We do not come first.

We are patriotic Americans who run two nonprofit organizations based on the premise that all people, everywhere, have equal rights to the benefits of earthly life. We deplore nationalism, racism, and sexism. The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation does its best to make the glories of great art available to everyone, everywhere. The Alberses—refugees from Nazi Germany for whom the US was a haven—revealed the wonders of color, textiles, and artistic process so that they could be enjoyed all over the planet. Le Korsa—our organization in Senegal—provides medical care, education, nutrition, and cultural enrichment to our African friends in some of the poorest and most isolated regions of the world, where living conditions are arduous. Our Women's Health Center in Dakar enables a large female population to have whatever care they desire. We are currently building a school, graced by the local Marabout, in a Muslim village on the far side of the Gambia River where there has never before been a school of any sort; it will teach boys and girls together, as the villagers have requested, and enable them to advance in splendid new ways.

To us, being American means not putting ourselves first, but using the privileges we have to serve our fellow human beings by making their needs our priority. We work to serve our extraordinary colleagues—in museums from Oslo to Lima, in the hospitals and villages of West Africa—because Everyone comes first.

The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation (albersfoundation.org)
Le Korsa (aflk.org and thread-senegal.org)