Nigeria, you don't look a day over forty . . . Nigeria's 46th Independence Day celebrations will be held tomorrow night at the Africa World Museum on Peachtree Street.

Atlanta's Nigerian consulate will be closed on Monday and resume business on the 3rd.  ¶ 2:14 PM 0 comments

  A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City
Doctors Without Borders (Medecins sans frontiers) opened a public education exhibit in Piedmont Park today -- a refugee camp in the heart of the city.

MSF wants to let people know who a refugee is, and what their experience is like.

A refugee has a “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country", according to the UN, who created the definition in a 1951 treaty which most countries have signed.

Basically, a refugee has fled his country because of persecution, including torture, or the fear thereof. They leave home, often in a panic, sometimes at gunpoint, and dash for the next country. But often, the country next door, like Pakistan or Guinea or Kenya does not want them and can't take care of them. There are about 8.4 million refugees in the world today.

Visas for resettlement countries like the US, UK, Canada and a few others come for a lucky few. Generally those able to prove they have been tortured, seen family killed, and the like.

Atlanta is one of the US' larger resettlement hubs. One of the area's biggest resettlement agency, the IRC, has had over 16,000 clients since 1979. In Clarkston, especially. On the right there's some permalinks to refugee service orgs in Atlanta. They can all use volunteers, y'all. People that survive the refugee experience are some of the most remarkable people you will ever have the opportunity to meet.

MSF predicts about 1,000 visitors a day to their ersatz camp.  ¶ 6:14 PM 0 comments

  "Atlanta's Sexiest Intercultural Party"
Bombay Fusion is, according to

the notice at Dunia, "Atlanta's Sexiest Intercultural Party".

It seems that this place, the Compound, is cookin' up the global flava; on Thursday anyway. They promise "a hot and sweaty salsa inferno", Reggaeton, an Arabic Oasis with Hookahs, and belly dancers."

Too bad AG has never been much of a club kid.  ¶ 12:43 PM 0 comments

  Atlanta Asian Film Festival
The Atlanta Asian Film Festival begins on September 22. The showings are at the High, at Mercer, and in Dunwoody and Kennesaw.

They have movies from Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, India & etc. . .  ¶ 9:02 PM 0 comments

  Wyang Kulit, Saturday night Javanese Wayang Kulit Under the Stars (shadow puppet play)
Midiyanto, shadow puppeteer / Darsono, guest musician
Saturday, September 30, 2006, 7:30 PM
Outdoor performance next to the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts at Emory University
Free admission
Bring your blanket and a picnic for an entertaining family event by one of the most repected Javanese shadow puppeteers performing today: Midiyanto, currently visiting professor at University of California - Berkeley

In conjunction with the Emory Gamelan Ensemble   ¶ 2:35 PM 0 comments

  As-Salamu Alaykum Islam today may be as much a part of America as apple pie, but plenty of Americans have never been to a masjid, and Islam is a relatively new import to the ATL, so, to Al-Farooq Masjid we go.

Invitation and kindness to strangers is one of the obligations of Islam. So they're totally interested in giving tours of the masjid. Alas, the inside isn't quite complete yet, but you still get a tour with a knowledgeable guide. Stop on by.





Also, Japanfest will be upon us next weekend. And on their website, a list of pretty much every Japanese culture/life/art/etc organization in the whole Southeast. This is one of the year's biggest ATL events.

It pre-starts on Thursday the 21st with the first of three films by Mizoguchi Kenji at 205 White Hall, Emory.  ¶ 2:09 PM 0 comments

  One heart The Atlanta-Montego Bay Sister City Committee is having its annual dance next weekend to raise money to their Health Mission in . . . Montego Bay. Over the last 12 years, the Committee has sent more than $250,000 in supplies to Montego Bay area residents, not counting the time donated by doctors and nurses.

Also, New Creations records has opened a new office in Kingston. It was founded in 2004 by Jamaican-in-Georgia Sherwin Sterling. Their top artist right now is Dez I.

There's a Jamaican Tourist Board office on Ashford Dunwoody Road.

Or did you want the "Best of Jamaica in Atlanta" winners of 2005?

Hope you didn't miss the Jamaican Independence Day celebrations.  ¶ 8:35 PM 0 comments

  Ellen stops by
President of Liberia Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was in Atlanta today and yesderday. On Tuesday, she gave the convocation speech at Clark-Atlanta University. Pearl of wisdom: "Those countries that function best have gender equity through equal access to education."

Today, she is at Georgia Tech to talk about the role of IT in Liberian development.

She was also in Atlanta in May visiting family in Acworth.  ¶ 8:10 AM 0 comments

  Georgia Tech & International Affairs Word is, Georgia Tech is supposed to be planning to open a campus in Singapore and a campus in Hyderabad to add to the one they have in Metz, France.

They already have a heavy partnership with the National University of Singapore. GA Tech literature even says they have an actual campus¹ in Singapore, but having extensively explored the 267 sq ft island, AG didn't see it.

1. read the small, small print  ¶ 8:10 PM 0 comments

  Beautiful Russian Ladies Want to Talk to You. . . Atlanta is home to the one of the country's biggest mail order bride companies, "European Connections".

Their site displays an Atlanta Chamber of Commerce logo, but they do not show up in the CofC's online directory, to the best of our searching ability.  ¶ 10:15 PM 0 comments

  Ich habe Deutschland gern!
German practice with the Atlanta Kaffeeklatsch once a month. This sounds very organized. They've been around at least seven years.

Or, you can practice French. . .  ¶ 6:54 AM 0 comments