Federação de Natação da Guiné-Bissau e Ban-Faaba comemoram o Dia Mundial da Natação

Sobre o Dia Mundial da Natação

Realizado no quarto sábado de outubro de cada ano, o Dia Mundial da Natação é um feriado internacional que visa aumentar a participação na natação e promover a segurança da água, incluindo geografia, idioma e habilidades.

Os nadadores são incentivados a se exercitar na água no Dia Mundial da Natação, seja o que for que isso signifique para eles. Piscina ou águas abertas, natação curta ou longa, solo ou com amigos!

MySwimPro fundou o Dia Mundial da Natação em 2018 para aumentar a conscientização e fundos para organizações que aprendem a nadar e para reunir nadadores de todo o mundo para celebrar seu amor pela água! Desde o seu início, mais de milhares de nadadores nos ajudaram a arrecadar mais de $ 5.000 dólares!

Hoje, às 10h30, o nadador da Seleção Nacional da Guiné-Bissau Siphiwe Baleka e o Presidente do Conselho Fiscal da Federação de Natação da Guiné-Bissau, Mario Ceesay (que também atua como Presidente da Ban-Faaba na Guiné-Bissau), organizaram uma festa na piscina #WorldSwimDay pelo Grupo Juvenil Hermos Unidos para Sempre do Bairo Militar, Bissau no Hotel Ledger Plaza. Em setembro, Ban-Faaba acolheu uma viagem de campo educacional ao Museu dos Escravos em Cacheu, Guiné-Bissau, onde o grupo de jovens pôde nadar no Rio Cacheu.

“Como presidente da Ban-Faaba, estamos empenhados em fazer tudo o que estiver ao nosso alcance para oferecer oportunidades aos jovens. Como membro da Federação de Natação da Guiné-Bissau, a minha preocupação é promover a natação e a segurança aquática ao mesmo tempo que desenvolvo uma geração de nadadores de competição na Guiné-Bissau. #WorldSwimDay é uma oportunidade perfeita para fazermos os dois ”, disse Mario Ceesay.

Siphiwe Baleka é um Embaixador MySwimPro que recentemente representou a Guiné-Bissauews / 14-campeonatos africanos de natação no 14º Campeonato Africano de Natação, estabelecendo cinco recordes nacionais da Guiné-Bissau.

Guinea Bissau Swim Federation and Ban-Faaba Celebrate World Swim Day

About World Swim Day

Held on the fourth Saturday of October each year, World Swim Day is an international holiday that aims to increase participation in swimming and promote water safety inclusive of geography, language, and skills.

Swimmers are encouraged to get active in the water on World Swim Day, whatever that looks like for them. Pool or open water, short swim or long, solo or with friends!

MySwimPro founded World Swim Day in 2018 to raise awareness and funds for learn-to-swim organizations and to bring swimmers from around the world together to celebrate their love for the water! Since its inception, more than thousands of swimmers have helped us raise over $5,000 USD!

Today, at 10:30 am, Guinea Bissau National Team Swimmer Siphiwe Baleka and The Guinea Bissau Swim Federation President of the Fiscal Council, Mario Ceesay (who also serves as President of Ban-Faaba in Guinea Bissau), hosted a #WorldSwimDay pool party for the Hermos Unidos para Sempre (Family United Forever) Youth Group of Bairo Militar, Bissau at the Ledger Plaza Hotel. Back in September, Ban-Faaba hosted an educational field trip to the Slave Museum in Cacheu, Guinea Bissau where the youth group were able to go swimming in the Cacheu River.

“As President of Ban-Faaba, we are involved in doing whatever we can to provide opportunities for the youth. As a member of the Guinea Bissau Swim Federation, my concern is to promote swimming and water safety while developing a generation of competitive swimmers in Guinea Bissau. #WorldSwimDay is a perfect opportunity for us to do both” said Mario Ceesay.

Siphiwe Baleka is a MySwimPro Ambassador who recently represented Guinea Bissauews/14-african-swimming-championships at the 14th African Swimming Championships, setting five Guinea Bissau National Records.

Setting an Example for Afrodescendant Athletes From America: Siphiwe Baleka Represents Guinea Bissau at the 14th African Swimming Championships

Photo courtesy of the Guinea Bissau Swim Federation

Bukom Pool, Trust Sports Emporium in Accra, Ghana - October 11-16, 2021

This is not an easy article to write. Like all things in the universe, there is a unity of opposites - heat and cold make the unity “temperature”; inhale and exhale make the unity of “breathe”; expand and contract make the unity of a “heartbeat”; light and dark, night and day, etc. … Likewise, my experience at the 14th African Swimming Championships is both joy and sorrow, pride and shame. If I am going to write honestly, If I am going to document this historic occasion, my own standards of authenticity, openness, honesty and duty require that I go beyond the fluff pieces of sports journalism. I have to keep it real. I have to be courageous and vulnerable. Expose and uplift. . . .

Photo courtesy of the Guinea Bissau Swim Federation

The Joy and Pride

First, let me start with my results.

Event #2 Men 100 Breast - 1:12.04 -14th place

Event #6 Men 50 Back - 31.60 15th place

Event #12 Men 50 Breast - 31.79 13th place

Event #17 Men 100 Free - 57.01 15th place

Event # 37 Men 50 Free - 25.37 25th place

I swam the 50 meter freestyle at 25.37, a little slower than I swam in Egypt in June while trying to qualify for the Olympics (25.25). It was my best race in the competition and I'm happy with my performance. I can say that I did my best for Guinea-Bissau.

I had hoped to swim faster in my other events, especially the 100 Meter Breast and 100 Meter Freestyle. But after my first swim, I realized that the important thing was my EXPERIENCE and not my times. I had to adjust my mindset because the purpose of this competition was above all, to represent Guinea Bissau for the first time at the African Swimming Championships and thereby establish a swimming legacy for Guinea Bissau. I would be a fool to deny myself the opportunity to simply enjoy doing that simply because I wasn’t swimming as fast as I wanted. Moreover, I also had to take into consideration the circumstances under which I had been training for the past five months - I had relocated from Springfield, MO during the COVID pandemic, to Bairo Militar, Bissau. I went from training in an evironment that was producing collegiate national champions and US Olympic trials qualifiers in a high level training facility to swimming by myself with no coach or teammates, in a 25 meter hotel pool with no lane lines, lane or wall markings, in water that was 87 degrees or warmer! To overcome this training struggle, I relied on the MySwimPro app and was following its ten week IMX Pro Challenge training plan to build some good endurance for those 100’s. Plus there was the stress of my Olympic fiasco. Like many Afrodescendant athletes in the United States, I, too, was having my own mental health issues related to sports. I realized in Ghana that it was more important for me to focus on the fact that here I was RACING in Africa with other African swimmers - something that very few, if any, African American swimmers have ever done, and certainly not representing an African country at the continental swimming championships! . It was time for me to just swim, race, and make friends.

O Golo GB, Guinea Bissau’s premiere online sports news agency, noted, however, that all of my swims established National Records for Guinea Bissau.

According to the FINA Masters Swimming World Rankings for the male age group 50-54, the best time last year (2020) was Cristiano Baldinin with 25.87 . My swims in Cairo and Accra are likely to be ranked #1 in the world in this category in 2021.

Earlier this year, I swam the 100 meters freestyle in 55.90. That should also place me in the top three in the world in the men's 50-54 group.

All of my other times for the 14th African Swimming Championships will likely be in the top 5 in the world in the Men's 50-54 Group.

FINA Masters Top Ten 2020

14th African Swimming Championships results Men 50 Meter Free - #25 Siphiwe Baleka 25.37

GUINEA BISSAU - AFRICA - NOW HAS ONE OF THE BEST MASTERS SWIMMERS IN THE WORLD. BUT WILL ANYONE NOTICE?

The last time I competed in the FINA Masters World Championships in 2017, I won four silver medals but failed to become a world champion. That same year, at the age of 45, I was the oldest competitor in the Arena Pro Swim Series in the United States. My goal now is to win an event at the FINA Masters World Championship next year in Japan, where I will compete against competitors from my own group. In Ghana, I was the oldest competitor, with the second oldest being Marc Pascal Dansou, 38, from Benin.

The Sorrow and Shame

To truly understand the full dimension of my experience at the 14th African Swimming Championships, it’s necessary to go back a few years. In December of 2015 I sent the following email to Mel Goldstein, Vice Chairman FINA Masters Technical Committee:

“From: Siphiwe Baleka <fitnesstrucking@gmail.com>

Date: Wed, Dec 16, 2015 at 5:06 PM

Subject: Competing in Africa in 2016

To: Mel Goldstein <goldsteinmel@sbcglobal.net>

Greetings Mel,

Any opportunity for me to compete somewhere in Africa in 2016?

Siphiwe Baleka www.siphiwebaleka.com”

After receiving no response from Mr. Goldstein, I sent the following email two weeks later to every person I could find connected to swimming in Africa:

“From: Siphiwe Baleka <fitnesstrucking@gmail.com>

Date: Sat, Jan 2, 2016 at 3:02 PM

Subject: Competing in Africa in 2016

To: Mel Goldstein <goldsteinmel@sbcglobal.net>, Laura Hamel <lhamel@usms.org>

Cc: Shaun Adriaanse <canazone4secretariat@gmail.com>, analima29@hotmail.com, info@samastersswimming.com, kennedy@yebo.co.za, guyh@summercon.co.za, wahoosecretary@gmail.com, pjduffy@broll.com, bosmead@gmail.com, mangelos@mweb.co.za, "winrose@telkomsa.net" <winrose@telkomsa.net>, "odendaalannemarie0@gmail.com" <odendaalannemarie0@gmail.com>, "judy.collins@vodamail.co.za" <judy.collins@vodamail.co.za>, "hestersnyman@mweb.co.za" <hestersnyman@mweb.co.za>, marinetzswimmingclub@gmail.com, info@swimafrica.net, sports@ug.edu.gh, headofschool@lincoln.edu.gh, kmoolchandani@lincoln.edu.gh, info@softkenya.com, eth@telecom.net.et, "Green, Robert (DPR)" <robert.green@dc.gov>, Kathy Cooper <blackheritageswimming@gmail.com>

Greetings,

This email is going out to people and organizations that may be interested in my effort to become a World Champion at the 2017 FINA Masters World Championships (Men's 45-49 Age Group). If I am successful, I may become the first African American Masters Swimming World Champion. In preparation, I am planning to connect my passion for swimming with my ancestral heritage, something I did in 2012 when I became the US Masters Swimming National Champion in two evetns (see https://www.growingbolder.com/siphiwe-baleka-in-for-the-long-haul-735035/ ) and then became the first African American to complete Ironman South Africa (see http://www.siphiwebaleka.com/merch/triblackalete). 

In preparation for 2017 Masters Swimming World Championships, I am planning my own personal Black Swimming tour in 2016 that begins with the 30th Annual Black History Invitational Swim Meet in Washington, D.C. February 12th through the 16th. Then moves to the 14th Annual National Black Heritage Swim Meet in Cary, North Carolina May 28-29. I am hoping to culminate this tour with a competition in Africa sometime between August and December 2016. The purpose of such a trip would be:

1) interest African Americans in the sport of swimming at all levels, from kids through masters

2) provide historical and cultural components to the sport

3) connect black swimmers in America with black swimmers in Africa

4) propsect on possibilities for coaching black swimmers in Africa

5) compete against some of the best swimmers, white and black, on the African continent

6) provide personal fulfilment returning to the continent

In essence, this campaign is a way for me to combine two of the most important things in my life: my ancestors and swimming.

If you are able to provide any information about any opportunities to compete and participate in any ongoing swimming program on the African continent in the second half of 2016, please don't hesitate to contact me.

To find out more about me, watch the Fox Sports video here: http://www.siphiwebaleka.com/ --Respectfully,

Siphiwe Baleka”

THUS BEGAN MY EFFORT TO COMPETE IM AFRICA AND TO GIVE BACK TO THE SPORT I LOVED AND TO THOSE THAT NEEDED IT THE MOST - BLACK SWIMMERS IN AFRICA!

I went on to win four silver medals at the FINA Masters World Championships in 2017 in Budapest, but I heard nothing from anyone in Africa about Swimming and competing there. And this started my disappointment with FINA and specifically Confederation Africaine de Natation (C.A.N.A) - the African Swimming Federation that governs the sport on the continent.

Why weren't FINA and CANA being more helpful?

Afterall, how often do they receive such inquiries from such an experienced and passionate African American swimmer? Surely I had something valuable to offer CANA and to the next generation of swimmers in Africa. Didn't they want my help? My inability to establish effective communications would continue to be a problem even once I relocated to Africa.

Now, fast forward three years. I heard nothing from no one at FINA or CANA. Then I had the following email exchange that started August 23, 2019 - 

“----- Forwarded Message -----

From: Siphiwe Baleka <fitnesstrucking@gmail.com>

To: Kyle Deery <kdeery@usms.org>; Kyle Deery <kdeery@usmastersswimming.org>

Cc: Mel Goldstein <goldsteinmel@sbcglobal.net>;

Sent: Friday, August 23, 2019, 11:56:18 AM EDT

Subject: Contacting Senegal and Guinea Bissau Swim Federations

Greetings Kyle,

My apologies for all the requests lately, but with Laura not at USMS anymore, you are the only one that I know. I need help contacting  Dr. Mohamed Diop, FINA Bureau Member from Dakar.  I will be traveling to Senegal and Guinea Bissau in late December and I want to do some swim related activities, possibly some swim clinics. I need swimming contacts in these countries. Perhaps USA Swimming can help as well. I've contacted Mel Goldstein previously and he is CC'd on this email as well. I appreciate any help or contacts that you can provide.

-- Respectfully,

Siphiwe Baleka

From: Mel Goldstein <goldsteinmel@sbcglobal.net>

Date: Fri, Aug 23, 2019 at 7:26 PM

Subject: Re: Contacting Senegal and Guinea Bissau Swim Federations

To: Siphiwe Baleka <fitnesstrucking@gmail.com>

Siphiwe

Mohamond is from Senegal not Dakar.. I will forward your message to him and he will contact you if his federation is interested 

From: Siphiwe Baleka <fitnesstrucking@gmail.com>

Date: Fri, Aug 23, 2019 at 7:33 PM

Subject: Re: Contacting Senegal and Guinea Bissau Swim Federations

To: Mel Goldstein <goldsteinmel@sbcglobal.net>

 Mel, Dakar is the capital of Senegal.

From: Mel Goldstein <goldsteinmel@sbcglobal.net>

Date: Sat, Aug 24, 2019 at 2:24 AM

Subject: Re: Contacting Senegal and Guinea Bissau Swim Federations

To: Siphiwe Baleka <fitnesstrucking@gmail.com>,

Yes, my bad thinking of Doha .. I have sent your message to Mohammod.

Mel Goldstein Education Services | U.S. Masters Swimming

Le 27 août 2019 21:08, Mel Goldstein <goldsteinmel@sbcglobal.net> a écrit :

Mohamed, 

I hope your travels were uneventful as was mine... This gentlemen contacted our National Office and wanted to make contact with you... I am reluctant to give out information.  If you want to contact him his email is below...

I still want that blue shirt...

Mel Goldstein

Education Services | U.S. Masters Swimming

 Now, notice the tone of Mr. Goldstein. In his first message he tries to correct me by telling me Dr. Diop is from Senegal and not Dakar, not realizing that Dakar is the capital of Senegal. And this coming from a man who is representing “Education Services | U.S. Masters Swimming”…!. Mr. Goldstein said he “forwarded my message” and that if Dr. Diop’s federation is interested they will contact me. This was not exactly the kind of help that I was expecting. I had been sending information to Mel about who I am and want I wanted to do in Africa since the end of 2015. I was one of the most well-known and publicized masters swimmers in the United States and this was all Mr. Goldstein could muster for me????? And this man was MY representative to the FINA Masters technical committee????? Why was he reluctant to give me the contact information for the CANA Secretary General???

AND THIS WOULD BE THE PATTERN. I volunteer information and help and in return people are reluctant to help or share information. I did, however, get a response from Dr. Diop: On Tue, Aug 27, 2019 at 7:49 PM Mohamed Diop <drmohameddiop@yahoo.fr> wrote:

“Dear Siphiwe

My friend foward me you email.

I will happy to meet you in Dakar in décembre.

Infortunally, Guinée Bissau don't have active fédération but i can give you One contact.

Please received my WhatsApp contact :

Dr Mohamed Diop

+22176xxxxxx

Regards

Mohamed”

And that was it. No questions, no conversation, nothing. I went straight to my ancestral homeland of Guinea Bissau and didn’t stop in Senegal, so Dr. Diop and I never met. However, at that time, I was serving as the North American Regional Director for the African Sports Ventures Group (ASVG). UNESCO reached out to ASVG for help with promoting the 2022 Youth Olympic Games which were scheduled to be held in Dakar. It was the first time such a competition would be held on the African continent, and ASVG asked me to come up with a plan for getting African American involvement. I was delighted and forwarded to UNESCO and Dr. Diop the following concept paper:

Due to COVID, the 2022 Youth Olympic games have been posponed to 2026. But the Secretary General of Confederation Africaine de Natation (C.A.N.A) - the African Swimming Federation - Dr. Diop, from Dakar, Senegal, showed very little interest. No further conversation on my concept paper was had and no effort has been made since. Here I was, offering what I thought would be a great contribution to African Swimming - the Pan African Select Camp and a potential partnership with the United States Swimming National Diversity Select Camp, building heritage tourism around swimming - and no one was interested!

But here I was, nonetheless, at the 14th African Swimming Championships. Getting here wasn’t easy. First of all, very little meet information was posted on the CANA website. To get any details, you have to get the meet information called the Team Leaders Guide. This information is only available to the officers of the federation. Such information should be posted to the CANA website for transparency. That would allow coaches, swimmers and officials better access to the information and make planning and preparations much easier.

For example, if I wanted to enter the 2021 Toyota US Open, an international competition, I would go to the USA Swimming Online Meet Entry (OME) System of which I am a registered athlete member unattached to any team, and I would select the meet information. If I am a coach, I can enter my team. If I am an individual unattached to any team, I can enter myself.

If CANA had such a system, it could add the option of “Enter a Federation”. In this way, it would make the entry process much more robust and streamlined, more accessible and user-friendly, and decrease the amount of work that the host committee has to do.

When I tried to enter the meet, I had difficulty because the Guinea Bissau Swim Federation (GBSF) is new and inexperience and knew nothing about the 14th African Swimming Championships. Plus, there’s a language barrier between me and the GBSF officers who speak Portuguese and not English. The meet information is published in English. And as I have been repeatedly told, FINA and CANA “don’t deal with individuals, we only talk to the federation.” Since I have no official position with GBSF, neither FINA nor CANA wanted to share any information with me about entering the meet. I was left to the mercy of GBSF Officers who have no swimming background and didn’t even know about the competition to get information, translate it, understand it, communicate it with me, and submit my entries in a timely fashion. It was this situation which caused me to not swim in the Olympics. So I had to help te GBSF get the Team Leaders Packet and then share it with me. Then I had to do my own entries for the GBSF and then help GBSF send my entry to GSA hosts! I couldn’t believe that the 14th African Swimming Championships were only receiving PAPER entries submitted by the national federations! They then have to MANUALLY enter each swimmer’s entries and they were still doing this days into the competition!!!! It felt as if I had stepped back into the 1980’s when my father was doing meet entries on his computer and printing heat sheets and deck cards in our house!

As a result of this entry process, there was no psyche sheet available before the competition started, which, for a continental championship, is just unacceptable. Coming to the meet, I had no idea the level of competition I was facing, the number of swimmers, anything. I couldn’t do much forecasting or planning of my competition day routine because I had no idea how many heats there would be, how much time between my events, etc. Like everyone else, I just had to go with the flo and play it by ear.

There was another problem just entering the meet and getting settled in Ghana. According to the Team Leaders Guide, the only room options available were a single or a double room. My Team Manager and I decided it would be best for us to get one suite and share it. We were going to be there ten days and we didn’t want to be trapped in a small hotel room. That’s not conducive to being comfortable and performing well. When we requested to get a suite, Farida Iddriss of the Ghana Swimming Association (GSA) told us that wasn’t possible. But of course it was possible, because we went ahead and made our own reservations with the Best Western Premiere Hotel, reserving a King Suite. We then asked Ms. Iddriss what remaining fees there were (to cover transportation and meals). We were rather surprised to find out that GSA couldn’t make any adjustment - “Please note that, as accomodation was not done through the Ghana Swimming Association. We will here by want to inform you that, you will not be provided Internal transportation and meals.”

That was annoying. I used Google maps to see how far the hotel was from the pool and it showed that it was going to be about a 40 minute drive each way! It didn’t make sense to me that GSA couldn’t make an adjustment simply because we wanted a different kind of room that was more suitable for us. I anticipated that having to take an taxi or Uber to the pool and back twice each day (prelims and finals) would be expensive. Why couldn’t they allow us to pay a fair price to ride the bus with all the other teams?

Fortunately, after arriving in Ghana and speaking to other members of the GSA, we were informed that since we were staying at the same hotel, we could, indeed ride the bus from the hotel to the pool. However, this would become a huge problem for all the team throughout the meet. The bus schedules weren’t posted, there was plenty of confusion, buses were arriving and departing late, and sometimes it would take more than an hour to get from the hotel to the pool or vice versa. Since our delegation consisted of just two people, we made the quick decision to relocate after the second night to a three-bedroom Airbnb apartment close to the pool at 1/3rd the price of the hotel! This worked out very well for us and we realized that doing things on our own saved us a lot of time, money and frustration. We didn’t have to wait around….

This also highlghted another difference between how things are done in the United States vs. Africa. It would be absurd for the meet hosts to handle hotel arrangements for all teams! Rather, hotel information is provided in the meet information and each team/swimmer can choose their own accommodations. Of course, this is a much greater challenge for an international competition, especially in Africa where you have different languages. It’s great that the GSA took the responsibility for making hotel arrangements, but their communication and ability to adjust to the needs of each federation/team was severely challenged. For the first half of the meet, information desks at each of the major hotels was not staffed, bus schedules were not posted and enforced, the meals provided were the same buffet style meals EVERYDAY….. The problem trusting the whole operation to the host federation is that whatever they don’t get right, everybody suffers….

There was a team leaders meeting the afternoon before the competition. We arrived and that was my first look at the Bukom International Pool. It was beautiful. I was excited. But then I only say the single 50 meter competition pool. Where was the warmup/warmdown pool. I discovered there was none. In the team leaders meeting, I asked, “Will there be any breaks during the senior prelim session for warm up or warm down since there is no separate pool for that?” Sam Ramsamy, the CANA President, said, “No.” I then asked, “Not even a 10 minute break at the halfway point?” Mr. Ramsamy said, “No. 10 minutes isn’t going to help a swimmer anyway.” I looked at him incredulously, Here we were at the CONTINENTAL championships for Africa and once the meet starts, there’s no warmup or warmdown available. I sat dumbfounded. For me personally, as a 50-year-old swimmer, my body just cant recover the way it used to. I have to warm down after every race and flush the lactic acid out of my system and usually I’m good for just two races per session. On the first day I had a 100 breast/50 back double and on the last day I had a 50 free/200 IM double. I needed the opportunity to swim down between races. I knew other swimmers needed it, too. So I then asked, “So that means that some swimmers who may only be swimming the last two events, have to sit around after warmup, perhaps for an hour or longer, and swim their race with no warmup?” Mr. Ramsamy responded as if I was deliberately trying to cause a problem. But all the team leaders and coaches agreed with me. Mr. Ramsamy’s final response was to use the fact that 1) they were combining the Junior and Senior Championships for the first time and 2) they were trying to do this under COVID restrictions and therefore everyone had to make sacrifices and be understanding. Yet in the same breath, Mr. Ramsamy said that their focus and everything they were doing was for the benefit of the swimmers. . . . .

On Monday morning I arrived at the pool. Just before warmups I finally got to see the heat sheet for the day’s session. There were just two heats of the first event, the women’s 100 meter freestyle, and two heats of event #2, the Men’s 100 meter breastroke. Wait a minute. The Ghana Swimming Association announced on their Facebook page that there were 420 swimmers from 42 countries at the competition. I was expectating way more swimmers than this! Just 16 swimmers in the 100 breast???? Two heats in a CONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP???? I just couldn’t believe it.

I was in the second heat of the 100 breast. While we were in the ready room, we heard the starter say, “Take your mark ……” Then there was some loud squeaking from the PA system. Most of the swimmers thought the squeak was the actuall start and they took off. Two swimmers were still standing on the blocks and never started….. At the 75 meter point, the referee tried to stop the swimmers. Some stopped, some finished the race, with no time. The whole think was a very unfortunate start to the 14th African Swimming Championships. I sat there in disbelief. In fact, I sat there feeling ashamed. It was embarrasing that this, MY championship, my CONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIPS, the thing that I was so proud to be a part of - I felt ashamed knowing that this was the level of production, the best level, available in Africa. Once again, it was the inferiority thing. Why must Africans always be associated with the lowest level of standards???

Now, I was born and raised in the United States. I have been in competitive swimming since the age of 8. I have swum at the highest levels of age group, high school, college, national and masters swimming. I was an athlete representative for Illinois Swimming to United States Swimming for two years. My father help developed the software systems that connecting the timing system to the computers and did all the meet entry, heat sheets, etc. since the 1980’s. So I know how things are supposed to run at the local club, LSC, regional and national levels. I know how competitions are organized, how they run, etc. So when you know HOW things are SUPPOSED to work, it makes it easy to see what isn’t working or what is missing. At that moment I felt shame and sorrow that swimming in Africa was this far behind the rest of the world. I realized, I had expected too much. We all had. In many of the longer races, there were so few entreants that the events was canceled in the preliminaries and all swimmers were automatically moved to the finals. This happened even in the women’s 200 free! All the coaches and swimmers were just in disbelief at what was happening. But then, what could we do? We all just relaxed and made the best of it. Which, ironically, took away a lot of the pressure and made the experience more friendly and enjoyable. “Just do the best you can under the circumstances” seemed to be the spirit of the meet.

A little more than halfway through the meet, there was a second Team Leaders meetings where an attempt was made to solve problems and make things better. And the running of the meet did improve by the final few days. The announcing improved. The award ceremonies improved. They figured out how to raise the flags up the flagpole…. But there was still communication issues even at the end of the meet. People had to get COVID tests arranged, etc.

Finally, there is then the issue that no one ever talks about but is right out there in the open. There are some very, VERY fast swimmers in Africa. Some of the best in the world. And these swimmers are of Arabic and European heritages from Egypt, South Africa, Algeria and Tunisia. I have nothing against these swimmers personally and have made friends with a number of them. Indeed, I spent a little bit of time with South African Swim Coach Graham Hill who is a great guy whom I now consider a colleague and friend.

However, in December of 2019, I made the following post on Facebook:

At the 14th African Swimming Championship, there was a pattern. In both the prelims and finals, the middle lanes were almost always (just a few exceptions) occupied by non-black swimmers from Egypt and South Africa and Algeria, and rounding out the outside lanes were the black swimmers. Look at the combined team scores:

Both Egypt and South Africa outscored ALL THE OTHER TEAMS COMBINED!. Now, consider this. On August 9, 2021, FINA president Husain Al-Musallam has reiterated his desire to expand global access to swimming with a new initiative to increase investment in African swimming. According to the announcement made by Swimming World, that investment is put at $29 million over the next four years. The reports states,

“The first of those announced investments is an elite training center in Tunisia, the nation that produced men’s 400 freestyle gold medalist Ahmed Hafnaoui as a beacon of promise for the continent. FINA has also identified Senegal and two universities in South African for elite training bases, as well as other new establishments in Hungary and Russia.”

AND THERE IT IS RIGHT THERE.

One of my teachors said that the functional definition of justice is “no one is mistreated and those that need the most help get the most help.” If there were, in fact, 42 countries at the 14th African Swimming Championships, then that means 19 countries, including Guinea Bissau, didn’t even score a point. Wouldn’t justice require that a significant amount of FINA’$29 million investment in African swimming over the next four years go to those countries who clearly need the most help? South Africa already has the best swimming program in Africa, and Tunisia is doing great already on its own. How was the decision made to give those countries, along with Hungary and Russia (which aren’t African) help? More importantly, WHO made those decisions? Because if you were to ask the people that care the most about developing swimming in Africa - the coaches and swimmers who were on the deck - they would have made very serious and specific requests for help that would reach the black swimmers who represent 75% of the continent. Coaches and swimmers I met and admired from Uganda, Angola, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mali.

So this is why I started this article by saying that it is difficult for me to write, that my experience was both joy and sorrow, pride and shame. To write truthfully about my experience requires expressing both. And there are some people who will criticize me saying that Africa already has it bad enough. Why must you tell these things. You should try emphasize the good things. ANd of course, that is my intention. That has always been my intention since I first sought to find a way to contribute to African swimming back in 2015. I am not bad-mouthing Africa. I live here and encourage the African Diaspora to prepare themselves to come home and build the Africa of tomorrow. But if you don’t first diagnose the patient, identify what is wrong and what needs to be done, how will the patient ever be treated and cured?

Bob Marley once sang, “Check out the real situation…..” Most of the swimming world, and especially the swimming world in the United States, knows nothing about the real situation of swimming in Africa. As one of the Senior Statesmen of African American Swimming and the first to fully repatriate and compete for an African nation - someone with a reputation as a Fitness Guru that has appeared in US mainstream media such as the Atlantic, Sports Illustrated, Good Moring America, CBS Evening News, and many, many others, I am the perfect person to expose the real situation so that attention and resources can be brought to bear on it and improvement made. That’s why I am writing this. I want people to reach out and say, how can I help? What do you need? And hopefully, with my success, more athletes and coaches will bring their talent to their anesctral homelands like I have done. Not just for swimming, but for all sports. And in this way we make our contribution to building Africa’s sports infrastructure. When that happens, Africa’s youth will no longer dream of leaving Africa to play in Europe and America. Instead, the African Diaspora youth will dream of returning to Africa to play.

Siphiwe Baleka, representing Guinea Bissau, in the Parade of Nations at the 14th African Swimming Championships.

O presidente do BanFaaba, Mario Ceesay, e o coordenador da Década de Retorno, Siphiwe Baleka, se encontram com H.E. Dra. Erieka Bennett, Fundadora e Chefe da Missão, Diáspora Fórum Africano

Na quinta-feira, 14 de outubro de 2021, o presidente do BanFaaba, Mario Ceesay, e o coordenador da Década de Retorno, Siphiwe Baleka, se reuniram com H.E. Dra. Erieka Bennett, Fundadora e Chefe da Missão, na sede do Fórum Africano da Diáspora (DAF) em Accra, Gana, para discutir a Iniciativa da Década de Retorno da Guiné-Bissau.

SOBRE O DAF

O site da DAF afirma,

“O Diáspora African Forum (DAF) é uma organização sem fins lucrativos endossada pela União Africana (UA), aberta em 7 de julho de 2001 por H.E. Presidente J.A.Kufuor. A DAF foi e continua sendo a primeira e única organização da Diáspora Africana no mundo com status diplomático, permitindo que a DAF realizasse um trabalho pioneiro na defesa da Diáspora nos níveis mais altos do governo em Gana e na África em geral.

O mandato da DAF é apoiar a UA e os Estados Membros na integração dos Africanos na Diáspora, ao mesmo tempo que fortalece o envolvimento da Diáspora Africana no Gana e em todo o continente. A DAF planeja continuar seus esforços como um agente de mudança para o desenvolvimento de políticas sólidas para a reintegração da Diáspora África em todo o mundo. ”

“Queríamos aprender com o Dr. Bennett sobre a Década de Retorno de Gana e, especificamente, sobre a criação de um‘ balcão da diáspora ’com status diplomático na Guiné-Bissau”, disse Siphiwe Baleka. “Quando você quer saber como fazer algo, você fala com pessoas que já fizeram.”

O Dr. Bennett enfatizou que o objetivo da DAF é fazer exatamente isso - ajudar os diásporos a estabelecer missões diplomáticas em todos os estados membros da União Africana. Isso é incrivelmente importante agora mais do que nunca, pois os afrodescendentes na América estão partindo em grande número e retornando às suas terras natais ancestrais e obtendo a cidadania.

O Sr. Baleka ajudou a redigir uma Moção para o Conselho Executivo da União Africana que também se encontra hoje, apelando à ação para acelerar a participação da Diáspora Africana nas estruturas da União Africana. O movimento

“SOLICITA aos estados membros da UA a estabelecer e aprovar políticas para: -

i) Estabelecer uma Mesa da Diáspora Africana com mandato para garantir que o subgrupo da Diáspora Africana - consistindo no grupo específico de pessoas de origem africana, nascidas fora do continente africano, que nunca tiveram acesso a um direito de primogenitura automático para reivindicar uma cidadania africana específica ou nacionalidade devido ao legado horrível do comércio transatlântico de escravos, mas reconhecem seu Direito de Retornar (RTR) à sua pátria ancestral - têm suas necessidades específicas satisfeitas para obter uma repatriação bem-sucedida com a recomendação de que o African Diaspora Desk trabalhe em parceria com a Diáspora Conselho Consultivo instituído pela Declaração da Cimeira Global Africana de 2012 para cada estado membro.

ii) Implementar legislação para ajudar os Repatriados RTR da Diáspora Africana com a aquisição de residência, um caminho acelerado para a cidadania, aquisição de terras e programas de integração cultural que incluem a criação de uma categoria especial de imigração para permitir a repatriação fácil para este grupo.

iii) Promover o trabalho conjunto entre o Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros, Imigração, Assuntos Internos e OSC Pan-africanos, que podem satisfazer os requisitos do ECOSOCC para se tornarem OSC reconhecidos, para garantir a aplicação das referidas políticas no que se refere à facilidade e repatriação bem sucedida de africanos Diaspora RTR Repatriates.

(iv) Criar uma ligação direta do Gabinete da Diáspora Africana em todos os estados membros para a CIDO, para implementar estratégias apropriadas de Envolvimento e Assistência da Diáspora Africana para esse grupo RTR da Diáspora Africana nos estados membros da UA.

(v) Direcionar o Gabinete da Diáspora Africana e o Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros para trabalhar na realização da Visão 2063 com a Diáspora Africana: -

De acordo com o Sr. Baleka, “Não somos simplesmente turistas nem apenas investidores. Somos uma categoria especial de pessoas que retornam às nossas terras ancestrais que continuam sendo nosso direito de nascença. Estamos nos recuperando do ETNOCIDE, seus efeitos epigenéticos transgeracionais, e reparando os danos que causou. ”

O presidente do BanFaaba, Mario Ceesay, disse: “A reunião com Sua Excelência, a Dra. Bennett, foi extraordinária. Esperamos sua ajuda para ajudar a Guiné-Bissau a perceber os benefícios de um programa da Diáspora, que tem servido Gana tão bem. ”

Durante o encontro, foi discutida a possibilidade de uma missão diplomática da DAF à Guiné-Bissau para o evento da Década de Retorno em novembro.

“Pretendemos informar Sua Excelência a Ministra das Relações Exteriores, Sra. Suzi Barbosa, assim que voltarmos”, disse Baleka, que está em Gana competindo no 14º Campeonato Africano de Natação.

###

BanFaaba President Mario Ceesay and Decade of Return Coordinator Siphiwe Baleka Meet with H.E. Dr. Erieka Bennett, Founder and Head of Mission, Diaspora African Forum

On Thursday, October 14, 2021, BanFaaba President Mario Ceesay and Decade of Return Coordinator Siphiwe Baleka met with H.E. Dr. Erieka Bennett, Founder and Head of Mission, at the Diaspora African Forum (DAF) headquarters in Accra, Ghana, to discuss Guinea Bissau’s Decade of Return Initiative.

ABOUT THE DAF

The DAF website states,

“The Diaspora African Forum (DAF) is an African Union (AU) endorsed non-profit organization opened on July 7, 2001 by H.E. President J.A.Kufuor.  DAF was and remains the first and only African Diaspora organization in the world with diplomatic status enabling DAF to accomplish groundbreaking work in Diaspora advocacy at the highest levels of government in Ghana and Africa in general.

DAF’s mandate is to support the AU and Member States towards the integration of Africans in the Diaspora while strengthening African Diaspora engagement in Ghana and continent wide. DAF plans to continue its efforts as a change agent towards the development of solid policies for the reintegration of the Diaspora Africa worldwide.”

“We wanted to learn from Dr. Bennett about Ghana’s Decade of Return and specifically about setting up a ‘diaspora desk’ with diplomatic status in Guinea Bissau,” said Siphiwe Baleka. “When you want to know how to do something, you talk to people who have already done it.”

Dr. Bennett emphasized that the DAF aim is to do just that - help Diasporans establish diplomatic missions in all the African Union member states. This is incredibly important now more than ever as Afrodescendants in America are leaving in greater numbers and returning to their ancestral homelands and obtaining citizenship.

Mr. Baleka helped draft a Motion to the African Union Executive Council that is also meeting today, calling for action to expedite the participation of the African Diaspora within the structures of the African Union. The motion

“REQUESTS the AU member states to put in place and enact policies to:-

i) Establish an African Diaspora Desk mandated to ensure that the African Diaspora sub-group - consisting of the specific group of people of African origin, born outside the African Continent, who have never had access to an automatic birthright to claim a specific African citizenship or nationality due to the horrific legacy of the transatlantic slave trade, but recognise their Right To Return (RTR) to their ancestral homeland -  have their specific needs met to achieve successful repatriation with a recommendation that the African Diaspora Desk works in partnership with the Diaspora Advisory Board instituted by the Declaration Of The Global African Summit 2012 for each member state.

ii) Implement legislation to assist African Diaspora RTR Repatriates with acquiring residency, an expedited path to citizenship, land acquisition, and cultural integration programs which includes the creation of a special immigration category to allow ease of repatriation for this group.

iii) Promote joint work between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Immigration, Home Affairs and Pan African CSOs, that can satisfy the ECOSOCC requirements to become a recognised CSO, to ensure enforcement of said policies as it relates to the ease and successful repatriation of African Diaspora RTR Repatriates.

(iv) Create a direct link from the African Diaspora Desk in all member states to CIDO, to implement appropriate African Diaspora Engagement and Assistance strategies for that African Diaspora RTR group across AU member states.

(v) Direct the African Diaspora Desk and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work on the realization of Vision 2063 with the African Diaspora:- 

According to Mr. Baleka, “We are not simply tourists nor are we just investors. We are a special category of people returning to our ancestral homelands that remain our birthright. We are recovering from ETHNOCIDE, it’s Transgenerational Epigenetic Effects, and repairing the damage it caused.”

BanFaaba President Mario Ceesay said, “The meeting with Her Excellency, Dr. Bennett was extraordinary. We look forward to her assistance in helping Guinea Bissau realize the benefits of a Diaspora program, which has served Ghana so well.”

During the meeting, the possibility of a DAF diplomatic mission to Guinea Bissau for its November Decade of Return event was discussed.

“We intend to brief Her Excellency, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Ms. Suzi Barbosa, as soon as we return,” said Mr. Baleka, who is in Ghana competing in the 14th African Swimming Championships.

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MOTION TO THE AFRICAN UNION EXECUTIVE COUNCIL 39th EXTRAORDINARY SESSION DRAFTED BY BBHAGSIA PRESIDENT AND SUBMITTED TO THE AU ECOSOCC SECRETARIAT THROUGH THE ZAMBIAN MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

AFRICA DIASPORA ALLIANCE

(AfDA) 

Advocacy Committee

SUBMISSION OF A DRAFT MOTION 

FOR AU EXECUTIVE COUNCIL CONSIDERATION

Motion to The African Union Executive Council for a call to action to expedite the participation of the African Diaspora within the structures of the Africa Union

PREAMBLE

We, the undersigned, RECOGNISE the responsibility of The Citizens and Diaspora Directorate (CIDO) to implement the African Union’s (AU) Agenda 2063’ vision of an “integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa driven by its own citizens” and “with the support and contribution of the African Diaspora.”

We RECALL the AU insertion to the Constitutive Act of the AU (Article 3(q)) 2003 which declared its objective shall be to “invite and encourage the full participation of the African Diaspora as an important part of our Continent, in the building of the African Union. That invitation has been recalled repeatedly, for example, in the AU Handbook, statues of the Economic, Social & Cultural Council (ECOSOCC), mandate for CIDO, the reports of South African government-sponsored Diasporan Regional Consultative Conferences and the Accra Declaration 2007.

We ACKNOWLEDGE CIDO’s leadership in the engagement of the AU with non-state actors through its two divisions, the Civil Society Division and the Diaspora Division (DD), to provide a platform for African Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to directly influence the decision-making processes and institutions of the AU through the ECOSOCC, the AU’s advisory organ, which promotes the participation of African Citizens and Civil Society and currently hosted by CIDO.

We are INSPIRED by the DD’s mandate to serve as the focal point and hub to now engage with CIDO as a means for us to be supported as African Diaspora CSOs to become full participants through:-

• promoting and deploying the members of the African Diaspora as a collective group and integrating its resources into the AU and thereby recognised in the process of Pan African unification;

• promoting and implementing sustainable development programmes for the African Continent and the AU, for example, seeking out and developing opportunities for economic and social co-operative development with and for African people;

• establishing the process and conducting the elections for African Diaspora CSO representation in the ECOSOCC General Assembly in order to assume the 20 allocated positions and the other African Diaspora positions defined in the ECOSOCC statutes;

• establishing a forum for the global representation of the voice of the African Diaspora to raise their concerns across the AU.

We NOTE the DD’s definition of the African Diaspora as “consisting of people of African origin living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship and nationality…” and equally AFFIRM and REMIND of the sub-group within the African Diaspora consisting of the specific group of people of African origin, born outside the African Continent who have never had access to an automatic birthright to claim a specific African citizenship or nationality due to the horrific legacy of the transatlantic slave trade but recognise their Right To Return (RTR) to their ancestral homeland.

STATEMENTS

1. WHEREAS The Dum Diversas issued on June 18, 1452, was the declaration of war that initiated the trafficking of African people which is documented in at least 36,000 voyages listed in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database.

2. WHEREAS The 1949 Geneva Convention: Article 4 (1) defines prisoners of war and Article 5 states, “the present Convention shall apply to the persons referred to in Article 4 from the time they fall into the power of the enemy and until their final release and repatriation.” REGRETTING that the African Descendants of those prisoners of war are still yet to be repatriated to their ancestral home on the African continent.

3. WHEREAS the war of aggression by the historic enslavers of the African Diaspora created prisoners of war that were enslaved and colonized not only in the Americas, Arabia and Europe but also on the African continent.

4. RECALLING the Declaration of the 3rd World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, Durban South Africa 2001 which acknowledged that slavery and the slave trade, including the transatlantic slave trade, were appalling tragedies in the history of humanity due to the abhorrent barbarism, the magnitude, the organised nature especially in the negation of the essence of the victims and further acknowledge that they are a crime against humanity which should always have been so and the major sources and manifestations of racism, racial discrimination towards Africans and people of African descent. Also, NOTING the Declaration considered it essential for all countries in the region of the Americas and all other areas of the African Diaspora to recognise the existence of their population of African descent and acknowledge their the right to seek just and adequate reparation or satisfaction for any damage suffered as a result of such discrimination, as enshrined in numerous international and regional human rights instruments, in particular the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

5. RECALLING that in 1893, The Chicago Congress on Africa was convened at the World’s Columbian Exposition by people of African Descent from both sides of the Atlantic, which led to the Atlanta Congress on Africa in 1895. Further, in 1900, the first Pan African Congress held in London set the agenda for liberation movements across the African Diaspora and on the continent.

6. RECALLING that in 1917, the protoype of the African Union 6th Region was created when Marcus Garvey repeated Martin Delany’s call for “Africa for the Africans” and built the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL). This was the largest African Diaspora organization in history with 11 million members on both sides of the Atlantic;

7. RECALLING that those of African Descent in the African Diaspora supported and fought with Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie during the Italian invasion of Ethiopia from 1935 to 1941. The Emperor invited them both before and after the war to return to their fatherland, setting aside land in Shashamane. He began a repatriation recruitment program in the USA in 1954, providing a constitutional provision for citizenship as well as rent free houses, competitive salaries and free transportation. During his Opening Speech on May 23, 1963, he informed the OAU that, "... The blood that was shed and the sufferings that were endured are today Africa's advocates for freedom and unity. Those men who refused to accept the judgment passed upon them by the colonies, ... Many of them never set foot on this continent."

8. THANKFUL that on July 17, 1964, Malcolm X reminded the Organization of African Unity (OAU) that, “Since the 22 million of us [i.e. African Diaspora] were originally Africans, who are now in America (north, south and central) not by choice but only by a cruel accident in our history… we strongly believe that African problems are our problems, and our problems are African problems… and, we will have to solve them together.”

9. RECALLING, PAFMECA, the OAU Liberation Committee at the 1974 Sixth Pan African Congress in Dar es Salaam, the first of the Pan African Congresses to be held in Africa as well as, the Pan African Skills Project initiated in the 1970’s by Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, which specifically recruited Africans from the Diaspora to “come to live and participate in nation building in Tanzania.”

10. THANKFUL that on July 14, 1993, Ghanian President Jerry John Rawlings, in a speech to the OAU in Cairo, called for African leaders to "Make a place for Africans in the Diaspora'' and also said, "We should and must find a way to include all the sons and daughters of Africa in building and moving our societies forward. In this respect, I would propose that the OAU should consider granting observer status to representative groups of Black Africans in the Diaspora."

11. RELIEVED that on February 3, 2003, Siphiwe Baleka (then Ras Nathaniel) was the lone African Diaspora observer at the 1st Extra-Ordinary Summit of the Assembly of the African Union (AU), when it adopted Article 3(q), and that Siphiwe Baleka established the AU 6th Region Education Campaign; THANKFUL that along with Dr. David Horne of the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC) began the process for the African Diaspora to elect representatives for ECOSOCC as mandated by the statutes.

12. RECALLING the Declaration Of The Global African Diaspora Summit, Johannesburg 2012 particularly the Programme Of Action that commits to engaging with developed countries with a view to creating favourable regulatory mechanisms governing migration and to address concerns of African immigrants in Diaspora Communities. FURTHER RECALLING its  encouragement of the African Diaspora to organise themselves in regional networks and establish appropriate mechanisms that will enable their increasing participation in the affairs of the AU as observers and eventually, in the future, as a sixth region of the continent that would contribute substantially to the implementation of policies and programme.

13. AFFIRMING the significance of The International Decade for People of African Descent 2015-2024 proclaimed by UN General Assembly resolution 68/237, as providing a solid framework for AU Member States to join together with those of African descent in the Diaspora and take effective measures for the implementation of a programme of activities promoting recognition, justice and development under the decade’s theme to “promote respect, protection and fulfilment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms of people of African descent.”

14. NOTING in particular, our participation in numerous virtual and in-person conferences held by the United Nations and the African Union over the years. Specifically, HIGHLIGHTING the delegation that met with the ECOSOCC Secretariat in Lusaka, Zambia, March 2016 for the purpose of moving forward with the process of their representation in ECOSOCC but REGRETFUL that the agreed plan of action, a review and follow up on the next step in the process, has still not taken place, and communication with the delegation has not been fulfilled.

15. RECOGNIZING the “Year Of Return, Ghana 2019, For The African Diaspora” formally launched by Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo in Washington, D.C September 2018 which declared a welcome for all people of African Origin to return to Africa, especially Ghana, as being followed by the May 2020 launch of “Beyond The Return” a 10 year project under the theme of ‘A Decade Of African Renaissance 2020-2030 as a flagship programme.

16. NOTING that the organisation the Global African Development Association has launched the Campaign “Rastafari Decade of Return 2020 to 2030” to encourage and empower the Rastafari community to return home to Africa, the continent of their origin. 

17. Additionally, RECOGNISING the official launch of the ‘Welcome Home’ Initiative “Decada Do Retorno 2021-2031” by the Ministry Of Tourism, Guinea-Bissau May 2021 as the official programme of the government to recognise the descendants of people taken from homelands that became the nation of Guinea Bissau as a notable programme of the UN Decade.

18. ASSERTING that we, the people of the African Diaspora of African Descent (RTR), have never ceased in our efforts to organize our communities in order to connect or repatriate to the African Continent and the African Union, nor have we ever stopped our efforts to speak up for the Historic Diaspora, the Contemporary Diaspora and Mother Africa on the world stage.

RESOLUTIONS

We, members of the African Diaspora, pursuant to the need to reconnect with Africa:

1. DECLARE that we accept and ENDORSE the use of ECOSOCC Statues:- Article 4: Membership, Article 5: Election of Members, and Article 6: Eligibility Requirements for Membership, to facilitate full participation of African Diaspora CSOs in the same.

2. DECLARE that each sub-region of the African Diaspora will establish an appropriate consultative process to determine its own modality for electing representatives.

3. URGE the African Union Executive Council to take the following actions in an expeditious manner:

   • Ensure that the African Diaspora is adequately represented in the Bureau, as outlined in Article 9, as one of the Deputy Presiding Officers should be from the Diaspora; as well as one CSO representative must be on the Credentials Committee.

   • Direct ECOSOCC to re-establish communication with the CSOs from the Diaspora who previously made submission of their Framework of Engagement document - to commence its review of their submission, and to provide an update to them - within the next 30 days of the upcoming meeting on 13-14 October 2021.

   • Direct CIDO to contact those CSOs (referred to in 2) to inform them that the review of their pending submission is underway, and for CIDO to give those organisations 30 days to acknowledge that they wish to continue with their applications and update any details. CIDO should then announce a proposed 3 month timeline to the Credential Committee to complete their final decisions on the eligibility of those CSOs from the African Diaspora so they may be added to the list of all accredited CSOs and allow them to prepare for the next elections. In addition, use all communication platforms to publicise this is underway, in order to include all other CSOs that may have interest.

4. REQUEST the AU member states to put in place and enact policies to:-

i) Establish an African Diaspora Desk mandated to ensure that the African Diaspora sub-group - consisting of the specific group of people of African origin, born outside the African Continent, who have never had access to an automatic birthright to claim a specific African citizenship or nationality due to the horrific legacy of the transatlantic slave trade, but recognise their Right To Return (RTR) to their ancestral homeland -  have their specific needs met to achieve successful repatriation with a recommendation that the African Diaspora Desk works in partnership with the Diaspora Advisory Board instituted by the Declaration Of The Global African Summit 2012 for each member state.

ii) Implement legislation to assist African Diaspora RTR Repatriates with acquiring residency, an expedited path to citizenship, land acquisition, and cultural integration programs which includes the creation of a special immigration category to allow ease of repatriation for this group.

iii) Promote joint work between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Immigration, Home Affairs and Pan African CSOs, that can satisfy the ECOSOCC requirements to become a recognised CSO, to ensure enforcement of said policies as it relates to the ease and successful repatriation of African Diaspora RTR Repatriates.

(iv) Create a direct link from the African Diaspora Desk in all member states to CIDO, to implement appropriate African Diaspora Engagement and Assistance strategies for that African Diaspora RTR group across AU member states.

(v) Direct the African Diaspora Desk and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work on the realization of Vision 2063 with the African Diaspora:- 

• with the direct engagement of the African Diasporan CSOs through creating incentive schemes for them to invest directly in the priority sectors

• through providing access to appropriate public and private agencies who could partner with these CSOs to implement agricultural, food security, eco-projects, medical and educational initiatives.

5.   RECOMMENDS these implementations and follow-up mechanisms for this MOTION:

1. That the AU Executive Council accept this submission at the next meeting 13-14 October 2021 as delivered by the ECOSOCC Secretariat in Zambia, on behalf of the African Diaspora at large; and use that office as a channel to reach us.

2. That this document be shared with all AU member states’ Ministry Of Foreign Affairs, so that they can implement the proposed resolutions.

3. That the AU Executive Council remind the relevant AU structures of their responsibility and obligations to enact AU statutes and binding international laws as they relate to the African Diaspora and ensure enforcement of the same.

Signed:

Mrs. Grace A James (Jamaica), Co-President of AfDA

Siphiwe Baleka (USA/Guinea Bissau)

Judge D Peter Herbert O.B.E. (retired) UK

ENDORSED BY THE FOLLOWING DIASPORA ORGANISATIONS

Africa Diaspora Alliance

Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus

Balanta B’urassa History & Genealogy Society in America

Kenya Diaspora Alliance

Zambia Diaspora Foundation

6 Region African Diaspora Alliance in Tanzania

The Mississippi Conference of Black Mayors

Africa-USA Chamber of Commerce

The National Bar Association (USA)

The Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU)

The Society of Black Lawyers (England and Wales)

The Judicial Support Network (England and Wales)

The Honourable Bell Ribeiro-Addy Member of Parliament (U.K.)

The Honourable Claudia Webbe, Member of Parliament, U.K. (Blaksox UK)

Aspire Education (U.K.)

Operation Black Vote (United Kingdom)

The Mississippi Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials

The Cocoa Basket Initiative (U.K.)

UNIA-ACL Kingston Branch

All-African People's Revolutionary Party Tanzania Branch

Bandung Conference

Central American Black Organization (CABO)

Middle East African Diaspora Unity Caucus

Ethiopian World Federation (Addis Abeba Chapter)

BBHAGSIA Member Joshua Roberts Playing Professional Basketball and Lighting It Up at the Armenia Cup.

In his professional basketball debut, Joshua Roberts, a Balanta descendant born in the United States and member of the Balanta B’urassa History & Genealogy Society in America (BBHAGSIA), scored 15 points and had 3 rebounds for team Ararat Yerevan against BKMA in the 2021 Armenia Cup. In his second game against Gyumri, Joshua scored 18 points, had 6 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 blocked shot coming of the bench and playing just 23 minutes. In that game, Joshua shot 63% from the field and was 3 for 5 from three-point range.

We took some time to talk to Joshua about his new professional basketball career.

BBHAGSIA: How did this opportunity to play in Armenia come about?

Joshua: I got hit up by a few pro scouts at the conclusion of my senior year at Roosevelt. I was still recovering due to a knee injury I sustained in the 3rd game. It derailed my plans but I did rehab for months until I was healthy enough to workout again. I participated in the EuroBasket Summer League in Vegas and played well in front of a few agents and teams. An agent from Chicago had referred me to a friend after the camp and that’s were the Armenia opportunity came.

BBHAGSIA: Tell us about your college career. What were the best moments?

Joshua: College was ROUGH and very turbulent. However my top 5 moments would have to come at different times of my college career.

- Number 5 would be winning the San Diego city championship in Jr college with Southwestern. That team was loaded with talent but the best part was our brotherhood and chemistry. We all sacrificed for each other.

- 4th would be taking my African Ancestry test after a college practice in my sophomore year. I had just finished watching Black Panther with my teammates and it motivated me to take the test. I used my college refund check and the rest was history. Looking back now that decision was huge for my college career as finding out I was Balanta got me through tough moments in my career. I had to live up to my ancestors name “those who resist remain”. It was in my DNA to persevere just like the elders before me.

- 3 IU Kokomo vs Robert Morris. I had 7 threes against this team and it was a breakout game for my college career. This game single handily put me on track to become a pro.

- 2 My first college game. When I was 18 played for Lewis University we played BIG10 University of Illinois and for a brief moment a childhood dream came true and introduced me to college basketball. That image of the crowd and stadium motivated me for the rest of my college days as I knew I was close to something huge.

- 1-Finalizing my college career post graduation. I made my own way despite the rough five years. I put my name in record books in my last two years. Finishing top 10 in threes in a season. Becoming the first pro out of Roosevelt University and last pro Robert Morris produced. I was the only player from RMU to go to Roosevelt after the merger and it was good to carry that legacy on. At the end of the day my 5 years in college taught me to walk my own path and create a doorway even when the door seems obsolete.

[Check out Joshua’s scouting report and highlight reel]

BBHAGSIA: What is your connection to Guinea Bissau? Do you have plans to return? If Guinea Bissau develops a team, would you play for Guinea Bissau?

Joshua: I have a connection with Guinea Bissau through my mothers side of the family. Our maternal branch is Balanta. I would love to return to Guinea-Bissau and visit the country. I’m making plans to make that reality soon. If Guinea-Bissau develops a national team I would definitely play for them. To play for a team in my ancestors homeland is deeply spiritual and an honor at the highest level. I also know African basketball is coming up and the NBA invested in the Basketball African League. I would love for the world to see Guinea Bissau on the big stage and represented in the league.

[In fact, Joshua is an accomplished genealogist and comes from a prominent Balanta family that has been featured in Sketches of the History of Balanta People in America: Anthology Series 1. Joshua’s sister Simone is an accomplished young poet.]

4) What are your future plans?

Joshua: Future plans, well I was invited to a training camp in April for the Cape Verde League. I’ll most likely attend so I can get my feet wet in the African markets for basketball. Other than that I’m just developing and enjoying every moment of my career.

[Joshua has been involved in BBHAGSIA efforts to develop the sports infrastructure in Guinea Bissau, having submitted a grant proposal to help the Project Rise/Basket for Kids program as well as designing a framework for helping Guinea Bissau qualify a team for FIBA Olympic basketball qualification.]