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Save the Date: May 14, 3:00 - 5:00

1/29/2016

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One of the most enjoyable parts of last year's inaugural Yo Ghana! gathering was seeing some 230 people from such diverse backgrounds come together to learn about Ghana and each other.

That was what Brando Akoto, the man whom the May 14 2016 dinner will be in honor of, had in mind.

When I think of nonprofit dinners I have been to, three things stand out: 1) High ticket prices: 2) Lots of flashy auction items; 3) Plenty of alcohol to jack up the bidding on said auction items.

Brando had a different set of essentials: 1) Low ticket prices so everyone who wants to come is able to; 2) Honor teachers and other people who make Yo Ghana! go; 3) Provide great Ghanaian food and music and an experience that encourages friendship among people of all ages, income levels, and cultures.

So that's the sort of experience that we'll be striving to again provide from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 14, in the big hall of the Immigration and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO), 10301 NE Glisan, Portland.

We also hope to make some money for Yo Ghana!  But we also remember Brando's counsel whenever the question of fund raising came up: "If we take care of relationships, everything else will take care of itself."

More details to follow, but please plan on being part of the party and a chance to pay our respects to Brando, our guiding light and best friend to everyone who knew him.

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Brando's Enduring Love

1/16/2016

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Brando Akoto, who passed away in late October was the most generous person I've ever met--and his generosity continues to resonate.

Before I knew Brando well, I made the mistake of answering honestly a couple of questions he posed before we traveled to Ghana together: how did my laptop function in Ghana, and what did I eat while in Ghana?  I told him that my laptop was getting up there in years but worked fine and that I was pretty flexible about eating in Ghana but liked to take along a couple of packages of granola bars for emergencies.

A few weeks later he gave me not one but two laptops he had reconditioned, and while we were in Ghana about a hundred pounds of granola bars magically appeared.

When it came to giving, Brando was anything but temperate.  If he cooked for you, there was enough to feed ten, not one.  If you asked for five minutes of his time, he would give you an hour.  He made me realize that people were capable of much more love and generosity than I had thought possible.

So I should not have been surprised a couple of weeks ago when Lilly, his wife, dropped off a check for Yo Ghana! for a very large amount, by far the biggest donation we have ever received.  It was, she explained, a love give from Brando.
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We miss you so very, very much, dear friend.  But you shape and enrich our lives every day.

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2016 and Decisions for White Americans

1/1/2016

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               White America is pulling up its drawbridges, stopping its ears, and retreating to the comfort of the familiar.  We are, as Governor Chris Christie puts it, “scared to death.”  Despite the infinitesimally small chance of being attacked by people unlike ourselves, we are more and more frightened of them.  Despite stark racial and global inequalities, we are less and less interested in hearing about them.
               My experience suggests that white isolationism harms more than world peace and racial reconciliation.  It diminishes the lives of white Americans.
               I grew up so far out in the country that Astoria seemed like a big city.  I seldom encountered black or foreign people.  A quarter century after graduating from high school my friends were more interested in wine tasting and yoga than in beer drinking and hunting.  But they were still overwhelmingly white.
               That changed when my wife and I adopted a black infant.  Our adoption counselor told us that black Americans would sort of adopt us, would help us to raise our son—and that we would need their help.
               So we moved to the cosmopolitan neighborhoods of Northeast Portland and its interracial schools, churches, and other organizations.  Peter and I even visited West Africa.  Our counselor was right.  Black friends and strangers have helped us every step of the way and are as responsible as we are for Peter becoming a compassionate, resilient, and delightful adult who makes himself at home where ever he finds himself.
               But something else weird and wonderful happened while orchestrating our son’s multi-racial childhood.  Black Americans and Africans greatly enriched my life, too.
               First revelation: black people didn’t expect me to fix or even apologize for racism.  Through both friendships and structured dialogues I’ve learned that most people of color just hope that I’ll listen to and be honest with them.  In doing so my own sense of humanity and community has deepened.
               Second revelation: working with diverse people to make the world better is a blast.  Going to Africa introduced me to school administrators and teachers who fight impossible odds on behalf of their students every day—and at the end of every day thank God for that opportunity.  Their joyful dedication presents me with a choice: do I treat my privileges as entitlements to be protected or as gifts to be shared?  So I now head up a nonprofit—Yo Ghana!—that links some 2,000 students in Ghana and the Pacific Northwest who are learning from and about each other first hand.  A student from a mostly Muslim school neatly sums up our mission: “If we choose to, we can make the world a smaller place.”
​               What will you choose to do with your fears and your privileges in 2016?
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    Author

    Most of the entries will be from Dr. David Peterson del Mar, the President and co-founder of Yo Ghana!

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