Heroes of COVID-19: South Africa’s Don Dada and daughter fight pandemic

In this 3rd edition of series ‘Heroes of COVID-19‘ on TheAfricanDream.net we chanced upon a special YouTube series hosted by South African musician Don Dada and his Daughter Hayze aka PRETYGUUURRL titled Don Dada Chronicles of #COVID-19 #LOCKDOWN.

As many artists reel across the globe from the shock of canceled events and wondering how to survive COVID-19 challenges, Multi-platinum Reggae and Hip-Hop artiste Menelik Nesta Gibbons aka DON DADA is has been determined to capitalize on the time to emerge with ways to inform people about the disease while welcoming South Africans into his home.

With his Don Dada Chronicles of #COVID-19 #LOCKDOWN series online, the musician manages to invite all of South Africa and the world into his home while adhering to social distancing through the power of the Internet.

What TheAfricanDream.net finds heroic about this is the dedication and preparedness with which he does it, without missing a single day and using his example to encourage viewers worldwide on how to positively engage themselves under lock down.

“I do believe that our artists are intelligent and agile enough to maneuver our way through these difficult circumstances. I also feel that it’s very important for us as artists to be in the forefront as ‘The Voice, The Face and The Messenger’ of the messages of hygiene, the importance of social distancing and #StayHome campaigns to the masses through music,” says Don Dada about artists amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

Check out an episode from the series which is available on RuFF CuTT Studio YouTube channel below.

The episodes which have 30 videos at the time of this publication, can be seen here in this link to YouTube bit.ly/DONDADAchroniclesoflockdown.

Click this link to read more ‘Heroes of COVID-19’ stories

Now one of our favorite parts of the series here at TheAfricanDream.net is when together with his 11-year-old daughter Hayze, Don Dada summarizes COVID-19 information in the layman’s terms, making it attractive for children as well through the process. Don Dada believes that understanding what the children are going through and supporting them through this period is extremely important.

Hayze brings a touch of sunshine to the whole series which when coupled with the voice of her father glues audiences to the screens. Also, every Thursday from 5PM -7PM he hosts his Soundwave.radio.net program titled INNA De Trenches Reggae broadcast where he gets busy with new music offerings.

Since South Africa’s lockdown began March 26, 2020, Don Dada has handled several interviews from stations across the globe promoting his album Alkebulan available on Spotify. By the way TheAfricanDream.net is looking forward to doing a zoom chat with this duo soon by the way.

The award-winning artist believes as influencers, musicians, and artists hold enough sway in their communities evident in their fan-bases. This is why he feels “artists and entertainers worldwide can play a critical role to combat this epidemic. We need to come together to create a ‘We Are The World’ type of a song which we can use to champion the plight of Africans against the Coronavirus epidemic and use the proceeds to support the underprivileged and, to purchase more testing kits to be made readily available…“

A big lesson COVID-19 has taught humanity is the inequality amongst people Don Dada noticed, but in the same breath, he acknowledged “the spirit of UBUNTU is well and alive in Africa as we witness each other reach out to assist the vulnerable. Although some may not be the most well off, yet we all share what little we have in making provision for each other. This is absolutely amazing.“

The musician thanked all essential FRONTLINE FIGHTER for keeping South Africa afloat. He also thanked the government and President Cyril Ramaphosa for handling the situation well by his early response to it in South Africa. Africa has always found ways in which to deal with harsh tests to her humanity and this effort of Don Dada and Hayze makes them our hero and heroine in the fight against the novel Coronavirus pandemic.

Written by Oral Ofori