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Afua Asantewaa poised for longest singing marathon
Determined Afua Asantewaa
When Afua Asantewaa Owusu Aduonum, a highly ambitious Ghanaian lady announced on social media about two weeks ago, her intentions to break the Guinness World Record (GWR) for the Longest Singing Marathon (Singathon), many thought it was just a publicity stunt.
But the narrative changed few days after, when she officially launched her bid to take up the audacious challenge from December 24 – 27 at Akwaaba Village,Airport in Accra.
She is expected to sing for 117 hours within the period in order to break the record set by India’s Sunil Waghmare for 105 hours in 2012.
Afua Asantewaa must be able to sing over 3,000 songs with each song not more than two minutes. She would also sing strictly Ghanaian songs as part of efforts to promote Ghanaian music from gospel, highlife, hiplife to Afrobeats and more.
Afua Asantewaa, when she succeeds would be the second African lady this year, to break the GWR amidst huge support from social media, after Nigerian Chef, Hilda Baci stole the headlines earlier, with her successful attempt for the Longest Cooking Marathon.
Asantewaa’s courage has attracted the attention of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) who are on board as logistics and venue sponsors with Jamila Home coming in as the official furniture sponsor with their unique designs to set the right ambiance for the event.
She is also supported by Electroland Ghana limited as Electroland sponsors.
Mrs Afua Asantewaa Aduonum is a Broadcast Journalist, a Television Host, an Entrepreneur and a Women Empowerment Advocate.
She is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of ASKOF Productions, initiators of the Global Outstanding Women’s Awards, Africa Outstanding Women’s Awards, the Founder of Pose4Africa and Teen Queen Ghana beauty pageants.
She is also the founder of Miss Kidi Africa and the prestigious Ghana Outstanding Women Awards (GOWA) which has been running for the past six years.
The awards over the years, honoured distinguished Ghanaian women from various sectors including politics, business, sports, entertainment, entrepreneurship and innovation and media.
Afua Asantewaa is a very determined woman, beautiful, intelligent, and friendly with a great sense of humour and God fearing.
She is married to Mr Kofi Owusu Aduonum, a Journalist. The lovers tied the knot in 2016.
She also studied at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) in 2014 where she attained a degree in Journalism after which she did her internship with the Multimedia Group.
Afua Asantewaa has also engaged in several charity works aimed at supporting women and children while promoting entrepreneurship among the youth.
Though passionate about singing and attempted a career in music in the past, Afua Asantewaa is not a recognised musician in Ghana but has a decent voice to embark on her GWR challenge.
“I was hoping an established Ghanaian musician would take up the challenge but since no one was coming out, I decided to take the big step to make Ghana proud,” she told The Spectator in an interview.
“I love to sing and want to use my talent to make a mark for Ghana. This is about Ghana and we must all support the attempt,” she added.
She called on the Ghana Health Service, DJs and corporate Ghana to come on board to support her bid.
Already, some Ghanaian celebrities including Sefa, Shata Wale and Nana Ama McBrown and a few corporate entities have thrown their weights behind Asantewaa.
With the level of support from Ghanaians on traditional and social media, Afua Asantewaa is set to make the nation proud and inscribe her name into the GWR.
By Michael D. Abayateye
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Swedru All Blacks back to winning ways, Roshan humble King Faisal
Sekondi Rospak FC made it eight wins in eight successive home games after three second-half goals from John Amoah, Joseph Ntow and Stephen Anthony Kofi. John Amoah opened the scoring in the 55th minute after a barren first half. Joseph Ntow added to the tally in the 56th minute before Stephen Anthony Kofi rounded things up in the 74th minute to give Rospak a 3-0 win over former Premier League side King Faisal.
Elsewhere at Swedru – leaders Swedru All Blacks humbled PAC Academy in an emphatic 2-0 win. Zayat Bubakari scored first for Swedru All Blacks in the 27th minute before Rudolf Junior Nana Kwasi Mensah made it 2-0 in the 34th minute. Swedru All Blacks are top of the table with 36 points – 4 points ahead of second placed Rospak FC.
Meanwhile, Former Premier League side Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs recorded their fourth successive home victory after beaten New Edubiase United 2-1 at the Robert Mensah Park. Enoch Odoom struck first for Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs in the 19th minute but Steven Asante equalized for New Edubiase United before halftime. After the interval, Godfred Eshun scored from distance in the 65th minute to help Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs secure all the points.
Here are the results in Zone Two
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Cervical Cancer alert: Avoid sex at early age
The Programmes Manager of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Mary Efua Commeh, has advised young girls to avoid sex at an early age.
This, she explained, will give the cervix the opportunity to mature before they become sexually active.
“You need to delay what we call the first sexual intercourse as much as possible to give the cervix the opportunity to mature before the person becomes sexually active,” she said.
Dr Commeh stated this in an interview with The Spectator in Accra on Tuesday as a part of the Cervical Cancer awareness month.
According to her, cervical cancer was the second leading female cancer in Ghana with a total of about 3,072 cases annually, and out of that, 1,815 deaths are recorded, representing more than 50 per cent.
She indicated that “If young girls are going to be sexually active, then you need to talk to your parents about being vaccinated.”
She explained that vaccinating young girls against human papillomavirus (HPV) has been found to be a very effective way of preventing cervical cancer.
“There are countries that started HPV vaccination years ago and they are not seeing any cervical cancers now because they would have eliminated most of the high-risk HPVs in their women. So if the high-risk HPV is not there, then obviously the results on cervical cancers are going to go down,” she added.
Dr Commmey said the HPV vaccination is recommended for young girls aged nine to 14 years, adding that it had been found to be highly effective, not just for cervical cancers but for other HPV-related cancers, such as anal cancers, cancers of the vagina, genital warts, amongst others.
She further elaborated that the idea is to put up a barrier before the HPV comes in and that once a young female encounters it, she is already protected.
She also mentioned that for cervical cancers, the main cause is called HPV infection, saying generally, all sexually active women acquire HPV at some point in their lives.
However, the Programmes Manager of NCDs at the GHS mentioned that the body has a way of clearing the HPV, explaining that it is a natural mechanism that goes on, unfortunately, there are a few women whose HPV persists.
Moreover, she noted that the numbers for Cervical Cancer tend to be much higher because at times, clients would wait, and try all sorts of medications before they finally report to the health facility saying “we actually lose some women before they get to the hospitals with over 75 per cent of the cases coming in its third and fourth stages.”
Dr Commey, therefore, called for public awareness while ensuring the availability of information for prevention and control.
By Jemima Esinam Kuatsinu
