The National Council of Ghanaian Associations (NCOGA), New York, unveils its activities for Ghana's Golden Jubilee celebrations with a year long collection of activities. NCOGA will kick of the year long event on Saturday March 3, 2007 with the launching of a special book on Ghanaians' achievements in Science, Medicine, History and Technology, authored by Dr. Konotey Ahonor titled " Ghana@50: " This is a must read book with fascinating facts about Ghanaian achievers" e.g. The first black person to receive a PhD was Ghanaian. We hope everyone will join NCOGA for the unveiling of this book.
There will be a grand gala dinner reception at a venue to be named later. NCOGA will be honoring outstanding individuals who have contributed not only to Ghana but to the African continent.
On Sunday March 18, 2007, there will be an interfaith service at The African Burial Ground in lower Manhattan, next to 26 Federal Plaza. The service at the burial ground has historical significance for Ghana. It was recently discovered that slaves buried on the site were originated from Ghana. The National Park Service declared the Grounds a National Monument, and the "Sankofa" symbol was picked as the official symbol of the grounds.
In April and May, NCOGA will host a series of seminars and forums around the City to discuss issues important to Ghanaians. There will be films at various sites highlighting Ghana and our vast resources.
The First Ghana Day Parade in the United States scheduled for June promises to be the most exciting of all events. NCOGA is looking for volunteers to make the event a success. As soon as plans are finalized, official registration forms for any organization that would like to participate in the parade will be made available.
For the first time in New York City, NCOGA in collaboration with the African Film Festival, will organize a Ghana Film Festival, as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations. The African Film Festival will show more films by Ghanaian directors throughout the festival.
The annual "mother of all picnics" which NCOGA is famous for, will be the next event after the parade. Plans are underway to bring the picnic to the city next year, let's keep our fingers crossed and hope for availability of a city/state park. Next year's picnic will be just as good as last year's if not better. We plan to have more artists perform live at the picnic, reminiscent of the success of VIP's performance last year.
October will be the grand finale to the golden jubilee celebrations with a durbar of all our chiefs. This is also another collaborative event with the African Studies Association who is also celebrating their 50th anniversary.
NCOGA is therefore asking Ghanaians to stay tuned for further details on the list of activities. Anyone interested in being a part of these events, may contact NCOGA at info@ncoga.org or visit the website at www.ncoga.org.
