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Merck Foundation awards local fashion designers

Merck Foundation awards local fashion designers

The Merck Foundation recently announced the winners of the Merck Foundation, more than a mother Fashion Awards 2020 from Namibia, Ghana and Zambia.

The winners from Namibia in partnership with The First Lady of Namibia, Monica Geingos and Ambassador of Merck Foundation More Than a Mother were: Linrico Humphries, Stephany-Lee Schmidt, Aina Shigwedha, Hope Gowera, Ndara Immanuel, Eugenia Benard and Paulton Luciano Witbooi.

Chief Executive Officer of Merck Foundation, Dr. Rasha Kelej congratulated the winners of the Awards and said that in 2021 they launched the fashion awards in partnership with 20 Africa first ladies to give opportunity for these countries however the awards are open for all countries.

“The winners of 2020 have been recognized for their extraordinary creative designs that deliver strong influential messages to empower infertile women and say, ‘No to Infertility Stigma’ and create meaningful fashion trends to educate their communities that ‘Fertility is a Shared Responsibility’,” she added.

She said that the winners where also rewarded with US$500 each to execute and showcase their winning designs so that people can have the opportunity to wear them and build advocacy to break the Infertility stigma for women and men.

Dr Kelej also highlighted that they appreciate the creativity of winners and considers it to be instrumental to break the silence and be the voice of the voiceless in the communities, hence they have additionally rewarded all the winners with one year of access to an online educational training programmed called, MaterClass, which is an immersive online experience and self-paced learning course in English that can be accessed anywhere within the internet network.

“I encourage the winners to be the, Merck Foundation More Than A Mother Advocate, to further empower infertile women and all women and girls in general and to eliminate infertility stigma,” she concluded.


 

About The Author

Mandisa Rasmeni

Mandisa Rasmeni has worked as reporter at the Economist for the past five years, first on the entertainment beat but now focussing more on community, social and health reporting. She is a born writer and she believes education is the greatest equalizer. She received her degree in Journalism at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) in June 2021. . She is the epitome of perseverance, having started as the newspaper's receptionist in 2013.