This month, as students from Colorado and Florida gathered for a rooftop barbecue in Kampala, Uganda, with African leaders to build global partnerships, collaborations and relationships, someone very powerful tried to tear them down.
But it didn’t work the way it was supposed to.
In fact, something peculiar and unexpected happened in the seconds that the words “shithole” left President Donald Trump’s mouth and hit the barrel of social media.
To those who are outraged or discouraged or disgusted, there is hope.
The Colorado based Global Livingston Institute (GLI) engages hundreds of scholars and community leaders every year in Uganda and Rwanda, and last week one of these immersion experiences culminated in an evening of American students meeting with social entrepreneurs, community leaders, professors and public officials in Uganda. We exchanged ideas about workforce development, health care, education and human trafficking. We talked about the new Star Wars and where we celebrated the New Year.
We write this together as friends from Uganda and America and we write this as global citizens of two continents with a message of extraordinary hope. Words intended to divide seem to have united us instead. They created a palpable buzz and undeniable excitement about Africa and Haiti that did not exist last night or last week or last month. The world is tweeting about an Africa and a Haiti where people are going back to work and innovating change and forging academic and industrial partnerships with enormous potential. If you have not yet visited, you should go and see for yourself.
It is amazing what can change in a day as the images that emerged of Africa and Haiti were not in the form of ‘shitholes’ but of rivers and lakes and stunning landscapes and unbridled wildlife. And of people. Brilliant, kind, compassionate, loving people who reached across continents today and ignited a fire.
The students the GLI was hosting in Uganda and Rwanda were participating in experiences designed to counter uninformed rhetoric and stereotypes about Africa. Their goal is not to fix East Africa. They are there to listen and to think and to understand communities and cultures different from their own. Most importantly, they spent time getting to know the people who live hard and work hard in Uganda or Rwanda.
One of the many extraordinary people they met is Nasser Mukwaya, the GLI’s newest hire. He is a 23-year-old Muslim tour-guide in Kampala and he is now working his first full-time job building partnerships between the United States and East Africa with a focus on education and job creation. Nasser loves his country and he loves the work he is doing. He is part of a growing workforce that the GLI is investing in in East Africa.
It is curious how unprovoked attacks and disparaging remarks can build an unfettered resolve far more impervious and sturdy than any wall you could ever build along the Mexican border. We woke up Friday morning to a world that was finally talking about Haiti and Africa. We came together as a global community to demonstrate our determination and our commitment to work together across borders and to respect and celebrate the beauty and diversity that exists in the communities around the world from Colorado to Kampala.
Not fake news. One need only scroll their social media pages for proof of the countless testimonials like these being tweeted and posted every minute this past week:
“Those of us who believe in human rights and dignity and the America that summoned the weary and the poor just need to keep stepping it up.”
“Many of us in America love you, see beauty in you and believe your best days are ahead.”
Even Nasser posted this remark to his new team: “Trump is affecting the entire continent; however, as a tourism major I have much hope that rebranding our image is very possible.”
There is a timeless tale about a Grinch who thought he could steal Christmas by taking away their stuff. But by not listening and thinking, he learned that vile and hateful actions may awaken an unprecedented spirit of community and collaboration that the world has never seen.
Agnes Igoye works to prevent human trafficking in East Africa and is a Mason at the Harvard University School of Government. She was recently recognized as one of the 100 most influential people in Africa. Jamie Van Leeuwen is a Wilson Center Fellow for East Africa and works with Ryan Grundy at the Global Livingston Institute.
