Speakers, sports discussions, and song and dance filled last weekend's symposium, titled Sports Youth and Africa
and the African Heroes Day celebration.
The two-day symposium began Friday with keynote speaker Rose Chepyator-Thomson, a leading African athlete and assistant professor of sports studies at the University of Georgia. In her speech, Chepyator-Thomson said involvement in sports is one of the best ways to promote societal development in Africa.
Chepyator-Thomson urged the world to view Africa from a more positive perspective, especially with respect to athletic achievements Africans have made.
She also challenged African athletes to use their prominence as public figures to contribute to the development of African society.
Multiple panel discussions about how sports relate to conflict resolution, the media, politics, culture, societal development and gender were presented throughout Saturday's portion of the event.
Symposium presenters focused on promoting sports and sports studies as means to uplift the living standards of African children and channel needed societal development into Africa.
Sports is a means and a tool and not an end to development in Africa said Jemedari Kamara, a symposium panelist. There should be a comprehensive vision of how sports are related to culture and society
and how this impacts development.
The symposium ended Saturday evening with an African Heroes Day celebration. Presenters and those who attended were treated to a jamboree filled with music and dance in the New Lecture Hall rotunda.
Chepyator-Thomson was chosen as this year's heroine. She is the first woman to be honored by Ohio University's African Student Union on a Heroes Day.
She was selected because of her athletic accomplishments, in combination with her sports-related scholarly achievements while raising a family, said Peter Otiato, president of OU's African Student Union.
Chepyator-Thomson is an eleven-time track and cross country All-American at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was once considered Africa's fastest woman in the 1,500 and 3,000-meter races, according to a Georgia Magazine article titled The Front of the Pack. Georgia Magazine is produced by the University of Georgia.
Many who attended the symposium were dressed in traditional African attire, including West African Kentes and Boubous and East African Vitenges. An estimated 300 people attended the celebration, Otiato said.
An African fashion show and poetry recitals also were included in the celebration.
Steve Howard, director of the Institute for the African Child, said he was pleased with the symposium presentation.
He said that because the symposium took place close to OU's bicentennial, it was symbolic of positive advances in the futures of the Institute for the African Child and Africa as a whole
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Ernest Waititu
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Rose Chepyator-Thomson was honored by the African Student Union on Friday afternoon in the new lecture hall because of her athletic accomplishments and sports-related scholarly achievements.
