“Diaspora” is a community of people who live outside their country of origin or ancestry but maintain active connections with it. With more than 62 million first and second-generation immigrants currently in the United States, these communities are some of America’s greatest resources for development and diplomacy. This event is an opportunity for university students, faculty and staff as well as diaspora leaders and local community organizations to learn more about initiatives on diaspora engagement and about how to get involved with Global Diaspora Week, October 12-18, 2014.
The Diaspora Tour is sponsored by the Department of State, the International Diaspora Engagement Alliance and USAID. This event at the University of Maryland will include remarks by Department of State Special Representative for Global Partnerships Andrew O’Brien, who will moderate a panel discussion.
In addition to Punyua, who also is a UMD men’s track athlete and the founder of Rafiki Beads & Trips, panelists include: Semhar Araia, founder and executive director, Diaspora African Women’s Network; David Ensor, journalist and director, Voice of America; and Merle Collins, professor of English and activist, College of Arts & Humanities.
Rafiki Beads & Trips sells accessories handcrafted with care by women in rural villages of Kenya in the Maasai Tribe, and also organizes “life-changing trips”. The company has significant connections to BSOS and to UMD; ECON major Alex Willett was a founding business associate, and the company has employed other BSOS students.
This event is co-sponsored by the Center for the History of the New America, the College of Arts and Humanities and the School of Public Policy.
