By Sebastian R. Freiku
The Asanteman Association of Washington will host this year’s Asante Day being planned by the Asanteman Council of North America (ACONA) in Washington DC, on August 31.
ACONA, the umbrella organisation of all the Asanteman associations in the United States and Canada, comprises the various Asanteman associations, including New York, Dallas Fort Worth, Texas, Toronto, Canada, Houston, Texas, Chicago, Illinois, Colorado, Washington, DC, North Carolina, Atlanta, Georgia, Cincinnati, Ohio, Montreal, Canada, Columbus, Ohio, and Southern California, seeks to preserve Asante cultural heritage and promote unity and cooperation among the Asante people.
ACONA works to harness the collective resources of its members to provide socio-economic assistance to Asantes in Ghana and North America. The theme for the Asante Day 2014 celebration, which is intended to promote unity, culture and history of the Asantes, is: “Rekindling the Spirit of Asante Unity and Ensuring Civic Commitment to the Asante Kingdom”.
The two-fold purpose of the Asante Day celebration is to educating the general public about the traditions and culture of the Asante Kingdom; showcasing the rich Asante culture with the objective of inculcating core “Asanteman” values in the youth, as well as establishing a network of Asantes, friends and sympathisers of Asantes in the Diaspora to help support, initiate businesses and development projects for the well-being and development of the Asante Kingdom in particular, and Ghana in general.
The Ashanti File is reliably informed that the organisers also intend to raise $50,000 towards improving maternal care in the Ashanti Kingdom in Ghana to help save the lives of pregnant mothers during child birth, and make their experience more comfortable.
Sources close to the organisers have indicated that a number of activities have been planned over two days to mark the event. On Saturday, August 30, 2014, there would be a grand durbar and cultural show, preceded by an Asante Unity Picnic at Fort Hunt Park, Alexandria, Virginia during the day.
The main elements of the durbar will consist of a procession of chiefs and Ahemaas (Queenmothers) wearing traditional kente and gold ornaments; traditional dancing and drumming; exhibitions, lectures and demonstrations, speeches by special guests, and education of the general public abundantly about Asante history and culture.
The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, would be represented at an Asante Congress and Delegates Forum in a Town Hall in the daytime, where socio-economic issues affecting Asanteman and ACONA-sponsored development projects will be discussed in the daytime of the second day on August 31, 2014.
A Grand Fundraising Dinner Dance is slated at the Springfield Hilton, where attendees will have the pleasure and honour of dining and sharing the dancing floor with Otumfuo’s representative and the Asante royals and dignitaries in the evening of Sunday, August 31, 2014.
The durbar, reminiscent of the annual Adaekese Festival observed back home in the Asante Kingdom, seeks to preserve the unity and loyalty of Asante natives.
Nana Kofi Boateng, Asantefuohene of Washington DC and Chairman of the Asante Day 2014 Planning Committee, said the organisers expect this event to be very well attended, considering the 50,000 Ghanaian population in the Washington metropolitan area alone, and 500,000 throughout the United States and Canada, of which majority are Asantes.