“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

“I just finished my first caucus! I feel so good to be doing something for ONE! I am a wife, a mother of four, and preschool teacher from small town Iowa. Peace and justice for everyone have always meant a lot to me. I was very active in college, but since then I haven’t done much to help move these issues forward. I had all this pent up energy to help and no outlet, until I found ONE. I would never imagine myself going to a caucus, could never imagine myself being involved in politics other than voting (just the thought was scary!!) Now, a few days later I can’t wait to do it again!” -Jenn Bergerson

“This was my very first caucus and I was completely clueless about what to expect from it. Now looking back at it, it was a lot of fun. To be able to spread something good and let others know about such a great organization was such an accomplishment. I would certainly do it again in a heartbeat!” -Nicole Mooc, high school student

“I had a great time! My daughter wore the ONE hoodie, and has worn it every day since! Caucusing for ONE is important to me because ONE these programs add stability to our world… and for national security purposes, this is extremely important!!!!” -Senator Joni Ernst, Major in the Iowa Army National Guard, ONE Vote 2012 Ambassador

“As a Catholic, I am called to share my time, talent and treasure with my neighbor. In doing so, I am not simply serving my neighbor, but God. ‘Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ [Matthew 25:40] The ability to help our brothers and sisters is easy –- all you need is your voice!” -April Young

“I left the caucus feeling grateful to live in a country where everyone has a voice. I have influence and I can make a difference! How many women across this earth would be able to do what I just did: Drive to a local school, walk in wearing my ONE shirt, sign in, and be equally counted with every other person who cared enough to show up and cast a vote to help select the nominee for president of my country.” -Teresa Dunbar

“I believe America is not just another country and we are called to do great things to protect human, dignity and life. Saving lives and aiding those in extreme poverty is our moral obligation. Please listen to your ONE volunteer and allow this plank to be added to the two party platforms.” -Dawn Pettengill

In addition to the hundreds of volunteers who caucused for ONE on Jan 3rd, many of us were also talking to the candidates in person as they crisscrossed the state. In fact, Iowa ONE members have been busy for months talking to the candidates, campaigns and party leaders on both sides about smart programs that are saving lives and asking for commitments in the fight against extreme poverty. I am so proud of our collective efforts and can’t thank our members enough for their support during a very exciting but busy year in Iowa!

The work for ONE began immediately when I landed, when Libby Crimmings, ONE’s Midwest Regional Field Director, whisked me away to an event at the Iowa Historical Building, which rests in the shadow of Iowa’s impressive State Capitol. Afterwards, the frenzy never stopped. Field Directors from the Western part of the country flew into Iowa, as well as ONE Vote 2012 Project Director, Sarah Huckabee Sanders. The ONE Field Team quickly got to work organizing ways to put the ONE message out at GOP candidates’ events, as well trying to intercept the candidates to ask for support of foreign aid programs that are directly impacting the lives of millions of people around the world. The pace at which we moved amazed even me, and we began to have huge successes.

Whether it was having ONE’s logo placed in almost every shot on Tuesday’s MSNBC’s Morning Joe, or intercepting Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal for his first introduction to ONE’s message; this Texan was running around Iowa getting work done. Yet, the most memorable moment for me was Caucus night.

I was placed with Bruceanne Phillips, Iowa ONE member, and Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the Waukee, Iowa Caucus site to give free coffee to the Caucus goers, and to inform curious Iowans as to who and/or what ONE does to help the poorest in the world. As we were giving coffee to early attendees, Texas’ Governor Rick Perry arrived at the Caucus site. Being from Texas it was a nice turn of events to be at the Caucus site that Governor Perry chose as the Caucus he would attend, and use to lobby for himself. As Governor Perry worked through the thin early crowd, I was able to intercept the Governor. Excited to have one of his constituents at the Caucus, Governor Perry was very receptive to hearing about ONE, at which Governor playfully slapped the ONE logo on my chest and said, “You full of all sorts of good stuff.” Unfortunately, there is no picture of this exchange, but it’s a memory that will hardly fade.

All in all, ONE’s Field Team had a very successful Iowa Caucus in 2012. ONE’s message was well received, ONE’s platform had little trouble passing the precinct voting process, and ONE’s logo was plastered all over a nationally syndicated morning news show for all of America to see. Iowa was very good to this Texan and to ONE.

-Joe Shehan, Field Organizer, Texas 12th District

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.

This progress brings some hope. But the hard-won gains are still extremely fragile. Without ongoing assistance, they could be reversed.

Four million people remain in crisis in Somalia. Of these, 250,000 are at risk of dying. A further one million Somalis are living in refugee camps in neighbouring countries.

Fortunately, the humanitarian and development communities continue to show their commitment to responding to the crisis and improving the lives of Somali men, women and children.

Yet we still face significant challenges, as demonstrated by the recent ban by the Al Shabaab group, of six UN agencies and 10 non-governmental organizations working in southern Somalia.

The progress we have made must be sustained, and we must be prepared for the long haul.

International support must continue at the same –- or even an increased -– level throughout 2012. This week, we launched the Consolidated Appeal Process which outlines the planned humanitarian assistance program in Somalia for 2012.

The program aims to reduce malnutrition rates, prevent further internal and international displacement, and assist people who are already on the move or stranded. It includes 349 projects from 148 organizations, including NGOs and the UN, and is seeking $1.5 billion to respond to the most urgent life-saving needs of Somalis in crisis.

Resilience is a key theme within the 2012 CAP, under which the UN Development Programme will be strongly engaged with specific initiatives to reduce dependency on humanitarian assistance and ensure households can withstand future shocks.

UNDP will also continue its work in the areas of emergency income generation and infrastructure rebuilding through cash for work initiatives.

Through our support to the establishment of rule of law, UNDP will support activities focused on the protection of vulnerable groups, particularly in the capital, Mogadishu, where cases of sexual and gender-based violence have been increasing.

There will always be challenges to the provision of assistance to Somalia, and 2012 will be no exception. But Somalia cannot be allowed to fall off the international humanitarian and development agenda at this crucial time.

-Mark Bowden, UN Resident & Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative for Somalia

Follow the UN in Somalia on Facebook.

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.”

Read the rest of his column here and be sure to read his recent blog post on the ONE Blog.

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.

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.

We got a background talk on the work SIDAREC is doing, largely with children:

They set up youth groups in the slums (Kibera is one of three in which they work in Nairobi). In Kibera, the club is called Zulu. Members of Zulu do the following:

- They collect trash in the 13 villages in Kibera and run a recycling center at which young people can work and earn money to help fund Zulu projects.

- They run a youth football (soccer) team to help maintain a sense of fun and community

- They run a car wash which, on a nice day, will see 15 to 18 cars at 200 Kenyan Shillings (about $2.50 USD). The young men who do the work split the money, except for 160 kshs ($2) goes to SIDAREC to help build the organization.

When I first heard we were visiting a car wash, I pictured in my mind an American car wash with those waving pieces of cloth, and different colored soaps being delivered by high-pressure streams of water.

Suffice to say, this was all hand washing, and the high-pressure water delivery was a large yellow bucket dipped into a well dug just off the side of the roadway.

What was amazing to me was that this was a group of people who were willing to devote their lives to improving the lives of others –- not by building huge infrastructures, but by sending 30 children at a time to kindergarten; bringing in the Internet to eight teenagers at a time; having six or seven older teenagers at a time wash cars; and eleven children at a time on a soccer pitch.

We were all moved by the dedication and devotion of SIDAREC.

-Rich Galen, Republican strategist

]]> http://www.one.org/blog/2011/01/11/improving-lives-one-child-at-a-time/feed/ 0 http://www.one.org/blog/2010/12/01/get-ready-the-new-young-guns-are-in-town/ http://www.one.org/blog/2010/12/01/get-ready-the-new-young-guns-are-in-town/#comments Wed, 01 Dec 2010 18:01:51 +0000 Field http://one.org/blog/?p=23489 Read More »]]>

Deidree with Rep. Cantor

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.

-Deidree Bennett

]]> http://www.one.org/blog/2010/12/01/get-ready-the-new-young-guns-are-in-town/feed/ 1 http://www.one.org/blog/2010/11/03/welcome-new-senators-and-representatives-to-the-112th-congress/ http://www.one.org/blog/2010/11/03/welcome-new-senators-and-representatives-to-the-112th-congress/#comments Wed, 03 Nov 2010 21:15:14 +0000 Kim Zimmerman http://one.org/blog/?p=22287 Read More »]]>

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.

*13 House races have not yet been called.

]]> http://www.one.org/blog/2010/11/03/welcome-new-senators-and-representatives-to-the-112th-congress/feed/ 2 http://www.one.org/blog/2010/11/02/sen-shaheen-and-pres-clinton-in-new-hampshire/ http://www.one.org/blog/2010/11/02/sen-shaheen-and-pres-clinton-in-new-hampshire/#comments Tue, 02 Nov 2010 21:47:56 +0000 Matthew Bartlett http://one.org/blog/?p=22257 Read More »]]> ONE is hitting the campaign trail to find out where candidates stand on extreme poverty. Stay tuned for more updates like these from our field team and organizers on the road.

As soon as we got into the gym at Nashua Community College in New Hampshire, we got right up to the front row of the general seating section — dead center — so that former President Bill Clinton could see our ONE shirts. After a few quick speeches, Pres. Clinton came out and started his speech by talking about the phone call he had with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the night before, and how she was visiting an AIDS orphanage in Cambodia that the Clinton Foundation had set up. He went on to talk about his own recent efforts in Haiti to help stop the deadly cholera outbreak.

Later on in his speech, he gave great credit to former President George W. Bush for starting PEPFAR, which he said was saving millions of lives around the world from HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. As ONE members, we were proud to hear him talk about America’s leading role in the fight against global disease and extreme poverty, and the bipartisan credit and support that he gave to PEPFAR.

After the event, Pres. Clinton took time to speak with people in the crowd. I thanked him for his personal work in Africa and in Haiti, and for the work of Sec. Clinton in poor countries around the world, and even for giving great credit to Pres. Bush for fighting AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa. I thanked him for all of his work, for giving credit where credit was due, and for never playing politics with the world’s poorest people. He thanked us as ONE members and reached way out into the crowd to shake the hands of all of the ONE members in our group!

As we were leaving, we ran into Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and had some time to talk with her about ONE. We thanked her for her work in the US Senate on behalf of the world’s poorest people — noting her work around the international affairs budget, her support of the Water for the World Act and the hard work of her staff.

Sen. Shaheen was very familiar with ONE and told us how important our issues are around the world. We urged her to continue that leadership after the election, during the possible CR process and to help hold firm the highest, and most efficient levels of funding for GAVI, the Global Fund and agricultural efforts in Africa. She told us that she would continue to work hard, and would keep ONE and our issues in mind.

Time has run out in this election, but our work as ONE members goes on as we continue to urge continued American leadership in the fight against extreme poverty and global disease in the poorest parts of Africa.

Be sure to connect with other ONE Vote 2010 New Hampshire members on Facebook and Twitter.

]]> http://www.one.org/blog/2010/11/02/sen-shaheen-and-pres-clinton-in-new-hampshire/feed/ 0 http://www.one.org/blog/2010/11/01/a-good-talk-with-sen-whitehouse/ http://www.one.org/blog/2010/11/01/a-good-talk-with-sen-whitehouse/#comments Mon, 01 Nov 2010 22:40:53 +0000 Matthew Bartlett http://one.org/blog/?p=22169 Read More »]]> ONE is hitting the campaign trail to find out where candidates stand on extreme poverty. Stay tuned for more updates like these from our field team and organizers on the road.

Tom Leary and Sen. Whitehouse

On Friday, New Hampshire ONE member Tom Leary pulled a double shift for ONE and the world’s poorest people. In the morning, he went to Salem and spoke with former Governor Mitt Romney and thanked him for his past ideas and thoughts for the world’s poorest people.

Then, Friday night in Manchester, Tom attended a rally for US Senate candidate Rep. Paul Hodes , who was joined by former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine and Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.

Tom told me that as soon as Gov. Kaine saw him, he instantly pointed him out in his ONE shirt and let him know what a great job ONE has done to mobilize people all across America in urging continued leadership in the fight against AIDS and poverty in Africa.

Tom told me that after Sen. Whitehouse addressed the crowd, he left without getting a chance to talk with him. But that did not stop Tom on his double shift for ONE. He managed to catch up with Sen. Whitehouse in the parking lot and thanked him for his hard work around the international affairs budget earlier this year.

Tom Leary and Gov. Kaine

Sen. Whitehouse told Tom that he was the son of a foreign service officer, and knows just how important that small but critical part of the budget is around the world. Tom told him that right after this election, ONE and the world’s poorest people will need his leadership in the upcoming process to make sure that levels of funding for the Global Fund, GAVI and agriculture programs are supported at their most effective levels in order to continue to help save millions of lives from HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria and lift millions more out of extreme poverty and dire hunger. Sen. Whitehouse said he would continue the leadership he has displayed in the past, and took a photo with Tom in his ONE shirt.

Tom put aside partisan politics, put on a ONE shirt, and used his voice for live-saving policies and programs in the developing world — quite the double shift! Go Tom! Go ONE!

Be sure to connect with other ONE Vote 2010 New Hampshire members on Facebook and Twitter.

]]> http://www.one.org/blog/2010/11/01/a-good-talk-with-sen-whitehouse/feed/ 0 http://www.one.org/blog/2010/11/01/three-governors-in-one-weekend/ http://www.one.org/blog/2010/11/01/three-governors-in-one-weekend/#comments Mon, 01 Nov 2010 22:00:08 +0000 Field http://one.org/blog/?p=22145 Read More »]]> ONE is hitting the campaign trail to find out where candidates stand on extreme poverty. Stay tuned for more updates like this one from our field team and organizers on the road.

Beth talks to Gov. Christie as he puts on a ONE band

Last Friday, I attended a GOP rally in Lebanon, Ohio with appearances by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour. I had the chance to talk and give a ONE band to Gov. Pawlenty, who immediately recognized my shirt and shook my hand. I told him “I know you’ve seen us out on the trail before,” and he said he has seen ONE across the country, and said we are doing great work!

Then, I spoke with Gov. Christie, who also knew about ONE and went on to compliment our efforts, too. I even spotted two staffers wearing ONE bands, and one of them told me he hasn’t taken his ONE band off in two years!

Saturday and Sunday, three ONE members and I attended a couple of events with Congressman and Minority Leader of the House, John Boehner. We were able to catch up with him on Sunday and told him how President Bush was historic in starting programs like PEPFAR and supporting the Global Fund. We told him that we hope that he will continue leadership on ONE’s critical life-saving issues. He told us that he was very familiar with ONE and took a ONE band from us!

Tomorrow is Election Day! Be sure to join us on Facebook and Twitter for frequent updates.

-Beth Kaltenbach, ONE Vote 2010 Organizer, Ohio

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