Celebrating the dawning of a new day for Africa.

Posted November 4th, 2008 by zemdena

A day I will remember for a while, the day of the African youth which was celebrated on November 1st 2008. Celebrating events such as this has been an inherent phenomenon all over the world and particularly in Africa. However I can say this day was different and had its own character if I may call it. Addis Ababa the seat of the AU had the honor of hosting this event in a more colorful way. The activities begun with my collogues and me working on promoting the day of the African youth in particular and the speak Africa platform in general. We had begun this by inviting schools in Addis Ababa to become part of this grater initiative. This pre event gave us the opportunity to share with the young people what different political frameworks are out there that they can engage in and why they should be part of the celebration and make the actual day successful. Speak Africa Ethiopia team collaborating with these students organized many activities, like a historical booth which portrayed the cultures of different parts of Africa, which encourages young people of Africa to speak up. I also got the oppourtunity to be interviwed as the speak Africa virtual exchange english moderator.The other fascinating event for me was the recording of the new day for Africa video which is going to be broadcasted on major international music channels like MTV and Channel O. This song is inspired by the celebration of reggae's legend Bob Marley and the genesis of speak Africa platform in the year 2005. When you listen to this song and analyses it talks to ever African out there .it conveys the historical trajectory we went through. I like this song very much because it talks to me; it tells me how I reached here, what I can do to make a difference. I won’t be exaggerating if a say it guides me. We also had the chance to meet famous people like KB and Proverb from channel O. The celebration also made the youth of Africa to be united in the sense of recognizing the fact that African youth are both the present and the future of Africa. Speak up everyone “united we stand divided we fall”!!!!!!!!! It is the dawning of a new day for Africa

Where all nations of the continent come together

Under one, one banner called Africa

From east to west we are building a bridge

reconnecting for Africa

and the links that make up this chain

will be holding forever

sawing the seeds for the rebirth of Africa(2x)

the fire of our youth

Wisdom of our eldersVision of our artist

we'r all gonna sing the same song

we'r gonna light the flame of freedom(4x)