Archive for August, 2006
…an update from the ONE concert outreach team.
We just wrapped up yet another hot, tiring and fun summer on the VANs Warped Tour. This is the third year that ONE has been on the tour, and like always we found Warped fans to be incredibly supportive – nearly 40,000 of them signed up, pledging to make poverty history, during our two months on the road!
While on tour, we also got to be friends with some very cool bands, among them Rise Against. One of the headliners of this summer’s tour, Rise Against started in 1999 in Chicago. In 2004 they made their major label debut on Geffen with Siren Songs of the Counter Culture. Rise Against have been known over the years to be uncompromising in their commentary and involvement with a number of causes. We were very excited to have front man Tim McIlrath sign the declaration early on in the summer with us. The band also went on to host signings (fans would come to our booth to get an autograph from the band and more info on ONE) in our booth and wore ONE hats and the white bands all summer. Throughout the tour we were treated to regular shout-outs from the stage urging fans to check out what we were doing and join.
You can get more info on Rise Against (and thank them for their support!) on their Myspace page, and watch for them when they’ll be on tour later this fall.
Thanks to Rise Against, the Warped production team, and most importantly to all of our amazing volunteers who helped us have a such a great summer on Warped!
PS: Check out our tour photos to see us in action!
This Saturday, Senator Barack Obama is scheduled to take a public AIDS test in Kenya at a clinic in the village of Nyangoma-Kogelo. This is this village where his father was raised and his grandmother still lives. It is also a country where 2 million of its 33 million people are infected with HIV
The AP reports that the men and women in Nyangoma-Kogelo have been preparing for weeks for Senator Obama’s visit by cutting the grass and leveling out the dirt road that leads to his grandmother’s home. But Senator Obama’s visit will be much more than just a homecoming. With the fanfare – and the AIDS test – I hope more awareness and understanding of an epidemic will come.
After two decades, HIV it is still stigmatized in many Africa countries. This deters people from even getting tested, which is one of the surefire ways to get the epidemic under control. Successes in a handful of countries, such as Uganda and Senegal, have shown that HIV rates can be brought down through effective AIDS prevention campaigns.
Meeting with our representatives in Congress is an important part of democracy. It is essential to making sure our voices are heard and the goals of the ONE Campaign are achieved.
In that spirit, ONE volunteers Eric Myser, Cheryl Johncox, ONE Field Organizer Katie Andrews, and myself met with Rep. Deborah Pryce of Ohio’s 15th district last week to talk to her about HIV/AIDS funding, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Focus on Family Health Worldwide Act, and the Foreign Operations budget for fiscal year ’07.
Rep. Pryce was very engaged and knowledgeable on the issues and asked a lot of great questions that we were able to answer for her. At the end of the meeting, she even donned a ONE wristband! Although the ONE Campaign has some big goals, it is often the smallest details that so often make a big difference in peoples’ lives all over the world. So when we meet with members of Congress we always stress that the funding America provides can mean the difference between a child going to school, or not. Or anti-malarial bed nets for a few more children, or a well that gets dug to provide clean drinking water for an entire village. Or not.
As American citizens we have so much power to affect change around the world. But we have to use that power. We have to let the politicians in Washington know that we’re all ready to stand as ONE. To make sure people aren’t starving, to make sure others don’t suffer needlessly, to make sure trade rules are fair for everyone, and most of all, to make poverty history.
“At the age of eleven I got curious about God and the Scriptures. At the age of thirteen I discovered a band called U2. I was always disconcerted by the fact that, while the Scriptures show Jesus helping the poor and the sick, most churches didn’t seem to be interested. U2 did however and Bono especially seemed to have a better grasp of theology than most preachers I had ever run across. Bono had become someone I looked up to, so it seemed natural to support the cause that he had taken up in Africa. The fact that the poverty which surrounded me living in Los Angeles paled in comparison to the poverty in places like Africa was an eye opener.
Then I read of a story about a man named Lawrence Ndou in Malawi. He had AIDS and happened to be one of the fortunate ones who received the retroviral. The problem was that his wife had already died of AIDS and the woman he was currently in love with was infected. Unfortunately she didn’t have the retroviral. He was faced with the decision of watching the woman he loves die, giving her the drugs and orphaning his children, or splitting the drugs with her ensuring only that they both die slowly. This is not the type of decision I could even begin to comprehend. It was after hearing this that I realized the true devastation of poverty. The people dying are not just numbers. They are human beings with dreams and hopes and loves. Locked inside the mind of a child dying in Africa may be the cure for cancer or the next great novel or the next great symphony. Only the world will never know it because extreme poverty ensures that they will never even have a chance. These were the realizations that led me to The ONE Campaign and Make Trade Fair. These were the realizations that made want to do whatever I could do, however I could do it, to help end the devastation of extreme poverty.”
-Scott, member of The ONE Campaign, Placentia, CA
Check back each day for the next two weeks for more ONE members’ stories. And if you haven’t already, send in your story
I know ONE members are working hard to help improve the lives of people in Africa. In thanks, we would like to share one of our songs with you.
My band mates and I are not your typical touring musicians. We met in a refugee camp in the Republic of Guinea, having escaped from the horror of the civil war in Sierra Leone. Using simple instruments we brought some joy to people in the camps who were facing very difficult situations. Now we are called Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars and we have been fortunate enough to have our music recorded for an album called Living Like A Refugee, which will soon be released in the United States.
Listen or download for free “Living Like a Refugee.”
I know from experience how important music is. I hope our song brings you joy.
“As a mother, I have always tried to teach by example. I have always been involved in my community and my church, especially enjoying teaching Sunday School. I read about a trip to Haiti and felt called to go. Teaching young children and again trying to teach by example, I felt Haiti was indeed my “neighbor” and it was simply what God tells us to do, love thy neighbor. I went with a group of 5 churches that first trip to a mountain village in Haiti to build a medical clinic. We not only built a medical clinic in several trips to Haiti, we built a bridge of love and friendship, a bridge of hope from a group of Americans to a tiny remote village in Haiti. The joy and fulfillment I found in Haiti is indescribable. The poverty level is painful and shocking, a country so very close to ours, our neighbor in desperate need of every kind of help. Thankfully, Haiti has begun to receive assistance and education for its huge AIDS crisis. I feel we have an obligation to share our wealth, our blessings, and quite frankly there is no greater joy than doing so.”
-Elisabeth, member of The ONE Campaign, Middlefield, CT
-Check back each day for the next two weeks for more ONE members’ stories. And if you haven’t already, send in your story.
A while back, a man posted a comment on this blog about natavillage.org the first ever blog out of a village in Botswana. The blog features youth groups, people living with AIDS, clinic staff, social workers and others. Nearly 40% of the people of Botswana, as the site reminds us, are HIV positive.
Check out the site’s video clips. Site administrators hope natavillage.org gives visitors “an inside look at an African village and see how people live on a day to day basis.”
The blog was recently appeared on the New York video blog (vlog) Rocketboom.com.
