Global Kimeeza II participant Cecily David returned to her university in January and began working at once to raise awareness of the issues facing the youth of Uganda:

After returning from the Global Kimeeza II, I immediately began searching for ways to stay involved and connected with youth in Uganda. GYPA's SLAM AIDS campaign appealed to me because it seemed like a great fit for my campus community. UC Berkeley has three major poetry student groups and several AIDS interest organizations. SLAM AIDS seemed like a great opportunity to make use of talents and interests already on the campus and to create partnerships on the campus between groups with similar interests who otherwise do not collaborate. I began attending meetings with other organizations to meet people who would be interested in helping to organize the event. While a few individuals joined the effort through this, the most active people were students involved in Cal Slam, the slam poetry student group, and the African Music Ensemble, a very popular class in the music department. STAND: An Anti-Genocide Coalition, the president of which is a fellow GYPA alum, was also instrumental in providing people power to advertise, set up, and take down.

The night itself was powerful and unlike any other poetry event I've attended. I sought out diverse poetic styles when recruiting, but also decided to include musicians and multiple artistic forms of expression. The room was decorated with pictures from Uganda (provided by Jordan Steiner, president of STAND and Global Kimeeza I alum) and paintings from Ghana (my own). We had two DJs who provided an upbeat atmosphere before, during, and after the show, eight poets, and 3 musical acts. The African Music Ensemble opened the show with a short piece and closed the evening with the grand finale that included drums, rattles, a bell, singing, clapping, and dancing. The symbolism of the closing dance was about the empowerment of women and provided a very high energy close the evening.

Apart from the overall artistic quality and variety of the show, perhaps the biggest success was the attempt to make SLAM AIDS a sustainable effort on the UC Berkeley campus. While the focus of the evening remained on the poetry and music, STAND and individual participants announced their events, maintaining an orientation towards justice work. Through out the evening, I collected information for people interested in seeing SLAM AIDS again next semester. I received 16 names and am now helping to organize them so they can hit the ground running for next semester's SLAM AIDS.

Check out pictures from the event here.