Ali Ibrahim Karim

As one of 11 boys, my life in Ghana changed dramatically after my mother passed away at the young age 0f 34. I was just eight years old. I went to live with an uncle and my conscientious studying paid off with a scholarship to the University of Damascus. Ever since I was a teenager living in Ghana in the early 1970’s, I was fascinated by the United States. It would be another 40 years, into his late 50’s and over thousands of miles traveled all over the world before I would make it to the U.S. and become a citizen.

My journey to the U.S. was circumvented by explorations to Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Iran, China and Japan before finally arriving in 2004. Six years later, I met a member of 1199, who later become my wife. She encouraged me to get a job at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan.

I started as a housekeeper and studied to become a Patient Care Associate. Since working at Mt. Sinai, I have committed myself to providing empathic care to all I come into contact with patients, family members and co-workers. I became involve with art coloring while taking care of patients with terminal illness. I started writing poetry and have read them to my patient. I displayed my work at the Gyn Ovarian cancer fair in September 2018 and 2019.

It was during one of these encounters reading my poems that a patient told me that the world has to hear my poems. Thanks to Amazon, I was able to publish my first book.