Columbian is changing Africa

Dr. Jim Fisher (c) with Arthuree Ricks (r) of Columbia and an ISC teacher in Conakry, Guinea, during a Richland One student tour to Guinea in 2000. Dr. Jim Fisher is a philanthropic messenger, a servant, a leader, a friend of Africa, and my personal role model.

I first met Dr. Fisher in July 1996 when he arrived in a white Explorer with a diplomatic license plate at the International School of Conakry (ISC) in Guinea, West Africa, where I was teaching. Before the driver could open the door, Dr. Fisher had gotten out of the SUV. Waving at us and laughing at the same time, he said, "Hello, good people!"

I was surprised Dr. Fisher didn't follow the cus- tomary boss- servant procedure. Most bosses in Africa usually sit in the car till their drivers open the door. A new leadership concept was about to be born in Guinea.

He asked me if I could be, beside being a teacher- assistant, a public spokesperson for him. "Joseph, my wife and I would like to use some of our salary to help some people in this country. Do you have an idea as to what their needs are?"

Knowing how the threat of unemployment had been hurting our uneducated ground- floor workers, I did not hesitate to tell him to begin by giving training opportunities to our maintenance team.

During the three years of his tenure, Dr. Jim Fisher and his wife, Dr. Barbara Fisher, transformed the school's mentality. The local staff members soon realized we were people like any Europeans or North Americans. Our self- worth and self- identity were valued by Dr. Fisher's leadership.

Dr. Fisher lobbied with ISC board members for college- credit training programs through U.S. universities for local staff with African college degrees, vocational training for those with high school degrees, and learning English for the remaining staff members.

Dr. Fisher gave scholarships to three local staff members to start graduate and international certification programs with the College of New Jersey based in the Ivory Coast, West Africa. I was one of those. However, Dr. Barbara Fisher had to break the yoke of white- man supremacy at ISC before I could get the scholarship. She had an altercation with a white female who thought she was more entitled to the scholarship than I.

Staff members with high school diplomas were registered in local vocational schools to study computer science, secretarial science, auto repair, and security officer training programs. For those who were either illiterate or did not have high school diplomas, Dr. Fisher initiated

a literacy program in French and English as a Second Language (ESL) which I headed.

To promote tourism and job opportunities for other Guineans, Dr. Fisher extended the ESL program to top government officials. He taught courses at the University of Conakry and started a research project about the slave trade in Guinea. In a sense, Guinea had become Dr. Fisher's second home.

Dr. Fisher had accomplished the biggest academic successes ISC had ever had, and he had broken the manacles of financial disparity between overseas and qualified local employees. The local teaching staff was now being paid according to the salary schedule that had only been used for staff with overseas degrees.

The school enrollment increased by 50% from 53 students to 79 students. Due to this increase, the ISC board had to rent another building.

Dr. Fisher initiated home- bound tutoring programs for struggling students. Students who stayed home received a visitor from ISC at home because we were like one family. All the local staff gained confidence and was no longer thinking about losing their jobs.

About 40% of local ISC staff started their own businesses. (I started my own private school but unfortunately I had to leave my country for security reasons.) Some local staff members became computer and auto technicians at ISC, and some even found jobs at the US Embassy.

Using his research findings about the Guinea/South Carolina slave trade with his research partner, Dr. Warner Montgomery, he has promoted tourism in Guinea. Since 2000, Dr. Fisher and his partner have carried four groups of American tourists to Guinea. The University of Conakry now has a joint research project with the University of South Carolina due to his unyielding vision to change the old ways.

Today, the Fishers are pleased with their accomplishments because as a beneficiary of their generosity, I am a doctoral student at the University of Phoenix.

Editor's note: Haba left ISC to teach the president of Guinea's children. Due to his sense of morality, he fell out with the tyrannical president and was forced into hiding. The US ambassador rescued him and made arrangements for him to emigrate to the US. Haba got a teaching position in Atlanta and enrolled in graduate school. He is now married and has two children. This story was written by Joseph for a class at the University of Phoenix. It has been edited for purposes of brevity only.