Malaria Suspected; $11G Quickly Raised for Family
A 2004 college graduate who worked on the National Association of Black Journalists student radio reporting project during the just-concluded NABJ convention in Atlanta died this morning at an Atlanta hospital, apparently of mosquito-born malaria contracted in Africa, according to colleagues and news reports. Akilah Amapindi was 23.
The association quickly raised more than $11,000 to aid Amapindi’s family, which does not have health insurance for her, NABJ President Bryan Monroe said in his first day on the job.
Bob Butler, who assisted in the NABJ radio project, wrote fellow black journalists Sunday night on the NABJ listserve:
“I met Akilah Amapindi in December 2004. She had graduated from Kenyon College earlier in the year and went to Namibia to visit her father and to intern at the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC). As an intern, Akilah occasionally anchored the 5 o’clock radio network bulletin (hourly news). She sounded really good! I was determined to get her to join NABJ and become part of the radio project in Atlanta,” wrote Butler, a veteran radio journalist who in May was named director for diversity of the Viacom Television Stations Group and Infinity Broadcasting.
“She says she almost didn’t come because she felt really sick Saturday night, but felt good enough to fly on Sunday. She came here full of enthusiasm and determination. She pulled me aside at the student reception and said she didn’t feel well and wanted to go to the hospital. Despite being discharged from Crawford Long Hospital at 3:30 Monday morning, she showed at the student project newsroom in time to go on her interview with a professor at Emory University on the state of mega-churches.”
Referring to the call letters of a public radio station at the University of North Carolina, Butler continued: “Her mentor, WUNC anchor/reporter Leoneda Inge took her to Grady Hospital on Tuesday where she was admitted to a respiratory isolation room. When it became clear that Akilah would not be able to complete her assignment, Leoneda packaged her interview with the professor so Akilah could be included in the radio project newscast.
“She was born near Kingston, Jamaica on November 6th, 1981 and lived on Staten Island. She was an adventurous, free-spirit. She passed away about 4am Sunday, August 7th. I feel like I’ve lost a daughter.”
A photograph of Amapindi by Butler accompanied a story by Katti Gray about the tragedy posted Sunday night on the Newsday Web site:
“To feed her wanderlust and launch a reporting career, Akilah Amapindi signed on in July 2004 as a Namibian Broadcast Corp. intern, a stint granting her the chance to get to visit her father’s homeland,” Gray’s Atlanta-datelined story began.
“The 2004 graduate of Ohio’s Kenyon College wound up anchoring the network’s five o’clock news bulletin several times, a rare achievement for a fledgling journalist. When the African internship ended seven months later, the 23-year-old Staten Islander enlisted as a photographer’s assistant for a film on Samuel Nujoma.
“Retracing the exile of the first Namibian president through the Mozambique bush, an unvaccinated Amapindi, it is suspected, contracted mosquito-born malaria, according to her mother.
“She died early yesterday at a hospital in Atlanta, where she was attending the National Association of Black Journalists’ annual convention,” Gray continued in the story, slated for Monday’s print editions and written with contributions from colleague Zachary Dowdy.
“‘She told us that they slept under those big nets but, in the morning, they would wake up and there would be four or five big fat mosquitoes inside. They knew they had been bitten,’ said her mother Unnah Harper who settled in Staten Island more than 13 years ago from Jamaica.”
Monroe, elected president only on Friday, said the group raised $7,070 in cash and checks by passing the hat at this morning’s annual Gospel Brunch. Toyota donated another $2,000, Monroe told Journal-isms, and Black Entertainment Television matched that.
NABJ is continuing to solicit donations for the family. The board of directors voted Sunday to establish a memorial fund in her name. More information is available on the NABJ Web site.
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