Independence Ball in Atlanta August 12

Ambassador to the United States, Her Excellency Audrey Marks, will deliver the keynote address at the Atlanta Jamaica Association (AJA) Independence Ball and Scholarship Awards ceremony on Saturday, August 12, at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Atlanta.

The event, which will celebrate Jamaica’s 55th year of Independence and the AJA’s 40 th year of service to the Caribbean community in Metro Atlanta, is considered the premier event that will bring together Jamaican nationals and friends of Jamaica under the theme ‘Forty Years Abroad, Fifty-Five Years A Yaad’.

The event has been endorsed by the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport as one of the Jamaica 55 events abroad.

In celebration of its 40 years of service, the AJA will present 13 scholarships to college-bound students in Metro Atlanta and Jamaica.

According to the association’s President, Mr. Alan Stewart, the AJA, to date, has awarded scholarships valued at US$100,000. This is the association’s way of giving back to help educate young Jamaicans in the USA as well as back home in Jamaica.

Jamaica’s Consul General to Miami, Franz Hall; Jamaica’s Honorary Consul to Atlanta, Jewel Scott; and Dr. Neville Ying, representing ‘Jamaica Diaspora 55’ are among those to attend the function.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Marks will pay a three-day visit to Northern California from August 25 to 27.

While there, she will pay a courtesy call on the Mayors of San Francisco, Oakland and San José as well as on US Congresswoman, Barbara Lee.

On Saturday, August 26 she will meet with potential investors from the area and deliver the keynote address at the Jamaican American Association of Northern California (JAANC) Independence Gala at the HS Lordships restaurant in Berkeley, California.