Christian rock group MercyME has just released their new album,
“Waiting to Breathe”, to rave reviews. They are profiled today in the New York
Times and are shown sporting the ever hip ONE t-shirt. Check out the
article to read more about MercyMe. MercyMe, one of the country’s most
popular Christian rock bands, supports ONE’s efforts to fight the crisis of global
AIDS and extreme poverty.

On May 21,
the UN World Food Program and its partners are working around the globe to help
end child hunger by Walking the World! Walk the World is an annual
worldwide gathering during which hundreds of thousands of people in every time
zone come together to raise awareness about the 800 million who go hungry every
day.  

Hunger is more than just an empty stomach. No food means
no energy or strength to work, learn, or fight disease. Hunger and poverty claim
25,000 lives every day, and around the globe 825 million people do not have
enough to eat – that’s more than the populations of the U.S., Canada and the
European Union combined.
Yet it only takes $.19/day to provide a child lunch at
school.

Walk the
World urges policy-makers and governments – whether in rich or poor countries –
to focus more funds and resources on feeding children. Across the US, from
Houston to Anchorage, from Des Moines to Malibu, people are coming together and
walking to help end global hunger. Check out the Fight Hunger website to
learn more and find a walk near you!

Yesterday in Washington,
DC a group of African doctors,
nurses, teachers and education advocates gathered to call for livable wages for
millions of teachers and health workers around the world. At the event
organized by Oxfam International, Gene Sperling, Director of the Center on
Universal Education, spoke about the need for more teachers and education as a
tool for ending the cycle of extreme poverty. Joining him was a teacher from Malawi, a doctor and nurse from Uganda, and
Paul Zeitz, executive director of the Global AIDS Alliance.

Rachel Nataylia, a nurse who specializes in women’s care, explained
how in Uganda
she was the only one working in the hospital and often delivered up to 20
babies at once – with no assistance – and for only $150/month. In Uganda she was
also caring for her sibling’s children who were orphaned by AIDS. Unable to
live off of $150, Rachel was forced to move to the US. Though she misses her home, she
says at least she can send money back and help her family.

With the crisis of AIDS hitting Africa harder than any other
continent in the world, countries like Uganda
and Malawi
can’t afford to lose their nurses and teachers. There, people like Rachel are
vital!

Teachers and health workers are the backbone of education and
health care systems. They work hard everyday to help save lives, yet in the
poorest countries they are paid starvation wages. Last year rich countries
promised to increase their aid by $50 billion by 2010. If this money was spent
on health and education, every child could be taught by a qualified teacher and
treated by a trained nurse.

Today, NPR’s All Things Considered is featuring a story on Thembi Ngubane, a South African teenager living with AIDS. For the past year, Thembi has been carrying a tape recorder and keeping an audio diary of her struggle to live with AIDS.

In Africa, the continent hit hardest by the HIV/AIDS virus, more than 17 million Africans have died from AIDS and another 25 million are infected with the HIV virus. South Africa, Thembi’s home, has the largest number of people living with HIV/AIDS – 5 million altogether – and Thembi is one of them.

Listen to Thembi’s story today on NPR.

Thembi and producer Joe Richman will be traveling to cities throughout the US for a series of special listening and conversation events:

Washington, DC: April 25th, Foundry United Methodist Church
Boston: April 27th Match School
Los Angeles: May 1st, UCLA
Chicago: May 4th, HotHouse Performance Space

Thembi is one of millions around the world living with HIV/AIDS, and she has been brave enough to share her story, shed light on this global crisis, and use her voice to help make a difference.

Listen to her story today.

Education is vital to breaking the
cycle of poverty that affects billions of people around the world. Globally,
more than 100 million children are out of school – and more than 60 million of
these children are girls. Everyone deserves the opportunity to learn, and
investing in girls’ education benefits not only those girls in the classroom but
also their families and communities. In fact, investing in just ONE extra year
of education means mothers earn more, raise healthier families and are better
able to prevent and fight back against HIV/AIDS and other
diseases.

Click here to see how women around the world are benefiting from an education and do your part to help
put more girls into school by participating in this year’s Send My Friend to School Week.

As Americans, we know that knowledge
is power. Let’s keep working together to help put more children in school and
moving toward a brighter future.

Today, President Clinton will be speaking on our issues at a forum hosted by InterAction, a ONE founding partner. In addition to his efforts to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic, President Clinton has been a driving force behind recovery efforts after both Hurricane Katrina and the Tsunami.

Watch his remarks 

Today, MTV will host the TV broadcast premiere of the ONE “Click Spot”. The spot will air between 4-4:15pm EST as part of MTV’s “TRL” program, broadcast live from New York. Be sure to tune in!

MTV’s donation of airtime makes a great statement of support for ONE’s continuing work to help fight global AIDS and extreme poverty and comes exactly one year after the premiere of the first “ONE SPOT”, seen by millions across MTV Networks and Viacom outlets.

If you miss today’s TV broadcast premiere, the ONE spot will continue to roll out across MTV, MTV2, MTVU and MTV Overdrive, inviting viewers to visit WWW.ONE.ORG to learn more about the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty and what they and America can do to help create hope and opportunity for the world’s poorest people.

If you want to see the spot now, visit WWW.ONE.ORG and click “play video” at the top of the page.

Today we launched a new version of ONE.org! Volunteers from industry leaders Adobe and Metaliq came together, as ONE to create the sleek new look you see on our website today. Akamai has generously given us the ability to stream our new “Click Video” from our homepage – take a look.

Thank you Simon, Brian, Chris, Tony, Michelle, Ben, Beau, Mike, and Tim for all your work and collaboration!

Last week, the House cut funding that would have helped fight global AIDS and extreme poverty. More than 160,000 ONE supporters across the United States called their Congressmen and asked them to support the President’s budget request to fund the fight against AIDS and extreme poverty – but they didn’t do it.

Under the leadership of Congressman Jim Nussle (R-IA), Chairman of the Budget Committee, the House stripped more than $2 billion from the President’s proposed plan to provide life-saving assistance to the world’s poorest countries. And Representative Jeb Bradley (R-NH) introduced and passed an amendment that cut $800 million from the President’s budget request to fund the fight against AIDS and poverty.

Call Congressman Nussle and Congressman Bradley and let them know you’re disappointed with the cuts to
the International Affairs budget:

Congressman Nussle:
Davenport Office:  (563)
326–1841
Washington, DC Office: (202) 225-2911

Congressman Bradley:
Washington, DC: (202) 225-5456
Manchester, NH: 
(603) 641-9536

In the Senate, despite significant gains in life-saving funding through the efforts of Senators Santorum (R-PA), Durbin (D-IL), DeWine (R-OH) and Leahy (D-VT), there was also a failure to deliver on the President’s budget request to fully fund the fight against AIDS and poverty. Ultimately, the Senate slashed $2 billion from the President’s proposal.

Though we are all disappointed, there will be opportunities in the future to do more. Keep checking the blog for more information and chances to take action.