House Of Tribes & Sweet Sensation
Visit Abyssinian Baptist Church for A Rites of Passage
with Choir Director: Brother Joseph Edwared Harris, III

This past Saturday, May 19, 2007, we were invited by our own Brother Joseph Edward Harris, III to Abyssinian Baptist Church for a very special procession, a rites of passage for the sons of The Blue Nile Rites-of-Passage. This afternoon from about 9am until 3pm was so warm and welcoming. The older sisters were dressed in their Sunday best and in their attire inspired from the motherland. The colors were beautiful and we were greeted with warm, "hello sisters" and "hello brothers". We felt like we were at home. It was a feeling of love in the room. This event featured about 30 young men ages 12 to 16. They were mentored by older brothers who guided them into manhood. One of the elders, as they are called and as they are, was our board member and choir director, Brother Joseph Edward Harris, III who has now been annointed, Elder Harris. The idea behind this Rites-of-Passage is based on our African Tradition where-in a young boy is taken from his mother's house to go off with the men, when he returns to his mother's house he is a man. Please visit the Abyssinian Baptist Church website to make donations so that this wonderful rites-of-passage can continue to guide our young African-American sons and daughters into fruitful adulthoods.

photographs by: Dominique B. Adansi-Bona & Elder Joseph Edward Harriss, III