UW-Green Bay, St. Norbert, NWTC to host Community Kwanzaa Celebration Dec. 7

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, together with St. Norbert College and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, will host a Community Kwanzaa Celebration from 3-5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, in the Phoenix Room of the University Union at UW-Green Bay, 2420 Nicolet Drive.

Kwanzaa is an African-American celebration based on the tradition of the African harvest festival, which emphasizes community and cultural pride. Attendees can enjoy music, dancing and food while learning about the holiday’s origins, rites and symbols. The event is free and open to the public.

UW-Green Bay sophomore Tresavoya Blake and St. Norbert junior Akeem Edmonds will serve as emcees for the event, which will feature a performance from the Nia, Inc. Dance Group along with schoolchildren from Green Bay’s Keller Elementary School. UW-Green Bay Assistant Prof. Tohoro Francis Akakpo, Social Work, will serve as keynote speaker for the celebration, which also will include performance of the Kwanzaa Libation Ceremony and a Kinara Lighting Ceremony. Guests will enjoy music including “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” also known as the Black National Anthem, as well as selections from the Divine Temple Sunshine Choir. Light snacks and refreshments will be served after the program.

The Kwanzaa Celebration will include informational booths from KenyaHELP (http://kenyahelp.com/) and the Eat Well Program at the Mauthe Center on the UW-Green Bay campus (http://www.mcenter.org/programs/eat-well/). Event vendors will include Globally Sound Fair Trade of Appleton (http://www.globallysound.com) and St. Norbert Discoveries International student organization. Attendees are invited to arrive early for a free African jewelry-making workshop, which begins at 2 p.m. in the 1965 Room of the University Union.

Visit http://bit.ly/TZ7Q7n to view photos from the 2012 Kwanzaa celebration event.

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