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September 8, 2017

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Agribusiness and the African Woman

The Challenges Faced by African Women Farmers Nwankwo Miracle Ngozi Africa’s agricultural sector is experiencing a drastic change following the influx of women in the sector. Women across the continent are contributing immensely to influence crucial roles in shaping the growth of African agriculture. There is no doubt that women in Africa are key contributors to economic growth and global food security. Despite the limited access to land, inputs, assets, markets, information, and knowledge, time, decision-making, authority and income,  African women are still making waves in the agribusiness. The likes of Mme Elisabeth Atangana; a farmer by profession, has been making strides in Africa’s agricultural sector. She has been referred to as the voice of women farmers, she is also the first President of the Platform of the Pan-African Farmers Organization (PAFO) and was appointed as Special Ambassador for Cooperatives by FAO on 29 May 2012. Women’s input in…

How A Shopping Break Can Redraw the Line Between Want and Need

BY: SOPHIE BENSON

Shopping is so entrenched in our culture that the lines between want and need have become blurred. In order to keep step with the ever-quickening turnover of trends, we enter into a never-ending chase for the next new thing. We need a skirt to complement our new season shoes or a top with must-have statement sleeves. We need it to feel current, adequate and accepted.

Melissa Mark-Viverito: New York’s First Hispanic Council Speaker

Mellissa Mark-viverito is the first Hispanic woman to hold the position as speaker of the New York City Council, which is the second most powerful position in the city government after that of the mayor. She got there through a unanimous agreement after years of dedicated efforts towards activism. Mellissa was born on the 1st, of April 1969 in San Juan to a Puerto Rico parent. She grew up in Bayamón but left for New York at age 18 based on educational purposes. Born into a wealthy home, her father a medical doctor founded the renowned San Pablo Hospital in Bayamón. She schooled at the Columbia University where she earned her bachelor’s degree and also bagged a  master’s degree from Baruch College studying public administration. Before she took over the position as speaker in 2005, she had worked for many years in local activism, non-profit organizations, and labor. Mellissa served…

The Miracle Survivor

By: John Naish Sharyn Mackay and John Pattison belong to an extraordinary club – people told they have terminal cancer only for their tumours to disappear inexplicably, to the astonishment of patient and doctor alike. It’s tempting to see these stories as medical miracles. But drug companies are hard on the trail of a more rational answer – that the tumours were ‘killed off’ by the patient’s own immune system – and are developing new therapies to harness this power. Sharyn knew there was something wrong when she began suffering pain in the right side of her stomach in April 2003. She was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour on her kidney, which proved so rare that the doctors at Craigavon Area Hospital in Northern Ireland sent samples of it for examination by specialists in London, Glasgow, and Harvard. Sharyn Mackay with husband William and daughter Olivia. ‘I wasn’t going…