Meriwether Foundation was established as a 501 c 3 international non-profit organization in 2007, but the work being done by The Meriwether Family to help improve health and empower rural, impoverished communities in Africa started in the early 1980s.

 

Dr. Wilhelm Delano Meriwether was born in Nashville, Tennessee and raised in Charleston, South Carolina. Dr. Meriwether was the first African American to be accepted into Duke University School of Medicine. He graduated with honors in 1967 and moved on to earn a Master’s Degree in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.

 

Dr. Meriwether’s many career achievements include being honored as a 1973-1974 White House Fellow, and serving as Director of the United States Public Health Service’s National Influenza Immunization Program (NIIP) in 1976.

 

Nomvimbi Meriwether was born and raised in the Soweto township of Johannesburg, South Africa. Despite growing up as a black female under the oppressive apartheid regime in South Africa, Nomvimbi persevered and overcame the many challenges that threatened to limit her potential, becoming one of the first black women in her country to earn a law degree from The University of Zululand.

 

She then went on to earn a United Nations grant which allowed her to travel to The United States and study as an MBA student at American University. After obtaining her MBA she went on to become a CPA as well.

 

In 1983, Dr. and Mrs. Meriwether traveled to a remote area of what was then known as the Gazankulu province of South Africa. There, Dr. Meriwether worked as Senior Medical Doctor at a rural hospital called Tintswalo Hospital located in a rural town called Acornhoek.

 

What was initially only supposed to be a 1 year mission trip, turned into 8 years of living and serving in that community.Their service included helping treat and settle Mozambican refugees, providing curative health care, introducing preventive medical principles and practices, and empowering the local community through small business development and agricultural programs.

 

Over the course of their stay, The Meriwethers helped a half of a million people.