 |
| Former President Bill Clinton worked a crowd of rural villagers as he visited Neno, Malawi, last month. It was his second
stop on a whirlwind, week-long trip to Africa. Win Macnamee/Getty Images for the Clinton Foundation |
Star power brings attention to Africa
Money soon follows, but do the A-listers understand the issues?
from the August 22, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 4
But Clinton warns against being judgmental of either the media or its audience. It’s not that Americans do not care about Africa. Rather, he argues, people are just busy. “Most people are living their own lives.... A lot of Americans have their own difficulties. Until someone sees someone they know and can identify with out here doing this [aid work], they may not – even if generally aware of a problem – they may not really believe that any time or money they give can make a difference,” he says.
The Clinton entourage
“Which one? Which one?” panics Wilbert Wilson Magombo, a farmer in the rural Malawian village of Neno, who, along with thousands of others, has spent the day waiting for Clinton to arrive at this, his second stop on the journey. Mr. Magombo has neither a TV nor access to newspapers, so he has no idea what the famous man looks like. “We were told by our elders to be here and welcome Mr. President. But how will we know him?” he wonders. “There are so very many white visitors today!”
Indeed, the former president does not travel light.
On this trip, Clinton is joined by seven or eight of the top directors of his New York-based William J. Clinton Foundation, a couple of aides, more than a dozen Secret Service officers, a personal doctor, a personal photographer, 12 journalists, and a three-man press-handling team. In addition, there are a dozen wealthy donors who, last year, at an auction at Clinton’s 60th birthday bash, bid tens of thousands of dollars – all of which goes to the foundation – to go on this journey.
This makes for some 40-odd Africa trippers traveling in grand style on two luxury private jets, one lent by a Canadian mining financier friend, the other by Google. Both aircraft are outfitted with leather couches, iPod docks, en suite bedrooms, free little tubes of Aveda hand cream, and friendly flight attendants sweetly asking if anyone would care for some cold cuts.
“You have rich people in America who are saying: ‘There are plenty of Africans who could make as much money as I did. I was
simply born in the right time in the right place....’ They know that,” says Clinton, giving a press conference on the jet,
munching miniature pepperoni pizza slices. “There is no place you can go where you don’t come away with the feeling that poor
people are just as smart as anyone else. They work just as hard, usually harder than anyone else, just to keep body and soul
together and keep their children alive. What’s missing is opportunity and systems and access to education and money. That’s
where we can help.”
Clinton sees part of his mission as showing wealthy individuals what they can accomplish here. Two years ago, he brought Tom
Hunter on one of these trips. It worked out well – illustrating Clinton’s involvement in Africa at its best.
The two had met at a dinner party in London earlier that year. Mr. Hunter, the wealthiest man in Scotland, was seated next to the former president. “I knew very little about Africa, so he said: ‘If you are genuinely interested in Africa, come travel with me,’” recalls the dapper billionaire businessman.
During that trip, Hunter says, his “eyes were opened,” but he felt clueless about how to proceed. “I said, ‘How on earth could I make a difference? I don’t know anyone, I’m not networked here at all.’ And then I thought if we are going to get involved, what better partner could there be than President Clinton?”
Hunter subsequently pledged $100 million, launching the Clinton-Hunter development initiative under the Clinton Foundation
umbrella. Today, he is on one of his frequent visits, checking in on his various projects to expand access to water, sanitation,
healthcare, and agricultural markets in Malawi and Rwanda.
The respected organization Partners in Health (PIH), run by Harvard infectious disease specialist Paul Farmer, is implementing
some of the Hunter projects here. The goal is to double per capita income within 10 years in the areas where they are working.
“In the last five years, there has been an explosion of celebrity attention to development, but Clinton is in a different category,” says Mr. Farmer, who, like Hunter, is in Neno, Malawi, waiting for the former president to arrive. “He is serious about the details. He keeps all his promises and he is extremely effective. In 20 years working in [development] ... I have not seen stuff move as quickly.”
RSS feed
