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Bringing
'The African Village To America'
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BY MALLARY JEAN TENORE Sun Correspondent,
Sun Correspondent
June 25, 2006
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BY
LOWELL -- Swaying her hips to the rhythmic melodies
of her homeland, Beatrice Stevens unabashedly pranced around
Sampas Pavilion yesterday.
The green and golden hues of her
dress brightened the overcast sky and were as vibrant as
the culture she celebrates every year at the city's African Festival.
"It
feels so good that we can express ourselves the way that we do back at home," said
Stevens, who moved to Lowell from Liberia 15 years ago. "We can express ourselves
and not worry about what people think."
Expression and pride were dominant themes
at yesterday's sixth annual festival, which drew hundreds of individuals from
African countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe.
Sponsored by the African Cultural Association, the festival is described by some
as "Africa in America" -- a gathering where
Africans can unite to keep the richness of their culture alive.
The unity could
be seen in the crowd sitting before the pavilion stage as they cheered on singers
and dancers of all ages. The Lamine Toure and Groupe Saloum from Senegal, Lady
Gifty of Ghana, Bafouchou Dance Troupe of Cameroon, and the Female Mask Dancers
of Sierra Leone, were among some of the festival's guest performers.
"For me, I'm happy that we can bring the African village to America," said Jeremiah
Memyongai, pastor of International Christian Fellowship Ministries on Gorham
Street. "You can still have a taste of what you knew all your life."
Since moving
to the U.S. from Liberia in 1998, life for Memyongai has been a series of adjustments
and a fight to balance his American and African identities. "We
can have an American identity and still appreciate our own culture," said Memyongai,
who still wears African garments out of respect for his homeland.
Along with wearing
colorful African garb, many at yesterday's festival also enjoyed the traditional
tastes of Africa, with foods such as fried plantains, okra soup, ground yams
known as "eba," and tasty balls of fried dough called "kalla."
Honorah
K. Cassell woke up at 6 yesterday morning to prepare food for the festival. Originally
from Liberia, Cassell said she feels at home in Lowell, particularly because
of the other Liberians whom she has befriended in the Merrimack Valley region.
Now a nursing assistant at Lowell Health Care Center, Cassell said she
has been exposed to a multitude of cultures and customs that she had once viewed
as foreign.
"I love that here you meet people from all over," Cassell said. "Black,
white, Asian, it doesn't matter; we can all come together."
About 1,000 Africans live in Lowell, contributing to the city's cultural and
ethnic diversity, according to Fru Nkimbeng, from the African Cultural Association.
Nkimbeng has helped coordinate the festival since its inception, and said that
many Africans are drawn to the city because of its reasonably priced living costs
and its proximity to Boston.
He noted the need for Africans to have a place where
they can freely celebrate and meet others who hail from the world's second-largest
continent. "We Africans
come from vast backgrounds and the unifying factor for all of us is our culture," said
Nkimbeng, who originally hails from Cameroon. "It's critical for us Africans
to not be left out."
David Suah of Liberia drove all the way from Delaware to
make sure he wasn't left out of yesterday's celebration. Having lived in Lowell
for eight months in 2001, Suah returned to the city to reunite with old friends
and meet others who have since moved to the area. The most difficult adjustment
to living in the United States was not the language -- as English is spoken in
Liberia -- but rather "the small things" like traffic and snow.
"Everything here is so different," said Suah. "It took a long time to adapt to
the culture."
For 8-year-old Gift Ben-Bernard who moved to Lowell in 2004, America
is slowly starting to feel like home. "I think it's really special to be here," said
Ben-Bernard. "There are a lot of African people here who live here. It feels
good."
(c) 2006
The Sun (Lowell, MA). All rights reserved. Reproduced
with the permission of Media NewsGroup, Inc. by NewsBank,
Inc.
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