Dear Sarah, I wanted to express my heartfelt appreciation for your remarkable contributions as an ALAC Member. Your decision to step down is unexpected, but I understand that personal and professional reasons sometimes require difficult choices. Since our meeting at IGF 2019 in Berlin, Germany, your dedication and impactful work have made a lasting impression. Your leadership and commitment to inclusivity have inspired many. Thank you for being an exceptional role model. Wishing you the best in your future endeavors! Kind regards, *Shadrach Ankrah* AMS Admin, *Internet Society - **Internet for Education SIG* *Chair, Emergency Telecommunications: Internet Society Ghana chapter* *Tel: +233277468886* *+233548955758* *Accra, Ghana* *Social Media: Twitter <https://twitter.com/ankrah960> Facebook <https://web.facebook.com/ankrah960/> LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankrah960/>* On Tue, May 16, 2023 at 9:51 PM < afri-discuss-request@atlarge-lists.icann.org> wrote:

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1. Stepping down as ALAC Member (Sarah T. Kiden)

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Sarah T. Kiden" <skiden@gmail.com> To: Afri-Discuss <afri-discuss@atlarge-lists.icann.org> Cc: Bcc: Date: Tue, 16 May 2023 22:49:56 +0100 Subject: [AFRI-Discuss] Stepping down as ALAC Member Greetings AFRALO Colleagues,

With this email, I would like to notify you that I am stepping down from my role as ALAC Member for personal and professional reasons. More information about this will be shared in due course.

First and foremost, I am grateful to the AFRALO Community for believing in me and allowing us to learn about policy development together. Thank you for selecting me to join AFRALO Leadership. When I joined AFRALO Leadership in 2016, we had about 50 ALSes and zero individual members. Now, we have 68 ALSes, over 15 individual members and 3 observers. We have over 40 people attending each monthly call and have contributed to policy processes in our region and beyond. Our digital infrastructure in Africa has also improved a lot! There is so much more we can do but we have grown and we have progressed.

I take with me many good memories - from the Gumboot dancers at the Johannesburg General Assembly (GA) clad in our cultural outfits, to navigating a particular city looking for halal food, and being served one whole lamb per table in Morocco (😳 can you believe it?). These experiences allowed us to laugh about getting lost and our indecision, they allowed us to bond and chat about our families/professional lives beyond ICANN.

I will always remain part of this community. Who knows where we might run into each other next? Until then, thank you so much, merci beaucoup!

PS: The attached picture is from 2017 at the GA in Johannesburg, South Africa. This was the last time many of our community members were gathered in one place.

Best wishes,

Sarah _______________________________________________ AFRI-Discuss mailing list AFRI-Discuss@atlarge-lists.icann.org https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/afri-discuss

Homepage for the region: www.afralo.org

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