What's Woody Doing Now

Congolese Students Taking Their Final Exams

In August 2021, I visited a classroom where Congolese students were talking their final examination for the year. I was shocked!

Fractions

One time that amazes me constantly on Facebook is that most people DON'T understand basic math like addition, substraction, multiplication, and division. Therefore, they really don't understand factions.

 I'm hooked on Fractions on Castbox. Check out this episode! https://castbox.fm/vb/385691983?_t=00%3A00

DRC top doc: 'The third wave is behind us', 'Must remain vigilant' - Outbreak News Today

I hope the COVID-19 pandemic stays under control in Congo. The "correct wearing of the masks" is required.

“The third wave is behind us. But we must always be vigilant because we do not want there to be a 4th wave. This is really why the correct wearing of the masks is obligatory and also soon it is the vaccination. We will therefore resume vaccination and I ask you to make efforts so that the hesitations and resistance to vaccination can cease, “ he said.

http://outbreaknewstoday.com/drc-top-doc-the-third-wave-is-behind-us-must-remain-vigilant-12109/

Pollution of the Kasai and Tshikapa rivers: an NGO pleads for international solidarity | Radio Okapi

It's reported that the pollution started in the diamond mines in Angola which is to south of Kasai Provinces. The pollution is spreading north toward the Congo River and capital city of Kinshasa.

EXCERPTS:
The DRC must urgently appeal for international solidarity for the “depollution” of the Kasai and Tshikapa rivers, declared Alain Botoko, the president of the executive committee of the NGO Healthy Environment Without Borders, on Monday 23 August. 

“When there are disasters, in the water, often there is international solidarity that intervenes,” he declared. 

For him, the more time passes, the more “damage” is likely to multiply in the ecosystem of the Kasai and Tshikapa rivers. We must therefore be able to determine the type of “pollution” as well as the “solutions” to be brought to it quickly, he adds. 

"I ask the Ministers of Fisheries and the Minister of the Environment to be able to contact experts around the world so that this pollution can be clearly determined. What are the chemical elements that are in these waters? Why are there deaths of aquatic animals and fish? Why do some people who drink this water suffer from diarrhea? If we find all these elements, we can now seek how to clean up these ecosystems which are very strategic for us, ”suggests Alain Botoko. 

https://www.radiookapi.net/2021/08/24/actualite/societe/pollution-des-rivieres-kasai-et-tshikapa-une-ong-plaide-pour-une

Let citizens with smartphones modernize water resources management

Enjoyed this "Citizen Scientist" project discussion! 
 

https://worldwaterweek.us2.pathable.com/meetings/virtual/WLczHFjne7i6SBTbq

It's Rainy Season in Congo

Three weeks ago, the grass was a dead brown when I arrived in Kananga. It's funny now but that partial brown green spot was caused by a vehicle parked on the grass during the first rain. It's rainy season!

DR Congo To Make Sign Language Official | General News | Peacefmonline.com

This is great news!

https://peacefmonline.com/pages/local/news/202108/450383.php

EXCERPT:
The government in the Democratic Republic of Congo plans to make sign language as the fifth official language, adding to Swahili, Lingala, Kituba and Tshiluba.

It will be formally taught in schools to help people who rely on sign language to access government services more easily.

"It’s a community that for long has been marginalized because of the communication challenges," DR Congo's minister for people with disabilities, Irene Esambo, told the BBC.

Inside the mind of an anti-vaxxer - www.israelhayom.com

What, Drink your Urine?

https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/inside-the-mind-of-an-anti-vaxxer/

EXCERPTS:
In Congo, "experts" recommended those infected with COVID to drink their urine, while in Madagascar, they told them to drink certain plant extracts. There were also suggestions of boiling the bark of a mango tree, papaya leaves, ginger and other ingredients "guaranteed to cure the coronavirus." In Israel, the recommendation was to use frankincense.

Amid shortages, Africans scramble to be fully immunized - ABC News

It saddens me when I see the LOW number of Congolese vaccinated. Congo originally were allocated 1.7 million doses. But their allocation was reduced to 400,000 doses due to vaccine hesitancy. 

EXCERPT:
In Congo, health experts are awaiting a Sunday shipment of more COVID-19 second doses, said Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe, who is coordinating the government’s pandemic response. Some 81,910 people have been vaccinated with AstraZeneca since the start of the vaccination campaign in April, and more than 4,000 people have returned for the second dose. AstraZeneca is out of stock there.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/amid-shortages-africans-scramble-fully-immunized-79464553

Third wave of COVID-19 under control in DR Congo: health official - Xinhua | English.news.cn

Good News! Keep up the good work!!!!

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/africa/2021-08/06/c_1310110460.htm

The third wave of COVID-19 is steadily declining and under control in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), said Jean-Jacques Muyembe, coordinator of the national response to COVID-19.In a press conference held in Kinshasa on Thursday, Muyembe stressed that the third wave is under control in DRC following the significant drop in cases of contamination."This is really a real drop, because our wave indicators are the number of patients who are hospitalized. When there really was a wave, our treatment centers were overwhelmed. And now, when you go to these centers, there are no more patients, the beds are empty, "said Muyembe.But despite this decline, the coordinator has indicated that the epicenter of the disease has moved from DRC's capital to three other provinces, namely the provinces of North Kivu, Ituri and Haut-Uele, all located in the eastern part of the country, where several cases of death have been recorded in recent days.