Talk:Mercy Sikelo

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. Track your hook after promotion. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Beta Beta Beta (talk) 18:25, 6 September 2026 (UTC)

( Comment or view )

( Article history links:

• Mercy Sikelo
• Esther Maulidi
• Ireen Khumalo
• Rose Alufandika
• Maggie Chavula
• Madyina Nguluwe

)

Malawi's Rose Alufandika

• ... that Malawi's team in this year's Women's Africa Cup of Nations included Mercy Sikelo, Esther Maulidi, Ireen Khumalo, Rose Alufandika (pictured) and Maggie Chavula; their debut was ranked 153rd, but they made the final and qualified for the World Cup?

• Source: - ranked 153rd in the world - they were the absolute outsiders in the competition when the WAFCON began on July 26.......the Chawingas have inspired Malawi to the WAFCON final.

• • ALT1: ... that Malawi's debut team in the Women's Africa Cup of Nations included Mercy Sikelo, Esther Maulidi, Ireen Khumalo, Rose Alufandika (pictured) and Maggie Chavula; they faced four of last year's quarter finalists, but they made the final and qualified for the World Cup? Source: - ranked 153rd in the world - four of last year's quarterfinalists - beating three.......the Chawingas have inspired Malawi to the WAFCON final.
  • Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Red Dwarf: Titan, Template:Did you know nominations/The Young Lady with the Shiner, Template:Did you know nominations/Choi Soon-hwa, Template:Did you know nominations/The Runaway (painting), Template:Did you know nominations/Cape Verdean Museum
  • Comment: I think this needs 5 QPQs as Madyina Nguluwe is DYKd elsewhere. Its a celebration of a giant-killer run by the Malawi team and of the renaissance of wiki editing about women in Malawi. (#48toInfinity).it says "made the final" but I'll change it to "won the cup" tomorrow if they win tonight (16th Aug). The creation date is given as 11 August but the articles' dates of creation vary around that date. The flag image is featured on every page in the template at the bottom - anyone got a better one?

Created by WomenInHistoryEditor (talk), Mcwamcwa (talk), Kj cheetham (talk), Nathingani (talk), Crownjewel1711 (talk), Dsp13 (talk), and Victuallers (talk). Number of QPQs required: 6=>5. Nominator has 467 past nominations.

Victuallers (talk) 09:23, 16 August 2026 (UTC).

• I take, will review in the next 72 hours.--Launchballer 14:44, 16 August 2026 (UTC)
  • Thank you - there are just 5. Sadly they lost in the final last night but it was still a remarkable run. Victuallers (talk) 07:12, 17 August 2026 (UTC)

This still needs four more QPQs.--Launchballer 13:09, 17 August 2026 (UTC)

Oops - my mistake. I added 5 and then inexplicably I appear to have deleted them. Sorry for the confusion. Victuallers (talk) 07:25, 19 August 2026 (UTC)

QPQs check out. I'll check the articles later.--Launchballer 08:55, 21 August 2026 (UTC)

@Victuallers: Sorry to keep you waiting. The articles are mostly fine; what makes AfricaBrief reliable?--Launchballer 09:20, 22 August 2026 (UTC).

No worries. It's a lot of text. AfricaBrief is a judgement call I believe. In my experience AfricaBrief makes sound publications and it is not known (by me) for outrageous claims. (try a few at random). I think it's discounted because it is a sub domain of substack.com and caution is expected (and its been given IMO). Victuallers (talk) 09:35, 22 August 2026 (UTC)

• Why is the "flag pictured" placed after the cup, and not after Malawi? And why is the flag needed at all in the hook? Does it show anything relevant to the article, the cup, the hook? Or is it simply "we want to illustrate Malawi with something, so here goes our best attempt"? Why not just use Rose Alufandika's picture, for instance, if the hook has to be a picture hook? Dahn (talk) 16:32, 25 August 2026 (UTC)

Using Alufandika's picture is an excellent idea. As for the hooks, they're technically compliant with the letter of WP:DYK200; I recommend using ALT0 and shortening it to ALT0a: that a 2026 Women's Africa Cup of Nations team featuring Rose Alufandika (pictured), Mercy Sikelo, Esther Maulidi, Ireen Khumalo, and Maggie Chavula went from being ranked 153rd to making the final and qualifying for the World Cup?. I'll leave it to you add the image to the nom.--Launchballer 16:46, 25 August 2026 (UTC)

For the record: I have no comment on the hooks or their length, but the use of the flag in the picture strikes me as contrived -- you can really sense that the background effort was "we need a picture, and we couldn't find one". All the more strange since there apparently is one. Dahn (talk) 17:17, 25 August 2026 (UTC)

For the record "we need a picture, and we couldn't find one" was exactly right. However we didn't just note that but we went and fixed it. I found the one of Rose, but in the last few days COSAFA have agreed to release all of their images with cc-by-sa licenses and that was negotiated by @Mcwamcwa: in order to supply an image for this hook! That is the "background effort" @Dahn:, it's not "strange" ... it is amazing. Well done to @Launchballer: for helping to add the image. Agreed the new hook is much better. There are too few images of African women and thanks to efforts here by launchballer and 48toInfinity, there are a lot more. Victuallers (talk) 09:38, 26 August 2026 (UTC)

That's nice! My comment was more about that the flag shouldn't have been proposed with the hook, as there was no intrinsic reason why it would be on the main page. Dahn (talk) 11:34, 26 August 2026 (UTC)

@Launchballer: Morning, hope your weekend is fine. Victuallers (talk) 10:51, 6 September 2026 (UTC)

Forgot about this. Approving ALT0a with image.--Launchballer 11:24, 6 September 2026 (UTC)