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Best friends united against extreme poverty
Earlier this month the U2 360° Tour was in Montreal, where I was lucky to meet Cindy and Sharon, two best friends from Ontario who are united in the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease.
They kindly agreed to tell us about their experience at the shows and why they joined ONE.
ONE members Cindy (left) and Sarah at the U2 show in Montreal
Cindy Rose:
I am a happily married, mother of two young boys who recognizes how incredibly blessed I am in life. It’s important to me personally and actually is one of our values as a family that we give back to this world any time we have an opportunity to do so. As a huge follower and fan of U2 for over 25 years now (I can hardly believe that), I am always inspired and challenged by their music to use what I have been given to make a difference in the world. The ONE campaign has created an incredible way for people like myself to be able to use something we ALL have to make that difference – Our Voice. Whether rich or poor, young or old, ONE provides a way where people can rally together to impact the lives of people they may never meet. When you have millions of people use their voice in a unified front to say we want to see change, there is power. To volunteer for ONE and give people the opportunity to join forces with the already 2.5 million plus members of this group was an honor. It was a day that I will cherish and never forget.
Sarah Stone:
We had planned on being in Montreal for the Friday night show so when the opportunity came up to volunteer for ONE on Saturday we jumped at the chance. I have been tracking with and been a member of ONE since its beginning and therefore having the opportunity to volunteer for ONE was so exciting. I am currently a nursing student and I have a special interest in maternal and child health in the developing world and I am hoping to be able to travel and utilize my nursing skills in the future. Having the opportunity to speak with people about global health issues was a fantastic experience. Being from Ontario, I studied French all the way through primary and high school. However I hadn’t really spoken French for quite some time and I hadn’t really factored this in when I signed up to volunteer! I did my best to converse in French and people were so gracious and appreciative of the effort! I was pleasantly surprised by how much French I was able to recall and I was able to sign up 145 members that day! U2 has always been my favourite band and they have always inspired me not only with their music, but with regard to social justice issues so having the chance to volunteer for ONE, the group founded by Bono was quite literally a dream come true. Working with the other volunteers and Maura Daley (who is incredibly motivating and whose enthusiasm is contagious) made me feel like I wasn’t just at a U2 show, but like I had an important purpose and made me feel connected to a larger global community. I would highly recommend being a ONE volunteer to anyone and I hope to have the opportunity in the future to volunteer for ONE again in some capacity. It was an amazing experience I will never forget!
Two Beautiful Days In Montreal
The U2 360° Tour made a stop in Montreal last week for two fantastic shows and ONE volunteers were able to sign up just shy of 6500 new ONE members!
ONE volunteer Chris Serratore came out for both shows and signed up over 300 new members over the two days. Here are a few words from Chris about the experience….
Well it was reminiscent of the movie field of dreams, “if you build it he will come”. In this case it was not a corn field, but a defunct Hippodrome site, and Bono played the role of Shoeless Joe. The U2 360° Tour took over the old Hippodrome site in Montreal – brought in the Claw – and created their own playing field, attracting over 80,000 fans each night.
Our enthusiastic team of ONE volunteers assembled just as the sound check was underway. Everyone listened intently as Maura Daley turned up the volume and instructed us in the school of ONE 101. The goal, get out there into the crowds, and encourage as many people as possible to become members of ONE. With Ipads in hand, the teams of ONE volunteers headed out and signed up more than 6000 members at the Montreal shows.
Thanks to all those in the crowd that were willing to listen us, thanks to Maura for her leadership and thanks to Shoeless Joe and the U2 team for allowing us to come out and play in their field on 2 Beautiful Days.
Making our mark in Edmonton
The U2 360° Tour is now well and truly rocking in North America and, as with previous legs, I’ve meet some amazing ONE members along the way. One such person is Mark McCormack who volunteered at the show in Edmonton and kindly wrote about his experience:
Wow. ONE + The U2 360° Tour. What an experience. I’ve never been through something like that before.
Let me start by saying that I am proud of our ONE Team. There is something about working towards ending the worst forms of poverty that pulls sincerely good people together. That kind of energy is what I live for and it was in abundance between the 30 of us in Edmonton. Many of us had never met before, but there was an instant feeling for me that I knew everyone on a deeper level. We knew what we had to do (I didn’t think the coordinators were going to be so clear and informative and entertaining! Special thanks to Maura for getting us all together and feeling as ONE).
The ONE team in Edmonton
Even the shy ones amongst us gave it their all. At one point there was a little bit of a break as we had engaged most of the people on the grounds. I should have taken that time to relax and eat a little because then it picked up again and didn’t slow down! My ipad skills are perfect now (we signed people up using ipads. Smart. Exactly what I expected from ONE). I informed and signed up 211 people using that baby. Here’s a tip if you want to make that level of impact: make eye contact with the people you are engaging with before you direct their attention to signing up . It creates a genuine connection where you can communicate the importance of the work of ONE.
We don’t want your money, we want your voice.
In one way I wanted to start this blog entry by gushing out all the surprises revealed to us, but I won’t ruin it for you. I’ll give you a hint: I thought we were going to keep signing people up even during the concert (I’m a workaholic)…but we did more than that…
And one volunteer was even waved at by Bono as the band drove by before the show. It’s good to know that people recognize a good ONE volunteer when they see them.
If you want to change the lives of 4 million children at risk of dying of stupid things like diarrhea, and if you want to change your own life radically for a day, I’d recommend volunteering with ONE as fast as you can. It was a blast!
Mark McCormack
Sheila Nix on CBC’s “The National”
Sheila Nix, our U.S. Executive Director, was featured on CBC’s The National as part of segment on maternal and child health. Sheila talked about her trip to Ghana and Sierra Leone, and how simple interventions can prevent the mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDs giving children a whole new lease on life.
You can watch the clip here.
ONE Welcomed to G8/G20 by Mayor of Toronto
The ONE team has arrived in Canada and is already hard at work raising awareness in the fight against extreme poverty with Toronto’s Mayor David Miller. We’re in town for the G8 and G20 Summits where maternal and child health and accountability are on the agenda. For several months, ONE has been actively engaging Canadian leadership to push for a robust maternal and child health initiative that includes accountability measures to make sure that country commitments are kept. We’re also calling for the G8 and G20 to forge a new partnership with Africa based on mutual accountability, good governance, trade and investment – a good start would be giving African countries more formal representation at the G20 to ensure that the poorest countries have a voice at global summits.
We’re currently in the Alternative Media Center which separates the NGO community and civil society from the media. Despite the logistical hurdles, we managed to meet Toronto’s Mayor David Miller, talk about ONE and our issues and give him a t-shirt to sport around town.
Today, leaders are arriving from the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and, of course, Canada for the start of the G8 Summit tomorrow in Muskoka.
We’ll be checking in with updates and any news as it breaks – and we’ll be keeping the pressure on global leaders to agree to commitments that make a difference to the world’s poorest!
Petition Impossible: On the eve of the G8, the Canadian government is a bit busy…
ONE’s Mark Entwistle with our 58,000 signature strong petition
Yesterday, ONE’s Mark Entwistle delivered our 58,000 signature strong petition calling for 3.5 million new health workers to help mothers and children to the Prime Minister’s Office in Ottawa, Canada.
Unfortunately, photographs aren’t allowed within the Langevin Building, but we have it on good assurance that shortly after this photo was taken Mark was in the building to hand off the wishes of ONE members to the Canadian government.
This delivery presented some unique scheduling difficulties – on the eve of the G8, most senior members of the Canadian government are en route to Hunstville, Ontario, far away from the media centre for civil society organisations in Toronto where ONE will be based during the summit. So if we wanted to make sure the G8 heard our message before meeting, we needed to do it now, in Ottawa. But scheduling wasn’t easy given that the Prime Minister’s Office had quite a bit on their plates.
Luckily it all worked out for the best. In fact, it almost appeared that the fates were conspiring to test our resolve in delivering our petition as 20 minutes before the delivery Ottawa was hit by an earthquake which caused all parliamentary and government offices to be evacuated!
During the summit ONE will be on the ground, fighting to make sure this G8 has the strongest outcome possible for people living in poverty. We’ll be keeping you updated through our blog and twitter – so watch this space!
ONE in Ottawa with Christy Turlington-Burns
On June 3, ONE hosted a parliamentary reception at the National Gallery in Ottawa, Canada to raise awareness on maternal and child mortality ahead of the G8 in Muskoka later this month. Featuring a special appearance by model and activist Christy Turlington-Burns, we showed a clip of her new documentary No Woman, No Cry.
Ottawa-based ONE member Kirika Bussell attended the screening, and sent us this great photo and blog update:
People often advocate for a cause because of a direct link to a situation, or because we know someone who has been affected. It was her health scare following the birth of her first child that prompted Christy Turlington-Burns to learn about and then advocate for maternal and child health. She survived a common post-partum complication because of timely access to quality medical treatment, but not all women are so fortunate. It was this experience that inspired No Woman, No Cry.
ONE member Kirika Bussell and Christy Turlington-Burns at the event in Ottawa
Every minute a woman dies from preventable complications during pregnancy or birth. What is stopping us from keeping these preventable deaths occurring again and again? If the answer lies in education, compassion and understanding, then Ms. Turlington Burns has made the job of spreading the message more accessible, and more importantly, she has put a human face on what could simply be seen as another sad statistic.
At the screening I was fortunate enough to speak with Christy Turlington Burns about the concept that we all have a stake in the future of maternal and child health. She agreed that it doesn’t matter if you’re a man or woman, a father or mother, or if you’re childless- this is a universal issue.
When I volunteered to assist with the ONE’s screening at the National Gallery, one of my goals was to help maximize the opportunity to generate interest and keep the issue moving. Reflecting on this event after the fact, I can say my interest in this issue has only grown the more I’ve learned. I hope other ONE members come to feel the same way. Everyone’s reasons to act are different, but when we do act, together we can act as ONE voice for proactive, comprehensive change. The future is ours, but the choice to act is yours.
Kirika M. Bussell, Ottawa, Canada
If you’d like a sneak peak at Christy’s documentary, visit www.everymothercounts.org.
To sign ONE’s petition to the G8 for 3.5 million new health workers go to:
No one should give birth alone
Last week a couple of ONE staffers attended the Women Deliver conference in Washington D.C. In what was arguably the world’s largest conference on maternal health and empowerment in more than a decade. The 3 day event was essentially a global gathering to share stories, best practice and calls to action on the prevention of maternal deaths around the world.
It was at Women Deliver that Melinda Gates stressed the importance of maternal and child health as a global health priority.
At the conference we met Awatif Altayib Mohamad Hussein, a midwife from Sudan who was kind enough to share her story with us.
If you would like to sign ONE’s petition to the G8 asking for more midwives and health workers to be provided in countries that need it most, sign the petition here:
http://www.one.org/international/actnow/g8healthworkers
Time for Canada to step up on the MDGS
Yesterday, Make Poverty History—Canada’s largest coalition of civil society organizations—released a new report that says the country is falling dangerously short of meeting its commitments to the world’s poorest people. As their press release pointed out:
“Canada holds a special place on the world stage. Not only are we hosting the G8 and G20 summits in Canada this month, but, as our Prime Minister rightly reminds us, we are also the G8 nation which best survived the economic crisis. That puts us in an excellent position to lead by example.”
As the report shows, Canada has made impressive progress on several of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including hunger reduction and gender equality. But it’s still behind on half of its promises, including universal primary education, maternal health, and foreign aid spending. And if the Canadian government sticks to its recent decision to freeze aid spending, this could jeopardize all 8 MDGs.
To take a look at the entire report, click here.
$1 billion for mothers and children?
The Canadian Press reported over the weekend that Canada is planning to pledge $1 billion towards an initiative on maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) at this month’s G8 summit.
Heather Scoffield of CP writes: “The federal government is telling other G8 countries that Canada is willing to put about $1-billion toward maternal and child health – as long as other countries ante up too. The Canadian cash will likely target poor countries with the worst records of maternal and child mortality and malnutrition.”
Although the initiative has been in discussion since Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced in January that he would champion maternal and child health at the summit, with less than a month until the G8 summit few details have been outlined. To ensure that the initiative delivers results for women and children around the world, Canada and the rest of the G8 should take this opportunity to outline an action plan for maternal, newborn and child health with clear objectives and how the G8 will ensure that promises made at the summit are kept in the months and years ahead.
Last month, ONE released its own set of recommendations for the G8, including a call for a robust, results-based initiative to improve maternal, newborn and child health in the world poorest countries.
For maximum impact, new resources for maternal and child health should be channeled through effective bilateral and multilateral mechanisms (especially the Global Fund and the Global Alliance for Vaccines Initiative) and delivered in an integrated, coordinated manner that supports national health plans and works towards ambitious targets such as the recruitment of 3.5 million health care workers, universal access to basic immunization (including new vaccines for rotavirus and pneumococcal disease), and the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV by 2015.
In addition, any new initiatives by the G8 and G20 must incorporate accountability safeguards to ensure that new commitments are kept. As a champion of accountability within the G8, Canada has the opportunity to demonstrate how an MNCH initiative will pilot a new era of accountability by the G8 and the G20. The TRACK principles, a guide developed by ONE and its partners call for commitments to development to be Transparent, Results-oriented, clear about the degree of Additionality and Conditionality, and monitored by an independent mechanism to ensure the promises are being Kept.
If the $1 billion figure is accurate, in the coming days Canada should clarify how it meets the TRACK principles – including where the money will be spent, the timeframe it will be delivered, interim targets and the outputs it intends to achieve – and encourage other donors to do the same to ensure that any new initiative includes both ambition and accountability.
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About the Blog
The International ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, with guest contributions from ONE volunteers, members and allies.
The content of each post and each comment represents the views of that author and does not necessarily reflect the views of ONE. ONE does not support or oppose any candidate for elected office, and any post expressing support or opposition for a candidate is not endorsed by ONE.
TAGS: Canada, ONE, ONE Members, Spotlight, U2 360° Tour