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