The following Seminars were offered at various Institutions during winter 2010/2011:

• African continent: Diversity of People, Customs, traditions and Political systems
• Africa’s Wonder & Diversity – a modified version for adult participants
• African leaders: Past and Present – from Idi Amin to Mandela

Ambassador Jalang’o will give a lecture at the Fashion Institute of Technology (New York City) in November 2009 on United Nations International Criminal Court: The dilemma for the Obama Administration and the African Union.

Ambassador Jalang’o will be the key note speaker in Atlanta, Georgia on October 10, 2009 at a function to raise funds for Dr. Robert Ouko Memorial Library to be built in Koru, Kenya, in memory of Dr. Ouko, Kenya’s Foreign Minister who was assassinated in February 1990.

Seminar on “Luos of Kenya: President Obama’s proud ancestors” was so enthusiastically received by the seniors at the Riverdale Hebrew Home in the Bronx (New York) in July -August 2009 that they overwhelmingly requested for an extension of the program. The six week seminar covers the history of Kenya’s ethnic groups, especially the Luo nilotes, their participation in national politics, customs and traditions, comparison of living in rural and urban areas, and the effects of modernization on traditions. With power point presentations, Ambassador Jalang’o utilizes personal experiences from being brought up in Luo land, adds photographic images and traditional music, and stories of polygamy and other life styles, the seminar was a sell out.

A one hour seminar highlighting the Traditions & Customs of the Luo was presented to Lake Isle seniors in August 2009. More seminars on the same topic will be delivered in Eastchester (December 2009), Bronxville (January 2010) and New York City.

Inaugural lecture series at Africana Studies, New York University
Fall 2008

I have had the honour to coordinate the Ambassador in Residence Program at the Africana Studies of New York University (NYU) from Fall 2008. At the inaugural monthly public lecture series, our guest speakers have all been United Nations Ambassadors and all have discussed the theme topic entitled "Impact of United Nations and other Organizations on social, economic and political developments in Africa and the Diaspora".

"The Africana Ambassador in Residence" lectures are intended to provide our students with the evolution, historical and political dimensions of the United Nations and the challenges the Organization has faced over the last sixty years as the membership from Africa and developing countries increased; bringing with them myriad demands for developmental and security issues. Despite major peacekeeping operations and global support, the Organization has experienced a mixture of successes and challenges in African countries and Diasporas.

By the same token, national governments in Africa and the Diaspora have witnessed varying degrees of social and economic decline as a result of negative effects of globalization, heavy external debt, population increase and renewed political upheavals. It is against this backdrop that the lecture series have provoked exciting discussions and provided a platform for examining the immense supportive role of United Nations, governments and numerous international organizations on developments in Africa and the Diaspora.

While discussing the introduction of the program with the Director of African Studies, Prof. Awam Ampka in July 2008, I stressed to him my belief that the dynamic Ambassador in Residence will provide a catalytic forum for NYU to attract the best students from all over the world and prepare them for careers in International Relations, Public Service and better understanding of developments in Africa. I was further convinced that the program would enhance NYU's reputation as an innovative global educator and support the University as a "home of one of the world's leading research and teaching centers and that has achieved an international distinction in a wide range of areas for than 150 years."

Approval to host and moderate the program was based on my professional experience of having had the privilege and honour to serve my country Kenya, as an elected member of the Legislator and then as Ambassador for Kenya to Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Italy, Poland, Greece and finally in New York as the Ambassador to the United Nations. Over the course of 15 years I was involved in many global events seeing first-hand the plight of refugees in Sudan, instability in neighbouring Somalia, the Middle East conflict, collapse of Communism and expansion of European Union, trade negotiations between European Union and Africa/Caribbean countries, the intense debates in the UN over entry into the war in Iraq, Kyoto Protocol on global Warming, WTO round of trade Agreements and Effects of Globalization on developing countries, etc. I have also had the opportunity to meet many world leaders and heads of state and learn about their worldviews and priorities.

Indeed during the last three months, nine UN Ambassadors (United Kingdom, Barbados, Nigeria, Kenya, Japan, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Rwanda and Sudan) have shared their rich and diplomatic experiences with students and faculty and provided them with a comprehensive and realistic understanding of evolving global affairs and the nuances of the African continent and the Diaspora. Another lecture is planned for March 2009.

By: Ambassador Bob F. Jalang'o - Coordinator of Ambassador in Residence and Adjunct Professor at the School of Professional & Continuing Studies/Global Affairs

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There are many different people groups and tribes across the continent of Africa - with their culture varying from tribe to tribe. Africa is so large that a full population census has never been made. Estimates say that the continent and its nearby islands may be home to as many as over 800 ethnic groups in black Africa. This includes Asians, Europeans, and Arabs, who have permanently settled there - for centuries in some cases. Each group has its own distinctive language. In addition, there are dialectical, or regional, languages. In all, there are over 1,000 different languages in Africa. (40 of which have more than one million speakers).

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Sounds like another typical day at the United Nations - but it was hardly that. The setting was the Harvard National Model United Nations (HNMUN) conference, where nearly 3,000 college students from around the globe gathered for one of the largest annual Model U.N. simulation exercises. The Liberian representative was actually Jason Atwell '09, one of ten Wells students who organized a trip to Boston in February to participate in the conference.

Each student was assigned to a particular committee, in which he or she spent most of the weekend. For example, Maryann Hines '08 and head delegate Nadirah Blassingame '08 joined the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural committee; Ke Huang '09 represented the African Union; and Kate Barnes '07 participated in a new committee, Unilateral Acts of States. Committee meetings were marathon events, with some lasting from early morning to well past 11:00 p.m.

• Importance of studying Kenya including the significance of the National flag and Kenya’s National anthem
• Geography and brief history (1450 to date)
• Cultures, traditions and customs of some Kenyan communities like the Maasai, Kikuyu, Samburu, Luo and Swahili, etc.
• Comparison of rural and urban life
• Challenges facing Kenyan girls and women and actions taken by the Government and NGOs to address the issues
• Effects of urbanization, Christianity and onset of HIV/AIDS on traditions
• Commence Swahili language lessons, lingua franca of East Africa

After each session, Ambassador Jalang’o will meet for half hour with those teachers interested in traveling to Kenya with students to draw up plans for fundraising and other travel arrangements.

Importance of studying Kenya

Excavations in Kenya suggest that the region is the cradle of humanity, the home some 3.25 million years ago of Homo habilis, from whom Homo sapiens descended. What is certain is that, in more recent times, Kenya was the settling place of a huge number of tribes from all over Africa, with a long history of migration, settlement and conflict. During the following centuries, the region became prosperous on the profits of trade, and also as an entrepôt for commerce from the Indian Ocean. The Portuguese arrived in the early 16th century, and having wrested control of the area’s trade from the Arabs, absorbed Kenya into their commercial empire.

About 2.5 million years ago Homo habilis lived in the rich fertile rift valley. By 50,000 BC Homo erectus had emerged and Stone Age cultures spread over this area. The forefathers of Homo sapiens became hunter gatherers. Cushitic- speaking agro-pastoral people from the north, Ethiopia, and pastoral Nolites followed from the Nile valley moved across during 3000 to 1500 BC.

• One of the first upright walking humans, inhabited present day Lake Turkana in Kenya. Skeleton remains found in 1998-1999 are kept by National Museums of Kenya.
• Early civilization in East Africa is to be found on Kenyan and other East African coasts
• Modern Kenya is known worldwide for its major agricultural and floriculture exports; tourist safaris; world class athletes; home to indigenous Africans like the Maasai, etc.

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On February 16, 2006, Ambassador Jalang’o joined several invited guest speakers at Boynton Middle school in Ithaca to honor the Black History Month at the invitation of the Principal, Mr. Johnny Vann. Selecting a befitting topic, “Africa: the Origin of Black History”, Ambassador Jalang’o addressed 90 students during a hour intensive session of group activities and lecture that covered:

• Africa- the “cradle of Mankind” – origins of “homo erectus”
• Early Civilization along river Nile
• The transatlantic slave trade
• Colonialism after the Partition of Africa and years that followed until all the 54 African countries became politically independent
• African American Achievers and their roles in the American society
• Group activities – Lion team was the winner among six teams