Back II Afrika - Day 4

Project Africa

Back II Afrika - Day 4 (7/17/18)

A loud, long siren sounded signaling hundreds of beautiful, black boys and girls to swarm the courtyard in transition to their next class. Everyone is a buzz with chatter as the excitement of the first day of school, back from break, and of the presence of our American visitors, ignites the air. We are visiting Eldomaine High School today.

There are so many shades and compositions of beautiful surrounding us. The depth of my ignorance to the fact of all the different variations of appearance among this community becomes apparent as the students file in for assembly to introduce us and the purpose of our presence on their campus this week. Their warm reception and giddiness brings me joy as we come to the stage representing the different organizations coming together this week for cultural exchange, performance, and hands-on workshops.

Next we broke into smaller groups according to the students' STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, & Mathematics) interests and got to do some one-on-one mentoring. In my Arts group, it was so cool to talk to them about their burgeoning passions for music, dance, and poetry. It reminded me of my assuredness in this career path since the tender age of three. One student, Katelyn, is currently working on her own poetry book. She is 37 poems in to the 50 she plans to publish in the coming Spring. Another student was a bit shy at first, asking me to sing for her as she built the confidence to do the same. I happily obliged and the moment quickly became magical as she finally belted out an Alicia Keys classic and her friends joined our mini cypher with their freestyle rhymes to the rhythm of my beatbox attempts haha. It was great.

After lunch at the school, the groups departed for the Soweto museum to learn some history in the town. The LA group decided to go off and do some exploring of our own after that. We hit the local mall, did some currency exchange for the Rand used here, bought groceries for the house, and met up with Nadine, Vuvu, and 2 new friends they brought. The 4th member of our group, DJ Gamma Ray, arrived that evening, and we all partied the night away with our new friends, despite the 6am wakeup required for the next morning.

STAY STRONG. STAY EXCELLENT. STAY CONNECTED.

Amani,
Rahkua

Project Africa: Los Angeles

"A group of conscious artists endeavoring to enrich our spirit and art through cultural immersion into our historical origins"

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