Aiding African children through traditional dance

The stage of the York College Performing Arts Center vibrated with the jumping and head tossing of traditional African dance on Saturday, July 12.
The performance, delivered by Bambara Drum & Dance Ensemble and Asase Yaa African American Dance Theatre, both based in New York, was not just energetic and beautiful - it was also for a good cause. The proceeds from the tickets will go to help children of African descent throughout the world.
“Women [in Ghana] try not to have children because they don’t want to be uneducated,” said Nana Antinaa-Bey, who came for the performance from Philadelphia, PA. Antinaa-Bey said she regularly volunteers to go to schools in Ghana to donate supplies.
The organization that hosts the annual fundraiser is First Child Society, Inc., located in Queens Village. It focuses on health and education issues, especially ones affecting children in Ghana.
In previous years, about $3,000 was collected to aid the children, but this year’s estimates are not yet available, said Nana Kwesi Oduru Bempa, the organization’s director of legal affairs.
Of course, every dollar collected is appreciated. “The worst school in New York would be a palace to those children [in Ghana],” Bempa said, explaining that the country is struggling with endemic social issues.
But collecting funds has been hard for First Child because filling the 1,100 seats at York’s auditorium is difficult, Bempa explained.
“As much work as we put into it, it’s really been a tough cookie to chew,” he said.