most stories should start at the beginning and work their way to the end...instead today I am going to talk about the present...and will share the incredible events over the past two days in future posts this week...there have been so many unexpected connections, opportunities and outcomes at this conference. As it becomes more and more evident how African and Black populations not only in the Diaspora, but from the continent herself are absent in this conference, the work of ABDGN becomes even more important.

for example, our networking zone in the Global Village is situated in a prime location right beside the main entrance to the venue, with the Caribbean "liming" zone a couple of booths away from us and the sub-saharan African networking zone directly across from us. We were excited about this "segregated" positioning as it brought all of our communities together.

The Global Village openened on sunday and saturday morning we were informed that the sub-saharan networking zone was no longer participating and now a group called "Condomize" has moved in.  A great organization that started the condom pin projects as a prevention and education tool, but not African. And just like that, another gaping hole in the conference programme presented itself to those in the know...but for everyone else that entered the Global Village on Sunday when it opened, our loss was invisible...silenced...i guess sometimes what you dont know can hurt you in ways you cant possibly know..

but things are constantly changing in this environment...clouds give way to rainbows...the sun makes room for torrential rains...tomorrow Yvonne Chaka Chaka, sometimes known as the "the African Princess" who recently entertained millions with her world cup performances will be coming to the ABDGN networking zone at 10:50am to make a special announcement. A ray of sunshine envelopes ABDGN once again...

Details on the opening ceremonies for the Global Village where ABDGN was featured and then joined on stage with the incredible performer and activist Sherly Lee Ralph (our original Dreamgirl), pictures and some footage from our sessions are all coming...this elephant will make it to its destination...

k