Group Outing to See Zimbabwean Nora Chipaumire Dance

Cost of ticket: $20
Cost of parking: $8
A chance to hang out with Nora Chipaumire and learn from her: Priceless

There is something empowering about supporting people and things you believe in and are passionate about. The main thing that binds AWC members and participants together is “Africa.” Whether it has to do with thoughts, feelings, history, origins, people, culture, food, art, whatever, there is no doubt that that one word/idea binds us all.

So how excited do you think we were to venture out as a group to see the dance performance of a daughter of Africa, Zimbabwean Nora Chipaumire, choreographer, director and dancer? You guessed it—very much excited!

To be honest, the music was wonderfully familiar, the lighting and graphics were amazingly cutting edge but the choreography was very different from what we expected. Why and how you say? Well, we are very used to the theatrics of the African performance where there's usually an entire troupe on stage interacting with each other and the audience with music, movement, expressions, singing, grunts and/or loud noises and the whole spectacle of a drama. Nora put us to work— following the lone dancer, at times two, leaving us to interpret the scenes and then allowing us to enjoy the interesting choreography all at the same time. One thing we all agreed on was that the experience certainly broadened our perception of an African/African-inspired performance, which is a wonderful thing to have happened.

Prior to the performance I took a few minutes to look Nora up on the world wide web and was intrigued by a statement on her site: “My goal is to use cultural currency as a means to engage the world at large/agitate for human rights!”

I got a chance to asked her what she meant by that and was please that she didn't think I was “coo-coo.” It was my take away and something I've been thinking about a lot. She said that in this global, cultural world that we live in, one thing we have going for us is that we (Africans) are rich in 'cultural currency' and we must not hesitate to use it because what we have is uniquely ours and that is what we have to bring to the table. “When we don't use it [cultural currency] and other people do, we get pissed. We need to not only use it but also value it,” Nora Chipaumire said.

I don't know about you, but it makes a lot of sense to me and I, for one, plan to use it as often as possible.

See, not only did I broaden my perception and experience but I also learned a valuable lesson.

Take-Aways from Power and Possibilities: Minority Women Leadership Conference at St. Catherine's University, MN

On April 21, I attended the Power and Possibilities leadership conference for women of color at St. Catherine University. The keynote speaker was Elizabeth B. Kautz, president of United States Conference of Mayors and current Mayor of Burnsville, Minnesota. There were many other women leaders with impressive accomplishments, participating in the program.

I was definitely wearing my “AWC hat” so I decided to share my take-aways from this awesomely inspiring event with you:

1.Leadership begins from early on; even in your childhood when you're not as aware of it. The lesson here is to take the time to reflect on the past and discover seeds planted and discover how and what specific events and individuals helped you develop into the leader you are.

2.There are people around you who would like to help---only if you will let them. So don't shy away from asking for help; learn from others if necessary.

3.The “possibilities” is understanding the needs around you. Very often we are so focused on what it is we want and not what the needs are. Pay attention to your surroundings and listen carefully.

4.Walk (into a situation) with confidence, courage and a plan. Don't be afraid to ask for a chance to come up with a plan—because nothing happens with one.

5.Know your environment, resources and have the courage to move forward.

6.Include people in the design of your plan. You know what they say: no man is an island.

7.Your mission and vision are (or should be) bigger than you.

8.Be organized, put it on your schedule and keep moving. Putting it on your schedule makes it less likely to forget or run into conflicts.

9.Don't let others define you. You are (or should be) the author of your path. Don't let others definition of you stick---it's theirs, not yours.

10.When collaborating with others find the connecting points that everyone can rally around. That way the goals are not yours or theirs, instead everyone has a stake in it and therefore are motivated to make it happen.

11.Disagree but don't throw arrows (don't eradicate their ideas or existence) because when we do, we weaken our community. Disagree wisely and intelligently.

April Meeting and Ethnic Food Drive

We had a wonderful conversation with Dr. Richard Oni, guest speaker at our April meeting and ethnic food drive. Dr. Oni shared the history and experiences of the African Food Shelf (AFS), which began with food distribution to 50 members of the African Community and has now grown to providing an average of 125 bags of food each month to families. AFS rely on the hard work of volunteers and the generosity of ethnic and mainstream grocers to help families make ends meet.

As you may know, ethnic food products can be expensive but it is one way that families deal with “cultural bereavement” that results from living faraway from home and being separated from one's family and culture. “When we eat our cultural foods, we are reminded of our culture, 'back home' in Africa and it makes us feel more at home,” Dr. Oni said.

AFS had decided early on that people would not have to go through an intake and qualifying process in order to preserve the dignity of the families in need. “Once you start scrutinizing people, a loss of dignity occurs,” said Dr. Oni. An unfortunate situation that many in the community have experienced at some food distribution centers. In addition, remittances sent to Africa to support family members are usually not included as a part of expenses when people fill out service eligibility forms, which makes their net income appears to be higher than it really is. For these reasons and others, AFS decided that qualifications for participation would generally be left to individual's conscious. Participants are registered at the time of pickup and provided assistance according to the number of people living in each household.

In addition to food distribution, AFS partners with the University of Minnesota medical students to provide blood pressure checkups and a nonprofit organization called African Health Action (AHA), which provides a variety of medical assistance including HIV/AIDS testing. Dr. Oni reported that at times they had to call the ambulance because some people are walking around with pressure high enough to cause a stroke and don't know it.

Due to funding cuts and a challenging economy, AFS has been forced to consider partnership with another food shelf organization, the Emergency Food Network, to continue helping families in need. However, eligibility status will have to be adjusted to meet their partner's standards for reporting.

Dr. Oni said that he is pleased to learn of AWC's effort to collect ethnic food products to donate to individuals and families in need because it important not only for nourishment but also for emotional well-being of members of our community.

AFS food distribution is held on a monthly basis at the corner of 69th and Humbolt Ave in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Dr. Oni can be contacted at troni@orbis.net.

Attendance at the April meeting was unexpectedly low and 43 lbs of food was collected, the lowest amount in the history of AWC food drive. According to our friends at CEAP Food Shelf, in Brooklyn Park, each individual receives a minimum of 15 lbs of food at distribution. So to put in in perspective, we provide food for less than three individuals—we can surely do better than that. We plan to make up for our loss over the next months by continuing to collect food items at our monthly meetings.
Many thanks to Dr. Oni and AFS for taking the time to visit with us and to the staff and management of the Flamingo Restaurant. This goes without saying, thanks also to the phenomenal ladies who attended and donated to our food drive. Your leadership and commitment are the ingredients the keep AWC cooking.