New York City, NEW YORK - South African Arts International, Ltd, founded in 1994, is proud to announce that the inaugural Obiang Nguema Mbasogo Humanitarian Award will be bestowed to H.E. Raul Castro, President of the Council of the State of Cuba and President of the Ministers of Cuba next week in Havana.

Cuba has helped the world, without asking anything in return. Now more than ever, we must reinvigorate our solidarity with them, said Victor Mooney.

The name of this award is being promulgated under one of Africa's leading statesman, H.E. Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of Equatorial Guinea. President Obiang has championed the cause of Pan Africanism on the African continent and is moving his country closer to an emerging economy thru the Horizonte 2020 Development Plan.

President Obiang vision for sustainable peace and sustainable development was recently rewarded with a non-permanent representative seat for Equatorial Guinea on the United Nations Security Council for a two-year term beginning January 1, 2018.

Despite the hardships of a scathing U.S. embargo, Cuba continues to globally exert the spirit of humanity, said Lisa Samuels, spokeswoman for South African Arts International.

From the early days of Africa's pursuit for liberation, Cuba dispatched soldiers to help remove the cloak of western imperialism. When Africa was attack by the Ebola crisis, Cuba mobilize their medical professionals to contain the disease. When the scourge of Ebola effected 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, a coveted event that resonates African pride, the original host country abandoned the games and sent organizers scouring in disarray.

Within moments, Equatorial Guinea emerged as the new host and enhanced cooperation with Cuba to make sure the games were free of Ebola. Whenever there is a need for disaster relief or country's looking to strengthen their medical institutions, Cuba is unwavering in support. To this day, a new generation of doctors from around the world are being cultivated through Cuba's innovative medical schools that are producing world class physicians.

Among other things, the Goree Challenge, a project of South African Arts International, will complete the Cuban leg of the journey which was disrupted by a piracy attack in Haitian waters. The Goree Challenge was a transatlantic row with the aim to raise the awareness of HIV/AIDS and to memorialize Africans that died during the transatlantic slave trade and those who endured a life of slavery on the plantations in the Americas and Caribbean.

This feat was carried out by Victor Mooney of New York, who also received a blessing from Pope John Paul II for this endeavor at the Vatican. Mr. Mooney is an American, who now enjoys dual-nationality from Equatorial Guinea. Facing several previous failures in a ten-year period, Mr. Mooney persevered. On his fourth try, Mr. Mooney was chronicled by Associated Press as the fisherman in Ernest Hemingway, classic novel, Old Man and the Sea.

In the pandemic of AIDS, Cuba is clearly in the top tier of country's turning the tide against this disease, said Victor Mooney.

Mr. Mooney departed from Las Palmas, Canary Islands on February 15, 2014 and despite insurmountable challenges, he arrived at New York's Brooklyn Bridge on November 28, 2015. This initiative was personally supported by President Obiang. Mr. Mooney became the first African-American to row across any ocean and the first human to row solo from Africa to New York.

He and long-distance swimmer, Diana Nyad, both utilized the services of satellite oceanographer Jenifer Clark and meteorologist Dane Clark for their respective efforts.

The South African Arts International will carry out their humanitarian mission with visits in Havana, Matanzas, Cojimar and Varadero. The delegation will arrive on Sunday at Jose Marti International Airport via United Airlines from Newark Liberty International Airport.

For more, visit www.goreechallenge.com.