September 22nd, 2008 at 1:27 pm | posted by Virginia Simmons
All this week, Bono and Jeffrey Sachs will be blogging for the Financial Times from the United Nation’s summit on the Millennium Development Goals.
As a precursor, the Financial Times conducted a Q & A with Bono. An excerpt is below, and the full piece is at FT.com.
AB: What is this week [and the Millennium Development Goals summit] all about?
Bono: Most of us woke up on New Year’s Day 2000 with a hangover and a hazy memory of a night of pleasant fanfare and dumb parade. However, the new millennium was also celebrated by our commitment to eight goals that would change the planet and demonstrate to the developing world how we might, through a combination of know-how and resources, partner with them in efforts to help millions out of desperate poverty. We gave ourselves 15 years, we’re halfway there. How do we measure up?
AB: What are the two or three goals you want to achieve this week?
Bono: 1. Blogging for the FT, being your roving reporter in the canyons of Manhattan. While the world upends on Wall Street, I’ll be mostly midtown at the UN and the Clinton Global Initiative talking about the resilience of the world’s poor while the world’s rich find out how fragile life can be.
2. Unlock €1bn of unspent European Union Common Agricultural Policy money. This year our farmers don’t qualify for it, food prices are high. African farmers desperately need it.
3. Show what’s working as well as what’s not. Bad news about Africa travels much farther than good news. There will be a historic and innovative announcement on malaria on Thursday – watch out for it. Thanks to debt relief, aid and African leadership, 29m more children are going to school.
July 31st, 2008 at 11:30 am | posted by Virginia Simmons
Yesterday afternoon, President Bush signed into law new PEPFAR legislation, finalizing months of work by ONE members, Democratic and Republican congressional leaders, advocacy organizations, foreign policy experts and medical professionals who worked together to pass historic new funding levels to fight AIDS, TB and malaria.
“Americans, whether they know it or not, are literally saving the lives of millions of people in the poorest places on the planet. In the last five years, America has prevented 1 million women from passing on HIV to their babies…funded care for 3 millions AIDS orphans…and provided desperately needed medicine to more than 1.4 million people suffering from HIV/AIDS. You are my heroes and not just for what you’ve done, but for what this new law promises.
This has more to do with hard heads than soft hearts. America’s global AIDS plan has proved to be a smart investment, paying dividends in live saved, communities stabilized and America’s reputation in the world growing a little bit brighter. This stuff works and leaders from left and right — leaders like Senators Biden and Lugar, Representatives Berman and Ros-Lehtinen, President Bush, Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid - put aside their differences and agreed to do more.”
April 10th, 2008 at 9:02 pm | posted by Virginia Simmons
Idol Gives Back just featured Bono during his trip to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In the piece Bono was next to a woman named Elisa. A photo is below.
[Elisa was banished by her family when they discovered she was HIV-positive. The rejection led Elisa to try to take her own life several years ago, but thankfully she then got help from a wonderful local health care facility called PASADA and today she is on AIDS medication and doing very well. She has become a volunteer in her community, working with TB patients, and is engaged to be married. PASADA’s work is funded in part by America, via contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and PEPFAR.]
April 10th, 2008 at 8:56 pm | posted by Virginia Simmons
Bono was just on Idol GIves Back encouraging everyone to sign up at ONE.org, saying: “Tonight, save a life. Tomorrow, change the world.”
After, the three current presidential candidates spoke about the importance of fighting poverty. In December, ONE members sent tens of thousands of petitions and got all the candidates to go on the record with their plans to combat global poverty.
April 10th, 2008 at 7:24 pm | posted by Virginia Simmons
Idol Gives Back starts on FOX in 30 minutes.
We’re at the office, planning to work and watch again. I’ll keep you posted on the big updates. We do know that Bono will be back on tonight to talk about ONE.
April 9th, 2008 at 8:18 pm | posted by Virginia Simmons
The first clip from Bono’s recent trip to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, just aired.
In the clip, Bono visits Eusebia, a former nurse and grandmother, and Sophia, a 14-year-old who was born with HIV/AIDS and has no parents.
Eusebia now volunteers full-time providing home-based care to adults and orphans living with HIV/AIDS. Eusebia lost three of her own children to AIDS and now looks after 7 family members, in addition to her work in the community. The clinic with which Eusebia works, PASADA, is funded in part by America, via contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and PEPFAR.
April 8th, 2008 at 7:14 pm | posted by Virginia Simmons
Just wanted to highlight a comment that ONE member Valentina Benson just left on my post about Idol featuring ONE tomorrow night.
Below her comments, also find a new photo of Bono from his recent trip Tanzania. Footage from the trip will air on Idol Gives Back on Wednesday night.
Valentina Benson Says:
WOW, this is going to be amazing! SOOO excited that Bono is able to touch the lives of hundreds of thousands of people on this issue. Think of all the young people who will give to this cause throughout thier lifetimes because of this…I got to ask hime a personal question after his speech in Philly on 10/21/05 and I think of his response daily. I asked, “How can I teach my students (5th grade) about the issues in Africa,’ Bono replied, “Make it an adventure, NOT a burden.” Well AMERICAN IDOL GIVES BACK is definitely an adventure.
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[photo caption: Caption is: Bono, U2 lead singer and co-founder of The ONE Campaign and Product (RED), in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania with Eusebia Chilipwele, a former nurse and grandmother who now volunteers full-time providing home-based care to adults and orphans living with HIV/AIDS. Eusebia lost three of her own children to AIDS and now looks after 7 family members, in addition to her work in the community. The health care facility with which Eusebia works, PASADA, is funded in part by America, via contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and PEPFAR.]
April 7th, 2008 at 8:53 pm | posted by Virginia Simmons
On Wednesday night, American Idol is going to feature ONE on their special “Idol Gives Back” episode.
Last year we gained 100,000 new members after Idol Gives Back aired, and this is going to be another incredibly important moment to place the fight against extreme poverty in the living rooms of more than 25 million Americans.
The episode will air at 7:30/6:30c and I’ll be watching and live blogging (in case you don’t have a TV, miss it or just like to read our blog;)
Stay tuned for more updates as the air date draws closer. Until then, an exclusive sneak peak for loyal ONE Blog fans of our co-founder Bono’s recent trip to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where he met 14-year-old Deloy. Footage from the trip will air on Idol Gives Back on Wednesday.
[Photo caption: ONE co-founder Bono meets with Deloy, a 14-year-old boy living in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania who lost both of his parents to HIV/AIDS. Deloy, shared with Bono his “memory box,” a small cardboard box decorated in wrapping paper in which he keeps mementos from his mother and father. Deloy receives help from a wonderful health care facility in Dar es Salaam called PASADA, which is funded in part by America via contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and PEPFAR.]
February 14th, 2008 at 9:02 pm | posted by Virginia Simmons
“President Bush has every reason to be proud of what he and so many others have accomplished in Africa. From AIDS treatment once thought impossible, to millions of bednets to keep kids from dying of a mosquito bite, to new African jobs created with trade policy, to billions in old debts erased. And back in Washington, a political shift has taken place with Democrats and Republicans working shoulder to shoulder to partner with the people of Africa as they work to lift their continent out of poverty, putting 29 million children in school in the last five years, with the help of debt cancellation. These are accomplishments the next President must build on. It’s true that American generosity is on the rise, but it’s also true that despite recent set backs in Kenya, there’s a new Africa to match it. I hope that the next President, whoever that is, will get to experience first hand this beautiful and entrepreneurial continent that is rising to all of the challenges being sent its way.
I do regret that the current President and First Lady can’t escape the constant nagging of Irish rock stars, whether at home or abroad… He’s apparently picked one up on this trip too.”
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On Wednesday night, American Idol is going to feature ONE on their special “Idol Gives Back” episode. 
