April 2008
Reggie Clark,
the treasurer for ACSONI had the opportunity to visit an old friend of 25 years
while he was on a short visit in the USA for Easter. His friend is Kirk Whalum
and Reggie has gotten Joe to play some of his music at the monthly socials. Kirk
is a well renowned Jazz and Gospel musician.
Reggie
met Kirk in 1979 in Houston Texas in a Jazz club and we have been friends since
that time, no matter how far they were apart, with Reggie working in the Middle
East and Kirk in the USA. Reggie would always try to catch up with Kirk during
his annual vacation trip back to the USA and they would always seem to catch up
with each other. The late 80's and early 90's saw Kirk recording and performing
with Nancy Wilson, Al Jarreau, Luther Vandross, Barbara Streisand, Quincy Jones,
and others. There were movie soundtrack recordings including; Boys in the Hood,
Grand Canyon, The Prince of Tides and unforgettably, Whitney Houston's 1993
release, The Bodyguard. Reggie got the chance to see Whitney Houston in Boston
one year as Kirk was playing with Whitney and provide tickets for him and his
friends. Kirk is a person who has a love of God and he has made several
gospel albums, with some old time favourites. His song, "Falling in love with
Jesus", which he performed with Jonathan Butler is played all over the world and
is Reggie's favourite. See it on
U Tube.
Last year
Kirk started the Bible in your Ear Podcast, whereby Kirk reads the entire bible
for 15 minutes a day for 365 days. Reggie has downloaded the daily readings all
of last year.
I only
got a chance to catch up with him for one day and we made a real day of it,
visiting the Stax Museum and the Civil Rights Museum, which is where Martin
Luther King was shot. We were so busy we forgot to get a picture of us
together, but you can see we were there together.
I hope
that others in ASCONI will get the chance to visit Memphis to visit the Civil
Rights Museum. Check out his web site if you have a chance to get to know about
another brother who understands the struggles that we have to go through.
www.kirkwhalum.com.
.
Peace
to All.
March 11th 2008
(Press Release)
Commonwealth Day
celebrated in Belfast
by Dr Christopher
G. Stange, Hon. Consul for St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) in Northern
Ireland and Project Consultant for Afro-Caribbean Support Organisation Northern
Ireland.
|
From Left
to Right: Mr Julius Anakaa ACSONI chair, Mrs Neuhaus, Mr
Joseph Ricketts, ACSONI PRO, Mr Neuhaus, Director of
Political Affairs at the Commonwealth Secretariat, First
Minister, Dr. Ian Paisley, MP, MLA, Dr Christopher
Stange, Hon. Consul of St. Vincent and the Grenadines,
Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Mr. William
Hay, MLA, and invited Caribbean and African Commonwealth
Nationals, Mr Ronald Hue and Mr Harrington Jack.
|
Belfast, Northern
Ireland: The countries of the Commonwealth have celebrated Commonwealth Day
2008 at Stormont Parliament, in Belfast.
The ceremony was
attended by dignitaries, nationals and invited guests from the fifty-three
Commonwealth members, including the main speakers: First Minister, Hon. Rev. Dr.
Ian Paisley, MP, MLA, Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Mr. William Hay,
MLA, Director of Political Affairs at the Commonwealth Secretariat, Mr. Matthew
Neuhaus and Minister of the Environment, Mrs. Arlene Foster, MLA.
Dr. Paisley explained to the packed
audience in the Long Gallery that today is about celebrating the many people and
communities from the Commonwealth, which now contribute and enrich our society.
Our society is broader and much more diverse than ever before and Northern
Ireland is better because of these influences.
This year's message from the
Commonwealth
Secretariat was read out by
the Organisations' Director of Political Affairs,
Mr. Matthew Neuhaus.
It focused on the Commonwealth’s challenges and key areas, including conflict
resolution, climate change, technology, sustainability, development, and
international governance and co-operation, through networking.
The
celebrations included music from African drums, Polynesian-Indian dancing and
awards to students participating in an earlier Parliamentary debate, encouraging
youth to a potential career in politics and government.
Dr.
Christopher Stange, Hon. Consul for St. Vincent and the Grenadines and from the
Afro-Caribbean Support Organisation Northern Ireland who attended the event
added: “Over the past decade the Commonwealth has developed into a force for the
promotion of democracy, good governance, respect for human rights and the
alleviation of poverty through social development and economic sustainability.”
“Diverse ethnic backgrounds, within
and outside the Commonwealth, bring new skills, talents and investment that will
ultimately strengthen Northern Ireland’s economy and vice versa. Various
industries are reliant on the services these communities can uniquely provide.
Not only are we seeing an expanding multicultural society but a dramatic
increase in foreign representation through the establishment of Consular offices
in Northern Ireland.”
ENDS
Dr
Christopher G. Stange
Consulate of
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
16-18 Glen
Road
Comber, Co.
Down
BT23 5EL
Northern
Ireland
UNITED
KINGDOM
T: +44 (0)28
9187 4697
F: +44 (0)28
9187 0792
Email:
consul@svgconsulate.co.uk
Website:
www.svgconsulate.co.uk
November 30th 2007
At the third Annual General Meeting
(AGM) on Friday the 30th of November, members of the
Afro-Community Support Organisation in Northern Ireland elected
a new management team. The AGM was held at Renshaws Hotel
in Belfast where ACSONI members normally meet once every month.
Julius Anakaa former ACSONI vice-chair was elected Chairperson,
and his new vice is Ms Khanyisela Moyo who is a PhD research
fellow with the Transitional Justice Institute at the University
of Ulster. The new secretary and
treasurer are Ms Andrea Baker (former Chairperson of ACSONI) and
Mr Reginald Clark, respectively. Mr Joe Ricketts continues to
act as public relations officer of the organisation. For a
full list of the 2008 ACSONI management team please click
here.
October 20th 2007:
200th Anniversary of the
Abolition of Slavery
ACSONI celebrated the abolition of
slavery in style. It was indeed a joyous occasion for the whole
family. Children enjoyed the hair braiding and face painting,
and the adults heard talks and we all enjoyed African and
Caribbean food. The musicians were spectacular and the
artwork / African sculptor was without doubt inspirational.
The Right Honourable Mr Jim Rodges, the Lord Mayor of Belfast,
delivered a reassuring message to members of ACSONI and its
guests, and it was good to share our joy with Ms Anna Lo MLA,
the first ethnic minority MLA in Northern Ireland.
To
set the scene, the event began with opening remarks from
ACSONI's Regie Clark, Peter O’Neill (Northern Ireland Human
Rights Commission) and Patrick YU (Northern Ireland
Council for Ethnic Minorities), with final remarks from
Julius Anakaa (ACSONI vice-chair).
In
the lectures Elly Odhiambo (Ulster University) talked
about the End of Slavery and the Irish Contribution, Dr
Tom Obokata (Queen’s University Belfast) discussed Human
Trafficking, Dr Christopher Stange (ACSONI
project consultant)'s
talk was entitled "Fairtrade Belfast: Combating Trade
Injustice. - A Case Study", Ferris Jay & Sam Burke's
talk and musical performance was entitled "Out of Africa:
Influence of African Slave Rhythms on Modern Popular Music"
, and Ezekiel Johnson (ACSONI) delivered a poem entitled "Slavery
and Racism: The Missing Link".
ASCONI is grateful to all its funders. For further details
please contact our public relations officer,
Joe Ricketts who managed
this historic event.
September
2007: The BILL of Rights
Generally members of the
Afro-Community are not involved in decision making processes in
Northern Ireland. This month, ACSONI began an important
consultation on the Bill of Rights with particular interest on
the Right to Participation. Members met at the Holiday Inn in
Belfast to discuss and compose ACSONI's Bill of Rights in
Northern Ireland and consultation continues until December this
year. The outcome of this consultation will be presented to the
government bodies responsible for the rights of people in
Northern Ireland and this information shall be used to influence
future laws of Northern Ireland. Visit our
photo gallery
to see members in consultation.
ACSONI recently received funding
from the
Allen Lane Foundation to employ a part-time development
coordinator. This position is open to a fair competition and
application forms and a detailed job description including a job
advert are available here. The
closing date for application submission
has been extended to the end of October.
Apply now!
ACSONI celebrated the independence
of Jamaican. Visit our
photo gallery to see some
stunning pictures.
ACSONI Official meetings
In June an ACSONI delegate met with the US Consul General Mr.
John Caulfield from the US Embassy in London for Danesfort Dialogue at the US Consulate General
in Belfast. ACSONI is interested
in the welfare of all the Afro-community including American
nationals.
On June the 15th, ACSONI attended a
meeting entitled Northern Ireland Integration in the Long
Gallery, Stormont Parliament Buildings which was hosted by Mr.
Alex Maskey, MLA on behalf of the All Party Working Group. This
important conference was aimed at highlighting this year's
Refugee Week 2007. Visit our
photo gallery to view some
photos taken at the event.
Stepping into diversity training
On behalf of Management, I wish to
extend thanks to all those who took timeout especially on a sunny
Saturday to attend the training above. Your contributions to making
this training session a success is highly appreciated and I am sure
we all benefited a great deal.
For those who could not make it.
There is good news. If you feel you wish to take the opportunity to
gain this training and also in other courses (eg Conflict
Management, anti-Racism Training, etc.) which are all delivered
FREE for all ACSONI members for
personal development, please do take advantage of them.
There is nothing to loose at the end, it
will only add to your CV and knowledge is power. The Stepping into
diversity training will be arranged again so please express your
interest by sending an email confirming that to
management@acsoni.com
and another session will be arranged. This applies to all other
Courses available now.
Thanks
Julius E Anakaa
Vicechair
a. Provision of Accommodation
in Northern Ireland presented by the Housing Executive
Northern Ireland (June 8th 2007)
b. Police and Race
Relations In Northern Ireland
(November 10th 2006)
c.
A
Short History of Racism
by
Dr Joseph Mwaura.
If you have any suggestions for topics please
contact us.
Monthly
meetings "Socials"
During the second Friday of each
month, ACSONI hosts an evening of entertainment, informal education
or training in Renshaws Hotel between 7:45pm and 10:30pm. These so-called
Socials are aimed at educating in a non-threatening, friendly and relaxed
atmosphere. Teachings and debates in the past have been on Afro-empowerment,
Racial Equality, Human Rights, Policing and Racism in Northern Ireland.
Visit our gallery
Newsletter
Each year 2 articles are produced to inform ACSONI members of activities,
news and courses relevant to the community. Read
issue 1
and
issue 2.
TropicX
This is one of the largest events organised by
ACSONI. This annual event is the brainchild of Paul Brown
and Joseph Ricketts.
See photos in our gallery.
Christmas
Dinner In December each
year ACSONI's management board organises
a Christmas dinner for its members and invited guests from other communities
and organisations. Last year dinner was held in the Titanic suite in
the Holiday Inn Hotel in Belfast.
See photos in our gallery
Annual
General Meeting This is held in January- February each year
to elect the organisation's
Management
Board.
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