Good afternoon members and friends of AAM and Happy
Palm Sunday.

Please permit me to thank everyone who made it to the Association's 1999
first general meeting held on Saturday, March 27, 1999.  We are proud and
appreciative of your continued commitment to the Association.  Equally so,
we recognize and acknowledge the desire of those who wished they could
be there but could not.  Our thoughts and prayers are with you to join us at
the  next meeting on June 26, 1999.

Until the minutes from the meeting are ready, please be informed that  Mr..
Frank >Kooistra and Dr. Ben Weller were elected to the Advisory Council for
a
two-year >term.  They replace Drs. William Bosu and Aliko Songolo whose
terms
ended after two years.  Frank and Ben join Prof. Daniel Kunene who still has
one
year to complete his term.

Please join me in congratulating Drs. Bosu and Songolo for their useful and
helpful
voluntary service to the Association.  Also, join me in welcoming Frank and
Ben to
the Council and wish them luck in their continued service to the
Association.  Both
well known and respected gentlemen are coming to the Council with a worth of
knowledge and experience necessary to make them comfortable and successful
in
the new roles.

Frank and Ben are no strangers to the Association.   Frank has been an
active member.
He served as Secretary on the 1998 Executive Committee.  Similarly, Ben, a
continuously
active member, has played several key roles.  Among them, he served as
Chairman of the
1998 and 1999 AAM Adhoc Election Commissions respectively.

The Executive Committee looks forward to a great working relationship with
the new Council
for the continued solidarity of the African Association  of Madison, Inc.

Cheers and God bless all!

Richard Yarl
PRESIDENT