I always believed that helping the poor was important, but I didn’t have the conviction to take action until I visited Kenya on a mission trip with my church. We worked at an orphanage with teenagers that had been living on the streets. They took us on a tour of their old neighborhood and the garbage piles they used for beds. We saw such poverty that day that my heart changed forever.

I never thought of myself as wealthy because in America so many people have more than I do. But while touring the slums of Nairobi I saw so many women and children walking through sewage-filled streets with no shoes because they can’t afford them. When I came home to America and saw how many shoes were in my closet, I cried.

I felt shameful for having so much, and compassionate toward those who have nothing. I’ve realized how blessed all Americans are, even if we are not the wealthiest Americans. It’s wrong not to share that with the poor who hurting in countries like Kenya. After that trip I started sponsoring two projects in Africa through World Vision and I joined the ONE campaign to lend my voice to the poor who have no voice of their own.

-Bethany Fitelson, member of the ONE Campaign, Hayward, CA

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the next couple of weeks for more ONE members’
stories.
And if you haven’t already told us how you first found
your commitment to eliminate global AIDS and extreme
poverty,
send us your story.

Attending medical
school, I learned of the global biologic and sociologic devastation caused by the HIV virus. Later, I traveled
to Kenya to work in a hospital and came to know some of the individual stories behind the statistics – and of
the structural injustices that make the problems so overwhelming.

I now plan to return to
the developing world and spend my career practicing medicine in a setting where people would not otherwise
receive adequate health care. The ONE Campaign has
been a great source of encouragement for me – and a launching point for a wider public conversation.

HIV-AIDS
and the stark contrast between the haves and have-nots are arguably the most important issues in the world
today. How we respond to these
issues will define how history judges our generation.

-Doug Lindberg, member of
the ONE Campaign, Johnson City, TN

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the next couple of weeks for more ONE members’
stories.
And if you haven’t already told us how you first found
your commitment to eliminate global AIDS and extreme
poverty,
send us your story.

“Since 2004 I have been working at Hopeworks ‘N Camden which is one of the poorest cities in the United States. Everyday I meet young people in our own country who are struggling to make a better life for themselves and rise out of poverty. With programs like ours they at least have a chance. Though AIDS and poverty are still issues in this country, we at least are able to expose the problem and do something about it.

In Africa, trying to help is dangerous. People are living in refugee camps and fighting for their lives. The country is not able to help its own. I believe that we as a country need to support our brothers and sister who have less than us. Our youth in Camden know that and support the ONE Campaign. If the poorest in our country can help, why wouldn’t I?”

-Kathleen Deitch, member of the ONE Campaign, Ridley Park, PA

Check back over the next couple of weeks for more ONE members’ stories. And if you haven’t already told us how you first found your commitment to eliminate global AIDS and extreme poverty, send us your story.

Last year I
visited an orphanage in Kenya with a group from our
church. This was an orphanage for children whose
parents had died of AIDS.

Although the
children had very little, we discovered they were
among the lucky ones, who had a place to sleep, could
attend school and had at least one meal a day. These
children were beautiful, loving and full of hope, even
though some had lost their entire families.

We visited a
grandmother in the village who was trying to raise her
granddaughters after their parents had died. We gave
her a bag of maze (corn) as a gift and she cried and
kissed our hands, thanking us.

My eyes were
opened to the poverty and hunger in a real way, and it
left me knowing that I had to do something, but what?
I’m only one person. Then I heard about the ONE
Campaign and signed up immediately. I now realize that
my one voice, together with all the other voices, can
make a difference and I won’t stop trying until we
do!

-Karen
Kovach, member of the ONE Campaign, Camden,
MI

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the next couple of weeks for more ONE members’
stories.
And if you haven’t already told us how you first found
your commitment to eliminate global AIDS and extreme
poverty,
send us your story.

“My name is Richard Brodsky. In 1997 I was diagnosed HIV-positive. I
was married at the time, an architect, a marathon runner and my wife, Jodi, and I had three teenage daughters. We were going to keep our story a secret
because we were living a very respectable life by society’s standard. But then Jodi and I realized that if all HIV-positive people kept their silly secret,
Americans would be dropping like flies from an undisclosed illness. This actually does happen in Kenya and much of Africa where the stigma of being
HIV-positive is far worse than it is in America. Public officials in Africa never die from AIDS; it’s always from some undisclosed
illness.

From 1998-2002, I continued running marathons and living a typical
life in the suburbs. Considering that I had been running marathons for years, and I ran my fastest marathon after being diagnosed HIV-positive, it was my
hope that other people could realize that AIDS need not be a death sentence; AIDS sufferers simply needed access to the AIDS medicine and to lead a healthy
lifestyle.

I finally came out and told my story in 2002. Reactions were mixed and
I took it in stride, well, not exactly. I caught a bad break in November, 2002 as I was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. My cancer had nothing to do
with my HIV. On November 27, 2002 my brain tumor was substantially removed and, on the second anniversary of the tumor being removed, Jodi and I were flying
to Africa to participate in the first World AIDS Marathon, an event I organized. Poverty was rampant. I then realized that all the AIDS medicine in the world
would only make a small dent in the number of deaths from AIDS. Here was a continent that lacked clean drinking water, an adequate food supply, and the
medical care we take for granted in America.

With all the AIDS Awareness out there, especially spearheaded by the
ONE Campaign, how is it that less than 1% of the people I’ve questioned are aware of the fact that there are 14,000,000 orphans living in sub-Saharan Africa
who have lost one or both parents to AIDS!?”

-Richard, member of the ONE Campaign, Atlantic Beach,
NY

Check back over the next couple of weeks for more ONE members’ stories.
And if you haven’t already told us how you first found your commitment to eliminate global AIDS and extreme poverty, send us your story.

We’ve received thousands of stories like Laura’s. Read more members’ stories on the main blog page. If you want to leave Laura a message, please post it in the comments section.

And if this is your first time here, be sure to sign the ONE Declaration.

ONE Members’ Stories: Laura from Texas

“I believe the fight against AIDS and global poverty is the fight of our generation. I recently asked my father where he was during the American Civil Rights movement, and if he felt a pull to be involved. As I listened to his answer, I thought, “What will my children hold me accountable for?” In the years to come, when my children ask me what I did to fight AIDS in Africa and how I tried to keep millions from needlessly dying of poverty, I want to have an answer. A real answer. This is the fight of my generation, and I will not pretend I don’t understand what devastation will occur if I do not act. The ONE Campaign gives me a voice in this most important battle, and I intend to use it.”

-Laura, member of the ONE Campaign, Texas

Check back over the next couple of weeks for more ONE members’ stories. And if you haven’t already told us how you first found your commitment to eliminate global AIDS and extreme poverty, send us your story.

“I moved here from South Africa in 1995, a few months after Nelson Mandela won the presidency in South Africa and the transformation into the New South Africa began. In April, 2006, I became a U.S. citizen.

I have returned fairly often to South Africa. On my last trip, my brother took me and my husband go-carting. While we were there, a double-decker school bus full of children, ranging in ages from toddlers to teenagers, arrived for a fun outing.

I was easily charmed by the children’s friendly smiles and was soon caught up in their laughter and excitement. At one point, a little boy, no more than two years old, boldly walked up to me with big beautiful trusting eyes and held my thumb in his little hand. I realized that he was quietly asking me to help him down a flight of stairs near where I was standing, so that he could go enjoy the fun below.

I marveled that this little boy had not yet learned to fear strangers, that his trust and innocence was still in tact in a country where this is lost all too soon. And I felt honored that he had chosen me to help him.

It was only when I was leaving that I noticed that the bus had the symbol of a red ribbon drawn on its side. When I questioned my brother about it, he explained that all the children who had arrived on the bus were orphans of AIDS victim, that each was themselves infected with HIV (their own deadly birthright), that the problem of AIDS in South Africa is so bad that entire orphanages are dedicated to AIDS victims and that, indeed, there aren’t enough orphanages to go around.

The most terrible thing my brother told me was that each of those children, including the little boy with the big eyes, would soon be dead from AIDS, because there was not enough medicine to go around.

I returned to the U.S.A. determined that somehow, in as many small and big ways that I can, I am going to help make a difference. That is why I joined the ONE Campaign.”

-Nicole Fouche, member of The ONE Campaign, Durham, NC

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“In 1986 a dear friend living in Los Angeles was diagnosed with HIV.

…As Los Angeles had a superior infrastructure to deal with HIV/AIDS, and as my friend was by then, a committed member of several AIDS organizations, she did not want to return to her home and native Montreal, nor did her family want to move to Los Angeles – so I did. I packed up my home in 1993 and moved to Los Angeles to take care of her.

I administered IV infusions of nuclear medicine three to four times a day. I sorted her myriad pills, read up on all the alternative medicines, volunteered at ‘Women’s Being Alive’ became good friends with her friends, most of whom were in the AIDS community.

When the time came for me to give the directive to pull life support, it had been 14 months, the most difficult months of my life. It took me a good long while to get back into life.

…It’s now been over a decade. I saw firsthand what happens to people, good people, who are stricken with AIDS and I see how hard people are working on their behalf. I have experience, knowledge and a personal interest in doing what I can to help make sure people don’t have to suffer like my friend did, or go through what I did in taking care of her.”

-Susan Daley, member of The ONE Campaign, Burlington, Ontario

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“At the age of eleven I got curious about God and the Scriptures. At the age of thirteen I discovered a band called U2. I was always disconcerted by the fact that, while the Scriptures show Jesus helping the poor and the sick, most churches didn’t seem to be interested. U2 did however and Bono especially seemed to have a better grasp of theology than most preachers I had ever run across. Bono had become someone I looked up to, so it seemed natural to support the cause that he had taken up in Africa. The fact that the poverty which surrounded me living in Los Angeles paled in comparison to the poverty in places like Africa was an eye opener.

Then I read of a story about a man named Lawrence Ndou in Malawi. He had AIDS and happened to be one of the fortunate ones who received the retroviral. The problem was that his wife had already died of AIDS and the woman he was currently in love with was infected. Unfortunately she didn’t have the retroviral. He was faced with the decision of watching the woman he loves die, giving her the drugs and orphaning his children, or splitting the drugs with her ensuring only that they both die slowly. This is not the type of decision I could even begin to comprehend. It was after hearing this that I realized the true devastation of poverty. The people dying are not just numbers. They are human beings with dreams and hopes and loves. Locked inside the mind of a child dying in Africa may be the cure for cancer or the next great novel or the next great symphony. Only the world will never know it because extreme poverty ensures that they will never even have a chance. These were the realizations that led me to The ONE Campaign and Make Trade Fair. These were the realizations that made want to do whatever I could do, however I could do it, to help end the devastation of extreme poverty.”

-Scott, member of The ONE Campaign, Placentia, CA

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“As a mother, I have always tried to teach by example. I have always been involved in my community and my church, especially enjoying teaching Sunday School. I read about a trip to Haiti and felt called to go. Teaching young children and again trying to teach by example, I felt Haiti was indeed my “neighbor” and it was simply what God tells us to do, love thy neighbor. I went with a group of 5 churches that first trip to a mountain village in Haiti to build a medical clinic. We not only built a medical clinic in several trips to Haiti, we built a bridge of love and friendship, a bridge of hope from a group of Americans to a tiny remote village in Haiti. The joy and fulfillment I found in Haiti is indescribable. The poverty level is painful and shocking, a country so very close to ours, our neighbor in desperate need of every kind of help. Thankfully, Haiti has begun to receive assistance and education for its huge AIDS crisis. I feel we have an obligation to share our wealth, our blessings, and quite frankly there is no greater joy than doing so.”

-Elisabeth, member of The ONE Campaign, Middlefield, CT

-Check back each day for the next two weeks for more ONE members’ stories. And if you haven’t already, send in your story.