The latest charity project from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Archewell Foundation has reached girls in Nigeria as they start a new school year.
The charitable foundation, which launched in 2020, has funded a project in Nigeria called The GEANCO Foundation, which provides school supplies and menstrual products to girls and young women in the West African country.
It comes as the Duchess of Sussex bonded with Nigerian athletes at the Invictus Games after discovering she had Nigerian roots, saying she couldn’t wait to visit the country ‘for (her) mother and the children’.
A post on Archewell’s website noted the Sussexes’ charity’s latest contribution to the schoolgirls, offering them stationery, backpacks and menstrual products at the start of the new school year.
The post also provided more information about GEANCO’s work in the region, including providing menstrual health education to teenage girls and taking steps to improve their overall health and well-being.
Meghan and Harry’s Archewell Foundation partners with Nigeria-based GEANCO Foundation to support schoolgirls in the West African country
The message explained: “GEANCO provides critical healthcare and education services in Nigeria.
“The David Oyelowo Leadership Scholarship provides comprehensive education, medical care and social and emotional support to young female victims of terrorism and gender inequality in Nigeria.”
The project comes after the Sussexes spent a week in Dusseldorf, Germany, for the 2023 Invictus Games.
At the opening ceremony of the tournament, Prince Harry revealed that his wife would provide her personal support to the athletes after discovering through a genealogical test that she is 43% Nigerian.
In the following days, she was seen hugging a competitor and describing her as “my Nigerian sister,” before being introduced to other members of the team and the defense chief, who gave her a nickname – Amira Ngozi Lolo – which she could use it if she visits the country someday.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (pictured at the Invictus Games in Düsseldorf this month) founded Archewell in 2020
The Archewell Foundation has provided funding to support schoolgirls in the West African country as they start a new school year
In addition to backpacks and other school supplies, Archewell and GEANCO also supply historical products
Amira is a warrior princess from legend, Ngozi means ‘blessed’ and Lolo is ‘royal wife’.
Meghan and Harry were serenaded in a group, as a Nigerian led them in a chant of “Gbosas,” which roughly translates as “kudos.”
Derek Cobbinah, who helped coordinate Nigeria’s debut in this year’s competition, told Hello! that the Duchess was “deeply touched” by the nickname and that she hopes to organize a family trip to the country.
“She said she couldn’t wait to visit Nigeria for her mother and the children,” he revealed.
“She is always welcome to visit Nigeria and other African countries.”
The revelation of Meghan’s Nigerian heritage came on an episode of her Archetypes podcast after she took a genealogy test “a few years ago.”
She promised to “dig deeper into this” during her conversation with comedians Issa Rae and Ziwe Fumudoh.
Archewell’s latest project comes after Meghan’s Spotify podcast, Archetypes, was axed after its first series. The Duchess also recently withdrew her bid to trademark the name.
It was officially said that the decision to cancel the podcast in June was a ‘mutual’ decision between the streaming giant and Archewell Audio – the Duchess and Prince Harry’s company.
But sources close to the £15million deal – which was signed by the couple in 2020 – said it was scrapped after the pair failed to produce enough content to justify the full payout.
However, applications filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) show that Archewell has ‘revived’ its trademark bid for the podcast title Archetypes, even after the Spotify deal had already been withdrawn.
But the application has now been withdrawn after an unsuccessful 17-month battle to get the title protected.
Meghan’s search to trademark the name began in March last year, when the application was first filed. But in January, the USPTO rejected it due to the “likelihood of confusion” with an existing trademark of the same name.
Archewell’s latest project to support schoolgirls in Nigeria is the first update on the foundation’s website since August 12, when the organization noted Prince Harry’s participation in a polo tournament in Singapore in aid of Sentebale, a charity he co-founded in 2006. Prince Seeiso of Lesotho founded.