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HOMEF Partners US-based NGO, Announces 2023 ORA-A Fellowship

Published

3 years ago

December 13, 2022

HOMEF Partners US-based NGO, Announces 2023 ORA-A Fellowship

Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) in collaboration with Commonweal, a US-based NGO with 45 years of engagement and accomplishment in diverse fields announces a call for nominations and applications from visionaries, involved in movements or struggles from the African Region into its 2023 Omega Resilience Awards Fellowship programme. This fellowship seeks communicators, artists, and public intellectuals from

diverse fields who are based in Africa to engage in laying bare the
connections between seemingly disparate phenomena – climate, water, health, and migration, taken together often referred to as the polycrisis – and how they interact within the larger system.

The Omega Resilience Awards – Africa (ORA-A), focuses primarily on identifying young visionaries begins today. The fellowship is open to Africans who are under the age of 40 years and are preferably involved in social movements and have their origins in the communities of
struggles.

This award understands that nature should be the focus for solving the
polycrisis and to charting pathways toward a more resilient future.

According to Jay Naidoo, a one time minister in President Mandela’s government who is a member of the advisory board of ORA-A, the fellowship will help unravel the meaning of life and the meaning of service in the midst of the complexities.

“The journey of life is a celebration of joy in service and gratitude to Mother Earth,” he said.

Dr. Firoze Manji, Publisher, Daraja Press and member of the advisory board, speaking on the fellowship stated that “We are faced today with the multiple crises created by destructive capitalism that threatens not only the planet’s survival but also encourage the degeneration of human
social relations into the realms of hate and terror. What is required
today are propositional politics that create today the elements of the
world we want to live in tomorrow, a world based on love, hope and
creativity. The Omega Resilience Awards -Africa is critical for
supporting such developments amongst militants connected with movements of the oppressed and exploited.”

Also commenting, Nnimmo Bassey, Director of HOMEF, and member of the advisory board noted, “Conceptual climate change discourses in Africa
have been largely restricted to academic and social movements circles. The impact of climate change is a living reality for communities across
the continent where hazards and vulnerabilities often if collide to
produce disasters.”

He added that this is a critical reason why we need practicing visionaries in various fields to bring up clear interpretations of the polycrisis from a uniquely African perspective.

“We are excited at the launch of the ORA-Africa program,” said Mark
Valentine, Chief Strategy Officer for ORA.

“It is our belief that we’re
headed into a profound reckoning where society will be forced to
reorganize itself in response to the social and environmental pressures
of the polycrisis. For the ORA Fellows program, we are looking for
people drawn from diverse walks of life who understand that the old
approach to solving problems in silos is no longer viable and that
instead we need to apply a systems thinking lens but not through a way
that paralyzes people with complexities. We need people who can translate complexity into actionable steps that help communities slow and eventually reverse the damage being done by the polycrisis. We’re excited at the prospect of a new cohort of fellows from Africa working in concert with other cohorts being formed in Latin America and India who collectively will illuminate new pathways towards resilience.”

Applicants are expected to show a history of experience in activism,
innovative thinking and should also illustrate how active they are as
change-makers in their communities. In addition they should be ready to participate in regular seminars/webinars throughout the program. The ORA Africa fellowships will be awarded yearly with each fellow receiving a grant of $10,000.00 (Ten Thousand US Dollars only) in support of their
work.

HOMEF announces that interested applicants are to complete and submit an
online application form accessible at the organisation’s website,
www.homef.org

For any clarifications, please feel free to contact
OduduAbasi Asuquo – ORA-A@homef.org
Ogechi Cookey – ogechi@homef.org

Headline

92-year-old Convicted For 1967 Killing In UK’s Oldest Cases

Published

18 hours ago

June 30, 2025

Editor

A 92-year-old British man was convicted on Monday for a rape and murder committed nearly 60 years ago, in one of the UK’s longest-running cold cases.

Ryland Headley was found guilty by a UK court for raping and killing 75-year-old Louisa Dunne after breaking into her house in Bristol, southwest England in June 1967, when he was 34 years old.

It is “one of the oldest cold cases to ever be solved in the UK”, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which brings criminal prosecutions, said.

Local police reopened the case in 2023 and matched DNA from the victim’s skirt and other items from the original probe to Headley, who had also served a prison sentence for raping two elderly women in 1977.

He is due to be sentenced by a judge at Bristol Crown Court on Tuesday.

During the initial investigation, police had found a left-hand palm print from Dunne’s home, where she was found dead from strangulation.

The palm print was compared to 19,000 men to no avail.

At the time, Headley was a railway worker who lived just outside the area in which men and boys were asked to give prints.

Reaching a dead-end, police sealed away forensic evidence for half a century. Both DNA testing and later Headley’s palm print resulted in matches.

When Headley was arrested at his home last November, he told detectives: “I don’t know what you are talking about. Very strange, very strange.”

“For 58 years, this appalling crime went unsolved and Ryland Headley, the man we now know is responsible, avoided justice,” said Charlotte Ream of the CPS.

Following the conviction, Dunne’s granddaughter Mary Dainton said her death had a “far-reaching impact throughout my family”.

“I was just 20-years-old when my grandmother died and I’m now almost the same age as she was when she was killed,” Dainton said outside court.

Police said they were now looking into other possible cold cases Headley could be linked to.

“Ryland Headley has now been convicted of three rapes of elderly women within their own addresses, and in the case of Louisa Dunne, her murder as well,” Dave Marchant of Avon and Somerset Police told the PA news agency.

“I think there’s every possibility that there are other offences out there – over the 60s, 70s, however long a time period – which Mr Headley could be culpable for.”

Headline

Hope Dashed As Norwegian Company Apologizes For ‘Mistakenly Telling’ Thousands They Won Big On Lottery

Published

19 hours ago

June 30, 2025

Editor

A Norwegian lottery company on Monday apologised to 47,000 crestfallen gamblers who were mistakenly told they had won huge sums in a lottery, the firm blaming a currency conversion error.

State-owned gambling group Norsk Tipping said they had published incorrect prize amounts after a Eurojackpot draw on Friday because of an error converting from euro cents to Norwegian kroner.

The winnings had been multiplied by 100 instead of being divided by 100, the company said.

Among the disappointed was Ole Fredrik Sveen, who was on holiday in Greece when he received a message from Norsk Tipping that he had won 1.2 million kroner ($119,000).

“I thought: ‘Wow, is it finally my turn? Could it be true?’ I go onto the Norsk Tipping website, and there it says in black and white: ‘Congratulations, you have won!’,” Sveen told public broadcaster NRK on Monday.

In reality, he had won 125 kroner ($12).

On Monday, Sveen and the 47,000 others received apologies by text message from Norsk Tipping for the snafu.

“The apology was a poor consolation. They should have sent it out after the mistake, not today,” he said.

The Lottery Authority said Monday it had launched a review to determine if gambling laws had been broken, and Culture Minister Lubna Jaffery called the error “totally unacceptable”.

The firm’s chief executive Tonje Sagstuen resigned on Saturday after the scandal, leaving acting chief executive Vegar Strand to apologise on Monday.

Strand said his company’s state ownership made the mistake particularly problematic, noting that the firm was “entirely dependent on the trust of the population”.

“We have deeply disappointed our customers and take full responsibility for rectifying the situation. Such errors are serious for a company that is supposed to manage the trust of Norwegians,” Strand said.

“The work to rebuild trust again has the highest priority going forward.”

AFP

Headline

Musk Renews Attack On Trump, Says ‘Big, Beautiful Bill Utterly Insane’

Published

19 hours ago

June 30, 2025

Editor

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has renewed his public criticism of United States President Donald Trump, taking aim at the administration’s controversial “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which recently cleared a critical hurdle in the Senate, TIMES reported.

In a post on X on Saturday, Musk denounced the 940-page legislative package as economically harmful, claiming it would severely damage emerging industries while supporting outdated sectors.

“The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country,” he wrote to his more than 220 million followers.

He further described the legislation as “utterly insane and destructive.”

The senate narrowly voted 51–49 to advance the bill on Saturday night, following extended negotiations among Republicans. Vice President J.D Vance was present to cast a tie-breaking vote, though it was ultimately not required.

Musk, who once served as head of the Department of Government Efficiency under Trump, left the administration after a high-profile fallout and has since emerged as one of the bill’s fiercest opponents.

He described the measure as “political suicide” for Republicans and warned that it would raise the national debt ceiling by $5 trillion — the largest such increase in US history. “America is in the fast lane to debt slavery,” he added.

Responding in an interview aired Sunday on Fox News Sunday Morning Futures, Trump attempted to defuse the tension. “I haven’t spoken to him much, but I think Elon is a wonderful guy,” he said. Trump also suggested Musk’s frustration stemmed from disagreements over recent changes to electric vehicle mandates.

Musk’s opposition to the bill is not new. Earlier in June, he urged Americans to contact their representatives, calling the legislation a “massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill.”

Despite the bill’s advancement in the Senate, it faces continued resistance. Senate Democrats have slowed proceedings by demanding the entire bill be read aloud in protest.

“If Senate Republicans won’t tell the American people what’s in this bill, then Democrats are going to force this chamber to read it from start to finish,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer