Twin Cities Book Festival, October 12

The Twin Cities Book Festival, the biggest book festival in the upper Midwest, USA, is here already. It will be held tomorrow, October 12, at the State Fairgrounds in St. Paul. An annual event, this Festival brings together thousands of book lovers, writers, editors, publishers, booksellers, illustrators and critics.

I have participated in a number of these festivals, and I am ready for tomorrow. I look forward to talking with many people, sharing ideas and experiences about writing, publishing, and related subjects. As usual, I will be exhibiting my books. In the video below, you can hear me talking briefly about my most popular book: Africans and Americans: Embracing Cultural Differences



 

St. Olaf International and Off-campus Studies Open House

Today, here at St. Olaf College, we held another international and off-campus studies open house. An annual event, around this time, it is an occasion to showcase the many international and off-campus study programs we run. St. Olaf is a top-ranked college in the USA in this field.







We have programs in different parts of the world, a number of them in African countries, including Senegal, Ghana, South Africa, and Namibia. I am the advisor for the ACM Tanzania and ACM Botswana programs.

Students interested in, or curious about, these programs get the chance to learn more by talking with program advisors.





It is always a pleasure to talk with students seeking to study abroad, to tell them about the countries they are thinking about, the educational system, the people and the culture, and such things.

Studying abroad is a valuable part of the students' education, and we encourage it seriously.

Afrifest Foundation Board Meeting, October 5

Yesterday, we had another Afrifest Foundation board meeting, at the Center for Families in Minneapolis. We noted that we have received our much awaited 501c 3 from the International Revenue Service. This is great news. With this status, the Afrifest Foundation will have more opportunities to explore and more independence in certain actions.

The meeting was attended by Nathan White, who chaired it, Wycliff Chakua, Denise Butler and Joseph L. Mbele. We also welcomed two new board members: Dayolin Pratt and Dennis Omwenga. We told them how Afrifest has, over the years, braved all kinds of challenges including naysayers and prophets of doom, and built a strong organization which knows exactly where it is going, and which has already built a large network of, collaborators, friends and well-wishers.

We had a rich agenda, including reviewing the Afrifest festival we held on August 10. We are grateful that we decided to go ahead with the festival, even though the situation made it difficult for us to plan as elaborately as we normally do. We were driven by the idea that, no matter what, having the festival every year was very important. We noted the generosity of our sponsors, such as Wells Fargo Bank. We will soon start planning for the 2014 festival. With the 501c3 status in our hands, our spirits are experiencing a big boost.

Afrifest Went Well, Including a Visit by Senator Al Franken

It was a sunny day today in Minnesota and Afrifest 2013 took place, as planned, at the Northview Junior High School in Brooklyn Park.

As promised, there were children's games. There was not an idle moment for them. In addition to the games, the children  got to learn a little bit of African drumming. I stopped by several times to take pictures, and on one of those occasions, I was able to hear the master drummer telling the children the place of the drum in traditional African culture. I heard him talk about how Africans used the drum to communicate messages.















The "gates" were open at noon, and people came and went throughout the rest of the day.












There were a number of vendors, such as Liberation Clothing and Gifts & which was also present at last year's Afrifest.













Wells Fargo, a major sponsor of Afrifest, was there, just as in the past. Many festival volunteers came from Wells Fargo. They were very visible in their red t-shirts.

The festival proceeded against the backdrop of music from different parts of Africa. The DJs did a remarkable job, playing a wide variety of African music.













Here is the food stand. Their food, including rice and chicken, was terrific.









As an educator, I share knowledge about the African experience. In addition to my books, I hung posters on the fence behind me. These posters--text and pictures--deal with Africa, Africans, and African diaspora across the ages. They describe and discuss Africa as the origin of human beings, the evolution of African kingdoms, slavery and the slave trade, with particular emphasis on the global nature of slavery and the slave trade, not just the trans-Atlantic dimension. There are posters on colonialism, the struggle against it, panAfricanism, contemporary challenges and future prospects.

A few minutes after 4:30, Senator Al Franken (Democrat, Minnesota) showed up. There was much excitement as people crowded around him to greet him and talk with him. What a generous and gentle man. He genuinely appears to enjoy meeting people. Everyone who wanted to take pictures with him did so. It was a truly memorable day.

Afrifest Twin Cities is Here Again, August 10

Afrifest 2013 is just around the corner, August 10. A pan-African educational and cultural festival designed to educate and connect people, Afrifest has been around for seven years now, its crowning achievement being an annual festival showcasing the history, politics, arts and culture of people of African descent.

Over the years, Afrifest has featured musical performances, fashion shows, vendors and educational displays. There are a lot of activities and games for children.

I have always been touched to see children meet and play with children from different countries and cultures. Afrifest is an opporttunity for them to cultivate a pan-African consciousness at an early age.

In these seven years, through my involvement with Afrifest, I have met and learned about many many people: Africans, African-Americans and others. I cherish the connections I have made.

Every individual, whether from Africa, the Caribbean or the USA or elsewhere has unique experiences and perspective. Talking to each of them is like going through a valuable educational experience. Equally important is the opportunities I have to share my own experiences and perspective as an African, a writer, educator and cultural consultant.

On the left is the booth of Liberation Clothing & Gifts from Afrifest 2012. I bought a lovely Bob Marley T-shirt here.

From the beginning, I have involved my own children in Afrifest, because I know the social and educational value of such involvement. They get to meet different people and see the displays representing different countries and cultures.

I always set up a table, as one of the vendors, on which I display my books and other educational materials. My children enjoy assisting me. They are able to talk to people about my writings and my work as an educator and cultural consultant. They are able to speak to the media on my behalf, as can be seen in the photo on the left.

As a member of the Afrifest Foundation board, I wish to invite everyone  to Afrifest 2013. Just to give you a sense of the diversity of Afrifest offerings this year, there will be a soccer tournament, health and wellness fair, vendors, food, and games for children. As a parent, who firmly believes in the value of events and programs such as Afrifest, I encourage all parents to bring their children to Afrifest 2013. For more information, visit the Afrifest website

A Conversation About Tanzania and Americans

This morning I drove from Northfield to Rochester, to meet with Pam Schwalbach and Charles Mpanda. Pam is American and Charles is Tanzanian. Both are passionate about working with Tanzanians and Americans to foster understanding between the two nations. They seek to accomplish these goals through travel and tourism and offering people of both nations the opportunity to know one another through living and working together.

Charles and Pam run a tour company, Tanganyika Ancient Routes, whose motto is "Travel,  Learn and Serve." They are also involved with Simple Hope, a non-profit that Pam and her friend Karen Puhl founded. Working in rural Tanzania, the mission of Simple Hope is to "to save and empower lives through faith, nutritious food, clean water, education, and other identified long term sustainable processes."

Our long conversation today dealt with all these issues. We spent much time brainstorming on cross-cultural orientation and developing tourism that is truly educational and liberating. We realized that we all are passionate about cultural orientation to enable people to interact and work together free from problems that are likely to arise due to cultural differences.

Charles and I first met in Arusha, on June 21, 2008, when I conducted a workshop on Culture and Globalization, which he attended. In the photos from the workshop, he is seen wearing a jacket and a cap. He has been in the USA for a few weeks, and he suggested that we should meet. We are all happy that worked out.

A Meeting With Atum and Ahmad Azzahir

Today, I had a meeting in Lakeville, Minnesota, with Atum and Ahmad Azzahir, remarkable educators who specialize in working with people of African descent. I mentioned them several days ago in this blog, having met them at the Power of Unity Summit organized by the Council on Black Minnesotans.

We explored our interests and philosophies as educators. We discussed the need for the decolonization of the mind as articulated by people like Frantz Fanon, Julius Nyerere, Walter Rodney, and Ngugi wa Thiong'o.

Atum spoke of her work with the Cultural Wellness Center, which is based on the premise that many of the pathological conditions afflicting people of African descent stem from the isolation, dislocation and alienation of contemporary life. What a great idea, I thought to myself. Ahmad directed our attention to issues of African philosophy and value systems, such as described by Julius Nyerere.

We all agreed that if we could recapture the communalistic ethos of traditional Africa, we would go a long way towards healing our contemporary communities. I highlighted the values embedded in folktales and proverbs as examples. Though the values of capitalism--materialism and individualism--permeate our world, we need to create space for an alternative, humanistic value system.

I was happy to share my experience as a researcher and interpreter of oral folklore, which embodies the philosophical, ethical and aesthetic knowledge and heritage of the Africans. I had brought copies of my books, which Atum and Ahmad are seen holding in the photo.

Although I had known about the work of Atum and Ahmad for many years, our first meeting--a brief one--was during the Power of Unity Summit. We resolved to look for an opportunity or opportunities to meet and discuss issues of common concern. Today we had our first meeting. We met for three hours, and yet the time seemed to just fly by.

We look forward to more meetings, more discussions. Despite the challenges involved in trying to get people out of conventional patterns of thought about their place in the world, their identity, and the need to decolonize the mind, the possibilities and prospects are endless.