Another Awesome AfriCAN week 20190913

#SouthAfrica

Congratulations to South African fashion designer Thebe Magugu who has won the prestigious Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) prize, making him the first ever African to do so! Magugu also wins €300,000 (over R4.9 million) and year long mentoring from the LVMH group.  Originally from Kimberly, Magugu designs his own self-titled ready-to-wear women’s line. “My overarching mission as a designer is to showcase a contemporary South Africa,” Magugu told Vogue. “So many people have stale ideas of what that means and I really want to change that. There are so many creatives doing incredible work in South Africa." [Via Cape[town]etc]

#Uganda

Houses Made From Recycled Plastic Bottles ~ In Uganda, the Social Innovation Academy is helping teach people how to using plastic bottles to build houses. The clever project is cleaning up the slums, employing refugees and helping accelerate Uganda’s recycling capabilities.[via aplus]

#Zimbabwe

Congratulations to Tanyaradzwa 'Tanya' Muzinda, who at the age of 15, is already one of Zimbabwe's Motocross champions! Born in Harare, she started riding when she was only five years old, inspired by her father, a former motorcyclist. Despite this sport being a pricey one, and the financial difficulties that the family need to contend with to help her achieve her dream, it has not stopped Muzinda from giving back to people in her community.  In August, she paid tuition for 45 students to attend school in Harare, and hopes to pay for at least 500 more students by the end of 2020 [via CNN].

#Zimbabwe

This is such a brilliant concept.  This 'Friendship Bench' is improving mental health for Zimbabweans. Dixon Chibanda has been searching for a way to provide mental health care for the most disadvantaged. Chibanda decided to tap into an unexpected resource: grandmothers. As trusted members of the community, many were already working as community health workers across Zimbabwe. If they were also trained in psych therapy, Chibanda realised, these grandmothers could add treating depression to their list of responsibilities. The project was called the Friendship Bench, because the grandmothers would often deliver therapy from benches outside local health clinics. [via World Economic Forum]

~~~~

We recently had to say good bye to the very talented South African artist and dynamic businesswoman, Carrol Boyes. Here's a lovely quote from her: