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Showing posts from June, 2017

The king is dead, long live the king!

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Kama Dumbuya, a former Sierra Leone center forward who spent time with East End Lions, Blackpool, and Freetown United, football clubs, died Friday, June 16, 2017, the Sierra Leone Football Association announced. Kama, whose flashy style, rugged looks, and charismatic personality left an indelible mark on west African football, passed away at Freetown's Connaught Hospital. Reports say he was in his 70's. The cause of death is unknown. Considered the king of soccer in his heyday, Kama “made a whole pavilion lean at Brook fields Stadium,” wrote veteran sports writer Kabs Kanu . He was “one of Africa’s greatest footballers –the legendary Sierra Leone center forward of the 1960s and 70s,” Kanu added. In this undated photograph taken May 2017 in Freetown, former soccer administr ator Mr. Crispin Webber embraces veteran football star Kama Dumbuya. “ If Kama Dumbuya [were] young in this age when European and American soccer thrive on the back of contributions fro

THE DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD by Brian Sitta Kargbo

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On June 16, 1976, children in Soweto took to the streets in protest to add to the outcry started by Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Thambo Mbeki, and others in South Africa. Frustrated with segregation, the students demanded  equal rights. Sadly, the demonstration resulted in the death of some 23 students. More than a hundred were injured. Recognizing the gross violations, and the role played by these children in ending Apartheid, the Organization of African Unity (OAU), now known as the African Union, ratified the AFRICAN CHARTER ON THE RIGHTS AND WELFARE OF THE CHILD. They also called for a global observance of the day, marking the horrendous attack on peaceful school pupils demonstrating against the injustice of Apartheid in South Africa. Also recognizing the day, the United Nations (UN) declared 1979 as the "International Year of the Child," which set in motion the working group that drafted the CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF a CHILD (CRC) in order to give a new