🔅 Animators Receive Disney-Worthy Praise, Ethiopian Gets the Nod For the Next BMW Art Car.
Plus, Ghana's Nurses Flock To High-Income Countries & African Painted Dogs Return to Uganda
Photo of the day: Eswatini
Markets: Year-to-Date
🟢 Nigerian SE: 60,968.27 (+18.96%)
🟢 Johannesburg SE: 76,027.83 (+4.08%)
🔴 Ghana SE: 2,808.03 (+14.9%)
🔴 Nairobi SE: 107.00 (-16.60%)
🟢 US S&P 500: 4,450.38 (+16.38%)
🔴 Shanghai Composite: 3,202.06 (+2.75%)
*Data accurate as of the close of markets across the continent
Brief & Bright: Africa's Top Five Highlights
✍🏽 Kizazi Moto: African Animation Gets Its Moment | African animators are finally getting their due. This July 5th, Disney Plus is premiering “Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire,” a pan-African animated series produced by South African animation house Triggerfish. It's an exciting moment for African animators, who've been pushing for greater representation in the animation world for years. The 10-part anthology series is a “dizzying blend of mythology, science fiction and Afrofuturism,” with animators from six African countries drawing on their own ancient histories, folklores and contemporary urban landscapes to create a world populated with cyborg cattle, flying minibus-taxis, radioactive octopi and robotic birds. Disney has been trying to invest in African animators for a few years now. It has a few more African projects in the pipeline, including “Iwájú,” a Disney+ Original from the pan-African entertainment company Kugali, and “Kiff,” a musical comedy show from South African creators.
🇪🇹 Julie Mehretu Gets the Nod for the Next BMW Art Car | BMW has just chosen Ethiopian American artist Julie Mehretu to create their next Art Car. Mehretu, who’s known for her abstract paintings and large-scale murals, will be painting her masterpiece on a BMW M Hybrid V8 and showing it off at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in June 2024. It’s a big deal for her and a huge honor for BMW, who’ve been partnering with top-notch artists since 1975. Over the years, names like Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, and Robert Rauschenberg have been chosen to adorn a BMW in their signature style. Madeleine Grynsztejn, Pritzker Director at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, said that Mehretu was the “perfect artist” for the job. Her work is dynamic and full of emotion, and it often draws inspiration from architecture and busy urban settings. Plus, the lady knows a thing or two about speed—she’s been getting rave reviews for her work for years.
🇧🇫 Burkina Faso Suspends French TV Station | In a rather un-French move, Burkina Faso's military government has suspended French television news channel La Chaine Info for three months. The reason? The channel aired a report on the jihadist insurgency that the government said lacked objectivity and credibility. It's not the only foreign media outlet that's felt the junta's wrath—Radio France Internationale and France24 have been suspended, and two French journalists were expelled in April. All this as Burkina Faso and other West African countries grapple with an al Qaeda and Islamic State-linked insurgency that's left thousands of civilians dead and displaced over six million people. Guess they won't be getting an invite to the next Bastille Day celebration.
🇺🇬 A Dog-Gone Miracle: African Painted Dogs Return to Uganda | In a wild twist of fate, African painted dogs—a species thought to have gone extinct in Uganda 40 years ago—have been spotted in the far northeast of the country! The species is on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of endangered species, and has a population estimated at only 6,600 adults. With their unique coats and four toes per foot, these canines are a sight for sore eyes and a boost to the country’s already rich biodiversity. But, wildlife conservationist Paul Oketcho warned, Uganda has a history of not conserving such wildlife—so let’s hope the African painted dogs don’t go dog-gone again soon.
🇬🇭 Ghana's Nurses Are Flocking to High-Income Countries | It's not news that nurses are leaving poorer countries in droves to work in higher-income nations. But a recent BBC report sheds light on the alarming rate at which nurses are fleeing Ghana, where they can make more than seven times their salary by taking jobs in the UK. With more than 1,200 Ghanaian nurses joining the UK's nursing register in 2022, the head of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) is worried about the “out of control” situation. The problem plays itself out quite graphically in Ghana's healthcare system, where the loss of specialist nurses has led to delays in patient care, higher mortality rates, and even the inability to immunize babies. Perpetual Ofori-Ampofo from Ghana's Nurses and Midwives Association puts it best: “It's not ethical for the UK to recruit from Ghana,” she said, “but it's not possible to stop nurses from leaving.”
Food for Thought
“A doctor who invoked a storm on his people cannot prevent his own house from destruction.”
— Nigerian Proverb.
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