The United States is working with a non-profit group to send 26 Americans to Africa to teach and connect with people there. The U.S. State Department’s Reciprocal Exchange program is part of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. It was started in 2014 by then President Barack Obama as part of his Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). YALI will send 1,000 young people from African countries south of the Sahara Desert to the United States. They will spend six weeks this summer at a U.S. college or university. The Mandela Washington Fellowship is the main program of YALI. It is based on the idea that exchanges of people and knowledge are needed to build ties between the United States and young Africans.