I. EARLY YEARS
Maria Isabel Vaz de Andrade was born on July 28, 1958, to Maria Vaz Andrade, in the town of SĆ£o Filipe, on the small Island of Fogo, Cape Verde. She was the seventh of 10 children to her mother and the eleventh of 14 children to her father, a man so renowned for his work ethic that there is a song about him: āIf you look for someone rich, donāt go to Francisco Andrade, but if are looking for a hardworking man, go to him.ā Her father was a seafarer and, later, a shop owner on Fogo, and her mother sold homemade pastries in the town. Because of her parentsā hard work, the family never went hungry, supplementing their modest incomes with maize, cassava, beans, squash, sweetpotato, and watermelon grown on a small rented plot, often reāplanting the maize due to unreliable rains in the dry climate. Maria knew early that she would go into agriculture, and at the age of five refused to go to the store to buy butter for her mother to make a cake, swearing that she was going to study coffee and leave and work in Angola to help her family and change the life of people who suffer from hunger in Africa. She did get a gentle spanking from her father for that bit of impertinence.
Mariaās parents emphasized food, nutrition, and education for their children, recognizing that education was the key to a successful future. At the local grade school, Maria learned addition and subtraction quickly, using chalk on a slate tablet. When she was 15 years old, Maria left Fogo for the first time when she moved to Santiago, the capitol, to attend high school, returning home only for summer vacations. She lived with her older brother Braz and his family, who cared for her and shared the work ethic of their father. For example, after getting 85% on a physics exam, she hurried to her brotherās workplace hoping to be rewarded for her success, but her brother was not sympathetic, asking her why she didnāt do better. As a result, she improved.
After receiving her high school diploma in 1978, Maria taught math and natural science at the high school level from 1978 to 1980, where she quickly realized that enthusiasm and commitment are key to success, inspiring students and being inspired by what they could do together. She had an opportunity to study medicine in France via Senegal, but was interested in studying in the United States, idolized as āMeccaā by most Cape Verdeans, and in 1980 received a scholarship from the African American Institute to study agronomy at the University of Arizona in Tucson. As an undergraduate, she was fortunate to be exposed to an outstanding teacher and researcher, Dr. Albert K. Dobrenz, whom she worked for as an undergraduate, helping with drought response trials of maize, among other things. Completing her bachelorās degree in 1984, she quickly completed her masters with a thesis on the genetics of guar under Dr. Ray at the University of Arizona, before returning to Cape Verde to a position in the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIA in Portuguese), Cape Verde.
Life on a university campus in the USA in the early 1980s was an eyeāopener for Maria, but she kept her focus on working hard to make the most of her good fortune. Maria was able to enjoy the wonderful international social life, forging friendships and professional ties that would be important later in her career. Among her peers, Maria was famous for having a great time dancing, without needing to drink alcohol. While at the University of Arizona, she married her high school sweetheart, who would be the father of her two daughters.
When she returned to Cape Verde, it took some time to identify root crops as an important area where she could devote her career energies. She had wanted to work in plant pathology, but the position was already occupied. Her Director, Horacio Soares, a great supporter, assigned her to the maize program under Carlos Silva, but so...
