Secretary General’s Report (2018-2022

BCA-USA MIRROR SECRETARY GENERAL’S REPORT (2018-2022)

By Valeria Awah-Ngafor

Secretary General, BCA-USA

Thank you to all our members who continue to pay their dues and donate to various BCA projects. Your commitment and support has enabled BCA-USA to grow into 1000+ members. A profound thanks to all members who play a key role in moving BCA-USA forward by volunteering to serve locally, nationally and/or in committees. In my final year as Secretary General, I am delighted to present here a summary of highlights and challenges from the past four years.

In May 2019, we hosted our first convention as a new executive team in Minnesota. As we prepared for the convention, the executive came together and agreed to raise funds at the convention and use the towards humanitarian relief efforts in Bali given how the crisis was taking its toll on the community. This idea was taken to NEC and I must say to our surprise it was a very contentious vote. NEC however, voted to proceed with the idea, but this was thwarted by the Board of Directors (BOD). Despite the decision of the BOD against this initiative, four BCA members decided to donate their convention VIIP diamond packages towards the relief efforts.

On January 26th 2020, we held our first quarterly town hall conference call which was a resounding success. The format used gave every member a chance to express herself/himself. This gave us a great insight on the pulse of the association. Throughout 2020, we continued with our monthly meetings while grappling with the decision to cancel or postpone the convention. Under the advice of the then chair of the Constitution and Election Committee (CEC), Ma Lenyonga Fomunung, NEC voted to allow the president to nominate a 9-member Constitution and Interpretation Committee (CIC) to advice on the way forward. The committee was approved by NEC and the BOD.

Valeria Awah-Ngafor, SG

The CIC met, deliberated and recommended that the current executive should stay for another year until it was feasible to vote a new executive. This was definitely unprecedented. The members of the Executive agreed to stay and run the affairs of the association.

Committee Highlights

Between 2018 and 2021, the Education committee under the leadership of Ni Colins Doh organized, screened, and awarded more than $6000 in scholarships to our high school graduates. Many college-bound students will be receiving scholarship awards this year.

When the country went on Lock down because of the pandemic, the association wasn’t on lock down. The Publication Committee under the illustrious leadership of Ma Lilian Fokwang a.k.a. Ma Nyem continuously kept the entire BCA informed through the monthly newsletter. As the pandemic ravaged lives, the Health Committee under the leadership of Ni Nubia Kaba took steps to inform members and raise awareness by disseminating memos on all BCA fora to help members minimize exposure and prevent the spread of the disease. In 2020, with funding of $10,000 from BCA-USA, the Health Committee also oversaw a

project which helped the Bali District Hospital to convert one of its wards into an isolation ward for Covid-19 patients. The funding also supported the purchase of masks, protective garments, and training of health workers to undertake Covid-19 sensitization within Bali.

Thanks to the Social and Awards Committee with Ma Pascaline Leina as the chair, BCA kids had a virtual Halloween party in 2020. On December 19, 2020, the committee also hosted a virtual Pajama Christmas party for the children.

During the General Assembly in 2019, the association unanimously adopted a motion to extend financial support to the Mungaka Bible Revision (Re-translation) Project. An ad hoc committee was appointed by the president in September 2019 and work started effectively in December 2019 under the leadership of Ni Jude Fokwang. BCA-USA donated $5000 towards the Mungaka Bible re-translation project to help facilitate the process.

With the decision to postpone the convention, on October 31, 2020, the first ever Virtual Leadership Summit was held with members of the BOD and NEC attending. This meeting was followed by our very first Virtual Town Hall on the same day where members aksed questions about the association.

On March 27th, 2021, NEC approved a project to build five boreholes in Bali. This was later supported by the BOD. As of April 2022, all five boreholes had been completed, thanks to the dedication of the Projects Committee chaired by Ni Goddy Gwaabe.

In 2021, NEC welcomed three new chapter presidents: • Ni Julius Nsah, Northern Texas • Ni Francis Fokwang, Southern Texas • Ni Colins Doh, Carolinas

Additionally, Ni Augustine Njinjoh who as chair of the Membership Committee was already a NEC member, took over leadership of the Eastern Chapter after Ni Gabby Njinimbot stepped down in 2021.

This year, with support from NEC, BCA-USA youths and young professionals organized a young professional’s event which resulted in the creation of a platform for Bali youths who are in their junior/ senior year of college going into the workforce as well as Bali youth currently in the workforce to network and support each other.

A major focus of the executive and NEC in 2021, was overseeing the editing of the bylaws, the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) of all the committees. The President proactively reached out to the BOD, NEC and past presidents, to help get the SOPs completed. The Constitution and Elections Committee (CEC) was reconstituted and tasked to work on the Bylaws. This committee had its first meeting in January and from then on, worked diligently every other week and sometimes weekly to get the bylaws ready for approval by NEC and the BOD. The committee submitted the final draft of the bylaws and the SOPs of all the committees to NEC for review and approval in August. The document was approved by the BOD in the fourth quarter and the NEC in early 2022, pending final editing and corrections before presenting it to the General Assembly.

While the pandemic raged on and prevented large gatherings, on May 26, 2021, we held our second Virtual Convention where we celebrated the class of 2021 graduates, enjoyed virtual chapter parades, and received updates on the state of the association and messages from partner associations. Later that year the second Virtual Leadership Summit took place on Saturday November 11, 2021. During the summit, members voted to approve a project for BCA-USA to acquire an ambulance to serve the health needs of Bali. An ad hoc committee co-chaired by Ma Lilian Fomunung and Ni Dr. Eric Njiforfut has been created by the president, to oversee the execution of this project.

Reflections

‘A community is like a ship, everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.” Consequently, serving my community comes naturally. As the outgoing Secretary General of BCA-USA, my journey in this position has been successful, unprecedented, and challenging.

Time Management

Once I assumed my role as the SG, my immediate goal was to focus on making our Executive and the National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings more efficient and effective. To achieve this, we had

to begin our meetings on time and finish within the allotted time i.e. One hour thirty minutes and two hours maximum for Executive and NEC meetings respectively. We reduced executive meetings from bi-monthly to monthly on the Thursdays before the last Sunday of the month which is when we have NEC meetings. I had to allocate time slot for each agenda item and made sure we adhere to the time. Although we succeeded in keeping our meetings within two hours there were about three occasions that we exceeded the time. We know we do not live in a perfect world, but in all, we made enormous strides. On August 26th and August 29th, 2020, respectively, we successfully transitioned our meetings to Zoom calls. Another unprecedented transition that took place under this current executive.

Team work

In the words of Henry Ford, ‘Coming together is the beginning, keeping together is progress, and working together is success.” As a community, we must strive to embody these statements. While some members of NEC did not attend a NEC meeting in over one year, we succeeded because of the commitment and dedication of a few. To our President, Ni Clarence Ndangam, your dedication and commitment to the values of BCA-USA are inspiring and laudable. It has been my utmost honor to serve as Secretary General under your leadership. Your leadership will be missed. To the rest of the members of the executive I appreciate all you did to make my job easier. To all our hardworking chapter presidents and committee chairs who contributed their time, ideas and resources to realize the successes of our administration, thank you for your dedication. We made a difference in our own little ways. Let’s continue to forge forward and build a stronger association. Together everyone achieves more.

Finally, special thanks to the co-chairs of the Convention Planning Committee, Ma Kehmia Tangeh, the Public Relations Officer and the Eastern Chapter president, Ni Augustine Njinjoh, and team for all the work put into planning this year’s convention. Big thanks to the entire Eastern Chapter for being our gracious hosts this year. To our BCA members, thank you for the opportunity to serve as your Secretary General. It has been a very humbling experience.

We continue to pray for the repose of the souls of all our members who were called to glory in the past four years and all the souls of the faithful departed. May they continue to rest in peace. God Bless BCA-USA Leadership God bless BCA-USA.