Arise News anchor Charles Aniagolu interviewed American-based Constituency for Africa’s (CFA) president Melvin Foote in an interesting, broad pan-African discussion. This is one of the few recent English-language interviews with Foote, with the other recent interviews being in Arabic and French, including on Alhurra News Channel and Radio France.

Though Foote has spent more than thirty-five years working in over thirty African countries, he tells Aniagolu, “I’m not the answer.” Foote also explains why he does not see or position himself as a leader like Nelson Mandela. “I see myself as a link in the chain,” he surmised.

Foote founded the CFA in 1990 as an advocacy group for Africa with its focus largely on building an African-American support base. “Everybody fights for their own,” says the Rockford, Illinois native as he talked about other groups who advocate for their homelands. “We have to be the watchdog. The Polish-American fights for Poland. We have to fight for Africa,” he continued.

His activities place him at the table with leaders and decision makers across the African world. Looking forward, he is meeting with Dr. John Nkengasong, Director of Africa Centers of Disease Control, about vaccination strategies in Africa and to lay the ground work to get US support.

Looking backward, he says it’s been nearly 40 years since he first landed to Africa as a Peace Corp worker stationed in Ethiopia. The mid-westerner quipped, “I thought Tarzan would be at the airport.”

Foote’s unknowingly showed his transformation as he talked with the suited Aniagolu. He joked “I am dressed like an African and you are dressed like an American, so we need to trade places.” “You got a way with words, but you also got a brilliant sense of humor,” was the Nigerian’s comeback.

To keep the link with the next generation strong, Foote, a DC resident, is writing his memoirs with the hope of empowering the next generation to start beyond step one, but where he and others have left off. One of the members of the next generation is his daughter Marieme, a Peace Corp volunteer, who was stationed in Benin. “She’s much more technical, looking at agriculture, food production, that sort of thing,” concluded Foote, speaking not as a proud African advocate, but simply as a proud dad.

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Covid -19 in Africa: Strategies for Vaccinating the Continent

Interested in the Peace Corp, read:  Tim Campbell, Passionate American in Africa