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. 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.
Early life
Chihombori grew up in the village of Chivhu in Zimbabwe. She emigrated to the US in 1977.
Career
Chihombori is a graduate of Fisk University and Meharry Medical College. She did a residency in Family Medicine at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. She holds a bachelor's degree in General Chemistry, a master's degree in organic chemistry, and a Doctor of Medicine degree. She graduated from Meharry Medical College of Medicine in 1986. Her specialty was family medicine. She is the founder of medical clinics. As an entrepreneur she purchased property that built a US- based Africa House. She is the owner of the Durban Manor Hotel Cultural House in Durban, South Africa. From 1996 to 2012 Chihombori-Quao she was the Medical Director for Mid Tenn Medical Associates, and the Smyrna Ambulance Service She is the second African Union Permanent Representative to hold that position. Ambassador Amina Salum Ali was the prior AU - US Ambassador. She is the Chair of the African Union-African Diaspora Health Initiative, since 2012. From 2012 to 2016, Chihombori-Quao served as the Chair of the African Union-African Diaspora Health Initiative. As the chair of the AU-ADHI her work involves mobilizing Africans in the Diaspora health professionals in assisting with Africa's continental healthcare crisis. Since 2010, Chihombori-Quao has been the International Chair of the African Union-Diaspora African Forum Americas. In this capacity she advocates for Africans and friends of Africa to participate in the development of Africa. 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. On October 7, 2019, received notice that she was no longer ambassador for the African Union in Washington. An online petition was started for Chihombori-Quao to be reinstated.
Awards
In 2015, at the African Union Summit - Chihombori-Quao received the “Women of Excellence Award”. Arikana Chihombori-Quao: My mandate is to promote Africa in the Americas and more importantly, to mobilise the African diaspora - meaning all people of African descent living outside of Africa.
In 1996 she was awarded achievement award by the late President Nelson Mandela of the Republic of South Africa for her contributions to Africa.
Quotes
"My mandate is to promote Africa in the Americas and more importantly, to mobilise the African diaspora - meaning all people of African descent living outside of Africa."
"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. Mobilising the diaspora and encouraging involvement in the development of Africa is key to our mandate."
“We are the original people and we have every reason to stand up in the tallest mountains to proclaim who we are.”
“We are beautiful, intelligent, sophisticated, highly adaptable and totally indestructible people – the Africans.” “Any other race that would have gone through what we’ve been subjected to would have been extinct and that’s the truth."
