THEY HAVE THEIR PRIORITIES RIGHT:

Mother of a nation: Liberia's president (Ruthie Ackerman, 1/11/07, The Christian Science Monitor)

With so many major celebrities focusing on Africa - Angelina Jolie, Bono, Madonna - and Hollywood movies choosing Africa as their subject - "Blood Diamond," "The Last King of Scotland," "The Constant Gardener" - Johnson-Sirleaf says the hot-button issue right now is poverty. "[Poverty] becomes the No. 1 priority, the one thing that needs to be addressed if you're going to really achieve your development goals, and I think that has brought to the forefront a whole new sensitization about how we do development," she says.

Johnson-Sirleaf's suggestion: "You go into a community, and instead of telling them 'We're going to build you a school,' we ask them, 'What is your priority?' Maybe they prefer a well, because they want clean water for their children. Or maybe they prefer a clinic as their first priority. So even if we want to give them a school, let's work with them. And most times they have their priorities right. Most times it is a school because they want their children to be educated."