Alice Karpeh, founder of the Minnesota-based Rural Health Care Initiative, was selected to receive the Distinguished Humanitarian Leadership Award presented by National Organization of Sierra Leoneans in North America (NOSLINA).
Karpeh, who was born in a village in Sierra Leone, West Africa, and now lives in Brooklyn Park, was presented the honor at the Annual Awards Gala and Independence Anniversary Celebration on May 5 in suburban Washington, DC.
Karpeh was recognized for founding a non-profit that built and operates a Birth Waiting Home, the Mbao-mi Mothers’ Home, in Sierra Leone, a country that has one of the world’s highest baby and maternal death rates. Pregnant women from rural villages stay at the Birth Waiting Home at the end of their pregnancy to be near the health center where they will have access to skilled health care for childbirth.
Trained as a midwife, Karpeh fled her native Sierra Leone in 1994 following the murder of her husband in the brutal war. Karpeh arrived in the US with her 9 children, including an 18 month old baby. She enrolled in Anoka Technical College and became a licensed practical nurse. While working at Boynton Health Services at the University of Minnesota, she pursued her dream of bringing life-saving medical care to her home country.
The Rural Health Care Initiative, a Minnesota based nonprofit, was founded in 2011, with the support of a board of directors made up of other refugees and immigrants from Sierra Leone along with medical professionals from Minnesota. Funds are raised through events and appeals, with support from individuals, several churches and organizations.
The Distinguished Humanitarian Leadership Award is NOSLINA’s very competitive award given in recognition of outstanding contribution to poverty reduction, national reconstruction and rehabilitation, and supply of educational and health resources in ways that have improved access and service to groups of needy, impoverished Sierra Leoneans.
The award from NOSLINA recognizes individuals from across North America who have excelled in enhancing the well-being of Sierra Leoneans. Over the past decade, the award has recognized the achievement of a distinguished group including actors, authors, athletes, entrepreneurs, professors and physicians.
This press release was written by journalist Kevyn Burger, friend of RHCI.
