On Saturday, Megan and I attended  Home Hospitality, hosted by Beth Sheffield the global librarian. 

The Piedmont Triad Council for International Visitors welcomed a group of international hip hop artists and museum curators: Mr. Berny ABARCA COTO (Costa Rica), Ms. Flora Natacha SONLOUE (Cote d’Ivoire), Ms. Arta AGANI (Kosovo), Mr. Matus PETRICKO (Slovak Republic), and Mr. Fareed Kubanda KUBANDA (Tanzania). The group is traveling throughout the United States with the US State Department to study the importance of the arts as a vehicle for promoting tolerance and multi-cultural understanding in American communities.

The group of 6 had been in Greensboro since Thursday, and are making several other stops on their journey.  I was not able to hold long conversations 

with all of the visitors, but I did exchange some contact information with Nash!A hot female MC from Cote’ D’ivorie. She was described as the Queen Latifah of Cote D’ivorie, and that she can’t walk the streets of her home country, without mass crowds of people following.

Nash works hard to counter negative images of hip hop and promote a positive model of hip hop as a peaceful way to seek social change. NASH recently made a small nouchi interlude on French rapper MOKOBE’s last album called Mon Afrique. She has just released in December 2008 her first solo album called Ziés Dédjas. (Check out Nash Online)

Towards the end of the night, she freestyled with the house band :), sending a beautiful message of the unity amongst the people of the world and the need for tolerance, peace and love between brethren.

I also had a really great  conversation with Debra, the Executive Director of WinWin Resolutions. WinWin Resolutions is a Greensboro based organization dedicated to violence prevention by developing conflict resolution skills using interactive drama/theater education programs. In September, WinWin will start its Girl’s Mentoring Program called Ladies Organized to Serve Others. Debra is recruiting young women to volunteer and tutor. I signed up to be a mentor, you should too!

This was my first time at Home Hospitality, and I was a little timid at first, but seeing my good friend Zim of Ignite Greensboro helped relax me! I got to meet a ton of new people who are all very active in Greensboro in making it a more culturally inclusive and exciting place to live. By the end of the night, a few young ladies even convinced me to join the dance circle. I want to give a GREAT BIG eHUG to Beth Sheffield for inviting me into her home!

See More Pictures from the evening here. Forgive some of the quality, I need to purchase a new flash for my camera 🙂