How does the USA help an impoverished, parched little island in the middle of the Indian Ocean? That is our challenge. So Shelly and I go to Rodrigues (pronounced rod REEGZ) Island, which is part of Mauritius, but is all by itself way out in the middle of the ocean. 35,000 people live here, mostly descendents of freed African and Malagasy slaves. The US has a history of providing "self-help" funding for small enterprises in Rodrigues. It's my job to meet with project applicants and look at what they want to do with small foreign aid grants. It's a very rural environment, where the work is mostly subsistence fishing, small animal husbandry, and agriculture on a rocky, volcanic, hard-scrabble hillside. The people, however, were so welcoming, friendly, and tickled at my attempts at speaking Kreol. There are few jobs---and a recent creation of a marine park in the lagoon effectively banned fishing for many of the lifelong fishermen. And quite ironically, the biggest challenge on land surrounded by miles of pounding ocean . . . is water. The residents barely have enough fresh water to drink and use for domestic purposes, not to mention irrigation and livestock. Shelly and I came "home" to the Mauritius "mainland" with an appreciation for our more modern lifestyle.
How does the USA help an impoverished, parched little island in the middle of the Indian Ocean? That is our challenge. So Shelly and I go to Rodrigues (pronounced rod REEGZ) Island, which is part of Mauritius, but is all by itself way out in the middle of the ocean. 35,000 people live here, mostly descendents of freed African and Malagasy slaves. The US has a history of providing "self-help" funding for small enterprises in Rodrigues. It's my job to meet with project applicants and look at what they want to do with small foreign aid grants. It's a very rural environment, where the work is mostly subsistence fishing, small animal husbandry, and agriculture on a rocky, volcanic, hard-scrabble hillside. The people, however, were so welcoming, friendly, and tickled at my attempts at speaking Kreol. There are few jobs---and a recent creation of a marine park in the lagoon effectively banned fishing for many of the lifelong fishermen. And quite ironically, the biggest challenge on land surrounded by miles of pounding ocean . . . is water. The residents barely have enough fresh water to drink and use for domestic purposes, not to mention irrigation and livestock. Shelly and I came "home" to the Mauritius "mainland" with an appreciation for our more modern lifestyle. 
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