UPDATE: Here’s a video of some highlights from the forum.
This morning I was lucky enough to get to go to the Saddleback Civil Forum here in DC on behalf of ONE. I only found out about this event late Sunday, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I am very glad I got to go, because today was a great day in the fight against AIDS around the globe.
The event was hosted by Pastor Rick Warren (you may know him as the man who wrote A Purpose Driven Life) and was in honor of all that President Bush has done over the course of his Administration to advance the fight against HIV/AIDS. President Bush received the first ever “International Medal of PEACE” from the Global PEACE Coalition for his unprecedented contribution to the fight against HIV/AIDS and other diseases. As Pastor Warren, Ban Ki-moon, Tony Blair, Bill Gates and Bill Clinton all said today (in person or in video messages sent from around the world), President Bush has done more than any world leader on these issues, ever.
President Bush was quick to point out that the credit goes to the people who also have a heart for this work and inspired this program, among them Condoleezza Rice and Mike Gerson. The President also credited the dedicated men and women who work tirelessly to make sure PEPFAR is run well and ensure the program’s success, among them PEPFAR’s Coordinator, Mark Dybul. President Bush asked Mark Dybul to stand and be recognized at the event, and I don’t think Dybul would’ve done so if anyone but the President asked; he’s clearly happier being the man behind the scenes who makes sure everything is running right.
PEPFAR is a huge program, and a huge success. There is certainly much credit to go around, and much work left to do. Today, on the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day, it’s important to celebrate the progress we’ve made in the fight against HIV/AIDS and to recommit ourselves to the challenges that still lie before us. President-elect Obama sent a video message echoing his own commitments to fight HIV/AIDS, which he often repeated on the campaign trail. In an event honoring what’s been accomplished in the current president’s Administration, it was a great end to the Saddleback Civil Forum to look to the future and see the next president pledging to continue this great program and America’s lifesaving work.
President Bush will deliver remarks today at 10:05 am EST commemorating World AIDS Day. We will post the webcast and transcript shortly, if they are made available.
Shortly after delivering his remarks, Mr. Bush will be joined by Mrs. Bush and President-elect Obama (via taped remarks) at the 2008 Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health at 10:30 am EST. Pastor Rick Warren is expected to recognize President Bush for his work around PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief). You can watch a live webcast of the event here.
Video of our service project at the RNCC on Tuesday is now up in its full form! (Short highlight clips were posted here earlier.)
Check out the full remarks from ONE CEO David Lane, Zambian AIDS activist Princess Zulu, Senator Bill Frist, M.D., Cindy McCain and First Lady Laura Bush.
Some posts from our service project at the DNCC here and here
I just returned from another phenomenal ONE/World Vision service project. As at the DNCC last week – David Lane and Zambian AIDS activist Princess Zulu introduced the event, but this time we also heard moving remarks from special guests Senator Frist, Cindy McCain and First Lady Laura Bush.
I captured video of Cindy McCain and First Lady Laura Bush’s speeches and quickly uploaded them to YouTube. You can check them out below. We got higher quality video of the speeches as well, but it may take a couple days to get that up – and I want to share this experience with ONE Blog readers ASAP.
First, Cindy McCain:
Next, First Lady Laura Bush. (You can also read her full remarks here.)
Here’s a photo of (from left to right) Cindy McCain, David Lane, First Lady Laura Bush, Princess Zulu and Senator Frist assembling care kits.
In the course of a couple hours we packed 2,500 kits, all with simple but essentials supplies like flashlights, wash clothes and basic drugstore medications, to be given out to AIDS caregivers around the world. Below is a very short video clip to give you a sense of the what it was like to be in room at the height of kit-assembly commotion.
We knew it was a possibility but now it’s confirmed. Both Cindy McCain and First Lady Laura Bush will be coming by ONE’s service project at the Minneapolis Convention Center today from 2-5 PM CT If you’re in the area, dropped by and help out. It should be an amazing event.
Below, some photos I took during prep for the event yesterday.
Some of you may remember the posts earlier this year describing the work of teacher Matt Cone at Rock Bridge High School. Well, Matt continues to do amazing work with his students and this week the seniors in his Contemporary Issues class had the unique experience of talking with the First Lady via video conference.
Many of the questions posed dealt with the President and Mrs. Bush’s recent trip to Africa, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the work that ONE and other NGOs are doing to help the world’s poor. As if talking to the First Lady was not cool enough, the students wore ONE shirts to emphasize their commitment to ending global poverty and disease.
Check out some of the student comments about the experience after the jump.
-Katie Andrews, Field Organizer (KS, OH, MI, MO, WV)
(Martin Edlund of Malaria No More joined President Bush’s on the Ghana portion of the president’s trip to Africa.)
It was a day of firsts for me. My first time meeting a sitting president. My first time racing through streets in a presidential motorcade. My first time seeing malaria education set to music.
President and Mrs. Bush made malaria a big focus of their stop in Ghana, where they were joined by American Idol Winner Jordin Sparks and Malaria No More. Sparks opened a noontime event at the U.S. Embassy with a Super Bowl-sized rendition of the national anthem that made the speakers whimper and moved patriotic listeners to tears.
President Bush took the mic to praise American Idol for raising $17 million for malaria during last year’s Idol Gives Back charity special and share some exciting news:
This spring, Fox and American Idol will once again appeal to viewers to help defeat malaria. On April 9th, the show will raise money to fight malaria in Africa and support other worthy causes in the second round of “Idol Gives Back.” Laura and I hope, and Jordin hopes, that America’s generosity will still pour forth, and we ask our fellow citizens to contribute to this worthy cause. (Applause.)
(Read the full transcript here, including the President’s shout out to Malaria No More.)
It was a short event – half hour all told – but plenty long for us to sweat through our suits in the soupy afternoon heat. “This reminds me of what it’s like to campaign in Texas in August,†quipped a glistening Commander in Chief. Still, he took the time to press the flesh with the hodge-podge audience of scruffy PeaceCorps volunteers, Ghanaian women in traditional dress, and Idol-loving tweens.
Lunch was served on the Embassy lawn flanked by mini-golf versions of the Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington Monument while the bar offered bottles of Schweppes tonic in a subtle (okay, probably unintended) homage to the days when the quinine in tonic was used to ward off malaria.
From there, we raced off to Maamobi Polyclinic on the outskirts of Accra where Jordin and Mrs. Bush were greeted by a traditional durbar—a Ghanaian community gathering complete with song, dance, and umbrella-wielding day-glo chiefs.
Jordin and Mrs. Bush did a bed net demonstration and kids sang a malaria song withwith mosquito-wing choreography. It’s what happens when well-intentioned public health professionals try their hand at pop song. Sample lyrics:
From home to home
From school to school
Children are saying
Give us treated bednets
To keep us protected
But if malaria attacks
For lack of protection
Give us early treatment
To save our lives
Somewhere Simon Cowell is scowling fiercely. For my part, I’ll stick with Jordin’s single “Tattoo” which I’m rocking on my (Product)Red iPod as I write this.
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