Friday, June 14, 2013

African Heritage Celebration 2013 School Supplies Campaign.

The African Heritage Celebration(AHC) provided supplies for more than 2000 students last year in Senegal , during its 2012 school supplies distribution campaign. From Nov. 7 to Nov. 22 , 2012, volunteers of AHC visited 19 primary and secondary institutions in Bargny, Rufisque, cities located in the Northwestern region and Keur Samba Ka, a small community, in the Southern part of the country to deliver the supplies there. Kindergarteners and Elementary school children received notebooks, textbooks, slates and materials essential for them to make a successful academic year. Also, AHC provided 345 Math, English and French literature textbooks to the middle school of Bargny Kipp. In addition, the group of AHC volunteers made the 10-hour journey to the region of Matam and delivered school supplies Denver Senegal Humanitarian Foundation(DSHF) had bought for students in the Northern village of Diorbivol, and communities of Diaocounda and Kounkane, located east of the country. AHC has provided supplies for more than 8,000 students and has impacted more than 15,000 children, since 2007. The textbooks are passed onto forthcoming students and can serve up to several academic cycles. Students received the supplies during presentation ceremonies attended by parents, teachers and local notorieties, where the importance of education in improving living conditions is emphasized. All the school AHC has impacted, so far, have seen a significant increase in the student's success rate. African Heritage Celebration is a Denver-based non-profit organization engaged in projects aimed at helping eradicate illiteracy. AHC was established in 2005 and continue a traditional of solidarity between Colorado and Senegal, since African Immigrant Oumar Dia was shot and killed by skinheads in Denver. Oumar Dia was murdered on a chilly night of November 18, 1997, while he was waiting for a bus to go home, after he was off from his job. Oumar Dia worked at the Hyatt Regency Denver as a housekeeper. Most of the funds are raised through the annual Dinner-Gala hosted by the Hyatt Regency at Colorado Convention Center and the contributions of volunteers. African Heritage Celebration raised close to 60,000 dollars over the course of 5 years . It has benefitted from a $25,000 dollar-challenge grant graciously provided by the Mizel Global Cultural Fund. Significant contributions from Prof. H. Malcolm Newton, President of The Denver Institute of Urban Studies, Charles Hauber of Cventures and Kevin Miller, chairman of the board and the in-kind donations of the Mizel Museum have been so valuable to the implementation of the educational projects. On Friday June 28, AHC will hold its 7th Dinner-Gala. It will be once again hosted by the Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Celebration. Entertainment will be provided by The Drum Master and guest artists . There will be a silent auction. AHC leads every year groups of volunteers to Senegal to help deliver the supplies. The volunteers get to work and live the communities where the schools are located. They discover and experience different the way of life, especially in the rural communities, which provide a unique opportunity of a lifetime experience so greatly appreciated by the travelers who get to share the food the dance the songs of the villagers . They also get to visit historic and cultural sites, like the slave house on Goree Island. Goree Island located 3 mile off the coast of Dakar, Senegal's capital City. It served as a slave holding docks, between 1576 and 1830. Millions of kidnapped African have transited through the island before being sold and transported to Europe and the Americas. The Africans captives walked through the infamous Door of No Return to board the ships and were never to see their homeland again. The Goree Diaspora Festival , a bi-annual celebration, which is held on the Island to honor the memory of those who were enslaved , opens "the Door of Return " for thousands of tourists from all the world who attend the November festivities . Mohamadou Cisse