Africa party in the park festival held in Canberra

Africans living in the Australian Capital Territory showcased their various cultures through music, dance, arts, crafts, fashion and food at the maiden 'African Party in the Park Festival’ which was held on the 28th of April 2018 at the beautiful Lennox Gardens.

Festival goers enjoyed great Afro dance beats, delicious meals and performances from entertaining groups like Drumassault, Fred Nii Addo and One Spirit Africa band as well as South African born hip hop star KG and Passion and Purpose dance group.

Five Leaders of the political divide were all present for the festival and spent hours interacting with the various communities that were at the event.

They praised the efforts of the organizers in bringing together the community and displaying the rich, diverse and beautiful African culture to Canberrans.

There was a total of 15 stalls with 7 African Embassies and High Commissions, but conspicuously Ghana High Commission was absent, Julius Adu one of the organizers said.

“Well, I think maybe, they didn’t have any interest in it and didn’t see any benefit from participating.

“They were offered a free stall to sell Ghana, yet they didn’t turn up.

“Emails were sent to them but there was no response and I believe they missed an opportunity to sell Ghana,” he said.

Melanie Marquaye, an international student who moved from Ghana 6 months ago said it was an awesome experience to have the privilege of being at the Africa Party Festival.

“I have only been in Australia for a couple of months and it was great to see people from my country and to connect with other African people as well.

“I really had a great time and enjoyed the food, color and the Afro beats but very disappointed that Ghana’s High Commission was not represented,” she said.

Afro beats Canberra Co-founder Mr Elijah Mahama said that it is totally unacceptable for Ghana not to be represented on a stage like this.

“The High Commissioner and his staff are here on tax payers money to sell Ghana and if they

don’t get themselves involved in activities of this nature, then why are they here?

“Ghana will never develop with this kind of mentality from our leaders… I only hope they will stop their too diplomatic ways of doing things and get involved in the community and help promote the motherland,” he said.

The organizers of the festival said that preparations are well underway for next year’s one which promises to be greater than this one.