“DEI has always been there since the days when the people wanted to be included and have a level playing field,” Kumapayi observed. “Malcolm X was a part of the movement, even Muhammad Ali. It’s all a part of DEI. It is nothing new. It’s just that we have given it this official title of DEI. But the whole idea this year is to showcase what we think at Africa Fest and its production, what we think DEI is. The themes that we come up with every year is usually showcased in the African Village Tent, which is one of the bigger tents at the festival.”

The African Village Tent is traditionally hosted by the African Women’s Association. The concept of DEI takes on a special significance for the members of AWA, who sometimes also imbued it with a feminist perspective.

Vickie Ostien, an AWA member — and a member of the Africa Fest Committee —  talked about how the different principles were reflected in the tent.

“Africa is a great example of human diversity, with over 1,500 different ethnic groups, all speaking their own languages, in 54 countries,” Ostien said about diversity. “Our unique and multitude of differences are seen in our skin colors, our languages and dialects, our laws and customs, our clothing, and our religions. The African Women’s Tent will display some of the different tribes in their different attires, skin colors, and the different head wear in the East, West, North and South of Africa.”

While equity can take on a significance for African nations to be treated as equals on the world stage, it means something more personal for the members of AWA.

“We have shown that women can be leaders in spite of the traditional beliefs that only men can be leaders, or that women can only be home makers,” Ostien said. “This is where we can display African women who hold positions of power in and out of the continent. Women presidents for example, like Ellen Johnson Sirleaf who served as the 24th president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018. Sirleaf was the first elected female head of state in Africa. Or like Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria, who served twice as Nigeria’s finance minister, the first woman to hold the position, was the managing director of the World Bank, and is now the director-general of the World Trade Organization. Another example is Kamala Harris, now the vice president of the United States and Democratic candidate for president in the upcoming election! And we have prominent African women leaders right here in Dane County, including Linda Vakunta, the deputy mayor of the city of Madison, from a Cameroonian family; Judge Nia Trammell, a Dane County circuit court judge, from a Nigerian family; and Nasra Wehelie, the District 7 alder for the city of Madison from Somalia.”

And Ostien feels that Africa is an example to the world of what inclusion really means.

“All of the world’s religions are practiced on the African continent, for the most part in perfect peace,” Ostien said. “We celebrate both Christianity and Islam, often taking part in each other’s festivals and celebrations. The Women’s Tent will include clothing, artifacts, and pictures showing many aspects of the inclusivity of the African cultures.”

While many people come for the performances that occur on-stage, Kumapayi wants to make sure that people are aware of all that Africa Fest has to offer so that people don’t stop at the main stage.

“Starting off in the morning, it’s going to be the Strides for Africa,” Kumapayi said. “It’s a 3K/5K run walk for people of all ages. When we started this collaboration with Strides for Africa, I used to do the 5K run. I then limited it to a 3K walk. And a few years after that, I don’t do that anymore. But the most important thing about the event is even if you are not intending to run or walk, you can still register. Registration fees are $25. The fee in its entirety goes towards building potable water wells and solar electrification in rural Africa. To-date, we have built water wells or solar projects in Ethiopia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, and Ghana. We’re trying to accomplish this in order to change the lives of the many people who may not get clean water or may have to walk several miles to get clean water. Building those wells within those rural communities allows these people to get clean water and improve their lives.”

And then there are the many booths that line the festival grounds.

“People should expect the craft vendors, which is mostly African clothes and shoes and bags and anything you want to wear or carry,” Kumapayi obnserved. “Most of them originate from Africa. And we also have the food vendors. A lot of them will be selling food based on African cuisine.”

The Parade of Nations is a crowd pleaser that is a photo op for everyone.

“We have the Parade of Nations,” Kumapayi said. “People get excited about that because people carry the flag of their country. We do a parade around the park. People are so proud to showcase the flags of their country.”

And of course there is the main stage that features all of the artistic performance talent that Madison’s African community has to offer.

“This year, we’ve got Tani and the Afro-Funkstars, Atimevu and the Masquerade, which people really love,” Kumapayi said. “There will be many other cultural groups and youth too. We try to involve youth to come up on stage and perform. We encourage them to be a part of the festival as much as possible. They are the ones who are going to be carrying this forward in the future. We need to get them involved right now.”

What has delighted Kumapayi has been the growth and the evolving nature of the people who attend Africa Fest each year.

“It is free and open to the public,” Kumapayi emphasized. “People of all ages can come. People from Greater Madison and beyond Dane County come. They come from such places as Illinois, Michigan and Iowa. The year that we did not have the festival due to the pandemic in 2020, I got a call from a senior citizen center in Chicago. They come every year. They bring a busload. They got word that we weren’t going to be staging Africa Fest due to the pandemic. They were disappointed because they had made it their annual trip. They understood, but they were just so disappointed. We love for the community to come and the community loves us back too. It’s great to see a maybe a neighbor. My doctor who is a white man, comes every year. He makes it a point to come to the Welcome Tent. A lot of Americans have adopted African children. The bulk of them are from Ethiopia. For all of the families who have adopted African children, it is a great avenue to bring their children to Africa Fest. When they were adopted, they were little and didn’t know anything. But every year, they are brought to Africa Fest. They start to see more of their culture and learn more. It’s one thing to read about it in books. It’s another thing to actually see people in person.”

On August 17, everyone will be African at Africa Fest. Come and join the family.