The largest Africa-related fundraiser in the United States each year is the dinner hosted in Washington, D.C. by Africare, the leading American aid and development organization focused exclusively on the African continent. Tonight, Africare will honor Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and pay tribute to "women's empowerment Africa-wide." Previous recipients of the Bishop John T. Walker Humanitarian Award, the first African-American Episcopal bishop of Washington and the longtime chairman of Africare's Board, include Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Graça Machel, Dorothy Height, Harry Belafonte and Colin Powell.Much of Africare's work in Liberia, which was sustained throughout the civil war, is focused on health care delivery. Africare's president, Julius Coles, talked about tonight's honoree and how Americans can support what Africa is doing with AllAfrica interview earlier this week. Excerpts:
You have a long personal and professional relationship with Liberia, don't you?
Working for USAID foreign service, I was assigned to Liberia in 1972. We were designing health programs, and I worked on getting the John F. Kennedy Hospital launched. I was there during construction, and I was there when it was dedicated. We were also building a lot of roads. There's probably not an inch of Liberia that I have not traveled in.
During that time, the person that I worked with most closely is now the president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, then deputy finance minister. From that point on, we have remained friends. It was not always easy to work with Ellen. She was a tough negotiator, but she was also very knowledgeable. She educated me about Liberia. We were naïve Americans coming to Liberia, not understanding the culture. Ellen was a strong defender of her culture. She was an excellent mentor. She was able to walk the line between the donors and the government and look out for her own country's national interest, and that was not always an easy task.
I am very pleased that she will be honored this year. We are planning a wonderful tribute. The First Lady of the United States is going to be there, and the director general of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). This is an honor that is richly deserved.
All of the skills she learned throughout her career, she needs now. She has a hard job.
Liberia is not an easy country to manage. But she has paid her dues. She has been to jail, she has spoken out in times when it was difficult to speak out, and it's great to see that now that she's at the helm. We expect her to take Liberia to a different level. Having lived and worked there through the years since 1972, I know the challenges she faces, and I know she can do a great job.
Ho can people in this country support what Africare is doing in Liberia?
We're working to help refurbish clinics throughout the country, and we're helping the government get medicines and medical personnel to those clinics. The clinics feed patients into the hospitals – JFK in Monrovia and Phoebe Hospital in Bong County, where they can get treatment they can't find in the clinics.
There are several ways for people here to be engaged. One is to help us to get our name out to the American people. We are probably better known in Africa than we are in the United States. We are trying to improve our brand - so people will know the work we are doing and will want to give. Help us to reach out to the American people to make sure they understand that there is an organization like Africare that is working solely on the African continent to help the people of Africa to improve their quality of life.
The second thing is to make donations to help us carry out our work. We are small compared to many NGOs working world wide. But when you look at Africa, we are one of the largest American NGOs working exclusively on the continent. We have been given a three star on the Charity Navigator Rating. We've been rated with an "A" from the American Institute of Philanthropy, and we have a certification from the Better Business Bureau. But people sometimes are reluctant to give to an organization that is basically working exclusively on Africa. I hope people will open up their minds to see the quality of what we are doing and come and support us.
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We have not done as good a job as I would like in reaching out to community organizations and churches in the United States. If there are people who want to help us to do that we would appreciate their help. We will make staff available to come out to the communities to show videos of our work, to introduce our work, and to provide them with more occasions to understand what we are doing and how they can get involved.
