The PAA/SAFA Conference held in Dakar, Senegal from 1 to 7 November 2010. The opening ceremony was in the morning of 2 November and WAC was acknowledged for supporting the participation of some Africans. The conference was well attended and there were 6 parallel sessions on the 3 days (2-4 Nov.) devoted for academic sessions.
A corner was secured for WAC where the banner with WAC logo was displayed and WAC brochures placed on a table. WAC African reps present were Jonathan Aleru, Didier Ndah and Ndukuyakhe Ndlovu, while the order reps did not respond to mails sent to them about the meeting. It became impossible to fix a meeting because of the academic sessions that took all the time and the only time that was opened was the afternoon of Thursday 4 November, the time for the business meeting of the PAA. Several persons attended the WAC regional meeting representing Benin, Cameroun, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda. Four persons (3 Nigerians and 1 Uganda) paid to become members of WAC. Others were informed about sponsored membership if they choose to opt for it and were also informed that they could pay membership fee through regional representatives who would ensure that the payments get to WAC.
Dr Alice Mezop from Cameroun accepted to be recommended for appointment as the Senior Representative for Central Africa. The main concern of people present was ability to attend WAC conferences. They were informed that almost all African that applied for funding to attend WAC6 received support. There were also questions on application for funds to attend conferences other than those of WAC. Information was provided to the effect that there is a sub-committee responsible for such applications, and such funding is advertised on the website. The meeting was also told that applications sent to the President did not follow procedure. It was also suggested that students in African universities should be encouraged to participate in WAC activities.
The meeting lasted for 90 minutes and I thereafter went into the business meeting of PAA. Apparently my presence at the conference as representing WAC was announced at the beginning of the meeting and they were informed I was holding a WAC meeting. I got into the business meeting at the point of elections, therefore I got to know there was a person (Dr Hassan Aouraghe) from North Africa (Morocco) as he was nominated to serve on the board. I met him after the meeting and introduced WAC to him and also requested if he would also serve on the council to represent North Africa, and he accepted. Dr Obare Bagodo, the former junior representative for West Africa was quite supportive in talking to people about WAC.
