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First Lady of Sierra Leone: “Hands off our girls” campaign

September 11th, 2021

H.E. First Lady of Sierra Leone

 

“HANDS OFF OUR GIRLS”

The initiative and campaign of the First Lady of Sierra Leone,

Her Excellency Madame Fatima Maada Bio

 

  !! Join us on Saturday, 25 September 2021 from 2-4 pm !! (see flyer below)

The Give Them a Hand Foundation and perennial partner, United African Congress, hold the first Lady of Sierra Leone, Madame Fatima Maada Bio, in very high regard for the outstanding work she has been doing on behalf of women and girls since her husband H.E Maada Bio came to power in 2018.  She has made a big difference in helping girls to know their self-worth, to care for themselves and to stand up to abusers, knowing that the law of the land will defend them.

 

Hands Off Our Girls is her flagship program. This campaign was launched in December 2018 specifically to bring awareness, influence policy and support women and girls to have access to reproductive healthcare and treatment for conditions like Fistula and Cancer, and to eliminate such abuses like early childhood marriage, gender-based violence and rape.

 

The campaign is very personal to the First Lady and she feels passionate about its success.  Since launching the campaign, she has toured the entire nation, meeting with Paramount Chiefs, Imams, Pastors and Tribal Leaders to sensitise the nation on the impact of these issues affecting women and girls.

 

Her advocacy has had considerable success improving the quality of life for young girls and women in Sierra Leone and empowering them to speak out against being abused, evidenced by the increase in police department reports about rape and gender-based violence.  Women’s and girls’ voices are now being heard when they report sexual predators and abusers in their homes and communities.

 

Her Excellency’s campaign has been recognized by the African Union as a champion for empowerment of girls and women in neighbouring countries in Africa.

 

Below are some of the Hands Off Our Girls Campaign achievements to date:

  • The Sexual Offence Act was updated in September 2019, now requiring a 15-year minimum imprisonment for a rape conviction, up dramatically from a 2-year maximum incarceration.
  • Conviction for child rape has been updated to life imprisonment from a 2-year maximum sentence.
  • A Fast-Track Special Court for rape cases was launched in 2020, which turns cases around within a week compared to a previous two-year wait.
  • The campaign sponsored and facilitated training of 40 medical doctors to treat rape cases and testify in court, up dramatically from just one doctor in the entire country.
  • Free sanitary pads were distributed to girls attending government-assisted schools in Sierra Leone, allowing them to maintain their education which was previously often interrupted during their monthly period.

 

The campaign is currently working on the following initiatives:

  • Construction of a hospital with 100 beds, already 75% complete.
  • Construction of a 7-building facility that will house survivors of rape and gender-based violence, provide counseling services, psychosocial support, medical treatment, and a family support unit – now 50% complete.

Bravo First Lady, you are doing great work for your country and for Africa.

               

To view the program live and donate, click the link(s) below:

I wish to DONATE to support the First Lady’s initiative

I wish to purchase a TICKET so as to be able to view the event

 

Africa Rise! 2020 – A FREE VIRTUAL FUNDRAISING EVENT

August 27th, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Give Them a Hand Foundation and partners – Earth Rights Institute, Inc., the United African Congress along with Black Star News, Cool and Kosie Productions and the International Association of Applied Psychology – have been concerned about the poor health care infrastructure in most African countries for several years now.

The lack of dependable, easily accessible hospitals and medical centers has been put in the spotlight recently by the Covid-19 pandemic and spurred many well-meaning organizations to take action to help governments and the people in their fight against the pandemic.

As far as we know most of those organizations are providing masks and other PPE for vulnerable populations. Those are very much needed today. However, our coalition has decided on a project that will benefit the continent on a permanent basis and be able to address not only communicable diseases but those like malaria and yellow fever and also reduce the number of maternal and infant deaths that occur.

To realize this goal, GTAH and partners will host a virtual fundraising concert on 5 December 2020 to raise funds for the purchase of mobile clinics and to build medical centres in the more remote and underserved rural communities in the countries in Africa most in need.

In this first year of our effort, we will focus on a limited number of countries in each of the five regions of Africa. Note that a mobile clinic functioning from an anchor-base hospital can serve a number of villages within a wide area. They will also be equipped to facilitate telemedicine services.

Give Them a Hand Foundation, Earth Rights Institute (ERI), the International Association of Applied Psychology and The United African Congress (UAC), have a well-established history of hosting awareness-raising campaigns on behalf of Africa and the Diaspora. For example, ERI facilitated the creation of Eco-Villages in Nigeria, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory-Coast and Senegal. GTAH and UAC hosted a major awareness-raising forum and concert at the United Nations during the Ebola epidemic that plagued West Africa 2014-2015.

In addition, GTAH and UAC provided humanitarian relief for Hurricane Sandy victims in New York, Hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans as well as for earthquake victims in Haiti. The collaboration continues to host an annual World Interfaith Harmony event in the United States of America.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


CONCERT
: The free virtual global concert “Africa Rise! 2020” has already engaged a number of top artists from the Caribbean, Africa, the USA and the UK. There will be stars from Broadway, Grammy winning tap dancers as well as a prominent dance troupe and familiar figures in cinema and fashion. In addition, we have brought on board dozens of sports stars from the world of football/soccer, cricket, the NBA, the NFL, and cycling.

EVENT TIMELINE AND DURATION: The date for the concert is 5 December 2020 for a duration of three hours.

LOGISTICS: The concert will be broadcast and live streamed on several platforms including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, African digital streaming channels and other social media outlets.

CONTRIBUTIONS AND DONATIONS: The concert will be interspersed with appeals for contributions, interesting features about Africa, and educational material. Donations will be made via mobile phone and website payment platforms as well as through direct interfaces during the live broadcast of the virtual show.

ORGANIZERS: Event conveners will be supported by a multi-talented team of music producers and authorized streaming providers with technological capacity to access rural community participation, and global viewers and donors.

 

GLOBAL TEAM:

Gordon Tapper, Founder, Give Them a Hand Foundation

Annie Goeke, Earth Rights Institute

Mohammed Nurhussein, Chairman, United African Congress

Stephanie Evans, Give Them A Hand Foundation

Judy Kuriansky, International Association of Applied Psychology

Milton Allimadi, Black Star News

 

 

 

 

 

 

PROJECT TO STOP THE SPREAD OF COVID-19 IN SOUTH KIVU, DRC

August 27th, 2020

 

 

GIVE THEM A HAND FOUNDATION, UNITED AFRICAN CONGRESS, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY, HOPE AND HEALTH VISION:

PROJECT TO STOP THE SPREAD OF COVID-19 IN SOUTH KIVU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

 

The four organizations named above collaborated in the development of a pilot project to help stop the spread of Covid-19 in the community of Nyabibwe in the Territory of Kalehe, located in South Kivu, DRC. Supplementary objectives were to stimulate economic activity in the communities and to provide psycho-social and educational support for the people. The pilot project commenced on 20 June for one week.

GTAH, UAC and IAAP are all based in New York State but worked with Hope and Health Vision which is an NGO based in the DRC and also accredited in the United States. Hope and Health Vision, headed by Jean-Marie Bazibuhe, had psychologists and social workers on the ground as part of the team who would follow the steps the coalition outlined to implement the program. In New York the team comprised Gordon Tapper, Founder of GTAH and President of UAC, Dr Judy Kuriansky, Professor of Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University and representative of IAAP at the United Nations, and Stephanie Evans, Director of Education at Harlem Hospital in Harlem, New York, and Executive Director of GTAH.  The project was financed from the personal funds of Gordon Tapper and Judy Kuriansky, with a contribution from United African Congress.

The project called for hiring women to sew 4,000 masks on their machines to the designs and standards established by WHO. The masks were to be distributed to approximately 2000 adults, male and female, preselected by the staff on the ground. The occasion of distributing the masks also served for educating recipients on the sanitation measures they needed to adopt in order to protect themselves from the infection. In addition to being trained in good sanitation practices they were also given psychosocial training intended to help them build their resilience in the face of an infection that was causing much fear and panic in the communities. The sanitation and the psychosocial information was provided by carefully crafted infographics and by the well-trained, qualified staff.

As this was a pilot project, persons who had come to receive masks and who also received training, were asked to fill out a questionnaire that sought to understand their fears and beliefs and responses to certain situations. The individuals were to return to the distribution/training center at the end of the week to provide feedback and to respond to a post-event questionnaire.

The third pillar of the project involved the installation of five handwashing stations located at key gathering points. They were provided with soap in the handwashing process and taught the proper way to wash their hands after touching objects in public or inadvertently shaking hands.

The date for the evaluation of the effectiveness of the pilot project has not yet been determined but will possibly be towards the end of September. At that time, the results will be released to community leaders, the NGO community and to the international agencies working in the DRC. Should the results prove to have had a positive effect on the people, by altering their behavior and reinforcing their ability to protect themselves from Covid19 and other contagious diseases, we will be seeking funding so as to enable us to support a much larger segment of the population of DRC.

It should be noted that while we cannot at this time provide the results of the pilot project we can say that there were several persons, adults and children, who turned out over a five day period and were very excited to be a part of the project.

SITE PHOTOS

Crowds of people eagerly awaiting hand-washing demonstrations:

Installing water barrel for hand-washing station:

 

Hand-washing demonstration:

  

Explanation of infographic on good sanitary practices:

Assistance and explanation on proper wearing of masks:

GTAH, UAC, IAAP and Black Star News host Webinars on ‘The Coronavirus in Africa’

August 9th, 2020

Give Them a Hand Foundation and Partners Remain Committed to Improving the Medical Infrastructure of African Countries

 

The Give Them a Hand Foundation (GTAH) and its partners, United African Congress (UAC), International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP) and Black Star News, have always had as their main focus the development of Africa and its 54 countries, and facilitating the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This includes an emphasis on socio-economic development, gender equality, education for youth,  and healthcare services for all, with special attention to remote rural, underserved communities.

 

In 2014, we were among the organizations first to sound the alarm about the impending Ebola outbreak in West Africa and its potential to become a worldwide pandemic. As a result, we hosted the first forum held at the United Nations on the subject, bringing together the Ambassadors of the three most-affected countries – Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea – with representatives from civil society, WHO, the UN, and the medical profession. An impressive outcome was that expatriate organizations mobilized to send over a million-dollars-worth of medical equipment and supplies to those affected countries. We followed that forum with a major awareness-raising event in the UN General Assembly Hall featuring speeches by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power and the Ambassador of the AU Observer Mission.

 

In 2019, GTAH, UAC and IAAP joined the fight against the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that was claiming thousands of lives. We partnered with Friends of the Congo here in the USA and held a forum in New York City with panelists from CDC, WHO, Harvard University, and other organizations. We also reached an agreement with the University of Butembo in North Kivu to provide training for students in psychology, communications and pastoral studies, community leaders, and faculty members on risk communication, psychosocial support, and community engagement, including a community service element. The project will be revived when the COVID-19 pandemic ends.

 

However, our partnership to help the people of the DRC continued, to date, with our partners on the ground in South Kivu.  The current project combats COVID-19 in the region through the elements of entrepreneurship (hiring local women to sew masks distributed free to the community), and health and psychosocial skills education, about mask-wearing, hand-washing and psychosocial activities. We provide handwashing stations in key locations and infographics to inform the community on good sanitation and building psychological resilience. Success of the project is anecdotally reported, and data is being evaluated.

 

As with Ebola, we were the first to raise the alarm about the COVID-19 threat to Africa at the UN. In response, we have been hosting webinars on the overarching theme “The Coronavirus in Africa.” All have included experts from various disciplines, as well as drawn large numbers of registrants and garnered positive feedback from an audience of a wide cross-section of the diplomatic community, government ministers, NGOs, health professionals, advocates, media, and others.

 

The first webinar, on 9 April, addressed the topic “Coronavirus in Africa: Stopping the Spread and the Panic”.  Speakers included the Ambassador of Sierra Leone to the United States, the Ambassador of Ethiopia to the United Nations and the Chargé d’Affaires of the African Union Mission in Washington, DC.

 

The second webinar on 30 April was entitled, “Coronavirus in Africa: Racism, Discrimination, Xenophobia and Violations of Human Rights in the Era of the Covid-19 Pandemic”.  Speakers included the former AU Ambassador in Washington, DC, Dr. Arikana Chihombori-Quao, UNHCR Deputy Director Richard Towle, Ms. Yaqui Wang from Human Rights Watch, and human rights activist and professor at Emory University, Isabella Alexander-Nathani.

 

For our third webinar, on “The Impact of the Lockdown from Reporters on the Ground”, leading journalists from South Africa, Lesotho, Nigeria, and Ghana reported on the current state of the crisis in their respective countries.

 

The fourth webinar, held on 4 June, focused on “The Impact of the Lockdown on Food Security” and featured as the main speaker H.E. Dr. Owuso Afriyie Akoto, the Minister of Food and Agriculture for Ghana.

 

Our fifth webinar focused on “The Economic Impact of Covid-19 on Africa: Building a Sustainable Future”.  Speakers included Mr. Mamo Mehritu, Chief Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Mr. Abiy Ahmed, and Professor Jeffrey Sachs of the Sustainable Development Institute at Columbia University.

 

The 6th webinar addressed “Innovations and Technology in Health Care in Africa” and the 7th webinar focused on “Gender Disparities: Its Impact on Women and Girls”.

 

The format usually involves three speakers, presenting for 10-12-minutes, followed by a 20-minute Q&A session with our resident panel of experts, and another 20-minute Q and A with attendees.

 

Our resident panel of experts comprises Dr. Judy Kuriansky, the main representative of the IAAP at the United Nations and Professor of Clinical Psychology at Columbia University Teachers College; Dr. Mohammed Nurhussein, Professor Emeritus of Medicine from SUNY Downstate Medical Center; Mr. Milton Allimadi, Professor of African History at John Jay College; and Ms. Stephanie Evans, Director of Medical Imaging at Harlem Hospital.

Stephanie Evans, Executive Director, Give Them a Hand Foundation

Gordon Tapper, Founder, Give Them a Hand Foundation

 

Following see the invitation flyers for the webinars

 

WEBINAR #1 – 9 April 2020: “Stopping the Spread and the Panic”

 

 

 

WEBINAR #2 – 30 April 2020: “Racism, Discrimination, Xenophobia and Violations of Human Rights in the Era of the Covid-19 Pandemic”

 

WEBINAR #3 – 14 May 2020: “Impact of the Lockdown from Reporters on the Ground”

 

WEBINAR #4 – 4 June 2020: “Impact of the Lockdown on Food Security”

 

WEBINAR #5 – 18 June 2020: “Economic Impact of Covid-19: Building a Sustainable Future”

 

WEBINAR #6 – 9 July 2020: “Technology and Innovation in Healthcare in Africa”

 

WEBINAR #7 – 23 July 2020: “Gender Disparities: Its Impact on Women and Girls”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) Negotiations

June 29th, 2020

Gordon Tapper, GTAH Founder and current President of the United African Congress, joins with UAC Chairman, Mohammed Nurhussein MD, in an appeal to the African Union to facilitate negotiations between Ethiopia, Egypt and the Sudan with a view to finding a peaceful resolution to the matter of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam that Ethiopia has constructed and is getting ready to begin filling. The Blue Nile, which is almost entirely in Ethiopia, is the main source of the River Nile and Ethiopia has built a dam to provide water for agriculture and to provide electricity on a massive scale. Egypt, on the other hand, believes that the dam will seriously affect the flow of water into their country and has expressed the possibility of resolving the matter militarily if Ethiopia does not agree to fill the dam over a period of at least 15-years. Such eventuality needs to be avoided and mediated dialogue is the desirable solution.

 

GTAH and UAC Building Bridges Across Boundaries Award Luncheon

December 20th, 2015

         Give Them A Hand Foundation and United African Congress

Building Bridges Across Boundaries

Awards Luncheon

The Friars Club, 16 December 2015

 

IMG_0056 IMG_0052 IMG_0055 IMG_0053 IMG_0054 IMG_0065 IMG_0064 IMG_0060 IMG_0058 IMG_0059

Give Them a Hand Foundation (GTAH) and partnering organization, United African Congress (UAC), held their first Building Bridges Across Boundaries Awards at the famous and prestigious Friars Club in Manhattan on 16 December 2015. These awards are given to individuals within the Diplomatic Community who have worked to bring peoples of all different races, ethnic groups, faiths, cultures and national origins together in pursuit of harmonious co-existence.

As 2015 was the first year of the International Decade for People of African Descent, GTAH and UAC decided to make these awards to individuals who have worked to bring the peoples of the African Diaspora together and to help bring about a greater understanding and appreciation of a shared heritage.  The celebration was fast-moving and interesting, moderated by Gordon Tapper. Introductory remarks were offered by Dr. Mohammed Nurhussein, and closing thanks by Sidique Wai.

The recipients of the 2015 awards were Ambassador Tete Antonio, Permanent Observer of the African Union Mission to the United Nations, Ambassador Jean-Francis Zinsou of the Republic of Benin, Ambassador Anatolia Mba of Equatorial Guinea and Ambassador Tekeda Alemu of Ethiopia.  Since Ambassador Mba was unable to attend, H.E. Miss Isabelle Sima Abvomo, Chargé d’Affaires at the Equatorial Guinea Mission to the United Nations, accepted the award on his behalf.

In accepting his award, Ambassador Zinsou spoke about his role in the recently concluded discussions in the important Paris Conference on climate change, giving some inside information on the behind the scenes give-and-take which resulted in the positive decisions. Dr Judy Kuriansky, co-sponsor of the event and Friars Club host, showed a video from her visit to Sierra Leone during the 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic which affected Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. Also speaking during the programme were Dr Edmund Bourke, Professor Emeritus of Medicine at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and father of Samantha Power, the US Permanent Representative to the United Nations; Honorable Patricia Gatling, Former Commissioner of Human Rights in New York City; Eric Edwards who has the largest private collection of African artifacts in the United States; Gary Schulze, Paramount Chief in Sierra Leone; Milton Allimadi, Publisher and Editor of the Black Star News; Richard Lue, Director of Marketing at VP Records; Jabati Wai, UAC member; and Sapna Lal, GTAH officer.

This very successful event was organized by Dr. Mohammed Nurhussein, Chairman of United African Congress, Sidique Wai, president of UAC and Gordon Tapper, Founder and Chairman of GTAH. Dr Judy Kuriansky, Main UN representative, International Association of Applied Psychology and member of the Friars Club, was a key organizer of the event and made possible the use of space at the Friars Club.

  Luncheon Programme

BBAB luncheon prog p1

BBAB lunch prog p2

Benefit Event for African Centre in Kiev, Ukraine

June 14th, 2014

30 May 2014     GTAH, UAC and Black Star News held a Benefit and Discussion Event for the African Centre in Kiev in response to its plea for assistance to aid the people of African descent who were experiencing extreme economic hardship and hostility from racist groups targeting them during the civil unrest in Ukraine in 2014.

African Ctr May 2014 FINAL flyer

December 2013: GTAH and UAC present letter to UN High Commission for Human Rights protesting mistreatment of Haitians in Dominican Republic

March 1st, 2014

 

Photo of GTAH and UAC at the New York Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to deliver letter protesting the mistreatment of Haitians and persons born in  the Dominican Republic of Haitian descent by the Government of the Dominican Republic

IMG_0051

Give Them A Hand Foundation and United African Congress meet with the UNHCHR in December 2013 to present a letter from them protesting the mistreatment in the Dominican Republic of Haitians and persons of Haitian descent by the Government of the Dominican Republic.  Shortly after this letter was presented and forwarded to the Human Rights Council that was meeting in Geneva, the Government of DR suspended its deportation programme.  However, this suspension lasted for only a short period of time and the Government is now back to driving thousands of these persons out of the country in violation of their human rights and civil rights and creating unhealthy and unsanitary refugee conditions on the border between the two countries. It’s time that the world stops looking the other way and boycott the DR tourist industry until there is a change in its behaviour.

 

LETTER FROM GTAH/UAC TO UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS:

December 16, 2013

HE Ivan Simonovic Assistant Secretary General OHCHR in New York
UN Headquarters
New York NY 10017

Re: Citizens of the Dominican Republic of Haitian Ancestry

Your Excellency,

“All victims of human rights abuse should be able to look to the Human Rights Council as a forum and a springboard to action.” Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations.

The ruling of the High Court of the Dominican Republic on September 23, 2013 stripping Dominicans of Haitian decent of their citizenship rights has rendered an estimated quarter million of them suddenly stateless. This latest outrage follows a long history of discrimination against Haitians in the Dominican Republic. In 1912, the government passed laws restricting the number of black-skinned people who could enter the country. In a 5-day orgy of killing in October 1937, the Dominican Dictator Trujillo massacred an estimated 20-30 thousand Haitians to “cleanse the border”as he put it. This crime against humanity went unpunished. His successor, Balaguer, had said that the presence of Haitians would “contaminate Dominican blood” and in 1983, he made the racist remark that Haitians “multiply with the rapidity that is almost comparable to vegetable species.” It is against this historical backdrop that the current shameful court ruling should be viewed. The ruling is all the more egregious as it makes the law retroactive to 1929, thus putting the lives of several generations of Dominicans of Haitian decent in jeopardy. This ruling goes against all acceptable norms and standards of civilized behavior and violates almost every article of the UN Universal Declaration of Human rights.

Widespread incidents of abuse, killings and deportation of Haitians without due process since the court ruling have been reported by media outlets. This is a matter of the utmost urgency for the UN Human Rights Commission to address, lest we become yet again helpless witnesses to a human tragedy as history of the plight of Haitians in the Dominican Republic repeats itself. This is the time for the Commission to use its offices as a ‘springboard to action’ as the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon implored the UN Human Rights Council.

As immigrants of people of African descent, other people of color and citizens of the United States, we cannot remain silent and become passive observers to this latest atrocity which is an affront to the world community and a flagrant violation of international law.

We therefore call on the UN Human Rights Commission to put the Dominican Republic on notice that it is violating international law and should therefore immediately cease the implementation of this repugnant and reprehensible law.

Failing compliance with the UN demand, the Commission should recommend immediate action by the Security Council to take further actions such as sanctions and bringing the Dominican Republic to the international court if need be, to answer for its behavior that is not acceptable under international law in the 21st century.

We urge the Commission to demand of the Dominican Republic that the citizenship rights of Dominicans of Haitian descent be immediately restored and proper state protection be given to the undocumented migrant workers while humane and just solutions are sought in consultation with the UN and the Haitian Government.

We further urge the Commission to monitor compliance by the Dominican Republic in implementing the UN recommendations expeditiously.

We, as civil society, will continue to follow the progress closely. We will, in the meantime, garner mass support for our campaign for human rights of Haitians in the Dominican Republic and urging our government and the CARICOM nations to bring pressure to bear on the Dominican Republic with the threat of sanctions and boycott of its tourist industry should it fail to comply with their demands.

We are hopeful the UN Human Rights Commission will take up this issue as a top priority and live up to the promise of the office when it was established and fulfill its obligations.

Respectfully submitted,

(signed) Mohammed A Nurhussein MD, National Chairman of the United African Congress (UAC)

(signed) Gordon M. Tapper, Founder and President of Give Them a Hand Foundation (GTAH)

Copies to: Hon. Sidique A. Wai, President and Chief Spokesperson of the United African Congress (UAC)

Anne Goeke, Co-founder and President of Earth Rights Institute (ERI)
Dr. Ron Daniels, Chairman of Institute of Black World (IBW) and Pan African Unity Dialogue (PAUD)

 



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