Community Op-Ed: Supercharging Safety for E-bikes

Electronic transportation devices are everywhere in New York City now – and from daily commuting to food delivery, they are revolutionizing how we get around. E-bikes and e-scooters are a convenient and low-cost alternative to cars. They help reduce congestion on our streets and make our city cleaner and greener. Tens of thousands of our delivery workers rely on them for their livelihoods, and we all rely on them when we have goods delivered. E-bikes are here to stay, and our city wants to make sure they are safe and reliable for all - both on the street and when they are being stored and recharged. While most of the e-bikes and e-scooters in our city are safe, there are some that do not meet safety standards and contain uncertified lithium-ion batteries. These faulty devices are causing fires and explosions, putting New Yorkers and our first responders in danger. Last week, the City Council and... Read more

Attorney Pierre Gooding: “I have chosen a life in politics to help my community”

Pierre Gooding is running for the second time for City Council in District 9, Harlem. Born and raised in Harlem, Mr. Gooding who is  an attorney, a teacher, and a politician, thinks Harlem his neighborhood still struggles in several ways and one of that issue is called injustice. Defender of the window and the orphan, Mr. Gooding wanted to take the fight beyond to help  his community in a macro level. African Journal met him for you. African Journal (AJ):  Can you introduce yourself in a few words? Pierre Gooding ( PG): My name is Pierre Gooding and I am an attorney, Deacon and former teacher taking my second run for City Council in District 9, Harlem.  I was born in the Grant Houses and am proud to advocate for my community. AJ: You describe yourselves as a teacher, attorney, and politician. What will be your choice  If you have... Read more

 NYC Schools Families: $420 per child in money for groceries guarantee

New York State’s Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) is a new benefit that gives $420 per child in money for groceries to all NYC public school families. No sign-up is required. All families of NYC public school children, regardless of immigration status, income, or employment, will receive this money. If you already have an EBT card or a Medicaid card, the money will automatically be added to your card.  If you do not have an EBT card, you will receive one in the mail. If you are concerned that the State of New York may not have your correct address, please call 833-452-0096    Families of non-public school students should contact the State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance at otda.ny.gov to learn if they are eligible.           Read more

Sign up for  free online English classes for immigrants 

In response to COVID-19, the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs’ We Speak NYC program, a free English language learning program that provides civic-focused instruction through videos centered on topics relevant to immigrant New Yorkers, will be offering online conversation classes. Participants can register to be a part of an online community and have an opportunity to safely meet people, learn about NYC resources that are still available in light of COVID- 19, and practice their English conversation skills. We Speak NYC 2nd Cycle of Online Classes Start Today! Register Here to sign up for a class, get reminders, and educational materials, or click here to check out different class times and drop in! Classes are led by trained facilitators and encourage learner participation - safe space to practice and make mistakes. Classes are intended for intermediate English language learners.      Read more

African Diaspora for Biden : A political movement to negotiate and to vote

African Diaspora for Biden has held in April 26, 2020 a teleconference meeting  to lay out a strategy for the election of the democrat candidate Joe Biden and to address their preoccupations to one of Biden surrogates.  A thousand of  people  from the 50 states of the United States of America   have attended that very first meeting with a bold commitment not only to make their voices heard but also to support Joe Biden. [video width="480" height="256" mp4="https://theafricanjournalonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/video-biden.mp4"][/video] “This meeting is about to put our fate in our own hand,” said Chijike Ndukwu one of the initiators of the meeting. “Africans contribute a lot to this country, the only thing we do not have is a political power, a possibility to have a seat,” he added as he enumerated some statics showing how much Africans have been devoted to the United States of America. African Diaspora for Biden is indeed... Read more

The African Empowerment Project : Actualize and institutionalize progress within the African diaspora

The African Empowerment Project, which was launched last year is striving to bring more helpful  resources to African community as it sets several goals to  fulfill its mission. “We need to take  first care of ourselves here in America and then  think about those who are in our native countries,” said Abdourahamane Diallo  who initiates the project  as covid - 19  the unforgettable pandemic  hits merciless New York and the rest of the world. The African Empowerment Project is indeed  “a collective effort of Africans who are determined to actualize and institutionalize progress within the diaspora in New York City.” Its four (4)  core goals match with its mission statement that “ aim to actualize and institutionalize progress within the African diaspora through initiatives that address political & socio-economic needs.” Here are those goals: Ensuring that all Africans participate in the census 2020. This will position our African community to... Read more

U.S Ambassador in Burkina Faso Andrew Young tests positive for coronavirus

“I was tested positive in coronavirus,” said in March 22, 2020, Ambassador Young  who has indicated that the community  in the Embassy will go into quarantine and employees  will keep providing services to citizens, and the effort to sustain  Burkina Faso Faso in the fight against coronavirus will continue as well,   news outlets in Burkina Faso have reported. Four ( 4 ) ministers from Burkina Faso’s government including the Minister of Foreign Affair,  Alpha Barry had also  tested positive for coronavirus. 75 people had tested positive for coronavirus  in Burkina Faso and 4 people among them died. Last week the ambassador of Italy in Burkina Faso had also tested positive for coronavirus. The African Journal               Read more

Wiping out the daughters: Burkina Faso’s controversial mosquito experiment

A radical experiment to genetically modify a strain of mosquito in order to stop them breeding malaria-carrying daughters is one of the latest efforts to tackle the deadly scourge of malaria At 6.30am five-year-old Osman Balama and his mother reach the state hospital of Bobo-Dioulasso, the second-largest city in Burkina Faso. He hasn’t been feeling well for a few days and his mother is worried that he has contracted malaria. The waiting room is already full of mothers and grandmothers with young children on their laps, all with the same tired look as Osman. “The rainy season has started,” says Sami Palm, head of the clinic. “That means more mosquitos. I’m certain that almost everyone here has malaria.” Two red lines on the detection strip confirm malaria. “He doesn’t need to stay in the hospital, because he isn’t vomiting and isn’t extremely sick,” Palm says. Osman is sent home with medication... Read more

DCAS EXAM SCHEDULE – NOVEMBER 2018

The Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) is accepting applications for the following civil service exams. So don't delay, apply today!    Apply for exams online: Go to the DCAS Online Application System (OASys) at www.nyc.gov/examsforjobs and follow the onscreen application instructions for electronically submitting your application and payment, and completing any required forms. If you do not have access to a computer, visit one of our Computer-based Testing & Applications Centers (CTACs) to use our computers to submit your application (see below).   OPEN COMPETITIVE - Exams Open to the Public   CALL CENTER REPRESENTATIVE, EXAM NO. 9021     CHILD AND FAMILY SPECIALIST, EXAM NO. 9022     CLAIM SPECIALIST, EXAM NO. 9023     ENGINEERING TECHNICIAN, EXAM NO. 9024     PLASTERER, EXAM NO. 9025     PLASTERER (NYC H+H), EXAM NO. 9081 - CANCELED       POLICE COMMUNICATIONS TECHNICIAN, EXAM NO. 9079          PROMOTION - Exams for City Employees Only ... Read more

DCAS EXAM SCHEDULE – OCTOBER 2018

 Here are some exams for the month of October 2018 The Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) is accepting applications for the following civil service exams. So don't delay, apply today!  Apply for exams online: Go to the DCAS Online Application System (OASys) at www.nyc.gov/examsforjobs and follow the onscreen application instructions for electronically submitting your application and payment, and completing any required forms. If you do not have access to a computer, visit one of our Computer-based Testing & Applications Centers (CTACs) to use our computers to submit your application (see below). OPEN COMPETITIVE - Exams Open to the Public                   ADDICTION COUNSELOR (NYC H+H), EXAM NO. 9016 - POSTPONED                  ASSOCIATE CORRECTIONAL COUNSELOR    , EXAM NO. 9017 - POSTPONED                 ASSOCIATE PROJECT MANAGER, EXAM NO. 9003       ... Read more

Running a business: “It is our duty to build our community,” Saeed Hassan president of ABS Travel, said

By : Bazona Barnabé Bado

The president of ABS Travel was in July 26, 2018  in Brooklyn to meet with a group of teenagers from age 14 to 15 to give them the basic information  they need to run a business and to succeed in a world that requires more competition. Saeed Hassan who has been run ABS Travel for 25 years, was confident as he stood before the youth students and taught them how to be a successful man and woman. “Be strong inside of you, speak out, express yourselves, success comes then,” said Hassan who came to the meeting with his son who is majoring in finance with two minors. “ABS Travel, and staff believe in social responsibility,” said Dr. Marie Claudine Mukamabano, sales and marketing Africa.  “ You are the most important asset we have, we want to hear from you, talk to you and support you to become successful in your... Read more

Barack Obama shares the three questions you need to ask before choosing a life partner

Barack and Michelle Obama’s relationship is routinely exalted as the type of union to which we all should aspire. The former president not only showers his former first lady with praise in speech after speech, but frequently shares tender messages to her on social media. If you were pondering the secret to their 25 years of wedded bliss, a major hint can be found in the three questions Mr. Obama recommends people wondering whether they have found Mr. or Ms. Right ask themselves. In his new book Yes, we (Still) Can, Dan Pfeiffer, Mr. Obama’s former communications director, shares a revealing conversation he had with his boss on his last day back in 2015.  As the pair discussed future, Mr. Pfieffer opened about his relationship. “So, are you guys moving together? This is the one, huh?” he recounted Mr. Obama asking him.  Mr. Obama is then said to have imparted the pearls of wisdom. “Here’s the advice I give... Read more

Islamist terrorist groups are turning their attention to West Africa

By : Washington Post

DAKAR, Senegal — The epicenter of jihadism in Africa has long been the Sahel, the region that skirts the southern fringe of the Sahara Desert. Islamist groups such as Boko Haram have used the vast and relatively empty area to hide, recruit and organize. Now the threat is increasingly spilling over into nearby countries. Terrorist attacks struck Ivory Coast in 2016 and have occurred in Burkina Faso repeatedly since then. Multiple suspected terrorists have been arrested recently in the West African nations of Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal. The latter, historically one of West Africa's most stable nations, is now holding its largest-ever terrorism trial, with 29 people accused of trying to create an Islamic State-style caliphate in the region. Al-Qaeda affiliates in the area have also issued a new wave of threats against Western interests in West Africa, with one group identifying Senegal and Guinea, which have soldiers in a U.N. peacekeeping mission... Read more

DOJ tinkers with immigration courts to speed deportations

It is a judicial bureaucracy that American citizens almost never encounter, with 58 courtrooms around the country and more than 300 judges, whose decisions affect the lives of thousands of people each year. There are limited avenues for appeal and no constitutional right to a lawyer for anyone caught up in it. Welcome to the immigration court system, the latest focus of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration — less visible than a border wall and less dramatic than midnight raids by ICE officers, but arguably more important. The sequence of events that lead to immigration court vary from case to case, especially now, as even broader categories of people — ranging from convicted criminals to recent border crossers seeking asylum, longtime residents and even a few U.S. citizens — are getting caught up in the Trump administration’s sweeping enforcement dragnet. But for all who find themselves in front... Read more

The African Journal

The sun is risen on the horizon as a new outlet, which is called “The African Journal” is born. It is an independent newspaper and envisioned to serve African’s diaspora not only in the United States of America but also across the world by providing them with accurate and reliable information they need to live as citizens in an unrest society. The African Journal positions itself as a federated tool, a link or a bridge that bounds communities between themselves first, and secondly with their native countries. It has its headquarters in New York. It is a dream comes true for two immigrants who come from Burkina Faso in West Africa and who think that American dream goes beyond the materialistic aspect of the life. They agree with James Truslow Adams an American who was a writer and historian, and who coined in 1931 the term “American Dream” in his... Read more