Tons of people came and we finished all the kits in record time. We had 3 hours to assemble 1,500 kits – but it was all done in just one hour.
During that time, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle came by to help out, as did the band DAUGHTRY. We should have video of all that by tomorrow.
‘Til then, I’ll just have to apologize sheepishly for this very amateur camera-work. It does give you a sense of the atmosphere in the room.
When the Democratic and Republican parties meet for their conventions at the end of August and early September, they’ll be unveiling their parties’ new platforms – and we want to make sure that the fight against extreme poverty is an important part of both of those platforms.
That why our ONE Vote ’08 Co-Chairs, Senators Bill Frist and Tom Daschle will be meeting with leaders of both parties, and taking a petition from ONE members urging them to make poverty-fighting a priority for both the Democratic and Republican parties.
As a proud American, I urge you to make ending extreme poverty and global disease in the developing world a core part of your 2008 platform by including commitments to:
Fight AIDS, TB and malaria and improve basic health services, particularly for mothers and young children
Ensure access to clean water, basic sanitation and sufficient food supplies
Spur economic growth through equitable trade and investment policies
Modernize and increase development assistance, focusing on partnership, transparency and accountability
Another video and post from ONE’s Tom Gavin from last week’s trip to Rwanda.
Monday, July 21:
The U.S. launched PEPFAR – the American global AIDS strategy – at the Masaka Clinic in 2004, so it made for a good place for the ONE delegation to visit and assess how things are going. Our delegation met with doctors, nurses, local officials, and patients seeking treatment and counsel from the clinic’s staff. We heard, time and again, the difference that America’s partnership in health care was making in Rwanda and throughout Africa.
The DATA Report, which ONE released earlier this year, shows the progress being made. It points out that, across Africa, nearly 2.12 million people were on antiretroviral therapy by last December, a huge jump from the 50,000 people on treatment in 2002. That means 30 percent of Africans in need of treatment are receiving it. But there remains a major challenge ahead. An additional 1.7 million Africans became infected with the HIV virus in 2007.
After touring the Masaka Clinic, some of the ONE delegation discussed the site visit and the overall trip with reporters.
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.
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.
Later this month, the ONE Campaign is set to reach out to senior advisors and key political voices from the Democratic and Republican parties as we continue to make the case that aid works, that American leadership can help a generation of people break the brutal cycle of extreme poverty. To drive that point home, we’re headed to Rwanda with an impressive roster of folks. We’re fortunate to have people who understand what’s at stake, both in terms of the lives which are on the line from poverty and preventable disease, and in terms of the benefit for America’s renewed leadership role in the world through expanded investment and assistance in these terribly poor countries.
The trip will be led by former U.S. Senate Majority Leaders Tom Daschle and Bill Frist – the two men who, for the past year, have co-chaired our ONE Vote ’08 effort. They’ll be joined by people like John Podesta (who was Chief of Staff to President Clinton and heads the Center for American Progress), Mike Huckabee (former Governor of Arkansas who expressed support for the ONE platform when he was running for the GOP nomination), and John Kasich (former member of the House of Representatives who worked as House Budget Committee Chairman). Cindy McCain will join the bipartisan trip as well. Mrs. McCain has a solid history of work in the fight against extreme poverty and preventable global disease. She’s served on the Board of Directors to ONE-partner CARE International since 2005. She founded the American Voluntary Medical Team in 1988, organizing trips for medical personnel to provide emergency care to disaster-struck or war-torn regions. She also serves on the boards for the non-profits Operation Smile and the HALO Trust.
The American people have made an incredible difference in the lives of millions of people struggling to survive extreme, brutal poverty. Our next president has the opportunity to finish the job – to finally erase preventable diseases from the planet and eliminate the kind of suffocating poverty which claims thousands of lives a day. We know the way, but we need our next president to show the will. That’s why we’re bringing this group of people to Rwanda. Each of them is in a unique position to help shape the policies and priorities of the man who could be our next president, and we want the fight against extreme poverty and preventable diseases to be front and center.
In Rwanda, we’ll visit places where PEPFAR is providing funds to save lives at risk from HIV/AIDS. We’ll stop at a school to hear from the students about the importance of their education to break free from extreme poverty. We’ll hear from farmers about their efforts to grow more crops and address the food crisis by growing their way out of it. All told, it will be an eye-opening trip, and one that we hope pays off with stronger policy commitments to the issues we care so much about – ending poverty and disease — from the two leading presidential candidates.
We’ll send updates from the trip and let you know how things are going.
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