[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 178 (Friday, December 9, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1670]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO BAKARY CAMARA

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOSE E. SERRANO

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 8, 2016

  Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure and admiration 
that I stand before you today to honor Mr. Bakary Camara for his many 
years of selfless and compassionate service to the African community, 
and all of our community's residents.
  Mr. Bakary Camara was born in Gambia, West Africa, in 1961. He and 
his family managed an independent business and he traveled throughout 
Africa and Europe before settling in the Bronx in 1988.
  Bakary joined the majority of the West African immigrants that were 
settling in the Highbridge, Mount Eden, Concourse, and Morrisania 
sections of the Bronx. At that time, there was no Masjid in the Bronx 
and the Muslim community would gather in each other's apartments to 
pray. Bakary and other community leaders founded one of the first 
Mosques for the African community at 1472 Jesup Avenue, Masjid Deyaue 
of Islam.
  In the 1990s, Bakary joined other Gambian leaders in helping 
strengthen the Gambian Society, the first African organization to 
provide adult education services and worked with the CDC to educate the 
African community in the Bronx about their health and specifically 
about the growing problem of AIDS and HIV.
  Bakary helped open other Mosques throughout the Bronx, serves as 
Secretary for Makky Masjid and is the Public Relations Representative 
for Makky Masjid and for the Islamic Cultural Center, the central 
mosque for the Bronx which opened in 1999.
  Bakary has volunteered and served as a representative for numerous 
nonprofits throughout the Bronx, including the Northwest Bronx 
Community and Clergy Coalition, the United Parents of Highbridge and 
the Parent Action Committee of New Settlement Apartments. Bakary served 
on the steering committee for the citywide Muslim Holiday Campaign, a 
coalition which worked for nearly a decade to have the two Muslim 
holidays, the Eids, recognized by the New York Public School System. 
This was achieved in 2015 under Mayor Bill DeBlasio.
  Bakary also has volunteered as a community translator for Lincoln, 
Harlem, and New York Presbyterian Hospitals. He speaks Sonike, 
Manidiko, Fulani, and Walof. Bakary continues to reside with his family 
on Plimpton Avenue in the Highbridge neighborhood of the Bronx.
  Mr. Speaker, I respectfully ask that you and my other distinguished 
colleagues join me in honoring Mr. Bakary Camara for his consistently 
remarkable dedication to public service.

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