(Salia Malaika Kama)

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Dana Michele Mitchell, a native Washingtonian, is the daughter of Hobart Horton and the late Gwendolyn Lucille Mitchell who converted to Catholicism from her Baptist upbringing.  Dana attended Catholic churches and schools from kindergarten through college.  She attended the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio and obtained a BA in Communications Management in 1981.  Then she returned to Washington, DC where she became a Bible Study Teacher and Youth Minister at St. Thomas More Catholic Church.  Dana Mitchell married her first husband, Le Verne Clifton Olds in 1984. In 1986 she was licensed and later ordained (1988) as a Minister of Christ by True Deliverance Church of God in Capitol Heights, MD. Rev. Olds served as the Pastor of Jesus Loves Me Church in Southeast Washington, DC from 1987 to 1995.

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Health and wellness quickly became the focus of her ministry.  From 1989 through 1991 Rev. Olds had the pleasure of serving as a Chaplain for DC General Hospital.  She also served as a Chaplain for the ADASA SHACK Clinic, a methadone maintenance program, from 1988 to 1995.   Rev. Willie Wilson, Senior Pastor of Union Temple Baptist Church invited Olds to join his staff as an Associate Minister in 1995. In 1996, Rev. Olds became a certified Reiki II Practitioner and the first Prime Minister of Health for the Holistic Health Practitioner’s Alliance of the Washington Metropolitan Area.  She also established the Akoma Project at Union Temple Baptist Church in 1999 and served as its Director from 2001 through 2012. The Akoma Project provided HIV prevention and treatment services including mental health counseling, substance abuse counseling, medical case management, day treatment and pastoral care.  

 

During an African Naming Ceremony in December 2004, Dana received the name Salia Malaika Kama which in Swahili means gentle, kind and caring queen who is an angel of love. In 2006, Dana (Salia) married Jamie (Oronde) Tolliver.  The couple recently established Akoma Ntoaso Ministries which provides holistic health services including health and wellness education, substance abuse counseling, holistic therapies and pastoral care.  Rev. Tolliver also serves as the Co-Chair of the DC Department of Health’s Places of Worship Advisory Board (POWAB).   

 

In over thirty years of community service Rev. Tolliver (Olds) has gained extensive experience through leadership roles in local churches, schools, businesses and community organizations. Her work in the development and implementation of alcohol, tobacco, other drugs and HIV prevention and treatment services has made her an asset to the community. Her ministry has been the subject of several radio and television talk shows as well as newspaper and magazine articles. Yet, her greatest ministry is that of wife and mother. She is the proud mother of Makeda and Aunt-Mommy to Tamara and Tianna.  

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Concerning her new assignment, Salia says “I left the Roman Catholic Church in 1985 because I knew I was called to be a priest. My new assignment as Associate Pastor in the Imani Temple African American Catholic Congregation brings me full circle in an African Centered Way. I have no apologies to make for the gifts and the call.”