HUMANITAS AFRIKA PRESS RELEASE ON THE OCCASION OF THE LAUNCH OF THE FIRST AFRICAN RESOURCE CENTRE IN PRAGUE, THE CZECH REPUBLIC: 28.01.2005

This press release serves to announce the official launch of the first ever African Resource Centre in Prague, the Czech Republic. The Resource Centre is the brain child of Humanitas Afrika, a humanitarian non-governmental organisation founded on the initiative of some Africans and Czechs acting in concert to promote Africa and African culture. And the inaugural ceremony of the Resource Centre, which is scheduled to take place at 15:30 on friday, January 28th, 2005 in Jaromirova 59, Nusle, Prague 2 at the office premises of Humanitas Afrika, will bring together representatives of the African diplomatic corps, municipal representatives of Prague 2, leading Czech Africanists, Africans and friends of Africa. Indeed, many are those looking forward to this one occasion for the promise the Resource Centre holds to bring Africa closer home to the Czech Republic.

Education on and about Africa are centre piece to the very essence of Humanitas Afrika, and ever since it was founded in 2000 the organisation has been actively engaged in activities aimed at shedding light on the people, culture, and socio-economic dynamics of Africa including the diaspora. Many of these activities have taken the form of either visitations to schools where workshops on a variety of African centred issues provide a desirable platform for awareness raising among young students. Or they have targeted the broader general public through forums, symposia, and seminars where leading academics, activists, policy makers together with the all and sundry engage in debate around topical issues on Africa. In many other cases these activities have simply taken the form of cultural programmes to showcase the cultural heritage and diversity of African peoples.

There is no doubt that in all of these activities Humanitas Afrika has achieved fundamental successes in its overall educational drive on matters African. But these successes notwithstanding, a Resource Centre that also doubles as a library , has always been considered by Humanitas Afrika as an essential instrument to achieving effective dissemination of information on and about Africa and its diaspora. As such the Resource Centre is intended to serve as the first port of call for credible and balanced information on everything African. In light of that the literature available at the Resource Centre shall include books, magazines, journals, periodicals, etc as well as documentaries and other electronic forms of information. And although the foucus shall remain African other books of global interest, from archaelogy to zoology, shall provide additional boost to the content and options at the Resource Centre.

Humanitas Afrika is therefore happy to take this opportunity to invite the general public and the media to witness the official launch of this unique and groundbreaking feat being undertaken by Humanitas Afrika in Prague at the time, date and venue indiacted above. While the Dean of the African Ambassadors, H. E. Dr. Noel N. Lehoko, who is at the same time the Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa here in the Czech Republic, will cut the sod on the occasion, the keynote speech will be given by Prof. Lubo? Krop?ček of the Near Eastern and African Studies Department at the Charles University in Prague. Quite obviously it is our hope that the Czech media would want to carry this story to call attention to the good works of minorities in the Czech Republic.

Kofi Nkrumah President