Monthly Archives: November 2014
Success Stories from Africa: The Bright Continent
By Heidi G. Frontani In the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday we are celebrating in my country this week, I thought that I would write a slightly different kind of post. Rather than recognizing one amazing individual who created a successful charitable foundation or non-governmental organization that has done excellent work in Africa, I decided […]
Success Story from Kenya: Dr. Wangari Maathai’s Green Belt Movement
Wangari Maathai was born in central Kenya in 1940. Due to her excellent grades she received a scholarship to Mount St. Scholastica College (now Benedictine College) in Kansas from which she received her Bachelor’s Degree in 1964. Thereafter she obtained a Master’s Degree at the University of Pittsburgh, also in Biological Sciences. In 1966, she […]
Success Story from Sudan: Sir Henry Wellcome’s Tropical Research Laboratories
In 1870, at the age of 17, Henry Wellcome left his home in Wisconsin in the US mid-west and moved to neighboring Minnesota for work. Recognizing his potential, family friend William Mayo, one of the founders of the famous Mayo Clinic, encouraged Mr. Wellcome to head east to study at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. […]
Success Story from Somalia: Dr. Hawa Abdi provides Healthcare for Millions
When Hawa Abdi was just 12 years old her mother died due to complications associated with childbirth. Distraught and determined to understand why her mother had died, Hawa Abdi studied medicine and, in 1971, obtained a medical degree. The following year, in the wake of her grandmother’s death, Dr. Abdi learned that Somali laws prevented […]
Success Story from South Africa: Fred Swaniker and The African Leadership Academy
Fred Swaniker’s family left Ghana when he was just four years old. The family moved about such that Mr. Swaniker lived in four African countries before he was 18 years old. As a young man, while living in Botswana, Mr. Swaniker’s recently widowed mother was asked by her community to start a school. She agreed, […]
african development successes 