Merck Foundation’s Children Storybooks Distributed to 30,000 Zimbabwean Students by Zimbabwe First Lady

Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany, in partnership with The First Lady of the Republic of Zimbabwe and Ambassador of Merck Foundation More than a Mother, H.E. AUXILLIA MNANGAGWA handed over 30,000 children storybooks to the Ministry of Primary & Secondary Education for the school students of Zimbabwe. The storybooks are titled: “Tudu’s Story”, “Educating Rujeko Story” and “Make the Right Choice Story”.Business Wire India

Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA Germany, in partnership with The First Lady of the Republic of Zimbabwe and Ambassador of Merck Foundation More than a Mother, H.E. AUXILLIA MNANGAGWA handed over 30,000 children storybooks to the Ministry of Primary & Secondary Education for the school students of Zimbabwe. The storybooks are titled: “Tudu's Story”, “Educating Rujeko Story” and “Make the Right Choice Story”.
 
Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation & President, Merck Foundation More Than A Mother expressed, “I am very happy and proud of our long term partner H.E. AUXILLIA MNANGAGWA, The First Lady of Zimbabwe and Ambassador of Merck Foundation More Than a Mother. Donating 30,000 storybooks to young readers, school students of Zimbabwe which were handed over by Zimbabwe First Lady will make a great impact to create a culture shift and sensitize children and adolescence about Health and sensitive topics in their Communities.

Tudu' story emphasizes strong family values of love and respect from a young age which will reflect on eliminating the stigma of infertility and resulted domestic violence in the future, while Make the Right Choice story aims to raise awareness about coronavirus prevention amongst children and youth as it provides facts about the pandemic and how to stay safe and healthy during the outbreak. It also promotes honesty, hard work, and the ability to make the right choices even during the most challenging times. Educating Rujeko story covers the importance of empowering girls through education. I hope this story will inspire every girl to fight for her right of education and encourage our communities to support education young underprivileged but brilliant girls so that they can reach their potential and pursue their dreams.”

H.E. AUXILLIA MNANGAGWA, The First Lady of Zimbabwe and Ambassador of Merck Foundation More than a Mother emphasized “I am very happy to work closely with Merck Foundation and happy to hand over 30,000 storybooks to the Ministry of Primary & Secondary Education for our young children. These storybooks convey important lessons of life, like supporting girls' education; emphasize on the right family values of love and respect, to break infertility stigma; and raise awareness about Coronavirus and inspire hard work and honesty from a young age. Furthermore, these books will instill reading culture in young children.”

Merck Foundation, through their partnership with the Zimbabwe First Lady and Ministry of Health, has transformed the patient care landscape of the country by providing scholarships to more than 100 Zimbabwean doctors in various specialties like Fertility & Embryology, Oncology, Diabetes, Cardiovascular, Endocrinology, Sexual & Reproductive Medicine, Respiratory and Acute Medicines. More doctors will benefit from more scholarships in different critical and underserved specialties in the next five years.
 
Moreover, together with Zimbabwe First Lady, Merck Foundation has introduced 6 Awards for Media, Fashion Film and Music fraternity.
 
Moreover, together with Zimbabwe First Lady, Merck Foundation has introduced 6 important Awards for Media, Fashion Film and Music fraternity after the huge success of the previous editions of the same awards in 2020 and announce the winners together.
 
“We recently celebrated 11 winners of Merck Foundation More Than a Mother Media Recognition Awards 2020, through an online Award Ceremony. We are now very excited to launch our new awards together with my dear sister Her Excellency,” said Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej.

“We recently celebrated 14 winners of Merck Foundation More Than a Mother Media Recognition Awards 2020 and Stay at Home Awards 2020, through an online Award Ceremony. We are now very excited to launch our new awards together with my dear sister Her Excellency,” said Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej.
 
Details of the awards:
 
1. Merck Foundation Africa Media Recognition Awards “More Than a Mother”: Media representatives are invited to showcase their work to raise awareness about Infertility Prevention, Breaking Infertility stigma, and Empowering Girls and Women through Education.
Submission deadline: 30^th August 2021. Click here to view more details.
 
 2. Merck Foundation Film Awards “More Than a Mother” 2021: All African Filmmakers and Students are invited to create and share a FILM or a DOCUDRAMA to deliver strong and influential messages to break Infertility stigma, and /or Empowering Girls and Women through Education and at all levels.
Submission deadline: 30^th August 2021. Click here to view more details.
 
3. Merck Foundation Fashion Awards “More Than a Mother” 2021: All African Fashion Students and Designers are invited to create and share designs to deliver strong and influential messages to raise awareness about Infertility Prevention, Breaking Infertility stigma, and/or Empowering Girls and Women through Education.
Submission deadline: 30^th August 2021. Click here to view more details.
  
4. Merck Foundation Song Awards “More Than a Mother” 2021: All African Singers and Musical Artists are invited to create and share a SONG with the aim to Empower Girls and Women through Education and at all levels.
Submission deadline: 30^th August 2021. Click here to view more details.
 
5. Merck Foundation “Mask Up With Care” Media Recognition Awards 2021: Media representatives are invited to showcase their work to raise awareness on how to adapt best protection measures such as wearing your masks to show you care and love your family & community; to encourage your community to choose to vaccinate when it is available and to sensitize them to support healthcare workers who are at the forefront of COVID 19 pandemic.
Submission deadline: 30^th September 2021. Click here to view more details.
 
6. Merck Foundation “Make Your Own Mask” Fashion Awards 2021: All African Fashion Designers and Students are invited to create and share designs of masks and other clothing items that carry messages to encourage people to wear masks to show they care and at the same time make it creative and fun!
Submission deadline: 30^th September 2021. Click here to view more details.
 
Entries for all the awards to be submitted via email to [email protected]
 
Links to the storybooks:
Tudu’s Story: https://merck-foundation.com/merckfoundation/public/uploads/digital_library/1621857452_c6653dfde05ecb206e41.pdf
Educating Rujeko: https://merck-foundation.com/merckfoundation/public/uploads/digital_library/1621857423_bfac860ce8d9f4521051.pdf
Make the Right Choice: https://merck-foundation.com/merckfoundation/public/uploads/digital_library/1621856194_2f171013aab039cdffd8.pdf
 
For more information on the awards, please visit our website: www.merck-foundation.com

About ‘Merck Foundation More Than a Mother’ campaign

“Merck Foundation More Than a Mother” is a strong movement that aims to empower infertile women through access to information, education and change of mind-sets. This powerful campaign supports governments in defining policies to enhance access to regulated, safe, effective and equitable fertility care solutions. It defines interventions to break the stigma around infertile women and raises awareness about infertility prevention, management and male infertility. In partnership with African First Ladies, Ministries of Health, Information, Education & Gender, academia, policymakers, International fertility societies, media and art, the initiative also provides training for fertility specialists and embryologists to build and advance fertility care capacity in Africa and developing countries.

With “Merck Foundation More Than a Mother”, we have initiated a cultural shift to de-stigmatize infertility at all levels: By improving awareness, training local experts in the fields of fertility care and media, building advocacy in cooperation with African First Ladies and women leaders and by supporting childless women in starting their own small businesses. It’s all about giving every woman the respect and the help she deserves to live a fulfilling life, with or without a child. 
 
The Ambassadors of “Merck Foundation More Than a Mother” are:
 

H.E. NEO JANE MASISI, The First Lady of Botswana	H.E. FATOUMATTA BAH-BARROW, The First Lady of The Gambia	H.E. MONICA GEINGOS, The First Lady of Namibia
H.E. SIKA KABORE, The First Lady of Burkina Faso	H.E. REBECCA AKUFO-ADDO, The First Lady of Ghana	H.E. AISHA BUHARI, The First Lady of Nigeria
H.E. ANGELINE NDAYISHIMIYE, The First Lady of Burundi	H.E. CONDÉ DJENE, The First Lady of Guinea Conakry	H.E FATIMA MAADA BIO, The First Lady of Sierra Leone
H.E. BRIGITTE TOUADERA, The First Lady of Central African Republic	H.E. CLAR WEAH, The First Lady of Liberia	H.E. ESTHER LUNGU, The First Lady of Zambia
H.E. ANTOINETTE SASSOU-NGUESSO, The First Lady of Congo Brazzaville	H.E. MONICA CHAKWERA, The First Lady of Malawi	H.E. AUXILLIA MNANGAGWA, The First Lady of Zimbabwe
H.E. DENISE NYAKERU TSHISEKEDI, THE First Lady of Democratic Republic of Congo	H.E. ISAURA FERRÃO NYUSI, The First Lady of Mozambique
The Former First Lady of Burundi, H.E DENISE NKURUNZIZA, The Former First Lady of Chad, H.E. HINDA DÉBY ITNO, The Former First Lady of Malawi, H.E. PROFESSOR GERTRUDE MUTHARIKA and The Former First Lady of Niger, H.E AÏSSATA ISSOUFOU MAHAMADOU have worked successfully with Merck Foundation as Merck Foundation More Than a Mother Ambassadors to break the stigma of infertility and empower infertile women in their countries.

 
Merck Foundation launched new innovative initiatives to sensitize local communities about infertility prevention, male infertility with the aim to break the stigma of infertility and empowering infertile women as part of Merck Foundation More than a Mother COMMUNITY AWARENESS CAMPAIGN, such as;

• ‘Merck Foundation More than a Mother’ Africa Media Recognition Awards and Health Media Training
• ‘Merck Foundation More than a Mother’ Fashion Awards
• ‘Merck Foundation More than a Mother’ Film Awards
• ‘Merck Foundation More than a Mother’ Song Awards
• Local songs with local artists to address the cultural perception of infertility and how to change it
• Children storybook, localized for each country

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