August 20th, 2007 at 2:43 pm | posted by Porter McConnell, ONE Policy and Coalition Coordinator
Women’s empowerment has been getting a boost in a small village in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. The village of Awra Amba (”Top of the Hill”) was founded by 20 Muslim and Christian peasants in the 1980s and now has 400 residents and a growing fan club.
According to a piece in the Christian Science Monitor, the village is an experiment in egalitarianism in an otherwise traditional society, a community where education is emphasized, women are given three months maternity leave from work responsibilities, and men join the women in cooking and weaving, traditionally female activities. Awra Amba’s vision of women’s empowerment, the third UN Millennium Development Goal, has attracted increasing attention internationally:
“Government officials and members of parliament, sheikhs and priests, and local and foreign nongovernmental organization workers have made the trip via a rocky road only accessible with a four-wheel-drive vehicle to see the success for themselves.
“I was completely captivated by my visit to the community,” says Ambassador Tim Clarke, head of the European Union delegation to Ethiopia. “I regard it as the model for the world community on how gender issues should be treated. I have come across nothing else like it anywhere in Africa – and indeed the world. I am using it to inspire the work of my office here on gender mainstreaming and empowerment of women.”
August 20th, 2007 at 10:21 am | posted by Steve.Wilson
Think the epidemic of poverty and disease in Africa is just too huge to tackle? Think again.
Take a look at great news from Kenya the other day. During the past five years, child deaths from malaria were cut by more than 40 percent!
But what’s also astonishing is the way this result–which means millions of children saved–was achieved: by simply handing out mosquito nets. Kenya and international organizations gave out 13.5 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets, meaning that 52% of children in Kenya now sleep under nets, up from 5% in 2003.
When you hear the staggering figures (up to 2.7 million Africans die of malaria each year, 75 percent of them children, tens of millions suffer chronically from the disease) the problem can be overwhelming, too massive to relate.
But as the ONE Campaign is telling America’s leaders and the news from Kenya proves, there are effective and affordable solutions that we can take on right now that will literally mean the difference between life and death for the poorest people in the world. Yes, the problems are huge and ending them may sound like a dream. But when countries focus on proven solutions, like delivering mosquito nets, big things happen, like saving millions of children and ending a disease.
August 20th, 2007 at 9:32 am | posted by Virginia Simmons
The ONE Campaign concert team has been back out on the road the past few weeks, recruiting new ONE members and volunteers along the way!
We just launched our third summer on tour with the Dave Matthews Band. We kicked the tour off in Boston two weeks ago with a powerhouse crew of volunteers. Among those that joined us were Amy, who is one of the lead volunteers in the Boston area, and Wendy, a South African native who for some reason kept accidentally asking fans if they wanted to ‘help end world peace’. WE knew she meant world poverty, but the fans who stopped looked pretty confused! It worked though, once they stopped she explained what she MEANT to say and got them signed up and involved! In Philly we had Brit, Brent and Maria join us – Brit had just met us the week before at the Virgin Festival and brought her friend Brent along, and Maria was also a first time volunteer. In Pittsburgh we got to work with Brian, a lead volunteer for the area who comes out and helps at every show we do, and his team of great volunteers – they hold the record so far on the tour for the most sign ups, though we’re pretty sure our teams in Milwaukee and Florida are going to do their best to steal that title! We’ve already also been through Hartford and DC, and have gotten thousands of Dave fans involved with the campaign. We’ve got a good six weeks left of the tour ahead of us, and expect it to be even bigger and better than the last two years.
A twenty minute opportunity for presidential candidates to tell the crowded Iowa State Fair what they will do for our country. Rep. Duncan Hunter, Sen. John McCain, and Governor Bill Richardson were amongst the participants for the first week of the State Fair.
These candidates were hit with tough questions from ONE members about America’s role in eradicating TB and malaria and creating access to the medication needed for HIV/AIDS patients. All responded with different strong solutions. With each question ONE members asked the candidates, the crowd shouted cheers of support!
August 17th, 2007 at 10:03 am | posted by Elaine Van Cleave, Head of ONE Birmingham group, Birmingham, AL
Every time ONE members meet with US Representative Spencer Bachus (R-AL), we always start our meeting by thanking him for his leadership on global poverty issues. As an original co-sponsor of the Jubilee Act in 1999, Rep. Bachus was in on the ground floor and has worked tirelessly on debt relief issues alongside Bono/DATA and Bread for the World, both founding members of the ONE Campaign to Make Poverty History.
When Rep. Bachus first championed debt relief in Congress, his colleagues didn’t “get it”.
“People on both sides of the aisle told me there was no political upside to this,” Bachus said in an interview at the time. Now, those same skeptics see just how forward thinking he was – not only has debt cancellation reduced poverty, improved health care and education, but it has also decreased poor countries dependency on foreign aid. This year, Rep. Bachus, in a bi-partisan effort with Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), introduced the Jubilee Act of 2007 – legislation that will further extend debt cancellation to the world’s poorest countries without imposing harmful economic reforms.
Earlier this year, Rep. Bachus joined Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) to also introduce the Education for All Act. Rep. Bachus recognizes the importance of education in ending the cycle of poverty and further sees education as “an investment in international security.” “Young people who are reading books aren’t building bombs,” Bachus said in an interview with the Birmingham News. He added, “The US has always succeeded because of the strength of our ideas. We need to fill the vacuum with a message of hope, not hate, in these countries. We can’t play educator to the world, but we can certainly come closer than being the policeman to the world.”
We ended the meeting by briefing Rep. Bachus on both the Growth Act and the Child Survival Act. He enthusiastically received the information and felt confident that these were both measures he could support. He promised an answer within the week!
When ONE members asked how we could help him, Rep. Bachus pointed out that letters to the editor are very effective. A point well taken and often heeded. For example, when ONE members were unable to get an in-district meeting with our senators during the August recess to discuss the Farm Bill, we wrote letters to the editor of the Birmingham News publicly stating our position. Even without a face-to-face visit with our senators, local ONE Campaigners were able to effectively communicate our viewpoint.
Many thanks to Rep. Bachus for his continued leadership.
[People in picture are: John Derrick, Elaine VanCleave, Rep. Spencer Bachus, Suzanne Martin, Mark Connell]
August 17th, 2007 at 9:53 am | posted by Virginia Simmons
We cross-posted Tom’s last post on the Huffington Post yesterday. Below, he replies to some of the comments he received.
I appreciate the concerns raised about the budget impacts of conquering extreme poverty and global disease. But this relatively small investment can bring amazing returns. Take a look at malaria. Malaria is entirely preventable. A report out of Kenya just yesterday showed that, over the past five years, child deaths from malaria were cut by more than 40 percent. The Kenyans didn’t do anything drastic. They simply were able to buy mosquito netting to stop kids from being bitten. Those nets cost about $5 each. The price of a combo meal at McDonald’s is a pretty small price to save a life.
We have a tradition as Americans of leading the way to solve global problems. This next election is an opportunity to make sure that our next president is committed to this effort. Not only is this the right thing to do, it will make for a more stable world. Do that, and we have a more secure America at home.
August 16th, 2007 at 3:38 pm | posted by Weldon Kennedy
If, like me, you’re not in a presidential primary state, it might feel like politicians are no where to be found.
Not so.
Right now, it’s August recess and members of Congress are in there home districts, giving you the perfect chance to go meet with them and talk to them about extreme poverty. You don’t have to be an expert on the issues, the most important thing is really just going and letting them know that you care.
August 16th, 2007 at 2:43 pm | posted by Virginia Simmons
Today, ONE released a survey of 509 past Democratic Iowans likely to attend a Democratic presidential caucus.
Read through the full poll’s findings, plus our poll of NH Republican and Democratic voters, at one.org/polls.
Some highlights:
*More than nine in ten Iowa Democrats (93%) agree it is in keeping with the country’s values and history of compassion to lead an effort to solve some of the most serious problems facing the world’s poorest people. The ONE Poll–Iowa also found that more than eight in ten Democrats (86%) agree that reducing poverty, treating
preventable diseases and improving education in poor countries will help make the world safer and the United States more secure.
*When it comes to addressing these issues, more than eight in ten Democrats (82%) would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports reducing by half the number of the people who live in extreme global poverty and suffer from hunger.
*The poll found that 30% of Iowa caucus-goers favor John Edwards for president in 2008. Hillary Clinton is favored by 22% of Democrats, Barack Obama by 18% and Bill Richardson by 13%.
We’re currently conducting a poll of Republican Iowa voters and should have the results next week.
The Iowa ONE team headed up to Ames in the early morning on the 11th for one of the biggest Republican sponsored events of the year. The Ames Straw Poll is an all day event that brings together Republican presidential campaigns and the states most active voters face to face. The ONE campaign was a major sponsor of the event and had a booth alongside the presidential campaigns outside of Hilton Coliseum on the Iowa State University Campus. Throughout the day country music artist Rockie Lynne performed on behalf of ONE and talked to the crowd about the importance of the campaign.
ONE members had many interesting conversations with people who had done work through their church in places as diverse as western Africa or Brazil. One theme continually came up, while we champion countries that improve their economies those living in poverty are often forgotten.
Tens of thousands were on hand for the event but that didn’t stop Senator Sam Brownback from stopping by the ONE booth. He gave us a strong endorsement and talked about how helping people living in poverty is a moral issue for America. The senator gave us our first video clip which can be seen on YouTube.
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney also stopped by and thanked the volunteers for their hard work and dozens of campaign staff and volunteers came by to get bands, tote bags and water bottles.
The event was one of our most successful so far as we signed up almost 700 new supporters and educated thousands more.
The ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, volunteers, members and coalition partners.
The content of each post and each comment represent the views of that author and does not necessarily reflect the views of the ONE Campaign or ONE Action. ONE does not support or oppose any candidate for elected office, and any posts expressing support or opposition for a candidate is not endorsed by ONE.
