John Cooper, ONE member and lead singer of the band Skillet, took time from touring to record a video message urging their fans, the Panheads, and the rest of us to sign ONE’s Horn of Africa petition. Moved by the more than 29,000 children who have died from the famine, Skillet got to work quickly, spreading the word about the petition through Facebook, Twitter and more. Thank you, Skillet!
There’s a not to miss story in today’s Washington Post on keeping promises and meeting commitments. In 2005, the same year G7 governments made commitments to Africa at Gleneagles, the band Jars of Clay and the organization they founded, Blood: Water Mission set a goal and promised they would help provide clean water for people living in 1,000 communities in sub-Saharan Africa.
Not all the 2005 goals have been met. But, Jars and BWM have now met their goal and kept their promise. Read all about it here.
Here’s an excerpt:
Over five years, they ended up raising nearly $7 million for water and sanitation projects as well as hygiene training, and they made multiple trips to Africa to see the progress firsthand.
What they found is that life with clean, accessible water is much different. Women and children no longer have to walk miles a day to draw water from a dirty source or deal with the stomach aches, skin diseases and diarrhea that comes with it.
Keyboardist Charlie Lowell described one woman who proudly showed off her smooth hands, saying they used to be dry and shriveled, but now she feels like a woman again.
“It is about health, and it is about sanitation and clean water, but just under that there’s this human dignity piece,” Lowell said.
The band members emphasize that water projects are all led by locals, usually the women, who decide what type of water source their village needs and how to implement it.
To raise money, the band relies largely on creative grass roots efforts.
“It’s community driven in the U.S. as much as it’s community driven in Africa,” Haseltine said.
It has been a good October for David Beckmann, head of Bread for the World (and my former boss) personally, and for we anti-hunger advocates generally. Last week, David — anti-hunger activist, Lutheran pastor and president of Bread for the World — received the 2010 World Food Prize (the Nobel Prize equivalent for food and agriculture) at a ceremony in Des Moines, Iowa, earlier this month.
October saw the launch of David’s latest book as well. In the new book, “Exodus from Hunger: We Are Called to Change the Politics of Hunger,” David argues that we can end world hunger in our lifetime. He makes an passionate plea for all ordinary citizens, especially people of faith, around the country and the world, to muster up the political will to end global hunger.
David combines an optimism born from faith and a down-in-the trenches approach to ending hunger. Since he’s a pastor and an economist, his combing of the two comes as no surprise. The pastor sees people moving out of poverty as part of “God moving in our time.” At the same moment, the former World Bank economist sees the economy as crucial. David relates that we “can moderate what the economy is doing to hungry and poor people and set the stage for rapid gains against hunger and poverty once the economy recovers. In fact, I think God is calling us to change the politics of hunger.”
Congratulations to David on the prize and the book. Head over to his website to find out more about the book and get your own copy.
A week ago, Des Moines, Iowa sat at the center of the advocacy and development world’s efforts. Over a thousand leaders from around the planet gathered to advocate for, learn about and honor the efforts to combat hunger, end malnutrition and spread sustainable agriculture for the 24th annual World Food Prize.
Initiated by Norman Borlaug and supported by the Ruan company and others, the World Food Prize is the “Nobel” of food and hunger — and an entire week full of events has sprung up around the prize. Here are a few of the moments that stand out from the events I was able to take part during a packed week.
The Iowa Hunger Summit begins the week. Iowans gather to learn and act on hunger issues in the Hawkeye State, in the U.S. and around the world. Former Ambassador and Ohio Congressman Tony Hall gave the keynote remarks. For ONE members, his words about engaging elected officials stood out. The midterm elections “will make a decisive impact on progress on hunger,” said Amb. Hall. Referring to our engagement with candidates and elected officials, Tony said “put them on the spot, in a nice way.” If we do not bring issues like hunger to their attention, they will think that “it must not be important.”
The ONE panel discussion was a terrific part of the Hunger Summit. Led by U.S. Executive Director Sheila Nix, the speakers included Karey Claghorn, Iowa Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, Richard Mkandawire of Africa Union/NEPAD, and Julie Howard of the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa. Secretary Claghorn described how passionate Iowans are about alleviating hunger. Mr. Mkandawire was clear that donor countries like the U.S. are becoming responsive to African voices that are charting the course of agricultural development. Ms. Howard called us to really get behind research based advocacy so that we focus on what works.
This year’s WFP laureates are Jo Luck, who leads Heifer Inernational, and David Beckmann, the head of Bread for the World. Both organizations are ONE partners. And both Jo and David played key roles in ONE’s launch and development. Congratulations to both! This is the first time that grassroots advocacy and direct help have been honored with the prize. In her remarks, Jo Luck related that Heifer “lives the success” of agriculture development. David Beckmann called what Bread and other advocates do as creating “organized give a damns.”
The WFP included some really great keynotes. Jeff Raikes, the CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, commented about the need to “tell the story in front of the numbers.” Because that leads to the easing of hunger, provides livelihoods and allows parents have the means to send their children to school. This was particularly striking to me as ONE embarks on our Living Proof campaign. Two comments from Howie Buffett’s keynote stand out to me: “Markets are the key to moving farmers out of poverty, to the economy and into the economy” and “You cannot create long term productive positive change without good, clear policies.
World Food Prize week had a whole lot more to it than what I’ve mentioned here here. Check out the other posts on the WFP on the ONE blog and visit the WFP site for more.
ONE supporter and member Tai Anderson of Third Day was caught on the Red Carpet during last night’s Grammy’s in Los Angeles. (Third Day won for Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album!). Check out Tai’s comments in the video interview here.
Tai closes with “music can change your life and help you change the world.” We know that’s true.
As you may have already heard, a catastrophic 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti several hours ago. While many details about the situation on the ground are still developing, CNN reports that the US State Department has been told to expect a serious loss of life. Below is a round-up of statements and updates from our friends and partners. You can also read these statements from President Obama and Secretary Clinton.
CARE is attempting to contact our country office in Haiti and assess the humanitarian situation following a 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck near the impoverished nation’s capital city. Initial reports indicate the disaster could be a major catastrophe.
A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck a region about 14 miles from Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince, according to media reports. World Vision staff members are assessing the situation and determining a potential emergency response.
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer interviews a World Vision official:
WESTPORT, Conn. (Jan. 12, 2010) — Save the Children is verifying the safety of staff just hours after a major 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, near the capital city of Port-au-Prince.
Houses are down in the area surrounding the Save the Children office, which was also damaged in the quake, according to Ian Rodgers, the agency’s Emergency Response Advisor, who is currently in Port-au-Prince.
An estimated 1.8 million residents were violently shaken by the earthquake and aftershocks affecting the densely populated areas near Port-au-Prince.
Save the Children has worked in Haiti since 1985, primarily in the capital city of Port-au-Prince and the Central Plateau region, providing health, education, protection and food security programs to vulnerable children.
Right now, Save the Children is assessing staff and program safety, which will be complicated by the onset of evening. Employees who were in the office at the time are uninjured, though about half of program staff were elsewhere. The agency plans to deploy emergency teams and begin relief efforts soon.
I’ve been on the phone for most of the last three hours figuring out the best way we can respond to the news in Haiti.
A 7.0-magnitude earthquake has toppled buildings, including at least one hospital, and we assume there are significant casualties (the news has been slow to trickle out).
We do not currently have staff in Haiti, but we do have extensive experience responding to earthquakes — most recently in Padang, Indonesia last September. My colleagues and I have been canvassing our own emergency operations team as well as veteran relief workers from throughout the agency to determine the most qualified and immediately deployable staff.
We will begin deploying our team tomorrow and working now to line up resources to respond.
Singer/song writer extraordinaire Sara Groves released the second video for her new disc “Fireflies and Songs.” In the video for the song “Twice as Good” Troy Groves appears throughout wearing his ONE Edun shirt.
Sara has long had a heart for Africa, traveling to Rwanda in 2005 and 2009. She sponsored a child from Gisanga, Rwanda through Food for the Hungry. She actively supports the human rights agency International Justice Mission. Both Food for the Hungry and IJM are ONE Partners.
The video for “Twice as Good” comes out of her time in Rwanda as well. Sara relates about the song:
In Rwanda they say, “You better have four good friends,” because the ambulance in Rwanda is a cot carried by four men. So if you get hurt, you better have four friends that are willing to forego a day’s wages and usually help pitch in on your medical costs. I brought back statuettes, which represent that from Rwanda for each of my ‘go-to’ girlfriends. We each have one in our home. Often, one of us will say, “It’s my turn in the cot.” Christa Wells, an amazing singer/songwriter from NC, came up with the line ‘half as hard and twice as good’ and I kind of built the song around that.
Check out the video:
Many thanks to Sara, Troy and the entire band!
P.S. If you want to see and hear more, check out this video for the Sara’s song “I Saw What I Saw” inspired by her time in Rwanda.
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.
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