URI’s Uhuru Sasa held ‘Sasa Week’ to connect students. PHOTO CREDIT: instagram.com/uhuru_sasa
Uhuru Sasa held their annual Sasa Week from Feb. 13th-17th, which was a full week of a special event every day ranging from a tote making event to a dating auction event.
Each day’s event had a different purpose. Monday’s event was a “Buy a Babe” date auction and fundraiser for their organization because they are recognized by the Student Senate, and all organizations recognized by them have to fundraise.
Tuesday was a “Trap & Tote” event in which people could come and design their own tote bags with an R&B theme.
Wednesday was a more serious event called “We Gon’ Be Alright,” which was a discussion event about violence and injustice in the black community with special speakers.
Thursday was a new event called “BFFR College is Hard,” which was a discussion based event about college experiences and it was also a collaboration between the University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College, Johnson and Wales University and Brown University.
The last event on Friday was the “Sasa Love Cabaret” event which was a mixer event where people dressed up.
Wednesday’s event was the most important event according to Patricia Nimoh, fifth-year double major in innovation and entrepreneurship and public relations and President of Uhuru Sasa. However, there was a basketball game that night too, so she and other members of Uhuru Sasa figured that not a lot of people would show up to the event.
“One event that I wish we had more people in attendance because the subjects that we touched on are very deep and very important,” Nimoh said. “And I knew if people were to have shown up to that event that a lot of people’s minds would have been opened.”
Fatima Gassama, fifth-year senior double major in health studies and French and Uhuru Sasa’s public relations co-chair, talked more about Wednesday’s event, the entire week as a whole and how they felt that it was a success.
Gassama mentioned that it was a surprise to the organization how well Monday’s event went and how it set the tone for the rest of the week. She mentioned that there were some ups and downs with some things, but that’s what it’s like to be part of an executive board (e-board).
Diandra Monteiro, fifth-year student majoring in psychology and general member of Uhuru Sasa, talked about what it’s like planning and hosting an event. Although she is a general member of the organization, she is very close with the e-board. She talked about how not to put too much focus on the outcome of an event because you can be successful with an itinerary that you create with all your other plans.
“As long as you enjoy the process and not worry too much about what the quantity is as long as you focus on the quality, you know, the turnout within each other will just be great and you could just reminisce and reflect for future events as well,” Monteiro said.
Thursday’s event, “BFFR College is Hard,” was another important event to them because it was a collaboration event with three other schools. It was a discussion event where everyone from four different schools got to share experiences with each other and hear stories from everyone.
“I think it’s nice having discussions with other college students from other schools to see how we relate in a sense and, you know, just rely on each other,” Nimoh said.
Monteiro talked more about them as an organization and how they are more than just a multicultural organization, but a social organization as well. Bringing back events like ‘Buy A Babe’ and the cabaret brought back a bit of Uhuru Sasa’s history.
Gassama also talked briefly about their upcoming fashion show in April and how it’s going to be an exciting event. However, they did not disclose the theme of the event nor the host of it either because they want it to be a surprise and for people to come to the fashion show and find out for themselves what the theme is.
Nimoh added on to that by talking about how this fashion show is taking a different approach than what they’ve ever done before, and what they wanted to do last year but they didn’t have the time to execute it.
“But this year, like it’s more well thought out, like the execution I feel like, if we have the right resources, it’s gonna go off well and our goal is for people to watch the show and be like, oh wow, this is a movie,” Nimoh said.
Uhuru Sasa is a very welcoming and loving organization according to Nimoh, Gassama and Monterio. They have found life-long friends within this organization and hope to continue hosting and planning fun and exciting events for the URI community.