Half of the percussion section is lined up along a classroom wall, with whiteboards to their backs. Each young boy is shaking a shekere — a West African instrument made from a dried gourd and covered with a colorful beaded netting. The rest of the musicians are sitting nearby in blue plastic chairs with djun djun and djembe drums at their feet. They bang on the instruments with one or two wooden sticks — or just their hands. They’re laying down the beat for the girls, who are jumping and moving their bodies like waves to the music. This group is part of the 300 kids — all sporting bright purple T-shirts — that are participating in this year's summer camp run by the group Concerned African Women at Miami Park Elementary School in West Little River. For many of the elementary school-age campers, the highlights are the African drumming and dance classes. They’re playing Afro-Cuban rumba music, performing the West African dances kuku and Manjani and learning to sing “Funga Alafia,” a
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