Tag: Americans in Africa

Business

Nigerian ‘unicorn’ Interswitch sells stake to Visa

By Libby George, Alexis Akwagyiram

(Reuters) – Visa Inc (V.N) will buy a significant minority stake in Nigerian payments platform Interswitch, creating “an instant acceptance network across Africa” that will help drive expansion, both companies said in a statement on Tuesday.

Interswitch and Visa did not provide financial details but a source confirmed media reports that Visa would buy a 20% stake for $200 million.

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Visit to Africa

HOW TO PLAN YOUR TRIP TO AFROCHELLA FESTIVAL IN ACCRA, GHANA

by SHAUNA BENI

Afrochella, now in its third year, is a one-day festival in Accra, Ghana celebrating Africa’s diverse culture, from cuisine to contemporary art, as well as the vibrant work of African creatives and entrepreneurs.

This year, it promises to be bigger than ever, with a jam-packed schedule of live music, exhibitions, and more. The programming aligns with the “Year of Return, Ghana 2019,” an initiative set forth by Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo to mark the 400th anniversary of the arrival of enslaved Africans to North America in 1619, and encourages those of African descent to make the journey back home

Read more from source Americans-in-Africa.com

News

U.S. Treasury Calls Ethiopia, Egypt and World Bank to Nile Talks

By Nizar Manek

The U.S. Treasury invited Ethiopia and Egypt for talks, part of growing international efforts to quell a dispute over a giant dam that’s being built on the Nile River.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin is convening the meeting in Washington, which the World Bank’s president will attend if the two African countries and mutual neighbor Sudan also participate, a spokesperson for the lender said Thursday. Ethiopia and Egypt’s foreign ministries have both said they’d accepted U.S. invitations for Nov. 6 talks.

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Diplomacy

MARKS NAMED US AMBASSADOR TO SOUTH AFRICA

By Patrick Burgess

Controversial former Bermuda resident Lana Marks has been confirmed as the American ambassador to South Africa by the US Senate almost a year after President Donald Trump appointed her to the post.

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People

Bill Gates and Africa’s Richest man, Aliko Dangote, express admiration for each other at New York event

By Mayowa Tijani

Bill Gates, the second richest man in the world and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has revealed what is most surprising to him about Aliko Dangote, president of the Dangote Group.

At the Goalkeepers Summit in New York on Wednesday, Gates and Dangote were asked what they have found to be most surprising about each other.

Continue reading “Bill Gates and Africa’s Richest man, Aliko Dangote, express admiration for each other at New York event” →
People

Northern New York native describes his work as U.S. ambassador to Rwanda

By SUSAN MENDE

A Canton native now serving as the U.S. ambassador to Rwanda described Monday how the small African country has rebounded since a 1994 genocide, during which nearly a million residents were murdered.

Peter H. Vrooman, 53, was joined by his mother Sally Vrooman, Canton, during the luncheon meeting of the Canton Rotary Club at the Best Western University Inn.

“I try to encourage people to visit Rwanda. It’s a very safe country,” Mr. Vrooman said. “It’s a place you can get to; it’s fairly well-served and connected with airports. It’s just a long way to go.”

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Visit to Africa

Trip to Africa is one to remember for students in the Bronx

Bronx high school students got an incredible opportunity to learn more about the rich cultural history of Senegal.

Students traveled overseas just last month and say the trip changed them.

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Relocated

9 Things I Wish I Knew Before Moving to Africa

You: “I want to move to Africa!” Us: “Know these things first…”

by KAYLAN REID SHIPANGA 

In 2010, I hopped on a plane and left The Big Apple—I was moving to Africa. After 17 hours in the air, I landed in Namibia for a year of teaching English abroad. Seven years later, I’m still here! I’m now married to a Namibian and raising our two-year-old son. What an unexpected turn of events, huh?

Since moving to Africa, and over the years, I’ve picked up a few lessons throughout my unexpected journey of life in Africa. For individuals considering taking the leap of faith and moving here like I did, this article is for you. Here’s what I wish I knew before moving to Africa, in the hopes that your transition to an incredible chapter of life here will be as smooth as possible.

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Visit to Africa

Travel Diary: Rachelle Salnave and Her Daughters Are Welcomed Home To Ghana In the Year of Return

“No one had to tell us—we felt at home!”

By Rachelle Salnave  In OkayAfrica

Haitian-American indie filmmaker shares the gift she gave her daughters of traveling to Ghana, West Africa for the first time during The Year of Return.

Staying at Agoo Hostel in Nima was a page out of the 1980’s American TV series, The Love Boat—except the characters were Ghanaian!

“Akwaaba! Welcome home my sistahs,” is a phrase we were told not just at Agoo, but throughout our entire Ghana girls trip. Akwabba is not just this country’s motto—it’s the vibe in Ghana.

Continue reading “Travel Diary: Rachelle Salnave and Her Daughters Are Welcomed Home To Ghana In the Year of Return” →
Ancestry

Moving to Ghana ‘healed my ancestral trauma’ – Sicley Williams

This month marks 400 years since the first African slaves arrived in the United States and the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade. Overall some 12 million enslaved Africans were transported across the Atlantic. This year is also Ghana’s ‘Year of Return’, an initiative launched by the Ghanaian government to encourage the African diaspora to come back to Ghana.

Sicley Williams moved to Accra from Atlanta in the US back in 2017. She told Newsday’s Bola Mosuro what about her personal reasons for making the move.

Read more from source

Visit to Africa

Pelosi, Congressional Delegation honor Ghana’s Rich Tradition in Ceremony with Paramount Chiefs, visit Historic Slave Sites to mark ‘The Year of Return’

Speaker Pelosi and Members of the Congressional Black Caucus traveled to Ghana’s Central Region to meet with tribal Chiefs and visit the slave dungeons at Elmina and Cape Coast Castles and the “Door of No Return” to observe “The Year of Return.” The delegation laid wreaths at both dungeons in remembrance of the millions who lost their lives and freedom in the transatlantic slave trade.

Continue reading “Pelosi, Congressional Delegation honor Ghana’s Rich Tradition in Ceremony with Paramount Chiefs, visit Historic Slave Sites to mark ‘The Year of Return’” →
Visit to Africa

U.S. Naval Forces Band performs for 300 children and youths in Lagos, Nigeria

U.S. Naval Forces Europe Band “Topside” performed for 300 children and youths at the Johnson Jakande Tinubu Park in Lagos as part of their second visit to Nigeria this year. The children sang and danced to the delightful tunes performed by the band. “Topside” is in Nigeria as part of the visit by the USNS Carson City.

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Visit to Africa

Nancy Pelosi and her Congressional delegation arrive in Ghana

The first woman Speaker of the United States House of Representatives who is leading a Congressional delegation to Ghana has arrived in Ghana. Nancy Pelosi and her delegation touched down at Terminal 3 Sunday afternoon and were met by the US Ambassador to Ghana, Stephanie S. Sullivan and the Speaker of Parliament, Mike Aaron Ocquaye.

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Sports

The NBA Is Pushing Into Africa. Can It Compete With Soccer?

By Sarah Maslin Nir

Even though he was 6-foot-6 by the time he was 14 years old, when an aspiring basketball star in Senegal picked up a ball for the first time, his friends were skeptical: In this soccer-mad region, why bother with a ball you dunk, when everyone else is kicking?

“My friends thought I was weird in the beginning,” said the young player, Mouhamed Lamine Mbaye, now 18 (and 6-foot-9), as he stood on the court of a new basketball academy, the first to be built by the NBA in West Africa.

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Opinion

American journalists have duty to report on tragedies in Africa.

By Isha Sesay

There are few impenetrable corners left in the world. Today, thanks to globalization, innovations in technology, and the rise of social media, the world feels small, and those living in distant places are increasingly relatable. Unless, of course, we are talking about Africa.

Continue reading “American journalists have duty to report on tragedies in Africa.” →