H.E. Dr. Ameena Ali is a recently retired Naturopathic Doctor specializing in Obstetrics and Gynecology; she has been in Organic Medicine, Home-birthing and the Maternal Education of Women for the last 30 years. She is a Proud decorated Golf War Veteran and the 2020-2021 President-elect of the Rotary Club district 7090 in New York. She is the 2019 US Representative for the International Model UN Association and the newest member to the International Human Rights Commission in Geneva where she serves unrecognized Sovereign Tribes, undocumented International Cultures, Stateless, Landless and countless oppressed and displaced Indigenous People around the world.
FWM: You are a retired Naturopathic Doctor, specializing in Obstetrics and Gynecology. What are you currently working on?
I am celebrating the health and wellness of the population that is underserved and those that need advocacy. Immigrants, Migrants, Stateless and Displaced Citizens count for over half of the population, yet count for less than 25-30% of the services that are offered to those in the US. These populations are dismissed because of legal/lawful and citizenship status they possess are not valued with those that are labeled “Citizens”, “Natives” or “Residents”. They make up 70% of the workforce and even higher numbers when it comes to the services, advocacy and the input to the successes of the US yet they are still “Second Class Citizens”. So we are looking to offer a proper “Thank you” for all they do and all they are to the success of this country, by celebrating all they are in their ‘fabulousness’. So, even though the COVID19 Shelter-in-place order, we are sharing stories and experiences through Zoom meetings and personal videos to have their voice elevated in the way that only they can tell it and making the best effort for them to be seen in society!
FWM: How important is humanitarian work for you? How are you empowering others?
“Human” is the root of “Humanitarian” and is the very focus when we think about the dignity within the advocacy of others! This is work! This is the very reason I show up and the very reason I make plans to serve. Adding dignity to manner in which you offer your care, concern or even your empathy to others is the deliberate celebration of others…this goes way beyond Empowerment (as it is defined). Letting others know that their time is your time, allows appreciation to settle into the connection and trust rises, ten-fold. This is the ability to allow others to know that “we are in this together”, thought-action, (even if it is just for the time spent in the solution), you will always allow you to leave with a new friend! That’s so freakin Awesome!
FWM: You are involved in the International Human Rights Commission in Geneva. Tell us about your work.
Being recognized by the International Human Rights Organization (internationally), attaining the position of Special Envoy for Rural Maternal Care Access and inclusion and even being (newly) appointed as Ambassador for the New York Consulate of the Northern Citizen Community Board – NCCB (as recognized by the UN and ECOSOC under Special Consultative Status) has nothing on being a good servant for ANYONE in need. The titles, labels, and offerings just mean that I am in a position to help more, to be more, by personal example! The work, specifically, allows me to be a representative for the expansion of Gender Rights and the access to the Gender Equality that is due to every woman and the Tribe she leads!
FWM: What would people be surprised to know about you?
I’m a complete goof-ball! The time it takes me to laugh, tell a joke or make someone else laugh is tantamount to breathing, so you learn to get real creative in making that happen. Whether it’s taking a dig at myself or making someone laugh at something silly they said or did, making light of the situation allows them to remain secure in the skin they are in and prayerfully know that they shouldn’t take life too seriously.
FWM: Share your mantra and how it applies to your humanitarian work.
My Mantra and Motto: “A word to the wise is sufficient”. Given to me by an Elder, this allows me to accept truth… the FIRST time I receive it. That taught me the difference between the term “truth” and the term “honesty”. Truth is the deliberate telling of fact, but honesty vibrates how you relate to that fact and what that means internally in your life. This Mantra opens me to the reminder of being present to receive the wisdom when it arrives and not when I’m “looking for it”.
FWM: Who is your form of inspiration? Are there people you would like to meet?
As I have a few pages of people that I would love to meet in my life, there isn’t one person that I would want to meet over another person; each request is different and each meeting would be for a different reason. For example, I would like to meet Michelle Obama to learn how it feels to live in a Presidential House, to get me ready for my bid for the Gambian contention for office. I want to meet Congresswoman Ilhan Omar to learn how to be a great Muslim Women while serving in politics. I want to travel with Gayle King to learn what it’s like to meet a business schedule as busy as hers. I want to sit with Iyanla Vanzant again to laugh at how far she has come since her leadership at the Inner Vision Spiritual Life Center…and I want to break bread with Don Miguel Ruiz (Author: The Four Agreements) to learn more of the Spiritual life of being authentic.So the list could continue but the love would be experienced differently because the need to learn these Master Classes would be vesseled by such different souls!
FWM: How has 2020 changed your life?
I have truly personified the term “gratitude”. I am a hugger, affectionate, and very tactile…so COVID 19 hit me a bit differently by making me more effective ways to use my words to make me feel more connected to people. Next, I remember reading that Kobe Bryant and his Daughter passed away while recovering from the Corona Virus, in January (when it was “just an Upper Respiratory Infection”). In March, I remember thinking, during the entire eight years of the former presidential administration, we had Ebola, Zika, The Bird and Swine Flu yet nothing shut down and nothing was made to suffer financially, so what’s this shit? Now, never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would be retired, yet be working more now than I did before to help treat this flu… Moreover, never did I think that heading to my House of Worship would NOT be a safe space for me and (on the lighter side of things), never did I think be able to walk into a bank, with a mask on and ask for money…legally! So just the dynamics of this “epidemic” has made me vacillating from respect to resentment to relief all in two months…and we still have eight more months to go…Sheesh!
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Great piece! Wonderful to hear all that Dr. Ali is up to. Thank you.