VIPIS Purpose
Virginia Institute for Peace & Islamic Studies promotes peace and fights prejudice by teaching international studies and democratic governance, supports the resolution of conflicts, and works to achieve a better understanding about Islam and the Muslim world.
Breaking News
Every citizen of the world, every Muslim, every Christian, every Hindu and Buddhist, every member of the Jewish and Bahai faiths, every human being with love in their heart is shocked by the carnage and brutality of the attacks on Mumbai on 25 November 2008. The organisation that trained them killers and sent them to reek havoc and spread death is not a Muslim organisation: it is a terror group without religion, seeking political advantage through the creation of anger and hatred. This is not the way true Muslims behave. It was an inhuman act, creating violence for the sake of violence, and we condemn these attacks in the strongest possible manner.
We are all victims when there is a terror attack. We are victims not only when our friends are killed, but also when political violence poisons the world and creates anger or distrust between peoples.
No one has ever created peace through violence. Guns produce no lasting solution to any problem: friendship and tolerance will come only with negotiation, reconciliation, mutually beneficial trade, and the slow building of trust.
We express our deepest sympathy with the inhabitants of Mumbai and with the families of all the victims. We pray that they will find it in their hearts to forgive the killers, and seek reconciliation with the people of Pakistan instead of seeking revenge and creating more violence.
signed by The Committee of VIPIS
Johanna Sakponou stars in a film on Jamestown
VFoM was contacted and asked to recruit a young actress to play Angela, the first African woman who ever trod on North American soil. Angela reached at Jamestown in 1619. We recruited Johanna Saponou, a student at Virginia Commonwealth University, member of VFoM and a beautiful West African woman. Her parents and friends will all be proud when the film is released in May 2007. To see Johanna on the screen, can visit the website Jamestown Chronicles! To reach her in person, simply write to sakponouja@vcu.edu.
The Jamestown Chronicles is a series of first person monologues filmed here in Va. The site has not yet been approved by Jamestown. Their curators are busy preparing the 1607 gallery in prep for the Queen and other dignitaries in April, by which time we expect the site to be up and running with Johanna in a starring role.
FESTIVAL OF THE NIGER RIVER 2007
Allan Levenberg (dit Kouyateh) and Robin Edward Poulton (dit Macky Tall).
Kouyateh and Macky Tall led a delegation of a dozen VIRGINIA FRIENDS OF MALI to the third Segou music Festival of the Niger River February 1-4, 2007. The Festival was spectacular, and the welcome given to the Virginian delegation was as generous as this banner indicates.
Two of the 2007 Virginian delegation to Segou were distinguished grandmothers (an important title in Mali) Gwen Westerhouse and Penelope Simpson.
In Africa, elders are treated with the greatest possible respect. The older one gets, the more this rule seems important! Malians were thrilled to see that we provided our grandmothers with a cheap and comfortable transport system which allowed them to save energy, keep out of the sun, and see all the dancing and drumming over the tops of the crowds.
The owner of the donkey, Mr Tangara, enjoyed a very unusual four days walking the grandmothers around the festival. Tangara was thrilled: not only did he get four days of well-paid and very easy labor, but he also got to enjoy some of the Segou Festival of the Niger River that he would never have been able to see. The tickets for Malians were 5000 Fcfa = $10, which is Mr Tangara’s income for one week.
October 2006 Exhibition on Malian music and culture
Richmond Public Library
101 East Franklin Street with concerts on
Friday October 6th at 7 pm and
Saturday October 7th at 2 pm
V-Peace and Virginian Friends of Mali will be presenting Malian culture and textiles at the National Folk Festival in Richmond, 13-15 October 2006, where Madame Haoua Cheikh Traore will present her BOGOLAN COLLECTION (Malian mud cloth) and offer choice pieces for sale, alongside the magnificent handicrafts produced and marketed through fair trade by our generous friends from Ten Thousand Villages.
Come and visit both booths at the festival!
V-Peace and Virginian Friends of Mali will be present and teaching about MALI and TIMBUKTU - holy city of Islam at the 42nd Annual Conference of Social Studies Educators of Virginia in the Greater Richmond Convention Center 20-21 October 2006.
Teaching 3rd and 6th Graders about the Mali Empire
Professional teachers with real-life Malian experience
Many Virginians have Malian ancestors, and the American destiny of many ancestors took them through Richmond. Developing a pride in Africa will help the new generations to improve their self-esteem and ambitions. We can come to your school to offer in-class teaching about the medieval Empire of Mali and about Africa today. We also offer training courses to teachers to support the SOLs for 3rd and 6th Grades.
Teachers: Lydie Sakponou, Robin Poulton, and story-teller Macky Tall.
Lydie is a French West African teacher working in the Chesterfield County school system. Robin is British and Malian, author of books on West Africa and Visiting Professor 2002-2004 in VCU. Tall (tahl) is a Fulani name from Mali, and this doesn’t mean that Macky is especially tall!
- Madame Lydie Sakponou, 804-986-9344, lydie_alpini(at)hotmail.com
- Dr Robin Edward Poulton, 804-355-6821, rpoulton(at)comcast.net
- Mr Macky Haidara TALL, 804-355-6821, mackytall2006(at)hotmail.com
Festival of the Niger River 2006
Photographs taken by the delegation that went to the FESTIVAL OF THE NIGER RIVER in Segou, Mali’s second city, in February 2006 were shown at the Richmond Public Library on Thursday 27th April. Virginian Friends of Mali is an offshoot of VIPIS created to build relationships between Virginia's schools and cities and those of Mali. Timbuktu, capital of the North, is one of the Holy Cities of Islam.
Malians dance to the music of the Allan Levenberg and his band who visited Mali this quarter
Segou, former capital of the Bambara Kingdom, is destined to become the Sister City of Richmond following an official request to this effect from the Mayor of Segou and the Government of Mali.
Abdoulaye Diop first Chairman of the VIPIS Advisory Council
Since visiting us in November, his Excellency Mr Abdoulaye Diop, Ambassador of the Republic of Mali in Washington, has graciously accepted to become the first Chairman of the VIPIS Advisory Council.
MALI PRIME MINISTER VISITS V-PEACE in Richmond on Friday November 11th
Friday November 11th in Richmond was a wonderful African day, when the Prime Minister of the Republic of Mali came to town. The Governor of Virginia accepted the request of the Prime Minister for MALI to become a partner in the JAMESTOWN 2007 events celebrating the foundation of Virginia: for Africans were also founding fathers and mothers of this beautiful State.
The Prime Minister of Mali speaking at VCU
With Virginia's Secretary of Education Peter Blake, the Malian delegation of Prime Minister Ousmane Issoufi MAIGA, Ambassador Abdoulaye DIOP, Agriculture Minister Seydou TRAORE, Private Investment Minister Ousmane THIAM and a number of distinguished counsellors from the PM's office and the Embassy visited the JB Fisher Elementary School on Richmond's South Side where the Malians saw children learning about MALI as part of their Third Grade curriculum.
The Prime Minister was overwhelmed by their intelligence, interest and charm. Staff and students were deeply moved by the presence of such a high-powered delegation. A great deal of interest was shown in the Prime Minister's personal camel. When it emerged that the PM does not actually own a camel, the interpreter decided not to translate such a disappointing detail.
The Prime Minister met four university presidents (W&M, Va Tech, UVA and VCU). He expressed a desire to see exchanges encouraged at every level between Virginian Universities and those in BAMAKO. Maybe students on a Mali-Virginia exchange program could even gain credits from attending courses in the university of the exchange, the PM suggested.
The Prime Minister had a full house of 400 students and professors for his presentation on the Nation of MALI and the heritage of TIMBUKTU at the Virginia Commonwealth University, excellently organized by the Student Government Association.
Important Facts
- Since 9/11 there is confusion in USA between terrorism and Islam - 40% of Americans blame religion for all terrorism, yet Muslims call the Taliban 'non-Muslims'.
- 1.4 billion people are Muslim and we ought to know about them.
- That is 20% of world's population (equal to the population of China).
- The poorest and the violent failed states are mostly Muslim states.
- The largest refugee camps where people without hope turn angry are in Muslim states.
- Failed states and angry refugee camps breed terrorism.
- There are an estimated 5 million Muslims in USA and it is the fastest growing religion.
- We are offering the first coherent approach to tackle prejudice through education.
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VIRGINIA INSTITUTE FOR PEACE AND ISLAMIC STUDIES (Vipis)
1241 Buford Road, Box 35051, RICHMOND VA 23235-4644
Tel/fax: 1.804-355-6821 or Tel: 1.804-502-9786
VIPIS website design and implementation by Michael Newton