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Mankon
people in the Windy City of Chicago have lived and worked
together for a long time. However, on October 21st 2006, they
decided to add a touch of formality and legality to their
community with the creation and registration of an association
which they called The Mankon Cultural and Development Association
of Chicago (Macuda Chicago) as a chapter of the umbrella MACUDA
America. The chapter is currently proud of 18 members of whom
12 are very active. An executive team has also been forged
out of the 12 active members to lead the branch. The executive
team consists of the following members;
MACUDA-Chicago
Executive
President:
Mr. Henry Ayeah
Vice President: Mr. Christopher Asongwe
Treasurer: Mrs. Frida Asongwe
Publicity Secretary: Mrs. Hilda Asongwe
Minutes Secretary: Mrs. Margaret Nkwenti
Protocol Officer: Mr. Emmanuel Nde
Social Secretary: Mr. Ignatius Asongwe
Cultural Secretary: Nanga Tabah, Esq.
Patrons: Messrs. Clement Nkwenti & Godfrey Ngwa
Patroness: Mrs. Bertha Ngwa
Technical Adviser: Mr. Michael Asongwe
As
you might have noticed, all of the 12 active members are holding
executive positions. It can therefore be logically stated
that MACUDA Chicago is a branch everybody leads and serves
at the same time. This is an innovation worth emulating in
our community!
Since
its inception, MACUDA Chicago has been a catalyst in the conception
and execution of serious projects especially in Mankon. Two
projects are paramount on the list of projects realized so
far by the Mankon men and women of the Windy City. First,
$1,100 was raised and donated in 2009 to help equip the Mankon
cultural museum. Second, the branch has purchased mbaghlum
instruments which it is using to give a musical flavor to
its numerous events. Chicago has been fine-tuning the melody
and cadence of its mbaghlum with the ultimate goal of unleashing
the best performance ever during the 2010 convention. Delegates
to the convention will live to tell the story!
MACUDA
Chicago has even more projects in the pipeline. Plans are
underway to acquire uniforms for the chapter. There are also
fund-raising activities to sponsor the completion of the handicraft
center infront of the museum back at home. There is no doubt
therefore as to where MACUDA Chicago’s share of the
proceeds of the convention will be invested. It is incumbent
upon us as members of the Mankon family in America to support
Chicago in these laudable efforts by physically attending
the convention. Finally, there is the mother of all projects
to which we are eagerly looking forward: The 2010 MACUDA convention.
It
has been 1 year since our last family reunion in Dallas and
while we might have spent the most part of our time dreaming
and waiting for the next come-together, members of the pragmatic
Chicago branch have been working selflessly to convert a dream
into reality. They have secured a luxurious convention center
and negotiated a discount in the plush Holiday Inn Tinley
Park Hotel so that attendees can be treated to the best their
money can buy. Chicago members have also been holding back-to-back
meetings (sometimes as often as bi-weekly) to craft and polish
logistical and other expectations of this year’s convention
delegates. There will be a cornucopia, Chicago vows, of food
and drinks for everybody. But most of all, there will be smiles,
laughter, joy and open arms by the branch members to grace
delegates with the warmest welcome, sojourn and farewell they
have ever had at any convention. Who can afford to miss this
once-in-a-life-time treat?
The
Gongs of Chicago 2010 are sounding. MACUDA Chicago is inviting
us all unreservedly. Let us in unison, like children with
a common ancestry that we are, answer “PRESENT”
come August 6th, 2010.
Tangyie
Elijah Che Munyong-Abieri
Volunteer Town-crier
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