AIM FOR AFRICA GAMBIA

+ AIM for Africa Senegambia
+ View videos of the trip
+ Read more about Chuck Levy

The Gambia is Africa’s smallest country. It runs along the course of the Gambia River as it flows into the Atlantic. Surrounded on 3 sides by Senegal, The Gambia is only 20 miles wide, and 200 miles long.

In August, 2007, Charles (Chuck) Levy visited The Gambia with sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts. His goals were two-fold. He wanted to learn about the akonting, the African ancestor to the banjo, and he also sought to establish a partnership between the Akonting Center for Senegambian Folk Culture (ACSFC), (www.myspace.com/akonting), The Royal Victorian Teaching Hospital (RVTH) in Banjul, Gambia (www.rvth.org/), the Florida Banjo Society (FBS) (http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/floridabanjosociety/), and CAHRE.

Dr. Levy’s trip was successful on all counts. With further funding from the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts, CAHRE, with the help of the Florida Banjo Society, is embarking on the AIM for Africa Akonting/Banjo Collaborative, a cultural exchange program with the Akonting Center and the Royal Victorian Teaching Hospital.