On Sept. 9, Somalia’s government announced that President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed who is better known as “Farmajo,” would make his first visit to the United States as president, first visiting the United Nations General Assembly before traveling to Washington, D.C. This trip will be a homecoming of sorts for Farmajo who, after the collapse of Somalia’s government in 1991, sought asylum in the United States and worked here for years.

Somalia receives only peripheral attention in the U.S., but it nevertheless receives approximately a half billion dollars of foreign aid annually, far more than any country in Latin America and the majority of Africa. Even against the backdrop of budget cuts, U.S. Ambassador Donald Yamamoto has sought nearly to double that funding. But Somalia has little to show for U.S. aid and diplomatic investment: Every year of Farmajo’s administration has seen corruption continue and insecurity increase.