EVERY year, without fail, the African Cultural Development Association (ACDA) sets the tone to the format the year’s Emancipation celebrations will take, particularly in terms of what African country and local community it will honour and highlight to mark the occasion.

As the organisation has said time and again, the reason it chooses an African country to call attention to each year “is because most Guyanese of African Descent cannot trace their ancestral roots to a particular Africa nation.”
And in choosing that country, the organisation says what it tries to do is not only to tell a little something about it, but to also let people know that Africa is not just any old place on the map but a continent of 54 countries, each with their own individual language, or languages in some cases, and cultural mores.
And so, in keeping with that age-old tradition, this year they’ve decided to go with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, ‘DRC’ for short, as not only is it the second largest country in Africa with a very rich history and culture, but also, like Guyana, it has vast natural resources among other similarities we happen to share.
But what is of more importance, it is said, is that the ‘Congo Naya’ people that reside here are a direct descendant of a group of Congolese settlers who came to these shores as indentured labourers after the abolitition of slavery.
As such, taking our cue from ACDA, as has been our wont when putting together our Emancipation Supplement, the accent this year, of course, is on the DRC.
However, we’ll be the first to admit that this was no easy task, given all the negativity associated with that largely Francophone Central African country, what with all the internal strife and concomitant political instability, not to mention the atrocities and grinding poverty.

But if one were to look hard enough, there are some gems, and this is what we tapped into in bringing you our subscribers this year’s offering.
One such gem, we found, is the interesting life of the sapeur, what we here in Guyana would have called in the days of yore “a presser-foot”, which is essentially a man who likes nothing better than to dress up in all the latest fineries just so he could “cut style” and impress the ladies.
What we found, however, is that this thing they have going on in the Congo is taking this “presser-foot” business to a whole new level, as you will no doubt find out.
We also stumbled upon quite a few notables who made it big in the field of music, like the legendary Papa Wemba, whom people speak of with the same reverence they do Nigeria’s Fela, Manu Dibango of the Cameroons, Youssou N’Dour of Senegal, or South Africa’s Hugh Masekela.

And, ever mindful of the old adage that “Charity begins at home”, we’ve also focussed a bit on the local village of choice this year, which is Union or Number 53 Village as it is more popularly called, located some 34 miles from the township of New Amsterdam in the County of Berbice.
For the fashion-conscious, we’ve brought you what’s hot in the line of couture, given the trend more and more these days to go ethnic, and bearing in mind as well the time of year this is for Guyanese and, by extension, Peoples of African Descent.
And there’s Uncle Francis who we got to take us on a trip down memory lane to the days when Emancipation Day was plain ol’ August Monday, and even before that when it was called First of August.
There’s so much more we would have liked to talk about, but Alas! Space does not permit us to do so.
But, take heart! There’s always next year, God willing!
Meantime, do have a swell Emancipation Day!

Yours truly