NSBE - Convention 2014 - (Page 29)
INTERNATIONALNEWS
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27
the problem that they were really able
to tap into the bigger issue at hand,"
he says. "I don't think I should...lead
this project, I think I should...support
it from a distance. But (they) are the
talented engineers who can lead this
initiative."
NSBE's next trip to Ghana is scheduled for August of this year. The
Society's ultimate goal is to replicate
the current program across Africa, by
forming partnerships between other
universities and NSBE chapters in the
U.S. and abroad.
The African initiative is also "a
great opportunity to engage the NSBE
Professionals," Womack says. "On this
trip, we weren't able to bring them. But
that's the group that I think can really
make a difference, because they're
already in the field, they're doing this
kind of work, and they have a different
level of resources." ■
Before engaging any village in Ghana, one receives a warm welcome and introduction by the
elders and other community members who share their own history and culture.
THE FOUNDING
D
eidra Fair James remembers the mid-'90s as
a time when the narrative about Africa was
changing in the U.S. No longer perceived
only as the continent in need, the Motherland
was being talked about more broadly as a place
of great economic potential. But even before
that change, James says, she wanted to go. She
became NSBE's international chair in 1995, before
she had even traveled outside of the U.S.
"...I always wanted to go to Africa. I always
wanted to work internationally," says James, who
earned her bachelor's in civil/structural engineering at Purdue University in 1992. "I joined NSBE
in '88, and since then, I have been a believer in
the mission of the organization. I thought (living in
Africa) would be a great connection."
Paul Pratt, then a member of the NSBE Chicago
Alumni Extension Chapter, was her international
cochair. He, too, had a great desire to see Africa,
a desire whetted by NSBE's pan-Africanism. Pratt
remembers an illustration of the continent on the
cover of NSBE Magazine in the early '90s, and
appearances at the national conventions by Lady
Sala S. Shabazz, founder of the Black Inventions
Museum.
When the opportunity came for James to live
in Africa, in the form of a job offer, she took a 90
percent pay cut to take the position, in Ghana.
www.nsbe.org
That was in September 1996. By Christmas of
that year, she was making a loud appeal to NSBE
members to come and see the country.
In 1997, Pratt made his first trip to the
Motherland to attend the African-African
American Summit, in Zimbabwe. It was a great
experience for him and the NSBE members he
traveled with, he says, and one that made him
even more receptive to James' call.
"Our zeal kind of converged," James says,
and the two set out to make NSBE's first African
conference a reality. Pratt took the proposal
through the channels of NSBE's leadership in the
U.S., and James worked the Ghana side, making
connections at the Ghana Institution of Engineers,
the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and
Technology (KNUST), and elsewhere. In August of
'98, a group of 23 NSBE members from the U.S.
made the trip to Accra for the conference, which
was attended by about 40 persons. André Willis,
then NSBE's new national chair, extended an
invitation to the KNUST students in attendance to
join the Society. They accepted, were later made
official members - with the help and encouragement of Anisha Zimmerman at NSBE headquarters
- and NSBE Ghana was born.
In recalling this history, Pratt, James and
many others give credit to Kweku Fleming, NSBE's
1989-91 national chair and 1999-2001 international chair, for initiating the Society's international
expansion in the early '90s. Fleming, who attended
and spoke at NSBE Ghana's 15-year anniversary
celebration this past January, says, "This (1998)
conference made NSBE's global destiny real and
tangible for many in NSBE who had reservations.
The Ghanaian students and professionals took to
NSBE so stridently and offered a shining confirmation that NSBE's mission really could apply in Africa
and by extension around the world."
James is now country director for Ghana for
Millennium Challenge Corporation, a U.S. organization focused on international economic development. Pratt lives Stateside and works for Purdue,
as associate director of facilities engineering. Like
Fleming, they are pleased by the longevity and
growth of NSBE in Africa, but they yearn for more
progress.
"...We feel proud that from a humble
20-person trip in August of '98, this has
happened," James says. "I think though, that
moving to the next level is what we want to
see," she adds: having NSBE members act as
advocates for African innovation, influence U.S.
foreign policy and U.S. development projects on
the continent, and assist talented, African tech
entrepreneurs with resources and expertise. ■
NSBE MAGAZINE * C ONVENTION 2014
* 29
http://www.nsbe.org
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