This is a story of three generations of the Sands family – Fenton B. Sands Sr., Fenton B. Sands Jr., Jahmal L. Sands and F. Bemani Sands – who have been foreign service officers since the inception of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in 1961.

It all started with Dr. Fenton B. Sands Sr. who became an international agricultural expert who lived and worked in, or visited close to 30 countries. The city-boy from Harlem’s childhood curiosity of seasonal changes in plants in the park outside his window drove him to study agriculture. That led to an overseas career with several international development organizations, beginning in the mid-1940s when he went to Liberia with his wife Dorothy to start the agricultural school at Cuttington College. In fact, he worked for the International Cooperation Administration in 1961 at the time it was re-established as USAID. From 1960 to 1964, USAID assigned him to Sudan as a Horticulture Advisor. From there Fenton Sr. went on to work overseas in other countries with different agencies, and eventually retired from the World Bank in 1982. Another amazing fact is he was a member of the historic Tuskegee Airmen as one of the first Bombardier-Navigators.

The second generation, Dr. Fenton Sands Jr. who retired from USAID in 2007, was inspired to join USAID in 1976 as an IDI after following in his father’s footsteps in earning a degree in agricultural economics and being influenced by his father’s career and experiences working overseas. He initially served three years in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, then took a leave of absence from the Agency to attend Michigan State University for his doctorate degree.

Thereafter, he rejoined USAID and headed off with his family to Uganda in 1984. His USAID career-odyssey continued for over 25 years from Uganda to Morocco, to Egypt, then Ghana, and briefly in Washington, DC before going to Guyana in 2005 as the USAID Mission Director. Since retiring, he’s done several international consultancies with USAID Missions in Ghana, Malawi, and Guyana. He now lives with his wife Cynthia in Washington, DC. 

 Although Fenton Sr. passed away in 1998, a third generational member of the Sands family, Jahmal Sands, continues the family legacy today as a USAID officer. He initially worked with the Agency as a Civil Servant before converting to the Foreign Service in 2018. He is currently assigned to USAID/Dominican Republic as a Deputy Executive Officer. Fenton Jr.’s other son, F. Bemani Sands, happens to work for another foreign affairs agency -- the Department of State in Washington, DC – and will be sent overseas soon to work in Consular Services.

Clearly, the two generations after Fenton Sands Sr. were highly influenced by his courageous pioneering spirit and willingness to venture where few would think of going. In particular, all three generations have been committed to applying their skills to benefit those in need all over the world as USAID officers have been doing since Fenton Sr. did so when USAID started close to 60 years ago.