Umu Igbo Alliance's 3rd Annual Ama Ndigbo Intergenerational Dialogue!

On behalf of 100 Igbos USA Inc. and Umu Igbo Alliance(UIA), we extend to you a cordial invitation to attend the 3rd Annual Ama Ndigbo Intergenerational Dialogue. The Conference will meet July 26-29 2012 at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

100 Igbos and UIA have developed a remarkable conference schedule that will foster insightful dialogue, encourage cross-generational collaboration, and unify the Diaspora.

Now is is the time to convene, and ensure that culture and heritage is sustained from generation to generation. World renowned author Chimamanda Adichie will be in attendance to address the preservation of culture through literature and storytelling. Ms. Adichie will also participate in a panel discussion exploring Igbo Identity pre and post the Nigeria-Biafra War.

The honorable Minister of Power for the Federal Government of Nigeria, Dr. Bart Nnaji, will address conference attendees on the topic "O Bialu Ije Nwe Una" - Reverse Migration and Opportunities in Nigeria.

Many more prominent experts from within the community, spanning every professional background, will facilitate discussions and contribute a wealth of information to the dialogue. Furthermore, every Igbo community member and organization will be well represented and engaged.

 Additional topics include, The Role of the Visual and Performing Arts in Preserving Culture; Historical and Contemporary Perspectives Traditional and Contemporary Cultural Perspectives on Relationships, Sex, Love, and Marriage Traditional Igbo Religion and Christianity.

In addition, this monumental weekend will be be filled with festive events for all attendees to enjoy.

Registrants will also attend Igbo Fest which draws over 10,000 Igbos from around the world to experience free food, live musical performance, traditional masquerades and dancers, activities for children, soccer tournaments and much more. REGISTER TODAY FOR AMA NDIGBO 2012!

The Conference will be held at 750 S. Halsted Street Chicago, IL 60607. In addition to hotels, Low cost housing options are available via the Umu Igbo Alliance website. Please visit the registration page and view all policies and conference details! If you have any questions please send an email to umuigboalliance@gmail.com or call (773)759-8883

Recent College Graduates! Into Film and need an Internship?

United African Organization has an open internship position over the Summer for recent college/university graduates who specialize in/are skilled in video editing. The intern will work on the UAO's exciting public education project, Africans in Chicago Oral History Project.

About Africans in Chicago: Through a series of oral history interviews, we hope to capture the diverse experiences of Chicago’s African migrant population - from post-colonial history to personal stories of hardship and enterprise. The flagship feature of our project will be a set of five short documentary films based on our oral history interviews. Our films will be housed on the Africans in Chicago website, www.africansinchicago.org.

About the Internship:

• The intern will edit video footage covering 5 oral history interviews to create 5 documentary films (each 5-7 minutes) in length. 
• Start date: Mid-June; End date: Mid-August (start and end date flexible) 
• Each film tells the story of the interviewee, while at the same time, highlighting how the interviewee's story is representative of broader issues and challenges within the African immigrant and refugee community in Chicago. 
• The intern will work with UAO's Research & Policy Associate and Africans in Chicago camera people to develop the story-line of each short documentary film, and for guidance during the actual editing process. 
• Once completed, the 5 short documentaries will be made available to the general public through the Africans in Chicago website, as well as school and community screenings. 

Qualifications

• Experience with Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro required. 
• Experience, knowledge in video editing necessary. 
• Ability to work between mid-June and mid-August in UAO office, at least 3 days each week (for 12 hours per week). 
• Experience with photo editing, manipulation and graphic design preferred. 

Benefits of position

• Gain valuable experience editing a documentary film project, for the benefit of the community. 
• Gain experience working in the non-profit sector. 
• Be involved with a unique community-based project, where Africans in Chicago are directly involved with showcasing their own diversity and telling their own stories on film. Take advantage of this opportunity to work with and empower members of a marginalized and underserved community in Chicago. 
• Learn about the experience of African immigrants and refugees in Chicago - the city's fastest growing immigrant community. 

APPLY TODAY! 

Please send a resume, cover letter and sample of your work, as well as two references to Tara via project@uniteafricans.org

Call Tara with any questions: 312-949-9980

The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) to accept applications for the re-opening of Public Housing

OPEN REGISTRATION PERIOD

June 4, 2012- June 29, 2012

Metropolitan Apostolic Community Church

4100 S. King Drive, Chicago, IL 60653

Monday- Friday, 9:00am- 5:00 pm

Saturday, June 16th, 2012 and Saturday, June 23rd, 2012 at 10:00am- 3:00pm

Phone: 773-342-6305

Douglas, Oakland, Kenwood, New City and Fuller Park 

The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) will be accepting applications for the re-opening of its public housing community area wait list. CHA will be taking applications for Douglas (3 & 4 Bedrooms), Oakland (1 & 3 Bedrooms), Kenwood (3 & 4 Bedrooms), New City (3 Bedrooms) and Fuller Park (2 & 4 Bedrooms) Community Areas ONLY.  Maximum income restrictions apply.  ADA accessible units are available.  The CHA will conduct an electronic lottery drawing to determine each registrant's place on the wait list.



Requirements to apply:

• Applicants must reside within the Douglas, Oakland, Kenwood, New City, or Fuller Park community areas at the time of application, as well as during the screening and unit offer process. Residency within the same community area is part of the eligibility criteria for the community area scattered sites public housing units, per court order (a picture ID is required and two forms of proof of address);
• Applicants must qualify for a 1, 2, 3, or 4 bedroom unit based on the Occupancy Guidelines established in the CHA's Admissions and Continued Occupancy Policy;
• Applicants must be 18 years of age or older at the time the application is submitted.
• Applicants must not exceed maximum income restrictions;
• Applicants must meet HUD requirements on citizenship or eligible immigration status;
• Applicants must provide social security numbers for each member of the family, or certification that they do not have a social security number;

WCDC and the CHA reserves the right to deny registrants during the screening process if they do not meet the required criteria

CLICK HERE FOR FLYER! 

Rolling out the Web to Kenya's Poor

For internet entrepreneur Njeri Rionge, Africa represents the next economic frontier. She say strong indigenous, African-owned companies are needed to take advantage of the boom times ahead.

Ms Rionge is as famous in Kenya for her success in starting up several companies at the same time as she is for Wananchi.com, a cable, broadband and internet-based telephone company.

She started her dot com dream and first big venture, Wananchi.com, with the hope of bringing internet connectivity to the masses. Today the firm has grown to become the largest internet service provider in East Africa and is worth $173 million (£107 million) a huge sum for a firm with an initial start-up of $500,000 (£308,000).

Despite her determination to succeed, she has not always known what she wanted to do.Continue reading the main story"I touched many things before I touched the thing that I turned to gold," she told the BBC's African Dream series.

"I did hairdressing, I did buying and selling of clothes in London and then the thing that actually created the opportunity for success."

That opportunity came in the form of Wananchi.com in 1999, at a time when very few people had internet access.

She envisioned the easy access of information via the internet as a way of bridging the gap between East Africa's educated elite and the rest of the population.

Despite the necessity of the internet in modern communication and education, the beginning of Wananchi.com was not without its hurdles and frustrations.

Speaking to the BBC just after the company's launch in 2000, Ms Njeri said she was frustrated with the failure of Kenya's politicians to embrace the internet age.

"The majority of decision-makers are not aware of the benefits of the internet and most of them are actually afraid of touching and using a computer," she said.

But today she believes money and the shortage of IT-skilled staff in Kenya are an even greater hurdle.

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For more on this story and others like it, visit the African Dream section on BBC News.

Source: BBC News

Cargo plane crashes in Ghana

A cargo plane has crashed while attempting to land at an airport in Ghana's capital, slamming into cars and a bus loaded with passengers on a nearby street and killing at least 10 people, officials said.

The crash on Saturday night happened in Accra near the Kotoka International Airport, which sits near newly built high-rise buildings, hotels and the country's defence ministry.

Al Jazeera's Yvonne Ndege said that witnesses had described the aircraft smashing through the airport perimeter fence before hitting the bus.

At least 10 people were killed in the crash, all in vehicles on the road struck by the plane, said Billy Anaglate, a spokesman for the Ghana Fire Service.

Ambulances took the injured to nearby hospitals.

The Boeing 727-200 was operated by Nigerian cargo airline Allied Air, Doreen Owusu Fianko, managing director of Ghana Airport Company, told reporters.

"The aircraft collided with a mini Mercedes van resulting in 10 confirmed fatalities," she said, adding that all four crew of the aircraft had survived the accident.

The plane had taken off from Lagos, Nigeria, but failed to stop at the end of the runway after it touched down at Accra's Kotoka airport just after 19:00 GMT, she said.

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For more information on this article, click here

Source: Al Jazeera

Lagos Plane Crash: Nigeria Mourns Victims

Three days of mourning have begun in Nigeria for more than 150 people killed when their plane crashed in the main city of Lagos.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-83 ploughed into a printing works and residential buildings before bursting into flames.

Rescue workers, who worked through the night, are still searching for bodies.

Everyone on board the aircraft died. There were also casualties on the ground, but it is not yet known how many people were killed.

The airliner, operated by Lagos-based company Dana Air, had flown in from the capital, Abuja, when it crashed and burst into flames on Sunday.

Continue reading the main story

The plane came down in the Iju area, just north of the airport.

Aviation Minister Stella Oduah said that the pilot contacted the Lagos control tower to declare an emergency at 15:43 GMT, 11 nautical miles away from the runway.

"A minute later, the aircraft disappeared from the air traffic control radar," Ms Oduah told reporters at a briefing at the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority headquarters in Lagos.

"Our hearts and prayers go out to the families of the passengers and the people on the ground who lost their lives in this tragedy," the minister said.

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For more on this article, please click here

Source: BBC News

UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Launches 'State of the Worlds Refugees' Warns of Worsening Global Displacement

         Dadaab refugee complex in north-east Kenya

NEW YORK, United States, May 31 (UNHCR) – UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres warned on Thursday that factors causing mass population flight are growing and over the coming decade more people on the move will become refugees or displaced within their own country.

In comments marking the launch in New York of "The State of the World's Refugees: In Search of Solidarity," Guterres said displacement from conflict was becoming compounded by a combination of causes, including climate change, population growth, urbanization, food insecurity, water scarcity and resource competition.

All these factors are interacting with each other, increasing instability and conflict and forcing people to move. In a world that is becoming smaller and smaller, finding solutions, he said, would need determined international political will.

"The world is creating displacement faster than it is producing solutions," said Guterres. "And this means one thing only: more people trapped in exile over many years, unable to return home, to settle locally, or to move elsewhere. Global displacement is an inherently international problem and, as such, needs international solutions – and by this I mainly mean political solutions."

The new publication details these and other changes to the environment for the displaced since 2006, when the previous edition of the book was published. It presents a decidedly gloomier outlook: larger and more complex displacement challenges, increased threats to the safety of humanitarian workers, and states needing to strengthen their cooperation.

For more information on this article, please click here.

Source: UNHCR