{"id":24771,"date":"2022-07-13T11:43:06","date_gmt":"2022-07-13T11:43:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags"},"modified":"2022-07-13T12:01:06","modified_gmt":"2022-07-13T12:01:06","slug":"popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags","title":{"rendered":"Popya with Mongai Fankam – Trading plastic bags for school bags"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>Millions of children around the world walk to school, carrying their books and school supplies in their hands or plastic bags because they cannot afford a backpack.<\/p>\n

After witnessing this while on trips to Cameroon, Mongai Fankam initiated \u2018No Backpack Day\u2019 in 2012 in the USA.<\/p>\n

\u2018No BackPack Day\u2019 is a day children in the USA go to school without their backpacks, carrying all their books and school supplies in their hands or plastic bags to raise awareness for the millions of children around the world who have to walk long distances to school and cannot afford backpacks.<\/p>\n

Fankam (19) told Youth Corner on her recent visit to Namibia that she started this project when she was 8 years old \u2013 and 10 years later, she has managed to donate over 20 000 bags with school stationery to learners.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want them (USA learners) to realise how fortunate they are to get a new backpack every year, unlike others who have to reuse a backpack or don\u2019t have one at all,\u201d shared the University of North Carolina nursing student.<\/p>\n

While in Windhoek, Fankam donated some bags to the SOS Children\u2019s Village and the Megameno Orphanage.<\/p>\n

Jeremiah Shaalukeni, the spokesperson of the Megameno Orphanage, said the donation came just in time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were in dire need of bags. We are happy to receive these donations from Mongai and will forever be grateful. We have about 20 learners who are attending school \u2013 and now, they will be able to carry their books in clean, new bags,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

SOS Children\u2019s Village\u2019s youth development officer Dennis Kharuchab said this generous gift means a lot to the institution, and it is a kind gesture they are not taking lightly.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe travelled from the US and selected us. She could have given it to anyone else but we were chosen; that means a lot to us, and we appreciate this. We will be getting 100 bags. This means there are people out there who care for orphans, and there is a need for them to be given hope,\u201d he said ecstatically.<\/p>\n

Relying mostly on donors, both of these institutions require basic needs like cleaning materials, groceries and other necessities.<\/p>\n

The number of children who grow up without parental care or are at the edge of losing it is on the upsurge in Namibia.<\/p>\n

According to several humanitarian organisations, this represents a sombre development concern for the government of African countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am huge on girl empowerment, so I have done a few projects related to that in the US. I want to expand to work with different girls and different African countries that I have<\/p>\n

visited. Another project that I want to do is to start giving out scholarships to students as well,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n

Fankam has worked with, among others, the former First Lady of Cape Verde Ad\u00e9lcia Barreto Pires, Angola\u2019s Ana Afonso Dias Lourenco, the former President of Malawi Peter Mutharika and Zambia\u2019s former First Lady Esther Lungu.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. Millions of children around the world walk to school, carrying their books and school supplies in their hands or plastic bags because they cannot afford a backpack. After witnessing this while on trips to Cameroon, Mongai Fankam initiated \u2018No Backpack Day\u2019 in 2012 in the USA. \u2018No BackPack Day\u2019 is a day […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":24770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8,16],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-24771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nPopya with Mongai Fankam - Trading plastic bags for school bags - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Millions of children around the world walk to school, carrying their books and school supplies in their hands or plastic ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Popya with Mongai Fankam - Trading plastic bags for school bags\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Millions of children around the world walk to school, carrying their books and school supplies in their hands or plastic ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-07-13T11:43:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-13T12:01:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_6-62ceb3ef863c0.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"470\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Popya with Mongai Fankam – Trading plastic bags for school bags\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-13T11:43:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-13T12:01:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags\"},\"wordCount\":517,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_6-62ceb3ef863c0.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags\",\"name\":\"Popya with Mongai Fankam - Trading plastic bags for school bags - Namibia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_6-62ceb3ef863c0.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-13T11:43:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-13T12:01:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Millions of children around the world walk to school, carrying their books and school supplies in their hands or plastic ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_6-62ceb3ef863c0.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_6-62ceb3ef863c0.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":470,\"caption\":\"Popya with Mongai Fankam - Trading plastic bags for school bags\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Popya with Mongai Fankam – Trading plastic bags for school bags\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/\",\"name\":\"Namibia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Popya with Mongai Fankam - Trading plastic bags for school bags - Namibia","description":"Millions of children around the world walk to school, carrying their books and school supplies in their hands or plastic ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Popya with Mongai Fankam - Trading plastic bags for school bags","og_description":"Millions of children around the world walk to school, carrying their books and school supplies in their hands or plastic ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags","og_site_name":"Namibia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2022-07-13T11:43:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-07-13T12:01:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":470,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_6-62ceb3ef863c0.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Popya with Mongai Fankam – Trading plastic bags for school bags","datePublished":"2022-07-13T11:43:06+00:00","dateModified":"2022-07-13T12:01:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags"},"wordCount":517,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_6-62ceb3ef863c0.jpg","keywords":["africa press","Africa Press-Namibia","namibia"],"articleSection":["all news","community","homepage-english","twitter"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags","name":"Popya with Mongai Fankam - Trading plastic bags for school bags - Namibia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_6-62ceb3ef863c0.jpg","datePublished":"2022-07-13T11:43:06+00:00","dateModified":"2022-07-13T12:01:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Millions of children around the world walk to school, carrying their books and school supplies in their hands or plastic ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_6-62ceb3ef863c0.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/07\/postQueueImg_6-62ceb3ef863c0.jpg","width":720,"height":470,"caption":"Popya with Mongai Fankam - Trading plastic bags for school bags"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/popya-with-mongai-fankam-trading-plastic-bags-for-school-bags#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Popya with Mongai Fankam – Trading plastic bags for school bags"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/","name":"Namibia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}