In Case You Missed It: 1/18/16 — 1/24/16

@yoza_app

Yoza is a new app that pro­vides laun­dry ser­vices in Uganda.

The most impor­tant in this week’s head­lines out of and con­cern­ing Africa, for those who need help catch­ing up.

In this week’s news, a new app rein­vents laun­dry in Ugan­da, and Sier­ra Leone’s abor­tion bill faces a setback.

1. New App Acts As “Uber” For Laundry

Yoza is a new com­pa­ny that con­nects peo­ple look­ing for help with their laun­dry to those offer­ing help.

The com­pa­ny was found­ed by 24-year-old Solomon Kitum­ba of Kam­pala, Ugan­da, accord­ing to CNN. Because laun­dry is usu­al­ly done by hand, it can be time con­sum­ing and dif­fi­cult. By using the app, sin­gle pro­fes­sion­als, stu­dents, and oth­ers in need of ser­vices are able to save time that would oth­er­wise be spent doing laundry.

This is of great ben­e­fit to the wash­ers, as well. The wash­ers are pre­dom­i­nant­ly women, about a third of whom are sin­gle mothers.

Most of them have at least dou­bled their income by wash­ing for the com­pa­ny. The com­pa­ny cur­rent­ly has 150 wash­ers. They hope to gain 1,000 sub­scribers by the end of the year, and plan to expand into Kenya and Rwan­da by 2018.

2. Sier­ra Leone Puts Abor­tion Bill On Hold

Sier­ra Leone has put the Safe Abor­tion Act on hold after reli­gious lead­ers voiced con­cern about the bill.

The bill was passed by Par­lia­ment on Decem­ber 8, and would have legal­ized abor­tion up to the 12th week of preg­nan­cy. After that point, it would only allow abor­tions in extreme cir­cum­stances, such as rape, incest, or a health risk to the mother.

The lead­ers not only cit­ed reli­gious and moral rea­sons for their oppo­si­tion, but also expressed a con­cern that Sier­ra Leone does not have the med­ical resources to per­form abor­tions safe­ly. In response, activists have stat­ed that legal­iz­ing abor­tions will save the lives of women.

Cur­rent­ly, around 1,000 women in Sier­ra Leone die every year dur­ing child­birth or from oth­er prob­lems relat­ing to their preg­nan­cies. Some of these deaths are from unsafe abor­tions. Par­lia­ment will meet with reli­gious lead­ers lat­er this month to dis­cuss their concerns.