The first annual Climb for Sudan benefit will be held on September 9th, 2011. The event, which  marks the end of Joe Rogers and Nick Spivey's climb of Colorado's 58 fourteeners in 70 days aims to raise money for the people of South Sudan through Project Education Sudan.

The African Festival will be on July 31, 2011 from 12 to 8pm at Infinity Park in Glendale, CO. There will be kids games, food, music, fashion show and more! For more information call 720.364.2002 or email Africanfest2011@gmail.com

Educate!’s 3rd Annual Hike for Africa:
Joining Forces Across Continents

Saturday, August 27, 2011 at Green Mountain in Boulder

WHAT: Educate!’s 3rd Annual Hike for Africa celebrates the powerful
connection between Educate!’s U.S. supporters and its Ugandan students
as participants in Boulder and Kamapla, Uganda will trek to the top of
a peak, symbolizing the common goal of empowering the next generation
of socially responsible leaders. The money raised will go directly to
support education programs in Africa and empower Educate!’s 1,400
students in Uganda to transform their communities.

WHEN: Saturday, August 27, 2011, 8:30 am (registration begins at 8:30
am, hike begins at 9:45 am).

WHERE: Flagstaff Mountain to Green Mountain and back. Family-friendly
hike with a two-mile option or challenging four-mile option.

COST: $15 Pre-sale and $20 after August 1st. Free for kids 12 and
under. Pre-registration necessary.

REGISTER: http://www.experienceeducate.org/hike-for-africa

MORE INFORMATION: Feel free to join us just for breakfast and live
music, or come to hike too! Socialize with fellow Colorado supporters,
hear updates about Educate! students’ work in Uganda, and enjoy live
music by Lost Angel Station. There will be coffee, snacks and
refreshments, as well as facepainting and coloring for kids. Dogs
welcome but must be leashed at all times! We’re going Green this year
so please bring your water bottles!

SPONSORS: Vic’s Espresso, Honest Tea, Eldorado Spring Water, Lost Angel Station.

ABOUT EDUCATE!:
Educate! unlocks the potential of African youth to solve the greatest
challenges facing their communities. Our model is exponential
empowerment – investing long-term in youth so they can positively
impact many others. Educate! provides a proven mix of a social
entrepreneurship and leadership course, long term mentoring, and an
alumni program that helps high school students start enterprises.
Today, Educate! is working with 1,400 diverse youth across Uganda and
developing a model that can be replicated across Africa.

The MP is currently touring the United States and Europe in a bid to present his economic message to Cameroonians and Africans in the Diaspora. Participants at this event would be introduced to Mr. Ekindi’s plan for jobs for Cameroonians, increased international trade and development for Cameroon with other nations.  The event is free and open to the public.

For more information, please email Office@AfricaAgenda.org or call 303-341-1301

A press statement and a bio of Honorable Ekindi is available at www.AfricaAgenda.org

You are cordially invited to share the joy of celebrating the birth of the new nation to be known as (The Republic of South Sudan) on Saturday July 9^th, 2011. This day is the culmination of over 50 years of struggle for freedom; the freedom that caused millions of human lives.

Where: Highlands Masonic Temple

3550 N. Federal Blvd.

Denver, CO 80211.

(North-east of 35^th Ave and Federal Blvd)

When: Saturday, July 9, 2011 at 6:00pm-12:00 midnight

What to expect: Cultural dances, Speakers, Music, etc.

**Please contact Gatwec Dengpathot @ 303-264-7637, gattungdey@gmail.com for any question**

ACC's 10th Anniversary Open House and Reception
WHEN: Friday, July 8 from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM
WHERE: African Community Center - 5250 Leetsdale Dr, Denver, CO 80246 (Upstairs from Key Bank)

Tue, Mar 15th
KHAIRA ARBY & THE SWAY MACHINERY
w/ Pink Hawks
at Hi-Dive
Doors at 8:00 PM
Show at 9:00 PM
18+ $15.00

Malians love her. Khaïra Arby was born in the village of Abaradjou in the Sahara Desert north of Timbuktu. Khaira’s parents came from different ethnic backgrounds, mother Songhai and father Berber. You can hear these cultures in her music; she sings in several languages. The instrumentation and rhythms are just as varied with electric guitar and bass, calabash, ngoni, traditional violin, and percussion creating a complex mixture of sound and structure. Some people compare the effect to the rhythms of the camel caravans crossing the Sahara, others to the cosmopolitan city of Timbuktu.

To no one’s surprise, Khaïra won her first singing contest while just a schoolgirl and was chosen to represent Mali internationally. Not being from a musical family, her father discouraged her continuing her career and she married. But after 10 years of marriage Khaira divorced and returned to Timbuktu and her musical interests. By her mid twenties, Khaïra had made her first recording with the Orchestre Regional de Tombouctou and after a short time was invited to sing with the famous Orchestre Badema in Bamako, the nation’s capitol. She continued to earn her stripes beside such Malian stars as her cousin, Ali Farka Touré and the widely influential Fissa Maïga. Since 1990 Khaïra has focused all her energies on her music. With three albums in her own name and a fourth recently released in August 2010 she is the Voice of Mali’s North.

Khaïra sings in many desert traditions and her music takes the listener on an audio journey across the essence of Mali and Tombouctou, a meeting of compass points, religions, cultures, past and present. She sings praise songs, blues songs, religious songs, songs about love, war and peace, family and the lives of women. She expresses her pride in the history and struggles of her desert homeland and its people. Khaïra still lives in Timbuktu with her family. She performs at concerts and festivals throughout Mali. She has appeared at the mythic Festival in the Desert annually since its beginning in 2001 and at several editions of the Festival on the Niger River in Segou.

In 2006 she was named a Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mali. In August 2010, Khaïra and her band toured the United States and Canada performing to rave reviews at venues ranging from small Harlem nightclubs to the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. This tour coincided with the international release of her latest album, Timbuktu Tarab, which has been critically hailed as one of the best new albums of 2010.

http://www.hi-dive.com/show/detail/39606#tickets

On Friday Rwandan President Paul Kagame delivered the keynote address at the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) Global Leadership summit in Denver. Below is video and transcript of his speech, along with a question and answer session that followed.

Transcript:

Good afternoon and thank you for inviting me to speak about our experience of leadership in Rwanda.

Members of the Young Presidents’ Organisation understand the relationship between leadership, business innovation, and self-determination in a complex and rapidly changing world. You all appreciate that poverty is not just low incomes; it is the exclusion from global networks of learning, trade, and investment. It is the loss of hope, the lack of aspiration.

CEO of the Young Presidents’ Organisation, Scott Mordell;

Members of the Young Presidents’ Organisation;

Fellow panellist, John MacCall MacBain;

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen:

Good afternoon and thank you for inviting me to speak about our experience of leadership in Rwanda.

Members of the Young Presidents’ Organisation understand the relationship between leadership, business innovation, and self-determination in a complex and rapidly changing world.

You all appreciate that poverty is not just low incomes; it is the exclusion from global networks of learning, trade, and investment. It is the loss of hope, the lack of aspiration.

We have laboured over the last sixteen years to emerge from such a place. We invested in the difficult process of post-conflict institution building, and we are achieving positive results.

Our goal is to become a nation that fosters innovation and spurs human initiative, where each citizen aspires to rising incomes, which in turn provides the possibility of good shelter, nutrition and medical care for their children.

In 1994, Rwanda was a fragile state, a failed enterprise. Over a million people lost their lives, and the economy was in ruins.

We can now look back and reflect on three distinct phases: the Emergency when we found ourselves alone; the Reconstructionwhere faith-based groups, NGOs, and bilateral aid organizations invested in the fragile miracle of peace; and the third stage, theGrowth phase, that is characterized by policy reform, sound management of remittances, and increasing rate of business investment.

Distinguished audience;

We in Rwanda understand that economic growth is important for creating a strong society. Growth supports optimism for the future, tolerance, and civic engagement.

Philanthropic organizations play a role that the private sector and others may be unprepared to do. Bilateral and multilateral aid, where it supports strategies that we work together to develop, has proven to be effective. International businesses find profitable activities with local entrepreneurs because Rwandans enjoy learning and want to compete.

Partnerships are at the core of our strategy. We do appreciate the efforts of a diverse group of organizations to be part of that strategy. There is space for all who seek to work with us, but a partnership with the YPO, with its breadth of capabilities and its focus on the long term, holds the possibility of infinite returns.

Distinguished young leaders;

Over the last sixteen years, the Rwandan people, have learned to live and work together again. Peace and security have been restored, and refugees and former combatants have reintegrated into our society. Those who committed genocide and have asked for forgiveness are now doing community service, as part of the process of reconciliation. We are facing the future, together, with hope and enthusiasm.

But we have also had to be steadfast and remain focused on the job at hand. We are building modern institutions on top of traditional values and a rich cultural heritage. Our leaders are required to embody values consistent with a strong society, and to lead by example. And, they expect to be evaluated on their performance.

We understand and believe that the private sector is the prime engine of our economy; that investment creates prosperity and opportunity for our people, as a basis of the society to which we aspire.

For this reason, in our vision 2020, the private sector occupies centre stage. This is where our country is prepared to work with you, the members of the Young Presidents’ Organisation.

The areas that we are focusing on include infrastructure, especially in the energy sector, and high quality agricultural products, targeting attractive market segments. We will continue to grow our unique tourism cluster, and invest in a banking and financial sector that is increasingly recognized in the region.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Rwandans understand that business enterprises have an important role to grow our nation. Our goal is to effectively integrate ourselves into the worldwide marketplace.

I am here today because we value the Young Presidents’ Organization for the role it plays in linking Rwanda to global networks of learning, trade and investment.

I am pleased to have been associated with the YPO for the last ten years, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to share our experience.

March 3, 2011
7:30 pm

Tattered Cover
Historic LoDo
1628 16th St.
Denver, CO

Hadidja Nyiransekuye was born in Gisenyi, Rwanda, and lived in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide. She immigrated to the United States in 1998 and graduated from the University of Denver with a MSW and a Ph.D. She currently teaches at the Metropolitan State College of Denver. Nyiransekuye will discuss and sign her memoir The Lances Were Looking Down: One Woman’s Path through the Rwandan Genocide to Life in the States ($21.95 IUniverse). Request a signed copy: books@tatteredcover.com

Friday, March 4, 2011, 4 p.m. Boulder Public Library-Canyon Theater

American Muslims and Citizenship

Lecture by professor Abdullahi Ahmad An-Na’im
Followed by Q&A and book signing

Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im is The Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law at Emory Law School, Associated Professor in Emory College of Arts and Sciences and Faculty Affiliate at the Emory University Center for Ethics. Professor An-Na'im teaches courses in international law, comparative law, human rights and Islamic law.

His research interests include constitutionalism in Islamic and African countries, secularism, and Islam and politics. Professor An-Na'im directs research projects which focus on advocacy strategies for reform through internal cultural transformation.

Contact: Ghada Kanafani Elturk elturkg@boulderlibrary.org 303-441-4941 or Khalid Hussein email: khussei@yahoo.com

This event is made possible by American Sudanese community in Colorado