The Foreign Service Journal, January 2012

24 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 2 nearly-extinct oryx of Niger, a full Lake Chad, Mount Kili- manjaro’s peak fully covered by snow, and so much more. In the Africa I first knew, facial scarification and permanent ceremonial marks could tell you much about a person. Now that, too, is mostly all gone. In almost every country I worked, I was christened with a nickname. In Tanzania I was called “mwasawali mingi”— Kiswahili for “too many questions.” In Niger, I was called “rigide et sec” (rigid and dry), as sometimes I could not bear the long African palaver and simply said things as I saw them. My favorite appellation was “rainmaker” — a nick- name I wasn’t even aware of until 2004, when someone I hardly knew introduced me that way at a meeting in Kin- shasa. Later I asked why, and was told that many people across Africa call me this because everywhere I go, assis- tance funding flows. Recently, the minister of education in Burkina Faso re- ferred to me as “Baobab,” an African tree that symbolizes wisdom and knowledge. I think that is the one I will have engraved on my tombstone. For better or worse, my marriage to Africa is until death do us part. Though born and raised in Kansas, I was “made” in Africa. Yet after four decades of working for the betterment of the continent, I ammore confused than ever over what the United States’ interests are there. I think our main interest is humanitarian, but the way U.S. country missions are structured belies this priority. Often the approach the United States has taken in Africa reminds me of my first plane ride to the continent in 1970. We left New York on a Pan American flight to Dakar. Dur- ing a brief stopover there, a team of people climbed onto the plane and pasted huge Air Afrique decals over all the Pan Am markings. For the rest of our trip to Lome, we were officially on an Air Afrique flight. It will take more than development decals manufac- tured by outsiders to achieve sustainable development in Africa, however. True developmental transformation comes from within; it is not something external actors can impose. Africans need to do all they can to help themselves first before calling for external assistance. F OCUS