The True Agents of Change in Africa:
Communitites and Youth

Eric Pohlman

A young man greeted me at sunrise. His name was Pius. His short body was meek; his arms and legs were thin. He was soft-spoken, and his English was quite good-an anomaly in Tanzania, where only 1 percent of the population speaks English. I invited him to sit with me in the sand and enjoy the morning sun, which colored the fog above Lake Victoria light purple over the iridescent water. A few long-billed birds ran back and forth teasing the tide like little children scared of wetting their feet.

The early morning hour is the most pleasant in East Africa. The coolness of night still lingers. The streets are calm. The markets are closed. The poverty hides for a time but is betrayed by corrugated steel roofs. Nevertheless, the faces behind the statistics are still sleeping. I could almost forget that one-fifth of the world's population lives on less than one dollar per day, and one half of the world's population lives on less than two dollars per day. Early in the morning the potential for a different world is strong-a world where the vibrancy and color of African cultures are not overshadowed by poverty, hunger, and HIV/AIDS.

Eric Pohlman is a student in the Science, Technology, and International Affairs program at Georgetown University.