Comedian and host of African Night Ubuntu, General Mutombo, invited the pair to have a dance-off to a thumping Afrobeats song, while each side of the audience judged who had the best moves and the DJ accented each joke with alarm-like sound effects that ignited the room.<\/p>\n
The event held on Saturday, May 7 was hosted by the Central African Student Association (CASA) for the first time since the start of the pandemic, and organizers said they wanted the night to be special.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went a bit extravagant which is what we wanted,\u201d CASA President and sophomore in law and justice and political science Ibtisam Sivoy said.<\/p>\n
Sivoy said African Night is a celebration of African fashion, traditions and culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want people to see the beauty of Africa the same way they see the beauty of Europe,\u201d Sivoy said. \u201cThere is a lot unseen. I want people to be like, \u2018I am going to vacation in Nigeria, I\u2019m going to vacation in Ghana.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Marketing major and CASA representative Atong Miyar said the event is meant to extend a welcoming hand to African students and allow non-African students to better understand African cultures. Miyar said the event was very formal and the theme was \u201cUbuntu.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUbuntu translates loosely to \u2018I am because you are.\u2019 It means to unite us essentially,\u201d Miyar said. \u201cOne thing about African culture that we all have in common is we like to boom big. Always \u2026 Everything from your dress, to the music, everything has to be tip-top shape.\u201d<\/p>\n
Impact of African Night<\/p>\n
This event included a fashion show, a short play, photo opportunities, a red carpet, a full banquet of food, live music, poetry and dances while the audience screamed.<\/p>\n
Catherine Lumeya, a senior in public health who helped plan the event, said her favorite parts of the evening included the emcee and his entertaining jokes, as well as the performances.<\/p>\n
Victoria Dennis, a senior in psychology, choreographed over a dozen dance pieces for various students to perform.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to show them that all the nights of us coming together, practicing over and over and over \u2026 everything was worth it,\u201d Dennis said. \u201cYou can accomplish anything that you set your mind to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dennis said she feels African Night is important because it allows Africans to come together in a safe space.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo know that we got each other, this group of people will always be there to guide you, you can come and express yourself and there\u2019s no judgment, it\u2019s very important to see that on a college campus mostly full of white people,\u201d Dennis said.<\/p>\n
Ellensburg has little to no African eatery options. According to Miyar, the ability to eat African cuisine allows her to feel in touch with her roots. The menu included puff-puffs, little balls of dough covered in powdered sugar, and beef and vegetable samosas among other dishes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe foods were chosen because we wanted to touch base around the continent,\u201d Lumeya said. \u201cWe thought of food that we can find everywhere, samosas can be found everywhere around Africa. The beef, although it was cooked in east African style, you can find [it] in different countries. The rice you can also find in different countries, but it was mostly west African.\u201d<\/p>\n
African Night exemplified the values within an array of African cultures present in this community.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t really find that touch of culture around here,\u201d Miyar said. \u201cBy having African Night, I get to see a touch of my culture being showcased whether it might not be mine specifically, but it\u2019s someone else\u2019s I can still relate to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Community engagement<\/p>\n
Sivoy said she hoped this event showed the other side of Africa that people may be unaware of because it is not often depicted in the media.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people think of Africa, they think poor,\u201d Sivoy said. \u201cThey think Africa is desert or there are no cars, nothing fun to do. I want people to know what we do, our traditions. I want people to know what we do when somebody loses someone. It\u2019s the whole African continent losing someone.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Miyar, African cultures are less individualistic than western cultures.<\/p>\n
Public health major and CASA Vice President Anderson Nsabanga said African Night is important because it brings African students together with people of all backgrounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to make African students proud of who they are and where they come from,\u201d Nsabanga said.<\/p>\n
Everyone interested in attending CASA events was welcome to attend and appreciate African culture, according to Nsabanga.<\/p>\n
According to freshman in psychology Gwendolyn Perry who attended the event, African Night lifted her spirits and served as an opportunity for those who haven\u2019t had as much exposure to Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt introduces people to different cultures and makes diversity less intimidating for people who haven\u2019t experienced as much diversity in their home life,\u201d Perry said. \u201cIt\u2019s very educational and fun. People can experience it firsthand.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An eruption of laughter resonated around the SURC Ballroom as two members of the audience weaved their way from their seats to the stage, bathed in purple lighting in front of the crowd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":8367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,16],"tags":[7,30,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-8370","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture","8":"category-news","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-culture","11":"tag-news"},"yoast_head":"\n