Amandla! sponsors fund-raising drive for hurricane victims in the Caribbean and Sudanese refugees

Amandla!, a Bates College organization addressing issues of people of black heritage, has launched a fund-raising drive to assist citizens of the Caribbean islands devastated by recent hurricanes and Sudanese refugees. All proceeds will go directly to the International Red Cross Emergency Relief Fund and Doctors Without Borders. For further information, call 207-795-5118.

Both the hurricanes in the Caribbean and the genocide perpetrated against the residents of Darfur, in eastern Sudan, “have placed millions of people in a situation of extreme hardship,” said Bates sophomore Lori-Anne Ramsay, an Amandla! student organizer from Brookline, Mass. “We need to do everything that we can right now to help.”

Two of the fund-raising events planned to date are suitable for both adults and children and open to the public.

A “Cultural Extravaganza” of songs, dances, storytelling, dub poetry, drumming and steel pans will be presented at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 9, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St., Bates College. Dedicated to highlighting African and African diasporic heritage, the presentation will feature pieces from India, Latin America and the Caribbean performed by students, faculty and a New York-based group Songhai Djeli. No admission will be charged, but donations will be accepted.

A Bates student-vs.-staff and -faculty basketball game will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 15, in Alumni Gymnasium. The public is welcome and admission is $2 at the door.

The basketball fundraiser is co-sponsored by the programs in African American and American cultural studies.