Entertainment

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Housemates of Big Brother Africa discuss causes of extreme  poverty in Africa and how to tackle them during a charity week campaign programme

|  By Chinwe Okafor  |  Aug. 19, 2013 @ 01:00 GMT

The ONE Campaign, a non-governmental organisation and Africa Magic, a satellite television programme provider, in collaboration with Big Brother Africa, BBA, television reality show had  set aside August 5 to 9 as its charity week to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the African Union, AU.

During the charity week, BBA housemates took part in a series of tasks centered on educating its viewers about the most pressing poverty issues facing the continent while also highlighting possible solutions. According to the housemates, basic essentials that could contribute to extreme poverty include energy, food and poor access to health facilities. In their discussion, they said they had also experienced instances of extreme poverty, with a different theme each day. Each of them chose one poverty issue and did a short video on the issue and called on the AU to address them.

Lani Lombard, head of corporate communications, M-NET, owner of the BBA, said that the platform, apart from being an entertainment program, the Big Brother also looked forward to using it for purposes of viewers’ education and development. “Working with ONE has helped us, as it did last year, to engage our Big Brother Africa audience to get a better understanding of issues that contribute to extreme poverty and how we can each play a role to put a stop to extreme poverty. The fact that we collaborated with ONE again is a clear testimony that last year’s partnership was a resounding success,” Lombard said.

Sipho Moyo, ONE’s Africa director, said the organisation was delighted by its collaboration with Africa Magic. “The Big Brother Africa platform presents an incredible opportunity to highlight the unconscionable plight of extreme poverty, which millions of Africans face on a daily basis. We also know that by 2030, extreme poverty will virtually be eradicated in Africa,” Moyo said.

The programme also featured Pan-African Hip Hop sensation, Ice Prince, who engaged the housemates on the extreme poverty discussion. It was the second year that BBA, which is now in its eighth show, would be working with the ONE campaign.

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