This Too Shall Pass (Project COVID-19)

Zakaria Abdul Hakim Cisse || Sanatu Zambang SDGs Live Report

Sanatu Zambang produces COVID-19 videos in 12 Ghanaian languages

The whole world is suffering now, with many countries locked down. The COVID-19 pandemic has left everyone in panic and uncertainty. While over thirty thousand people worldwide have died from this pandemic, the World Health Organization and other institutions have advised on adhering to precautionary measures, including keeping oneself hygienic and isolating oneself from physical and social gatherings.

As many have seen the need to obey the precautionary measures, there are still many people who are ignorant about the disease and some don’t even consider the situation to be real. This is why there is a need to increase education on viral disease and how to keep oneself safe.

Sanatu Zambang as an organization established on the basis of the Sustainable Development Goals has realized the gap in the information flow and has decided to produce series of videos to educate the Ghanaian populaces especially, the rural communities.

The videos feature the English language and some of the Ghanaian languages including; Dagbani, Fra-fra, Mossi, Ewe, Gonja, Nanumba, Hausa, Bimoba, Waala, Likpakpaa, Kusasi and Sissala, for the sensitization and education.

The video titled; COVID-19: THIS TOO SHALL PASS, highlights what COVID-19 is, its symptoms, means of contraction and ways of prevention. It seeks to break the language barrier in the understanding of the pandemic and reducing fear among people.

If people are educated on how the virus spread and how they can mitigate its effect, then the panic will reduce and government with other institutions can contain and confine the disease.

The Inside Story: Sanatu Zambang Studios (The White Cat)

As the novel virus persists with time, its implications mean affecting every aspect of our life – both social and economic-wise. Meanwhile, the Health Ministry is projecting an exponential increase in the numbers.

After local infection, the next phase of the spread is communal infection. At this phase, locally infected persons can transmit it to neighbors and subsequently to other communities. Taking rural Ghanaian communities for example; recording the virus there will imply fatal disaster, looking at the level of education and the response of many rural people to the disease.

Since the rural Ghanaian societies for that matter Northern Ghana, remain the main basket of the country, severe cases recorded there mean agricultural productivity for 2020 and perhaps the next five years would be greatly affected negatively. Agriculture alone employs some 41% of the population – and the least effect in these areas will drastically make the economy crawl.

Clearly, the state of sanitation and access to portal and safe drinking water are some of the major challenges faced in these communities. In the midst of the novel coronavirus, drinking of unsafe water from dug-outs could go a long way to building microbial residues in the systems of the people and weakening their immunity for potential infection thus, COVID-19.

At the communal phase, the population will face fatal deaths will drastically reduce the population and a greater number of our human resources.

As a media network, Sanatu Zambang intends to use several media of communication in collaboration with NGOs and public institutions working in those areas to share best practices on how to stay safe in the wake of the COVID-19. Using;

  • Podcasts
  • Radio
  • Videos
  • Information vans
  • Knowledge extension to households
  • Illustrations, etc.

Using both local languages (primarily) and the English language, content would be designed comprehensively on COVID-19 and its mode of infection and spread as well as preventive measures.

The first phase of this project film is directed by Mohammed Mardia Pagnaa, Sanatu Zambang Studio residence intern who is 19years old and currently studying Home Science at Kalpohin Senior High School in Tamale. Mardia has been the production assistant for, StarX TV, The Minority Show and A Day In The Life Documentary by Norsaac and Action aid. She has also featured in a WaterAid Ghana Documentary.

Executive Producers for the first phase are Khadijah Abubakari , Actionaid Ghana Activista Tamale, and Sanatu Zambang Studios. Research Consultant, Dr. Wunpini F Mohammed, and Special Appreciation to Napaga Tia Sulemana

Sanatu Zambang is a youth-driven media and publication house that is focused on using media and publications to trigger inspiration, innovation, and entrepreneurial skills of young people especially women and children. We seek to change the narrative of Northern Ghana by empowering young women and children through compelling reportage and the content that we produce.

We have over the years, produced media content including documentaries; drama; TV series, as well as engaging stories on our online news portal and other social media platforms, some of our work includes Enough Project, Better Safe than sorry, Young Female Parliament debate to mark 16 days of activism on sexual and gender-based violence among senior high schools in the northern region in December 2019. The schools that participated in the debate include; Vitim senior high school, Nelerigu senior high school, Yendi senior high school, Islamic senior high school, and Business senior high school.

Female artistes in the northern region have called on people in the music industry to see them as artists instead of sex objects. According to these artists, most people especially the men who are in charge of the promotion and managing of artists in the region usually see female artists as just sex objects without acknowledging them as creative artists who can also do music. http://www.sanatuzambang.info/2020/03/09/i-am-a-female-artist-not-a-sex-object-northern-female-artistes/
Sanatu Zambang holds its first art exhibition Abdullah Abdul Rashid, Abass Safian, Mohammed Saani, Rashid Asigri, and Abdul Rashid Salma exhibit their work using pencil drawing, pen drawing, graffiti, painting and also pottery.   
The perception is that if an artist cannot draw or paint a human being then he/she is not qualified to be called an artist but art is broad.
Artists have their own specialties, some paint with beautiful colors, others draw using pen or pencil while many sculpt or include foreign materials in their paintings such as cloth or sand.

The show was born out of the passion of Zakaria Abdul Hakim and Majeed Fatima to organize something that has a positive impact on society. It led to creating the opportunity for women, supported by men, to give voice to their inner power through poetry. To allow poetesses to represent the Ghanaian woman in decision-making processes, striving for a society that is free of corruption and equal rights for all humans.
The #hearmeroarr Poetry Show is the first step in our journey of growing a collective voice towards the elections in Ghana, December 2020.
http://www.sanatuzambang.info/2020/02/26/sanatu-zambang-to-address-poor-governance-and-corruption-using-poetry/
The  Ghana – India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT in Ghana’s first Advanced Information Technology Institute. Founded in 2003, AITI-KACE is a world-class research facility with a focus on innovating products and services for individual and institutional advancement. At AITI-KACE, students are exposed to industry professionals, mentors and also trained to become IT entrepreneurs. http://www.sanatuzambang.info/2018/11/17/aiti-kace-changing-the-face-of-it-learning-in-africa/

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