Note: I wrote this yesterday morning at six in Cape Town and the plan was to have it posted by last night, so it is a little bit late. Sorry :)
So, happy Africa Day. Hope you’re
feeling good about your heritage if you have some African in you. Yeah yeah,
“everybody” does, but I am not trying to crawl back into the womb of human history
here. If you don’t have some African in you… better luck in your next
incarnation. ;)
I have just come back from three days of some heavy, heavy
Africa dialogue. You’ll be hearing about it soon soon but for now I just want to
give you a heads-up. Sickle Cell Awareness Day is on the 2nd of
June, and this is of particular relevance to us:
“Last
year Dr. Julie Makani won the Royal Society Pfizer Award, which recognizes
outstanding research contributions by scientists working in Africa. Over the
past seven years she has developed the largest single research group of Sickle
Cell patients, now exceeding two thousand. Dr. Makani is also a member of the Sickle
Cell Disease Research Network of Central Africa (alias le Réseau D’étude de La
Drépanocytose en Afrique Centrale, (REDAC) which was established in 2009. It is
a network dedicated to combating Sickle Cell Disease in East and Central
Africa, and this year they are holding The 3rd REDAC Symposium in Dar-es-Salaam
on the 1st to 2nd June.
On
the second day of the Symposium, Sickle Cell Awareness Day, they will be
holding an event at Muhimbili National Hospital to raise awareness about this
disease in the public. If you have been wondering about a substantive way to
contribute to African welfare, this could be an excellent opportunity. The work
that Dr. Makani and her colleagues in the same field do is of great relevance
to us both at the very personal, familial level and at the global level.”
Sometimes
this writing life makes me want to tear my hair out. This week has been
particularly challenging- overstimulated brain, too many threads, too many deadlines,
too little time. And I had, as usual, promised too many people that I would
show up/write a thing/ help out or whatever. But it was a particular pleasure
to write this week’s article because it allowed me to celebrate female
achievement, to highlight African scientists, to contribute to a cause that is
quite likely literally in our blood and to thread Africanism throughout the
whole endeavor. If you can go to the symposium, do. If you can’t, think about
supporting Sickle Cell Disease organizations in your country of residence.
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