Expanding Local Ties to Africa : Summit Prompts Black Women’s Group to Take Aid Efforts Abroad

During a recent visit to Dakar, Senegal, Barbara Perkins played the role of the consummate ambassador.

There she was at the third African-African American Summit, mingling with dignitaries, wrestling with tough social and political issues--and putting the San Fernando Valley on the map.

“We’re always having to raise the Valley flag,” Perkins said from her home here. “A lot of times things are happening in Los Angeles and people just forget about [African Americans in] the San Fernando Valley. It was no different in Africa.”

Like a true diplomat though, Perkins, an airline attendant, did more than raise the flag. During the six-day summit, she also laid the foundation for an international program being launched by the Valley chapter of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW).

A month later, plans for the projects are moving closer to reality, Perkins said, helped along by the contacts made on her trip.

One recent day a doctor in Nigeria called Perkins, following up on their discussions about an intercontinental, computer-based student exchange. Days before, she had received a call from an African American doctor who lives in Lynwood and is interested in working with the group on a health education project.

“It took going all the way to Africa to meet someone who lives here,” Perkins said with a laugh.

The trip to Africa though is proving to be a significant step in the growth of the local group.

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NCNW is a national service and leadership organization founded in 1935 by African American educator Mary McLeod Bethune. Born to former slaves, Bethune established Bethune-Cookman College in Florida, and later was special adviser to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Nationally the organization has focused its efforts on a range of social issues from education to AIDS in the black community and global women’s health issues, said Teri Hoggard, president of the Valley chapter.

The organization places a particular emphasis on fostering and paying tribute to strong black families.

Each year NCNW sponsors annual Black Family Reunion celebrations throughout the country.

Although the organization has long had international components, the local chapter has focused its efforts primarily on Valley residents.

“There are so many issues right here at home,” said Perkins, who helped found the chapter in 1992.

Working with the nonprofit organization Meet Each Need with Dignity (MEND) and Calvary Baptist Church, the organization has “adopted” 65 low-income families. Each month NCNW provides food for the families, Perkins said. The organization also co-sponsors an annual health fair and this year held its first Black History Month Celebration at Valley College. African Americans make up about 4% of the Valley’s population.

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The decision to expand into the international arena was not taken lightly, given the need that exists in the Valley, Perkins said. Members searched for and found ways to help a wider spectrum of people--from Pacoima to Zimbabwe--without diminishing their local focus.

“We need to look at our own community first,” Perkins said. “I firmly believe that, but I also believe that we have so much overage and so many resources that are taken for granted.”

After attending the summit last month, an event that drew African dignitaries and prominent African Americans such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown, Perkins learned of the similar struggle faced by African and African American women in areas such as child care. And she came away with a long list of people who might be able to help the group with its newest efforts.

Local members were anxious to hear her reports.

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“When any organization gets a woman like Barbara Perkins, they are most fortunate,” Hoggard said. “You not only get someone to carry the dream, you also get someone who can motivate the desire of other women. “

Currently, they are working with a national NCNW official in Zimbabwe to create a health education project. Members of the chapter would collect basic medical supplies and non-prescription medicine, as well as health information, and send them to a Zimbabwean village where such supplies are not readily available. The goal is to create an ongoing relationship that would help fill a health care void.

“It may make a difference in a child’s life,” Perkins said.

The chapter could also do the same with school supplies, sending pencils and papers to children who need them.

“These are goals that are tangible,” Perkins said. “We can do it right now. We don’t need a whole lot to get it going.”

The chapter’s other goals are loftier and will take far more time and money--neither of which is a deterrent to Perkins.

“I believe it can happen,” she said. “I believe we can find the support for it.”

One project would link African students and Valley students via the information superhighway, Perkins said. Using computers, the students would meet electronically and share facets of their culture--a kind of student exchange, ‘90s-style.

Through the program, the children would teach each other, fostering a sense of respect for their differences and similarities.

“Once we educate children, they can make informed decisions,” Perkins said. “They can respect the cultures of other people.”

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The project would likely pair local students with students in Nigeria. Already, a Nigerian businessman has expressed interest in providing the funding, and Perkins is searching for local funding.

For African American students, the exchange would possess an added benefit: They would learn about their African heritage--minus the stereotypes and negative imagery--and learn to appreciate it, she said.

“Our kids would feel better about themselves,” Perkins said. “They would be able to shape their own images and not rely on other people’s . . . There are some measurable outcomes that will benefit us here and there are benefits for people in Africa.”

And it is significant that Valley children will have the opportunity to participate, she said.

Perkins also plans to attend a women’s conference in Beijing in August--the Fourth World Conference on Women sponsored by the United Nations--and she’ll take her Valley flag with her.

“I suppose I’ll have to raise it in China too,” she said.