Happy Monday! Here’s a wrap of a few headlines from Lesotho and the rest of the world to kickstart your week.
1. Local headlines
The government of Lesotho will disburse aid to 1800 Basotho stranded in neighbouring South Africa, who have been found to be in need of urgent intervention.
According to a statement issued by the government this past week, a total of 12 000 Basotho were located and earmarked for possible assistance but, after investigating, 1 800 were found to be in a dire situation which required immediate intervention. The figure is likely to increase.
With the government having set aside M4 million for this purpose, it has arranged with a South African multinational chain store, for the recipients to access the aid – which is in the form of food parcels – at the company’s selected supermarkets. The beneficiaries will be required to produce their Lesotho identification documents as proof of their eligibility.
The identification of Basotho living in acute conditions in South Africa was done by the ministry of home affairs, ministry of foreign affairs, Lesotho’s High Commission in South Africa and the ministry of social development which is tasked with assisting people in need.
[Basotho in SA to get help, The Reporter]
2. Local headlines
A local technology company led by women, BasalilTech, that also focuses on introducing young girls to technology, hosted a technology career series online on August 1 through their social media pages to motivate the youth.
The series is a career guidance session that was hosted through online platforms. This session comprised a series of videos recorded by professionals in the technology industry, where they toldl participants about their work, what they do, what a day looks like for them at work, the skills and qualifications they need to do their work successfully as well as what they love and the challenges they face.
Senior IT systems engineer and co-founder of BasaliTech, Setsoto Hlohlomi, says they strive to encourage not only young girls and children but the youth in general to take part in science and technology activities.
“This is what we are aiming to achieve by this session, but now using recorded videos instead of in-person presentations as it was done in past; to teach the youth about various careers in technology and what they entail so that they are better informed of the options and requirements and to also encourage them to pursue technology related careers.
“This session is mainly suited for high school students who are about to select a course to enroll for at university or college. It is also suited for college and university students who are soon to transition to the workplace, anyone who wants to move to the technology sector and anyone who wants to learn about various technology careers,” Hlohlomi said.
[Online career guidance for the youth, The Reporter]
3. Global headlines
The governor of Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos said on Saturday churches and mosques would reopen next week as the authorities move to ease the lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic. “Places of worship in Lagos will now be opened from Friday, the 7th of August for our Muslim worshippers, and on Sunday, the 9th of August for our Christian worshippers,” Babajide Sanwo-Olu said in a statement.
“We will only allow 50% of their maximum capacities, either at the church or at the mosque,” he said. But night vigils and other services are still not allowed, he added.Sanwo-Olu also advised elderly worshippers from 65 years to stay at home.
Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city of over 20 million inhabitants, shut churches, mosques, night clubs and hotels in March as part of measures to curb the spread of Covid-19. The virus has so far infected 43 151 people and killed 879 since the first case was listed in late February, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
[Lagos eases coronavirus lockdown, reopening churches, mosques, News24]
4. In lifestyle
Focus TV is being hailed as an innovation that will give young people a platform to express themselves by telling their stories, especially those that reflect the youth’s hustle.
The driving force behind Focus TV is a team of seven youths based in Mafeteng who are determined to show people that no matter their dreams can come true no matter where they come from.
Photographer Relebohile Senone, who is the brains behind the concept, says the goal of the project is to inspire and encourage executives, leaders and game changers because ‘in a world full of game changers, the only way to set yourself apart is to be a game changer’.
It is on the basis of this that the 23-year old lad from Thabaneng in the Mafeteng decided to step up a notch by adding an online TV station to his burgeoning portfolio of ventures.
‘Shana’, as he is also known, told theReporter that the idea to set up Focus TV came about a long time ago. “I realised that the youth are hustling but their hustle is not recognized.
[Focus TV comes through for the youth, The Reporter]
5. What we’re reading
Whether you’re a student, a writer or a visual artist, we could all benefit from writing tips every now and then. Today’s reading recommendation has a few fun and helpful writing prompts you can use if you’re trying to boost your creative writing this week. [20 Fun Writing Prompts to Help Maintain a Daily Habit, Grammarly]