Today, I would like to introduce a family from Ohio that motivates me despite the long distance between us. It is a family that loves empowering others, fostering talent and mentoring the next generation.
Besides age, this family continues to share experiences and knowledge with me through social media platforms, and they possess the ability to connect with people on a personal level, fostering trust, transparency, and loyalty that I admire. They are active listeners who take time to hear diverse perspectives, ensuring others feel supported.
This family possesses a “never quit” mentality, as they support me in the fight against human trafficking and protection of vulnerable children in Malawi, regardless of obstacles.
I just love this family’s long-term view on critical life issues and how they think about the future world and the environment children will inherit.
This is the family that saw potential in my vision and acted both responsively and quickly to help me on the path of my career success that I am celebrating today.
I have excelled in my career in various progressive positions because of them. I am forever thankful that my parents, late Titus Aliah and Gloria Grace Matewere, and the Ohio family crossed paths! I am talking about Tom and Pam Smith.
Tom Smith served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi from 1965 to 1967 when they become friends with my parents before I was even born.
Tom has two graduate degrees, one in teaching and one in engineering. He worked for 35 years at a machinery manufacturing company, responsible for both human resources and environmental engineering. Always committed to environmental issues, he led the effort to install 200 solar panels on the roof of his church, West Shore Unitarian Universalists Church.
Pam met Tom at graduate school. After getting married, they took a contract teaching position in Luapula Province, Zambia for three years, visiting Malawi every April for a holiday.
Pam and Tom now live in Lakewood, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, on the shore of Lake Erie. Committed to good government, both Pam and Tom have worked on local election campaigns. Pam was elected to Lakewood City Council and served for 12 years. She also served for 14 years on the Board of Trustees at Lakewood’s city-owned hospital.
Both Tom and Pam belong to the League of Women Voters, a large civic organization which educates voters about candidates and registers people to vote. Pam is frequently asked to moderate candidates’ nights for local and statewide elections. These events allow voters to question political candidates and make responsible choices when voting.
The League does not endorse candidates. However, local, state, and national branches do study issues, agree on positions, and then lobby legislators on responsible changes to laws involving campaign finance, healthcare, immigration, and the environment.
Pam and Tom have two children and five grandchildren. Their son, Eric, is a retired colonel in the US Army and their daughter, Laura, is a marketing brand manager.
I have had many mentors; as many as the stars in the sky. It’s too bad that these stars are quiet and don’t catch much attention. However, I’m glad I have two stars whose flashy moments are profound and memorable.
As I reflect over my life, I can recall the profound impact that other people have had in molding me into the person I am today. In particular, I remember how Tom and Pam took a keen interest in my vision for vulnerable children in Malawi during my first trip to Ohio in 2013.
Through no formal program, Tom and Pam used their experiences from their time as volunteers for the Peace Corps in Malawi along with their work background in the United States to encourage me to extend my work in rural communities in Malawi to promote human rights activities, legal clinics, and love for vulnerable people. They, together with my parents, showed me that I could be a better person.
Tom and Pam are an example of mentors who taught me that I could have a significant impact on someone else’s life just by being there. Since 1998, I dedicated myself to being a burning bush for someone else in need such as victims of human trafficking and vulnerable children. In a world of increased crime, abuse, exploitation, unemployment, educational diversity, and divisions of economic classes, serving as positive role models, they enable me to be the change I want to see in the world.
Thank you, Pam and Tom Smith, for what you do in supporting my vision for vulnerable children and human trafficking prevention.
There is no way words alone can express my gratitude to Tom and Pam Smith. I am grateful that I have this amazing opportunity to have mentors as great as Tom and Pam. They are great people who have supported my vision for many years as my Ohio family and taught me to view the glass as half full and not let the other half affect me. I will always treasure our family relationship forever.
Today, I am able to share stories of human trafficking victims in my new book due to the wonderful counsel of Tom and Pam that focuses on one of the most important lessons of life: to persevere, no matter what. I have taken those words to heart. It’s a key lesson I share with others whenever I have a chance.
Tom and Pam, please receive my thousand times squared thank you, for your evergreen support. May you always be blessed with the best this universe has to offer, as special, gifted and wonderful as you both are.
Thank you.
