As New Hampshire voters head to the ballot boxes today, I am reflecting with Iowa volunteers about their experience caucusing for ONE last week. We asked members to stand up on caucus night, while the whole country was watching, to show support for life-saving programs in the poorest parts of the world. Watch our slideshow of photos from the event, and read what some of our volunteers had to say:
“The fight against poverty really hits home for me being that I come from a lower income family I can relate to this issue. But even on a deeper level I can appreciate the fight more since I had the chance to see it for myself firsthand.
During my service in the US Navy I was deployed to Senegal and saw how some of the people in even that modernized area had to live, and my heart went out to them. We were unable to drink the local water because it was contaminated.
Also while there, I became ill with malaria. To the locals it was an everyday occurrence but for me, it was life-threatening. I contracted the worst strand and stayed in the hospital for four days then flown to the Naval base in Rota. As a descendant of an African tribe, as a woman and as someone who truly cares, I hope that all the work ONE is doing will bring the much-needed medicines for the malaria and AIDS patients. God bless” -Shanna
On New Year’s Day I boarded a plane at DFW International Airport destined for the fertile plains of Iowa in order to help bring the message of the ONE Campaign to the Caucus goers in the area surrounding Des Moines, Iowa. Little did I realize that I would have the time of my life advocating for the Living Proof solutions found in only 1 percent of the federal budget.
Mark Bowden, UN resident and humanitarian coordinator and UNDP resident representative for Somalia, says that ongoing support is necessary to help beat the famine in the Horn of Africa. This piece was originally published on UNDP’s blog.
Women await assistance at a feeding site in Mogadishu. Approximately 100,000 people are benefiting from cooked meals on a daily basis in Mogadishu. Source: WFP/David Orr
The arrival of the prolonged seasonal rains, coupled with a scaling up of humanitarian and early recovery operations in recent months, has improved the situation on the ground in southern Somalia, with three regions -– Bay, Bakool and Lower Shabelle — being downgraded from famine status to that of humanitarian emergency.
In case you haven’t heard, a prominent group of US political consultants are on a trip to Kenya and Tanzania with ONE. Why? So they can see just how much has been accomplished in health and development in Africa for themselves. We were particularly proud to see that Republican strategist Rich Galen — one of the members of the group — wrote a column about his first experiences in Nairobi on his website, Mullings.
After visiting several Kenyan projects that have benefited from US funding, Mr. Galen wrote:
“At a time when State budgets and the Federal budget are being squeezed through fine fiscal strainers looking for any available dollars, we should take great care before we reduce or eliminate programs which are doing what they were designed to do, within the budgets they were granted, and for which America and Americans are getting due credit.”
ONE is taking a group of bipartisan politicos on a trip to Kenya and Tanzania to show them just how much has been accomplished in health and development in Africa –- and the challenges that still lie ahead. Republican strategist Rich Galen recounts his first day at a SIDAREC center in Nairobi.
After a working lunch — which included a briefing on what we would be doing and seeing over the next couple of days — and some housekeeping items (don’t forget, we’re leaving the hotel at 0700 Monday morning!), we loaded up the bus and headed off to Kibera, which has the unfortunate distinction of being one of the largest slums on the African Continent. Some estimates have as many as a million people living in the tin huts and worn canvas tents of Kibera.
Issa Abdulah, a member of SIDAREC, washes a van at their car wash in Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya
The visit was to an NGO called the Slums Information and Resource Centers (SIDAREC). While the acronym might be somewhat awkward, the work they are doing is most certainly not. SIDAREC, which operates in three Nairobi slums, was the recipient of the 2009 ONE Award, which has allowed them to expand their operations.
Two nights ago, American University’s Kennedy Political Union hosted a town hall of sorts for the new “young guns” in town — Rep. Paul Ryan, Rep. Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Eric Cantor — to discuss the upcoming Congress, answer questions from students, and sign copies of their new book, Young Guns. These three Republican public officials will have important roles in the next Congress.
Lauren Conn of ONE and I were able to chat with each of them about ONE and responsible, accountable and proven efforts of our country to fight extreme poverty and global disease.
Deidree with Rep. Ryan and Rep. McCarthy
Last week, Rep. Eric Cantor met with a dozen ONE members from Virginia who were thrilled to have the opportunity to speak with him about ONE’s international life-saving issues. And last night, we were able to give him a copy of the group photo from that day. He told us, “It was a good exchange. Look forward to working with you all!”
Rep. Ryan immediately recognized our ONE shirts, too. As I started to ask that he and Rep. McCarthy, remember the world’s poorest people in the next Congress, he told me “Function 150, I know!” with a laugh and a smile.
As a ONE member, I am grateful for President Bush’s leadership, and his work with both Republicans and Democrats, in efforts to save millions of lives in Africa through PEPFAR and other life-saving programs. I hope the leaders I met last night will continue the legacy of making a better and safer world by fighting extreme poverty and global disease in the poorest places in Africa. No matter who you are, no matter where you come from, everyone should live in a world where children are born free of HIV.
As you know, Election Day was yesterday, and we saw many changes in our government. We witnessed the House of Representatives change from Democratic to Republican control with a net win of 60 Republican seats.* The Congress also has a smaller Democratic majority in the Senate with Republican pick ups in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Arkansas and Pennsylvania. We are still waiting for the results of Senate races in Alaska, Colorado and Washington State. Regardless of the outcomes in those races, when Congress returns for the 112th Congress, the government will be divided by party.
ONE Vote 2010 organizers attended the victory parties last night, congratulating the senator elects and letting them know that we look forward to working with them on our issues in Washington. Because of the work that our members, volunteers and organizers did over the last four months on the campaign trail, ONE has created solid relationships with many incoming senators in the new Congress. We have always worked in a bipartisan manner, and the upcoming Congress will be no different. We welcome the new representatives and senators and look forward to working with them to make sure that the world’s poorest people have a voice in Congress.
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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