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Mandela Day
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African Union (AU)
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South African Development Community (SADC) |
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| News and Events |
Africa Day
High Commissioner Tulelo in collaboration with Labour Party Member of Parliament Mr Ibrahim Omer and Ambassador of Egypt Mrs Dina Farouk El Sehy hosted 2021 Africa Day celebrations at Parliament on 25 May 2021.
In attendance were the Members of Parliament; Members of Diplomatic Corps, African Communities, Government officials including MFAT, religious leaders and the New Zealand Police.
The key speakers at the event were :
Mr Ibrahim Omer Labour Party Member of Parliament
Ambassador of Egypt; Mrs Dina Farouk El Sehy
Dr Monique Nsanzabaganwa Deputy Chairperson of The AU Commission (via video link).
All the speakers focused of the AU theme of the year for 2021 “Arts, Culture and Heritage: Levers for Building the Africa We want”.
Key highlights of the day were :
a) Music
The event saw performances from Sam Manzanza for the Republic of Congo; band from Egypt and performance by Nono Motsatsi of South Africa origin living in Palmerston North.
b) Fashion Show
The event also saw a fashion show by Zanaka Africa Attire. Zanaka African Attire is a retail shop based in New Zealand selling trendy African themed clothing and accessories. Zanaka products exhibited at the Africa Day included African dashiki tops, dresses, head scarfs and fabrics. The aim of the Zanaka exhibition was to promote anything with an African influence and design.
c) African Food
Food was sourced from the African restaurants in Wellington. High Commission Tulelo and Ambassador El Sehy each prepared a dish each.
d) Success stories
The occasion was used to celebrate some of the Africans who made good strides after migrating to New Zealand. Amongst those celebrated were Rakesh Naidoo of South African descent who was appointed to a senior rank in the New Zealand Police and Mr Ibrahim Omer who is the first African to be appointed as a Member of Parliament. The program also showcased the following African’s who are making positive contributions to Aotearoa :
Nadia Yusef
Ms Yusef is of Egyptian origin and is working in government dealing with culture and change . She holds an MBA is Social Studies and used that to help bridge the gap between kiwi’s and families from Islamic countries that call New Zealand home.
Boubacar Coulibaly
Mr Coullibaly is the founder of the African Film Festival in New Zealand . Mr Coullibaly hails from Mali and is an Engineer by training . He has dedicated his spare time to changing the narrative told of Africa through the media and used his film festival to share the different narrative .
It is also worth nothing that those who provided the musical entertainment are established professional in their own right. The Egyptian band is composed of an epidemiologist and IT specialist. Ms Motsatsi is a diabetes podiatrist. |
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