The ONE Vote ’08, South Carolina, Staff finally had an opportunity to meet with presidential hopeful, Governor Mitt Romney. He came to Columbia, SC, to host an open forum event.
We were not afforded an opportunity to ask a question publicly. However, after the event we were able to catch up with the governor. We thanked him for his kind words towards our Campaign across the country.
He responded, “Ah, yes, the ONE Campaign. Great group.”
We also were able to get a photo with Governor Romney. We told him we look forward to his next visit to South Carolina and that he can expect to see us at his future SC stops.
We often use our voices to tell our elected officials to support anti-global poverty legislation that is months or even years in the making. But today is different. Today we can take action on a critical international situation ripped from the headlines.
As the Financial Times reports:
The International Monetary Fund faced harsh criticism on Thursday for failing to meet its commitment to write off $800m in debt owed by Liberia, as Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the country’s leader, met US president George W. Bush in Washington.
Forgiveness of the old debt would allow the IMF to issue new development loans.
Correspondents say it is widely agreed that Liberia’s arrears should be paid off, but there is still some wrangling about the financial details.
This broken promise of debt relief threatens the future of Liberia, a country struggling to make democracy work after a bloody civil war, and lift its people out of poverty.
Today, Liberia is on the right path. In 2006, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf became the first African woman to be elected a head of state. She is an expert on development—she worked for the World Bank and UN Development Program—and on Liberia’s recent troubled history, having been jailed twice and driven into exile for opposing a repressive government.
Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain came to Columbia, South Carolina, on Wednesday. On this day, the SC ONE Vote ’08 Team also had a very special guest, Agnes Nyamayarwo.
Agnes traveled from Uganda to visit with our team and to make special appearances across the state promoting ONE and also giving great thanks to the people of America for the aid her country has already received.
Agnes is also an HIV/AIDS patient. Her experience living with the deadly virus and her enthusiasm for ONE provided a perfect opportunity for the South Carolina Staff to engage a candidate about our issues. Senator McCain gladly accepted an interview with Agnes.
She thanked him for what he has already accomplished in regards to the United States providing foreign aid to her country. Senator McCain replied, “Thank you for doing what you are doing. You are working with a great organization and you should be proud of what they are doing here”. As the interview ended we thanked the senator. He expressed his gratefulness for our mission and then departed. We look forward to meeting with him again in the near future.
Check this out, might be good for the blog. It’s a talk that Sachs gave on the Millennium Development Goals.
It’s pretty interesting, lots of good information. He reviews the last seven years since the MDGs were laid out and goes into what needs to happen if we are to meet them by 2015. I got it through an iTunes podcast (Uchannel) but anyone can listen to it or download it here:
Just before boarding the bus to their October 17 Global Day of Action Against Poverty event, the students at Brandeis decided to take a group shot – and it turned out just fantastic enough to win this week’s ONE Campus Challenge photo of the week.
Check out the 1,000-point photo and the competition it beat from Duke, Rutgers and and Campbellsville University.
Barack Obama was in Las Vegas last week to hold a rally and give a foreign policy speech at Cheyenne High School.
Pastor Adam Phillips from Chicago and Lawrence Temfwe from Zambia happened to be in town for a luncheon we held earlier in the day with leaders from the faith community. They were able to meet with Senator Obama prior to his speech and afterwards they were called upon to ask a question:
Even in New Hampshire it can be a tough job to get a few minutes to speak with the candidates. It is a lot tougher to get those few moments on tape.
But when there is a tough job, you send in the marines, and that is just what Michael Castaldo did this weekend on behalf of the poorest people in the world.
Right now, some of the world's biggest oil companies are fighting to keep some of their deals with foreign governments secret. Let's tell big oil we won't be bullied.
Cuts to poverty-fighting programs won't balance the budget, but they will set back progress on Canada's development priorities and risk jeopardizing existing investments.
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.
