The African Student Union brought a taste of African culture to Talley Ballroom by displaying the African Diaspora through food, cultural acting, festive dancing and singing on Saturday night. Fola Awopetu, treasurer of ASU and senior in accounting, said the purpose of Africa Night is to inform N.C. State’s campus about African culture.
The event also consisted of West and East African skits related to family lifestyles and a fashion show with energetic dancing concluding the event. Tyler Allen, senior in biological sciences, and Busola Ola, last year’s ASU president and an alumna of N.C. State, served as the event’s hosts.
Ola flew in from Africa in order to host the event, Awopetu said.
Awopetu said Africa Night is held every year as part of Pan-Afrikan Week. Africa Night will be one of the first main events for Pan-Afrikan Week, following UAB’s kick-off event held earlier Saturday afternoon, according to Awopetu.
About 200 people attended the event, according to Nnenna Akaronu, president of ASU and senior in biological sciences. Last year, 400 people attended according to Akaronu but this year, tickets were sold for $5.
Tova Williams, senior in polymer and color chemistry, said she enjoyed all of the acts in the program. Williams said she has seen many changes in Africa Night since she joined ASU her freshman year.
“The African Student Union reached outside of N.C. State to other organizations, which has created a revolutionized Africa Night,” Williams said.
Presentations included those that added awareness about issues regarding violence in the Congo and a literacy rate that is less than 32 percent in Liberia, according to Williams.
Candi Wright, senior at Elon University, spoke about her organization Education in Liberia that supported 62 students so far in improving the literacy rate in Liberia.
Wright expressed the importance of going beyond donations and connecting with the Liberian children so that they can obtain a high-quality education.
“Clothes, food, and money can be taken away,” Wright said. “Knowledge is something no one can take that way.”
More than six million people have died in the Congo, according to Nogie Nshisso, founder of Congo Future. Nshisso said the Congo is the heart of Africa and helps produce many products we use in the U.S., such as cell phones and televisions.
Nshisso said there is little being done in the Congo to help these suppressing issues of warfare. The amount of people who have died in the Congo is more than the people who have died in the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan, and people aren’t aware of it, according to Nshisso.
The East African Dance was performed by students from Meredith College and UNC-Chapel Hill Zankilikiwe Dancers were new to the program, according to Williams. Awopetu said ASU usually has West African performances through music and dance for the event.
Performances from East Africa, in places such as Ethiopia, were included this year to make the program more diverse, according to Awopetu. Awopetu said that, being Nigerian, she is excited to learn about African cultures other than her own.
“It will be a new experience for me to see a different side of Africa,” Awopetu said. “I’m glad East Africa is being incorporated into the program because it’s a place that the campus community normally wouldn’t engage on its own.”
Pommy Anyu, senior in accounting, said it was her first time performing Ethiopian-Eritrean dance. Anyu said her group had a week of preparation before Africa Night and practiced for hours.
Anyu said she was happy to showcase her culture and be a part of the event.
Deidre Crumbley, associate professor in Africana studies and advisor of ASU, said what Africa meant to her in a poem she read by Countee Cullen. Crumbley said Africa is more than a country and continues to strive toward development in politics and economics.
“There is much more to the African Diaspora than slavery,” Crumbley said.
