President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have tested positive for Covid-19, Trump announced in a tweet, joining a growing list of world leaders and officials to&nbsp; have contracted the disease while fighting to contain its spread.



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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">Tonight, <a href="https://twitter.com/FLOTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FLOTUS</a> and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1311892190680014849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2020</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">As too many Americans have done this year, <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@potus</a> &amp; I are quarantining at home after testing positive for COVID-19. We are feeling good &amp; I have postponed all upcoming engagements. Please be sure you are staying safe &amp; we will all get through this together.&mdash; Melania Trump 45 Archived (@FLOTUS45) <a href="https://twitter.com/FLOTUS45/status/1311900591174680581?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2020</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h4>



Trump announced the positive test results on Twitter mere hours after close advisor Hope Hicks tested positive, while First Lady Melania Trump also tested positive for coronavirus; according to a statement&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/farhip/status/1311897640892760065?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">from</a>&nbsp;White House Physician Sean Conley, both are “well at this time, and they plan to remain home within the White House during their convalescence.”&nbsp;



Trump joins a growing list of world leaders and officials to have tested positive for coronavirus.&nbsp;



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2020/07/07/brazilian-president-jair-bolsonaro-tests-positive-for-covid-19/#152de6f1508c">tested positive</a> in July after months of downplaying the risks of the virus and dismissing it as “a little flu”; at the time of writing, Brazil’s coronavirus death toll of 144,000 is the second-highest in the world after the U.S. </li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was one of the first world leaders to announce he had <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2020/03/27/british-prime-minister-boris-johnson-tests-positive-for-coronavirus/#5cb7c9f743ed">caught</a> the virus in March and was eventually admitted to a hospital ICU after suffering persistent symptoms.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2020/09/18/guatemalan-president-latest-world-leader-to-contract-coronavirus-here-are-the-other-7/#76a8e7052394"> tested positive</a> for coronavirus in September after experiencing body aches and a dry cough; Reuters <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-guatemala/guatemalan-president-and-minister-have-coronavirus-cabinet-to-test-idUSKBN2692K0?il=0" target="_blank">reports</a> that Giammattei asked the entire cabinet to be tested, with the government later confirming that the minister for culture tested positive.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Bolivia’s interim President Jeanine Añez <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/10/americas/bolivia-president-anez-coronavirus-intl/index.html" target="_blank">caught</a> the virus in July.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>After being diagnosed in June, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/02/americas/honduras-president-covid-19-discharge-intl/index.html" target="_blank">spent</a> over two weeks in a hospital after developing pneumonia symptoms.  </li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Having dismissed coronavirus as a mass “psychosis”, Belarus’ Alexander Lukashenko <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/28/europe/alexander-lukashenko-coronavirus-infection-intl/index.html" target="_blank">claims</a> he briefly caught the virus. </li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>The Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, and his family<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.voanews.com/covid-19-pandemic/armenian-prime-minister-recovers-covid-19" target="_blank"> tested positive </a>and recovered from the virus in June.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>In Guinea-Bissau, Prime Minister Nuno Gomes Nabiam and three ministers <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronarivus-bissau/guinea-bissau-pm-and-three-ministers-test-positive-for-covid-19-idUSKBN22B1YG?feedType=RSS&amp;" target="_blank">tested</a> positive for Covid-19 in April.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>In March, Prince Albert II of Monaco became the first reigning monarch or head of state to <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/03/19/818698736/prince-albert-ii-of-monaco-tests-positive-for-coronavirus" target="_blank">announce</a> a positive test result for the disease. </li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>In April, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin temporarily <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-russia-mishustin/russian-prime-minister-mikhail-mishustin-tells-putin-he-has-coronavirus-idUSKBN22C357" target="_blank">stepped down</a> to recover from coronavirus.</li></ul>



-By Robert Hart, Forbes Staff

GOP Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Takes Part In NBC Town Hall

Donald Trump Is The Latest World Leader To Contract Covid-19 — Here Are The Rest

Uganda’s First Lady: ‘Write Your Own Story’

Forbes’ <a href="https://www.forbes.com/power-women/#60d299915e25" target="_blank" rel="noopener">100 World’s Most Powerful Women 2017 ranking</a> features only one Trump—and it’s not the First Lady. Since its inception in 2004, this is the first time our annual directory of the women who matter most on the global stage does not include the wife of the U.S. president. It is also the only time a First Daughter has found herself in the ranking: Ivanka Trump lands as the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/power-women/#60d299915e25" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No. 19 </a>Most Powerful Woman. As Ivanka—a senior advisor to President Donald Trump —has risen as a weighty voice in the White House, Melania Trump appears to have assumed a far quieter role.
Officially advising her father since March, Ivanka has been both praised and criticized for her influence in the Trump Administration. The First Daughter (and wife of Jared Kushner, also a senior advisor to the president) is known to have more liberal views than 45. While it’s widely contested how much she has been able to tip her father’s policies to the left, she is one of the few women who are close to the highest office in the country.
<a href="https://www.forbes.com/power-women/#60d299915e25" target="_blank" rel="noopener">See Full List: 100 World&#8217;s Most Powerful Women</a>
“I am a real estate developer and an entrepreneur. More important, I’m a wife and a mother,” Ivanka wrote in her 2017 self-help book called Women Who Work. “I design and build iconic properties all over the world; I have also created and am growing a business that seeks to inspire and empower women in all aspects of their lives. I’m busy teaching my children the value of hard work and the importance of family.”
As the founder of her eponymous retail brand, Ivanka Trump has been a self-proclaimed women’s rights advocate long before her role at the White House. She launched the initiative Women Who Work in 2014 (a precursor to her 2017 book), highlighting the lives of working American women and mothers. By the time she joined the family quest to the ultimate frontier; the White House, she had already taken the reins of the family business as the executive VP at the Trump Organization, and the cofounder of Trump Hotels and their more affordable hotel line, Scion. In June 2015, however, she took on a different role and introduced her father when he declared his candidacy in New York City. A little over a year later, she set the stage for him at the Republican National Convention.
“My father values talent. He recognizes real knowledge and skill when he finds it. He is color blind and gender neutral,” the soon-to-be first daughter said as she addressed 50,000 people in Cleveland, “he will fight for equal pay for equal work, and I will fight for this too, right alongside of him.” Since her father announced he would pursue a ticket to the White House, Ivanka has claimed women’s rights would be central to the Trump presidency—even after the Washington Post released an Access Hollywood tape from 2005 which revealed Trump’s lewd remarks about women.
Whether the extent of Ivanka’s influence has been what many have anticipated remains unclear, however. Ivanka, who identifies herself as a political independent, joined congressional Republicans like Marco Rubio in October to call for an increase in the child tax credit, one of her projects under her father’s presidency. She also spearheaded a memorandum in September that set aside at least $200 million to prioritize teaching coding in U.S. schools, especially for girls and minorities.
Yet, the senior advisor has also been widely scrutinized, especially by those who thought she would challenge some of her father’s social views. In July—a month after Ivanka declared her support for the LGBTQ community—many took to Twitter to criticize her lack of apparent response to Trump’s proposed ban on transgender individuals serving in the army. “I am proud to support my LGBTQ friends and the LGBTQ Americans who have made immense contributions to our society and economy,” she had tweeted during the NYC Pride Week.
In the first months of his presidency, Trump also took a lot of heat for withdrawing from the Paris climate accord, for extending the “global gag rule,” and for not immediately denouncing neo-Nazis and the KKK after a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, causing Ivanka to be depicted as “complicit,” especially by those who disapprove of the current trajectory of the Trump presidency.
“If being complicit is wanting to, is wanting to be a force for good and to make a positive impact then I’m complicit,” <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ivanka-trump-interview-what-it-means-to-be-complicit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the advisor told CBS This Morning</a> in April. “I don’t know that the critics who may say that of me, if they found themselves in this very unique and unprecedented situation that I am now in, would do any differently than I am doing.”
&#8220;The musical Hamilton showed us that it matters to be in the ‘room where it happens.’ Ivanka wants everyone to know she was in the room, but was not responsible for whatever happens,” said Andrea Purse, former White House communications staffer during the Obama Administration. “On issue after issue—on climate, LGBT issues, ‘women&#8217;s’ issues that she claims to care about, she has failed to deliver when it mattered most.&#8221;
In August, Ivanka was under heavy fire again due to her support for the halt of a planned Obama-era rule that would have required businesses to begin collecting data to combat pay discrimination, a cause she has championed. “Whether my contribution ultimately lives up to the expectations of some of the harshest critics? Only time will tell,” <a href="https://www.ft.com/ivanka" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">she told the Financial Times </a>in September.
Unlike Ivanka, Melania Trump fails to join the Most Powerful Women list as D.C. insiders claim that she hasn’t completely stepped up to the challenge yet. The First Lady trails powerful women who have trodden the White House like Laura Bush (who came on the list in 2004) and Michelle Obama (who came on in 2009). The expectations are high for the second immigrant First Lady of the U.S. (Louisa Adams, first lady in 1825, was the first) especially with President Trump’s stance on immigration, according to Kelly Gibson, a political consultant at the media firm in D.C.. “I think the role that [she] plays on the administrations’ opinions about immigration and access to what makes people successful in this country could make for very interesting conversation,” Gibson said.
While the skepticism persists, insiders – especially Democrats – expect First Lady Melania Trump, who according <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/21/politics/melania-trump-polling/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">to the latest CNN poll from September</a> is the most favorable Trump, to become a more significant voice. “On the campaign trail, she said that her main focus if she were first lady would be to take on bullying. Now that she’s FLOTUS, we haven’t seen her do much on bullying,” political analyst Cartney McCracken said. “But finally, this past Thursday we saw Melania step up in tackling one of the biggest threats to Americans— fighting the opioid epidemic.”
At the White House event in October where President Trump declared the opioid crisis a nationwide public health emergency, Melania made the first remarks, a rare occasion thus far. “And I have recently taken a larger interest in what I can do to help fight this epidemic,” she told the crowd, evoking an applause. “I have been participating in meetings and listening sessions, and I have been visiting with people who have been affected by this disease.”
As Melania Trump becomes a voice in addressing the drug addiction epidemic, her critics want to see her do more. “This first lady has not used her position to effect the public good yet,” Kelly Gibson said. “I think the office, FLOTUS, deserves to be on the most powerful list. I don’t think [Melania Trump] has stepped up and fully realized the potential for the good she can do, but am hopeful she will.” &#8211; Written by <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/denizcam/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-ga-track="contrib block byline">Deniz Cam</a>, FORBES STAFF

Why Ivanka Trumps Melania As A World’s Most Powerful Woman

When does a country become synonymous with its community?
Just visit Rwanda on the last Saturday of any month, and you will see it here, in this hilly East African country, where the masses – from ministers to farmers, shopkeepers to entrepreneurs – rub shoulders to become one harmonious, homogeneous entity, laying roads, digging the earth, planting trees, and cleaning gutters and drains, holding broom, shovel and spade.
The only thing that counts is the richness of the earth, the fresh mountain air and a united mission to keep the streets green and immaculately clean as a contribution to nation-building and improving the living conditions of the country’s 11.5 million citizens.
It’s on one such Saturday that FORBES WOMAN AFRICA is invited to travel upcountry to Rwanda’s verdant Rulindo district, past Kigali’s bustling traffic and up the winding roads when the city’s modest skyscrapers appear no match for the country’s magnificent hills.
It’s the day the country observes Umuganda, a home-grown initiative that requires people from all walks of life, villagers and city-folk, to congregate for community work, once a month, from 7AM to 11AM.
Today, most of the action is in this northern province, where schoolgirls in blinding yellow and pink uniforms, rural women in colorful African dresses, and men in gum boots, form neat lines to take their turn planting saplings in the fertile earth.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-32082 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4279-684x1024.jpg" alt="" width="684" height="1024" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4279.jpg 684w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4279-300x449.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4279-600x898.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4279-200x300.jpg 200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 684px) 100vw, 684px" />
Today, they are also awaiting a special visitor, who will dig the earth with them, under the hot mid-morning sun.
The earth is an apt way to introduce Imbuto Foundation – the word ‘Imbuto’ meaning ‘seed’ or ‘fruit’ in Kinyarwanda, Rwanda’s local language. And the special guest is none other than the President of this foundation, Jeannette Kagame, also the nation’s much-loved First Lady, wife to the country’s dynamic President Paul Kagame.
There is collective silence and adulation when she arrives, wearing denim pants and shirt and a yellow cap, getting to work right away with the shovel. A stone’s throw away, in a classroom, young girls aged 10 to 12 are seated in a circle on straw mats, ready to welcome her.
They call this ‘the circle of friendship’, and around them are their mentors, young women themselves, aged 18 to 25.
Today is also the launch of the third year of Imbuto Foundation’s successful 12+ program in the area.
The program, in line with the national plan under the Ministry of Health, has achieved significant milestones, reaching 52,000 girls nationally over the last two years.
The girls are taught about savings, discipline and confidence, in tandem with Imbuto’s motto to ‘engage, educate and empower’. The 10- to 12-year-olds are also taught about sexual health, ground-breaking by itself, as sex is still a taboo topic in the communities, and the girls are equipped with the knowledge about their bodies early, before they transition to adolescence.
In the classroom, the girls pass around a ‘speaking ball’ to each other, taking turns to voice their opinions in Kinyarwanda. They speak with supreme confidence – unfaltering even in the presence of the First Lady – drawing their hands on the charts in front of them, promising to never break their circle of friendship. Her Excellency listens to them keenly, before they pass the ball to her, and she politely introduces herself.
Her next stop is further down the dirt road, for a community gathering after Umuganda, where she is expected to speak to the thousands gathered on the hills, patiently waiting under cheerful umbrellas for a glimpse of their First Lady.
Greeted with music, ribbons and flowers, there is rapturous applause from the crowd when she arrives. The cool country breeze complements the convivial mood. The district mayor speaks about how the previous phases of the 12+ program have influenced the girls to open bank accounts, start kitchen gardens, and importantly, stay in school.
A 10-year-old girl, Amina Merci Dieu, steps up to the podium to speak about how she built a vegetable garden, sold the vegetables she planted and persuaded her parents to open a savings account. She speaks without fear, walking up to hug the First Lady when she is done.
I am seated next to Assumpta Ingabire, Director General in charge of Local Government Inspection, who was formerly with Imbuto.
“Our First Lady is such an inspiring role model. You can share your problems with her and she always sees things in a positive way,” she says, smiling.
Such memories and milestones are significant as Imbuto celebrates its 15th year in 2016.
“Imbuto does not work in a vacuum, it works in line with national priorities, working with communities. Without our communities, things would have taken forever [to rebuild],” says Sandrine Umutoni, Acting Director General of Imbuto Foundation.
It’s a pertinent point, as the country has had to reconcile and persevere to rebuild itself after the horrific genocide against the Tutsi that killed a million of its people in 1994. The only way it could turn around was by involving its communities.
Imbuto was initially launched as PACFA (Protection And Care of Families against HIV/AIDS) working to help families and genocide survivors with AIDS. It changed its name to Imbuto at the end of 2007 incorporating a holistic model for individual development, focusing mainly on educational projects.
One of Imbuto’s flagship programs is a girls’ education campaign called Best Performing Girls (BPG).
“The girls who graduate from high school get training in IT, and also get laptops, which the First Lady hands out every year in March,” says Umutoni.
“They call her ‘mother’,” she adds. “In Kinyarwanda, when they call a person that, it means the person has accompanied you through difficult challenges, guiding you, counseling you, and providing support at specific moments in your life.”
Imbuto also organizes a Youth Forum Series every year. In addition, the foundation works with 22 cooperatives across 13 districts, introducing women to income-generating vocations. With the money, they pay for school fees and medical insurance and enter new entrepreneurial activities.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-32083 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4402-1024x684.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="684" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4402.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4402-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4402-600x401.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4402-768x513.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
The week that FORBES WOMAN AFRICA is in Kigali to follow the First Lady’s activities, is when the King of Morocco is also visiting, to sign an MoU with Rwanda on specific health and education projects. The Princess of Jordan, Sarah Zeid, is also visiting this week.
In between her packed schedule, the First Lady also attends a meeting with members of the 20-year-old Unity Club that she heads. The club brings together current and former members of cabinet and their spouses to promote unity and reconciliation in Rwanda. They also honor the country’s ‘torch-bearers’ every year in November, for outstanding social service.
The meeting with the Unity Club members, which I am also invited to attend, is at Imbuto’s temporary office in the President’s office complex in Kacyiru. Their office on the same grounds is being renovated. The complex is in a stunning manicured setting with frangipani trees, hibiscus flowers, ferns and foliage.
The First Lady is dressed in a smart beige and black suit and sits at the head of the mahogany table in the meeting room. She listens patiently and intently, speaking softly in Kinyarwanda as the ladies consult the files in front of them. She offers solutions and better approaches for some of the issues raised. It’s an in-depth discussion that goes on for over two hours, the seriousness interspersed at times with jokes by the First Lady – she clearly has an effortless sense of humor.
One of the ladies at the meeting is Radegonde Ndejuru, the First Lady’s advisor, who has been with Imbuto for 10 years now.
“We have a family spirit at Imbuto. Her Excellency is always so respectful. Her text messages to everyone starts with ‘good morning’ or ‘good evening’. We put passion in everything we do as that is the way she does it. She also has a phenomenal memory and shows great attention to detail&#8230; I always ask her: ‘do you sleep enough?’ She is here in the morning, reads a lot and what I admire is she always follows through projects,” says Ndejuru.
In March 2016, at the 5th Kigali International Conference Declaration General Assembly in Algeria, the First Lady was presented an award along with United Nations’ Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in recognition of their contribution to women’s empowerment and their fight against gender-based violence.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-32084 size-large" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4533-684x1024.jpg" alt="" width="684" height="1024" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4533.jpg 684w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4533-300x449.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4533-600x898.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/DSC_4533-200x300.jpg 200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 684px) 100vw, 684px" />
Rwanda is a global model for gender equality. The World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report 2016 ranks Rwanda fifth globally for closing the gender gap in various spheres. The country has the highest representation (64%) of women in Parliament.
As part of gender mainstreaming, there is a Gender Monitoring Bureau in every institution in Rwanda, as the country works towards achieving a middle income status by 2020.
The First Lady works with a team of young, spirited, hard-working women, who exemplify the qualities of their leader. It is clear they have a great admiration for her work.
Before we settle for the interview, Mrs Kagame, as she is also called, begins by asking how I am, with a disarming smile. And that aptly sets the tone for the rest of the conversation. It’s easy to see how this mother of four has won the hearts of Rwandans.

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A Day In The Life Of A First Lady

More than 22 million people in Africa have diabetes; equivalent to the population of Angola. It’s a startling enough statistic, and South Africa’s First Lady Bongi Ngema-Zuma is championing the fight against this silent killer, through the Bongi Ngema-Zuma Foundation.
It’s a hot Sunday afternoon in Waterkloof Ridge, east of Pretoria in South Africa, when we meet Ngema-Zuma in her mansion. She settles in her lounge singing a church song and wearing a black dress and beaded necklace.
Diabetes has been close to home for Ngema-Zuma; she lost her mother and aunt to the disease. This led her to start a foundation in her mother’s memory; she had battled with diabetes for nearly three decades.
“I come from a family that is highly affected by this disease. When my mother gave birth to my younger sister, she had gestational diabetes. But it went away. And then in 1973, when I was in grade one, she was diagnosed with type two.
“At the time I did not know what diabetes was or to read the correct glucose levels. But I observed how she changed her lifestyle. She had the disease for so many years, and was never on insulin because she was active and [watched] what she ate,” says Ngema-Zuma.
In 1982, her mother’s condition got worse, she went blind in a way, and the disease also led to a sore between her toes; and the doctors had to amputate a toe.
“They had to cut off her foot as well&#8230; we knew she wasn’t going to make it. She said the day they start cutting her body, we should allow her to rest in peace.”
The Bongi Ngema-Zuma Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 2010, the same year she took to the spousal office, aims to fight diabetes.
“Before I started the foundation, no one was speaking about diabetes, I had never seen an advert about it which meant there was not much being done about it, so I thought it was the right time,” says Ngema-Zuma.
The foundation encourages people to test early.
“By the time you start seeing symptoms it means that the disease has been in your blood for a long time, now the signs are indicating that your body is deteriorating. And if complications start to show, it might be too late. People should test so that they can prevent it from progressing, and adopt a healthy lifestyle,” she says.
Considering her family history, Ngema-Zuma acknowledges she is not prone to the disease, which is why she is an advocate for it.
Ngema-Zuma is the fourth of five wives married to South African president Jacob Zuma, a role that is not easy.
“As the first lady I had to understand that the public voted for my husband to be president, not me. Thing is, nobody trains you for what people expect from you, and sometimes expectations can be too much. The best is to know who you are, what you want to achieve and just focus.”
She uses her office to empower women and children, and for rural development.
“It is sad that in more than 50 countries, I’m the only first lady who speaks about diabetes.
“I know that while I’m in this office, I have a little amount of influence to say something and make change,” says Ngema-Zuma.
Ngema-Zuma is also a member of the International Diabetes Federation. When not buried under paperwork in her office, she travels overseas, in the United States, to give talks on education and healthcare development.
Her dream is to open a diabetes center of excellence.

IMG_60951

Using Her Good Offices

At the tail end of Women’s Month in August in South Africa, we catch up with Bongi Ngema-Zuma, President Jacob Zuma’s fourth wife, in her unassuming office at the Bongi Ngema Foundation in Sandton in Johannesburg. We notice that her staff, including her discreet bodyguards, are all women.
Ngema-Zuma has received her fair share of negative publicity. The media has always questioned her participation in a polygamous marriage whilst wanting to be respected as a valid voice for women’s empowerment. We ask her and she is quick to point out that culture and empowerment are not exclusive of each other.
“As a woman you need to understand that you have multiple roles to play.  You may be a chairman or CEO at work but remember that at home the man is the head and the woman is the heart. If you can understand this then you will understand that culture and empowerment are not different worlds,” she says.
The analogy suggests a certain degree of submission by women to their men in the family. But Ngema-Zuma is unequivocal women can and should take up more leadership positions in the workplace.
“We are just not fully represented at the corporate level. And even when we are, we still have to work at least 200% harder than a man in the same position to be seen as competent.”
Ngema-Zuma believes the journey to increase female representation in the boardroom is difficult because government is not tough enough on corporate South Africa. She borrows from Sheryl Sandberg’s best-seller Lean In lamenting that before we can talk about leaning in at the corporate table, we actually have to get into the room and into the circles where decisions are made.
“Women need to learn to open the door for each other. This is what mentorship is all about after all. Someone needs to show you the door and help you get the skills so when the opportunity comes for you to lean in, you’ve got what it takes to do the job well.”
As we wrap up our conversation, she reaches for a framed photograph of her son. She cautions about focusing on and investing in girl children at the expense of the boys.
“I need my son to grow up in a society where he understands that being a man means he too is responsible for the protection and advancement of gender issues,” she says.
Ngema-Zuma believes the ultimate goal for gender activists is to build balanced societies where men and women are pulling together.

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‘At Home The Man Is The Head And The Woman Is The Heart’

It was a cold morning in April, two weeks before the 2014 London Marathon. I was ready to take on the steep slopes of Mount Kenya near the town of Sagana, 210 kilometers from Kenya’s capital Nairobi.
Stretching and warming up, I eagerly waited to join Kenya’s First Lady Margaret Kenyatta at this high-altitude training camp. And when she showed up, what was meant to be a light 13 kilometer jog left me with a wonky knee and a sore back. By the time we reached the finish line, my body had given up.
But the first lady? At least once, I thought she would give up too, but the sprightly 50-year-old was more focused than anyone I had seen.
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Her focus was the streets of London, where she would take part in the 42 kilometer London Marathon, not to become yet another long-distance Kenya runner, but to promote a cause close to her heart. The cause: the ‘Beyond Zero Campaign’, a fund-raising initiative aimed at improving maternal and infant health in Kenya.
According to UNAIDS, in Kenya, as many as 5,500 women die annually due to pregnancy-related complications, and more than 100,000 children die every year by the age of five. Twenty percent of maternal deaths in the country are AIDS-related. The ‘Beyond Zero Campaign’ aims to improve maternal health care by ensuring accessibility to health facilities through mobile clinics, and prevention of mother-to-child disease transmission.
“There is simply no good reason why thousands of women and children in Kenya should die during child-birth today. This is unacceptable,” says Kenyatta.
“These are not just statistics. These are our fellow Kenyan sisters and children who die largely as a result of pregnancy and HIV-related complications that are preventable. It is just not acceptable with such worrying statistics to sit back and watch. This concerns the future of this nation, we had to take action.”
As in many African countries, Kenyan women face challenges in accessing healthcare facilities. Most of them have to travel long distances for them. The funds raised by ‘Beyond Zero’ will assist in the provision of mobile clinics, incubators, diagnostic kits for early infant testing of HIV, and oxygen concentrators.
“As a mother myself, it is worrying, it is heart-breaking. It is unnecessary for children to die through lack of medicine. I will do what I can to help,” says Kenyatta in her campaign message.
The campaign is targeting a total of $5.7 million and the first lady chose a marathon as a means to raise the funds.
“Marathon-running is a very Kenyan thing. As Kenyans, we are the undisputed kings and queens of road running. This is something that pushed my limits and took me out of my comfort zone, and something that has got Kenya and the world paying attention,” she says.
In March, she participated in the inaugural First Lady’s Half Marathon, a 21 kilometer race in Nairobi for the ‘Beyond Zero Campaign’. She then decided to take the cause to the world stage by participating in the
London Marathon.
The first lady finished the race in seven hours. At the finish line was her husband, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, waiting to receive her.
As expected, the Kenyans came tops in both the men’s and women’s elite races, with Wilson Kipsang (2hr 4min 29sec) and Edna Kiplagat (2hr 20min 21sec) taking first positions respectively.
No wonder the first lady completed the race with no qualms. She had trained with some of the world’s finest athletes, including Kipsang who is also the World Marathon holder and Florence Kiplagat, the World Half Marathon holder.
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Her team trainer is also one of the world’s champions, Douglas Wakiihuri. He won the 1987 World Championships in Athletics, the London Marathon in 1989 and the New York Marathon in 1990.
Wakiihuri was returning to London 25 years later at the age of 50, but this time for the course that he shared with the Kenyan first lady. He prepared her mentally and physically.
“We trained in a camp, same as the Olympic one. Her mental preparedness is basically that of an elite athlete which is very special,” said Wakiihuri of the first lady’s preparedness.
What made it even more commendable was that she was running and training for the first time.
“It has not been easy because none of my team members has run before. It’s very new for us and we are not that young,” says the first lady.
The team started training in November, walking at first, then jogging slowly before picking up pace. The challenges were waking up in the wee hours for intensive training and being away from their families. In the end, it all paid off.

Tag: First Lady