Bronx Community College (BCC) alums and husband and wife team Ify Ezwina (BCC Film and Video 2019) and Victor Ezwina (BCC Human Services 2016) are co-founders of Echoes Africa, an international nonprofit bringing global attention to the increasing mental health and gender violence problems in Africa. In late May, BCC’s Director of Collaborative Education Gene Adams participated in the Mental Health and Gender Violence conference in Namibia, South Africa, sponsored by the organization, which has offices in the United States and the Ministry of Health and Social Services – Namibia.

Adams was part of a group of Namibian and American health care, social work, and mental health professionals attending the conference. In recent years, mental health care in Africa has gained considerable attention. Significant increase has been documented in areas such as depression, male suicide, and gender based violence.

“As Nigerians, we felt that we could help strengthen human service and mental health attention on the African continent,” said Ify Ezwina, president of Echoes Africa, which in recent years has implemented programs at the United Nations, in Nigeria, the United States, and in Rawanda.

Many African countries including Namibia are struggling to build mental health services to meet the rising need. “We engaged in substantial discussions with Namibian colleagues around initial steps required to strengthen local mental health services,” Adams said.

Adams has engaged in education, technology, and mental health initiatives in Africa for over 30 years. At Bronx Community College Adams established the African Services Project which has trained African social work students from local university schools of social work programs using culturally focused counseling and intervention services models with BCC African students. BCC has one of the largest African college student populations in New York.