By Anyuak Media | Staff writer Posted to the web on April 07, 2009
April 07, 2009 (Mankato) — Saturday (April 4, 2009) was the day the first Anuak Youth Conference (AYC) has taken place. Believed to be the first of its kind, the Anuak Youth Conference was organized by the Anuak Students Association at Minnesota State University (MNSU) in Mankato, Minnesota. Its tentative programs were intentionally created to bring the Anuak youths together to understand their culture, to know each other, to engage them in social activities, and programs which may pave the way to their future success and achievement in the near future. The programs started off with basketball competition between Anuak youths residing in Mankato, MN, Worthington, MN, St. Cloud, MN, and the Twin Cities (St. Paul & Minneapolis) at 12:00pm. The basketball games were very entertaining for both the Anuak youths and their parents who were watching the competition. At about 3:00pm, the conference was moved from basketball court to the students’ union complex where many workshops were performed.
The children were then divided into three groups: Children from zero-to-five years old and six-to-eleven years old were taken to two different conference rooms where they were given cultural lectures. Children from twelve and above were gathered in one big conference room where they were lectured about getting into professions, leaderships, and how important the education is. These workshops were facilitated by the educated Anuaks who came from different states. Their educational background ranges from high school, biomedical engineering to PhD. The teenagers’ workshop was basically designed to be an interactive discussion between participants and the people who presented the topic “Getting into Professions and Importance of Education”
After all workshops were done, the parents and the children were seated in the dining room where free food and refreshing drinks were served. The dinner was followed by the speeches. Dr. Olson, Vice President, and provost of academic affairs at MNSU, Dr. Fagin the president of Pan African and multicultural diversity at MNSU, Mr. Abulla Baguti, Chairman of the Anywaa Community Association in North America (ACANA), and Didumo Agwa, Chairwoman of the Anywaa Women Community Association in North America, to name the few, were the key note speakers at the Conference. At the end of the speeches, Dr. Olson presented a trophy to basketball winner, the Anuak youth team from Worthington, MN. Thereafter, extravaganza started off with the Anuak cultural dance and ended with drama.
Although the Anuak Youth Conference was the first of its kind, it was one of the best events ever organized to entertain just the youths. The Anuaks in Minnesota do usually organize parties where only adults entertain themselves—but not their offspring. However, this very event looks like is going to continue for the years to come because both the guest speakers and the stakeholder of the event promised to continue it.
