Oumar Dia’s Memory Lives On Through The African Heritage Celebration It was a chilly
November night in 1997 and while waiting for a bus to go home after work, African immigrant Oumar Dia was shot and killed by skinheads. He worked at the Hyatt Regency Denver as a housekeeper. Since his death and in his memory, the African Heritage Celebration (AHC) was established to bring solidarity between Colorado and Dia’s West African home country of Senegal. Denver-based AHC, a nonprofit established in 2005, engages in projects aimed at helping eradicate illiteracy in Senegal.
Last year, AHC provided supplies for more than 2000 students during its 2012 school supplies distribution campaign. Every year, AHC leads a group of volunteers to Senegal to help deliver the supplies. From Nov. 7 to Nov. 22, the volunteers visited 19 primary and secondary institutions and delivered supplies in the Northwestern region and in the Southern part of the country. Kindergarteners and elementary school children received notebooks, textbooks, and slates while middle school students received math, English and French textbooks. The group also travelled to the region of Matam and delivered school supplies from the Denver Senegal Humanitarian Foundation (DSHF) for students in the northern village of Diorbivol and the communities of Diaocounda and Kounkane. AHC has provided supplies for more than 8,000 students and has impacted more than 15,000 children, since 2007. The textbooks are passed onto forthcoming students the following years, thus, serving several academic cycles.
Supplies are presented during ceremonies attended by parents, teachers and local dignitaries, where the importance of education is emphasized. With the help of AHC, schools sup-
ported have seen a significant increase in the student success rate. On Friday, June 28, AHC will hold its 7th annual dinner and gala. Hosted by the Hyatt Regency Denver, entertainment will include The Drum Master and there will be a silent auction. AHC funds are raised through the annual dinner and gala, matching challenge grants, and private and inkind contributions. Editor’s note: For more information or tickets, call Mohamadou Cisse at 720-7324638, E-mail modul15@aol.com, or visit, www.africanheritagecelebration.blogsgpot. com
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