Honoring distinguished women

The month of March marks the “month of the Woman”. In many schools and institutions women were being honored. Professor Joseph McNair found it fitting to go against the grain and nominated five upstanding women who made gigantic contributions to South Florida and in particular the Miami-Dade county community.
The women being honored were Adora Obi Nweze, Delma Jackson-Rodriguez Oshun- Mini, Iya Orite Olasowo Adefunmi, Constance Tallaha Ekon, and Chief Sandrell Rivers. One of the ladies was deceased. A brief biography was read by the professor as they were introduced to the audience. The introduction was done in an African language and then in English.
The Ladies later spoke about themselves, their work, their volunteerism and their family. A couple ladies were proud great grand mothers. They spoke of their journey to get them where they are today. They all took different avenues; the one thing that they all had in common was that they were teachers of some kind. They either work in the education system as teachers; or worked to educate our young people how to carry themselves in life.
The dedication of the women was preceded by chants and songs in an African language from African men who were either born there or inducted. These men wore amazing African drabs indicative of the culture. If the chants were easy on the tongue and was repeated, I too, would try to sing along. This was followed by blessings from African priests who then game the ladies protective beads. That brought some insight, as I have always seen professor McNair wearing these beads. Now I know why! I learned quite a lot about these women and even more so about my cultural heritage from this meeting.