Colby-Sawyer College Hosts Intercollegiate Neo Pan-African Conference

The African Students Association at Colby-Sawyer College will host Pamoja60: Neo Pan-African Conference on April 4 and 5. Registration for the two-day conference begins at noon on Friday, April 4, at Lethbridge Lodge on campus. The conference is free and open to the public.

The conference name, Pamoja60, combines the Swahili word pomoja, meaning united or together, with 60, representing the year 1960 when Pan-African ideals emerged. The conference theme, Neo Pan-Africanism: The Youthful Voice in African Development,takes a multidisciplinary approach to development over the past 50 years while considering ways to move forward. The goal of the event is to bring people together, especially college students from the Northeast, to discuss issues related to African unity and African development in the 21stcentury. Through speaker presentations, panel discussions and networking sessions, the conference will promote the ideals of Pan-Africanism and discuss realistic ideas for African development. In addition to having an action plan and a dialogue focus, the conference also serves a venue to presentations achievement awards and scholarships.

Keynote speakers and panelists for the conference include Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire; Tiburce Chaffa, youth activist and speaker and author of Maximize Yourself; Semhar Araia, founder and executive director of the Diaspora African Women’s Network; Divine Muragijimana, founder and president of the Council of Young African Leaders; Priscilla Jeffrey, founder of CPASGhana (Community Partnership of Ghana); Tom Hull, former U.S. ambassador to Sierra Leone, former deputy chief of mission and charge d’affaires in Ethiopia, and former director of African affairs at the U.S. Information Agency headquarters prior to its merger with the State Department in 1999; and Sanmi Akinmulero, chairman and president of Global Solution International and president of OCMAS International Consulting Group.

“We have worked hard to ensure that our speaker selection reflects the multidisciplinary nature of the conference including youth and professionals as well as renowned speakers and panelists,” says conference director Bernard Botchway ’15. Conference executive board members include Michellina Wuddah-martey ’14, projects coordinator; Stephanie Nyorbea Afari ’15, director of administration; Munaya Sa-eed ’16, director of logistics; Nneoma Aguguo ’14 and Gaelle Audrey Wagnac ’15, logistics coordinators; Binyam Gezahegn Yilma ’16, co-director of publicity; Waitta Kamara Vainga ’14, publicity coordinator; and Abhineet Kumar ’17 and Nischal Dhakal ’17, media coordinators.

“There are about 50 African students at Colby-Sawyer,” says Wuddah-martey. “We strongly encourage and hope for community participation in the conference.”

Dana Dakin, founder and president of WomensTrust, an NGO in Ghana, serves as the adviser for the conference, while Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Harvey Pine and Associate Professor of Social Sciences and Education Eric Boyer serve as the faculty advisers. Conference panel members and moderators include Professor Boyer, Colby-Sawyer President and Professor of Humanities Thomas C. Galligan Jr., and Professor of Social Sciences and Education Randy Hanson.

For more information, visit www.pamoja60.com. 

–Anurup Upadhyay '15 

Anurup Upadhyay is a Business major at Colby-Sawyer College and a student writer for College Communications.