We're ready to do it.

Last month, hundreds of people attended Milwaukeekey's annual African cultural festival in Brownair Park.

The festival was sponsored by Africans in Milwaukee Incorporated.

It was launched 16 years ago with the intention of connecting African culture to all people of the African diaspora, reminded attendees that no matter where you're from, we're all one in unity.

This year, over 25 countries came together to celebrate their heritage.

know where we coming from.

Got to know where you're coming from.

So, having conversations with everybody out here, you know, it helps to get to know everyone.

Thank you.

If you don't know where you uh come from, you don't know where you're going.

And uh if we don't support each other, who will?

It's up to us to support each other.

Kind of simple.

Most important part about this event is to uh celebrate the cultural heritage.

give them the opportunity to learn about their uh heritage uh where they came from and uh also some certain aspects of the culture which they may not be familiar with.

Many Africans were uprooted from their heritage.

This is a way of reconnecting them.

They have been here for centuries.

um the generations have come and so there's already a disconnect with the original heritage and so they have had to shape their own cultural identity.

The Africans come here with their own cultural identity.

And so sometimes you see the differences um in terms of language um family uh issues and other uh things.

The intent is to bring that disconnect and also foster greater relationships among the Africans and the African-Americans.

It only became distant or separated when we tagged on American, but we are still African through and through.

So, we have no difference.

There will always be a similarity.

And I feel when people wake up and see that there is always a connection.

It was never a broken link.

A link can never truly be broken if we still have that unity.

So, I think that at times we just forget to think of the little things of what unifies us.

The little things like this jolaf rice, the little things like that, rice and peas, you know, it's a commonality.

They were both made with love.

They were both made probably with loving hands with women in the kitchen baking it.

That's a unifying bond, you know, and that is what's important cuz at the end of the day, we each have that cuz that is something that carried along with us along this route.

The food was very delicious and of much variety.

This is jellof fries.

The best jellof fries from the Gambia.

What is jelloof fries?

What's the history of jalof fries?

Jalop is my tribe.

So it's from um mainly from Sagal and Gambia.

We have jalop.

What do they make in it?

What?

How is it made?

We have we have ingredients here.

It's just chicken um tomato past gingers and seasoning.

This is suya beef.

So we uh the suya um powder or spice is from Ghana.

So we mix it up.

It has a little bit of peanuts in it.

We uh add other African spices and then we keep grilling.

So this is our favorite jalof.

You know Ghanaians always win with the jalof rice.

This is grilled chicken.

We got the flavor.

You know this is fried turkey.

This is a fried turkey.

And then um very crunchy, very nice.

Whether you're African, whether you're Caribbean, whether you're from um the West Indies, all of us share the same bond.

And at the end of the day, anytime there is food, love, joy, and music, it must unify us all because it strengthen unity.

It is strengthened when you can show all of this together in unity, in harmony and in positivity, you know, and that's a strength in that.

It's a strength in just showing joy in times of adversity.