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African Services Committee News
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Congressman Serrano Honors ASC at African Heritage Celebration
Community organizations and area leaders filled the North Wing of the Bronx Museum of the Arts on Oct. 27 as U.S. Representative Jose Serrano, representing New York's 15th District, presented African Services Committee's Founder and Co-Executive Director Asfaha Hadera and Co-Executive Director Kim Nichols an award at the 3rd annual African Heritage Celebration.
"African Services Committee is one of the largest organizations - if not the largest - serving the African community with all issues and with an understanding also of the many personal issues within the community," the congressman said.
"African Services Committee serves the African community in a special way: Your steadfast services make everyone feel more welcome and feel more humane. Some of your services teach people about our society and above all help people fit in and learn how they can contribute - the Bronx and New York City and the United States has become a much better place since."
"The reward of providing service everyday is the service itself: The results that you see from someone who wins their immigration case, or someone who gets a housing placement, or who gets treatment for an illness or who learns to speak English - those are the rewards. But recognition doesn't come everyday so we are very thankful to be recognized for the work that we do. Recognition gives strength to the work that we all do in service to the community," said Nichols. African Services was honored to be recognized among such distinguished honorees, including Dr. Jane Edward, Scott Auwater, Joseph K. Awadjie, The Mount Hope Mosque, The Kataly band, The Bronx Lebanon Hospital and Bakary Camara. "African Services Committee has done so much for the African Community; words cannot express," said Camara.
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ASC's ICLC Hosting Post-Election Info Session
ICLC Attorneys to Discuss President-Elect's Immigration Reform Platform
WHEN: Nov. 14th
from 6 pm to 7:30 pm
WHERE: African Services Committee
Third Floor Conference Room
429 West 127th Street
Harlem, NY 10027
African Services Committee's Immigrant Community Law Center, or ICLC, will be hosting a post-election info session event for the immigrant community. ICLC attorneys will discuss the president-elect's immigration reform platform and the legislative process required to implement their platform in hope of dispelling myths and misunderstandings and of preventing legal service provider fraud.
The event will take place Nov. 14
from 6 pm to 7:30 pm African Services Committee's third floor conference room. The event will also be streamed on Facebook Live. Visit ICLC's Facebook page for updates and to view the event live if you aren't able to attend. This event is free and all are welcome.
Immigrant Community Law Center, or ICLC, was founded by African Services Committee to provide high-quality, affordable, and trustworthy immigration legal representation. Serving all immigrants of all backgrounds, ICLC is staffed by a dedicated and culturally competent multilingual team of qualified attorneys and paralegals.
#ASKICLC
Visit
www.immigrantcommunitylaw.org
to learn more and check out ICLC's Facebook page.
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ASC is honored to be recognized alongside
New York Women's Foundation and Restaurant Opportunity Center at the upcoming
Queer Detainee Empowerment Project's 3rd birthday celebration, Nov. 10th at Riverside Church. Join us in the celebration!
QDEP is a "collective that assists folks coming out of immigration detention in securing structural, health/wellness, educational, legal and emotional support and services. In addition the project addresses the structural barriers and state violence that LGBTQI detainee/undocumented folks face related to their immigration status, race, sexuality and gender expression/identity."
Click
here for ticket information and to learn more.
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Update:
Critical Support Needed for ASC Ethiopia
ASC's Ethiopia clinics are only $22,000 from fulfilling a critical gap in
funding support in 2016. We are grateful to Henry van Ameringen for his generosity. Thanks to his gift of $100,000, along with thousands raised from friends, we are almost there!
Thank you to all who have helped support ASC Ethiopia during this time!
Not even a year after the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, ASC Ethiopia is suffering a gap in funding support. Although recipient countries are expected to increase their domestic funding allocations to the health sector to at least 15 percent of their annual budgets, this expectation has not been met in most developing countries, including Ethiopia. In fact, though the Ethiopian Ministry of Health and their Pharmaceutical Fund Supply Agency contribute to ASC Ethiopia free pharmaceutical products and diagnostic reagents, and private aid agencies contribute condoms and oral and injectible contraceptives and emergency Ready to Use Therapeutic Food for children, there are insufficient resources available in our five clinics for program operations, including clinic staffing, transportation, clinic rent and maintenance.
We are appealing to our friends for help for the remaining months -- November through December -- of 2016. We have almost filled the funding gap. Can you please support us today?
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ASC History: Watch African American Legends interview with ASC's Founder
"I left Ethiopia in 1977 during the so-called Red Terror campaign where hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians were executed as a result of the political upheaval. I walked from Ethiopia to the Sudan and was fortunate enough to be given an opportunity to come to this country [United States of America] as a political refugee. That was in 1979, June. When I arrived here there was literally no organization, whatsoever, that voices, advocates on behalf of African refugees - that is how it [African Services Committee] started. I said 'I am here now, the opportunity in front of me, I need to do something and initiate a program and be a positive member of society."
- African Services Committee's Founder and Co-Executive Director Asfaha Hadera during a televised interview on African American Legends hosted by Dr. Roscoe C. Brown, CUNY University Professor. Click
here for the full interview.
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Denim and Donation: Thank you Troutman Sanders LLP!
We are thrilled African Services Committee has been selected as a
Troutman Sanders LLP New York "Denim and Donation" Days recipient!
The purpose of the program is to allow
Troutman Sanders LLP employees an opportunity to support charitable organizations that provide a wide array of services to communities. Those who participate show their support by wearing denim every
Friday.
Thank you Troutman Sanders LLP!
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African Services Committee staff turned out recently to bid farewell to beloved Administrator Muna Hamouie who is going back to California after serving as a pillar of the organization for nearly a decade. From human resources to event planning to you name it, Muna (pictured front row center) has been ASC's resident troubleshooter and go-to person for every staff question under the sun - keeping the ship afloat from behind the scenes by tackling even the most perplexing issues with her usual calm demeanor and smile. You'll be missed Muna!
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African Services congratulates the exceptionally knowledgeable and friendly
Gabriel Guimaraes for recently passing the New York State Bar exam after graduating from
Brooklyn Law School. Gabriel volunteers his legal insight for
ASC's legal clinic a few days a week.
Gabriel immigrated from Brazil at the age of four. "I have been HIV+ for 25 years, and active in the fight against AIDS," he said.
In the 90's he founded and was the principal conductor at Opera Manhattan for eight years, raising over $200,000 for local AIDS research and care organizations. After 10 years on disability, he went back to school for his law degree. "Obamacare makes it possible for people with disabilities to reenter the workforce without losing their health insurance -- one of the many advantages of the law nobody talks about."
Thank you Gabriel!
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Big thanks to Jazz at Lincoln Center for making tickets to Elio Villafranca's 'Letters to Mother Africa' on Oct. 14th a reality for African Services Committee clients!
With Letters to Mother Africa, the visionary Cuban pianist and composer, Elio Villafranca, led an all-star band comprising saxophonists Billy Harper and David Murray, bassist Dezron Douglas, drummer Lewis Nash, percussionist Abdou Mboup, and South African vocalist Vuyo Sotashe, Villafranca composed and examined a wide range of jazz written with great reverence to Africa. Exploring jazz's deep, unifying roots in Africa, Villafranca incorporated musical traditions and instruments from across the continent into Western jazz contexts, demonstrating common traits as well as the deep diversity of African influences. In addition to original compositions, the group performed unique arrangements of music by Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Max Roach, Eric Dolphy, Randy Weston, Charles Mingus, and Wayne Shorter.
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Tsion
Gurmu, ASC
Equal Justice Works Legal Fellow, recommends:
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Art and Resistance
Nov. 10 at 6 pm to 8 pm - show runs to Nov. 13.
Opening night of "Art and Resistance," a group art show featuring artists from Uganda, Burkina Faso, and the U.S. is a special opportunity not only to view some spectacular visual art but also to meet the artists and an international delegation of LGBTI activists in person.
"Art and Resistance" opens one day after a historic hearing in
Sexual Minorities Uganda v. Lively.
Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) is a nonprofit LGBTI advocacy organization in Uganda, and they are suing Scott Lively, a U.S.-based anti-gay extremist, for his role in the persecution of LGBTI people in Uganda. In particular, the suit focuses on his active participation in the conspiracy to strip away their fundamental rights.
Click
here to learn more and to RSVP.
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Emma and Obinna, ASC interns, recommend:
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Seu Jorge: The Life Aquatic - A Tribute to David Bowie
Friday, Nov. 12 from 8 pm to 10 pm
The Town Hall | 123 W. 43rd St. NYC
Tickets: $45 / $55 / $75 / $85 7:30pm doors // 8pm showtime
Seu Jorge, one of Brazil's most talented contemporary singers, rose to international fame in the Wes Anderson film The Life Aquatic. In his acclaimed role as Pele dos Santos, a singing sailor, Seu Jorge performed several of of David Bowie's songs in the film. But in a twist, he did it in Portuguese, accompanying himself simply on acoustic guitar. Seu Jorge's adaptations in Portuguese of David Bowie's music underscore the breadth and depth of his compositions and have gone on to have a significant cultural impact. In commemoration of David Bowie's recent passing, Seu Jorge performs a special tribute to him while recreating the set to the film The Life Aquatic on stage alongside screens crafted as boat sails that will be displaying images from the film.
"Had Seu Jorge not recorded my songs in Portuguese, I would never have heard this new level of beauty which he has imbued them with."
- David Bowie
This concert is presented as part of World Music Institute's Masters of Brazilian music series. Click
here for more info.
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Eirik Omlie, Communications Director, recommends:
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ASC once again joins area organizations, businesses and leaders to take part in the second annual African Union Expo at
MIST Harlem on 46 W 116th St., Nov. 15 from 11 am to 7 pm. The event aims at strengthening the economic development and impact of African, African American, Caribbean and diaspora businesses between Africa and America by demonstratively working to develop business enterprises for the long term future. The event is free to the public. Click
here to learn more.
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INNOV GNAWA
Friday Nov. 18
Barbes - 376 9th St. (corner of 6th Ave.) Park Slope, Brooklyn
The New York-based group of Moroccan musicians plays Gnawa music - the southern Moroccan trance music with roots in pre-Islamic animist traditions. Led by master Maalem Hassan BenJaafer, InnoVeGnawa uses
traditional instrumentation such as the lute-like Sintir and the large castanet type Krakebs to accompany its ancient chants. Their approach is resolutely innovative though - an hypnotic, take on this ecstatic, trance-inducing tradition which has enthralled and inspired generations of musicians from around the world. Click
here
to learn more.
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