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June 2016

Kia Motors to Build Training Centres in Ethiopia and Kenya

From the Editor

O u r G r ea tes t G lor y is n o t in n ever f a llin g b u t in r is in g ever y time we f a ll .

We ar e committted to b r in gin g th e commu n ity th e bes t in N ews f r om Af r ica a n d th e D ia s p or a . Yo u may als o vis it o u r webs ite a t www.af r ik an po s t.com f or d a ily n ews u p da tes o n Af r ica .

D is cla imer : Th e o p in ion s ex pr es s ed in ar ticles a n d s to r ies in th is N ews pa per ar e th os e o f th e a u th o r s a n d d o n o t n eces s ar ily r ef lect th e views o f Af r ik an Po s t . All co mmen ts a n d s u g g es tio n s a r e welcome.

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D E PA R T M E N T S Vol 8 Issue 6

CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT

Gyedu Blay-Ambolley Propagates Ghanaian Highlife Music With USA Show Pg. 28

Prempeh College wins Toyota Innovation Award at the 2016 Robofest World Championship Pg. 5

Groupe Nduom Acquires ISF Bank, in Chicago Pg. 29

Our Litany in Time of Trouble Pg. 11

Pastor Gives Out 32 Cars To Nollywood Stars On His Birthday Pg. 5 UPDATE

Divine Word Ministries Spread Its Wings To Duluth Georgia Pg. 9

Kia Motors will build training centres for mechanics in Ethiopia and Kenya in a bid to contribute to their economies by providing education for young people.

According to Korea Times, a Kia Motors official said Sunday that the company held a groundbreaking ceremony for the center in Ethiopia on Friday and another in Kenya on Saturday.

Chung Jin-haeng, President of Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, participated in the ceremony held in the Ethiopian capital city of Addis Ababa with First Lady Roman Tesfaye, Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) President Kim Inshik and Ethiopia World Vision President Edward Brown.

An official said that building the training centers in the two countries is a part of the company’s charity Green Light Project (GLP). The GLP is a corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity run by Kia Motors to support developing countries by providing education and opportunities.

KOICA, a governmental organization that has vast experience offering grant aid programs to developing countries, will help build the training centers and manage the education program after completion.

The two training centres in Ethiopia and Kenya are expected to contribute to job creation as well as boost their economies.

The training centres will teach not only automotive engineering but also other vocational skills, including sewing, beauty and hairdressing, to boost jobseekers’ capabilities. An official said it will also work closely with local companies to develop other employment programmes to help young job seekers.

The training centre in Kenya is expected to be built in the capital city of Nairobi by the first half of next year, and Good Neighbours International, one of Korea’s largest NGOs with more than 2,000 professional staff and 20,000 volunteers, will also help manage the training operations after completion.

“Kia Motors will support developing countries’ economies through education and job creation,” said a Kia official. “The company will extend the GLP into other developing countries, helping young people’s education.”

June 2016

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June 2016 Page 4

Afrikan Post

Prempeh College wins Toyota Innovation Award at the 2016 Robofest World Championship

Technology in the world is gradually getting more sophisticated with innovative solutions springing up almost daily. This has started the recent trend of children being taught the basics of artificial intelligence and engineering.

Countries in the West and Asia teach school age children how to programme. I must say i’m impressed how Ghana, West Africa in past few years isn’t folding up its arms but rather, is developing its youth in the same light.

Prempeh College and Presbyterian Boys’ Senior High school after placing 1st and 3rd in the national ROBOGOLF qualifiers participated in this year’s Lawrence Technological University(L.T.U.) ROBOFEST competiton; organised at L.T.U. in Southfield, Michigan, U.S.

The event, founded and designed by Professor CJ Chung, Ph.D; a Computer Science Professor at L.T.U. is an international festival of robots where a team of students competes and exhibits their solutions that can accomplish missions using autonomous robots of diverse builds.

This exercise puts their maths and design skills to test. The cool bit about all this is that team coaches are not allowed to touch/alter the designs made by the team members, they must supervise and give help only when

needed.

At the just ended competition, Prempeh College grabbed the Toyota innovation award for the Senior Game category. Each member of the team also received a trophy in recognition of their contribution to its success.

According to Ghana Robotics Academy Foundation’s Facebook page; ” Their solution was adjudged to be the the most innovative; capturing the excellent incorporation & deployment of the use of sensors and top-notch programming skills; autonomously navigating & maneuvering the 30″ × 72″ field and putting 4 golfs into the central ‘A’ to earn maximum points.”

The Presbyterian Boys’ Senior High School (PRESEC, Legon) team who represented Ghana placed top 20 in their category and grabbed the prestigious LTU 2016 Achievement Award. I was sent the solution for PRESEC, Legon via WhatsApp and was very impressed how it accurately executed task and was uniquely designed.

June 2016

Pastor Gives Out 32 Cars To Nollywood Stars On His Birthday

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Abuja based Pastor, Joshua Iginla of Champions Royal Assembly gave out 32 cars including 16 SUVs at his birthday celebration which held at his church premises yesterday May 22rd.

Six Nollywood actors including Alex Usifo, Jide Kosoko, Ngozi Ezeonu Thelma Nwosu, Sunday Omobolanle aka Papi luwe, Bruno Iwuoha, Ejike Asiegbu, Francis Duru and some actresses got Hummer jeep 3 series, Mercedes G-Wagon and Mercedes CLS 550.

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Jan Crouch, Televangelist and Trinity Broadcasting Network CoFounder, Dies at 78

Jan Crouch, the televangelist who co-founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network, died Tuesday, the network said.

She was 78.

According to TBN, Crouch died “following a short illness.” The network previously reported that Crouch suffered a stroke and was hospitalized .

“A woman of great faith, courage, and compassion, Jan, as she was known by millions of friends around the world, spent her life spreading the good news of Jesus Christ to every continent, and encouraging everyone she touched with God’s love and grace,” the network said.

Born in New Brockton, Alabama, in 1938, Crouch and her late husband Paul Crouch launched the Trinity Broadcasting Network in 1973, starting with a single lowpower station in Southern California, the network grew to include 37 full-power, owned-and-operated stations throughout the county, as well as a number of global network including the Smile of a Child network and the Church Channel, according to TBN. Serving as TBN’s vice president and director of network programming, Jan also became the president and creative director of TBN’s Holy Land Experience theme park in Orlando, Florida, in 2007.

Paul Crouch died in 2013.

“Jan Crouch loved many things,” her son, TBN Chairman Matthew Crouch, said, “but most of all she loved Jesus, and now has seen Him face to face and has experienced His grace in fullness.”

Crouch is survived by her sons, Paul Jr. and Matthew; a sister, Dorothy Casoria; several grandchildren; and a great grandchild.

Source: http://www.thewrap.com/

June 2016

Surgeon Who Once Couldn’t Afford To Buy Food Now MSU’s Commencement Speaker The death of Obeng's mother at an early age — she was just 40 — and of his grandmother, who played an important role in raising him, is what pushed him early on to become a physician. Obeng said when he couldn't afford to bury is mom, that was a turning point for him to work for a better life.

Then there was the arrival of Operation Smile in Ghana when he was 12. The international children's medical charity provides free surgeries to children with cleft lip, cleft palate and other facial deformities.

One day, he wanted to do the same.

When he was planning the next step in his education, he saw an MSU flier in a friend's dorm room. An uncle of his lived in Arlington, Texas, so he knew MSU was where he needed to be.

He took an assortment of odd jobs. He laid carpet. He worked for Golden Corral. He was a bus driver for the Wichita Falls ISD.

Contributed image Dr. Michael Obeng grew up in difficult financial circumstances in Ghana but had a dream to become a surgeon. The first step to achieving that dream came when he was accepted to Midwestern State University. Obeng drove school buses, laid carpet, worked at Golden Corral and did what he needed to do to make it through school. He is now a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills. He also formed RESTORE, a foundation for reconstructive surgery that provides surgical services to victims of abuse and those born with congenital defects. Obeng will be MSU's commencement speaker during graduation ceremonies Saturday at Kay Yeager Coliseum

By Lana Sweeten-Shults of the Times Record News

Midwestern State University alumnus Michael Obeng has never thrown away the letter one of his uncles sent him.

Yellowed and frayed, it did not convey the words of encouragement a young man might expect. His uncle wrote that it probably would be best for him to stay in his home country of Ghana. To move to America and try to go to school, with no way of paying for it, wasn't a good idea.

"You know what?" Obeng thought to himself. "I'm going to chase my dream."

People are everywhere, he said, even in your own family, who will discourage you. No one, he says, knows your own mind and your own will better than you.

"If you fall down seven times, you get up eight times," he said in a video published on YouTube in 2013.

Obeng got up countless times.

The Beverly Hills plastic surgeon will tell his story as the MSU commencement speaker 10 a.m. Saturday at Kay Yeager Coliseum. About 675 students are expected to graduate.

Still, there were times Obeng didn't have enough money to eat.

"Everything was pretty hard in those days. It was really tough trying to put together $2.99 to get Cici's Pizza," he said with a laugh.

He remembers also not having money for textbooks. He would borrow books and has a place in his heart for a fellow student, Michael Pebworth: "He bought me my first textbook ... and for another student to do that was amazing," Obeng said of the $50 textbook.

Another friend would pick him up and take him to church on Sundays and to MSU games.

"He would take me to the Chinese buffet, so those were very good moments," Obeng said.

He worked his way to being a residence assistant, a position that came with room and board — and that took away some of his worries.

Obeng graduated cum laude from MSU in 1997 with a bachelor of science degree in chemistry, then received his medical degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston with postgraduate work in plastic and reconstructive surgery at the UT Medical Branch John Sealy Hospitals for Children.

That's when he set his sights on Harvard.

Again, he was discouraged. He couldn't reach that high, people told him. But Obeng ended up earning a fellowship to Harvard Medical School and now is a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills with his own private practice, called MIKO. He also is on staff at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles.

While his Beverly Hills businesses aims to give patients their "dream self" through face procedures and various body procedures, Obeng's nonprofit gives other patients, many of them from developing countries, the chance of

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realizing a different kind of dream. These patients simply don't want to be ostracized because of a deformity.

Remembering Operation Smile, Obeng formed the nonprofit RESTORE Worldwide, a foundation that provides reconstructive surgery to victims of abuse and those born with congenital defects. Obeng has traveled back home to Ghana, where some attribute those deformities to witchcraft, and he and volunteer teams have visited Guatemala, too.

When he arrives back in Wichita Falls, he said he hopes to find Michael Pebworth, the student who bought him his first textbook, and he wants to reconnect with that MSU friend who would take him to the Chinese buffet.

He remembers MSU as the place that encouraged his dreams: "I won't forget where it all started."

Source: www.timesrecordnews.com

Somalia: Man, 61, Graduates From High School June 2016

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By Harun Maruf Ahmed Mohamed Ali dropped out of school to support his family by working when he was 10 years old. Over the years, he became a well-known tailor in his hometown of Bal’ad, Somalia, but he never gave up on his dream of getting an education.

Over the years, he made attempts to go back to school but the economic situation in Somalia forced him to continue working as a tailor.

Four years ago, Ahmed finally got his chance, and this week at the age of 61, the father of four was one of several thousand students who sat for their high school exams.

“People were surprised. They told me to give up because of my age, but I said you are never too old to learn,” he told VOA Somali.

Education ‘is a light’ Ahmed said he always knew he had to get back to learning at some point.

“Education improves people, it’s a light, and I thought it will be my guide in life for me and my family.”

Ahmed Saney, as he is popularly known, says he now wants to go to university and become a medical doctor. In 61 years, he has never yet left Bal’ad, except on a few occasions when he visited the capital, Mogadishu, just 30 kilometers south.

His success has made him a social media sensation. After his sudden rise, the town’s administration offered him support. He says he received pledges for help with the cost of a university education.

Ahmed is from a traditional paternal society where boys get more access to education than girls. His older son, Mohamed, graduated from high school but, because of a lack of job opportunities and better education, he migrated to South Africa where he was killed four years ago following an attack on Somali shops in Johannesburg. Ahmed believes the incident was related to xenophobic attacks against Somalis and other immigrants.

Three of his four living children, the daughters, have not been to school and have since married, leaving him to go to school with his youngest child, a son, who is in grade 6.

Ahmed has been receiving compliments all week from the community. Even his classmates, who doubted and made fun of him him early on because of his age, now find him inspiring.

“Some of my classmates said to me they will try to bring their fathers back into schools,” Ahmed said.

Despite the uncertainty over security and dim job opportunities, as many as 45,000 students have been taking their middle and high school exams.

In Mogadishu and the south central regions of the country, government officials say nearly 20,000 students are taking their exams. Officials have praised law enforcement for tightening security at examination centers in south central Somalia following alleged Al-Shabab threats against the students.

Al-Shabab regards the national curriculum as “un-Islamic” and a form of western influence.

“We applaud the orderly, spirited and the hard work shown by everybody and the students,” said Mogadishu Mayor Yusuf Hussein Jimale.

In Puntland, authorities say more than 11,000 students reported to take their exams.

Somaliland, which seceded from the rest of Somalia and is more stable, recorded 25,000 students taking exams.

Many of the young generation, who are almost 70 percent unemployed, opt to leave the country and often take dangerous sea travels that cost many their lives.

Last month, more than 200 young men from Somaliland died in the Mediterranean Sea after their boat capsized.

Last week, Somali authorities in the central regions and Puntland arrested 150 young men — most of them between the ages of 15 and 20 — who were suspected of attempting to leave the country as part of the human smuggling network.

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June 2016

Divine Word Ministries Spread Its Wings To Duluth Georgia

Bishop Kofi Adonteng Boateng on Sunday May 8, 2016 preached the inaugural sermon of the Duluth branch of the Divine Word Ministries (DWM) church in the State of Georgia, USA. The Bishop who is the general overseer of the church encouraged Georgians to reach out to the Duluth branch as its growth was going to heavily depend on faithfuls based in the area.

The Bishop who flew from the Washington DC area where the headquarters of DWM is located at 6715A Electronic Drive in Springfield, Virginia (VA) to oversee the Duluth Sunday service said “today is really a great day for all of us here who have worked in diverse ways to see this Georgia branch come alive, it is a small start yet we have big plans for its future.”

Belinda Brown who head pastor of the DWM Georgia, Duluth branch according to Bishop Adonteng has been with the church for over seven years. He tells TheAfricanDream.net that “She has been a very faithful servant in the Lord’s vineyard and joined our prayer line from Georgia over half a decade ago, moved on to become an usher and today is head pastor in our Georgia branch which could be reached on phone number +14043192122..”

Divine Word Ministries in Duluth Georgia

“Sunday’s historic service began at 9:00AM and lasted till 12:30PM Eastern Standard Time (EST), the venue was 2930 Old Norcross Road in Duluth Georgia. I was personally impressed by the multinational African congregation there as it points to the sign of good work done by Pastor Belinda Brown and her crew out there in the persons of Roland Baidoo Agede and Gloria Awuku among others.” said Bishop Adonteng.

Pastors Michael Owusu and Derrick Otuo Acheampong respectively, and Elder Dei Dwamena accompanied the Bishop to the Duluth service from the Divine Word Ministries headquarters in Springfield VA. These individuals echoed the general overseer’s sentiments when they said the Duluth branch is a small testament to the church’s desire to expand further in the USA and beyond. DWM now has branches in the American states of Virginia, New York, and Georgia.

“While we continue work on creating more branches across the USA and beyond, we are using today’s technology at our disposal to bring the word of the Lord to a more global audience via our station on Apple TV and our social media presence via our Prayer line on Facebook and on Twitter where you can find me as @Bishop1Adonteng” the Bishop told TheAfricanDream.net

TheAfricanDream.net can confirm that from June 3-5, 2016 DWM through its general overseer Bishop Adonteng will be hosting a nightly service at its Springfield VA headquarters from 6PM EST that is dubbed ‘Get Ready For Your Rain’. Guest speaker at the event will be Reverend Charles Aye-Addo of the International Central Gospel Church.

From July 28-31, 2016, DWM will again feature another event themed ‘My Father My Father’ where Bishop Adonteng plays host to guest speakers Reverend Harry Insaidoo and his wife Lynn. Reverend Insaidoo is the general overseer of the North Kaneshie branch of the Assemblies of God church in Ghana. That nightly event starts at 6:30PM EST at the church's headquarters.

To find out more about Bishop Adonteng and Divine Word Ministries' upcoming events and philanthropic activities by visiting their website at www.divinewordint.org Source: TheAfricanDream.net

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Africa Day Celebration In Washington DC

June 2016

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The Mayor's Office on African Affairs participated in the 2016 Africa Day celebration hosted by the African Diplomatic Corps. Commissioner Lafayette Barnes joined Director Mamadou Samba and Deputy Director Heran Sereke-Brhan to present a proclamation issued by Mayor Muriel Bowser to the African community in DC

Presenting A Proclamation Issued By Mayor Muriel Bowser To The African Community In DC

Mamadou Samba, Director of the Mayor's Office of African Affairs (MOAA).

Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr an American civil rights activist addressing the gathering

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Our Litany in Time of Trouble

Dr. Miriam C. Gyimah

“Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His lovingkindness, To deliver their soul from death And to keep them alive in famine.

Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.

For our heart rejoices in Him, Because we trust in His holy name.

Let your lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us, According as we have hoped in you.” (Psalm 33:1822) The psalm above is ever-appropriate for this year in our postmodern hyper-technological terrorist age. In this time of uncertainties and violence, the wise must concede that we must seek God more and ensure we are enveloped in His shelter, for outside of God, there is no safe ground in this our world.

I don’t intend to come across as pessimistic, but rather as realistic. Our world today is characteristically catastrophic from one place to another. We tune in to the news stations and are immediately accosted with lasting horrifying images of building explosions, splattered blood on streets and walls, scattered bodies lying in waste, images of unrest, terror and haunting screams and wailing of mothers, children, all of humanity. It is happening in Europe, in the Middle East, Africa, Canada and here, the United States of America. Another terror attack undetected by sophisticated surveillance, unstopped by authorities, has succeeded. What do we say, what do we do? How can we make ourselves unaffected and even immune to these attacks?

After September 11, 2001, we have come to realize and accept more and more that our great and awesome superpower of a nation is not so awesome and cannot protect us much from the inside or the outside. As much as the CIA, Homeland Security, FBI and local law enforcement agencies attempt to protect the U.S. and her citizens from terror, terror, unfortunately has made its way into our present world locally, nationally and globally. Dozens of young girls can be easily swept away from the safety of their classrooms and the care of their mothers and fathers today in Africa, tomorrow, who knows what country. These innocent ones are captured only to be subjected to molestation, abuse, rape, sex trafficking, forced marriages and/or enslavement, perhaps never to return to their homes and loved ones again.

Such is our current reality.

It is a very grim view, but this depressing depiction is our unfortunate state. Is it not true that even as we go about our day in this our beloved and prideful country that we are halted by unimaginable horrors of inexplicable shootings claiming the innocent lives of college students who bravely tore themselves from the protective arms of their parents to seek knowledge and new found independence?

But it doesn’t end with young adults. No. These shootings have dared cross the boundaries to elementary schools where kindergarteners, first graders and their fellow schoolmates, all under 12 years old are rendered victims by crazed gun men. Their teachers and administrators, under whose care they were committed, have also been violently executed by the weaponry of disturbed characters.

There is no safety to be found. There is no true refuge anymore in this our great nation and perhaps even in our own homes. Enemies of nations, religious beliefs, ideologies, cultures and a peaceful humanity are treacherously haunting and hunting with no other purpose but to kill, demolish and destroy, to inflict terror on whomever they might capture in their trap. We are shaken—all of us, some for a moment, others for much longer. We tremble; we worry; we contemplate: what can be done, how long will this persist? How close will it draw to us, our mothers, fathers, husbands, children, grandchildren? Will we be the next victims of random or targeted terror from an emotionally and psychologically disturbed individual or religious zealot of the worst kind?

Within our unsettled selves, we discover that consciously and often unconsciously, we fold our hands in prayer and more than often utter pleading words to our God to assure our safety and preserve the innocent lives of our loved ones. We hope and we dare trust that He will hear us and not let it come nigh our dwelling. And so we pray, “let your lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us, according as we have hoped in you.”

When we take our children to school, hug and kiss them goodbye until we see them at the end of the day, because we trust in His Holy Name, we pray, “let your lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us, according as we have hoped in you.” When we are hesitant to take our children to the theaters on a Saturday afternoon to see the latest children’s movie, we dismiss our fears and move on with our plans, because we know that we cannot live in fear.

Still with unsettled hearts, we pray, “let your lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us, according as we have hoped in you.”

When we move along our daily routines, making our way on the subway trains, journeying freely from one point to another on our path to work and home, even as we board, even as we sit, with our arms folded and awaiting our stops, we recount in our hearts, “let your lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us, according as we have hoped in you.” We meditate and continue to pray with the psalmist for we have come to know that our help comes from none else but God. We have ascended the truth that

June 2016

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in Him and only Him do we trust (Psalm 31: 1).

When all about us seems to be falling apart and when even nature hurls its angry winds and storms at our vulnerable bodies and lives, we remember that while we may appear small and insignificant in the midst of great chaos and a world of spontaneous eruptions, we don’t have to cower but we can rest in Him knowing that He holds us still. And that is not only our hope, but it is our truth!

Our truth in the midst of all this destruction and violent confrontations is that our God tells us, there is nothing to fear.

He tells us, “be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).

And with those words alone, a wind of strength sweeps over our cowering bones and intimidated bodies and we are awakened once again, brought back to ourselves, reminded of who we are and Whose we are. As the psalmist states “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountain fall into the heart of the sea, and though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging….the Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress…He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth.

He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46 1-10). Surely, He will be exalted. Only He should be held in awe and not the orchestrated terror of a destructive enemy.

The empowering words of our God, “be still and know that I am God,” springs us back to our reality as God-fearing children. What are our promises? That He is with us, even unto the end of the world (Mathew 28:20). What are our assurances? That we shouldn’t let our hearts be troubled and that there is a better place where He is preparing many mansions for us (John 14:1-2). What are our instructions? That we should abide in Him and that anything we ask in His name, He will grant (John 15:7). So even in the midst of the storm, we shall be still and know that He is God. We shall keep in mind that we are in Him and that He watches over us.

We shall not be moved or persuaded by violence. We shall not be intimidated and crumble as if we do not have hope.

We shall be still.

Our prayer affirms that our hope is in Christ Jesus. As we utter the words of prayer, we shall continue in the faith that redeems with the blood of the sacrificial Lamb of God, the only anointed one, Christ Himself. We shall live fearlessly as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah goes before us each and every day, guiding, protecting, shielding. We shall live and not withdraw. We will be still in our belief in Him and we shall continue to utter the words of prayer and communion, “let your lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us, according as we have hoped in you.” It is not only our prayer, but also our gift, our gift of hope and assurance in The One that never fails.

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43 Nigerian Students Break Records At Howard University With President Obama In Attendance!

June 2016

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“People try to make this political thing really complicated … you know what? Just vote. It’s math. If you have more votes than the other guy, you get to do what you want.”

Moreover, he said change requires compromise and “listening to those with whom you disagree.”

Obama said when he received a bachelor’s degree in 1983, there were no Black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and few Black judges. He said it was important to note the progress America has made in race relations since then.

“To deny how far we have come would be a disservice to those who went before. There’s still so much work to do, so many miles to travel,” Obama said. “America needs you to gladly, happily take up that work.”

http://www.sundayadelajablog.com/

IT did not make headlines. For major news network, it also did not get any mention. Even when major newspapers reported the event, what caught their attention was on what President Barack Obama said when he delivered the commencement lecture at Howard University, Washington DC. But there was a major highlight that was ignored. A report said of the 96 graduating Doctor of Pharmacy candidates, 43 of them were Nigerians and of the 27 awards given, 16 went to Nigerians.

Howard University also awarded a Doctor of Humanities degree to actress and activist Cicely Tyson, a Doctor of Laws to Ambassador Horace G. Dawson, a pioneering member of the U.S. Foreign Service and founding director of the Howard’s Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center, and a Doctor of Science to Dr. L.D. Britt, chairman of the Department of Surgery at Eastern Virginia Medical School.

It awarded more than 1,300 bachelor’s degrees, more than 300 master’s degrees, and over 100 Ph.Ds. The top five areas of concentration were psychology, history, political science, social work and mathematics.

Additionally, more than 400 students received professional degrees in law, medicine, pharmacy and dentistry.

Howard University has the only dental and pharmacy colleges in the District of Columbia. The graduates represented 46 states and 35 countries. The youngest graduate at the ceremony was 20-years-old and the oldest was 74.

Founded in 1867, Howard University is a private, research university that is comprised of 13 schools and colleges. Students pursue studies in more than 120 areas leading to undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. Since 1998, the University has produced two Rhodes Scholars, two Truman Scholars, a Marshall Scholar, 30 Fulbright Scholars and 11 Pickering Fellows. Howard also produces more on campus African-American Ph.D. recipients than any other university in the United States.

Speaking at the event, Obama emphasized that his election has not created a “post-racial society” despite improved race relations.

Stressing the need to keep pushing for change, he gave the students at the historically black university impassioned advice on how to “shape our collective future.”

Chief among that advice: Vote, “not just some of the time but all of the time.” He added: “When we don’t vote we give away our power.”

He described the university as a “centerpiece of AfricanAmerican intellectual life, and a central part of our larger American story.”

Howard University President Wayne A. I. Frederick said President Obama was awarded a Doctor of Science degree (not doctor of laws or letters) to underscore how much the Affordable Care Act means to this country as a whole. He urged graduates to embrace Obama as a personal role model and to emulate his trademark graciousness.

In his remarks, Obama addressed “a justice gap when too many Black boys and girls pass through a pipeline from underfunded schools to overcrowded jails.” However, he emphasized that passion alone was not enough to cement lasting change.

“If you care about mass incarceration, what are you doing to pressure the Congress to pass the pending legislation that might alleviate it?” Obama asked. “Passion is vital, but you’ve got to have a strategy. And your plan better include voting, not just some of the time, but all of the time.”

Arguing that the U.S. — and the world — is a “better place” than Obama credited two Howard University legal icons, when he graduated from college in the early 1980s, he said there Thurgood Marshall and Charles Hamilton Houston, for their is still work to be done, citing employment, achievement and jus- leadership in overturning Jim Crow segregation laws. tice gaps for African-Americans.

“The seeds of change for all America were sown here,” “Be confident in your heritage. Be confident in your blackness,” Obama said. he told the graduates. “There’s no one way to be black. Take it Speaking from his own experience, Obama encouraged from somebody who’s seen both sides of the debate about African Americans to continue to embrace their heritage and whether I’m black enough.” to “be confident in your Blackness.” Even so, he noted that there was no one way to be Black, and no litmus test for Obama told the graduates to remember the ties that connect authenticity.

African-Americans: “That is our particular awareness of injustice, and unfairness, and struggle. … That means we cannot “Look at Howard,” Obama said. “One thing most people sleepwalk through life. don’t realise about Howard is how diverse it is. You shatter “We have cousins, and uncles, and brothers, and sisters, who we stereotypes.” remember were just as smart and just as talented as we were but somehow got ground down by structures that were unfair and unjust, and that means we have to not only question the world as it is, and stand up for those African-Americans who haven’t been so lucky.”

That empathy should extend to “all people who are struggling,” he said.

Finally, he advised the grads that creating change requires organization and strategy. That strategy has to include voting, Obama added:

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Top 10 Extremely Hilarious Quotes

By President Robert Mugabe On Relationships

June 2016

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Genius! One Husband With 13 Wives, All Pregnant At The Same Time & Same Month

This is world record breaking! Here is a man who is married to 13 wives and all of them are pregnant at the same time and same month. No this was not enough, all of them are happy to his wife and they live together like a happy family. All the wife are extremely happy about their pregnancy and they get along with each other well.

. “It’s hard to bewitch African girls these days because each time you take a piece from her hair to the witch doctor, either a Brazilian innocent woman gets mad or a factory in China catches fire”.

“If you are ugly; you are ugly – stop talking about inner beauty because we don’t walk around with Xrays”.

. “Dear sister, don’t be deceived by a man who text you “I miss you” only when it’s raining. You are not an umbrella”.

“Check your girlfriend’s body, if she has more tattoos or piercings, you can cheat on her. She is already used to pain.”

“Dating a slim or slender guy is cool. The problem is when you are lying on his chest then his ribs draw adidas lines on your face”.

Respect pregnant women because it’s not easy walking around with evidence that you’ve had sex.

When one’s goat gets missing, the aroma of a neighbour’s soup gets suspicious

Treat every part of your towel nicely because the part that wipes your buttocks today will wipe your face tomorrow.

”God is the best inventor ever. He took a rib from a man and created a loudspeaker”.

Any man who successfully convinces a monkey that honey is sweeter than banana, is capable of selling condoms to a Roman father.

He who swallows a complete coconut have absolute trust in his anus.

The only warning Africans take serious is LOW BATTERY.

First Muslim Miss USA Rima Fakih Converts To Christianity!

We are living in a generation where people “in love” are free to touch each others’ private parts but cannot touch each others’ phones because they’re private.”

Sometimes you look back at girls you spent money on rather than send it to your mum and you realise witchcraft is real.

South Africans will kick down a statue of a dead white man but won’t even attempt to “It’s better for a man to be stingy with the money he slap a live one. Yet they can stone to death has hustled for, than for a woman to deny you a hole a black man simply because he’s a foreignthat she didn’t even drill it herself.” er.

“Some of you girls can’t even jog for 5 minutes but expect a guy to last in bed with you for 2hours???

Your level of selfishness demands a one week crusade”.

Each woman speaks very highly of each other and also look for the well being of each.

Although this is perfectly legal in their country but this is the first man to have all his wives pregnant at once. This is not only shocking but it is surprising also as the gap between each pregnancy spans should be from from 3 weeks to 5 weeks apart.

What is the problem? We now have aeroplanes which can take them back quicker than the ships used by their ancestors.

A wizard is a guy who can’t pound fufu but goes to the gym to carry 100kg of metal for over 2hrs every morning.

42. If you have a bigger nose than Akrobeto then yours Is no more a nose but a fire extinguisher

Miss Michigan Rima Fakih reacts after being crowned Miss USA during the 2010 Miss USA pageant at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada May 16, 2010.

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me pic.twitter.com/RSTZ9IJD3Z

Fakih converted to Christianity last month in preparation for her marriage in Lebanon next week to Wassim Salibi, a wealthy Christian music producer, Christian Today reports.

At the time of winning the Miss USA title, Fakih said, “I’d like to say I’m American first, and I am an Arab-American, I am Lebanese-American, and I am Muslim-American.”

According to the news site Albawaba, Fakih only connected to her Muslim roots in college.

“When I went to the University of Michigan, because there’s more of a Muslim community, my dad wanted me to learn more about Islam,” she said. “I didn’t know much about Ramadan and other holidays, and my dad wanted me to take that opportunity and learn.”

After winning Miss America, Fakih was involved in some controversy when photos surfaced of her participating in a radio station’s “Stripper 101” contest. She was also convicted of drunk driving in 2012.

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Ivoire Adeba” PAQUINOU 2016

The Christian Journal, Manhattan, New York – Every year, with the approach of Easter in Côte d’Ivoire, the people of Baoulé choose this time to celebrate Easter , commonly called ” Paquinou “.

This time of year is a great moment of reunion of the people of Baoulé .

Baoulé is an Akan tribe and one of the largest groups in Côte d’Ivoire. The Baoulé people originally lived in Ghana. This is where Abla Pokou was born early in the 18th century. She was the niece of King Osei Tutu, founder of the Ashanti confederation of Ghana. Baoulé left present day Ghana and traveled west into present day Côte d’Ivoire under the leadership of the Queen Pokou.

This year on Saturday April 23 2016 the Ivoire Adeba or the Baoulé celebrated their third Paquinou at 240 East 123rd Street in Manhattan New York.

This time of reunion in ” Baoule ” they maintain and consolidate the spirit of solidarity and reconciliation.

The Baoulé community use this year Paquinou to celebrate with their Akan community from Ghana.

Paquinou 2016 was celebrated in collaboration with Asanteman Association of New York. The people of Baoule through their culture trace their roots from the Ashanti Kingdom. Like several other groups with Akan origin, Baoulé children are often named according to the day of the week or the circumstances under which they were born.

The invited guest for this year’s event was Côte d’Ivoire ambassador to United States Mr Diabaté Daouda, Consul Général M. Christophe Kouakou, and Army General Kousme Akissi.

Beautifully adorned kings, queens, clad in their traditional cloth and gold ornament amidst intensive drumming, singing, and dancing. The atmosphere was beautiful, it was a time of celebration of culture and friendship.

This Cultural event was a rare celebration of the Akan reunion. There rich and glamorous culture was on full display.

The rich cultural display thrilled Americans who were in attendance.

Ghana Begins Issuing Biometric Passports In South Africa

Ghana's mission in South Africa has begun issuing biometric passports to Ghanaian citizens in that country.

A total of 60 biometric passports being the first batch, were Wednesday issued to Ghanaians at the mission in Pretoria, Foreign Affairs Minister, Hanna Tetteh, announced in a tweet.

This makes South Africa the first of Ghana's 57 missions globally to start issuing the biometric passport from June this year.

"Six of our missions abroad are to begin issuing biometric passports this month. Pretoria, S.Africa started today. Congratulations to Amb. Kwesi Ahwoi & team for being the first to roll out issuing 60 biometric passports today," she tweeted.

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14 South Sudanese Chosen for Obama African Leaders Program

JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN— Fourteen people from South Sudan will take part this year in the Young African Leaders Initiative, begun in 2010 by President Barack Obama.

The participants depart for Washington this month. They will travel to American University and other college campuses for a six-week program to learn business entrepreneurship, civic leadership or public management.

The 14 South Sudanese will join hundreds of others selected across Africa to participate in the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, the flagship program of the African leaders initiative. The goal of the fellowship program is to empower young people through academic course work, leadership training and networking so they can help develop their own communities back home.

Chris Meade, public information officer at the U.S. Embassy in Juba, said the seven men and seven women were selected from 380 South Sudanese applicants.

“This is actually the first time they are meeting each other ... and these 14 we selected are truly leaders in the field in NGO leadership, in business entrepreneurship, in public management,” Meade said.

All participants are between 25 and 35 years old. None has been to the United States before.

Gaining expertise

Fellow Bena Mark, 30, who works as a physiologist at the University of Juba, said she hoped to interact with lecturers and others taking part in the program. She said she was looking forward to expanding her expertise as a young leader in public management.

“I am working in a public university, so it is going to be vast," Mark said. She said she hoped to learn "more about leadership in different professions and in different institutions.”

Maout Luise, 27, an advocate for the rights of disabled people, said he expected to acquire more civic leadership skills in order to improve his work in South Sudan.

“I will get the necessary inspiration ... and I will also try to compare how the U.S. looks like and where South Sudan is," said Luise, who is education secretary at the South Sudan Association of the Visually Impaired. "But also I will come with motivation that what I am doing here in my country is right.”

Source: http://www.voanews.com/

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Ghana Teen Advances To The Finals Of The Spelling Bee

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In a remarkable feat which is being widely applauded and celebrated, Ghana’s Afua Ansah became the country’s first Scripps (U.S.) National Spelling Bee finalist.

The 14 year-old from Ridge Church School in Accra, made history when she made it in the top 45 finals of the 2016 Scripps Spelling Bee competition.

This year’s competition comprised of 285 spellers from various U.S. states and countries including Jamaica, Japan, South Korea, Canada and the Bahamas.

Ansah, the seventh grader from Accra battled it out with other talented spellers in the preliminary test, preliminary round two and three, before reaching the final.

Ansah had the second highest score in the preliminary exam, scoring 29 out of 30 points, before she misspelled “Liechtenstein” in the final. Despite bowing out of the competition in the final round, Ansah, who draws inspiration from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie held her own.

Afua Ansah, winner of the 2016 Spelling Bee national contest in Ghana has made the top 45 finals of the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee in the USA. The finalists were announced on Wednesday evening that, plunging the 14-year-old in the spotlight as the first Ghanaian to achieve that feat.

NBC26.com report reports that in front of the stage, holding her Ghana flag, Afua politely answered questions from reporters after being crowned as Ghana’s first ever finalist. Afua is experiencing America for the first time, just as the Spelling Bee is experiencing a Ghanaian finalist for the first time. “It felt incredibly exciting, it was beyond my wildest dreams, to finally make it on my first try,” Afua said.

Afua Ansah

“It has been quite intense because we have been working on the word list for quite some time.” Joined by friends, coaches and her sponsor, Afua relished the attention as her home nation will be watching and cheering her on. “I am feeling very proud to be doing this on behalf of my country,” Afua said. “I feel like an ambassador of Ghana so I am proud to carry the flag of my country at the finals.”

Afua’s coach Emmanual Afful hopes that Afua’s success in the Bee is something that can inspire their African nation. “It is a very proud moment for me and I believe it has happened because of the years of hard work and determination,” Afful said. “I can’t explain how happy I am, but I am very proud. “The thing I told her is that, ‘Children in America are no different than children around the world,’” he continued.

“The only difference is we are poorer at reading and writing. And so I posed a challenge to her to read, study, ask question and be curious and you’ll be there and that is exactly what happened.” After nearly acing her written exam on Tuesday, Afua easily spelled “hauberk” and “senescent” on Wednesday.

Afua Ansah and Ambassador. Robert Porter Jackson U.S Ambassador to Ghana

She was one of 177 to spell both words correctly Wednesday, but based on examination of spellers on Tuesday, she earned the second-highest score going into Wednesday. “I’ve already seen them, they are familiar words to me,” Afua said of senescent and hauberk.

Afua, and the other 44 finalists, will take the stage at 10 a.m. Eastern, or 2 p.m. Ghana Time, on Thursday.

The beginning of the finals will be televised on ESPN2 and continued at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN. Afua said when she returns the Ghana, she looks forward to sharing the experience with her friends and family. During her time in Washington, Afua said she has gotten to visit a number of monuments and the Smithsonian Zoo.

Another thing that awed Afua was the Capital Wheel; a large Ferris wheel along the Potomac, just outside the Spelling Bee’s hotel. “We don’t have those in Ghana,” she said. “We tried it and it was awesome.” It was an experience that needed the help of sponsors, and Afua said she’s appreciative to them.

“In Ghana doesn’t have much of sponsorship as it does here, so people don’t consider it so much so making it here is a big thing already,” Afua said. “I have gotten some calls from my country, we see you here, we see you on the website.”

One thing Afua has in common with many other spellers is her love of music. Afua said her favorite artists are Adele, Beyonce and Taylor Swift. According to a survey of spellers, Taylor Swift and Adele are the two most popular artists among spellers.

Afua Ansah and family

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Nigeria Woman Has No Formal Education But Lectures At Harvard And Other Top Universities.

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mother at age six. “I was six when my mother died,” she said with a tinge of sadness.

With the blow inflicted on her dreams by her mother’s death, young Nike was taken away to live with her grandmother. At the time, many believed that by going to live with an old woman, the young girl’s future had been compromised. But events have since proved that destiny may indeed have been at work in her journey through life.

She had her first contact with the world of arts through her grandmother, who at the time, was the leader of cloth weavers in the community.

She said: “I come from a family of craftsmen. My parents were crafts people from Ogidi in Ijumu Local Government Area, Kogi State. My life as an artist is something that I was born with. I started weaving at the age of six.

“I started with weaving different things, including adire, a traditional Yoruba hand-painted cloth design. As a matter of fact, I can say everything that had to do with textile. They taught me how to weave, using a little calabash. Gradually, I graduated to using bigger materials.”

Though Nike was six years old and barely able to tell the difference between her left and right hands, she already had a picture of the kind of future she wanted.

Not many in her homeland appear to know about her unique story. But in other lands, especially Europe and America, she is a ‘goddess’ whose works are cherished by kings and presidents.

Without a doubt, the story of Nike Okundaye, the face behind the huge success story of Nike Arts Gallery, located in Lagos, Abuja and Osogbo, is as compelling as it is inspiring.

Nike Okundaye, born into a very deprived family and community in the village of Ogidi, Kogi State in North Central Nigeria, grew up learning traditional weaving and dying as practiced by her family and most of the local residents. She lost her parents at a very young age and never had the opportunity to attend school to acquire a formal education.

But little did she know that this type of informal education she was receiving from her community would transform her life in the near future, from a poor village girl to an accomplished artist, textiles designer and ambassador for African arts and craftsmanship.

As we speak, not only is she an artist but she also owns mega arts shops in the Nigerian commercial capital of Lagos, as well as other cities. She has lectured, and is still lecturing, in top academic institutions in Europe and the US due to her handy works.

At a time when young Nigerians are in desperate need of a role model and inspiration in what self-belief and hard work can achieve, Nike’s rise from the status of an unknown village girl born into a seeming insignificant family in a rustic village to a globally celebrated icon would make an A-list inspirational novel.

Born in her native village of Ogidi, Ijumu Local Government Area, Kogi State, young Nike had high dreams about what type of future she wanted for herself. But her dreams were truncated even before they could take form when she lost her

“My grandmother was the head of all the weavers in our community. So, even as a little child, I already had a dream that I would own a big studio when I grew up. People came from different areas to buy the cloth from her. So, at that time, I already sensed that I might not have the opportunity to go to school.”

With the death of her mother, her grandmother, whose responsibility it was to look after her, did not pamper her in any form. She ensured that the virtue of hard work was instilled in Nike’s young, impressionable mind.

At that time, young Nike, unaware of the reason behind her great grandmother’s action, would cry, believing that she was being unnecessarily punished. “I would cry and lament because I thought she was wicked and punishing me. But today, I always thank her for inculcating in me the virtue of hard work. It was through her that I learnt that you must persevere in whatever you do and never give up on your dreams.”

Although she lost her mother at a time she needed her most, Nike believes that destiny might have been involved in the way her life played out, including her mother’s death.

According to her, the mother was a very hard working young woman who would have spared nothing to ensure that her child got a good education up to the university level.

“Even at that young age, I knew that my mother was very hard working. And I am very sure that if she had not died, she would have trained me up to university level. My father was a farmer. He also did several other things like basket weaving to supplement his income. So, definitely, I would have been educated very well if my mother had not died.

“But today, I look at my childhood and all that I went through as something designed by destiny. Who knows, maybe if my mother had not died and I had gone ahead to be educated, I may never have had the kind of opportunity that I have today and may never have risen to the level that I am.”

Nike never went to school to study art, the vocation that has

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brought her to global spotlight. Vocational training in art was passed down to her by her great grandmother, the late Madam Ibikunle. Watching her great grandmother in the art of adire textile processing and helping her out, Nike walked up the line to become an expert in adire making, dyeing, weaving, painting and embroidery.

A product of the famous Osogbo Art Movement, Nike is today a world acclaimed artist and textile designer. She brings vivid imagination as well as a wealth of history and tradition into the production of adire. Her works are celebrated in major capitals of the world, with her designs exhibited in countries like the USA, Belgium, Germany, Japan and Italy, among others.

Nike spent the early part of her life in Osogbo, a recognised hotbed for art and culture in Nigeria. During her stay in Osogbo, her informal training was dominated by indigo and adire.

Nike’s romance with international exposure began in 1968 when she had an exhibition at the Goethe Institute in Lagos.

Since then, she has grown to become a major name on the international art circuit. She is most outstanding in paintings and design of adire, beadwork and batik.

Among Nike’s proudest achievements was her invitation to Italy by the Italian government in 2000 to train young Nigerian sex workers on how to use their hands to engage in creative ventures. Her invitation was as a result of complaints to the Italian government by the young Nigerians that they left Nigeria in search of work, not knowing what they would be forced into. When Nike got to Italy, she taught them skills in craft making and many of the women became self-reliant in no time and stopped their old means of income.

In 2006, she was awarded one of the highest Italian national awards of merit by the government of the Republic of Italy in appreciation of her efforts in using art to address and solve the problems of Nigerian sex workers in Italy.

Source: http://sundayadelajablog.com/

Ambassador Smith Outdoors Council Of Ghanaian Interfaith Alliance

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Ghana’s 59th Independence anniversary celebration this year was climaxed with a non-denomination church service on Sunday, March 6, 2016 at the Auditorium of the Ghana Embassy.

As part of the Church service, an interim management committee of the Council of Ghanaian Interfaith Alliance was inaugurated and mandated to build a coherent and united Ghanaian Community which would hold in high esteem the spirit of patriotism, cultural values and morality.

The Alliance will educate and advocate the expression of individual religious faith and core values of the Ghanaian Diaspora Community.

Inaugurating the Alliance, His Excellency Lt. Gen. Joseph Henry Smith (Rtd), in a speech, expressed delight at the formation of the Alliance and said, “as Ambassador of the Republic of Ghana to the U.S., I reposeunreserved confidence in you as the first Management Committee of the Council of Ghanaian Interfaith Alliance of USA.

“I have no doubt that you will execute your respective duties and responsibilities towards the attainment of your set aims and objectives enshrined in your constitution”, he emphasized.

Ambassador Smith charged the leadership of the Alliance to hold steadfastly their Statement of Faith, pursue their vision and be continually guided by the Alliance’s constitution.

“I further charge you to be resolute, compassionate and fair to all manner of persons subject to the Alliance and its constitution. Let exemplary leadership and selfless patriotism be your guiding principles”, he added.

Ambassador Smith assured the Alliance of the Mission’s support and said the Mission will continually count on their spiritual and moral counsel, prayers and mobilization of support.

The President of the interim management, the very Rev. Dr. Jacob Kwesi French assured Ambassador Smith and the Ghanaian community of the determination of the Alliance to promote unity and love among Ghanaians in the Diaspora.

Members of the Council of Ghanaian Interfaith Alliance are Bishop Dr. Evans Glover, Vice President, Shiekh Rashid Lamptey, Executive Member and Rt. Rev. Mark Asiedu-Frimpong, Executive Member.

The rest are Pastor Emmanuel Apau-Danso, Executive Member, Rev. Lord Asante Boadu, Executive Member and Frank Atuahene, Administrative Secretary.

Information Section Ghana Embassy Washington DC

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Ghanaian Inducted Into U.S. Inventors' Hall Of Fame

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Ghanaians continue to make inroads into America’s inventors hall of fame as Victor B. Lawrence Ph.D, Associate Dean and Batchelor Chair Professor of Stevens Institute of Technology, was adopted into the American National Inventors Hall of Fame at the 44th induction ceremony held last Thursday, May 5, 2016 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington DC. In a write up by the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Victor Lawrence was adopted into the Hall for his invention of Signal Processing in Telecommunications.

For Victor Lawrence, the journey leading to the National Inventors Hall of Fame began in his native country Ghana where his rise was powered by hard work and discipline, two values he said, was instilled in him by his mother at a young age.

Victor said he was a young student living just a few meters from the Florida Launching pad when the US space programme was lifting off in the 1960s, and listened via shortwave radio as President John F. Kennedy announced his goal of landing a man on the moon and closely followed news report of John Glenn orbiting the earth.

These events, he said, inspired him to pursue a career in science and engineering as his talent took him to the University of London, in England.

On completion of his doctorate in England, he was recruited by Bell Labs to help with the analog to digital conversion of the company’s communication network.

His appointment with Bell Labs brought him to New Jersey, in the United States where over 30 years, his patented work in signal processing resulted in faster and more reliable travel of data over telephone lines, improving transmission for the modern Internet.

Victor also developed methods of including more information in a signal, facilitating the introduction of digital video and radio and the development of high-definition and digital television.

Speaking of his legacy, Victor said it’s not the technical achievements from his past but rather the ways he continue to use his skills to work with others to improve humanity.

Victor is particularly proud of his leadership role in providing Internet connectivity to Africa and his role in imparting knowledge to students, encouraging them to begin their own creative journey.

“You have to stand on somebody’s shoulder before you can see far. And so, it’s very important that I have a strong shoulder for others to stand on, so they can see far and they can do greater things”. Victor Lawrence said.

His Excellency, Lt. Gen. Joseph Henry Smith, Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States of America was at the ceremony to congratulate Victor Lawrence on his achievement.

Also at the ceremony was Ghana’s former Ambassador to China, Mrs Mameley Coffie, Mr. Quarshie-Idun, a prominent Ghanaian Lawyer, family members and friends of Victor Lawrence.

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Sierra Leonean achieves Nursing Excellence Award in Texas the teen moms how to have a healthy pregnancy and delivery, and empowers them to be excellent caregivers for their infants and families. For years she has taught emergency childbirth classes to Emergency Rooms (ER) nurses, labor and delivery nurses, and nurses in the critical care unit who care for pregnant women in the ICU, she precepts students of all kinds in labor and delivery, including medical, midwifery, nursing, paramedic, and physician residents.

Waltona has always felt a calling for Global Health Care and believes, “every health professional has a role to play in global health”.

By: SEM Contributor on June 2, 2016.

Dallas, Texas, May 31: Sierra Leoneans are continuing highly gratified for having some ambitious citizens among them in the United States who are meeting their expectations and their wellbeing of Diaspora immigrant’s goals. May 3rd was another significant date for one of our sisters, Waltona Cummings, who has reached a milestone in the healthcare system. She won series of awards and was greatly honored in an extraordinary award ceremony at the Morton Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas. (Waltona Cummings receiving an award)

Waltona Cummings is the first Sierra Leonean to be recognized and honored this year, as one of the most skilled and professional nurses at the Parkland Health and Hospital system in Texas. It was an honor to Ms. Cummings to be named among the Parkland’s 100 distinguished nurses in a hospital that have gotten more than 80 years of providing high quality, safe patient care in Texas.

She continued to manifest her high esteem by being honored again on May 20, when the Board of Directors of the Parkland Health & Hospital System (PHHS) presented a resolution to her and few others for their commitment and passionate in the healthcare system. The awards nomination committee in the hospital system gave an account of her accomplishments after recalling her international experience.

This Certified Nurse-Midwife (CNM) was born and raised in Sierra Leone, educated as a Nurse and Midwife in England, where she practiced for two years before moving to Dallas. She has practiced as a Registered Nurse (RN) for 27 years total at the PHHS; 24 of those as a Certified Nurse-Midwife. She has a calling to care for the medically underserved, both locally and globally. She is an alumnus of the Annie Walsh Memorial School and the Methodist Girls’ High School, in Freetown. She is the Co-Chair of the Krio Descendants Union ( KDU) Global Health Committee of the diaspora.

According to publication, Ms. Cummings has worked tirelessly to provide direct patient care in both the inpatient and outpatient setting, focusing on women’s health, pregnancy and promoting normal labor and delivery. She has been an inspiration, role model, and educator of many up and coming women’s health care providers. She has participated in a pilot program that brings high school students into the hospital for observation experience as a way to encourage them to pursue health care as a career, specifically promoting nursing and midwifery as a viable career with unlimited opportunity for advancement and incredible personal job satisfaction. Her work in various community clinics inspired her to be a mentor for young women.

Ms. Cummings has been a guest lecturer at several local high schools and churches to educate young people about the nursing profession and nurse-midwifery. She has also led classes for pregnant teens, teaching

In 2000, as the ten year rebel war was ending in Sierra Leone, she went on her first mission trip with a Christian organization to provide spiritual care for in the post-war era. This trip reaffirmed her calling to continue mission work for the people of her native Sierra Leone. She and two others founded a non-profit organization whose primary purpose is to return to Sierra Leone and other nations promoting global health awareness, and to provide opportunity for others to serve internationally in a short term capacity.

Waltona returned to Sierra Leone in 2002 on her first medical mission trip to provide physical, spiritual, and emotional care to those effected by the war. She ministered not only to people affected by horrific post-war fallout, but began to focus on caring for the local care providers. She has educated countless health care providers about better ways to care for the women of the region. She recognizes that western health care influence is invaluable to help low income, low resource countries.

selected from among 800 nominations submitted by patients, families, colleagues, teachers and co-workers for the annual award.

In character, many believe that Ms. Cummings is a modest, kind and sympathetic, ever ready to help and encourage, painstaking through and devoted to her assigned tasks. Her reputation for ability and fairness extend far beyond the borders of the Sierra Leone community in the Dallas FortWorth area in Texas. Some Sierra Leoneans in the metro also believe she is very passionate about health and wellness of everyone not only in the United States, the world over.

Parkland Memorial Hospital is the primary teaching institution of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School (UT South Western Medical) and is often rated among the best hospitals in the United States. It is best known as the hospital where one of the great leaders of the United States, John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead after an assignation plot by his assassin in Dallas downtown (research). It was in this great hospital that Waltona Cummings been recognized and awarded as one of the great nurses who have contributed to the quality of lives of people in Texas.

By Sanpha Sesay, The Texas Chief Sierraexpressmedia.com

Waltona has also served in Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Jamaica, Nigeria, and Malawi. She has attended several programs on International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), and has marched with other midwives in Scotland, South Africa and Prague proudly carrying a banner representing her hospital and midwifery. She is worthy to be among the Great 100. Her life is best devoted to the cause of life, enabling technology to enhance the quality of human life, not only in the United States, but globally.

In her long time service in the healthcare system, she exemplifies the highest ideals and standards of healthcare service as a professional nurse. The Parkland nurses were

Guests Including Honorary Consul General, Mr. Patrick Jackson

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Waltona Cummings on the right

Chef Francis Otoo Gyedu Blay-Ambolley Propagates Ghanaian Returns Ghana to Highlife Music With USA Show Embassy Chef Challenge In DC

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Source: Oral Ofori / TheAfricanDream.com

Chef Francis Otoo of Ghana on May 26, 2016 registered a participation spot for Ghana at the prestigious Embassy Chef Challenge (ECC) competition at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington DC, USA.

The renowned Ghanaian chef, who also made it to the 2015 edition of the event said he felt very honored to have made it in 2016 too, adding that it was such a privilege to share Ghanaian cuisine with the world from within the American capital.

“Washington DC is known globally for its political clout and highly cosmopolitan environment, so getting this unique opportunity to share my cooking talents with the people here makes me very excited because people from all over the world gathered here get to taste a little bit of Ghana trough our efforts” said chef Otoo of his team at the event.

Francis Otoo on Embassy Chef Challenge

Chef Claude Tayag; Philippine native and first time ever participant, clinched the People's Choice Award while Chef Creig Greenridge from Barbados emerged the Judges Award Winner. “Let me take this opportunity to congratulate the Philippines and Barbados for coming out as respective winners of the 2016 edition” — chef Otoo said in acknowledgment of the efforts of his colleague chefs.

The tall Ghanaian chef who said “In 2015 I had the honor of flying the flag of Africa with Chef Zodwa Sikakane from South Africa” was also very proud of the other African representatives at the 2016 ECC, notably the presence of the island nation of Mauritius and landlocked country of Rwanda, both of which are respectively located in east Africa all formed part of the 18 chefs at the event.

The rest of the 18 participating chefs at the 2016 event were from the British Virgin Islands, Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, and Ecuador. Like Ghana, the Washington DC based chefs of El Salvador, Indonesia and Guatemala who were all at the 2015 event also returned to participate in the 2016 edition. Haiti, Jamaica, Nepal, Poland, Qatar and Uzbekistan were also present.

Francis Otoo over the last two decades has spent the his time on advancing his culinary skills. His expertise have seen him cook and serve in embassies around the world with former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jerry John Rawlings of the USA and Ghana respectively, and other prominent persons like Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa being part of the many he has cooked for.

Embassy Chef Challenge, an annual international cooking challenge and cultural event where embassies choose a chef to create a dish from their national cuisine is a 'Cultural Tourism DC' event to celebrate the cooking talents of Washington DC’s embassy chefs.

Find out more about the ECC at www.eventsdcembassychefchallenge.com

Oral Ofori; Founder of TheAfricanDream LLC -- an Information and Communication Consultancy on African Affairs --->> goo.gl/jHbdDt +12027069881

Source: Oral Ofori / TheAfricanDream.net

Gyedu Blay-Ambolley; Ghanaian musician and a composer of classic traditional Ghanaian highlife music genre arrived in the United States of America (USA) during the last week of May 2016. The musician’s visit is as part of plans to prepare for his re-entry into the American music scene which will see him push hard and promote very authentic highlife music starting with a June 4, 2016 show.

Gyedu Blay-Ambolley who is known for starting the ‘Simigwa’ genre of Ghanaian highlife music said in an interview with TheAfricanDream.net in the USA that “this show is for my fans in the USA that have always been very supportive of my work, not just those within the Diaspora but also non Africans as well who appreciate good ‘Simigwa’ and highlife music from Ghana and across Africa.”

The venue of the June 4 show will be ‘The African Palace’ located at North Frederick Avenue in Gaithersburg, Maryland. According to Gyedu Blay-Ambolley “this venue is strategically chosen for its name and to draw fans from the states of Virginia, Maryland and the American capital of Washington DC. ‘The African Palace’ is one of the new African live music restaurants which greatly suit my purpose.”

Gyedu Blay-Ambolley and his passion for Highlife

The multi-instumentalist continues to emphasize: "I am very passionate about the propagation of highlife music in the world. Ghanaian musicians like Rocky Dawuni, Shatta Wale and Sarkodie among many others have done a great job at selling their versions of the Reggae, Dancehall and

Hiphop genres respectively to the world. Now however, we need to do more to sell the authentic Ghanaian traditional highlife music too. It is essential that we promote our culture through music."

"Our generation has not done enough to promote Highlife music, but let me say kudos to all those artistes in Ghana still doing Highlife and helping to spread it and make it what we all want to see it become. I personally think efforts in that direction need to be beefed up though, and my show in Maryland USA on June 4, 2016 will just be a small beginning towards achieving more goals."

According to statements Gyedu Blay-Ambolley made to TheAfricanDream.net, his team is collaborating with others who are equally passionate about highlife to produce documentaries, more live shows and educational events in the USA and outside Ghana featuring classic Ghanaian performers of the genre and basically informing the world of Highlife in an effort to make it a globally recognizable genre.

Tickets for Blay-Ambolley's June 4 show which promises a night of Highlife, Hiplife and Afro Jazz music is being sold online for $18.50 could also be purchased at 'The African Palace' for $20.00. The last performance in the USA by Ambolley who turns 70 in 2017 was over half a decade ago. Find out more about him on his website www.ambolley.com

Ghanaian Family Rescues South Side Bank in Chicago The board was taking a look at us, and we were trying to figure out if this is the right opportunity. We all decided it was,” he says.

Groupe Nduom filed a formal application with the Comptroller of the Currency in November 2015; approval came April 28.

“The bank has been a crucial source of capital and banking services for families, local small businesses, faith-based institutions and nonprofit organizations in our neighborhoods,” outgoing Chairman/CEO Norman Williams tells GhanaWeb.com. “This marks a new chapter in the life of the bank, which will enable it to sustain the rigors of financial stress that have plagued many communities in Chicago.”

For two Ghanaian-American brothers whose family just rescued the historic Illinois Service Federal Savings & Loan, taking over operation of the Bronzeville institution is coming full circle on an immigrant family journey.

The Bronzeville institution is among fewer than 25 black-owned banks nationwide and just one of two left in Chicago.

ISF had been on the block since a federal consent order in April 2015 forced it to convert from its depositor-owned model to shareholder ownership; the bank was seeking investors and needed some $10 million in new capital to stay afloat.

“We were seeking to diversify and had been looking at banking in the U.S. when we came across this opportunity,” says P.W. Chiefy Nduom, vice president and general counsel of Groupe Nduom, a conglomerate that operates businesses in Africa, Europe and the U.S. Groupe Nduom is now majority shareholder of ISF after investing $9 million into the bank.

The move keeps ISF, with its roots in the Great Migration, black-owned. It was started in 1934 by community leaders determined to help African-Americans who were moving to Chicago from the Jim Crow South and being denied bank loans for homes or businesses.

“We were interested in coming in,” says Chiefy Nduom, 33, of Washington, D.C. “We’d seen the bigger trends in technology and changes in the industry, and we also observed how black banks were being swallowed up, in many cases by non-minority institutions, so that you have this juxtaposition of opportunity increasing in the industry from an innovation standpoint but people of color being marginalized or left out of ownership.”

ISF, 4619 S. King Drive, and Seaway Bank — the nation’s third-largest black-owned bank, at 645 E. 87th — are a disappearing breed. Once the bedrock of African-American communities, a significant number of black-owned banks disappeared in the last decade, hit hardest by the 2008 recession and housing collapse, which brought on higher unemployment and foreclosure rates.

President Barack Obama’s administration has recently sought measures to bolster the remaining 24 such banks. At Seaway, the circumstances are not as dire as at ISF but it also is operating under a consent order with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

ISF caught the eye of Groupe Nduom patriarch Paa Kwesi Nduom, 63, a Ghanaian who, like many immigrants, came to the U.S. in the 1970s seeking better opportunities. Settling in Milwaukee, he attended the University of Wisconsin earning bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral degrees, married wife Yvonne Nduom in 1976 and raised four children.

He was among the first African-American partners at Deloitte & Touche in Milwaukee. The parents returned to Ghana in 1991 to begin building Groupe Nduom, now employing over 3,000 worldwide in the financial services, hotels, media and entertainment, sports, and real estate industries.

“A mutual friend brought ISF’s CEO to D.C. to meet with my father. I was at that meeting,” says N. Kweku Nduom, vice president of business development & finance at Groupe Nduom.

“He was on this mission to save the bank and raise all this money, and he was going around meeting with potential investors. It just happened to come at a very nice time, when we were also looking at opportunities,” says Kweku Nduom, 37, who divides his time between Accra, Ghana, and the Washington headquarters of the family’s International Business Solutions.

“It was just sort of a courtship for a year and a half.

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Angolan President Appoints Billionaire Daughter As Oil Boss

While their father serves as chairman, Kweku and Chiefy Nduom, who have spent the past three years learning the banking business, developing a business plan and hiring new management, will oversee the ISF investment.

“In terms of the way forward, there are a few priorities. We want to reach out and reassure all stakeholders, not only customers and employees but regulators and the community, that we’re here for good reasons, and it’s still a black-owned bank,” Kweku Nduom says.

“The mission and vision hasn’t changed at all. So people should be expecting a lot more of the same things they’re used to and comfortable with. At the same time, we’re looking at what opportunities we have to expand — not only the client base but the product offering, and I don’t necessarily mean new products but a different way of delivering some existing ones. We’re here for the long term. Coming back to the Midwest is a homecoming for us.”

Source:Chicagosuntimes.com

Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos has appointed his daughter Isabel as head of state oil firm Sonangol, Angola National State Radio (RNA) reports.

The radio report adds that this came after the president fired the entire Sonangol board and appointed a new one.

Angola is currently Africa's largest oil producer as militant attacks have reduced Nigeria's output, according to Reuters news agency.

Critics accuse Mr dos Santos of mismanaging Angola's oil wealth and making an elite, mainly his family and political allies, vastly rich.

Isabel dos Santos is Africa's richest woman, according to Forbes.

Forbes points out in their profile of her that she already owns a 7% stake in a Portuguese oil and gas firm Galp Energia.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news

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Lincoln and Kennedy

Trivia

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.

John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.

John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.

Both their wives lost a child while living in the White House.

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.

Both Presidents were shot in the head.

Now it gets really weird.

Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.

Kennedy's Secretary was named Lincoln.

Both were assassinated by Southerners.

Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.

Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.

Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.

Both assassins were known by their three names.

Both names are composed of fifteen letters.

Now hang on to your seat.

Lincoln was shot at the theater named "Ford."

Kennedy was shot in a car called "Lincoln" made by "Ford."

Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.

And here's the "kicker":

A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland.

A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe.

AND...................:

Lincoln was shot in a theater and the assassin ran to a warehouse...

Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and the assassin ran to a theatre...

June 2 0 1 6

Kofi and Ampedu

Last night , two young men( Kofi and Ampedu) were walking in a rich neighborhood around Accra. In the neighborhood was a young Lebanese lady, constantly watching them from her balcony . She made a kiss gesture waved at them. Confused, Ampedu looked behind to see if they were the one the lady was signaling . To his great surprise the lady pointed at him to confirm he was the one she was signaling . In an attempt to honour the invitation , Kofi held his hand to dissuade him not to go and that it was a trap.

Ampedu resisted and said to Kofi : "Obaa kɔkɔ like that dey call me this early morning like this you say make i no go? You dey craze? You make you na dey go I go join you later". So he left and went up.

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3 of the late Charlie Chaplain's heart-touching statements

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1) Nothing is permanent in this world, not even our troubles.

(2) I like walking in the rain, because nobody can see my tears.

(3) The most wasted day in life is the day in which I have not laughed.

There, she welcomed him with a smile and ask him to sit in the sofa and be comfortable. She will be with him soon. Minutes later the door bell rang ....She whispered "my husband is in.

Please take the iron and pretend to be ironing" she added.

Ampedu obliged and took the iron and began ironing the clothes from 3pm till 8pm because the guy was still there watching TV. He ironed the clothes of the gentleman, women, children, tablecloths, sheets, curtains and even the dirty clothes.

Keep smiling An old man has 8 hairs on his head. He went to the barber shop.

The barber in anger asked: shall I cut or count?

Kofi: "Abi you wanted obaa kɔkɔ ?.... if you care to know the dresses you ironed, I washed them"

LIFE is to enjoy with whatever you have so keep smiling

The next day, he meets Kofi and narrates his ordeal.

Let us Drink from the River

Preacher said: "If I had all the beer in the world, I'd take it and throw it into the river".

And the congregation cried, "Amen!"

"And if I had all the wine in the world, I'd take it and throw it in the river".

And the congregation cried, "Amen!"

"And if I had all the whiskey and rum in the world, I'd take it all and throw it in the river".

Again the congregation cried, "Amen!"

The preacher sat down.

Then Deacon Akpors stood up & said: "For our closing hymn, let's turn to page 126 of our hymn books and sing, 'We shall drink from that river".

THE CONGREGATION SCREAMED "HALLELUJAH!!!"

Teye was in the restaurant when suddenly he realised he desperately needed to pass gas. The music was really, really loud, so he timed the gas with the beat of the music.

After a couple of songs, he begun to feel better.

He finished his coffee, and noticed that everybody was staring at him. Then he suddenly remembered that he was listening to the music on his phone with hands-free. Priceless!

The old man smiled and said: "Colour them"

If you feel STRESSED, give yourself A Break.

Enjoy Some..

Ice cream, Chocolate Candy, Cake Why? because

STRESSED spelled backwards is DESSERTS ...enjoy Alphabetical advice for us:

ABC Avoid Boring Company..

DEF Don't Entertain Fools..

GHI Go for High Ideas .

JKLM Just Keep a friend like ME..

NOP Never Overlook the Poor and suffering..

QRS Quit Reacting to Silly tales..

TUV Tune Urself for your Victory..

WXYZ We Xpect You to Zoom ahead in life

Aj Dahottest Talks New Music Video And Tb Family

Rapper and songwriter AJ Dahottest has released the music video for his 2015 online hit single 'Tsieyoo Meni Yaanor'. The new video came out as a surprise to his fans online on May 18, 2016.

'Tsieyoo Meni Yaanor' translates from the Ghanaian language of Ga into English to mean “what’s up lady”. AJ Dahottest who is also known for the hit single ‘Baybeh’ which was produced by Danny Beatz, also plans to accompany the new music video with two new singles.

“I am so excited to finally finish this new video which is put together by the award winning video production crew at Phamous Philms in Ghana. As it has been a while since I dropped something new for my fans, I will also be hitting them with two new singles too; ‘Benkemormi’ which means ‘get close to me’ and ’Say No More’.”

‘Benkemormi’; an Afrobeat track, is produced by Danny Beatz and Ridek; a new talent AJ Dahottest discovered in Ghana. Danny Beatz however mastered the track which he also features on. ‘Say No More’ is a track along the lines of Hip Hop and R&B that was produced by Gold Star who also featured on it. The song was however mastered by Qweci who is also formerly known as Ded buddy. AJ Dahottest thinks his fans in Ghana and elsewhere are deserving of the new video and tracks as they’ve stood by him while he remained busy in the studios.’

AJ Dahottest explains TBF

The musician took the opportunity to also talk about TBF and clear controversies around it: “TBF stands for Thug Boys Family, which is what I call those who believe in my style of music and my hustle. What I am hoping to achieve through TBF is to channel the positive energy that comes from my work and admiration for the struggling youth into hope for people everywhere who are wrongly labelled as losers or thugs. Members of TBF are

also called Thugs With Attitude (TWA).”

AJ Dahottest says “TBF is not about violence or negativity, it’s rather more about creating an intellectual and spiritual haven for all who feel downtrodden by becoming a symbol of hope as we help ourselves and others climb out of despair to become a shining example in society because I’ve been there and know how it feels.”

Work is almost done on the songwriter's first studio album. He says he will soon announce the expected release date and who fans can expect to hear him feature on it. For now though, AJ wants you to enjoy the new music video and expect the new singles very soon. For more updates follow AJ on Twitter as @ajdahottest and Instagram as @aj_gh Watch 'Tsi3yoo Mini Yaano' video below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jye6Lzd31Cs

Source: Oral Ofori/TheAfricanDream.net - ENDS -

Oral Ofori; Founder of TheAfricanDream LLC -an Information and Communication Consultancy on African Affairs --->> goo.gl/jHbdDt +12027069881Nduom University (Nduom School of Business & Technology; and GN Learning & Development Center), Elmina Community Library.

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Police Escort Merit Scholar Out of Graduation For Refusing to Remove Traditional Kente Cloth

Police escorted an 18-year-old merit scholar out of his Elk Grove, California, high school graduation Tuesday for refusing to remove his Kente cloth, a traditional Ghanaian silk and cotton fabric.

Nyree Holmes, now a graduate of Cosumnes Oaks High School, explained on Twitter that he was approached by Matt Mason, the school's director of student activities, just before he walked on stage, the Atlanta Black Star reported.

Bernie Sanders Fans Line Up for Miles in Oakland Mason demanded that Holmes hand over his Kente cloth. When the student declined, Mason sought police assistance.

"I get to the stage and I think I’m home clear," Holmes tweeted. "I go through shaking all the hands and smiling feeling as if I won, then when I get to the stairs I see 3 sheriffs."

House Where Gunman Died Wasn't 'Always Full of Pain' Holmes was escorted out of the Sleep Train Arena by three Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies before he could received his diploma.

"I wanted to wear my kente cloth as a representation of my pride in my ancestors, to display my cultural and religious heritage," Holmes told the Atlanta Black Star.

SF Police Body Camera Policy OK'd as Chief Hears From Critics Elk Grove Unified School District officials released a statement Friday, which expressed "regret" about "how events unfolded in this instance," but also pointed out that Holmes ignored "repeated requests to remove unauthorized non-school award regalia."

The statement also countered that school officials' actions were prompted by guidelines about "appropriate graduation ceremony attire," which had been communicated to students and their families.

Gunman Dead in Tense Fremont Standoff "It is within the District’s discretion and prerogative to impose rules for graduation ceremony dress code and attire which apply generally to all students, and which do not discriminate against any specific student viewpoint," a statement said in part.

It continued: "That rule and standard has been in place for decades."

UPDATEDUCLA Murder-Suicide Shooter Had 'Kill List': Police Holmes was later able to get his diploma and take a photograph with the school's principal.

The Atlanta Black Star reported that Holmes plans to attend California State University, Fullerton starting this fall. He will major in cinema arts so as to fulfill his "dream of becoming an impactful film director." http://www.nbcbayarea.com/

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A Death Curse Threatens U.S. Presidents Elected In Uber: Tech Years Evenly Divisible By Twenty.

Company Planning Roll Out In Ghana

With two exceptions, since 1840, U.S. Presidents who have been elected in years ending in zero have been killed or have died of natural causes while in office. And one exception literally came within an inch of death.

It's hard to know what to make of such a sequence, but folks have certainly tried over the years. Such a string of presidential mortality is deemed too improbable to have occurred naturally, giving rise to rumors about a fatal Indian curse among those unwilling to recognize that chaos sometimes takes the form of coincidence.

Randomness is disquieting; Indian curses are, in comparison, the lesser of the evils because they at least support the illusion that there is order in our universe. In this odd way, belief in predestined fatalities is comforting.

1840 ... William Henry Harrison 1860 ... Abraham Lincoln 1880 ... James A. Garfield 1900 ... William McKinley 1920 ... Warren G. Harding 1940 ... Franklin D. Roosevelt 1960 ... John F. Kennedy

William Henry Harrison, who was elected in 1840, died of pneumonia at the age of 68, exactly one month after his inauguration.

Abraham Lincoln, first elected in 1860, was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth just after embarking on his second term in office in 1865.

James A. Garfield won the 1880 election. He was shot in the back in a Washington railroad station waiting room in July 1881 and died of his wounds in September 1881.

William McKinley was re-elected in 1900. In September 1901, after giving a speech at an exposition in Buffalo, he was shot while shaking hands

Report Advertisement with wellwishers. McKinley died of his wounds a little more than a week later.

Warren G. Harding, elected in 1920, expired of a stroke or heart attack in 1923. It was long rumored his wife had poisoned him.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, re-elected in 1940 for a third term, suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage and died just after having started an unprecedented fourth term in 1945.

John F. Kennedy was elected in 1960 and assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963.

Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980 but managed to cheat the Grim Reaper by a matter of an inch, the distance by which would-be assassin John Hinckley's bullet missed his heart in 1981.

Maybe Reagan also broke the "every 20 years" curse. Or maybe it's just sleeping.

Those who look to make sense of eerie coincidences have come up with an explanation to account for this string of deaths: an ancient Indian curse, supposedly administered by Tecumseh himself after suffering defeat at the hands in William Henry Harrison at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. (Tecumseh died in the 1813 Battle of the Thames, again fighting troops led by Harrison.) According to lore, the famed Indian chief cursed the Great White Fathers. No explanation is given for why the chief's curse would only affect one presidency in five, but one cannot, after all, expect the fanciful to cover everything.

Another version attributes the curse to Tenskwatawa (also known as "The Prophet"), a Shawnee medicine man who was half-brother to Tecumseh. The hex was supposedly his revenge for the death of his half-sibling.

"Harrison will die I tell you," the Prophet reportedly said. "And after him, every Great Chief chosen every 20 years thereafter will die. And when each one dies, let everyone remember the death of my people."

Stirring words indeed, but there's no reason to suppose they were actually uttered. No record of either Tecumseh or Tenskwatawa laying a whammy on American presidents has yet surfaced — it's all undocumented folktale at this point and is as likely just someone's imaginative backstory to the inexplicable as it is anything else.

Folks have been taking note of this string of presidential deaths for quite some time — it's not a new snippet of spooky information recently dropped into the lap of the American people. A Ripley's Believe It or Not book published in 1934 noted the coincidental twenty-year pattern of presidential deaths between 1840 and 1920, with question marks in place of a name for the upcoming 1940 entry indicating the presumption of a continuing pattern. The pattern did, of course, hold true again when Franklin Roosevelt, who had been re-elected in 1940, filled Media reports suggest that Uber is planning to in that blank by dying in office in 1945. launch in Accra. An entry on the company's career As to what to make of the "curse," it's interesting to list page says that they are looking for an operations and logistics manager in their new Accra office. note that since 1840, only one President other than those supposedly felled by this ill-wishing has died According to a TechCabal report, this new expanin office: Zachary Taylor, who was elected in 1848 sion into Accra seems to be part of an aggressive and died in 1850 of a stomach ailment. (Taylor's expansion drive by the logistics company into the body was exhumed in 1991 to investigate a theory African market. that he had been poisoned with arsenic, but the results were negative). Also interesting is the notion Since it began operations in 2009, Uber has expandthat the curse is a prescient one, as two presidents who won elections in years ending in '0' — Lincoln ed to over 400 cities in over 60 countries. The company has established presence in five African counand Roosevelt — did not die until after beginning tries including Morocco, Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt and subsequent terms in office. Apparently the curse South Africa. foresaw re-election for both of them.

The key to all this presidential demising possibly lies more within the realm of the stars than the rumored words of a dead Indian chief. Or at least so the astrologers would have us believe. According to Mark Dodich, an astrologer who has attempted to analyze the Curse of Tecumseh, the reason behind this force is one of "cosmic coincidence," not Native American hexing. Dodich claims the curse's effects overlap with the alignment of Jupiter and Saturn, whose orbits have lined up every twenty years.

The company's most recent launches were in Abuja, Nigeria, and Kenya's second-largest city, Mombasa.

Techcabal reports that Leon Mwotia, Uber's tri-lingual, left-handed Kenyan-Canadian international launcher will be at the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) to speak about the company's roll-out plans in Ghana.

Right now, it is hard to judge how traditional taxi drivers in Ghana will react to Uber's presence - a problem the company has had to deal with in most of the other countries where the company operates One of the two 20-year pattern's failures — President Ronald Reagan — is explained by the sign (In Kenya, its vehicles were even set on fire at one point). the alignment of these two planets occurred under.

Alignments under the earth signs (Taurus, We wait to see how the world's most valuable startCapricorn, and Virgo) have led to dead presidents, up will fare in Ghana. Stay with Pulse Tech to give but Reagan's term occurred under an air sign, you all the latest updates on that. accounting for his survival.

According to Dodich, year 2000's Jupiter-Saturn twinning once again occurred under the earth sign of Taurus, a phenomenon he says won't happen again for another 600 years. It thus marks the end of a deadly cycle, but if Dodich was right about this curse thing, it would have sound the death knell for another president first. However, George W. Bush, the president elected in the supposed "curse" year of 2000, finished out two terms in good health.

Barbara "Reagan: air force won" Mikkelson

http://www.snopes.com/

http://www.onlinenigeria.com/

Silver Rain - Ghanaian Movie Hits Amazon

Silverain has had over 15 nominations. It was also nominated for the best film overall in Africa and best film in west Africa in 2015 in the 2016 version of AMVCA, the largest film awards program in Africa.

SilveRain is the first Ghanaian movie on Amazon.

It is a pan african movie cast from Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, kenya and Sierra Leone and it was shot in Ghana and South Africa with Crew from both countries.

Juliet Asante is the writer and Director and holds a double masters in Public Policy and Public Administration from Harvard University. She is also a mentor at the Sloan school of Business at MIT (Massachusetts institute of Technology) and writes regularly for the the Huffington Post. She also holds a double degree from the National film and television institute in Ghana, the Cape coast university and a diploma from the New York film academy. Juliet has worked in the industry for over two decades and featured in films like 'Deadly voyage' by HBO, that starred Omar Ebbs, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who has been in films like the 'Borne identity'. Juliet was the best actress in

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Ghana for 2001 and served as an advisor on the 'World Economic Forum's entertainment council' for two years. She is also an Aspen fellow and She considers herself a serial entrepreneur

SilveRain is about an ambitious street girl who tries to move up society. She finds love outside her class and unknowingly starts a chain of events that no one can control

silveRain is on Amazon prime in the US, UK, Ireland, Germany and Japan.

It is free for Prime members. It will also be on iTunes and Google Play soon. This is a big break through for African film; as African films really struggle to break through into distribution globally.

From the mass of experience lead her to start the first international festival in Ghana that takes off this year in August 'the black star international film festival' learn more at www.bsiff.org

Set in an African slum, an ambitious market girl meets and falls in love with a boy from the other side of town and tries to cross the class divide, but the social gap is over powering and starts a chain of event that neither of them is prepared for.

Starring: Joselyn Dumas, Enyinna Nwigwe Runtime: 1 hour, 35 minutes Available to watch on supported devices.

International Filmmaker Juliet Yaa Asantewaa Asante

Juliet Yaa Asantewaa Asante is not just one such filmmaker but she’s also thinking out of the box. The Ghanaian filmmaker, who wrote and directed of Silver Rain, is determined to lead the way in telling Africa’s story from the point of view of its people.

Silver Rain is not just a Pan African film with cast spread across five African countries; the film tells the story of love, pain and the unyielding human spirit. Set in the slums of Africa, the film reflects the class struggle that is buried deep in the fabric of our society. In this gripping love story, Ajoa, a ‘Kayayo’ street girl from Accra, meets Bruce, the rich heir of the prestigious Timothy family.

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Dr. Thomas Mensah Wants Mississippi To Become Silicon Valley Of The South

Dr. Thomas O. Mensah is spearheading an effort with leading entrepreneurs to make Mississippi (MS); the Magnolia State, the silicon valley of the South.

Dr. Mensah, a Fellow of the American National Academy of Inventors and President of Georgia Aerospace, (an Atlanta based company) says "even though my Atlanta base is home to major Fortune 500 business headquarters, I am personally now branching out into the MS Delta which presents a promising opportunity for the creation of the next silicon valley of the South in the USA."

Earlier in May 2016 at the ‘Silicon Valley of the South Conference’ in Tunica, MS where Dr. Mensah was a keynote speaker, he envisioned the creation of innovation centers in MS to focus on the development of drone manufacturing and business accelerators. As the architect of the Silicon Valley of the South Dr. Mensah’s stressed that these centers should include cybersecurity sensors, advanced batteries, precision agriculture, big data, aerospace systems, virtual reality, and nanotechnology products among other next generation technological developments.

These innovation centers according to Dr. Mensah would work hand in hand with MS based industries and leading universities as they collaborate to enhance the competitiveness of the USA in the world of global technology and commerce.

Why Mississippi makes a great Silicon Valley of the South

In his response to why he thinks MS stands a great chance at becoming the USA's a 'Silicon Valley of the South, Dr. Mensah disclosed to TheAfricanDream.net that because it is home to ‘The John C. Stennis Space Center’ (a NASA space rocket testing facility) as well as home to former headquarters of Noththrop Grumman Ship Systems; builders of nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers for the US Department of Defense in Pascagoula Mississippi, it is awash with the brainpower to support a Silicon Valley of the South.

The inventor feels the Magnolia State is one of the few states in the USA with highly trained engineers and scientists that end up seeing these intellectuals leave MS to work in industries outside that state, creating a brain drain and loss of intellectual power.

“Creation of these innovation centers with business accelerators will however create industries and job opportunities for these graduates and I believe this will encourage them to stay and work in their home state. I am talking about students from Some of the best educational institutions in Mississippi like the University of Mississippi (Ole-Miss), Mississippi Sate University and Delta State University as well as other top historically black colleges and universities in the state” Dr. Mensah said.

He also continued to say he believes that the next generation cybersecurity sensors would be developed in his envisioned innovation center located in the state capital of Jackson, MS as detailed in his plan presented at the Silicon Valley conference.

Dr. Mensah feels that this silicon valley of the south could become a model to inspire emerging African countries like Ghana and neighboring Ivory Coast and others elsewhere that are also grappling with the issue of human capital flight by helping them to retain their best and brightest individuals to stay home and help improve their economies and accelerate technological advancement in other emerging countries.

Each of the innovation centers would have a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) component to inspire children who have interests in these fields creating the pipeline for the next generation scientists. Dr. Mensah believes it is important for young students to be given an opportunity at greatness through STEM, which was what happened in his case growing up to become a world leading fiber optics innovator and inventor.

Watch Dr. Mensah's vision for Silicon Valley of the South courtesy of his Facebook.

Source: Oral Ofori / www.theafricandream.net

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Joseph Yobo: Ex Super Eagles Captain Gets Political Appointment

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Yobo was honoured by a slew of his former colleagues and friends at his testimonial played at the Adokiye Amiesimaka stadium on Friday, May 27

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike who also attended the testimonial has now appointed the former Everton captain as as Senior Special Assistant on Sports Development.

Special Assistant to Wike, on Governor on Electronic Media, Simeon Nwakaudu says the appointment takes immediate effect.

Just a day after his testimonial match in Port Harcourt, the 35-yearold was conferred with a chieftaincy title in Rivers State.

The former defender bagged the title of The Mene Aborlo 1 and Waamene Aborlo 1 of Ogoni, Rivers State.

Special Assistant to Wike, on Governor on Electronic Media, Simeon Nwakaudu says the appointment takes immediate effect.

Just a day after his testimonial match in Port Harcourt, the 35-yearold was conferred with a chieftaincy title in Rivers State.

The former defender bagged the title of The Mene Aborlo 1 and Waamene Aborlo 1 of Ogoni, Rivers State.

Source: http://www.onlinenigeria.com/

Afrikan

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US Visa: How To File A Petition For A Diversity Visa Lottery

The US Immigration Act of 1990 created the diversity visa immigration category (commonly called the DV lottery) to benefit persons from countries that have in the last 5 years sent the fewest numbers of immigrants to the US. You can enter the DV lottery if you are a native of one of those countries and meet certain educational and other requirements.

How many people are selected for the program annually?

The total number of DV winners selected annually is 55,000 though in reality only 50,000 places are up for grabs. The other 5000 places are reserved for applicants under a different program called NACARA. Using available statistics for total admissions for other immigrant categories over the most recent five-year period, the Secretary of Homeland Security identifies high admission foreign states. A foreign state whose immigrant admissions total is greater than 50,000 is a high admission foreign state. You are therefore disqualified from making a DV entry if you are a native of a high admission foreign state unless you can claim under the rules of chargeability on the basis of your spouse or parent.

How to file a petition for a DV lottery

You may file a petition or another person may file same on your behalf with the Department of State (DOS) for consideration. The petition consists of an electronic entry form you or the person acting on your behalf must complete on-line and submit to the DOS. The DOS normally designates a period of not more than 30 days in each fiscal year within which qualified persons may file entries for consideration. The rules for registering in the lottery drawing changes every year; you may therefore check the DOS website at http://travel.state.gov (click “Visas” then “Diversity Visa”) for latest update.

Details on the DV Entry Form

You must complete all details on the form or your entry will be disqualified. You must state your full name; date of birth; gender; city and country where you were born; and country of eligibility or chargeability for the DV program. Other details include phone number and mailing address; email address; country where you live today; highest level of education; marital status; number of children under 21 years; and spouse information.

You must provide true and accurate details on the entry as the submission of untrue or inaccurate details may result in either the disqualification of your entry or the refusal of your visa at the time of your visa interview. The Foreign Affairs Manual provides that entries lacking all of the required information may be disqualified at any time prior to selection, after selection, or during the visa application process.

For names, ensure that you enter the name in the order which they appear in your passport, or if you have no passport at the time of entry, the order in which they appear on your other document such as birth and baptismal certificates, educational certificates, identity cards, etc. Be sure about the order of your surname, first name, and middle name (if any), before entering them on the form. If there is a discrepancy in the order of your names as entered in the lottery and that in your passport or other document, your DV visa may be refused.

For children, you must state the number of children you have (if any); their name, date, and place of birth of all your natural children, legally adopted children, and stepchildren who

are unmarried and under age 21. It does not matter whether you are married to the child’s parent, nor whether the child lives with you or will immigrate with you; you must enter their details anyway. You need not mention children who are already US legal permanent residents or citizens.

Wiltshire Chef Scoops £4m And Returns To Wetherspoon Shift June 2016

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For spouses, you must provide the name, date of birth, and their country of birth. Failure to list your spouse may result in your disqualification and refusal of your visa at the time of the interview.

You will be required to upload a digital photograph in accordance with specifications of yourself, your spouse and any child under 21 mentioned in the entry. Failure to upload photos according to specifications will lead to the disqualification of your entry.

To be continued…

Disclaimer: This article only provides general information and guidance on U.S. immigration law. The specific facts that apply to your matter may make the outcome different than would be anticipated by you. The writer will not accept any liability for any claims or inconvenience as a result of the use of this information. The writer is an immigration law consultant and a practicing law attorney in Ghana. He advises on U.S., UK, and Schengen immigration law. He works part-time for Acheampong & Associates Ltd, an immigration law firm in Accra.

Source: Emmanuel Opoku Acheampong/acheampongassociatesgh@gmail.com

A pub worker who landed £4m on a lottery scratchcard went straight back to finish his shift in the kitchen and kept quiet about it.

Amadou Gillen, 46, bought two scratchcards during a break from work in Trowbridge, Wiltshire.

On the first card - scratched in the staff area - he won £10 and the second made him a millionaire.

The father-of-two, who works for Wetherspoon in the town, said he was "screaming and dancing inside".

"I think my shift finished at 11.30pm or midnight, so it was almost four hours that I kept it quiet," he added.

'Never bought a car' It was not until the following week that the kitchen manager told his daughters, aged 20 and 22.

Speaking during a National Lottery news conference, he said he had booked a trip to the Gambia - where he was born - to visit family and was looking to change his rented one-bedroom flat for a four-bedroom house.

He received the money on Tuesday and is now planning to complete his driving test and buy his first car.

"I have never started lessons. I have had my provisional driving licence since 2009 but I have never been able to afford to have a car or lessons," he said.

"At the moment I just want to get a simple Peugeot and then I will get a BMW X6. I want to start an intensive course by next week."

Mr Gillen has worked at the pub for five years following an apprenticeship with McDonald's.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/

Afrikan

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Nigerian Faces Rise in Hollywood!

By Adie Vanessa Offiong Hollywood talent from Nigeria - or with Nigerian roots - are on the rise. We've spotlighted some of them who are proving to be a shot in the arm of America's showbiz industry.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje is an actor and former fashion model famous for his roles as Lock-Nah in 'The Mummy Returns,' and as Nykwana Wombosi in 'The Bourne Identity,' Mr. Eko in 'Lost' and Simon Adebisi on Oz. His also starred as Malko in the fifth season the 'Game of Thrones,' and as Dave Duerson in the drama, 'Concussion' and as Killer Croc in the upcoming movie, 'Suicide Squad.' AkinnuoyeAgbaje was born in Islington, London to Yoruba parents who were studying there. He is fluent in several languages including Yoruba, Italian, and Swahili. He can "get along" in a few other languages, including French. When he was only six weeks old, his biological parents gave him up to a white working class family in Tilbury. His foster parents had at least ten African children, including Akinnuoye-Agbaje's two sisters, living in their house at certain points. His foster father made a living as a lorry driver and struggled to support the family financially.

Adepero Oduye

Adepero Oduye was born in Brooklyn, New York City and is a graduate of Cornell University. She has starred in the short film 'Pariah,' 'Water,' 'The Tested' and 'Sub Rosa.' She has also made guest appearances on 'Louie' and 'Law & Order.' Oduye debuted on Broadway in the musical Fela! and starred alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor in the film 12 Years a Slave.

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Dayo Okeniyi

Oladayo A. 'Dayo' Okeniyi popular for his role as Thresh in 'The Hunger Games' and as Danny Dyson in 'Terminator Genisys.' He began acting in primary school and went on to receive a degree of visual communications design in 2009 before moving to Los Angeles to pursue his passion in acting.

Uzo Aduba

Uzo Aduba gained recognition with her performance in 'Translations of Xhosa.' She received a Helen Hayes Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a 'Play.' In 2007 she made her broadway debut in 'Coram Boy' as Toby. TV series 'Blue Bloods' also starring Tom Selleck was her first television appearanceby 2013 she began to receive wider recognition and acclaim for her portrayal of Suzanne Warren, aka Crazy Eyes, in widely acclaimed 'Orange Is the New Black.'

Itoya Osagiede

Itoya Osagiede featured as the Malian military general in TV series, 'American Odyssey.' In a personal statement he said: "I have been in love with the performance industry since I can remember from film to theatre. My passion, commitment and motivation keeps pushing me forward and I know I will get to where I need to as long as I keep pushing myself. I respect its craft and what it stands for."

Adetomiwa Edun

Adetomiwa Edun starred as Sir Elyan in 'Merlin.' Edun who was born in Lagos, to a Nigerian father and a half-Ghanaian, half-English mother featured at the Edinburgh Fringe Judith Shekoni has featured in BBC TV shows, 'Casualty' and Festival, as the character Clifford in the show, 'Kassandra.'

'Easteneders.' Shekoni played Zafrina in 'Twilight Breaking Dawn 2' by The Acting graduate is the second black actor to play Romeo award-winning director, Bill Condon. She is part of the cast of 'Heroes' at the Globe Theatre when he was cast in Dominic premiering at the ongoing Toronto Film Festival, as Joanne.

Dromgoole's production of 'Romeo and Juliet.' Edun has also appeared in 'The Fixer,' 'Law & Order': UK, 'The Hour.'

Megalyn Ann Echikunwoke John Boyega Megalyn Ann Echikunwoke was born May 28, 1983 in Spokane, Washington. She played Nicole Palmer in the first season of '24,' Angie John Boyega will be playing Finn in the upcoming 'Star Barnett in the seventh season of 'That '70s Show' and Isabelle Tyler in Wars: The Force Awakens.' His role as Moses in 'Attack the 'The 4400'. In 'Who Do You Love' where she played a heroin-addicted Block' shot him to limelight. Screen International's Fionnuala lounge singer, she did all of her own singing in the movie.

Halligan selected him as one of the 'UK Stars of Tomorrow 2011.' Boyega who was cast in the film adaptation of 'Half of Richard Ayoade a Yellow Sun,' stated in an interview that he is a fan of Marvel Comics, and that he had hoped to play the Marvel Richard Ellef Ayoade was inspired by the likes of comedy icons Eric character Black Panther.

Idle ('Monty Python'), Hugh Laurie and Graeme Garden. His major launch into the industry was directing, co-writing and starring with Hakeem Kae-Kazim Matthew Holness in 'Darkplace.' He has had cameos in 'The Mighty Boosh' Saboo, in 'The IT Crowd' as a social oblivious, dweebish Hakeem Kae-Kazim, was trained at the Bristol Old Vic and savant, 'Moss.' He directed 'Submarine' in 2010 and then 'The Double' joined the Royal Shakespeare Company upon graduation. He in 2013. has starred in 'Pirates of the Caribbean III,' 'Black Sails,' 'Lost,' 'Cane', 'Law & Order: SVU,' 'X-Men: Wolverine' with Sonni Chidiebere Hugh Jackman and as Colonel Dubaku, in '24's season 7. He appeared alongside other Hollywood acts like Mickey Rourke Sonni Chidiebere is an actor, known for Blood Diamond (2006), and Kim Basinger, in 'Black November' which he also proDistrict 9 (2009) and Hotel Rwanda (2004). The actor has earned duced. He has made appearances in Nollywood productions minor roles in movies like 'Hotel Rwanda,' 'Blood Diamond,' 'District including 'Last Flight to Abuja' and 'Inale.'

9' and 'Lord of War.' Born in Nigeria, he grew up in South Africa, where he started his acting career.

Caroline Chikezie Judith Shekoni

Caroline Chikezie was born and raised in London and has acted in prominent Hollywood movies and TV series follow-

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ing her role in 'Aeon Flux,' including 'Eragon,' 'Breaking and Entering,' 'The Supernatural.'

She landed her first major role as Sasha Williams in 'As If in 2001.' Chikezie has had roles in 'Footballer's Wives,' '40,' 'Judas Kiss,' 'Free Fall' and 'Brothers and Sisters.'

Hope Adjoko Olaide Wilson

Hope Olaide Wilson as she is popularly called, was born in the UK and is actress and producer, known for her acting in 'I Can Do Bad All by Myself,' 'Faith and Dreams' and 'After the Dark (2013).'

Chinwe Tracy Ifeachor

Tracy Ifeachor was crowned Senior Verse Speaking Champion of the South-West at the age of 15, and was keen on drama school to study acting. She won a scholarship and graduated with honours from The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. She starred in feature film 'Blooded' as the co-lead, Eve and in 'Casualty.' Ifeachor starred in the final 'Dr Who' and 'Strike Back: Vengeance.'

Toks Olagundoye

Toks Olagundoye born to a Norwegian mother and a Nigerian father, she was educated in Nigeria, Switzerland and England.

Olagundoye who holds a degree in Fine Arts attracted to cinema at a young age, and was pleased to relocate to herself with joy when she moved to Massachusetts for college and now works in the US. Source: http://allafrica.com/

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