- The food was delicious and plentiful and included
breast of chicken in groundnut (peanut) sauce, rice balls, jolof, cocoanut
rice and cake —and I wanted to say particular thanks to Nana and
Rabi who hadn’t yet arrived when we did the applause for the other
cooks and kitcheneers, Sam Agyekum, Dora Amon, Mame Sakito, Rabi Al-Hassan
and Rosie Barlak.
- John McKay, Eric Aryekum and Connie and Brian Miller-Retzer
helped in set-up and other preparation and Hubert Bunce, Connie, John
Denisiger, June Bouchard and Graeme Hendersen assisted in promotion.
- Triba (the 7 piece drumming group) was
great! & got virtually everybody up on their feet. The other entertainers
we’d lined up Tamara Martella and Sam Britton couldn’t perform
because the latter got strep throat but Sam was kind enough to arrange
for a three piece jazz ensemble, Sol y Sombra, in his
stead—who were also fantastic!
- We didn’t have as big a turn out as I had hoped
since we were competing against the Olympics, Chinese New Year and a
variety of other Valentine’s events—nonetheless our “door”
and the silent auction raised a couple of hundred bucks after costs.
- Brent Warner and Yomi and Abisola Alabi made very
generous donations as a result of the fundraising drive and I’m
matching Yomi’s contribution—which brings our total revenues
up to over two thousand bucks for the event!
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| Nana Anderson, Samelia Agyekum
and Rosie Barlak start preparing the food-- which included breast of chicken
in groundnut (peanut) sauce, rice balls, jolof, and cocoanut rice. |
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| Triba, a local troupe of
percussionists who practice traditional west African drumming, provided
entertainment during the event. |
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| It's hard to keep a good dancer (or even
a mediocre one ;-) down when Triba starts pounding out West African
rhtyhms. |
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| A number of folks such as (from left to
right) Nana Anderson, Abisola Alabi, Chris Anderson and Eric Agyekum sported
the beautiful clothing typical of West Africa. |
