After spending one year in the United States, I realize how ignorant Americans are about Africa. For example, a woman felt sorry for me because she thought that everyone in my country, the Ivory Coast, was starving. Of course she was making a direct connection with the starvation problem in Somalia, which was at that time of the year receiving great coverage. She did not know where the Ivory Coast was located, and apparently Somalia and the Ivory Coast meant the same thing to her.