Beating Corona Heroes
L. Nneka Mobisson
Nneka is co-founder and CEO of mDoc, a digital health enterprise which integrates proven methodologies in quality improvement, data and behavioral science with technology to support people in sub-Saharan Africa to manage their chronic health needs.
Nneka and her team provided medical supplies for hospitals to operate safely during COVID. They also provided pregnancy delivery kits/PPEs to pregnant women during the COVID -19 pandemic.
Michael Munene | Kenya
Tagged #LandlordoftheYear2020 on twitter earlier this year, set up his rooms as a landlord to serve as quarantine and sick bay in case of infections.
Hamelmal Abata | Ethopia
An Ethiopian pop star donated a villa for use by people who have to go into quarantine.
Fashion House | Libya
Fashion House, A Libyan fashion label switched from making chic garments to medical gowns. Six women sewing scrubs for doctors and nurses at Fashion House’s clothing factory in Libya’s capital, Tripoli.
They all volunteered for the work and even slept in the factory.
Dr. Busola Ayelowo
Busola is a doctor currently at the frontline in Lagos, Nigeria. She has treated several Covid-19 patients, runs a mobile clinic (Medics2Go) which provides healthcare to those who can’t make it to the hospital whilst educating the community on issues affecting day to day Nigerians.
Aisha Umar Tofa
Aisha has developed an app for self-assessment of the virus, tracing of contacts and alerting users if they have been in contact with a confirmed case. She has also founded the baby bank initiative that is providing baby essentials for families in need with diapers and baby food. She has also been educating people in remote areas on how to protect themselves from the virus.
The app has over 1500 downloads, people are being tested after their self-assessment result is sent to the ministry of health via the app, contact tracing has increased, families are getting baby food during this time of need, people are able to protect themselves because of their work.
Aisha is the founder of startup Kano, a Global shaper, Tedx speaker and a communication specialist. She is 26 and from Kano state.
L. Nneka Mobisson
Nneka is co-founder and CEO of mDoc, a digital health enterprise which integrates proven methodologies in quality improvement, data and behavioral science with technology to support people in sub-Saharan Africa to manage their chronic health needs. Nneka and her team provided medical supplies for hospitals to operate safely during COVID. They also provided pregnancy delivery kits/PPEs to pregnant women during the COVID -19 pandemic.
Michael Munene | Kenya
Tagged #LandlordoftheYear2020 on twitter earlier this year, set up his rooms as a landlord to serve as quarantine and sick bay in case of infections.
Hamelmal Abata | Ethopia
An Ethiopian pop star donated a villa for use by people who have to go into quarantine.
Fashion House | Libya
Fashion House, A Libyan fashion label switched from making chic garments to medical gowns. Six women sewing scrubs for doctors and nurses at Fashion House’s clothing factory in Libya’s capital, Tripoli. They all volunteered for the work and even slept in the factory.
Dr. Busola Ayelowo
Busola is a doctor currently at the frontline in Lagos, Nigeria. She has treated several Covid-19 patients, runs a mobile clinic (Medics2Go) which provides healthcare to those who can’t make it to the hospital whilst educating the community on issues affecting day to day Nigerians.
Aisha Umar Tofa
Aisha has developed an app for self-assessment of the virus, tracing of contacts and alerting users if they have been in contact with a confirmed case. She has also founded the baby bank initiative that is providing baby essentials for families in need with diapers and baby food. She has also been educating people in remote areas on how to protect themselves from the virus. The app has over 1500 downloads, people are being tested after their self-assessment result is sent to the ministry of health via the app, contact tracing has increased, families are getting baby food during this time of need, people are able to protect themselves because of their work. Aisha is the founder of startup Kano, a Global shaper, Tedx speaker and a communication specialist. She is 26 and from Kano state.
L. Nneka Mobisson
Nneka is co-founder and CEO of mDoc, a digital health enterprise which integrates proven methodologies in quality improvement, data and behavioral science with technology to support people in sub-Saharan Africa to manage their chronic health needs.
Nneka and her team provided medical supplies for hospitals to operate safely during COVID. They also provided pregnancy delivery kits/PPEs to pregnant women during the COVID -19 pandemic.
Michael Munene | Kenya
Tagged #LandlordoftheYear2020 on twitter earlier this year, set up his rooms as a landlord to serve as quarantine and sick bay in case of infections.
Hamelmal Abata | Ethopia
An Ethiopian pop star donated a villa for use by people who have to go into quarantine.
Fashion House | Libya
Fashion House, A Libyan fashion label switched from making chic garments to medical gowns. Six women sewing scrubs for doctors and nurses at Fashion House’s clothing factory in Libya’s capital, Tripoli.
They all volunteered for the work and even slept in the factory.
Dr Busola Ayelowo
Busola is a doctor currently at the frontline in Lagos, Nigeria. She has treated several Covid-19 patients, runs a mobile clinic (Medics2Go) which provides healthcare to those who can’t make it to the hospital whilst educating the community on issues affecting day to day Nigerians.
Aisha Umar Tofa
Aisha has developed an app for self-assessment of the virus, tracing of contacts and alerting users if they have been in contact with a confirmed case. She has also founded the baby bank initiative that is providing baby essentials for families in need with diapers and baby food. She has also been educating people in remote areas on how to protect themselves from the virus.
The app has over 1500 downloads, people are being tested after their self-assessment result is sent to the ministry of health via the app, contact tracing has increased, families are getting baby food during this time of need, people are able to protect themselves because of their work.
Aisha is the founder of startup Kano, a Global shaper, Tedx speaker and a communication specialist. She is 26 and from Kano state.
Dr. Marie Belizaire | Central African Republic
Marie is an epidemiologist, and public health specialist from Haiti who has responded to disease outbreaks including Yellow Fever, Dengue, Ebola and now COVID-19 all over Africa.
She worked amid violence and insecurity in the Central African Republic to contain COVID-19.
Ismael & Barikama Cooperative | Somalia
Farming entrepreneur from Benin. During the COVID-19 lockdown, Barikama members decided to help people in lockdown by delivering food packages.
Providing healthy food for the community’s most vulnerable, like elderly people and people with disabilities, is what motivates Ismael and his business partners.
Madukwe Obioma
She is a nurse, working in a community hospital managed by Enugu state Government in Nigeria. In this era of covid-19, she has effortlessly dedicated her duty to make sure that patients with the symptoms are managed properly whilst sending results for investigations and contact tracing.
Obioma also started campaigns to sensitize people about the virus and how to prevent it.
Mayowa Adegbile
She has been providing Food Palliative Support to widows, senior citizens, teachers and underserved children in Abuja. Her organization, Ashake Foundation has been on the frontline since the lock down to ensure that over 2000 folks in Abuja do not go to bed in hunger.
Since this lockdown, she has worked with very little volunteer base to ensure she enters the cronies to provide such palliative. She visited over 10 communities, provided food palliative to over 450 households, provided free nose masks.
Kalkidan Gizaw | Nurse in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Kalkidan started working as a nurse in rural areas before moving to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to work in a district health center as a junior nurse. Following several promotions, she now manages the Emergency Coordination Unit and loves her job.
Kalkidan works on prenatal, neonatal and postnatal care, and runs a vaccination programme for infants and children. When COVID-19 hit, many mothers did not want to leave home to give birth, so Kalkidan established a team to spread awareness among pregnant women in the community to convince them to come in for check-ups and immunizations.
Andrew Amedu
COVID-19 Stimulus Campaign, an initiative of Veritas Vision Social Initiative lead by Andrew Amedu provided food supplies, sanitary products to communities in Lagos.
Fauziyah Adegeye
She is a public school teacher with Ebenezer Primary School, Ifako-Ijaiye, Lagos who teaches English language, however she took initiative to hold online classes when the COVID 19 Pandemic forced the closure of her school and 9,000 other schools nationwide.
She went beyond the call of duty to use her personal resources and initiative to organize free online classes in English Language for children in Primary 1- 6, all over the nation. She engaged kids remotely in teaching English Language through a Facebook page she created and took each level of class daily for 2-3 hour sessions for six days of the week, from the inception of the Lockdown.
Several kids who had no access to their various classrooms and schools across varying levels of the Primary School classes, were able to improve the English Language by her value adding remote engagement. Despite most of the kids being unknown to her and not her direct students in the public school she teaches, the kids looked forward to her classes across the primary classes which helped to improve their English language and keep up their knowledge during the lockdown.
Freweini Mebrahtu | Kenya
Mebrahtu’s factory normally manufactures reusable menstrual pads for girls in Ethiopia, allowing them to stay in school. However, Mebrahtu has been working to manufacture masks and get them into the hands of those who need them most. They did this for over 50,000 people.
She and her team distribute the masks along the main thoroughfare of Mekelle, a capital city in northern Ethiopia. Many women sell fruit and vegetables on this street and are in contact with people all day long, making masks essential for their safety.
To that end, she also speaks out to the public about the importance of masks and social distance. She is also the 2019 CNN Hero of the Year.
Umra Omar | Kenya
Umra Omar, 2016 CNN Hero saw the pandemic struggles firsthand. She and her nonprofit, Safari Doctors, travel by air, sea and land to bring free medical care to people living along the country’s remote coastline. Omar and her team began creating social distancing measures, added wash stations at clinics and shared extra protective gear. They also spread crucial awareness throughout the community.
They also thrived in correcting the miscommunications of the virus in these rural societies.
Abdulbaki Aliyu Jari
Jari, during the pandemic shared daily updates on safeguarding oneself. He ensured he delivered daily briefings and daily one minute enlightenment video with BBC Hausa service in Hausa language to millions of Hausa speakers in Nigeria and across West Africa.
Because his enlightenment in Hausa language has reached tens of millions of people in Nigeria. Especially in northern Nigeria where many people did not believe in the virus. His videos are shared by Farinwata TV, Liberty TV and more than a dozen other states across northern Nigeria. Abdulbaki Jari is currently a video producer with BBC Hausa service.
They also thrived in correcting the miscommunications of the virus in these rural societies.
Abimbola Ajala
Abimbola Ajala through her NGO has been able to reach out to families in Lagos and Ibadan with food supplies even before the lock down started. She visits slums, has conversations with them on how they can stay safe as well as provide basic food stuff for families. She shares direct first-hand information on how people can reach in case of any emergency.
Abimbola is 29 years old, lives in Lagos and she is the Executive Director of lahafrica, a NGO that seeks to reach out to children in local communities to provide Education support to them.
They also thrived in correcting the miscommunications of the virus in these rural societies.
Dr. Georges Bwelle | Cameroon
In Cameroon, 2013 CNN Hero Dr. Georges Bwelle and his nonprofit, ASCOVIME, bring free medical and surgical clinics to hundreds of thousands of people in rural villages. But when Covid-19 hit, Bwelle and his team knew it was unsafe for crowds to gather for their clinics. So, they found new ways to keep their fellow Cameroonians healthy — by providing supplies, protective gear and knowledge.
Their kits contain essential items such as hand sanitizer, soap, masks and food. To date, the group has distributed them to 35,000 people and 7,000 health care workers all over Cameroon.
The organization focuses on getting kits to the most vulnerable, including those living in orphanages and nursing homes and internationally displaced people.
Dr. Folakemi Ezenwanne
She volunteers as a doctor at the Eti-Osa Isolation Centre, Lagos State where she is involved with a team of other doctors, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists and lab scientists, in the case management of Covid-19.
They run 8-12 hour shifts where they deal with the management of the disease, its complications and co-existing morbidities as seen in some of their patients.
She’s also actively involved with ongoing covid-19 research work at her isolation Centre.
Additionally, she finds time to create content on social media to enlighten more people about the reality of this deadly virus, especially because some people still didn’t believe the virus is real while others believe the numbers put out by the NCDC are being made up. She decided to represent the healthcare workers as a face so that her message is more relatable.
Helina Gbadegesin
Helina, known as Cheflinaa on Instagram is a professional chef who volunteered to cook and feed 5,000 less privileged people in her community during the covid-19 pandemic.
Bamiduro Oluwabukola
Her NGO helped share relief materials to over 500 people in rural areas of Lagos .Police stations and traditional rulers were not left out, she and her NGO extended kindness to the old people’s homes. They also shared protective materials such as hand sanitizers and face masks.
Nelson Kwaje | South Sudan
Tackling misinformation on COVID-19. During this dangerous time of uncertainty, misinformation about the coronavirus can cost lives. Nelson Kwaje, a 28-year old young man with a background in tech and peace-building, has made this one of his missions.
Nelson helped to initiate the #211CHECK collective, which is a digital community of youth working in various fields who collaborate to fight misinformation and raise awareness on coronavirus prevention and protection, using the #COVID19SS hashtag. Their work exposes false facts, disputed and unfounded remedies or cures, doctored images and any and all pieces of information that could confuse and mislead the public.
Christian Achaleke | Cameroon
When the first cases of coronavirus were discovered in Cameroon, 26-year old Christian Achaleke, who works in development, realized that the state had not set up contingencies for containment and management, and decided to do something about it. Starting with his own office, he asked a colleague in charge of logistics to buy hand sanitizer, but she could only find some at double the usual price so they could only afford one. Shortly after, Christian saw a news report about a doctor and his daughter were able to produce homemade hand sanitizer using the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recipe.
He and his officemates then went to buy ingredients, followed the WHO recipe, and tested the mixture. They then devised a plan to launch a campaign to offer hand sanitizer to people on the streets, while also engaging people to be aware of the risks surrounding the spread of the virus. To get the project going, they decided to cancel their annual retreat and dip into their salaries.
Their main vision was to engage young people to act responsibly and spread correct information, and to help people follow the preventive measures, which had become prohibitively expensive. He reached out to medical and development professionals throughout the country to help him develop this idea, which became the “1 Person 1 Hand Sanitizer” Campaign. He moved his project into a laboratory and engaged pharmacists, doctors, sanitation engineers and nurses to help. Although the actual sanitizer is key, Christian wants to make sure that the labelling and distribution team emphasize awareness-raising in order to encourage individuals to follow WHO’s recommendations to curb the spread of the virus. They are helping people to clean their hands, and to clear away misinformation that can cost lives.
Adepeju Olukokun
Adepeju Olukokun with the Kokun Foundation gave out money, food, food items, and shelters for people to thousands of people in Ajegunle, Lagos Nigeria including widows, elderly ones, children and mothers. Kokun’s generosity has empowered people even in the face of fear and uncertainty that came with the covid-19 outbreak.
Toyin Benjamin
She contributed to the fight against coronavirus with her energy, time and culinary skills, spending her days feeding about 2000 people. She did this by sharing food with people in less-privileged communities.
Uchendu Ijeoma
Ijeoma is a nurse in the isolation centre at Etiosa, Lagos Nigeria. She volunteered to join in the fight against COVID19 to treat covid-19 patients. Taking it upon herself to care of those who had been infected with the mindset that they also have the chance to live and not die as a result of the virus.
Jubrel Naser
Jubrel distributed water tap buckets and hand wash, sanitizer to over 10 wards alone, he distributed food stuff to less privileged people during the lockdown, also he engaged himself in almajiris repartition to their state of origin enforced by Northern Nigerian governors in order to reduce the spread of Covid-19 among almajiris.
Wevyn Muganda and Suhayl Omar | Kenya
Mutual Aid Kenya, a grassroot and community-focused disaster relief organization and social movement. Based on the concept of mutual aid, which relies on communities working together to ensure each other’s well-being, Wevyn Muganda, an activist and writer, and Suhayl Omar, a community organizer, journalist and student, founded Mutual Aid Kenya to provide aid to vulnerable people who are not properly assisted by government systems.
When the first case of COVID-19 was discovered in Kenya, Wevyn began engaging in digital advocacy, making sure that her fellow Kenyans were well informed of the potential risks and solutions. When it became more apparent that several members of the population were ill-prepared and ill-supported, she and Suhayl knew they had to do more, and the two began working together, leading to the creation of Mutual Aid Kenya.
Ndlovu Youth Choir | South Africa
Using entertainment to raise awareness. The arts may seem like a luxury at a time of crisis when, in fact, performances can be part of the solution. Some young people have used their creative talents to support the COVID-19 response. The novel nature of the virus has caused a spread of speculation and unverified information regarding the virus’ spread, symptoms and potential treatments. The Ndlovu Youth Choir, a South African youth choir known for reaching the finale of America’s Got Talent last year, composed, performed and filmed a musical rendition of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) coronavirus safety advice. Featuring translations of certain key points in various South African languages, the choir composed this song to ensure that the various communities in their country were well informed and safe during the spread of this outbreak. The video, posted on Twitter, was even shared by Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s Secretary-General!
Tolani Odukoya
Since the inception of the COVID__19 pandemic Tolani has been working/volunteering relentlessly at the frontline of the pandemic in Lagos, Nigeria as one of the COVID_19 response and case management team lead.
Tolani is a 22year old Medical student at the Lagos State University College of Medicine, Lagos, Nigeria.
Isaac Success
Since 29th of March 2020, through his NGO @dreamsfromtheslum Isaac has reignited hope in so many living in Ajegunle of Ajeromi Ifelodun LGA a feat he reached through his humanitarian works in the community. So far, over 40,000 packs of cooked food has been served in the community and so many families have received palliative that has been sustaining them through this period of coronavirus pandemic.
He has distributed over one thousand nose masks in the Ajegunle Community of Ajeromi Ifelodun Local Government Area.
Chinedum Victor
Chinedum, a pharmacist in Eti-Osa L.G.A ensured to be available 24/7 at the pharmacy throughout the pandemic to attend to the community’s pharmaceutical needs. He also ensured people have their medications delivered to their door steps. Chinedum also helped to sensitize the community on preventive measures against the virus.
Eden Benibo
Eden used the power of storytelling to create a huge positive impact in the seemingly hopeless situation that came with the pandemic.
Eden’s work started from a simple conversation with a friend who was depressed at the time. She discovered that by simply paying attention, giving a listening ear and also sharing her own story, her friend was ready to ‘live’ again. She discovered the power of hearing and being heard in a world full of noise. When the Lockdown was announced the number of this similar cases increased among her friends and relatives and this birthed the idea of the ‘LOCKDOWN STORY ANTHOLOGY’
With this, Eden put out a call for people to share their stories. These stories helped to relieve the fear and anxiety that came with the pandemic.
Dr.Hafiz Mukhtar Musa
He has participated and organized so many programs to sensitize people on corona virus, organized awareness campaigns programs from grassroots level .He has reached out to almajiri schools being vulnerable to the infection.
Campaign programs via freedom Radio-Jigawa.
Sensitization to women at Fika local govovernment, Yobe.
Distributions of palliatives and protective gadgets to orphanage homes in Damaturu.
His work has impacted so many lives, especially the vulnerable. Reaching out to 5000 almajiris among which mostly were in the stage of doubting coronavirus existence .They were sensitized on signs, symptoms and precautionary measures.
Media campaigns by sponsoring flyers, bills and advert in local language have touched thousands of people.
He has developed a self-assessment tool for coronavirus which has impacted scores of societies in general.
Stephen Wamukota | Kenya
Nine-year-old Kenyan schoolboy Stephen Wamukota invented a wooden hand-washing machine to help curb the spread of coronavirus.
The machine allows users to tip a bucket of water to wash their hands by using a foot pedal. This helps users avoid touching surfaces to reduce the risk of infection.
Stephen was given a presidential award in June.
Natalie Raphil | South Africa
Natalie Raphil is the founder of Artificial Intelligence Company Robots Can Think South Africa.
She’s using 3D printers to produce 100 masks a day for use in some of Johannesburg’s major hospitals.
Richard Kwarteng & Jude Osei | Ghana
Amid a lockdown in Ghana aimed at curbing the spread of Covid-19, shoemaker Richard Kwarteng and his brother Jude Osei decided to design a solar-powered hand-washing basin.
When hands come into contact with a sensor on the device, soapy water is automatically released. An alarm goes off after 25 seconds of hand-washing – within the timescale recommended by the World Health Organization.
Danson Wanjohi | Kenya
Kenyan mobile money agent Danson Wanjohi has built a wooden device that sanitizes cash notes that are passed through a slot in the machine.
Wanjohi constructed the mechanism using a motor, a rubber band and gears which enable notes to pass through the machine.
As the notes pass through the device, they are cleaned with a sanitizing solution.
Adefare Tomisin Elizabeth
Tomisin sensitized market users at two major markets in Ibadan, Oyo state on precautionary measures of covid-19, donated hand wash, sanitizer, nose mask and hand glove to 300 market users, she donated hand wash, tap bucket and hand sanitizer to the two markets. She made banners with the preventive measures of covid-19 on it in their local language together with hotlines to call in case of emergency.
She organized a virtual Agricultural Mentorship programme for 300 youths across Africa aspiring to be a farmer. Some of the participants have been helped with farm set up and they have started their businesses.
She organized a community garden project where she taught 67children in a rural community how to grow basic foods such as vegetables and crops. The project is providing weekly vegetables to 50households.
Adeola Ojeleye
Adeola Ojeleye is a teacher who has been providing cash and food items to teachers whose salaries have been affected by the covid-19 Pandemic.
She is a teacher who is also supporting teachers from her salary and fundraising. She has also been able to secure online jobs for teachers and other jobs outside the teaching industry. .
Ajibola Babalola
Ajibola Babalola started the Learn with Notebooks Project on the 9th May, 2020. The project is aimed at promoting continuous learning at home by providing ten thousand Notebooks and Pencils/Pens to indigent Children in her community- Ikorodu,Lagos Nigeria. So far, she and her team have distributed 2,889 notebooks, over 2,084 pencils and 150 pens to children in their homes.
The project is also aimed at supporting the parents of these children who are in search of their daily meal, which may lead to a neglecting the children’s education.
Ajibola Babalola and her team are unrelenting in their quest to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 which is focused on Quality Education even in the pandemic. Ajibola Babalola is not only providing Notebooks for Children in her community during this period of the covid pandemic but she also started an online hub called Academic Excellence Hub. The hub was created on the 2nd of April, 2020 to provide FREE training on Academic Excellence and Personal Development training to teenagers during this period of the global pandemic. So far she has trained over Two hundred teenagers spread across five geo-political zones of Nigeria, United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.
Daniel Ndima & Dineo Lioma | South Africa
South African tech entrepreneurs Daniel Ndima and Dineo Lioma have created a Covid-19 testing kit which provides results in just 65 minutes.
Typically, it can take up to three days or way more for Covid-19 tests to produce results.
The testing kit is known as qPCR, and features a technology used to measure DNA.
Nokulunga Mnisi | South Africa
She’s a crisis counsellor at ChildLine South Africa, a non-profit organization that provides a 24-hour toll-free telephone counselling service. Since South Africa’s nationwide COVID-19 lockdown began, the call center she works at in Mpumalanga province has experienced an increase in calls. Nokulunga says children and young people are experiencing emotional and mental stress.
But Nokulunga has also seen the community pull together during this worrying time. Neighbours are looking out for each other, and some called in about suspected abuse cases.
Bhelekazi Mdlalose, contact tracer | South Africa
Bhelekazi Mdlalose is a forensic nurse who has now become a contact tracer for COVID-19 in Gauteng. Part of Bhelekazi’s work was to work with victims of SGBV in Rustenburg, now she interviews patients who are confirmed to have COVID-19 and tries to find out who they were in contact with to test those people and curb the spread of COVID-19.
Darlington Ahiale Akogo | Ghana
Darlington Ahiale Akogo, Founder and Director of Artificial Intelligence at GUDRA, and its subsidiaries, has been making some innovations in this regard.
Based in Ghana, Akogo, with a team of 20 persons, has built a comprehensive real-time tracker of COVID-19 cases across Africa. This will provide policymakers and relevant parties with real-time information to track the spread of the virus and help them plan efficient interventions like drug and medical supply distribution, as well as social distancing measures.
Zion Oshiobugie Okpo
Zion Oshiobugie and his foundation, Clever Minds has worked to breach the learning gap caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown in poor, vulnerable and slum communities in Delta State. They initiated the Community Mentoring Project (this project educates, feeds, and gives sanitary items to orphans, vulnerable, underprivileged and poor children in the most rural parts of Warri, Delta State with learning aids) and the Covid Kind Project which provides food and sanitary items to low income families impacted by the coronavirus pandemic/lockdown.
Clever Minds Educational has gotten over 750 children educated on the need to wash their hands and maintain good hygiene, the impact of coronavirus, morals, values and basic reading ethics they would not have gotten. The Clever Minds educational foundation has also helped over 400 low income families get regular food supplies and sanitary items including face masks during this period of the coronavirus pandemic.
Oluwafunke Adeoye
Funke is a lawyer and social entrepreneur. She’s the founder of Hope behind Bars Africa a non-profit organization with a mission of being a beacon of hope to the incarcerated and a voice for criminal justice reforms using action, advocacy and education.
Funke through her organization began to call for decongestion of prison to protect the inmates. She further called for the government to implement guidelines that would stop the spread of covid into prison. After the correctional service issued the guidelines, Funke through her organization joined forces with other prison rights advocates to make sure that the government decongest prison. As at today, over 3000 deserving inmates have been released due to this advocacy which impacted on the government’s swiftness. Particularly, 5 of Hope behind Bars Africa indigent awaiting trial inmates were released from Oko prison, Edo state due to the direct advocacy efforts of her organization with the Edo state judiciary.
Partnering with Youthrise Nigeria, they donated sanitary items and COVID 19 IEC materials to inmates of Oko prison, Edo state.
Partnering with Leap Africa, Citi and Dow Chemical they also donated food items, sanitary items and several other palliatives to inmates and officers of Keffi prison.
They donated cash stipends and bags of rice to some of their ex-clients who were finding it hard to adjust back to society in the midst of the COVID 19.
Through her, the donation of COVID 19 IEC materials to prison over 2500 inmates including officers was made and passers-by were better informed about the virus in the indigenous language, the donation of face masks to 40 officers in Oko and Keffi prison, donation of sanitary items based on the inmates needs and donation of food items. Over 300 inmates benefited from this.
Kaporal wisdom, 32 | Togo
Organized awareness programs for people in rural communities for covid-19 and the measures to put in place. Furthermore, he shared PPEs, food items and etc.
Karen Hendrickson | Accra, Ghana
She launched a telemedicine initiative to deliver care during the lockdown. It was a very innovative solution including a mobile lab and a mobile pharmacy to ensure that patients still could receive care from the comfort and safety of their homes. In addition, she led the company to donate over 10,000 PPEs to public hospitals in Ghana, arguing that we are all in this together and must ensure that our frontline workers especially the doctors and nurses are well protected.
Usim Abel
He is the founder of Youth Empowerment and Growth Initiative (YEGI) an organization which is focused on making Nigeria a Beggar Free Nation.
During the covid-19 pandemic Abel and his team through the FEED AJEGUNLE PROJECT distributed relief materials to over 2380 families and fed 500 children with the support of individuals and other organizations to over 15 communities.
This project has helped the community during this pandemic.
Currently, Abel sponsors children of the less privileged to school through the #Street2School project.
Thelma Chalwe, 27 – Kitwe, Zambia
Thelma Chalwe has been working as a volunteer to ensure young people including those with disabilities have access to all health services without any barriers. She has been working as a community based distributor for contraceptives and other health care services.
Since the coronavirus came to Zambia Thelma has been working hard to insure that the vulnerable and those with disabilities are protected by looking for funds and distributing facemasks, hand sanitizers to them and sensitive them on the importance of social distance and all the information about covid she has also done some videos in sign language to make sure no one is left behind.
More than 500 people with disabilities have facemasks, hand sanitizers and some food stuffs that she requested for them through the office of the member parliament, local government and other companies.
Michel Kanamugire | Rwanda
Michel ensured to give information about coronavirus preventive and protective measures as per guidelines and protocols outlined by health authorities.
Wear a face mask, wash your hands regularly and ensure social distancing, Kanamugire tells shoppers and vendors.
Kanamugire is the leader one of more than 800 youth volunteers stationed on Kigali streets, market entrances, bus parks and bus stops to educate Rwandans about health guidelines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Eco Clean Active Initiative
They distributed safety materials against covid-19 in the most vulnerable part of every community and yet most neglected as well. That is, IDP camp. The IDP camp is situated at Yola South local government of Adamawa state in Nigeria. They (the IDPs) were provided with protective material against coronavirus. The materials include: Hand sanitizers, face masks, liquid soap and tap cans to protect themselves against the virus, the way any other capable person is doing.
The residents of the IDP Camps, though living in a sacred part of the community, but they interact with people in the outer space of the community, so if they weren’t protected against the virus is tantamount to exposing the whole community to the virus.
Label Mamzi | Egypt
Mamzi dedicated her latest collections to the doctors and nurses bravely fighting on the pandemic frontlines. All profits from the sales of these designs were donated to the foundation’s Cairo-based hospitals, which are still working tirelessly to treat incoming coronavirus patients.
Youssef Kamel | Egypt
Youssef Kamel, 21, is the Egyptian student at the University of Oklahoma who has personally raised US$1,500 from 26 donations to help other international students affected by the coronavirus.
Joseph Hammond | Ghana
A 95-year-old Ghanaian World War II veteran walked 23 kilometres (14 miles) in one week to raise funds for healthcare workers fighting the coronavirus pandemic in Africa.
Joseph Hammond logged 3.2 kilometres (two miles) each day to reach his target on Africa Day earlier this week in Ghana’s capital, Accra. As at 21st of May, 2020, he had raised almost $26,000.
Niniola Williams
Leading DRASA, she has been working with health authorities in Lagos on emergency preparedness operations since January 2020 in anticipation of the arrival of the first COVID-19 case. Her focus has been on building the capacity of the people that make up our health system – the workforce – because without properly trained health workers and satisfactory health facilities, Nigeria’s COVID-19 response would be inadequate, resulting in increased illness and mortality. She has trained and equipped all cadres of frontline healthcare workers on Infection Prevention and Control (IPC); assessed the construction, renovation and set up of more than 35 isolation and quarantine facilities; worked with the team to develop guidelines and standard operating procedures for these facilities; and monitored IPC practices in treatment centers all around Lagos, often working 7 days a week.
She has also provided remote support to 4 other states in their efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19. In addition, as lockdowns ease and other sectors begin to reopen for business, she has expanded her reach to support the hospitality industry, aviation industry, and education sector.
Her work helps ensure Nigeria can quickly identify, contain, and properly treat COVID-19 patients.
Helen Ogundimu
Helen is medical personnel who has worked tirelessly and fearlessly during the covid-19 pandemic and has also aided the quality of research of the virus, working with several laboratories and research centres on suppressing the virus amongst the large population.
Thabang Seleke | Soweto, South Africa
Scientists around the world are racing to develop a coronavirus vaccine. There are more than 150 vaccine candidates in development and dozens of trials underway. All these trials need volunteers willing to step forward and help test whether the vaccine is effective and safe. One of those volunteers is Thabang Seleke from Soweto, South Africa.
Thabang is participating in the first African trial of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 coronavirus vaccine, which was developed by the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford.
Dr Benbetka Chahrazed | Algeria
A virologist from Algeria is a hero of covid as she and her colleagues have continued
sample collection, transportation and analysis of laboratory samples leading to detection and fighting measures of the coronavirus.
Gift Omodiale
The Local Language Support Initiative Covid-19 project was launched in response to the wave of unconfirmed as well as misinformation which followed the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Her team has successfully and accurately translated information about the pandemic into 7 Local Nigerian Languages. They have also created videos and Infographics using these translations.
The objective of her work is to raise awareness and provide verified information about the pandemic, the symptoms, and preventive measures and how to seek help for the purpose of those with a limited understanding of English Language.”
“So far, the Local Language Support Initiative has helped non-English speaking people in the country become aware of the pandemic. Leveraging on social media and word of mouth mostly, the project has empowered people with knowledge on preventive and corrective measures to employ against the virus.
The project has successfully translated information about Covid-19 into Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Ibibio, Bini, Pidgin English and counting.”
Muhammad Yakubu Bubayaro
Muhammad brought up an idea of taking these perishables foodstuffs to the doors of the residents of Lagos and the neighborhoods.
He initiated the Emergency Response Mile 12 Mobile Market, to support the stay at home order to prevent the spread of COVID -19.
He, therefore, provides an online home delivery by updating the existing website of Mile 12 Int’l Market and providing WhatsApp contact for instant order.
A phone – in call created for the benefit of those who cannot use the internet.
By so doing millions of people found it so easy to obey the directives of staying at home order. And avoided the possible damage of the perishables food items.
Adamu Tayachew | Ethiopia
Researcher, laboratory technician, Ethiopia.
Helped to make the laboratories capable of detecting COVID-19. Communicating with partners to obtain reagents, supplies and equipment for covid tests and medications.
Julius Oloiboni | Kenya
Julius is a community leader in a town in Kenya with huge susceptibility to the coronavirus. Despite the heavyweight duties, he took an extra mile in sharing sanitizers, face masks, food items while conducting awareness activities about the virus across the town.
Ahmed Hassan Kulmiye | Somalia
A 31-year-old nurse and father of three, works at Martini Hospital’s COVID-19 isolation center in Mogadishu. He worked his regular shift as his wife and his three children celebrated Eid at home sacrificing to ensure covid patients’ recovery are well looked after.
AbdulSalam Temitope
He is the head volunteer at Fidelity Foundation in Kwara State.
Fidelity Foundation is providing food, clothes, nose mask, face shield, hand sanitizers etc. for people in Kwara Hope orphanage home, Idofian, Kwara state.
Omata David Omakoji
As the Program Coordinator piloting the affairs for Project COACH Foundation, Mr David Omata developed livelihood projects to help improve the quality of life for marginalized people by providing them with access to funding for their businesses, health care, livelihood opportunity and protection thereby giving them hope to constructively contribute to their communities and survive post covid challenges
Despite the risk involved in reaching most of these communities, Mr. David led the team on several occasions going through the forest, using the ferry to cross their vehicles without life jackets and climbing the canoe before they could access these communities. The link to one of his trips
Some of his accomplished projects are as follows
Empowering over 100 micro business owners in Patigi LGA Kwara State with 10,000 each. The fund enabled them reestablish their small businesses after the lockdown due to COVID 19.
Coordination and payment for more than 40 applicants to get trained and certified for the CBN/AGMEIS loan and development of business plans for them. The applicants were already successfully scheduled for an interview with NIRSAL microfinance bank to consider disbursing their funds. Each person would access up to 10,000,000 naira depending on their nature of business.
He also coordinated the project that successfully guided and registered 24 persons who benefited up to 1,000,000 naira each from the NIRSAL/CBN COVID-19 loans.
Sheriff Sanni
Sheriff is the founder of Feed the Kids Nigeria. An initiative feeding children and vulnerable families in Lagos, Abuja and Kwara. During the pandemic, Sheriff and his team share PPE equipment including face masks, hand sanitizers, etc. along with food items and more to the people.
Fardowso Mohamed Hassan | Somalia
A 27-year-old nurse was on duty at the isolation center and marked Eid away from her husband. She helped covid infected patients gain access to treatment even at that time, and also looked after their recovery.
Charles Kabogozza | Uganda
Charles started to work with the district’s Local Government in Hoima where he was appointed as a member of the covid-19 district taskforce, specifically the psycho-social committee and risk communication committee. The committees were tasked to develop messages and create awareness in the communities about the Coronavirus – to help them understand the situation and how to guard themselves against the virus and he did that very well as the community records no case of covid at all.
With people becoming more aware of what is at stake, Charles and the team went from house to house making sure that even those who did not have radio and may not have received any information heard the message.
Sandra Tshisa | South Africa
The Sunday Times in June, after receiving numerous nominations across South Africa, crowned Sandra Tshisa as their Lockdown Heroes winner, who worked hard to feed as many of the local children she could that were going hungry. Sandra shared food items to children and their families in her hometown, Khayelitsha during the lockdown.
Blessing Akpe
During the lockdown, she distributed food and sanitation items to underprivileged families in Lagos and Delta state to help combat the corona virus and the hunger challenges that came with the lockdown.
Over 150 families received food palliatives and over 300 received sanitation gears including sanitizers, nose masks, and soaps.
Initiative for Transformative Change and Development (ITRAC)
Initiative for Transformative Change and Development (ITRAC) is supplying food, sanitary towels, hand sanitizers and face masks to vulnerable groups in Niger especially girls, single mothers, widows and their families.
Saphira Global Center
COVID 19 Food Drive, Saphira Global Center for Social Development is providing food and sanitary pads for people in Plateau – Zarmaganda, Alheri community Zaria Road, Tudun Wada.
Kehinde Adebiyi
Kehinde has been engaged in a campaign tagged In Mothers Tongue where he led the team to concisely explained the needed preventive measures for reducing the spread of the virus in Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Pidgin and English. More so, he has been leading the student response towards rising at this time by engaging over 10,000 students in various sessions on capacity buildings, SDGs training, project implementation and ultimately preparing them for the new normal. Through his role as a YouthLead Peer Advisor, he has aided the organization of Youth-Led Act of Good Campaign across four countries for weeks on managing the Coronavirus pandemic across various sectors.
Victor Ugo
Mentally Aware Nigeria is supporting anyone across the country who needs mental health support during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tameka Mngomezulu | South Africa
Randburg resident Tameka Mngomezulu and her cousins had wanted to support struggling communities for some time, and then the coronavirus pandemic struck.
Though now unemployed herself, Mngomezulu contributed what money she could, and from the start of May the cousins started visiting Alexandra, Vosloorus, Soweto and Katlehong to distribute care packages costing them about R100 per package to put together. They asked people for donations and used our own contributions, and we fed just under 200 families.
Clive Pillay | South Africa
A community activist working with the Nelson Mandela Community Youth Centre in Chatsworth, KwaZulu-Natal. The youth centre formed a coronavirus action committee to supply the community with personal protective equipment such as masks, sanitiser and gloves. It also organised lessons for children to prevent a total loss of the school year while schools were shut. These lessons are aired on a local station, Radio Hindvani, on weekday evenings, mostly aimed at grade 12 students.
360 Degree Health Network
They developed a framework that could accommodate over 5000 healthcare professionals by providing PPEs and training to help protect the front liners, thereby making the hospital safe for other patients.
They also helped to provide hospitals and other health facilities with free medical supplies through the production of a protective face shields; a prototype of the Bloc Face Shield (a Personal Protective Equipment), a non-woven locally manufactured face mask and other protective wears including aprons and gloves for health care workers working in close contact with COVID-19 patients, to prevent disease spread during high-risk procedures such as intubations in the frontline to tackle and contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
Micheal Erhayanmen
When covid started, Michael’s community, still almost went about normal duties with careless abandon just because of lack of information and it was apparent that the majority were going to be infected due to ignorance and negligence. This was what prompted Michael Erhayanmen to organize the OWAN WEST VOLUNTEERS FOR COVID-19 AWARENESS CAMPAIGN. A campaign that created awareness about the virus and its dangers, how it can be prevented.
Hauz of Elnathan Initiative Rivers
Hauz of Elnathan Initiative is assisting people at the correctional centres, old people homes, and drug addicts in slums and rural areas residents who cannot afford three square meals daily with foodstuffs, toiletries, provisions, medical protection kits as COVID-19 palliative supports in Rivers States.
Dorcas Motseki | South Africa
During the lockdown, Dorcas’s organization, We Care has been supplying kids with school uniforms and shoes — and, as the need for food also became apparent when many people lost their jobs, Motseki has been providing food parcels to 20 families, feeding 60 children and donating face masks.
Paschal Achunine
Paschal and HEI have provided PPEs to many hospitals and health centres in Lagos. This ensures that the health workers can boldly attend to their duties without fears of contacting the disease and spreading it to their families. They have also provided face masks to the Lagos people especially traders and all those who work in public places. The enlightenment campaigns are lifesaving because the majority of our people do not believe that COVID-19 is real and this is the biggest problem the health sector is facing to stem the tide of this scourge COVID-19.
Dr Aderele Mary Adeola
Putting her life on the line as a young doctor, she volunteered full time for the Landmark Covid19 Isolation Center at Oniru. She is a national hero amongst others, saving lives.
Covid19Connectng Abuja
Covid19Connectng is providing communication, rural enlightenment about Covid-19, in market places, mosques, rural areas and traffic, they also donate free mask and food Palliatives to the disabled and poor.
In addition to this, the web team fights fake news about Covid-19, posts a daily case, zonal updates on the virus and website provides a map with the number of infections in all area councils in FCT.
Oluwafunmilayo Ayobami Oni
She was able to harness people’s willingness to help, into raising sustenance funds for low-income families. Through her efforts, people in these communities were able to survive the lockdown with the palliatives she shared including PPEs to safeguard the community.
RAVE International Charity Foundation
Rave International Charity Foundation have been in the forefront of fighting Coronavirus outbreak, the volunteers went into rural communities in Koko, Udu, Agbarho, Oghara, Warri, Ughelli in Delta State Nigeria, educating citizens of the importance of wearing a face mask and the importance of regular hand washing when out and about and give out food items to combat the effect of hunger during the covid-19 lockdown.
Dr Ibe Chiemezie
Dr Ibe Chiemezie is a Beating Corona Hero. He provided facilities, provided hand washing materials and some other PPEs to prevent the spread of the virus to his community area.
Prior to the outbreak has also done projects that include educating school children on their health and proper hand washing techniques. This has helped prepare them for a time like this.
In his work place he has also pioneered the production of nose masks which is a personal protective equipment that has helped protect workers and limit the spread of the coronavirus.
The Kids Advocacy and Development Foundation
The Kids Advocacy and Development Foundation (KAD, King Andre Dikeh Foundation) catered for the welfare of 2,000 Vulnerable kids (IDP CHILDREN) during the covid-19 pandemic.
Ubi Franklin
Ubi started a business support during the COVID-19 lockdown where he hosted individuals to inform the public on managing themselves, family and business during the pandemic. He went further by giving cash gifts to people who wished to start their business during the pandemic and others to just needed cash support to survive.
Pistis Foundation
Pistis Foundation is a nonprofit social intervention organization dedicated to uplifting the education, health and shelter conditions of the economically challenged in the society. During the COVID 19 lock down, PISTIS foundation donated food bags with valuable and tangible content to over 6,000 families all across Lagos to ease the effect of the lock down on standard of living.
Collins Akanno – The Communeating
Communeating is quarterly community nutrition, health intervention programme scaling up nutrition education, food relief and ultimately preventive health promotion to people in Low and Middle-Income Communities. Since the starting of 2018, with over 100 passionate volunteers and the help of digital technology, Communeating has impacted about 2000 families and counting across several states in Nigeria. In her current COVID19 hunger relief edition, this tech-enabled platform has connected families with free nutritional health assessments, and education and food bags donated by adoptive breadwinners through cash and raw food channels, across Nigeria within social distancing guidelines. Thus solving the problem of hunger during the pandemic. Also, Collins was on the national news on TVC to enlighten the Nigerian populace on healthy eating in the pandemic and to shed more light on the ongoing community nutrition intervention of his team. He was also a speaker at this year’s Future of Health Conference organized by Nigeria Health Watch in partnership with EpiAfric to discuss Innovation in The Global Fight against COVID-19.
Ibidapo Fashina
Dapo and his young friends successfully raised 5million naira from within his reach on a WhatsApp group to support COVID in Nigeria. This donation was made to NDDC to also purchase relief items and medical supplies.
Wlliams Uchemba
He has been a front liner during this pandemic, feeding more than 2500 people, improving their living condition in their rural community.
Bankole Wellington
He led the Lekki Food bank initiative that provided COVID relief items, food, to over 4000 people in days, trying to curb hunger during the pandemic and more.
