June 22, 2009

As a part of AHEAD's continuing efforts to partner with organizations working to improve the Tanzanian health care delivery systems, on October 25-30, 2009, AHEAD will participate in the 5th Annual African Diaspora Heritage Trail  (ADHT) Conference and host  “A Day of Community Service”, a special program being held in cooperation with the Andrew Young Foundation in Tanzania.  Over fifty youth leaders and their sponsors from throughout the African Diaspora and Tanzania will travel to the rural Kisawere District, in Eastern Tanzania and provide volunteer labor assistance for AHEAD based projects  that serve to strengthen the health services and secondary educational opportunities for youth and their families.  

“The people  of Kisawere are excited about the volunteers coming to their community and helping them improve the educational opportunities for their children” said Dr. Irving Williams, Founder and Medical Director  for AHEAD.  “For the past 6 years, AHEAD has been working in Kisawere, together with the villagers and youth to improve the secondary school facilities.  As a result, we  now offer both girls and boys the opportunity to pursue secondary education in their communities."  

During the Day of Community Service the visiting ADHT youth will assist AHEAD with construction of  a new women’s dormitory, repairing classrooms and  tending community gardens organized by the AHEAD staff working in Kisawere.  The Day of Community Service is designed to enable the visiting youth leaders an opportunity to “give back” to an African community and understand how they too can make a difference and effect meaningful change in the lives of their peers in an African country.  Through the implementation of grass-root organizing and people-to-people interaction, AHEAD has ventured on a journey that has changed the face of health care delivery in Tanzania. By working at the village level with children and families suffering from extreme poverty, AHEAD has been able to improved their lives and effected positive change for over a million people, health care providers, and volunteers throughout the world. This cooperative effort establishes mechanisms that empower these distressed communities to be self sustaining.                       

The AHEAD “Day of Community Service“ during the ADHT Youth Leadership Summit  will be the culmination event of a summer-long series of health services, volunteer activities and continent-wide outreach taking place in Tanzania, including a “Harambee Gala Reception” being hosted by a committee of distinguished Tanzanians, which will be held  during the convening of the 5th Annual African Diaspora Heritage Trail Conference.  The Harambee Gala Reception scheduled for Friday, October 30, 2009 in Dar Es Salaam, is designed to raise funds for the ongoing work of AHEAD in Tanzania and will honor the Honorable President of the United Republic of Tanzania Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete and his wife Salma Kikwete,  as well as the Minister of the Home Affairs of the United Republic of Tanzania, the Honorable Lawrence Masha and his wife Stella Masha, longtime supporters of the AHEAD, Inc., and its programming.