Allison Grossman is a Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center. She is a graduate of the University of Arizona.

After checking in with my government-issued photo ID, I walked into a large conference room with high tech video cameras lining the back wall and groups of people looking far more important than I ever do. After settling down about midway down the room, drawn towards the small group of familiar faces from the advocacy community, I braced myself.

I was there to see Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice deliver a speech on United States Policy in Africa, specifically addressing the situation in Darfur. We waited, wondering if this speech would deliver surprising news, hopefully an important step the United States would propose towards resolving the extended conflict that has cost over 400,000 lives and more than 2.2 million displaced people in Darfur.

Secretary Rice’s speaking style isn’t as charismatic as other officials, but she is focused and intense; one cannot help but listen to someone so compelling. Ms. Rice told us,

We will continue to bend every fiber of our being to ease the suffering of people of Darfur, but our goal is, and must be, more ambitious than that:  We do not want the people of Darfur to live forever in refugee camps; we want to help them return home and to live at peace. 

In the end, there was nothing revolutionary; no gaping mouths of surprise elicited, just nodding heads when she reiterated our solid support for the people of Darfur, the overwhelming potential of Africa, and our commitment as a long term partner of the continent to fulfill said potential.

Right now, Africa’s plagues include HIV/AIDS epidemics, widespread TB and malaria, ethnic and governmental violence, famine and flooding, extensive poverty and untapped resources. But global funding and education is and has been increasing, and it is a trend that must continue. We must fulfill the ideal of an international community and, as Ms. Rice stated, “protect those who cannot protect themselves.”