On Friday, March 21 the Harding African Student Association (HASA) will be hosting an event to celebrate and educate students on African culture and values.
The evening will begin with dinner in the cafeteria at 5 p.m. The show will start around 7 p.m. in the Admin Auditorium.
Dinner is free for students with caf swipes or $10 without; it costs $4 to attend the performance only and dinner and performance combined without caf swipes is $13.
HASA president senior Nnaemeka Eze said there will be performances taking place at dinner as well as at the show. He said there will only be a set amount of tickets available for nonstudents.
Junior Latifah Booker said the event will feature skits, African cultural dances, poetry reading, singing, a fashion show and an interview with Chancellor Ganus about his experiences in Africa. She said there are about 25 performers involved in the program.
Eze said this event is a great way to expose and educate people who are interested in going to Africa before they actually go — especially by trying the food. Eze said the whole campus is going to really enjoy the dinner.
“The event celebrates a love for Africa,” Eze said. “A lot of the people in the fashion show are from all over. The fashion show celebrates African attire.”
According to Booker the performances and fashion show include people from Africa and all around the world.
Eze said there will be a masquerade preview on Thursday, March 20 after chapel.
“We have been rehearsing four days a week since the beginning of this semester, and some of the practices have (lasted) up to three hours,” Booker said. “And the week of the show we will practice everyday.”
According to Eze, the HASA group is very close. Booker said HASA is a group that helps each other out.
“HASA is a family of diverse people who have a love for Africa,” Eze said. “HASA serves as a beacon at Harding University to promote African culture and values and to enlighten people while sharing with our community our food, fashion and music. It is a group open to anybody, and it is a support group to people who are far away from home.”
The HASA group plans to put up flyers, announce the event at churches and in chapel and create a Facebook group for the event.
