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SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah group hopes to help influence the perceptions people might have about Africa, after seeing media reports focused on Ebola and Boko Haram.
The Miss Africa Utah cultural and scholarship pageant hopes to educate the public on the possibilities within Africa.
“People don’t even want to venture into Africa and their tourism is going down,” said Gloria Kajo, Creator and Director of Miss Africa Utah. “They’re scared that they might get Ebola if they even enter a plane into Africa.”
This is the fifth year Kajo has hosted the cultural pageant as an educational opportunity for Utahns. She said what people see in the media about African countries has some truth; however, it’s not the entire picture.
“The way it’s portrayed makes people feel like once you see any African, that person has Ebola,” said Kajo.
Kajo made references to a few news reports of bullying situations across the country at the height of the 2014 Ebola outbreak as well as the Twitter hashtag campaign #bringbackourgirls for kidnapped Nigerian girls.
Twelve African students from colleges around the state will showcase their countries.
Kajo said the main role of Miss Africa Utah participants is to educate their communities about basic and unique factors that comprise their individual countries.
“The beauty, the culture, and everything about Africa,” said Kajo. “We do this by having cultural programs, workshops, and entrepreneurships.”
GK Folks Foundation is responsible for these programs and educational opportunities. Vice-President Freebody Mensah also serves on the African Chamber of Commerce of Utah. He said the goal of the non-profit organization is to show Utah and the rest of the world, the potential future possibilities within Africa.
“Africans don’t necessarily need handouts, they’re very intelligent people,” said Mensah. “We just need the resources to do it ourselves.”
Mensah said younger generations will help bring about the change needed to overcome corruption in some African countries, as well as the negative perceptions some people might have about the continent.
“We make sure these students get an education here in the states,” he said, “so that when they go back home, they can say, 'I have learned it in America or in England and in my own small way I can help people succeed.'”
The organization is working to get community support for college scholarships for those involved in the event.
Salt Lake Community College will host the cultural pageant Friday, April 3, 2015.
