African students hold fundraiser

People spilled beyond the hundred chairs in the Grand Hall of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center last Thursday, but guests still found room to dance on the edges of the crowd. A three-table buffet and six-piece band added to the swell of the room. A wide range of food and decorative attire splashed it with color. \nThe occasion was a fundraising dinner presented by the IU African Students' Association. The money earned from the event will fund its outreach and cultural programs in the upcoming year, graduate student and ASA president Akuba Dolphyne said. Near the end of the evening she had counted almost $400 in donations. \n"It's not what we expected at all," Dolphyne said. Dolphyne said they put up signs in every department and in dorms on campus, but she was still surprised at the positive response and number of people who showed up for the dinner. She estimated half of the crowd to be faculty and staff from cultural departments and organizations on campus. \nGraduate student Juliet Glenn-Callender, vice-president and communications director of the ASA, said she is glad people are recognizing the association and keeping it in mind.\n"We would hope the next time we have a function like this, people will respond the same," she said. \nThe dinner featured more than 20 student-made African dishes, including curry chicken from Trinidad and fried plantains from Ghana. Also served was an abundance of West African jollof rice and gari foto, a dish made with fried cassava and tomato sauce. \nAfro Hoosier International, an IU afro-pop dance band, performed upbeat music during and after the meal. Their repertoire covers songs from many different African languages and cultures.\nSophomore Lebogang Molefi, a member of the ASA, said the festivities are what always draw people to their events. \n"It's the band; it's the food," she said. "Different people from different countries -- everybody comes out."\nDolphyne said that ASA's purpose is to provide support for African students at IU and to promote a greater awareness and understanding of African culture. Their particular goal this year is to reach out to IU and the city of Bloomington and let people know of the association's existence. \n"We would like the Bloomington community to get to know us," she said. \nAt the dinner, they passed out brochures to help accomplish this objective. It asked guests what they would most like to know about Africa. Dolphyne said the ASA will attempt answer these questions on their Web site.\nDolphyne encourages interested people to e-mail their questions about Africa to iuasa@exchange.indiana.edu. For more information about the African Students' Association, visit www.indiana.edu/~iuasa or mypage.iu.edu/~iuasa.