Igniting The West African Neighborliness and togetherness Away from Home (Africa) in Philadelphia, USA. WAFCOM Inc Sets The Pace

As exciting as migrating from a developing country to a developed country can sometimes be to many, it equally to some extent is filled with the fear of uncertainties and regrets depending on varying factors. Whether reuniting with a family member already an immigrant in an advanced country, through a lottery program as in the case of the US Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery program, or through other categories of immigration, there is always that mixed feeling.

Family members, childhood friends, coworkers and neighbors you leave behind in most instances define your initial emotions, especially the thought of your physical absence and the future that is unknown. As to the length of time the emotions stays with you or affects you, can also depend on the community that you settle in, be it as an individual, a family with or without children.

Technology has made it easier for some to wean themselves easily from feeling homesick and depressed at the earlier stages when they try to navigate their way in their new home. Others, especially when children are involved and there is a language barrier, find it harder to integrate easily in their new communities. Irrespective of the availability of digital or electronic media currently driven by social media to lessen the effects of separation from loved ones, physical interaction will always be missing, and for children that is key. Society must have structures in place to minimise some of these effects, especially on the part of the minor children.

One of the best cities in the United States that is known for its Hospitality and looks out for the welfare of immigrants is the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia.

According to the US Census Bureau website, www.census.gov, “In the 2020 Census, 46,936,733 respondents identified as Black or African American alone or in combination, the third largest race group.” Among the black alone population above, 10 percent of it will be the total of Sub-Saharan African and Caribbean regional groups combined, as evident in the statement below.

“The largest Sub-Saharan African groups in 2020 were Nigerian, Ethiopian, Somali and Ghanaian. The top four groups made up about half of the Sub-Saharan African alone (50.5%) and Sub-Saharan African alone or in any combination (46.9%) populations. Each group was less than 2% of the total Black alone or in combination population."

Philadelphia is believed to have the largest African immigrants population in Pennsylvania, especially the West African immigrant population. Southwest Philadelphia (formerly Kingsessing township) is a section of Philadelphia Pennsylvania, USA. It used to be historically the home to many Irish American neighborhoods. It now has a large African American, Afro-Caribbean and West African immigrant population.

The West African community presence is dense in southwest Philadelphia. African restaurants, African grocery shops, cloth and ornament shops carry original products from Africa directly for sale in many of the African stores in Southwest Philadelphia. It is gaining a popular nickname, ‘Little Africa’ and possibly ‘African Town’ in the making in Philadelphia. West Philadelphia equally has a good number of West African immigrants.

What appears to be missing is a Center where children can learn their African cultures and history, interact with other children whose parents are equally from Africa, learn some African languages, especially if it is not spoken at home, get assistance with homework, test preparations, and other child developmental interventions, especially children whose parents are from the Francophone countries and are not yet proficient in the English language as the only medium of instruction in schools to help their children with school works at home.

A Center that will aim at integrating West Africans and Africans easily with their communities back home in Africa should they visit in the future, as well as equipping them with undiluted information about their African heritage to educate their peers in school to understand them better, and to foster a healthy and peaceful coexistence.

A Center where West African Immigrant parents, especially parents who were equally born in the United States can benefit from many basic African cultural education, basic assistance with their children’s educational needs without taking them out of their productive work time, thereby strengthening the economic development of the City, State and the United States of America in general.

The West African Community Center Inc. ( WAFCOM) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA avails itself as a nonprofit organization with a committed mission to “enhancing the lives of West African immigrants in Southwest and West Philadelphia to offer a comprehensive range of services designed to address their unique needs, from language assistance and job

training to legal aid and healthcare support.”

The Masjid Services and Markazul Quran (Quran learning and memorization Center) department of the organization is headed by Dr. Kishk Bashir Yando, supported by the Chief Imam of the prayer sessions/masjid, Dr. Fofana, and the principal Coordinator of the Center who is one of the pillars of the Center, Sheikh Alhaj Ibrahim Alhassan, couple with the devotion of time and commitment of parent of the students at the Markazul Quran and their Islamic teachers, Sheikh Ahmed, Sheikh Waleed (who are Hafeez and have committed the whole Quran to memory) and Sheikh Suleman, has brought the Center this far. They continue to be instrumental in the running of the Center.

With the support from the City of Philadelphia in releasing the Cedar Park, benevolent donors, and the students of the Center whose parents are from different West African countries, The Center and the community successfully observed Eid Ul Fitr prayer and feasting at the Cedar park near its Markazul Quran Center at 4912 Baltimore Avenue, Philadelphia to mark the successful end of Ramadan.

The Center looks forward to hosting a summer program and reaching out to the surrounding communities and its neighbors to make known to them some activities that can be benefitted from WAFCOM Inc.

As concluded in the sermon delivered shortly after the Eid Ul Fitr prayer on March 29, 2025, to mark the end of Ramadan, Dr. Kishk Bashir Yando emphasized on the need to train and give children in our communities the best education and values without compromising our African diverse cultures, to project our countries of origin and be beneficial to this great nation, the United States of America.

I rest My PEN.
Mustapha Alhassan
Pennsylvania, USA.