The best intentions

My work partner came over tonight clutching this piece of paper describing a African leadership program in the United States. He wanted to know if I thought he qualified.

I read over the paper. The program seemed legit (and I had already received an email from my boss in Cotonou about the program) so he and I decided to look up the website.

I plugged in my internet key as usual, clicked the link in the email from my boss and then, we waited.

And waited.

We waited a lot. For a webpage to load that then led us to another webpage that needed to load that eventually led us to where he needed to register for the application.

I’ve encountered circumstances like this over the course of my service. Circumstances where a person or organization or program has good intentions, but doesn’t seem to completely understand their target audience.

In order to implement knowledge about nutrition, someone has to have regular access to fruits and vegetables. In order to watch a state-sponsored TV show about health, someone has to have a television. In order to apply to certain fellowships, someone has to be able to take the time to travel to Cotonou get the fellowship application.

As we sat there waiting and waiting, I thought about how my work partner was, in my opinion, a pretty good candidate for the program, but the lack of certain infrastructures in his country means that without my help and computer and internet key, it would take him a lot more work to complete his application.

I’m not saying that the program isn’t a good one. Not in the least. I’m just saying that there are plenty of African leaders who don’t have access to high speed internet.