PLO AFRICA MENTORSHIP VIRTUAL CONFERENCE (27th June 2020)
Dr. Arikana Chihombori-Quao is a medical doctor and activist. She is a public speaker, educator, diplomat, founder of medical clinics, and an entrepreneur. She moved to the United States after living many years in Zimbabwe.
She is the CEO and founder of Bell Family Medical Centers in the United States, as well as the founder of African Diaspora Initiative (ADI) . She was the African Union representative to the US. She was appointed in 2017. On October 7, 2019 she received notice that she was no longer “Permanent Ambassador” in a letter from the African Union Commission Chairman, Moussa Faki.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in General Chemistry, a master’s degree in organic chemistry, and a Doctor of Medicine degree. Chihombori was a family medicine specialist in Tennessee. She practiced medicine for 29 years in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
Chihombori is outspoken about the implications of the Berlin Conference that took place in Berlin, Germany, in 1885. She lectures about the outcome of the divisions on the continent of Africa that were made. She sees these divisions as a cause of some of Africa’s problems that are still in effect today. She seeks to reunite African states, and Africans in the Diaspora.
In January 2019, Chihombori-Quao launched the “Wakanda One Village Project”. The project will begin in Zambia and in Zimbabwe. Both of these countries have made offers of land. The Wakanda project seeks to engage Africans in the Diaspora.
The “Wakanda One Village Project”, is slated to consist of five African Centers of excellence in the five regions on the continent of Africa. The five centers are to be centers of development to have state-of-the-art healthcare facilities, hotels, industrial homes, shopping centers, etc.
Top Quotes by Arikana Chihombori-Quao
1. “We at the AU understand that for the continent to move forward it will need its people in the diaspora. The brain drain from migration has caused Africa to suffer a lot. Mobilizing the diaspora and encouraging involvement in the development of Africa is key to our mandate.”
2. “We are the original people and we have every reason to stand up in the tallest mountains to proclaim who we are.”
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