Dear Friends,

We are writing to inform you of proposed budget cuts that could have a major negative impact on our refugee communities, both here and abroad. On Saturday, February 19, the U.S. House of Representatives recommended massive cuts to various humanitarian assistance programs, including a 45% cut to Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA); 10.4% cut to the Office of Refugee Resettlement; and 67% cut to International Disaster Assistance (IDA). The U.S. is currently operating under a continuing resolution that funds the U.S. federal government until on March 4, so the Senate’s vote will likely take place the first week of March, and these proposed cuts would take effect immediately and likely continue into next year as well. We are asking for your help in reaching out to your senators before this comes up for vote in the Senate. The Senate will be in their home states Feb. 21-25, so they can be reached at their Colorado offices.

Action steps:

1. Personalize the attached letter, print, sign and fax, email or hand deliver the Senator's office. Hand written letters have more impact, so if you can write your own letter.

2. Call your Senators and share your story of why the refugee program is so valuable to our communities. (See attachment for talking points and sample script.)

3. Go in person to the Senators' Colorado offices this week and share your story of why the refugee program is so valuable to our communities.

Colorado Senators:
Michael Bennet
email and website link: http://bennet.senate.gov/contact/
Denver Metro Office:
2300 15th St., Suite 450 Denver, Colorado 80202
Phone: (303) 455-7600 Toll Free: (866) 455-9866 Fax: (303) 455-8851

Mark Udall
http://markudall.senate.gov/?p=contact
Denver Metro Office:
999 18th Street, Suite 1525, North Tower, Denver, CO 80202
P: 303-650-7820 Washington fax: 202-224-6471
If you live in a state other than Colorado, please go to www.senate.gov to find your senators' contact information. This a nationwide effort. Please help us to make sure that our senators see how much valuable the refugee program is to all of us and that, in this environment of budget cuts, refugee families are minimally impacted. They, like you, enrich our communities with their passion and diversity.

Thank you for your continued support,

The staff at the African Community Center

Sample_Talking_Points

Letter_to_Senators

For more information, please contact:

Elizabeth Schroeder
African Community Center
elizabeth@acc-den.org
303-399-4500 x 39

Words and photos by Sharon McCreary. Reprinted with permission.

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One of our members and jewelry makers, Omhagain Dayeen, was recently asked to show her sketch and painting work for one month at the headquarters of The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT). Many thanks to Lonnie Wiens, CDOT IT guru by day, art show curator on the side for making Omhagain’s show possible.

A special thanks is also in order to Leo Livecchi, married to an ALS founder and a somewhat reluctant supporter of A Little Something. He also works at CDOT. It was Leo’s idea to have Omhagain participate in CDOT’s rotating art gallery show.

After a lot of logistical wrangling, the show started to come together today. Lonnie said, “I am honored to have Omhagain’s work here. She’s an amazing artist.”

Lonnie, Omhagain, her husband, Kamal, and a friend, Susan Taylor, were on hand today, hanging pictures, arranging images and hanging the show. In addition, a film crew was getting footage of the action.

As it turns out, the film crew is from the State Department and filming a documentary about Darfuris living in the U.S. Omhagain has worked tirelessly to bring attention to the issues of Darfur, and she donates part of the profits from her art sales to buy clothes and food for refugees currently in Chad.

Omhagain came to the US as a refugee, an artist displaced from the country and culture she treasured. Her early US works reflected her melancholy. They were mostly subdued, technical, and factual images of her memories of home.

Her current work shows a woman who has found hope and joy in those same memories. Figures dance and move in bold colors. Human shapes are round and robust, enjoying a prosperous Sudanese life. The pictures show beauty, color, and vibrant images. They tell a story about Sudan and Omhagain’s love for what she left behind.

Before becoming a refugee, Omhagain had earned her Master’s degree in art education in Sudan. She was both an artist and a teacher. She wove tapestries and designed textiles. She had a passion for both creating and teaching, and it was obvious that she felt the power of art and the creative force.

Omhagain admits that she had to find herself again, both as a woman and an artist, after coming to the United States. She is quick to acknowledge that she got to where she is today with the help of friends and people who took the time to care, to sit, to listen, and to encourage. Ultimately, though, what comes out in Omhagain’s art is her love of faces, color, motion, and the people in her world, past and present.

More than art, Omhagain’s work shows the beauty of a culture now under siege. Perhaps a show in as unlikely a space as CDOT headquarters will help further the conversation about how we are connected to people around the world. Perhaps Omhagain’s art will shed some light on a part of the world that needs as much love and light as can possibly be generated before it can heal.

I recently took care of a patient with severe burns that she sustained while cooking. What distinguished her from the many burn patients I have managed over the years is where she came from. She was an African refugee who had spent decades in one of the many camps that dot the African continent. She spoke very little English and had only been in the US for a short time.

Ordinarily I would not have paid much attention to her situation but for the fact that a few months earlier, another refugee woman had suffered extensive, and almost fatal burns from a kitchen mishap. She spent weeks in University hospital in Denver including a spell in the ICU. I thought it important to highlight the two women's accidents because they could have been easily prevented.

I must say at the outset that America's generosity to refugees has no equal. Letting African refugees escape the tyranny of brutal dictators, lethal and dehumanizing tribal customs is something more nations should emulate. We want them to have a good life and to attain the American dream. For their resettlement to be successful, neighbors must help them navigate the treacherous waters of American city life.

But many of us are not equipped with enough information about our new neighbors. In turn they find themselves in a confusing, rapidly moving world. I believe we need to do a better job of educating ourselves about each other's world.

Refugees from Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and other parts of Africa have lived for decades in camps full of squalor and degradation. And when they find themselves in a motorized and electrified world, danger it seems, lurks everywhere. Much of what we take for granted is too many of them amazing and puzzling. Gas and electric stoves, exposed electric wires and sockets, flammable clothing and more. They need our help to demystify these and many other things.

Many African immigrants in America tend to cluster around others who arrived before them. While this is helpful to ward off loneliness and open new horizons, there are technical and cultural distances that cannot be bridged this way. It is important that we as Americans become part of the assimilation process. Sponsoring organizations ought to be willing and perhaps even required to have a much deeper involvement in the lives of the refugees they help bring to our shores. Even the simplest of lessons about the use of home appliances can lead to a healthier, fuller and less accident prone American existence.

As is true of many refugees the woman I am talking about survived many natural and man made disasters while living in the Sudan. But she almost lost her life in America because of a pot left cooking on a gas stove. I find that unnecessary and tragic.

For the past three years, Tommy T (Thomas T Gobena) has been the bass player for gypsy punk powerhouse Gogol Bordello. Tommy was born and raised in Addis Abada (Ethiopia's capital city) and the knowledge of global rhythms he brings to Gogol's sound has become part of their unclassifiable approach to music making. With the encouragement of his Gogol Bordello band mates, Tommy has produced his first solo effort, The Prester John Sessions. An aural travelogue that ranges freely through the music and culture of Ethiopia, the album is a collection of 11 songs including a remix of the track "Oromo Dub (Cushitic Dub)," featuring fellow Gogol Bordello band mates Eugene Hutz and Pedro Erazo and mixed by Michael Goldwasser of the Easy Star All-Stars. The Prester John Sessions was released exclusively on iTunes on October 13, 2009, with the wide release at traditional retail outlets everywhere on November 10, 2009 via Easy Star Records.

"In the 70s, funk, wah-wah pedals, and jazz had a huge impact on Ethiopian music," Tommy explains. "The Prester John Sessions will give people an idea about the musical diversity of Ethiopia, which includes influences and ideas borrowed from the sounds of the 70's with the added bonus of up-to-date production values."

Tommy discovered the story of Prester John in Graham Hancock's book The Sign and the Seal. "Hancock was looking for the Biblical Ark of the Covenant," Tommy says. "His quest led him around the world, from the Middle East to Europe and back to Ethiopia." In the 12th and 13th centuries, Prester John was an unknown Christian king with massive troops that got the attention of European kings. Prester John is the character I use to symbolize the man who will bring Ethiopian culture to the rest of the world."

To fulfill his vision, Tommy started digging through Ethiopian folk music, choosing melodies he could improvise on. He also wrote his own compositions based on traditional modes. "A lot of popular Ethiopian music is based on a 6/8 beat called chikchika, but there are also many other rhythms in Ethiopia that have their own unique characteristics," Tommy states. "I play with The Abyssinian Roots Collective on the album. They are sometimes known as The ARC, which coincidentally ties into the Ark of the Covenant and the Prester John story."

Tommy composed and produced the music, along with his brother Henock, contributing to the tunes "Brothers" and "East-West Express." The tracks were written at Tommy's home studio, cut live in studios around Washington, DC, and overdubs were laid down in real time with a final mix by Victor Van Vugt (Nick Cave, Gogol Bordello) giving it the feel of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters jamming with Ethiopian godfathers The Imperial Bodyguard Orchestra. The music blends Ethiopian modes with dub reggae, funk, and jazz, for a sound that's at once familiar and mysterious.

"We are extremely excited to be working with Tommy," says Easy Star co-founder Lem Oppenheimer. "He's made an incredible record. The way he integrates reggae and dub into Ethiopian music fits right into what we have been releasing for the past decade - music that expands on a reggae foundation, taking the genre in new directions."

"I believe in music without boundaries," Tommy says. "Music should be inclusive, not exclusive. People who love music know the best music is created without boundaries and limitations. The Prester John Sessions take that idea to the next level."

About Easy Star Records:

For over a decade, Easy Star Records has been a groundbreaking indie label, releasing progressive reggae and classic recordings from Jamaican artists. The label's best known releases are the tribute series by the Easy Star All-Stars, which began in 2003 with Dub Side of the Moon and includes both Radiodread (2006) and Easy Star's Lonely Hearts Dub Band (2009). The last release twice cracked the Billboard Top 200, something no reggae album had done in over two years prior. The boutique label has also released critically acclaimed albums by John Brown's Body, Ticklah, The Black Seeds, The Meditations and Sugar Minott.

For some time now I have been thinking of how many conservative columnists' have misinterpreted the information that's out there on climate change. Scientific data has had little influence, and the ever changing picture on the ground means even less to them. In contrast, I have followed the science of climate change for years - and am now convinced that we have a dire problem. But I also believe we have a chance to reverse the change our civilization has wrought on the planet. And that we have a moral duty to leave a better world for our grandchildren.

It is unfortunate that a good many journalists reporting on the topic tend to have very little in the way of scientific training. Lacking the necessary objectivity they simply regurgitate what is said elsewhere, polluting the minds of their readers, helping shape a biased and uninformed public opinion. Man's role in climate change is not a scientific issue for these writers and commentators. Rather, it is a matter of political conviction and convenience, grist to the writer's stone. The country in general and American writers in particular have the luxury of wealth to shield them from the vagaries of an ever worsening climate picture. For most of us extreme climate changes are fleeting. The episodic climatic discomforts are merely an inconvenience.

Contrast that to the decades-old drought in central and southern Africa. Tribes people and their camels, cattle and other animals are starving, the death toll rising. Their lakes and rivers are drying up. It is something I'm personally connected to. The drought has hurt my mother's coffee farm in my native Kenya. As I watch Africa die from afar, I viscerally sense the weather changes' effects even as conservatives dismiss it all as the mad ravings of liberal thinkers.

I recently listened with sadness and amazement as several radio and TV talking heads declared Global warming dead. For them, the record snow fall along the East coast was proof that global warming was a lie. And a recent article by George Will in the Washington Post called assertions of climate change and our role in it "impervious to evidence". To me this was clear evidence of how some Americans seem to want to celebrate scientific ignorance.

There is a preponderance of scientific data to support the contention that global warming and man's role in it are intertwined. It is really a matter of commonsense. All one has to do is look at the smog and the polluted air over some of or America cities. The CO2 in our polluted air has to go somewhere and surely there is a consequence because of it.

The problem is, many scientifically challenged writers, commentators and politicians as messengers to the greater public - bring their ignorance and prejudice to these discussions. We who have a clearer vision of the dangers of institutional ignorance must end our silence. If we wait for some cataclysmic event to occur to prove to the skeptics that climate change is real, the world as we know it may be doomed.

The first edition of the Colorado African Yellow Pages & Guide has been around for several weeks now, so if you haven't gotten your copy yet, stop by your local African market today to pick one up. Inside you will find many of the same listings you see here at metroAfrican, including African restaurants and markets. But they also include churches, tax information, driver's license offices, embassy information, and other listings of interest to Africans. There are even sample citizenship questions.

The book could be better organized and some of the listings could be more complete, but overall the publication of the African Yellow Pages is a great community resource. If you don't find the guide at your local market, you can contact the publisher at info@africanyellowpagesandguide.com or check it out online at www.africanyellowpagesandguide.com. Expect the next edition of the yellow pages this summer.

Denver, Colo. November 24, 2009– AfricAid announces the Unwrap-A-Story “twitterbration” to support girls’ education in Africa. Running from December 8th to 11th, the three-day online celebration will invite the public to use online tools like Twitter and Facebook to share and celebrate the people who have made a lasting impact on their lives while making a $10 donation to the Kisa Project– a two-year program that provides African girls with a school scholarship, leadership training, and formal mentoring. In the spirit of Kisa, which means “story” in Swahili, participants will tweet a short, 140-character story about the person who gave them their greatest gift. After making the donation and tweeting their story, participants can send a customizable thank-you letter to the person they honor in their donation.

“Unwrap a Story is about paying it forward,” says AfricAid founder and Executive Director Ashley Shuyler. “It’s a way to honor those people in your life who have helped you along the way, and give a girl in Tanzania the same opportunity to be mentored as they begin the long journey ahead.”

Set to launch in January 2010, the Kisa Project gives African girls scholarships to secondary school and enrolls them in a two-year leadership-training program. Upon graduation, these “Kisa Scholars” are given a small salary to return home to mentor a group of fifteen other young girls and create a community project that addresses a need in their hometowns. The Kisa Scholars will be taught by trained Tanzanian university graduates, called “Kisa Mentors”, who Shuyler says, “are the greatest gift you could give young Tanzanian women. A mentor will help them realize their potential, and support them as they become part of a new generation of women leaders across Africa.”

“Our goal is to raise a total of $4,000,” says Shuyler. “It may not seem like a lot, but with $4,000, AfricAid can provide 20 young Tanzanian women with 2 years of formal mentoring and leadership training through our Kisa Project. And because every Kisa Scholar will in turn mentor 15 young Tanzanian women– an additional 300 girls will receive formal mentoring because of the $4,000 we hope to raise through Unwrap-A-Story.”

“It is exciting that this campaign gives people the opportunity to take a moment in the busy holiday season to share a story about a person who touched their lives,” says AfricAid intern Cara Wagner.

The money raised from the Unwrap-A-Story online celebration will educate and empower 20 young women through the Kisa Project, set to launch in Tanzania in January 2010.

For more information on the Unwrap-A-Story “twitterbration” visit: http://africaid.com/unwrap-a-story

About AfricAid

AfricAid is an international non-profit organization that supports girls’ education in Africa in order to provide young women with the opportunity to transform their own lives and improve the future of their communities.

AfricAid’s origins date back to 1996 when its founder, Ashley Shuyler, traveled to Tanzania with her family at the age of 11 and saw first-hand the enormous educational needs that exist there. Determined to find a way to help, she formed AfricAid in 2001 at the age of 16, which has since raised nearly $700,000 in its efforts to help support the educational needs of girls in Africa.

The Kisa Project is a new AfricAid initiative that will provide school scholarships and leadership training to some of Africa’s brightest young women. Through sponsorships provided by American families and groups, these young women will be able to complete their secondary school education, while also participating in a formal, two-year leadership training program. At the same time, through a specially designed curriculum and interactive website, American sponsors will develop a truly meaningful connection with their Kisa Scholar in Africa. Upon graduation, the “Kisa Scholars” will return to their home communities to implement vital community projects and provide life-skills mentoring to groups of other young women, thus helping to create the next generation of leaders across Africa.

The Denver-Based literacy organization Ethiopia Reads recently announced the publication of a new children's book written in English and Amharic. Trouble is a charming Ethiopian tale from award winning children's author Jane Kurtz, who co-founded Ethiopia Reads with Yohannes Gebregeorgis. Artist Durga Bernhard donated her talents to illustrate the book.

Proceeds from sales of Trouble, and a new edition of Ethiopia Reads' previous book Silly Mammo, directly support operations in Ethiopia to plant libraries and stock them for the next generation of readers to enjoy.

Single copies of the book are available for just $15, with $5 for shipping and handling. They also offer gift shipping on a specified date - just send your gift list along with $20 per name, and enclose a special gift note from you as part of their "Books & Bows" holiday book sale.

Get started by emailing your name and preferred method of contact (phone, fax, or email) to books@ethiopiareads.org.

WASHINGTON DC & DENVER, October 26, 2009 — Sixty finalists for the African Diaspora Marketplace (ADM), with proposals representing more than $22 million of diaspora business investment to spur job creation in their native countries, were announced today by Western Union and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The ADM is a business entrepreneur program that has catalyzed economic development plans from U.S.-based African diaspora to help 19 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, through collaboration between Western Union and USAID.

“The finalists of the ADM competition represent the best of a new class of entrepreneur – those who are investing back in their home countries to create economic opportunity and reduce poverty and unemployment in Sub-Saharan Africa,” said Alonzo Fulgham, Acting USAID Administrator. “USAID is proud to be a part of this innovative program that leverages the resources of Western Union and its Agents, diaspora communities, and local partners in Africa to support these entrepreneurs.”

“The business leaders selected here understand the challenges facing their native countries, and they have identified solutions that work,” said Anne McCarthy, Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Western Union. “Our finalists have market-appropriate proposals that could sustain job growth and spark new business start-ups benefiting Sub-Saharan Africa.”

The finalists were chosen from a pool of 733 applicants by an independent panel of volunteer judges from business, non-governmental organizations, diaspora development organizations and academia. They represent 14 countries and a range of business plans – from agri-business such as food oil processing and fish farming to healthcare and IT service providers.

From this group of finalists, between 10-20 winners will be announced in mid-January 2010 at an event to be held at the Academy for Educational Development (AED). The ADM program will award matching grants for program winners of between $50,000-$100,000.

The ADM is funded jointly by USAID, The Western Union Company, and the Western Union Foundation, as well as through Western Union Agent Giving Circles featuring Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) in Africa and Irv Barr Management in the United States. Any organization interested in an opportunity with the ADM should direct messages to adm2009@diasporamarketplace.org.

For a list of the ADM finalists as well as information on starting a business, visit www.diasporamarketplace.org.

About USAID
USAID is the lead government agency providing development and humanitarian assistance to people around the world. The agency’s Global Development Alliance (GDA) links U.S. foreign assistance with the resources, expertise and creativity of the private sector as well as nongovernmental organizations. Since its launch in 2001, the Global Development Alliance has changed the way U.S. international development projects are financed and implemented. By cultivating more than 900 public-private alliances with over 1,700 individual partners, it has allowed USAID to leverage an additional $9.6 billion in resources for development. For more information about USAID and its programs around the world, visit www.usaid.gov. For more information on Global Development Alliances visit www.usaid.gov/gda/index.html.

About the Western Union Company
The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a leader in global payment services. Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta and Pago Facil branded payment services, Western Union provides consumers with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, as well as send payments and purchase money orders. Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta operate through a combined network of more than 400,000 Agent locations in 200 countries and territories. In 2008, The Western Union Company completed 188 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $74 billion of principal between consumers, and 412 million consumer-to-business transactions. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.

About the Western Union Foundation
Through Western Union’s Our World, Our Family® signature program, the Western Union Foundation supports initiatives to empower individuals, families and communities through access to better education and economic opportunity. Recognized by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy in 2009, the program is a five year, $50 million commitment reflecting the efforts made by Western Union employees, Agents, and partners around the world. Since its inception, the Western Union Foundation has awarded almost $55 million in grants and disaster relief to over 1,870 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in 100 countries. For more information, visit http://foundation.westernunion.com.

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