At the young age of 11 years old, Leah Horowitz was drawn to adventure and fascinated with the wider world. By the time she arrived at Dartmouth College as an undergraduate, she was motivated by the words of Dartmouth President Dickey’s charge: "The world’s problems are your problems." 

Leah inspired everyone she met to do better. Although she was a brilliant academic, she always had one foot outside of the classroom. She knew she needed to not only make an impact domestically but internationally as well. A trip to Zimbabwe had made a lasting impression on her. She found herself returning to Africa again and again. In 2005, she began working for the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Not content to sit in a cubicle all day long, Leah requested a permanent transfer to the field office in Accra, Ghana. She became Program Coordinator and Research Analyst for that country. 

Leah was just on the precipice of womanhood. Afafanto means butterfly in the native Ghana language of Twi. Leah was similar to that butterfly emerging from her cocoon. She struggled mightily to find her identity and place in the world, in an effort to come to terms with not being able to do it all. She once said that dying did not scare her, but only the sadness of not doing all she intended to do.