Havana, May 15 (RHC) - Artists and personalities have joined in recent weeks a challenge that is circulating in the social media that is close to being met May 25 Africa Day: to upload a photo wearing an African turban or scarf. They include the so called ‘Diva of the Buena Vista Social Club’ singer Omara Portuondo, Haila María Mompié, runner Ana Fidelia Quirós or Deputy Prime Minister Inés María Chapman

Since April, the idea, which started as an initiative of Cuban ambassador to Senegal, Saylin Sánchez, has become popular under the hashtags #ChallengeAfricano (AfricanChallenge), #DeCaminoalDíaDeÁfrica (OnTheWaytoAfricaDay) and #EcosDeÁfrica (EchoesOfAfrica) on Facebook and Twitter.

‘It is very difficult for any Cuban not have a shared history with Africa, personal or of their loved ones. This is what has made people feel motivated and join in,’ said Sánchez Portero, who fulfills her first mission, as an ambassador to Senegal, a nation known for its friendship and taste for Cuban music since the 1960's, with the Aragon Orchestra.

The turban is a garment that has marked identity values in Senegal and on the continent in general. Used in daily life as part of the African costume, called bubú, it can be worn as a hat or as a scarf. ‘If there is something diverse here it is the scarf, its colors and the different ways to put it on. And that is precisely what we have reflected in the way we put on our turbans to take these photos,‘ explained the ambassador, who confessed to use it frequently.

Hundreds of people have already joined their first photos in the social media, along with other diplomats on the African continent, including Cuban doctors on relief missions abroad, especially in Africa, children, actors and actresses, such as Iris Pérez, Yasmín Gómez, Omar Alí, as well as Cuban sports celebrities Ana Fidelia Quirós, Yipsi Moreno and Mireya Luis and singers Omara Portuondo and Arnaldo Rodríguez.

Portuondo was one of the first to post a publication, saying she joined the initiative to draw attention to what Africa has left to the world: ‘I don't know since when I’ve been wearing these bandanas or turbans, but they are part of my personality,’ she said.