Lobbyist speaks on Africa issues

With a five-year, $15 billion Africa AIDS program pledged by President Geroge W. Bush, issues within the continent have been front and center. Melvin Foote, CEO and founder of Constituency for Africa, has been asking, "How do we bring about transformation in Africa?"\nFoote spoke Wednesday as part of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center and School of Public and Environmental Affairs Public Policy Lecture series about "Why Africa Should Matter to the U.S.?" CFA unites U.S. organizations to lobby for fostering change in Africa. Foote addressed three critical issues in Africa, including economic development, the HIV/AIDS epidemic and ethnic conflict, and emphasized involvement by individuals for change. \n"My mission is to educate people about Africa, improve cooperation and coordination between organizations and to shape policy," Foote said.\nFoote spoke on bringing together activism on the lower levels and taking activism to the policymakers in Washington to change the nation's and the world's view on Africa. He challenged African-Americans and all Americans to take a more global view of problems in the world.\n"I can think of few topics (which are) as timely," said Dean of SPEA Astrid Merget to the audience. "It is a place of unimaginable problems but profound potential."\nSophomore Candace Ellis said his lecture opened her eyes to all she had to learn about Africa. She is planning to go to Ghana this summer and said the lecture was very informative about issues she had not been exposed to.\n"I didn't realize how many steps it took just to make progress," Ellis said. "I honestly didn't know that much about Africa."\nHe said one way of bringing the issues in Africa in the open is to continue to educate people and work to shape policy in Washington. \n"In Washington, you can't play on one side," Foote said. "You've got to be bi-partisan, and we do that very well. On a scale of one to 10, our progress is really at 1 1/2 right now."\nHe said so far the Bush administration has done well in addressing problems in Africa, but emphasized there is still a long way to go. \nFoote challenged those attending to make something happen on the university, local and state levels.\n"We don't understand what other people are going through," Foote said. "There is a role for you in Africa. Indiana needs to be a place where a lot of this stuff becomes reality"