Prince George, B.C. – The African Canadian community continues to grow in Prince George.

In fact when George Kaweesi first moved here from Uganda in 1985, he says you could count the number of African people living here on one hand.

But how things have changed says the CNC Instructor who estimates there are between 100-200 living in the city today.

“People used to come here just for work – tree planting especially in the summer time. And some of those people decided to stay and when they stayed they had contacts and relatives that came and joined them.”

He adds the college and UNBC have also contributed as both have attracted both students and professors.

And Kaweesi expects the population to continue to grow.

“Definitely. There’s no question about that because all these people that have come here, a lot of them are in their 20’s and 30’s. They all have young families so they have kids and those kids are going to have kids who will then have relatives who they’ll sponsor to come here.”

He jokingly admits the frigid winters in Prince George are a turn-off to some.

“It is a turnoff but you don’t always have a choice in where you end up because you’re looking for something to better yourself. When you go to a place and you kind of get used to the place, make friends, and your kids make friends, you end up being a part of the community.”

Kaweesi has also organized this month’s Black History Month celebrations which he notes were cut short this year due to the Canada Winter Games.

“We normally have more events but because of the Canada Winter Games we figured people have lots of things to do so we scaled it down. We’ll have more events next year though.”

The schedule of events began last night with a soccer tournament which will continue starting at 8:00 this morning at the Charles Jago Northern Sports Centre.

The fun will continue tonight when the African Church Choir and others perform at the First Baptist Church beginning at 7:00.