Advantages

Socially: the program provides very entertaining and enriching alternatives to street gangs, drugs and prostitution. Read more


Economically: the program saves the city council huge amounts of money in terms of policing, drug, alcohol and other social rehabilitation programs and prison upkeep. Read more


Culturally: it enriches the city or country. Africa still remains a mystery to most people. Its culture is little known. Read more


Tourism: many cities and countries derive a huge chunk of their revenues from tourism. Read more


Health: the explosion of child obesity and other numerous health concerns tied to inactivity in North America provides a good reason for the introduction of these dances. Read more


Challenges of the project

Gang violence has become so prevalent in the North American society that authorities tend to be cynical about any attempt at resolving the problem. As I have clearly spelled out in the manual “Yes We Can: A Unique Cultural Blueprint to Keep Children Out Of Street Gangs in the United States and in Canada”, the long-term consequences of failing to confront this problem head-on are far reaching. Sentencing minors to protracted jail terms is like breaking a thermometer that indicates the presence of fever instead of seeking to cure the illness. This attitude smacks of desperation or even insensitivity.
It mocks at the very essence of the North American society. Similarly, hastily concocting ad hoc programs known only for providing jobs and lucrative contracts to those who initiate them, with very little if anything at all for the children they seek to redeem, only amounts to dishonesty, lack of patriotism and the wasteful spending of taxpayers’ money.


While after-class sports programs do certainly have their merits, they do not address the key issues of mindset and cultural deficiency. These are very potent elements in the deadly cocktail of the alarmingly high school-dropout rates, street gangs, drugs, and guns. The African folk dance solution starts tackling the problem from its roots. It is holistic and its ultimate goal is to recreate a decent, functional community where there is security and people can live and do business in peace.


When children gather to play basketball, the exercise is mainly physical and does not take into account the magnitude of the problem in the ghettos. Worse still, such a solution lacks the self-perpetuating momentum that is crucial in tackling deep-rooted social problems on such a vast scale. These are some of the main challenges that the African folk dance project seeks to address.