Embassy Reception

Mariama Keita-Thiero lost her job the day USAID was dismantled in February 2025, one of more than 10,000 people let go as the agency folded into the State Department. She found her way back to purpose through the Rotary Club of Washington, D.C., where she co-chairs the Embassy International Relations Committee.

In May, her committee hosted an ambassadorial reception at the residence of Colombia's ambassador, drawing more than 70 guests from multiple countries. The event raised $8,200, the highest total that reception has ever earned, all of it going to FUNDAMIRA, a nonprofit that will use the money to build an IT classroom for underserved Afro-Colombian communities in rural Colombia.

A career interrupted turned into a fundraiser that will put computers in a classroom on another continent.

Source: Rotary International's blog, blog.rotary.org, https://blog.rotary.org/2026/07/16/anchored-by-service-in-a-season-of-career-transition/