A boy performs a sacred drum chant at the launch of International Year of People of African Descent
The African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA), founded in 1993, has had a very busy UN International Year for People of African Descent (IYPAD) with many exciting activities for everyone, emphasising the significance for people of African descent.
The UN General Assembly proclaimed the Year in December 2009 in a resolution citing the need to strengthen national actions and regional and international cooperation to ensure that people of African descent fully enjoy economic, cultural, social, civil and political rights; to advance their integration into all political, economic, social and cultural aspects of society; and to promote a greater knowledge of and respect for their diverse heritage and culture.
ACDA’s program began on December 26 last at its annual Kwanzaa event, which always commands a packed audience at its Thomas Lands headquarters.
ACDA is the sponsor of Emancipation Day activities at the National Park, African Holocaust Day on October 12, and Kwanzaa from December 26 to January 1 every year. ACDA also has the Ronald Waddell Reading Room/ Library; its school, the Centre of Learning and Afrocentric Orientation (COLAACO), and its performing arts group, Nzingha.
ACDA fully supports the spirit and intent of the UN-sanctioned year, and endorses the United Nation’s motto for IYPAD, “People of African Descent: Recognition, Justice & Development”.
ACDA chose the Sankofa Bird as its symbol for IYPAD, and has as its motto “Soaring toward the way we were. Never again. Shared governance, shared responsibility and shared accountability”. The Sankofa symbol is based on the mythical bird that flies forward with its head looking back. This reflects the Akan belief that the “past serves as a guide for planning the future, or the wisdom of learning from the past in building the future.” ACDA believes that, during this year, Africans in Guyana should “seek wisdom from our ancestors, learn from history, and do not make the same mistakes twice.” Additionally, ACDA hopes everyone in Guyana lives by the seven principles of Kwanzaa, as ACDA strives to embody these seven principles (nzugo saba) in all of its programs, namely unity, self- determination, collective work and responsibility, co- operative economics, purpose, creativity and faith.
ACDA’s activities for IYPAD
ACDA has been involved in a wide range of activities for this year, in both Georgetown and the rest of the country. These include creating a ‘Know Thyself’ programme recognizing heroes, important legacies and events of Africans in Guyana, Africa and the diaspora. For instance, there are posters on African contributions to Guyana, such as displaying Africans who dug and moved 100 million tons of earth to build Guyana; artist Philip Moore; Lucy, the 3.5-million-year-old skeleton found in Ethiopia; the Lebombo bone found in 1974, which showed mathematics began in Africa 35,000 BC in Swaziland, Africa; African Jeanette, the story of the African slave girl who came to Guyana; Marcus Garvey; LFS Burnham; Imhotep who is believed to be the father of medicine, the world’s first multi-genius and father of pyramid building in Egypt; Queen Nzingha; Winnie and Nelson Mandela, Winnie Gaskin, Cuffy, and many more.
Every month, ACDA hosts a concert, sometimes in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture. Every year, ACDA participates in the cultural activities of many schools, especially around Mashramani time. This year, ACDA has been involved in these activities at nine schools, starting with St. Joseph’s High and North Georgetown Secondary. Some schools, such as the Marian Academy, went further by having school debating and poetry competitions based on themes from IYPAD. Schools from out of town have also visited ACDA to hear talks and to see drums, African artefacts and African clothing. ACDA normally performs drumming, dances and poetry at these school events.
A book, entitled ‘ISIS’, will be launched in commemoration of IYPAD. And on Emancipation Day at the National Park, ACDA would have many unique elements to commemorate IYPAD.
ACDA has several initiatives that have been designed to support its commitment to the United Nations International Year for People of African Descent. These will continue through 2011 and into 2012. With this year’s Emancipation festival offering several unique activities, ACDA will host its inaugural program in September, in which there will be an official ceremony for anyone who wishes to have an African name.
It is hoped that the many activities will heighten recognition of the contributions of Africans to Guyana and to the world, and that this knowledge will lead to better relations among the many races of Guyana.
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