Community members and organization leaders of the African Family Health Organization, or AFAHO, gathered Saturday to celebrate African and Caribbean culture.
The small block party in Southwest Philly is the first of its kind. Executive director Oni Richards said she was excited to celebrate the communities they serve, especially the middle through high school students that attend the African Youth Empowerment Program, an after-school offering. Several of the students, about 90% of whom are immigrants or refugees from African countries, recently graduated high school and are attending college in the fall.
“Today is about them. We have other events for adults, elders, but I don’t think they get celebrated enough, we focus more on the negative too much,” Richards said. “This is just a way for us as staff as an organization to say we see you, we appreciate you, we acknowledge you, you’ve done a great job this year.”
Richards said the program offers mentorship, builds community, and supports struggling students with tutoring and homework help… The program’s goal is to equip the students with the skills and tools they need to attend college or trade schools.
Ouedraogo Kris, 19, has participated in the after-school program since 2020. He said AFAHO is his “second family.”
“I come there, they help me with my homework,” Kris said. “If I got stuff, they can help me with that, if I’ve got problems, they can help with that.”
Kris is planning to attend either Philadelphia’s Aviation Institute and become a commercial pilot or go to the Community College of Philadelphia and study finance. He hopes to continue to be a part of the AFAHO community as a mentor.
“We have this village concept in Africa, where it takes a village to raise a child, it’s very true literal, it’s literal in Africa, where it takes a village,” Richards said. “So that’s missing here … it’s more isolated. And so we’re trying to form that village around them to support them in every aspect of their lives, whether it’s academic, whether it’s building those social-emotional skills, even simple things like changing a tire, washing dishes, conflict resolution skills.”
Lema Amani, 17, said AFAHO helped her be more comfortable in herself.
“At first, I was kind of shy but more people start coming up and I start acting like myself, and have more friends,” Amani said.
Amani is looking forward to being a part of the AFAHO program next year and getting help and support with applying to colleges.
Tiguida Caba, founder of AFAHO, said Saturday’s event was a celebration of the power of AFAHO, 22 years after she first launched the organization.
“I call that a blessing and a dream coming true, though, we still have more things we want to accomplish.”
AFAHO is hosting a grand opening for a new health clinic in Darby in September. The organization will also offer a health screening day for adults at their office location in Southwest Philly in October.
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