It is common to hear in the media, news, public addresses, celebrations, etc. that leaders are praised so much. Often times the praises are exaggerated as compared to the performance of these leaders. It is high time we question when all this began and where it is taking us as a people. Why do we entertain it?
When injustice becomes normalized, denial of rights becomes normative as well. Then honouring the people’s due rights becomes a kind of privilege or favour. Gender-based injustice, one of the oldest forms of discrimination, has had serious impacts on the wider society. We need to respond to it as a matter of urgency and with a lot of reasonableness and wit as it touches on people’s cultures.
Every story and history has a storyteller (narrator) who oftentimes influences the story based on their point of view. As such learning one’s history as written by another, as in this case, the history of the people of Africa as written by non-African people of Europe and America, endangers the integrity of the story being told, as these groups have had a contention in the past which has left behind deep wounds.
The target of literacy promotion initiatives is the actualization of the 4th Sustainable Development Goal, which is to “Ensure inclusive and equitable education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”
When people are literate and rightly educated, the society is assured of its sustainability.
In its integral sense, when uncorrupted, education imparts the fundamental societal values of justice, dignity, mutual acceptance and inclusion which are indispensable for peaceful living.
For over 20 years, the annual World Sight Day, marked on 12th October this year, has been a tool for raising awareness of the wider nature of visual impairment, and prevention of sight problems. This advocacy is crucial as 90% of vision loss is avoidable and correctable if attended early enough.
Mental health is key to the life of the society. It is a prerequisite for physical health. Left untreated, mental health disorders and problems hinder people from relating meaningfully and retards their abilities for productive work as it hampers creativity and concentration in the work.
The elderly, according to the United Nations are among the fastest growing population, even more than that of children from 0 to 5 years of age. According to World Health Organization factsheets, in 2018 it was recorded for the first time in history that people aged 65 and above outnumbered children aged 0 to 5 years. While global healthcare adapts itself to cater for the fast-growing elderly population, society too needs to adapt to the same.
Car-Free Days are days when people do not drive private vehicles to allow cities to be free of congestion and noise and to give people a chance to walk and cycle freely. It is an incentive to cut down emissions which negatively impact health and disrupt ecosystems and the biodiversity of the planet Earth. Rwanda is an examplary country in Africa in this regard.
Gratitude is one of the high-ranked values in human society. All traditions and religious beliefs converge in the acceptance that gratitude is invaluable and indispensable. Gratitude is one of the social values that have a special commemoration day. Globally, World Gratitude Day is celebrated on 21 September every year.
Young people are influenced to be at the forefront of demonstrations, resistance campaigns, armed warfare, violations, purposed injustices, etc. In many situations, those crises would be solved if they do not participate in prolonging them.