Wednesday, Bono met with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, asking him to continue Japan’s efforts to help the developing world.
Bono’s remarks after the meeting:
“I found Prime Minister Abe to be a very warm man, very interested in these issues. I was surprised that he gave me twice the time allocated to the meeting to talk about AIDS and extreme poverty.”
“We are coming up to World AIDS Day on Friday. This is a great chance to talk about the fact that the Global Fund was given birth to here in Japan at the Okinawa G8 Summit in 2000. I told Prime Minister Abe this is one of the greatest ideas of the 21st century. There are now over half a million people alive in the poorest countries because of this idea. A Japanese idea.”
“On tour, we’ve met a lot of young people looking for meaning in a meaningless world. They think it’s mad that 8,000 people are dying a day of AIDS, a preventable, treatable disease, that 5,000 people are dying a day, mainly children, of a mosquito bite from malaria. In Japan they have a word for their reply to this madness, it’s ‘hottokenai’.”
“Under the previous Prime Minister, Mr Koizumi, Japan promised to double aid to Africa. Prime Minister Abe said he would do everything he can to keep this promise, despite the real economic difficulties he faces. We talked about the G8 meeting in Japan in 2008 and how this is an opportunity to show the rest of the world what Japan stands for.”
Susan McCue, Cheif of Staff for incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), is joining the ONE Campaign as our new Chief Executive Officer. Highly admired on both sides of the aisle, Susan brings tremendous experience creating change within the highest levels of government.
As ONE Board Member and Republican strategist Jack Oliver put it: “Susan has made getting results her calling card on Capitol Hill and now she’ll bring that experience to building a historic and bipartisan campaign. The ONE Campaign, and the fight against global AIDS and extreme poverty, has gained an incredible leader and advocate.”
We charge into 2007 ambitious, hopeful and strong. Welcome Susan. We’re thrilled to have you on board.
As we approach World AIDS Day on Friday, December 1, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s remarkable op-ed in today’s USA Today urges leadership and commitment in conquering “the greatest challenge of our generation.”
“As I made HIV/AIDS a priority in my work as secretary-general, I called for the creation of a “war chest” of an additional $7 billion to $10 billion a year. Today, I am deeply proud to be patron of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which has channeled almost $3 billion to programs across the globe. Recently, we have seen significant additional funding from bilateral donors, national treasuries, civil society and other sources. But much more is needed; by 2010, total needs for a comprehensive AIDS response will exceed $20 billion a year.
Because the response has started to gain real momentum, the stakes are higher now than ever. We cannot risk letting the advances that have been achieved unravel; we must not jeopardize the heroic efforts of so many. The challenge now is to deliver on all the promises that governments have made. Leaders must hold themselves accountable — and be held accountable by all of us.”
Outside of my work as a Field Coordinator at ONE, I have been involved in an organization called the Gwaimen Center, a community project in Kwoi, Nigeria to support widows and orphans. The Center provides basic necessities, education, vocational training, and a clinic, so that the widows and orphans can grow to support themselves and their community.
I first visited Kwoi, Nigeria, in April. This Thanksgiving, I returned for the groundbreaking of the Center. I had such a good time. I’m not sure I’ve found the words yet to describe. The groundbreaking was so amazing – the whole community came together – from city folk to political leaders to all sorts of people from the community.
In April when I went to Kwoi, I spent a lot of time with a little girl who is an orphan. She captured my attention – and was listless and clearly malnourished with a distended belly. She just sat there with this serious look on her face.
This time around, I almost didn’t recognize her. She looked years older, was ridiculously cute, and was running around doing cartwheels. It was totally amazing. I couldn’t believe it.
It’s incredible to see what three healthy meals a day can do. A little really can go a long way.
I came back to work at ONE exhausted, but renewed in my commitment to fight global poverty and AIDS. In the midst of a crisis beyond my comprehension, there is an opportunity to do something, as individuals, and as a nation. We can partner with efforts like this around the world and we can make poverty history.
ONE and DATA sent a small team to Mali to follow the marathoners of “Running The Sahara.” Below is their final update.
“We are now on the Mauritania border and the runners have crossed into
Mali, no worse for the wear. Other then a few foot blisters, the guys
look great. They are now maybe a quarter of the way into their trek
across the Sahara.
This morning the runners toured a local village’s well to learn more
about the importance of water in this region. It was one of the more
ingenious operations I’ve ever seen, as large goat skin buckets pulled
the water up more than 300 feet out of the ground using long ropes
attached to moving camels. The water then went into a large holding tank
that funneled it out to the awaiting livestock.
The villagers were happy to show us their well and explained to the
runners that it had been dug by hand more then five years ago and was
the lifeline to the community. We shot a video webisode of the tour that
you can watch below.
It’s been an amazing week here in Mali but alas we head back home
tomorrow to our awaiting families. We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about
some of these important issues and viewing Mali through our lens. It’s
an incredible country that, although beset by real and life-threatening
problems, continues to amaze me with their perseverance and fortitude.
You can continue to follow the runners’ expedition across Africa by
going to www.runningthesahara.com.
San Francisco singer-songwriter Samantha Stollenwerck is showing her support for the ONE Campaign by donating her song, “Japanese Single,” to ONE members this week.
“I used to volunteer at the Richard M. Cohen Residence, San Francisco’s
only state licensed residential AIDS care facility for formerly
homeless men and women in a non-institutional setting, and had the
opportunity to meet and connect with people who had been living on the
streets with AIDS.
I grew up, alongside the rest of my generation, being educated about
AIDS and HIV in school and through the media. It is one thing being
educated about the disease, but to actually be close to people who
suffer with AIDS in their daily lives takes it to a new level of
reality. It is something that we face together, as a world, and it is
an important part of our lives and our children’s future. The only way
to make change is by coming together, and I am in full support of the
ONE Campaign’s mission to make a difference.”
“OF ALL THE free-trade pacts signed by the United States over the last decade, perhaps none is as uncontroversial as the African Growth and Opportunity Act. Providing duty-free access to exporters in sub-Saharan Africa threatens few if any American jobs while spurring industry in some of the poorest countries in the world. Yet a vital provision of the act is set to expire, and, for the moment, Congress appears more interested in political gamesmanship than in making a painless decision to help some of the world’s neediest people.”
Back in September, 150,000 ONE members sent letters to Congress to renew the “third country fabric provision” of AGOA. (See the text of the letter below.)
This provision is critical to the African apparel industry and a clear way to help promote trade in the world’s poorest countries. Although the provision doesn’t expire until September 2007, clothing manufacturers must place orders several months in advance. Soon they will begin to pull long-term orders, as some factories may not exist in a year.
As we tread into this new political climate in Washington, it’s vital that Congress work together to combat global poverty. Renewing the “third country fabric provision” should top the lists of both Democrats and Republicans.
Here is the text of the letter:
Dear Member of Congress,
In 2000, the creation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) created new trading relationships between the United States and African countries. As a result of AGOA, African businesses have grown and developed, particularly in the apparel sector, and new factories have sprung up in several African countries. But, one of the special rules for apparel that has created these opportunities and employment for thousands of Africans is about to expire. As your constituent and a member of the ONE Campaign, I ask that urgent action be taken to save these jobs in apparel factories created by AGOA which have helped so many impoverished families lift themselves out of poverty.
New clothing factories in Africa rely on a special apparel rule called the “third country fabric provision”. This rule allows for the use of fabric from anywhere in the world to produce apparel that can enter the U.S. market duty-free. The “third country fabric provision” has created tens of thousands of jobs in Africa, and enabled new factories to open up in communities where employment is scarce.
In 2004, Congress was once again serious about helping Africans help themselves by passing an extension of this essential provision. Unless Congress acts this year, apparel companies will stop placing orders in these factories, damaging one of the continent’s new industries and putting in jeopardy one of the most successful U.S. economic initiatives toward Africa. Employment in apparel factories provides a means for Africans to earn income, feed their families, pay for health care and school fees, and lift themselves and their families out of poverty. But if the special apparel provisions of AGOA are allowed to expire, these jobs and opportunities will be lost.
The ONE Campaign, a broad coalition of millions of Americans, is mobilizing to ask Congress to continue this AGOA success story. I strongly urge you to support this extension at the earliest opportunity and continue the AGOA third country fabric provision so that Africans can have the opportunity to earn steady incomes and break the vicious cycle of poverty.
Let’s not take away the opportunity that AGOA has created for Africans to earn a living, educate and feed their families and lead fuller, healthier lives.
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
