Category Archives: Education

Sankofa Summer Camp Begins Summer Activities for Children

Baba Charlie Dugger has held cultural and educational events in the Baltimore, Maryland area for several decades through his organization Camp Harambee (The People), including the annual Marcus Garvey Day celebrations of the birthday of the Pan-Afrikan giant and founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL).  Now Baba Charlie Dugger is sponsoring the Sankofa Summer Camp, a summer series of events taking place at the Sankofa Children’s Museum of African Cultures at 4330 Pimlico Road in Northwest Baltimore.  The Camp will be held Mondays and Tuesdays from 10 am – 2 pm.  For more information, call (443) 742-5193 or email communiversity8@gmail.com.

SRDC and Sehwah-Liberia Inc. Announce the Maisha Washington Education Foundation Scholarship Fund

Sehwah-Liberia, Inc. and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) are announcing the Maisha Washington Education Foundation Scholarship for high school students in Liberia.

The Scholarship Program represents part of SRDC’s continuing efforts to build bridges between the Pan-African Diaspora and the African Community on the Continent, and Sehwah-Liberia’s continuing commitment to lift up the people of Liberia as the country continues to rise up from decades of civil war.

The Scholarship Program is named after Mama Maisha Washington, who as a member of the Maryland SRDC Organization and the Maryland Council of Elders (MCOE) had led efforts to launch a successful 2020 Pan African Summer Camp in Liberia, administered and taught by teachers in Liberia and the United States.  Mama Maisha was also one of the leaders of the Pan-African Library Project, which will build the first-ever public library in Monrovia, Liberia, and which will primarily serve the countries of Liberia, Guinea-Conakry, Siera Leone and Cote D’Ivoire.

Mama Maisha transitioned to the Honored Ancestors in October 2020.

The initial goal of the Maisha Washington Education Foundation Scholarship is to grant educational scholarships to 150 high school students (9th, 10th, 11th and 12th graders) in Liberia during 2022, and to expand the Scholarship Program from there.  Also, in support of the Pan-African Library Project, Liberian college-age students will be trained in Library Science to equip them to manage and operate the library once it is completed.

Another objective of the Scholarship Program will be to build relationships between Scholarship donors and students in Liberia who will benefit from the Scholarship Program.  SRDC has included a Scholarship Program Donor Form, which can be completed by checking out the SRDC post at https://srdcinternational.org/maisha-washington-education-foundation-scholarship-fund/ or by visiting the Maisha Washington Education Foundation Web page at https://srdcinternational.org/scholarship/.

To make a tax-deductible donation to the Maisha Washington Education Foundation Scholarship Program using PayPal, please visit the SRDC post at https://srdcinternational.org/maisha-washington-education-foundation-scholarship-fund/ or the Maisha Washington Education Foundation Web page at https://srdcinternational.org/scholarship/.

Update: Maisha Washington Education Foundation Scholarship Fund Appeal for Donations and Support

The most recent fund raising letter discusses the current progress of the Scholarship Program and makes the following appeal for donations:

The Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) paid the school fees for 150 Liberian high school students for the 2021-2022 school year ($30.00 each).

We were able to raise $4,500.00 through the Maisha Washington Education Foundation Scholarship Fund to pay for those students’ school fees.

This money was collected through donations from people like you.

We need $4,500.00 (US dollars) to pay the school fees for another 150 students for the 2023 school year.

44 of those first 150 graduated students from 2021-2022 will be going to college in 2023. We also need $11,000 US dollars to sponsor those students’ yearly college fees for year 2023. ($250 each).

Thus, the total fundraising goal for this year is $15,500.00 ($4,500.00 plus $11,000.00).

Funds will be forwarded to our coordinating partner in Liberia (Sehwah-Liberia), under the leadership of Madam Louise M. W. Siaway.

Make your tax deductible donation (check) out to SRDC International.

Send your check by mail to:

Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus
3818 Crenshaw Blvd. #350
Los Angeles, CA 90008

Or donate online through our PayPal donate link at https://srdcinternational.org/scholarship/.

Thank you for your support.

Joe Palmer
843-452-4880

Related Articles

Bridging the Gap Between Ourselves (Our African Connection)

by Kumasi Palmer, SRDC-South Carolina Facilitator

EDITOR’S NOTE: The 2021 SRDC International Summit will be held November 8-13 in Monrovia, Liberia.  We will be advancing our outreach to the Mother Continent through concrete projects and programs with grassroots organizations on the ground there, starting with the effort to build Liberia’s first public library and sponsoring the 2021 Summit in cooperation with the Liberian grassroots organization Sehwah-Liberia.  The official announcement of the 2021 International Summit, with Registration Page and information regarding travel and accommodations for the Summit, will be made in the next week.  Meanwhile, we invite our readers to enjoy this brief history of some of the connections between Africa and the Diaspora, specifically as they relate to the Republic of Liberia, from Baba Kumasi Palmer, SRDC-South Carolina Facilitator.

Lott Cary

Daniel Coker

The Republic of Liberia was established as an independent nation state off the coast of West Africa in 1847 by freedmen from the United States. The first set of freedmen from the U.S. settled on Sherbo Island in modern day Sierra Leone in 1820. After a year of hardship at Sherbo Island the returnees moved on further along the coast landing at Providence Island in 1821 which is today known as Liberia. Lott Cary (1780-1828) and Daniel Coker (1780-1846) were the first group of pioneers that arrived in the newly formed colonies of Sierra Leone and Liberia, Coker being one of the founding members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church founded in Philadelphia in the year 1816.

Paul Cuffee

It was through the aid and support of the American Colonization Society (formed in 1817) to send freed Blacks to the colony of Liberia. During this same period Freetown, Sierra Leone was established by the British (1808) as a colony that served as a refuge for enslaved Africans. Paul Cuffee (1759-1819), a freedman and owner of his own shipping vessel, was one of the earliest pioneers with the vision to repatriate freed Blacks from the United States to a new home in Sierra Leone. But it was Liberia that eventually became the new home for Repatriated Blacks from the US. This migration started by ship in 1820 and continued into the 1880’s.

The search for political, economic and physical security by Africans in the southern United States at the ending of Reconstruction created the condition for many Black families to seek refuge to Africa. Liberia was at the center of this migration and reconnection.

Edward Wilmot Blyden

Henry McNeal Turner

Edward Wilmot Blyden (1832-1912), Henry McNeal Turner (1834-1915) and Martin R Delany (1812-1883) were three prominent 19th century Black leaders at the forefront to reconnect the Diaspora to Africa by way of Liberia during and after the Emancipation Proclamation in the United States. Blyden was the foremost intellectual thinker and activist to advocate Diasporan Blacks to repatriate to Liberia. Blyden, the originator of the concept called “The African Personality”, was born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands but migrated to Liberia in 1850. Turner, who made numerous trips to Africa, was born in Newberry, South Carolina and became the 12th bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E) in 1880. Delany was born in West Virginia and served in the Civil War, and was commissioned as a medical doctor with the rank of major.

Martin R Delany

The early repatriates to Liberia also emigrated from the West Indies islands of Barbados, the Virgin Islands and Jamaica. From the United States they came from the states of Virginia, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas and Ohio.

We find cities in Liberia named after the states and towns where the early repatriates came and settled. Greenville, (Greenville-SC) and Maryland County (Maryland) are some of the names similar to names of US cities and states. Then there are cities named after families that emigrated from the Caribbean such as Barclayville, (president Barclay-born-Barbados-West Indies), Bensonville-(president Benson-born in Maryland-U.S.).

Joseph Jenkins Roberts

William R Tolbert Jr

All elected presidents of Liberia from 1848 until 1980 were born in the Diaspora or were the children of those born in the Diaspora. The first ten (10) presidents of Liberia were born in the Diaspora. Liberia’s first president, Joseph Jenkins Roberts (1848-1856), was born in Virginia. The grandfather of William Richard Tolbert Jr., the 20th president of Liberia (1975-1980), was born in Charleston, South Carolina.

Bridging the gap between Liberia and the Diaspora is a continued legacy established in the 19th Century by men and women who built the bridges for our Pan African connections. Many of those who left the United States for Liberia during the 19th Century embarked on ships docked at the Charleston Harbor located in South Carolina. Join us as we continue the journey of our pioneering ancestors who reconnected us over 200 years ago.

Our organization, The Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC), is presently working with our partner organization in Liberia (SEHWAH) to construct a public library in the capital city of Monrovia, Liberia. Books for nation building are welcome. Contact us at panafricanlibrary@gmail.com or our website: https://srdcinternational.org.

 

SRDC Holds Successful 2021 Summit in Liberia to Launch the Pan-African Library Project

The Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) held its 13th International Summit in Monrovia, Liberia, over the week of November 8 -13, 2021.  While the annual Summit normally provides SRDC organizers with an opportunity to make reports to each other and share the organization’s progress with invited guests and the general public, this year’s Summit also served a larger purpose — the official launching in Liberia of the SRDC Pan-African Library Project.

The recently-established SRDC office in Liberia is run by The Honorable Ms. Louise W. McMillan-Siaway, who also serves as the founder and president of Sehwah-Liberia, an on-the-ground activist organization operating primarily in Monrovia and the surrounding rural areas.  Among the important projects Sehwah-Liberia has accomplished in the recent past are the Pan-African Virtual Summer Camp in 2020 and a major food distribution project undertaken to assist families who were deprived of adequate food sources as the COVID pandemic was first ravaging the world in early 2020.

The 2021 Summit featured appearances by special guests that included His Excellency George M. Weah Sr., President of the Republic of Liberia, and Mrs. Clar M. Weah, the First Lady; several Liberian government Ministers; as well as SRDC’s International Facilitator, Professor David L. Horne, who brought an SRDC delegation from the United States; and Dr. Barryl Biekman, who serves as the president of Tiye International and the African Union African Diaspora Sixth Region-Europe (AUADS) based in The Netherlands.

The crowning achievement was the signing of an agreement between SRDC and the Government of Liberia that essentially green-lights the Library Project.  The video above, provided by CEO TV Africa, includes statements from Ms. Siaway, Profesor Horne, Dr. Biekman, Baba Kumasi Palmer (SRDC-South Carolina) and several other attendees at the Summit, as well as the signing ceremony.

We will share more detailed information on the 2021 SRDC Summit in the coming weeks.

Africa400 Goes on Hiatus; Check Out Classic Shows on Our Media Page

Africa400, the weekly Pan-Afrikan radio show hosted by Mama Tomiko and Baba Ty, with Special Episodes guest-hosted by Grandmother Walks On Water (“Mothership”) and Baba Francois Ndengwe (“Fresh News From Africa”), is taking a break from broadcasting as they make plans for the coming year.

Africa400 has discussed issues of children’s education (with a variety of guests including Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu), women’s issues, political prisoners (especially Imam Jamil Al-Amin), Afrikan-centered business ventures, Afrikan and Afrikan-American history (significantly, with historian Dr. Gerald Horne), culture, music (most notably highlighting pioneering jazz bagpiper Ancestor Rufus Harley and singer-rapper-songwriter Sis. Maimouna Youssef), health and spirituality (with health and spiritual experts such as Mama Ayo Handy-Kendi), among other compelling topics and guests.

While we will not have live shows for the immediate future, we are certain our readers have not had the opportunity to listen to all the shows of Africa400.  To remedy that problem, you are invited to visit our Media Page, which features every Africa400 episode from the show’s inception on traditional radio (WFBR in Baltimore) and even the show’s predecessor that was briefly broadcast under the Little Africa title.  All of these shows are available, with written introductions to the shows’ topics and guests, on our Media Page.

And keep visiting this site for updates on when Africa400 will resume live broadcasts.

“Fresh News From Africa” Welcomes Dr. Gerald Horne on Africa400, Wednesday, September 29

Dr. Gerald Horne, noted historian and author of several groundbreaking books on African and African-American history, will be the special guest of host Baba Francois Ndengwe on the “Fresh News From Africa” program, presented courtesy of Africa400 on HANDRadio.  The show airs on Wednesday, September 29.  He will discuss The Urgent Need for an International Global Analysis, particularly among African People and People of African Descent.

To listen to the September 29 show, click below:

Africa400 is broadcast live every Wednesday at 2:00 PM (Eastern Time, United States) on HANDRadio (https://handradio.org).  After the broadcast, the audio is made available on the HANDRadio Podcasts Page, an update of this post and the Media Pages of KUUMBAReport (https://kuumbareport.com), KUUMBAEvents (https://kuumbaevents.com) and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (https://srdcinternational.org).

Africa400 Rebroadcast of Wednesday, May 26 Show: “A New Movement and Pipeline to Save Black Boys”

The Wednesday, September 22 edition of Africa400 is a rebroadcast of the May 26 edition, “A New Movement and Pipeline to Save Black Boys”.

Mama Tomiko and Baba Ty welcome Special Guests Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu, Dr. Jamie Jenkins, Mr. Bruce Jackson and Dr. Ricki Gibbs.  They are building a comprehensive program to help educate young Black boys and save them from the “School-to-Prison Pipeline” that victimizes so many young people, from primary miseducation to criminalization and incarceration.

For the full writeup and to listen to the show, go to our Media Page under Wednesday, May 26: A New Movement and Pipeline to Save Black Boys”.

 

“Mothership” on Africa400, Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Grandmother Walks On Water hosts the Wednesday, September 1 edition of Africa400 with her show “Mothership”, as she discusses “Becoming Shepherds of the New Earth”.

Raise Your Vibration….

AFRICA400 presents MOTHERSHIP with Grandmother Walks on Water aka Nata’aska Humminbird as she dispenses her wisdom and ancestral knowledge to women becoming Shepherds of the New Earth by preparing their bodies, diet, relationships, womb, and children for a way of living that is in submission to Mother Earth.

MOTHERSHIP is a call in show so please join the conversation with questions, comments.

Becoming Shepherds of the New Earth-Part 1
From the discussion with Grandmother Walks on Water, these are her recommendations for people to become ready as Shepherds of the New Earth:

Preparing for a plant based diet

1. Start cleaning our colon with enemas, colonic

2. Smooth move tea, detox tea, detox foot bath

3. Dry brushing body before showers

4. Weekend juice fasting

5. Read William Dufty’s Sugar Blues

6. Read Elijah Muhammad’s How to Eat to Live

7. Only use Clean Oils: Grapeseed, Olive Oil, Coconut, and Sunflower

8. Give up Pigs and Cows, transition to poultry and clean fish (No Scavengers)

Clean eating is eating food that has the least amount of processing and contamination.
Things that are not clean
⦁ Meats: Lunch meat, Pigs, Cows, Hot dogs, Chicken, Bacon, Ham, Sausage, Pork Chops, Steak
⦁ Un Organic Milk, Eggs, and Cheese
⦁ Crabs, Shrimp, Lobster, Catfish
⦁ Doritos and Potato Chips
⦁ Bread, Hamburgers, French fries, Pizza, and Soda
⦁ Hydrogenated oils: Corn, Vegetable, Canola, and Soy oil all are mass produced.
⦁ Canned Soup and Alcohol

Clean eating is putting the least amount of strain and damage on our heart, liver, kidneys, colon, gall bladder, spleen, joints, and blood pressure.  It is eating for Life instead of Death.

Leaving a Light Ecological Footprint

All of the above items take massive industrial production, the waste from food production, and packaging ends up in the dump, and ocean.  Cow farts are helping to destroy the ozone layer of our planet.

1. Reduce Waste

2. Recycle

3. Reuse, and Give away, instead of Throw Away

4. Plant Community Gardens to Feed the Neighborhood

5. Cook at Home from scratch -Make Quilts from Old Clothes

6. Need Less

7. Have Less

8. Drive Less

9. Walk More

10. Spend as much time as possible walking barefoot on our Beautiful Earth.  Rubber soles disconnect us from the electromagnetic current coming from the Earth. We are Organic Electromagnetic Beings.

These Are Some Of The Ways To Walk Softly On The Earth, And Leave Less Of A Footprint

We Need Our Mother’s Touch

To listen to the September 1 show, click below:

Africa400 is broadcast live every Wednesday at 2:00 PM (Eastern Time, United States) on HANDRadio (https://handradio.org).  After the broadcast, the show is available for listening on the HANDRadio Podcasts Page, an update of this post and the Media Pages of KUUMBAReport (https://kuumbareport.com), KUUMBAEvents (https://kuumbaevents.com) and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (https://srdcinternational.org).

AFRICA400
Wednesdays 2-3pm EST.
https://handradio.org/
https://kuumbareport.com/
https://srdcinternational.org/
webuyblack.com

Baba Ty with “Precise Time” on Africa400, Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Africa400 features host Baba Ty on Wednesday, August 11, as he discusses the topic “Precise Time”.  Call-ins are welcome at (410) 598-4242.  Baba Ty consistently sounds the alarm for us to become educated about the roots of racism and oppression in this society, and to understand the need for struggle and resistance against injustice.

Listen to the August 11 show below:

Africa400 can be heard live every Wednesday at 2:00 PM (Eastern Time, United States) on HANDRadio (https://handradio.org), or by downloading the HandRadio App.  After the broadcast, the show can be heard by visiting the HANDRadio Podcasts Page, an update of this post and the Media Pages of KUUMBAReport (https://kuumbareport.com), KUUMBAEvents (https://kuumbaevents.com) and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (https://srdcinternational.org).

AFRICA400
Wednesdays 2-3pm EST.
https://handradio.org/
https://kuumbareport.com/
webuyblack.com
kweli.tv 

“Mothership” with Host Grandmother Walks On Water on Africa400, Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Africa400 features frequent guest and now alternating guest host Grandmother Walks On Water, as she presents Mothership for the Wednesday, August 4 show.

Grandmother Walks on Water, also known as Nata’aska Humminbird is of Choctaw, Creek, Cherokee and African Heritage.  She is also co-founder of Baltimore based Wombwork Productions which utilizes art, theatre, and cultural healing modalities to empower youth and community.

For the August 4 show, click below:

Africa400 is heard every Wednesday at 2:00 PM (Eastern Time, United States) on HANDRadio (https://handradio.org).  After the broadcast, the show can be heard on HANDRadio’s Podcasts Page, an update of this post and the Media Pages of KUUMBAReport (https://kuumbareport.com), KUUMBAEvents (https://kuumbaevents.com) and the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (https://srdcinternational.org).

Africa400 Calls for Assistance for School Girls in Okere Village, Uganda

On the Wednesday, July 21 edition of Africa400, show hosts Mama Tomiko and Baba Ty are calling for support for young girls at Okere Village in Uganda.

Okere City was profiled in the June 9 Africa400 show, as was described in this post as well as on our Media Page.

Despite the tremendous efforts of strong activists and leaders like Ojok Okello, founder and developer of the Okere Community Development Project in Okere City, Otuke District, Northern Uganda, who was profiled in the June 9 Africa400 show, it is still difficult for school children and the general population in Uganda to enjoy the things many of us take for granted.  Some specific points that are being stressed by the campaign:

  • 1 out of 10 African schoolgirls drop out due to a lack of menstrual products.
  • 30% of Ugandan girls drop out of school because of a lack of sanitary pads.
  • 80% of girls entering primary school will never complete their primary education for a variety of reasons.
  • 41% of Ugandans in general live on less than $1.90 a day.

Anyone who is interested in donating or purchasing sanitary pads, underwear or soap, or who want to assist in other ways, please CashApp $AFRICA400 or email africa400radio@gmail.com.