Food, fun highlight Africa Night

Sunday night in the Mountainlair Ballrooms, the African Students Association and the International Student Organization closed Africa Week with one final event: Africa Night.

Africa Night was an evening of African food, entertainment and education sponsored by the African Students Association, the International Student Organization, the WVU Center for Black Culture & Research and WVU Student Affairs.

ASA President Mohammed Ali said it was a great honor for the ASA to be partnered with the International Student Organization for this event.

"It helped us to develop unity within the University and to work as one family," Ali said.

According to Ali, one of the goals of the ASA is to provide a sense of well being for African students on campus, and this event was yet another stepping stone toward making that possible.

Africa Night featured a guest speaker, a dinner of African cuisine from various areas of the continent, musical entertainment, a fashion show of African attire and a special dance performance.

Guest speaker Anthony Browder is a cultural historian and pioneer. He was the first person to lead an American African archeological expedition to Egypt.

Browder spoke to the crowd Sunday night about the history, culture and civilization of the Nile Valley and the importance of African heritage.

"I didn’t learn who I was until after college," Browder said.

Once he began learning about his heritage, however, Browder said he found a fascination with teaching others about his findings. Browder taught them Africa is the birthplace of humanity, and the
oldest documented civilization was in Egypt, facts that Browder has
spent many hours compiling hard evidence to
prove.

"By learning these things, you are carrying on a profound tradition that validates your humanity," he said.

Two awards were also given out at the event. ASA member Dollar Agbemadon received the most outstanding student award. Agbemadon said he was very surprised to receive this award, but very honored.

Agbemadon is the official disc jockey for all ASA events and also helps with various other activities. "I try to help students
however I can," Agbemadon said.

Samuel Ameri,a professor and chair of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering department, was also honored at the event for his efforts in helping international students on campus.

Overall, members of the ASA and ISO agreed the evening was a huge success.