A Night for Change, A Night for the Congo 2012

Me with mom and dad. I love them more than anything else in this world, and they supported me more than anyone in all of this. God bless them.

So I'm finally finding time to write a new entry about my recently held fundraiser, great. As you all know, "A Night for change, A night for Congo" was to raise awareness about gender-based violence in eastern Congo, and to raise funds for Panzi Hopsital in Bukavu. And I can confidently say that both goals were accomplished with success. In terms of donations, we received over $700 worth of money for the cause, and plenty of people congratulated me afterwards; saying that they had learned so much about the issue at hand. And quite honestly, I must say that I am very proud of myself. I remember all the stress and disappointments and discouragement I felt during the planning of this event, to the point that I wanted to abandon the idea several times. It was a lot of sweat and tears (literally) that went into turning this vision into a reality, and I feel so blessed that God gave me the perseverance to see it through, with my parents who were constantly behind me. I also learned very many things in terms of the complexity of planning an event, and I can assure you that I won't be repeating my mistakes. Quite frankly, a lot of people disappointed me throughout this journey; people who said that they were going to help out or show-up, and that never did, or the troubles I faced in finding an actual venue etc... The letdowns and the difficulties sucked big-time. However, at least now I've established a solid network of those who I can trust and depend on for the future, and I've learned that you definitely have to plan these things in advance and not while you're in school! Otherwise, the night of the fundraiser went very well. My performers did a very good job, the DJ was on point, the vendors had nice things on display, and the audience was very responsive. Not to mention all the other supporters such as the sponsors, and my family and friends, they were amazing. Therefore, I'm just glad that amid all the stress (emphasis on that!!!) I felt that night (like having 2 missing performers, for example), no one besides me noticed anything wrong, and everyone enjoyed themselves.

With that being said and done, I'm definitely taking a little break from all things Congo related for a short while, so I can just re-catch my breath and make-up for my lack of focus on school things lately! However, I will never lose my passion for the cause of helping Congolese people, because it is truly and honestly something I love doing with all of my heart. Social injustice is a very unfortunate thing, but God has also given us the ability to love each other, and it's the only real "weapon" we can use to combat injustice. Furthermore, since love can be manifested in many different ways, I encourage all people to find ways to bring it to others, especially through social activism.

To see all the pictures click here!

A Night for Change; A night for the Congo

The details for my event are finally set in stone, yay! On October 20th, 2012, I'll be holding my very first fundraiser as Ms AfriCanada 2012 in support of the women of Eastern Congo. Although it's a bit nerve-wracking because I’ve never taken charge of planning an event like this before, I can only have high hopes it will go off well. I feel so blessed by God for all of these opportunities so far, and I look very forward to the event night. It will include an educational documentary, a special guest speaker, and a variety of performances by local African Canadian artists. So, hope to see you all there. – And big thanks to Audrey Chia for her 
help with the poster!

Below is the trailer of the film we'll be watching.

The Bright Light Event

This past Saturday, I was invited to attend The Bright Light event, organised by Sierra Global, in order to fund-raise and create awareness about Youth homelessness in Toronto and the war survivors of Sierra Leone. As well, I was asked to present an award to the Doctors Without Borders organisation, while I was there. And I must say, the event was impressively put together. In terms of performances, the two dance groups that presented (one called something like Creole Ballet, and the other an African dance group) were very entertaining and lively, and regarding the appearance of the event, it was lovely. I really admired the fact that all the female organsiers of that night were dressed in green dresses of different styles, made from silky fabric, traditionally used in West Africa. I wish I could've taken a picture of them all together, but they were all dispersed and sometimes it was hard to catch a glimpse of what was going on from where I sat (the very last photo gives you a peek). Nevertheless, I was pleased to attend the event that day, and below are a few pics I managed to get (I know they're not the best quality).- Also, there was a hilarious moment, when the African dance group was performing; a child (I presume of one of the dancers') followed them to the centre of the room and began dancing with them, completely oblivious of the audience which was dying of laughter. She knew all the moves, and at some point even sat on the floor to remove her shoes and socks, so she could be barefoot with the dancers. Hahahaha, I was amazed. She even bowed down at the end with all of them!

On the Radio with MC Bonde!

Today I had such a blast going to the African Groove Show on G987 to speak with MC Bonde, he's a cool dude. In fact, he was one of our hosts the night of the pageant, and when I was crowned he told me I should stop by the show, so we made it happen. I was a bit nervous about having my first on-the-spot interview like that, because it was on live radio. I mean, at first, my hear rate went up a little. But Bonde wasn't going too hard on me, thankfully, the main thing I elaborated on was my platform or the plans I have this year as the queen. I spoke about my plan to reach out to suffering women in the DRC, in hopes of taking their stories to the international stage and providing some sort of intervention or support in their favour. And that was pretty much it. I also gave a few shout-outs (love you mommy!), joked around a bit, and got to pick out a few songs for him to play on air. Afterwards, Bonde gave us a tour of the station and introduced us to a few hosts as well as the president! We took a few pics, and then we were given t-shirts -that made me happier. So overall, it was good times, and I'm looking forward to coming on the show again (hint hint Bonde!).

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Right after we left the radio station, we headed over to meet our own president (of Ms AfriCanada) in order for me to take some pictures with an important sponsor and be handed my scholarship, as the winner. I was so thankful to get this scholarship from the Doctor because it's going to help me out in a lot of ways, being a student is not easy. So I'm definitely going to put this money to good use. Check out the following pics!