Archive for May, 2006
May 22nd, 2006 6:30 PM UTC
By Tayloe
Photos by J. Tayloe Emery
May 21st, 2006 7:00 PM UTC
By Shannon
Great article from a Reuters reporter traveling with Bono.
ARUSHA, Tanzania
(Reuters) – Rock singer and activist Bono said on Saturday the idea of
eradicating Africa’s biggest killer in the
next decade was as exciting as watching Neil Armstrong take the first walk on
the moon.
The front man for Irish rock band U2 — who is half-way through a six-nation
African jaunt — was inspired by the use of new technology in a family-owned
Tanzanian factory to make nets which will repel mosquitoes, the insect which
transmits malaria.
Malaria infects between 300 million to 500 million people a
year. A million of those taken ill will die, mostly infants and babies. Of the
deaths, more than 80 percent occur in Africa
and more than half those could be prevented if bed nets were made available to
families, according to experts.
Read the full article
Tonight, the NBC
Nightly News with Brian Williams airs the first of many segments documenting
Bono’s six country tour of Africa. Bono is there with ONE and DATA, shedding
light on the crisis of global AIDS and extreme poverty. The trip includes stops
in Lesotho, Rwanda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Mali and Ghana. Tonight’s is the first in
a series of broadcasts from Africa, so be sure to check the blog for information
about future on-air reports.
Rwanda has overcome and is overcoming so much. Genocide. Poverty. AIDS.
We started our day in the heart of Kigali today, and from the clinics to people in the street, everywhere we went, the people had so much hope in their shared future.
Hundreds of kids in new schools. Nurses facing the toughest conditions and believing, taking a stand in faith, against all odds. People living with AIDS proclaiming that because of life-saving ARV drugs, they no longer live under a death sentence.
Rwanda is on the move.
We started our day at the TRAC clinic in Kigali, filled with people coming to get voluntary counseling for AIDS, something made so much more likely when they know they’ll receive drugs and treatment that will help save their lives. The lab to process the tests is right next door, funded by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. The doctors and staff were incredible, earnest and devoted to helping their community. The clinic is able to provide medicines and care because of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and we were able to see firsthand how America’s contributions to the Global Fund really do mean pills in people’s hands and lives saved.
The head of the clinic, Doctor Anita, said she wanted Americans to know that they were grateful, even if all of us may never get to see the people in Rwanda who get to live, work and raise their families because of our assistance.
People like the small 2 year old child Bono met with at the clinic. So small, so in need of help, help that now costs less than $1 a day. Looking at this beautiful girl and the love of her family, a child’s life for less than $1 a day sounds like the best deal in town.
May 18th, 2006 11:30 AM UTC
By Tayloe
After a beautiful sunrise in the mountain kingdom of Lesotho our party, led by DATA co-founders Bono and Bobby Shriver, left Maseru for the small town of Butha Buthe. After a short hour’s drive we came upon Butha Buthe Hospital where we were greeted by Nurse Kholumo who discussed with us the Know Your Status campaign which aims to eradicate AIDS in the region by breaking down stigma and encouraging residents to be tested regularly for HIV. In the ART clinic we met with AIDS patients whose lives were being transformed by the life-saving drugs provided by the Global Fund. Bono and Global Fund Director, Dr. Richard Feachem, sat briefly with a local man named Daniel who relayed his testimony of living with AIDS and how the ARV drugs had saved his life and preserved his family.
Afterwards we took a short walk up the road, leaving behind the singing voices of the nurses and staff of the hospital whose work cannot be heralded enough. We turned the corner and came upon a small garment factory that was producing ONE t-shirts for EDUN! Bono and Ali had huge smiles on their faces as they saw their dream of EDUN and fair trade manufacturing come to life.
As the rain clouds developed outside, we left the factory and jumped into our cars for a short drive up the road to visit Qalo High School. We pulled into the school grounds as the children flooded out of the building and erupted in song and dance to welcome us. It was a moving experience as hundreds of kids wearing ONE t shirts carried signs saying “Welcome Bono!” sang and danced for us. The rain clouds prevailed however and we dashed into the school for a delicious hot lunch and to dry off from the Winter storms that were passing through. We learned about the challenges the community was facing and heard about how a new well dug only hundred of yards away from the school was providing fresh clean water for the students. After saying our goodbyes to the children we headed back to Maseru and the airport for our flight to Rwanda with fond memories of Lesotho and the beautiful people here who graciously welcomed us to their home.
Tomorrow we will tour a Rwandan Global Fund clinic in the morning and then visit the Nyamata genocide memorial. It should be quite an experience.
May 17th, 2006 11:30 AM UTC
By Tayloe
As many of you will remember, four years ago U2′s Bono and
DATA traveled to Sub-Saharan Africa with a gaggle of journalists and then-U.S
Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neil. The
impetus for that trip was to draw the world’s attention to the emergency of
AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa. Today we came back looking for answers and to
see what progress has been made since that historic trip in 2002.
After a short plane ride from Johannesburg,
we landed on a small airstrip in Maseru,
Lesotho around
1:00pm. Many of us were a little tired
from our long flights to get here but full of energy for a full day touring
this beautiful country. Leading the pack
off the plane, DATA co-founders Bono and Bobby Shriver were followed by
representatives from ONE.org, RED and EDUN, some journalists and a film crew. A small welcoming party greeted us and we
were quickly ushered off to our first stop at the Lesotho Precious Garment
Makers Factory.
This clothing factory was most impressive. An assembly line of hard working African men
and women sang for us at our arrival and we watched as they carefully and
meticulously sewed and hemmed t-shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies for The Gap and
Old Navy. We witnessed as some of the
first RED products came off the line emblazoned with that proud stamp: (RED) Made in Lesotho,
Africa.
Everything was made from 100% African cotton and the t-shirts especially
were soft like butter to the touch. The garment
factory employs thousands of workers who are now able to use this money to feed
their families, put their children through school and begin to lift themselves
out of the trappings of extreme poverty.
It was a beautiful thing to witness and we all left feeling encouraged
by the incredible work being done here.
As many have said before, TRADE is a viable and needed resource for
improving the lives of the millions of Africans who live on less than a dollar
a day.
Tonight as I write this most of our party is downstairs celebrating
with local business people the announcement of a new AIDS testing and treatment
initiative for factory workers and enjoying the incredible sounds of the Lesotho choir
comprised entirely of local garment workers.
The local garment workers also put on an exciting and vibrant fashion
show showing off the local clothing that they produce here in Lesotho. The beautiful Lesotho
men and women on the catwalk could seriously rival Milan
and Paris’
finest!
We’ve got a full day tomorrow starting in Lesotho at Butha
Buthe Hospital
and Paballong ART Clinic before flying up to Rwanda so I’m going to call it a
night! Stay tuned to this blog for more
updates.
May 16th, 2006 12:30 PM UTC
By Shannon
Guest columnist to the Waco Tribune Herald, Jon Singletary,
a professor at Baylor University and a ONE delegate to last year’s G8 summit in
Scotland wrote urging his Representative, Kay Bailey Hutchison to fund the
fight against AIDS and poverty. Click
here to read the full article.
“The United States
currently spends less than one-half of 1 percent on poverty-focused development
assistance.
The Senate Appropriations Committee currently is making its decisions about
budget proposals.
As a member of this committee, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is invested in how our
nation spends its money. She will have a say in how much the Senate would like
to see allocated to foreign operations.
It was clear that Hutchison had deep respect for this rock star with a cause
and a deeper appreciation of the real emergency that is motivating him – the
8,500 people who die each day from AIDS and the 13,500 people who contract the
HIV virus each day.
The real question for her and for all
Texans is how our nation will respond. Sen. Hutchison, after your comments the
other night, I have to ask: Will you put our money where your mouth is?”
