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Dear Friends,
During our preparations for this year's AAI Awards Gala highlighting Tanzania: Educating for a Sustainable Future, we reached out to AAI's Tanzanian alumni—some 1,200 past participants of AAI education programs—to include their stories in the celebration. On the occasion we proudly bestowed the 2007 AAI Distinguished Alumnus Award upon Gidion Kaino Mandesi, Founder and Executive Director of the Disabled Organization for Legal Affairs and Social Economic Development (DOLASED), for his work and dedication to defending the rights of Africans with disabilities.
Gidion exemplifies the accomplishments and contributions of talented individuals who benefit from AAI's graduate scholarship and other education programs. As a young man determined to study law, Gideon was undeterred by the fact that no other sightless person had ever been admitted to and graduated from the University of Dar es Salaam School of Law. In order to enroll and successfully complete the program, he translated the voluminous law school texts into Braille, thus launching his own remarkable career as a human rights advocate, and making it possible for generations of other aspiring lawyers, who also happen to be disabled, to follow in his footsteps.
Like Gidion, other AAI alumni in Tanzania are making contributions to that nation's development across a range of sectors, including higher education, where Agnes Nyomora, Professor of Plant Biology, teaches at the University of Dar es Salaam; wildlife conservation and eco-tourism, where Omoury Chambegga leads the Department of Tourism & Planning at the College of African Wildlife Management (MWEKA); business and finance, where Louis Accaro is Director of the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation; and public health, where Dr. David Kihwele and Naomi Bakunzi Katunzi are Director of Programs and Executive Director, respectively, of the Family Planning Association of Tanzania (UMATI). These and other AAI alumni from across Africa—some 23,000 overall—are applying their knowledge and skills for the benefit of many within and beyond their home countries. They provide living proof of the value of AAI programs and our longstanding commitment to educating for sustainable future.
As we conclude 2007, we ask that you consider making a year-end contribution to AAI. Our ongoing education programs help Africans to equip themselves for effective leadership, thus ensuring that they and their families, communities and nations can look confidently towards the future.
You've seen the good we have done; now imagine how much more we could do! Thank you and best wishes for the Holiday Season and beyond.
Sincerely,
Mora McLean
President & CEO
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