dinner with Jimmy

12 November 05

Friends & Family:

Who would have thought that moving to West Africa to do health education in a remote, rural village would result in meeting a former US president? I suppose its Providence’s way of rewarding those who suffer sweltering heat, mediocre beer, and countless requests to be taken to America. Kudos to the karma police.

It all started a month ago when I received a note from a Guinea worm colleague. It said, “Peace Corps called. They said Jimmy Carter is coming to Ghana and he wants to meet you.” Well I’ve always considered myself to be kind of an important person. I mean I’m the fricken development chief of Agou after all. Naturally, the note didn’t surprise me much.

I decided I could sacrifice a few hours of my busy life for Jimmy. So I traveled to Accra, but I didn’t expect much. Most likely I figured I would be just another face in a sea of people eager to hear him speak at some big function. Something like the time I saw Bill Clinton at a Berkeley bookstore promoting his autobiography. He showed up an hour late in an entourage of large SUVs. He smiled and waved to the crowd. We cheered and that was that. Really the only memorable part of the whole experience was a sign held by a resident that said, “blowjobs are better than bombs.”

My experience with Carter was quite different. There would be no sea of people. Carter wasn’t even giving a speech. He had gone to Liberia to monitor their presidential election. Apparently, his flight back to Atlanta involved a short layover in Ghana. During this time he wanted to visit the US Ambassador residence for a casual, low-key dinner. He wanted to hear from six people. I was one of them.

Why me, you ask. Like I said before, I am the fricken development chief of Agou. You probably don’t fully understand the clout that title carries but really smart people like Jimmy do. Plus, I’m a volunteer working on a disease eradication program sponsored by his charitable organization, the Carter Center. He invited our Peace Corps country director and wanted to hear from two PCVs working on Guinea worm eradication. He also invited the US Ambassador, the Deputy Chief of Missions (essentially, the assistant ambass.), and the American Economics officer for Ghana. Their spouses were allowed to come as well.

There ended up being a total of 14 people who sat down to eat with Carter because his wife Rosalynn was there along with his son, Chip, and his wife. Two women I didn’t meet also ate with us, one I later found out was his time manager. Imagine that, a person who’s full time job it is to manage your daily schedule. I am considering getting one myself. All interested parties please mail your resume to: Box 68, Nkwanta, V/R *note: compensation will be paid in yams.

Then I found out Carter wanted us to give a brief report on the present state of the Guinea worm eradication program. He didn’t want to hear statistics, just personal accounts of what’s happening in the program. Well I nearly Hershey squirt my pants when I heard about this briefing I was to give. Madaleine, the PC country director, offered to do the briefing for us but both Adam and I felt comfortable doing it. I took solace in the fact that I am a badass 24 year old chief and he was just a frail 81 year old has-been who can’t manage his own time. I was cool as a cucumber after that little epiphany.

When I first saw Jimmy on the evening of October 15, it felt surreal. He ran by us and apologized for being late (he was 20 minutes late which is early by Ghanaian standards). We all stood there dazed until someone remarked, “that was Jimmy Carter.” I couldn’t believe it. He was much smaller than I expected. There’s no way this great man could be only 5’7’’ (officially he’s said to be 5’9” but I think he’s lost an inch or two to old age).

What he lacks in height he makes up for in grace, wit, and charm. His firm handshake surprised me as it betrayed his gentle demeanor. He wore a tan blazer, light polo shirt, brown slacks, and loafers. He spoke like a professor, carefully choosing every word. And the Southern accent gave his words a cadence reminiscent of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Like a true gentlemen, he stills refers to his wife as “darling.”

We all sat down on couches and chairs in the Ambassador’s living room. Pamela Bridgewater, the US Ambass., began briefing Carter on the present status of Ghana in the world. She called Ghana a “model democracy” and a “major business hub of West Africa.” To which Carter chimed in, “You bet it is. This place (Accra) looks like New York City after spending a week in Monrovia (Liberian capital).” The Deputy Chief told Carter about the strained relationship between Rawlings & Kufour – the former and current presidents of Ghana, respectively. Madaleine then gave a quick overview of Peace Corps Ghana and our partnership with the Carter Center. She introduced Adam and me then the floor was ours.

Adam Weiss is a second year volunteer from Wisconsin. He had been working at the national level as Guinea worm coordinator for PC Ghana. His report was centered on the structural and institutional problems that hamper the eradication effort. It was largely critical so we decided beforehand my report would be more upbeat; we wanted to sound hopeful about the challenges ahead. Adam finished. Carter thanked him. Then all eyes were on me.

I took a deep breath and started telling him about my village. He asked where exactly Agou fie was. When I said Nkwanta district, he smiled and said he’d been there. I went on to describe some of the activities I’ve done with community groups to raise awareness about GW. For men I said soccer games have proven to be the best way to mobilize large audiences for the health message. For children the school is a great forum. I told him about GW Jeopardy we play. With the women it’s difficult because they are so busy doing housework all day. But they are most vital to eliminating the water-born disease because they fetch the family’s water. I told Carter I’ve found that women will show up to meetings when I offer to paint their nails. They especially get a kick out of painting my nails. I then showed him my white fingernails and purple toenails. He replied, “they look nice.” Everyone laughed.

I went on to point out that health education doesn’t mean a thing if it doesn’t translate into behavior change. I knew Carter had said he didn’t want to hear statistics, but there was one that I just couldn’t resist throwing out. I told him, “in 2004 there were 80 cases of GW in Agou fie. So far this year there have only been two!” Everyone in the room clapped. It was a glorious moment. I concluded by praising Carter’s program for laying the groundwork for future successful disease eradication programs. He jumped on that point and talked about Carter Center Nigeria’s present effort to eradicate river blindness, filariasis, and trachoma.

After I finished the mood in the room was noticeably elevated. In fact, the Econ. officer complained of having to follow the Peace Corps. When he finished Carter told us about the Liberian election. He said it was largely fair and peaceful. There was a very high voter turnout of approx. 75%. He said it was much closer than expected and would definitely go to a runoff vote (a businesswoman Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf ended up defeating soccer hero George Weah to become Africa’s first female head of state). But his optimism for the country’s future was cautious. No matter who wins faces huge, deep-seeded problems of corruption at every level of government, he explained.

For dinner we had steak, boiled potatos, tomato soup, and pomegranate ice cream for dessert. It was delicious. I sat far four people away from Jimmy so I couldn’t ask him the tough questions I really wanted to, like what the hell happened during the Iranian hostage crisis and why did those helicopters crash and what’s wrong with the Democrat party today. No, the mood was much too relaxed and casual to discuss anything like that. At one point he did give everyone a thorough, matter-of-fact update on the baseball playoffs.

My favorite moment at dinner came while we were eating the pomegranate ice cream. Someone asked if the pomegranate juice Pom is sold in Ghana. No one knew. Then Carter blurted out, “I have a lifetime supply of it.” Everyone turned their head with a collective ‘huh’? He went on to explain that during his ’80 presidential campaign the LA manufacturer of Pom was a Democrat and really wanted to defeat Reagan. He didn’t have a lot of cash so he promised Carter a lifetime supply of Pom. Carter says he always has crates of the juice in his garage “and they just keep bringing it.”

The humility of the man really shined after dinner. He requested all the cooks and servers to come out so he could personally thank them for a delicious meal. He even had his picture taken with them. I didn’t get an individual pic with him and I regret not asking for one. We did take a group photo with him – all the Peace Corps folk and the Prez. I’m still waiting for Madaleine to forward me the digital pic (one of the reasons why this email took so long to get out). Stay tuned. I’ll pass it on as soon as I get it.

Other than that life has been pretty mundane for the dev. Chief. Nana Lucas is still going strong. He’s complaining of a hernia now and says he can only sleeps a few hours at night. On a brighter note, I’m jazzed to see my friend Jennifer Wipf, who's visiting Ghana for 2 weeks. She wants to help teach at my school and get jiggy with the drummers.

I’m meeting her at the airport soon so the top ten will have to wait for another time. Next up: top 10 Ghana-American inverses

peace,
kris