Voffee Jabateh And ACANA: An African Success Story In The City Of Brotherly Love
By Nvasekie N. Konneh

Saturday, February 24th was another milestone in the life of ACANA (African Cultural Alliance of North America) and its founder and CEO, Voffee Jabateh. The program is called Taste of Africa, an annual celebration of the Black History Month gala fashion show and award banquet. It was the scene of who’s who among the local Philadelphia politicians, including the current lineup of mayoral candidates for the mayor of the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia. There were more than 300 persons in attendance, among them Pennsylvania State Senator, Anthony H. William, Chairman of the Mayor Commission on African & Caribbean Affairs, Stanley Strotter, State Representative Dwight Evans, a mayoral candidate. Other mayoral hopefuls at the program included the millionaire candidate, Tom Knox, and Michael Nutter, as well as Sharif Street, the son of the current mayor of Philadelphia, John Street. To see all these local politicians coming to grace this occasion organized by this son of Africa, indeed this son of Liberia was a proud moment not only for Vofee Jabateh, but also for all Africans who have come to America in search of the American Dream.

Many a time we complain about how hard life is in America as we end up doing menial jobs we are too over qualified for. Despite all the difficulties, some usually beat the odd to make it to the fullest. Voffee Jabateh with ACANA is just one of those that have made it with widespread supports from the political and social establishments within the city of Philadelphia.

According to Mr. Jabateh, the goal of ACANA is to provide “social services, arts and cultural education and community development to all within our service environment.” From the number of people it is serving, including school age children participating in after school programs, immigrants needing help in accessing the city or state programs set aside for them, it is clear that ACANA is living up to its promise of service to the community. There are other community organizations that use ACANA facility for programs such as monthly meetings, as well as formal program such as dance and pageants.

During this spectacular program held at the Holiday Inn Hotel at 10th Street and Packer Avenue in South Philly, foods from Ethiopia, Guinea, Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Trinidad & Tobago were on the menu. That’s where the annual program’s title, Taste of Africa comes from. While the guests were dinning, Ms. Sonya Toler, Executive Director of Pennsylvania governor Rendell’s Commission on African-American Affairs, delivered the keynote address of the ocassion. Ms. Toler, whose job is to assist African-Americans gain full access to all the opportunities within the commonwealth of Pennsylvania said that native Africans and African-Americans must learn to understand more about each other in order to clear the air of the negative views they may have of each other. That way she said they will be able to bridge the societal and economic gaps that exists within the society. She went on to say that “All African-Americans aren’t robbing people and acting crazy any more than all Africans are primitives living in the Bush.” Another speaker during the program, Keith McCall said, “Unless we have been to Africa to see how Africans live, we only know the images giving to us by the media.” Mr. McCall is a high school technology teacher, who runs YEIT, an organization that trains young people in entrepreneurship.

During the program, State Senator Anthony H. Williams (D. Philly) was presented an award for the helps he has provided the African community over the years. Sen. William in turn surprised the audience by giving ACANA a donation of 250,000.00 dollars from the state of Pennsylvania. State Rep. and mayoral candidate, Dwight Evans promised to match that amount if elected mayor of Philadelphia in the up-coming mayoral election. Speaking, as he accepted the award, Sen. Williams talked about Africans and Caribbean natives who have settled in South West Philadelphia and areas within Delaware County. He said, “I didn’t just become aware of the African community and its contribution to society, I was raised to understand the importance of Africa and its people. We have to understand that engineers that come from Africa shouldn’t be treated like second-class citizens and end up working at McDonald. We have to see that education they have is comparable and treat them as such.” Sen. Williams was also given a citation presented to him by Karen Small, the community liaison for City Council’s President, Anna Verna.

While the guests might have enjoyed the taste of the delicious dishes, the evening fashion show was one of the highlights of the whole program. Sharif Street, who is a candidate for the at Large City Council seat dressed in an African gown as he escorted one of the models of the fashion show. The way he was dressed and the way he walked the catwalk made him look like a model rather than a lawyer and political candidate. While the guests were feasting their eyes on the beautiful designer fashions and the models wearing them, the program was further enriched by the Universal African Dance & Drum Ensemble of Camden, New Jersey. With the more than 30 drummers, acrobats, dancers, the ensemble fired up the audience with creative dance styles.

The program was held in collaboration with Children Crisis Treatment Center and the Liberian United Women in Progress. All and all it was a night of celebration of African creativity in dance, fashion and foods. For Voffee Jabateh and his able staff of ACANA, it was a proud moment of sweet success. Something they have done since the birth of ACANA six years ago. Something they will like to see repeated again and again.

For Voffee Jabateh, success did not just start in America. As president of JITCO (Jabateh International Trading Company) before the war in Liberia, Jabateh was running a successful company with an investment capital of more than a million dollars. The company was a distributor of rice, clothing, used cars, etc. With 25 employees, Jabateh operated the business from 1983 to 1990. From 1998 to 2001, Jabateh served as the president of the Liberian Association of Pennsylvania. With that said, one can say that Jabateh came to America with a strong sense of success. It is that business acumen that he has put to use in America whose result we all have seen today. The only difference between what he was doing in Liberia and what he’s doing in the USA is that ACANA is a not-for-profit entity while the business in Liberia was for profit. For the man who says he does not believe in flamboyancy, and prefers humble simple life, ACANA brings him to where he wants to be in life, rendering service to humanity.

As of now, ACANA has been conducting workshops for other ethnic organizations from South Africa, Japan, Burma, and Sudan. These workshops have been held as contract with the Office of Refugee Resettlement in America. ACANA is been contracted by IRC to open an office in Monrovia, Liberia which will develop a strategy in dealing with the internally displaced people in the country.