents is a challenge she enjoys I feel good when I play chess um if I ose a game

As I’m playing online if I lose the game I always keep fighting till the game is over and there still another try iier says she discovered the game by watching her father play her inspiration was the night the only figure that can jump over all the others Clement her

Father supports her passion but says it’s all about balance oh Father what we have been able to do for her is we we are managing with a timetable she’s a child that she she eats you know we are not really we are not we are not forgetting the father that she’s just 8

Years old it just that her love for chair is something that I think is just natural for her so the pond moves straight at the beginning it moves two squares and it also moves is convinced that chess can make the world a better place and wants to inspire other

Children to take up the sport when I’m teaching them I feel like I’m also learning this was my first time of playing chest and it was amazing and I loved it studies suggest that playing chess helps with cognitive development and improves problem solving skills our early start means she’s just

A few moves away from her dream I just want to learn so that at the age of 15 I can be a grand master and be teaching people um in the future I’ll see come and teach them so maybe when they play with me um I might win

Them I might not because CH anybody can Win now this year a Nigerian Chef broke the guiney world record for the longest cooking session 27-year-old Hilda Bassie spent one 100 hours making meals in Lagos now she was later dethroned by a Japanese Chef whose cathon was 24 hours longer but nonetheless Hilda certainly inspired many Nigerians with her

Attempt This Is The Moment of Truth for Chef Hilda Bassie the end of a mammoth 4-day cooking session thousands turned out to egg her on and celebrate her success she’s a role model Bassie spent 100 hours preparing food to try to break the world record I generally just feel a lot of

Relief and I’m very happy and I’m very proud I the turnout was very unexpected so that definitely surprised she made more than 100 dishes both International and Nigerian her aim was to raise her profile as a chef but she also has other goals I have bigger dreams for my

Business and for my brand and generally just for my name so just coming from a very very very modest background I just knew that okay I need to do something that is basically out of the ordinary to put myself on the map to put Nigeria on

The map to put young African women on the map as well as enjoying the party atmosphere her supporters were able to sample the food bassi made for free boosting the feel-good factor at the event everyone will be talking about being Nigerian for a very very long time

I feel very proud and honored um and it’s it’s um a pleasure to be here to witness the whole thing whatever comes next for chef bassi she’s already hit on a recipe for success that’s for sure let’s take to the skies in Kenya now where we met

Joyce Beck with the world’s first black female hot air balloon pilot the Trailblazer has been taking tourists on Safari with a unique perspective of the treasured Masai Mara Wildlife Reserve the Masai Mara by air a spectacle from above one of Africa’s most famous national parks for Captain Joyce Beck it’s just

Another day in her office in the skies she became the world’s first licensed black female hot air balloon pilot in 2019 colleagues call her Captain Smiles I knew that I was going to be the Kenyon the first Kenyon uh pilot or female pilot to get the balloon

But I did not realize that I was actually going to be the first black woman in the world to to do this Captain Smiles earned her license at a special flying school in the United States since then she spends most of her mornings showing people the heart-stopping magic of Sunrise above the masay

Mara the ride costs $400 per person a luxury only few can afford like Kenyan stand-up comedian Unice vanu AKA mamito she gifted the right to herself on her birthday I flew with Captain smice and let me tell you she’s amazing she’s excellent at what she does flying and telling you

The animals at the same time that’s amazing and she knows them from afar Captain Smiles has already logged 200 hours of flying but more importantly she has broken through a glass ceiling for women in aviation when I am flying I can only describe it as freedom I can describe bit as Um gosh it’s you just have to fly you just have to come fly with me to to to know what I’m talking about and many hope to with Kenya’s very own Trailblazer

Women in Africa have made outstanding achievements despite the barriers they faced.
Fauzia Libuku is a fashion designer from Kenya’s largest informal settlement. Opportunities are hard to come by where she is from but, as hasn’t gotten in the way of her pursuing her dream.
In Tamale in northern Ghana, Ayisha Baba Issahak chose what is considered to be a man’s job. Despite all the criticism she’s stuck it out and it’s paying off.
Cindy Ngamba is a boxer from West Africa who competed at this year’s European Games in Poland as part of the Refugee Team. She has a fighting spirit and the obstacles she has faced outside of the ring only motivate her.
A group of women from Cameroon have initiated a platform that is promoting dialogue for peace and reconciliation in the country. The first National Women’s Convention for Peace in Cameroon is an alliance with 80 member organizations, which represent the ten regions of Cameroon. They were awarded the 2023 German-Africa prize. Sally Mboumien is the founder and executive director of one of the alliance’s organizations, Common Action for Gender Development. Their work focuses on women and girls’ right to reproductive health in Bamenda, which is in the English speaking part of Cameroon where separatists are fighting to create a state of their own. This has resulted in years of conflict. Sally joined DW in the studio.
In Ghana, coastal communities depend on water bodies for their livelihoods. But these vital resources are rapidly losing their beauty and purity due to constant pollution. So to draw attention to the problem, Yvette Tetteh, an environmental activist, swam 450 kilometers in Ghana’s Lake Volta – the world’s largest man-made lake. She is calling on authorities to urgently preserve water bodies for a cleaner, sustainable future.
Chess is a game of strategy that’s played by millions around the world. DW caught up with one young chess star in Nigeria who is sharing her passion for the game to inspire others in her community to play.
This year a Nigerian chef broke the Guinness World Record for the longest cooking session. 27-year-old Hilda Bassey spent 100 hours making meals in Lagos. Hilda was later dethroned by a Japanese chef whose cookathon was 24 hours longer. Nonetheless Hilda inspired many Nigerians with her attempt.
Kenya’s Joyce Beckwith is the world’s first black female hot-air balloon pilot. The trailblazer has been taking tourists on safari with a unique perspective of the treasured Maasai Mara wildlife reserve.

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