Kick Off 2009 In An African Way.

Alright some of you have tonight’s schedule set, but judging from the number of calls I have received asking “Where the party at?” I will assume that most of you are still undecided about where you’ll be when next year starts. How about ushering in the New Year to some ‘Coupe Decale’, ‘Ndombolo’, ‘Mapouka’, ‘Genge’, ‘Soca’, ‘Reggae’, ‘Soukous’, ‘Zouk’, ‘Mutwashi’, ‘Kwaito’, ‘Afro Pop’ … well you get my drift. Here’s a list of the African New Year’s Eve parties in MN, which thankfully aren’t as expensive as the ones in the major clubs downtown.

Memorable MinneAfrican Moments of 2008.

As we say goodbye to 2008 , here’s a recap of some of the events that rocked the African Community in Minnesota.

• For Kenyans, the year started off pretty badly as their home country was marred by the worst violence in her history following elections at the end of December. In January Demonstrators braved sub-zero temps to rally against the violence at the State Capitol. Read more here.
• Also in January, Grammy Award-winning Beninese singer-songwriter,  Angelique Kidjo, kicked off her US 2008 tour at a packed St. Paul’s Ordway Center. Read the review here. 
• Despite the controversy surrounding his visit Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, graced us all with his presence at the Minneapolis Convention Center in April. Read more here. 
• In June the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commision held historic public hearings in St. Paul to document the public testimonies of Liberians in the U.S. Read more here.

The rise of an “Africa” lobby by Americans?

by Nelima

The Dept. of State, today on their blog posted an article  ”More and More Americans Speak Out on Africa” implying that Africa may become somewhat of a priority on America’s foreign policy agenda because in addition to policy makers and churches, Hollywood celebrities and citizens are starting to pay attention to Africa.

 It’s easy enough to say that the president makes foreign policy; we at State naturally tend to take this position, since we work directly for the president. Yet, the Constitution itself doesn’t say exactly that. Congress has a role; most important, it has the power of the purse. No program, including the very salaries of ambassadors, can continue without funding controlled by the Congress.

And who does Congress listen to? The voters, naturally. And thus any group or individual who might influence the voters. Until recently, scholars tended to categorize the role of citizens in foreign policy as “special interests” or “lobbies”. There was the “China” lobby in the 1950s and 60s, which supported Taiwan. Now we have the “Cuba” and “Israel” lobbies. And we are witnessing the rise of an “Africa” lobby.

Overall the article is quite optimistic about US action towards African strife, which is in contrast to Condeleeza Rice’s remarks on Meet The Press on Dec 21st in which she cites her inability to do anything in Darfur as her biggest regret. All this despite the awareness and rallying of the American people. Read the post in its entirety here.

Food Drive for Brian Coyle Community Center: Because Charity Begins At Home

by Nelima

I would like to thank everyone that participated in the Dec 26th food drive for Brian Coyle Community Center (read previous post here). Your kindness was infectious because there were many at the African Gloabal Roots launch who hadn’t brought anything for the drive and requested that it be extended. Bashe who is the owner of 1st Cup Cafe has agreed to have the cafe as the drop off site for the food drive for an extra month.

Dorcus Widows Fund in Minnesota supports widows in Uganda.

by Nelima

Just wanted to share this article in the Star Tribune about three Minnesotan women who set up a fund to support Ugandan widows. Kudos to the organizers of the Dorcas Widows Fund and keep up the good work!

The Dorcas Widows Fund, named for a woman in the Bible known for her charitable deeds, has been started by three Minnesota women to help destitute widows in Uganda.

The Ugandan women, and their children, were thrown out of their homes after their husbands died, often from HIV/AIDS, in accordance with local custom permitting relatives of the deceased husband or members of his clan to seize his property. About half the women have AIDS or are HIV-positive themselves.

Read the story in its entirety here.

Guinea: Between A Rock And A Hard Place?

by Nelima

So what’s really good with Guinea? On December 22nd, Guinean president of 24 years, Lansana Conte, died after struggling with diabetes for many years. I remember being optimistic when in February of 2007 Conte named Lansana Kouyate as Prime Minister to appease the nation’s striking unions. According to the power-sharing deal, Kouyate would have the right to appoint key government officials. Some of my Guinean peers were a a little optimistic, but most were convinced this was just a political gimmick.  By then it was already known that Conte was seriously ill and it was widely speculated that he was not the one running the country. Much to my dismay, Conte sacked Kouyate in May of 2008 and replaced him with his close friend and confidant Ahmed Tidiane Souare.

What should Kwanzaa mean to Africans?

by Nelima

‘Habari Gani?’ Happy Kwanzaa peoples. On my list of things to do today was a quick stop at the Midtown Global Market (more info here) to check out the beginning of the Kwanzaa celebrations. I had (still having) a busy day and was contemplating where on my priority list to place this ‘quick stop’. Because the celebrations run through the 31st I thought that I could probably reschedule for a longer visit another day. However it hit me, ” Of what importance is Kwanzaa to me as an African anyways?” . Of course I want to get to know more about the tradition, but as an African should I feel obligated to be a part of this celebration?

How the US changed my African perception of Christmas.

by Nelima

So Christmas this year was uneventful AGAIN, for the past couple of years it hasn’t bothered me too much because all my family was here. This time my brother, sister and cute niece are back in Kenya enjoying a Kenyan Christmas – which I haven’t enjoyed in a couple of years – and just corresponding with them made me realize how dull Christmas can be in the US. When we were much younger, it was a no brainer that we were expected to go to ’shags’ (upcountry or grandparents ‘village’). We thoroughly enjoyed it, because being away from the city and surrounded by nature was always fun and healing. We watched my grandma or aunts milk the cows in the morning, helped carry water from the upstream of the river, usually a cow would be slaughtered, we’d watch the elders drink the local brew ‘busaa’ made of millet and sorghum. Everyone would dance to the traditional music played on Kenyan instruments. What bliss (expect that the masses were unusually loooong)! As we got into our teens, ’shags’ wasn’t as appealing anymore. We wanted to stay in the city and attend the hottest parties. Going down to ‘coasto’ (Mombasa) became the Christmas/New Year tradition. Yes it was all about party time (‘hanye a.k.a rev a.k.a rumba’). Then I came to the US, my first Christmas was ‘mild’ they said, but I was freezing. I finally understood the meaning of a White Christmas, because everyone was dismayed we weren’t having one. The commercials about the Christmas sales were ridiculous!  I was soon introduced to the tradition of ‘gifts’ and ‘Secret Santas’. And here I was thinking that Christmas was a time to spend with family and friends.

Come Share That Holiday Cheer At The African Global Roots Launch

by Nelima

Happy Kwanzamas everybody. We’ve been kind of slow because of the holidays and I’m sure many of you have been busy keeping up with family too. I just wanted to remind everyone that Friday the 26th will be the Africa Global Roots launch. There will be a line up of great local African artists who will be recognized and honored at the event including the ultimate Minnesotan African Musician, Joe Shalita as written in this article. MinneAfrica will be also hosting a food drive for Brian Coyle Center. Remember the article on the empty food shelves at the Brian Coyle Center? Well here’s a chance to do something about it.

The Kenya Communications (Amendment) Bill, 2008: Media Is To Blame Too.

by Capt. (Rtd) COLLINS WANDERI

On 10th December, 2008, Parliament dealt a blow to the freedom of press and expression in Kenya by passing The Communications (Amendment) Bill, 2008. MPs were mainly driven by vengeance over the media’s sustained coverage of the taxation of their hefty salaries and allowances.

But is the media fraternity entirely blameless? The media celebrated in September 2007 when Hon. Mutahi Kagwe, then Minister for Information and Communications withdrew the same bill from Parliament citing the need for further consultations and introduction of clauses to deal with cyber crime and protect the optical fibre cable. My commentary on this Bill was published in the Business Daily on 4th September, 2007. Read here. Instead of using the window created by the withdrawal of the bill to highlight its weaknesses and lobby for the removal of the offending clauses, the media concentrated on political sideshows.