AragAcademy RSS

These memoirs are written by Youssef Abdelwahab, the founder of AragApparel. They cover a diversity of interesting experiences during his 2019, Year of the Return trip to Ghana such as visiting the slave castle dungeon at Cape Coast, his encounter with the Ghanaian president, and much more!

Walk in the shoes of Ahmed Gharib as he takes you through his adventures in Cairo, Egypt. Ahmed visited his home country after the former president of Egypt Hosni Mubarak stepped down from power on February 11, 2011, after nearly 30 years of authoritarian rule. His resignation was the result of an 18-day mass nonviolent protest, one of the largest nonviolent protest in the world.  I guarantee you will laugh while you read his humorous anecdotes, as well as take away some interesting facts about life in Cairo. 

Kwame Nkrumah was the first president of Ghana and the revolutionary who led his country to independence from England on March 6th, 1957. For Nkrumah, liberating Ghana from British colonial rule was just the beginning. He had a bold vision, a movement for the social, cultural, economic and political liberation of all of Africa and African peoples including those of the African diaspora. As a passionate Pan-Africanist, he strongly believed in a united Africa and worked tirelessly to turn this vision into a reality. This feature provides an introduction to Kwame Nkrumah, recordings of his speeches, as well as additional resources related to his legacy and the Pan-African movement that lives on to this day.     

Philadelphia, the fifth-largest city in the U.S. is home to nearly 200,000 Muslims, making approximately 10-15% of the city's total population. African-Americans make up the biggest ethnic group within the Muslim population in the United States. However, in Philadelphia African-Americans account for a staggering 85% of the city's Muslim population. With 63 mosques and a plethora of African-American Muslim owned businesses, Islamic schools, and organizations, Philadelphia has been nicknamed the 'Mecca of the West.' This feature sheds light on the deep roots, rich cultural heritage, and influences of a thriving African-American Muslim community in the city of brotherly love.

Thomas Sankara was assassinated for systematically taking action that threatened the neo-colonial power structures looming over Africa. In just 4 years, through a series of unprecedented grassoots reforms, he utterly transformed one of the poorest countries in the world to one of the most self-sufficient, progressive, and dignified countries. He proved both to his own people and to the entire world that even the poorest country could succeed in building itself up without accepting a dime of external aid from the IMF, the World Bank, and Western countries. He once said, "While revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas." Click to read about how this legendary and widely unknown African leader was years ahead of his time.