USA Today is featuring a story on Americans who find purpose fighting poverty in Africa. (Can’t think of anyone who fits that profile around these parts..;)
The continent’s infamous problems…provide an opportunity for Americans to do good when U.S. popularity is sagging just about everywhere else. “People feel there are obvious solutions” to what ails Africa, says Eric Hartman, who runs a program to introduce students to Africa. “It holds that attraction.”
…many American programs are paying off with declines in AIDS deaths and poverty rates. African governments also are doing more to encourage peace and economic development.
The piece goes onto highlight Rwanda’s transformation in particular. (ONE has a crew traveling through Rwanda right now to highlight effective American aid.)
Nowhere has the transformation been as dramatic as Rwanda, where in 1994 as many as 1 million people were killed in a horrific 100-day spree of ethnic violence.
The economy is still recovering — the average wage is less than $1 a day — but visitors to the capital, Kigali, are often shocked by the strides Rwanda has made. The airport is orderly and clean; the streets are safe to walk; and a tourism boom has led to several restaurants opening.
Also, a stat I’ve never heard before:
“On balance, though, Americans’ affection for Africa seems to be reciprocated. According to a Pew Global Attitudes Project survey of world opinion, nine of the 10 nations most favorable toward America are in Africa (the other is Israel). Residents of Kenya, Ghana and the Ivory Coast regard Americans more favorably than Americans do.”
How in the world can you take an economy in which over 50% of the population is under the poverty level, is landlocked, ranks somewhere around 160th out of 180 countries on the “Developmental Scale,” and even think about “making extreme poverty history?” as we in ONE like to say.
Answer: Establish viable, sustainable economic growth based on the resources that you have. And the resources that Rwanda naturally have are agriculture (even though it is the most densely populated country in Africa) and tourism (they showcase the upland or mountain gorilla, the magnificent cousins to the lowland gorillas—those whom I used to take care of in the National Zoo –– but more on that in a couple of days).
First, the ONE delegation went to see a fantastic partnership at a “Coffee Washing Station,” owned by the Alfred Nkubili. Our U.S. government, namely USAID, has partnered with the owner and manager to establish a coffee bean washing station. This station purchases coffee beans (“cherries” actually) from farmers (many peasant farmers) and then they process the bean through a washing cycle that separates the beans by quality. These beans become the specialty coffee beans that are sold to Starbucks and specialty coffee shops across America.
To accommodate the burgeoning specialty coffee market, these washing stations hire about 200 women to separate and process the beans. At these facilities, these women’s salaries are double to what they could make elsewhere. And a doubling of their salary means (more…)
Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle talks about the growth of Rwanda’s tourism industry and its inspirational impact on the country’s economy, culture, and citizens’ quality of life.
While on the bus traveling between locations in Rwanda, Cindy McCain reflects on the trip so far, noting the themes of forgiveness and the Rwandan women who are moving the country forward.
The first stop this morning was the Kigali Genocide Memorial Center. John Podesta and I laid a wreath at the mass grave site of the genocide victims. I had the opportunity to do this last year when I was in Rwanda with Samaritan’s Purse, Scott Hughett, and my wife, Karyn (who is at home now recuperating from back surgery). The site and the service in which we participated are a moving, memorial remembrance of the million people who died over those 100 days of genocide. (It is so hard to comprehend). Each member of our delegation laid a single rose alongside the wreath, one by one, as we each paid our respects. Beneath that wreath lay a mass grave, one of many at the site, containing the partial remains of over 5,000 individuals from the Kigali region.
It was remarkable that the memorial was designed to tell the story a mere four years after the genocide occurred, (more…)
ONE Vote ’08 Co-Chairs and former senate leaders Bill Frist and Tom Daschle talk about what they’ve seen and learned so far and what message they want to pass along when they return to the States later this week.
Senators Daschle and Frist, Mike Huckabee, John Podesta, John Kasich, Susan McCue, David Lane and Cindy McCain attended the Saint John the Baptist Cathedral in Rwanda yesterday during their ongoing trip to see life-saving U.S. aid at work.
Below, a short video clip from Mike Huckabee talking about the role of faith in the fight against global poverty.
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.
