africans

"These are very troubling things. I don’t like to sing this song, but we do because we have to take a message to the people."

"The Kendeja building was meant to be a symbol of Liberia’s commitment to promoting our arts and cultures. So, it is a shame to see that we no longer have such a historical site and the past government did nothing for its rebirth."

"I am saying this because we need a space where artists can come together to showcase their work and where cultural events can be held. I hope President Boakai can prioritize the reconstruction of the Kendeja building to ensure that Liberia’s arts and cultures continue to thrive."

"At the time, I didn’t know the word therapy. But I knew that singing to the people make them feel better."

"So when I wrote that song, everywhere I went to perform in any refugee camp people, would cry and always sit and talk. Because as you live, you cannot keep your problems to yourself."

"We cannot put a price on the value of our arts and cultures because the Kendeja building is more than just a physical structure; it is a symbol of our identity as Liberians and by rebuilding it, we are investing in the future of our country and ensuring that our cultural heritage continues to be celebrated and preserved for generations to come."

"I quickly understood that I could fail at both what I love and don’t love. By extrapolating lessons learned in my 100m hurdles, I learned to pinpoint the hurdles outside of my sport. When challenged to seek alignment, I could express unlimited performance, enthusiasm, passion and joy. Thus, I see many of my failures as an expression of resilience, trained consciously or subconsciously."

"During the Olympics, when athletes were walking into the stadium for the closing ceremony: regardless of nationalities we walked side by side as one. This scene echoed the movie “the gladiator” when all the wrestlers overcame their differences to battle together. In the end, they understood that teamwork would break the painful circle of hate, which I believe to also be the Olympian’s superpower."

"My greatest lesson learned as an Olympian is the understanding that I am human, and the world is mine. As a part of this ecosystem, I discovered that through practice, I can unlock my power. I came into this body to enjoy everything that I desire, not to struggle. Just like sports, my body is a vehicle to find answers, and feel exhilaration to be who I am. Olympians come from all over the world, some are rich, some poor. It is a stage that helps you understand how to focus to make big moves in your life. I have participated several times in the same event (Olympics), yet will still focus on the different aspects to improve each time."

"This is not a coup d'état. The military may have taken over, but that doesn't mean it's a coup d'état because the people have won. It's the people who fought this battle. The military are now there to ensure their safety."

"Understand our pain at being humiliated. To see our country humiliated. Because it is incapable of producing a monitoring report. You don't produce a monitoring report in an office."

"At the entrance to the Ministry office, following local traditional etiquette, they took off their shoes before entering the office. Today, they are more self-confident and they know how to negotiate with the mayor and with development partners. They travel abroad and exchange their views with others."

"As I told you, my vacation is not intended to rest, but to carry out a number of projects that are close to my heart. These include, among others, the production of my next album, some of the lyrics of which have already been written. Moreover, during this concert, a song from my 3rd album entitled "Samha" meaning "beautiful woman" will be performed on the occasion. I take this opportunity to inform you that all my songs will be sung to pay tribute first to Chadian women and children. My second short-term project is the creation of my foundation called "FOMOM", Mounira Mitchala Foundation. This foundation will be created to help vulnerable groups, specifically Chadian women and children."

"I started singing at a very early age, I never gave up despite all the obstacles I encountered. By the time I reached my teens, I knew I wanted to get out there and perform live, so I started taking drama lessons to overcome my natural shyness. After that, I went on to sing. I used playback at first. But then gradually as I gained more confidence I began to use my real voice. The turning-point came in 2000 when I wrote my first song in English and started performing concerts."

"You see how laborious it is to deploy an institutional mission when there are no resources at your disposal. What can you do?"

"Like everyone else, I want this transition to run smoothly."

"The rights of human beings continue to be violated because the perpetrators of the most atrocious acts enjoy total impunity."

"I created KIMI Foundation to promote the prevention of avoidable diseases, in particular among women and children. To achieve this target, I implement educational programs and hygiene promotion campaigns. I believe that these will contribute to health policy as implemented by the Government and public authorities of my country."

"I was glad to participate in an event like this during which I met people who are particularly passionate and enthusiastic to join us in doing all we can to protect our populations from these risks of vulnerability"

"My career was divided between Germany (Marburg) where my father was studying, Nigeria (Maiduguri) where he was stationed and Chad (N'Djamena). After obtaining my scientific baccalaureate in 1999, I enrolled at the Faculty of Exact and Applied Sciences of Farcha (northern district of N'Djamena) where I studied for 2 years. From 1995 to 1998, I learned the technique of creating comics with Gérard Leclaire at the educational support office. It was there that I perfected my drawing skills. Professionally, I am a secretary at the Graphic Design and Computer Graphics Workshop in N'Djamena. I worked as a receptionist, was active in several associations and finally, I am a caricaturist and editor of the satirical newspaper "Le Miroir". I also work at the Al Mouna Cultural Center as an editor and caricaturist."

"At first, it wasn't easy because "Le Manuscrit" only receives texts online. And for that, I had to type the texts. Fortunately, I received help from the graphic design and computer graphics workshop, the director general of the African Intellectual Property Organization, my father, and the historian Akouya Djallah."

"When I heard the news, I was first surprised not because I didn't have confidence in myself, but because I am a perfectionist, when I do a job, I go beyond my limits and with the "Queen of Guera" I always told myself that something was missing. Then, I felt a sense of accomplishment and pride, for my country Chad, because it is above all it that is put forward ", she says before adding, " this accomplishment is not only for me but also for all those who invested in the project."

"In fact, I continued to attend classes, but through the classroom window, and while answering questions from the teacher I had slapped. A sister, whom I loved very much, said to me: "You're a rebel, a child who became an adult a little too soon. Go, go back to class."

"Since I was a child, I have always had a dream: that one day I shall build a big house where all unfortunate people can live and enjoy life."

"I have to capitalize information, think about women’s situation and help them in different ways. I wanted Chadian women to be self-dependent and self-confident. My dream was to boast their capabilities in order to achieve their responsibilities and act for peace in the country."

"The National Assembly and the government should pass a law creating a Support Fund for Artistic Creation. Everyone recognizes that there are enormous needs. Unfortunately, there are no resources. And as you know, we have spent ten months receiving a barrage of requests for projects that we are unable to develop because we do not have a penny to provide a little support to these different artists who contact us."

"(Laughter). The rest of the funds will go to the organizing committee, which has incurred quite a bit of debt to organize this cultural event. We have approached sponsors who have so far not responded favorably, probably due to the economic crisis affecting the country. This is also the reason for the postponement of the concert to July 9, originally scheduled for June 3."

"I am a mother and also a local goodwill ambassador for the FAO. When I was at the National School of Administration and Magistracy (Enam), the theme of my dissertation was "the rights of the Chadian child." This love for children has been close to my heart for a long time. Thus, to make this dream come true, on June 16, 2003, on the occasion of Children's Day, I gave my first concert at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and African Integration to pay tribute to Chadian children. So, I have a sort of "vocation" to help deprived children in general. We all have a responsibility towards children. We must help those who are on the streets to reintegrate into society. Because the child is the father of the man. This is why the theme of my concert is "For a Chad worthy of its children." This project is approved by UNICEF and is non-profit. He's more of a humanitarian. And I'll continue to do it because it's a commitment of mine. A portion of the funds raised at the concert will be donated to UNICEF to support children in difficult situations."

"I was born in 1979 when my country was already at war… It’s 2008 now, and Chad is still at war. I was actually in N’Djamena during a fierce battle in February of this year and I can tell you that war is completely and utterly terrible. I saw it firsthand with my own eyes. It’s only when we get peace in my homeland that we’ll be able to start building for the future."

"Peace and unity are not just vain and empty words for me."

"After the presidential elections in May 2001, we wrote a motion of protest against France’s involvement in maintaining “autocratic regimes in Chad” that we intended to submit to the Ambassador in Ndjamena during a peaceful protest in front of the French Embassy. Army units surrounded us and a grenade exploded between my legs."

"I’ve been blessed to build the career of my dreams over decades as a journalist — 13 years on air for CNN International, travelling the world to cover global events and interviewing presidents, movie stars and world leaders."

"I am drawing inspiration from so many different sources right now—from the multiracial crowds that filled the streets after George Floyd’s killing, and the writings of Ta-Nehisi Coates, to the doctors and nurses who are working around the clock to help the sick during this pandemic. To be honest, having spent most of 2020 at home, anyone who is still smiling and maintaining a positive outlook on life is a source of inspiration to me!"

"Yes, they will come, as I said. They have been following everything that is happening. They will come when they are ready. Now, that depends on them. I, I am not. I am not against them coming."

"Nearly 300 schoolgirls were taken by Boko Haram in April 2014. Fifty seven of them escaped in the immediate hours that followed, but 219 disappeared into the forest. Although 107 of those girls are back, 112 still remain unaccounted for. I’m still holding out hope that once this pandemic is behind us, the Nigerian government can be encouraged to resume efforts to track down the missing girls, and do whatever is necessary to bring them home. I hope my book brought to life the resilience of African girls and how determined they are to gain an education, and with that knowledge, I hope it strengthened the resolve of donors to invest in girls’ education—not just in Nigeria, or Africa, but across the entire developing world, where too many girls are still not in school."

"A brief marriage to a kind man didn’t result in children, and then the year I turned 40, my mum had a catastrophic stroke, leaving me no emotional space to contemplate anything other than caring for her. Six years went by and a few months ago I found myself in a subpar relationship with a man who took about 12 hours to reply to all my texts, among other red flags."

"When the pandemic first started, I was hosting two COVID-focused shows on Facebook and Instagram. I worked around the clock, and whenever I finally stopped for the day, I binge-watched and read more news for hours. During that time, decompressing was really difficult. Once we wrapped the shows at the end of June, I made the decision to be more intentional about maintaining a better balance between work and rest. So now I try to limit how much news I consume. I also decompress by watching other things that don’t weigh as heavily on the heart and mind."

"If you’d told the 16-year-old me that at 46, I’d be divorced, single and having a baby on my own — by choice! — I’d have shuddered and firmly said “no!"

"Based on our objectives, we decided to implement five-year activity programs, the first of which began in January 2007. Health promotion involves several factors—behavioral, cultural, social, economic, etc.—that are not part of the traditional health domain. Our means of action are advocacy, social mobilization, awareness-raising, and education. For this first program, we decided to focus on certain conditions."

"We plan to partner with the Ministry of Basic Education. This involves developing behaviors that protect children from health risks. We have two strategies: we plan to do this through extracurricular activities, where, through theater and stage performances, we will encourage children to think about behavioral hygiene issues, and also through the publication of educational and recreational books that we could popularize in partnership with the MEBA."

"In the context of Burkina, drinking water supply is insufficient and using polluted water remains widespread, especially in rural areas. Regarding hygiene and sanitation, rainwater drainage systems are weak in urban areas and almost non-existent in rural areas, causing floods and the spread of disease vectors"

"Most women and girls will develop schistosomiasis if they are not treated: if they are infected, the disease could develop into female genital schistosomiasis which increases the risk of contracting HIV and has a huge impact on the reproductive health of women, leading to complications during childbirth. For people living in isolated rural areas with limited access to regular health care, such risks regularly put their lives in danger."

"The idea of ​​writing a book is a childhood dream, just to imitate my father who was in the meantime writing his doctoral thesis. For my poetry collection, I first had the idea of ​​trying to write a few poems, like Alphonse de Lamartine or Victor Hugo. After that, I finally discovered in myself the soul of a poet and the passion for writing, which led me to write a lot of poetry. Why not look for a publisher? I said to myself."

"It's obvious that poetry seems difficult for ordinary people. I, in particular, didn't choose poetry objectively. It was rather the choice of my passion."

"It's a tale that was told to me by my mother, which was also told to her by her mother and so on... the tale tells the story of a girl who went to fetch water alone and met a witch in the forest who transformed her into a supernatural creature. To be able to adapt it to my film "Reine du Guera", I had to reinvent and innovate it"

"I loved watching them on television. It was a world that made me dream. While watching them, I asked myself lots of questions, such as, why didn't the companies that make these films make them about African or Chadian tales? And in the end, I said to myself that if they did it, why not us? Especially since, in their time, they didn't have the privilege of having all these technological tools that are at our disposal today"

"Today, the last pieces were taken away from me, and I no longer sound."

"It's the part of naiveté I have left because I don't have the right to fail. A case like this is, above all, a succession of failures and disillusionments."

"I am a Protestant raised by Catholic sisters while remaining deeply Protestant. I am the voice of orphans."

"I can say that I am still a little relieved that this struggle of more than 30 years, or let's say 35 years, has come to an end. I can say that I feel a sense of relief in that regard."