FROM THE 2007-2008 PRESIDENT

Catch the Vision… 

Brothers and Sisters from North, South, East, and West Africa and her diaspora, I greet you and welcome to Africans In Medicine.  My name is Ijeoma Nnodim, co-founder and humble servant of this illustrious organization. 

At this time, I invite you to dream with me for a minute. Just close your eyes, breath deeply, and relax. Forget about out there, in here or whatever may be going on in your life and for one minute, escape with me in this dream… 

Imagine a place where everyone is happy, healthy, working, loving, and fed. Everyone belongs to someone and they greet each other with a smile. When someone doesn’t feel well, there are personnel, medicine, and equipment to assess their health, determine what the problem is, and fix it. And if it can’t be fixed, then there are resources available to provide the optimal comfort and make for a peaceful and celebrated journey to the other side. That person leaves this world knowing that they mattered and that they will be remembered with smiles. In the meantime, the family and community left behind continue to enjoy happiness and health, having 3 square meals a day, plus snacks and clean water; clean, durable clothes on their back; a sturdy roof over their heads; and available, accessible opportunities to pursue and accomplish their dreams. They live long lives because there are preventative measures at every corner and milestone of their lives to ensure that they are in optimal physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health and wellness. They enjoy long lives because they are secure in their complete identity, they have ownership over the rule of their lives and are in charge of their land and the jewels within... 

Imagine that this is Africa. Your Africa. My Africa. North, South, East, and West Africa. Old Africa, New Africa, post-colonial, neo-colonial, no mo’ colonial Africa. Dependent Africa, Corrupt Africa, It don’t matter, I have a dream, we’re gonna make it Africa. But we do have a dream. And we’re going to make it. In fact, it’s more than a dream and we are already making it as evidenced by this gathering. All this….you, me, us. These faces, these hands, these minds, these souls, these hearts, these feet. We are the dream realized. A famous writer from Martinique once said, that despite all the negativity one might drum up about our continent, don’t sleep on her…don’t sleep on her because you can take the oil, the diamonds, the coffee, the plutonium, but you can’t take her children. You can’t take her children. Yes some of us may have made that forced journey on those ships via jamaica, others on planes via amsterdam. But they can’t take these minds, these souls, these hearts. We are Africa’s most precious resources and we must stand strong and united. We are the dream realized. We are the realization of the dream of our fathers and mothers all those years ago and yesterday. We are the walk of their talk, the tangible reality of their imagination, the actualization of their creative genius. 

I quote Philip Emeagwali, the Nigerian supercomputer genius, internet pioneer, and foreward thinking scientist in saying, “ Unless Africa significantly increases its intellectual capital, the continent will remain irrelevant in the 21st century and even beyond. Africa needs innovators, producers of knowledge, and wise men and women who can discover, propose, and then implement progressive ideas. Africa’s fate lies in the hands of Africans and the solution to poverty must come from its people. The future that lies ahead of Africa is for Africa to create, after the people have outlined their vision”. 

Brothers and sisters, we are AFRICANS IN MEDICINE. We are A.I.M. and we are outlining our vision. The vision begun in 2005 by young African medical professionals who saw that there was no existing cohesive support network of Africans in the health profession and believed that Africans needed to take the initiative and be at the forefront of African health and wellness issues. Like the proverbial African broom we are the coming together of the individual broomsticks of a scattered population to form a broom that is functional, focused in purpose, and unbreakable. Our mission is to forge a cohesive unit that will harness the diverse intellectual and creative energies of African medical professionals towards exerting a positive and progressive impact in our community both in the United States and in the continent of Africa. We will accomplish this mission by pursuing innovative, proactive, and constructive “out-of-box”  ideas on improving health care in the African continent and addressing root elements that affect African health and wellness, while adopting a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach.  Why the area of health? Because optimal health is integral to the well being of any society. True development, in my opinion, isn’t tall sky scrapers, and having the latest Motorola, with blue tooth technology. True development is a nation or continent with a healthy, self-sufficient, self-determined population who are firmly rooted in their land and culture, share a core set of values, and develop or determine their own technology according to their needs and not just to keep up with the joneses. Or the bushes or the blairs, as the case may be. Indeed, Philip Emeagwali, put it best when he says “The potential for progress and poverty alleviation in Africa relies on capital generated from the power within our minds, not from our ability to pick minerals from the ground or seek debt relief and foreign assistance…It is only a nation's human capital that can be converted into real wealth, human capital is much more valuable than its financial capital”. Physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually healthy people is the key to true progress. Health is wealth. Health is development. Health is hope. Health is life.   

One might say that that this is too ambitious, too lofty a goal. But, let’s revisit our acronym: “AIM”. We aim high. We aim higher to raise the standard for personal and professional development, community development, continental development. We aim even higher for a healthier Africa.  All it takes a few people to desire change, to desire better, to aim higher. With God’s wisdom to harness our collective resources and channel them into creative, effective, and efficient solutions, the impossible is possible. 

We are unique and our uniqueness is our strength in that: 

• We are diverse: As Africans we are from various countries, ethnic groups, and upbringing. Some of us are comfortable with macaroni and cheese, greens, turkey sandwiches while others are daily consumers of hot foofoo, red red, jollof rice, cocoyam porridge, couscous, chipati, and the list goes on. Many peoples, one heart.
• We are young: we have the optimism, zeal, passion, energy of youth.
• We are based in the U.S.: The nature of this society teaches one that to survive, we must come together.  In this country, we are all Black, we are all African and we will continue to work to promote the same pan-African mindset abroad.
• We are educated and professionals: Therefore we have the tools for critical analysis, effective dialogue and the ability to develop new and improved problem-solving methods. The professional calling of conduct and ethics inspires confidence and creates an atmosphere of high standards and expectations.  

The key values/principles of A.I.M. are:

• Integrity
• Unity
• Innovation
• Self-determination
• Cultural and Historical respect and relevance. 

We operate on a 4 fold philosophy:

• The flow of health care provision in African communities should be continuous and uninterrupted.
• The community itself should be involved in and at the helm of all initiatives from start to finish, in order to promote self-sustenance, self-determination, efficacy, and longevity. 
• Preventative measures should be aggressively pursued and implemented to maintain health, realize early detection, and avert disease progression. 
• All initiatives should accommodate and incorporate community social and cultural realities. 

Since our first meeting in April of 2006, we have come a long way. We have been formalizing the organization as a non-profit, building our website www.africansinmedicine.org, drafting the constitution, building contacts with African immigrant community and health organizations both in the US and at home in the continent, building the AIM Hospitality & Mentorship programs, as well as just spreading the good news of AIM.  We worked very hard to organize our 2nd annual meeting held on April 8th, 2007, and to provide it free of charge for all of you through aggressive fundraising efforts. Currently, we have over 250 people on our email list serve roster. We are building our formal membership, so please fill out your membership application form, found in the information packet given at our last meeting. You can also do so online and encourage people you know who are down for the cause to join up on our website and through your regional representatives.  Our goal for this meeting is to first of all catch the vision and get excited about it. Then, to get organized and tight on our business. There is no half-stepping on this one.  At the end of our last meeting we set realistic goals and effective strategies for accomplishing those goals on a regional and national level.  We will be ratified our constitution, elected the remaining national executive board members: Secretary, Treasurer, Internal Relations Officer, and broke out into different rooms for the regional sessions where the regional representatives were elected, and the agenda for each region was set. The conference and our post-conference African party were huge successes. 

I cannot emphasize enough that this is your organization. Not the executive board or the regional representatives. We are merely at your service. You set the pace, you produce the ideas, the energy and all of us as a collective put in the work to take action and bring the vision to fruition as well as celebrate the fruits of our labor. We are all in this together. There are still various opportunities for involvement: Regional representatives, and committee chairs. But every member is very strongly encouraged to join a committee. In fact, we are required to by the constitution. On the matter of the constitution, this document has taken more than a year to develop and is a product of a diverse collaborative effort. These are the values and principles by which we, as an organization, will conduct business and hold each other accountable.  As it belongs to you, we made sure that everyone has a copy so that you can be well-versed on your organization and better able to hold each other and your leaders accountable.  You can refer in your constitution to Article IV Section 3 on Structure and Leadership, Executive Board Members, to preview  the role and duties of these positions. If you are passionate about our mission, committed, hardworking, and totally in love with AIM or know someone who is, then I encourage you to nominate yourself or that person.  It is up to your region to decide how they want to choose their representatives – either by election or volunteer. You can refer to the constitution Article IV Section 4 on Regional representatives to preview our four regions and the states in that region, as well as the role and duties of regional representatives. Committee Chair is a volunteer position so if you are interested, please speak to any executive board member.  You can refer to the constitution Article IV Section 5 to preview the committees and their role and duties. Make sure you mix and mingle and get the contact information of as many people as you can and keep in touch with them regardless of if you plan to marry them or not. This will be easy to do on our interactive website www.africansinmedicine.org. 

Please remain excited and passionate! The work is not easy, but as a united family, it is not only possible, it is as good as done.  Remember, getting together is a start, remaining together is advancement, and working together is an achievement!

God bless you!

Sincerely,
Ijeoma Nnodim
President, A.I.M.