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Minnesota African Women's Association decade of service

Frederick Ndip — Fri, 04 May 2012 06:28:00 EST

The Minnesota African Women Association (MAWA) turns 10 this year. This is a milestone for an organization that was conceived by two women advocates out of a desire to provide cultural competent and appropriate services to African immigrant and refugee women in distress.

MAWA completes six colleges tour for African immigrant girls

Frederick Ndip — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 06:46:00 EST

It is often said that �when you educate the man, you educate the family but when you educate the woman, you educate the community.� This adage epitomizes the importance of education for the girl child.

The 40 most powerful celebrities in Africa

Mfonobong Nsehe — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:23:00 EST

Who are the most influential icons in contemporary African pop culture?

In September, I put out a request for nominations for a list of the 40 most powerful celebrities in contemporary Africa. Within three weeks, over 7,500 entries flooded in. This is the result of your choices.

Niger Delta conflict: "The epitome of poverty"

New America Media — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 00:21:00 EST

Saro Nkesi still finds it difficult to talk about the years before he finally left Nigeria.

�During the period of 1993 to 1995, I was always staying in the bush and dashed home to eat and went back to the bush again,� he said. �Sometimes I would stay with other friends who were not from Ogoni. It was a terrible time in my life.�

The woman who raised Barack Obama

New America Media — Fri, 13 May 2011 10:21:00 EST

New America Media's Shirin Sadeghi interviews journalist Janny Scott about her new biography, A Singular Woman, the untold story of Stanley Ann Dunham, the mother of President Barack Obama.

African youth and the porn industry

New America Media — Thu, 05 May 2011 13:59:00 EST

I have been dreaming of becoming a porn actor since a very young age. I live in the Ivory Coast and I am looking for a producer or a director to sign a contract and to be in a movie ... I am relying on you to make my dream come true.

This is the advertisement that André (not his real name), a 21-year-old, posted on the Internet with his email address and cell phone numbers.

Rapping in solidarity with North Africa and Middle East

New America Media — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 23:35:00 EST

Many prominent Arab hip-hop artists inspired by uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa have released music in solidarity with protesters in the region. Though the messages of these new songs are not necessarily new to Arab hip-hop, the urgency and relevance of this new music has gained these artists increasing international attention.

African-Americans turn to DNA tests to trace roots

News Agencies & Mshale Team — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 14:52:00 EST

As a child, Melva Adams Kittrell would study the faces of her mother and five aunts.

Why, she wondered, did these African-American women have such fair skin? Why did two of them have blue eyes?

'I wanted to know more,' says Kittrell, now 71. 'Who are these people and where did they come from?'

Muslim women gain higher profile in U.S.

New America Media — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 21:52:00 EST

Around Sept. 11, 2001, not long after she founded the Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta, Soumaya Khalifa heard from a group whose name sounded like �Bakers Club.� It wanted a presentation.

The address was unfamiliar, but she went anyway. The group turned out to be the Bickerers Club, whose members love to argue. Islam was their topic du jour and their venue was a tavern. Ms. Khalifa laughed, and made the best of it.

Audio Interview: Shailja Patel on Migritude

New America Media — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 17:32:00 EST

Kenyan poet, playwright and theatre artist, Shailja Patel gives insight into her one-woman show turned book, Migritude - migrants with attitude.

New face of the American Soldier

New America Media — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 17:20:00 EST

At a time when immigration reform keeps floundering in Congress, the US Army still offers a fast track to citizenship for immigrants who enlist.

One of Sudan�s �Lost Boys� helps recently arrived refugees

Mshale Staff — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 12:54:00 EST

Adier Deng fled his home in southern Sudan at the age of 4 in 1989 during the Second Sudanese Civil War. He was separated from his family, who now live in a refugee camp in Uganda. Deng�s mother died on the way to the camp.

From refugee to airline pilot

News Agencies & Mshale Team — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 12:22:00 EST

Aluel Bol Aluenge's journey has taken her from Africa to America and back again, and from young refugee to airline pilot.

Along the way she's had a greater breadth of experiences than most people.

Liberians in Minnesota: A community divided

Wynfred Russell — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 11:22:00 EST

When U.S. Representative Erik Paulsen walked through the doors of Brooklyn United Methodist Church in Brooklyn Center recently, little did he know he was walking into what one meeting participant later called a 'booby-trap.

Changing demographics strain refugee services

New America Media — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 03:19:00 EST

CHICAGO - When Serestine Cizanye arrived in Chicago from Tanzania it was winter and she spent every day in her room.

�I was confused, didn�t know when it was day and when it was night. Through the settlement agency, I met other refugees and immigrants and I was able to communicate with others in (my language) Kirundi,� Cizanye said.

Arizona's neglected immigrants - African elders

New America Media — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:19:00 EST

While Arizona is a hotbed for immigration issues, concerns about aging African immigrants and refugees in Phoenix don�t always garner the same attention as the much larger Latino population.

Arizona�s other immigrant conflict: African Americans vs. Africans

New America Media — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 10:32:00 EST

Abdulmajeed Dere expressed frustration with trying to interact with African Americans since he arrived in the metropolitan Phoenix area from his native Somalia in 1996.

Arizona's immigration law: A concern for all minorities

Dawinder Sidhu — Fri, 21 May 2010 23:13:00 EST

Who counts as 'us' and who counts as 'them' has shifted throughout modern American history. For decades, African-Americans were 'them,' judged to be members of an inferior race and denied basic rights. In the aftermath of 9/11, 'us' and 'them' were reshuffled as Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim were targeted and labeled 'the other.'

Messiah's Men Revealed

Sammie Carter — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:05:00 EST

As we settled at our table, with drinks in hand, I couldn�t help but wonder what route the conversation would take. There was a lot I needed to know about Messiah�s Men if I was going to be working with them. I mentally prepared the questions I wanted to ask as I sat down with Trokon Guar. I had known Trokon for about a month, even though I had seen him perform with the group many times at my church.

Irony at the Pan Africa Media Conference

Russell Kenya — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 09:22:00 EST

The Pan African Media Conference was a great acknowledgment of the Nation Media Group�s emergence over the last 50 years as a leading media company in Africa.  There�s no doubt that Nation has risen to prominence in the region due to its honest reporting in both the politics and economy of Africa. Thus, one must question why, after 50 years of �advancing� in the media sector, the press is invited to cover an event at an entrance cost of $150.00 dollars and not for free? Historically, media houses have been against charging the press to cover events. This is like charging the choir members for showing up to perform at their concert.  Oh the irony!