Megan Gieske is a storyteller and photographer based in Cape Town, South Africa.
Ntombi Mbinda gestures around the kitchen in her home; it’s a room only of women. One woman bends over a pot, stirring the day’s rice. Another cuts vegetables, their headwraps shine brilliantly in the slanting light of the afternoon sun.
The women — Theodora, Lorna, Phindiwe, Nobuntu, and Noxolo — arrive every weekday at 8:30am to begin cooking from Ntombi’s home. Outside the kitchen, a garden Ntombi planted...
COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic is threatening to undo years of progress on global education. Since the pandemic started, school closures have affected up to 91% of enrolled learners, or 1.6 billion children. Here is a look at how countries’ policies on school closures evolved over the past six months.
COVID-19 quickly transformed from a localized epidemic to a global pandemic with far-reaching consequences across sectors
6 months ago, when COVID-19 was still just a localized epidemic, only two countries had restrictions on...
Celestina Obiekea is a ONE Champion alumni and consultant with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
Celestina Obiekea has seen first hand the impacts of COVID-19, working as the laboratory network advisor at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
She wants all Nigerians to know the pandemic is real:
“While a lot of people will likely get infected and recover without even so much as a headache, there’s no magic wand to tell who will survive and who will not, and at...
When responding to a global crisis, good leaders and leadership is essential. Pandemics and health crises know no borders and can affect entire populations. However, having strong leaders can significantly impact how and how well a country responds.
To tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, we need strong leaders, globally and locally. One quality that leaders must possess in order to effectively respond to the crisis is being able to take decisive, urgent action. Urgent decision-making is a fundamental part of being...
The socioeconomic impact of the COVID-19 crisis is real. Beyond the deaths and hardships caused by the coronavirus, the pandemic is also devastating livelihoods and disrupting the movement of people, goods, and services.
Virtually every sector that contributes to economic growth is affected: health, education, transport, environment, infrastructure, hospitality, tourism, entertainment, construction, manufacturing, transport, agriculture, and wholesale and retail trade, among others.
With limited public resources to combat the pandemic, the global economy is struggling to achieve positive growth rates and...
In light of the current global pandemic, Hewan Berhane, a ONE Champion in Africa, is sharing why COVID-19 is the wake up call we all need to take global action.
Exasperating; is it not? The overwhelming spread of a virus in all corners of the world. How do we stop it? We will stick to the World Health Organization’s recommendations. But here is another essential question to ask: What is our take away from this health crisis?
Our reaction during the...
Philanthropist Strive Masiyiwa is a special envoy for the African Union. We interviewed him as as part of our #PassTheMic series. Here’s some of what he had to say in the interview.
From Africa’s perspective, we have to tackle the problem both globally and continentally.
Africa is 54 sovereign countries, so its leaders have formed an executive committee that meets every two weeks to review how the continent and the countries within it are tackling the problem.
We’ve also got to realise...
As ONE global activist from Africa and Europe, our commitment to global action is real. We are Senegalese, Gambian, Tunisian, French, and in Africa and in Europe. We have seen youth show their bravery and undertake many actions in solidarity during this pandemic. Our conversations about the management of this multifactorial crisis have highlighted the increase in solidarity within our local communities. This has inspired us to write to a diverse and changing youth.
The mobilisation of young people in...
Google the words “African Union” and you will find two out of the four top questions are “What is the purpose of the African Union?” and “Why was the African Union formed?” The answers? The African Union (AU) was formed for times like these – a global moment that requires global collaboration. The AU was formed to increase cooperation and integration of African states to drive Africa’s growth and economic development.
With a crisis of a century such as the...
The ONE Campaign and 10 major African artists have come together to release a music track calling for the world to join in solidarity to fight COVID-19.
In partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation and MTV Base, “Stand Together” is a solidarity anthem featuring some of Africa’s biggest music stars: 2Baba, Ahmed Soultan, Ben Pol, Teni, Yemi Alade, Amanda Black, Stanley Enow, Gigi La Mayne, Prodigio and Betty G.
The song has been produced by Nigerian producer Cobhams Asuquo and the...