Bill Clinton: Focusing Americans on Success at Home and in Africa

MR. BROKAW: We're back here on MEET THE PRESS, and on Thursday this past week I sat down for a wide-ranging interview with former President Bill Clinton at his annual Clinton Global Initiative gathering in New York, and I began by asking him about any concerns he may have about private philanthropy drying up in this financial crisis.

FMR. PRES. BILL CLINTON: Well, right now it isn't drying up. I think right now a lot of the kind of the people who do this work are inherently optimistic and deeply committed, and they see this, our Global Initiative and their commitment to the world and in America as a way of building confidence again.

MR. BROKAW: When you ran successfully for president in 1992, the unofficial slogan was, "It's the economy, stupid."

It's hard to imagine, given the political and especially the financial climate that we're all living in now that someone can say it's about aid to Africa, stupid, or it's about AIDS, stupid, or it's about doing something about poverty, stupid.

Is this not going to be an issue, your great work here as the Clinton Global Initiative, in this campaign? Is it going to have to be set off to the side?

Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel sponsors Bar Camp Africa at Google: October 11, 2008.

PRES. CLINTON: Well, I think the answer is it will not -it's not nearly as big an issue for the two thirds of American people who are having trouble paying their own bills and are worried about their future.

On the other hand, I think there -the two great issues in America in this election are how to restore economic strength and broadly shared prosperity and how to restore America's position in the world.

I think -if I were making the CGI argument in a political speech, I'd say we're not going to have the America we want unless prosperity is broadly shared, and to do that, we have to have economic opportunity in the poorest parts of America.

And in the world, the places where America is popular today in the world, really popular, 10 countries in central and eastern Africa. Look at the Pew poll. Wildly popular.

Why?

Because they see us through the prism of President Bush's AIDS and malaria programs and the work the Gates Foundation does, the work that I do, the work that others do.

So we can -this should be presented to the American people that as a part of our participation in the interdependent world, we actually make more partners and fewer enemies.

MR. BROKAW: One of the concerns that the Gates Foundation has, that everything coming out of Africa that is reported is doom and gloom, and they say there are real success stories there.

PRES. CLINTON: Absolutely.

MR. BROKAW: And the American people need to hear about that.

PRES. CLINTON: The American -first of all, I wish we could have a cessation in the use of the word Africa for just 18 months while America learns that Africa is a continent that just in sub-Saharan Africa has 48 separate countries, and that it's not just the geography, it's the politics, the culture, the language, everything is different, and that yes, there's been bad news in Darfur, yes, there's been bad news out of Zimbabwe, but you have country after country after country with very high growth rates and remarkable progress.

I mean, Rwanda, genocide in '94, 10 percent of the country dies in 90 days. Four years later, their per capita income still well under $300 a year, 10 years later, $1,000 a year. Nearly quadrupled their per capita income.

That's the real Africa. That is far more representative of what the African people are doing and can do tomorrow than the other, and I really wish every time we talked about it -you should discuss it with your news people -whether we would mention a country. You might say, "Oh, by the way, it's in Africa," but we've got to stop thinking of Africa as a monolith.

MR. BROKAW: Mr. President, thank you very much.

PRES. CLINTON: Thank you.

Meet the Press Video

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The World I Know: Philanthropic Travel

Has our conscience shown?
Has the sweet breeze blown?
Has all kindness gone?
Hope still lingers on.
I drink myself of newfound pity
Sitting alone in New York City
And I don't know why.

Are we listening?
Hymns of offering.
Have we eyes to see?
Love is gathering.
All the words that I've been reading
Have now started the act of bleeding
Into one.

So I walk up on high
And I step to the edge
To see my world below.
And I laugh at myself
While the tears roll down.
'Cause it's the world I know.
It's the world I know.

-Collective Soul

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American Philanthropic Travel: Leaving the Mines Behind ->Empowering Appalachia

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Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel announces Americans helping Americans Philanthropic Travel (PROBONO): Leaving the Mines Behind Empowering Appalachia: May 31 to June 7, 2009

"Creating a Philanthropic Travel experience that inspires, educates and empowers both traveler/donor as well as host/beneficiaries highlighting Appalachia's American spirit, music, crafts and the individual sacrifice that families have endured as a result of coal industry leadership in the region is only possible in collaboration with our distinguished partners.

I would like to thank Appalshop, Appalachian Media Institute, Paul Corbit Brown, Appalachian Voices, iLoveMountains.org, South Wings, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth and the Appalachian Artisans Center for sharing their wisdom and opening their hearts to us." -David Chamberlain: Founder Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel

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Appalachian Media Institute: All American Philanthropic Travel

"Creating positive change in a democratic society requires a comprehensive understanding of how to present a compelling case to the public using an ever expanding spectrum of media. Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel is especially excited to organize philanthropic travel for the financial benefit of AMI.

Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel announces Americans helping Americans Philanthropic Travel: (PROBONO) Leaving the Mines Behind Empowering Appalachia: May 31 to June 7, 2009

***

The Appalachian Media Institute (AMI), a media training program for central Appalachian youth. Using the technological and artistic resources of Appalshop, AMI helps young people explore how media production skills can be used to ask, and begin to answer, critical questions of themselves and their communities. With opportunities to have input into community dialogues, and frame those dialogues themselves, young people develop the skills and critical thinking abilities necessary to become leaders in creating sustainable futures for their communities. Since its inception AMI has directly engaged over 600 young people in media production.

1. Build the confidence levels and creative capacity of central Appalachian youth

2. Position youth from central Appalachia as initiators of dialogue and social action around crucial community issues

3. Highlight rural voices and to inform national audiences and diverse communities of the unique challenges that face rural Appalachian communities

4. Enable our participants to become informed, tolerant, and engaged citizens and to recognize the interconnections between central Appalachia and the rest of the world

Reaching for Higher Ground, produced by AMI youth, tells the story of a group of young people who are fighting to save their communities water:

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***
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SouthWings.org: All American Philanthropic Travel

"Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel has chosen to introduce philanthropic travelers to the destruction of Mountain Top Removal MTR in Appalachia from the sky in partnership with a high flying 501c3 called South Wings." -David Chamberlain CEO/Founder Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel

Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel announces Americans helping Americans Philanthropic Travel: Leaving the Mines Behind Empowering Appalachia: May 31 to June 7, 2009

Founded in 1996, SouthWings is a conservation and public benefit aviation non-profit that provides skilled pilots and aerial education to enhance conservation efforts across the Southeastern USA. Their team and and service are unique, combining the knowledge of conservation issues with professional piloting skills. We enable those we fly to better understand, from an otherwise inaccessible vantage point, the globally significant ecosystems of the Southeastern United States.

"I Had No Idea..."
The most frequent comment South Wings hears from passengers after a flights is -I had no idea. Why? The bird's eye view from a small plane provides a unique opportunity. They enable those we fly to see beauty and human-induced landscape change in our environment from another, otherwise inaccessible, vantage point.

Through the aerial perspective, SouthWings' service provides experiential understanding of environmental challenges and opportunities for conservation. This perspective fosters understanding of scale/magnitude, and the relationships of cumulative and compounding environmental effects. South Wings provides a means to educate public and elected officials, media, community leaders, researchers and conservation organizations.

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Appalshop.org: All American Philanthropic Travel

Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel has partnered with Appalshop & The Appalachian Media Institute for an All-American Philanthropic Travel Fund Raising Donor Tour experience.

"Appalshop has born witness to the economic, environmental and pressing humanitarian issues of Appalachia since 1969.

Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel is honored to fundraise for Appalshop by introducing Americans to Americans while shining light on a non-profit that has been a beacon of hope for thousands of Appalachia's children to step out of poverty with training in journalism and the arts." -David Chamberlain Founder/CEO Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel

Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel announces Americans helping Americans Philanthropic Travel: Leaving the Mines Behind Empowering Appalachia: May 31 to June 7, 2009

Appalshop is dedicated to the proposition that the world is immeasurably enriched when local cultures garner the resources, including new technologies, to tell their own stories and to listen to the unique stories of others. The creative acts of listening and telling are Appalshop's core competency.

Appalshop began in 1969 as an economic development project of the War on Poverty. The idea was to recruit a group of Appalachian youth and train them in media skills. The expectation was that the young people would use their new skills to find employment outside Appalachia.

Instead, the trainees saw their media knowledge as a way to stay in the region. In looking at Appalachia through the eyes of the existing media, they saw little or nothing that reflected the reality they knew; so they began making films to document their own communities. Over the ensuing thirty-six years Appalshop has grown into a nationally recognized media center working in film, video, recordings, literature, theater, presentation of live performance, and radio.

The subject matter of this work ranges from documenting traditional arts to exploring history to dealing with the social issues that affect the region today. The underlying philosophy has always been that Appalachian people must tell their own stories and solve their own problems.

Appalshop goals are to enlist the power of education, media, theater, music, and other arts:

1. to document, disseminate, and revitalize the lasting traditions and contemporary creativity of Appalachia

2. to tell stories the commercial cultural industries don't tell, challenging stereotypes with Appalachian voices and visions

3. to support communities efforts to achieve justice and equity and solve their own problems in their own ways

4. to celebrate cultural diversity as a positive social value

5. to participate in regional, national, and global dialogue toward these ends

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Randy Wilson plays a banjo made from a fruit cake tin:

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Friends of Ngong Road: Philanthropic Travelers

"Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel is pleased to announce our humanitarian fund raising partnership with Friends of Ngong Road in Nairobi, Kenya. The Friends of Ngong Road team on both sides of the Atlantic execute their mission with professional attention to detail that is truly world class -a best practices case study in The Globalization of Empathy." -David Chamberlain Founder Exquisite Safaris Philanthropic Travel

David Chamberlain 'makes it real,' with Friend's of Ngong Road in Nairobi, Kenya

Life in Kenya is Hard
The mission of Friends of Ngong Road (the fund-raising arm based in the U.S.A) and its sister organization Ngong Road Children Association (the operating arm in Kenya) is to fund education and provide support for children living in Nairobi whose lives are affected by HIV/AIDS. Their goal is to bring hope to these children by pairing a specific child and sponsor thereby giving sponsors a direct role in these children's lives.

The Kenya operations are based in the poor area of Dagoretti in Nairobi where they currently sponsor nearly 200 children.

Every day life is a challenge in Dagoretti, living conditions are crowded, most families live in row houses constructed of corrugated steel packed closely together. Each family shares one, or if they are slightly less destitute, two small rooms.

Clothing is hung on nails pounded into the walls. There is no running water and almost no one has electricity. Bathrooms are pit latrines shared by multiple families. Food is cooked outdoors with charcoal or wood. The streets are usually dirt and become rutted and muddy during the rainy season.

AIDS Makes Life Much Harder
For the typical person in Dagoretti life is difficult but not desperate. Life gets much tougher for children whose parents suffer from or have died of AIDS.

A meal is an uncertain event. Some days the parent or guardian can work and there is money for food. Other days they may be too ill to work and the children go hungry. There is little money for school. Public schools are very crowded and of low quality. Absenteeism is frequent for children whose lives are affected by AIDS, as they often have to miss school to take care of a sibling when their parent or guardian is ill.

Children living in these circumstances are often more quiet, less hopeful and smile far less often than the norm. They are simply surviving with little optimism about the future.

The Smiling People of Ngong Road Walking the streets in Dagoretti is fascinating. People of all ages are on the street or in front of their small one-room shops.

Many of the people around you are friendly and will smile at you as you walk by. They greet each other with big smiles and handshakes. Children run everywhere.

Goats, chickens and the occasional cow all mingle with the people even in these urban areas. There are shops selling a few vegetables, beauty salons, charcoal dealers and places to get a car battery charged to power a T.V. or radio. The occasional car bumps slowly by passing the hand-drawn two-wheeled carts full of wood, or water or something else to sell.

There is always someone interesting to greet.

The Story of The Friends of Ngong Road
The Program is based one man's vision.

Peter Ndungu grew up in the poor areas of Nairobi. He was orphaned at 11 but was befriended by a Lutheran pastor who arranged funding for his education. Peter eventually graduated from both primary and secondary school in Kenya and went on to complete his Masters in Nairobi and Masters of Arts in Evangelism at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Peter had long nurtured a dream of helping children living in poverty to prosper through education. In 2006 he met Paula Meyer while Paula and her family were on vacation in Kenya. He told Paula of his dream and she decided to help make it reality. Friends of Ngong Road and Ngong Road Children Association were founded to turn Peter's dream into a program to help children living in poverty. The volunteers in the U.S. and staff in Nairobi share a deep belief in the value of education and the hope it can bring to young lives.

The Manifestation of One Man's Vision
Friends of Ngong Road and Ngong Road Children Association provide education and support for children who are affected by HIV/AIDS in Nairobi. Their objective is to give children the tools and support to improve their lives through education.

You can Make a Difference: A $750 annual gift allows a child to enter the Program and begin their education at our select schools.

1. Schooling: Tuition, tutoring, uniform, books, supplies and a daily lunch
2. Saturday Program: A day of fun activities and a wholesome meal
3. Family Support: Case worker support, food assistance and access to basic medical care

Sustaining Funds: Sustaining funds provide needs that are beyond a sponsorship (such as extraordinary health care, extracurricular activities and staff/office support)

Scholarships: Funds are needed to provide tuition assistance for children who are best served by a boarding school this includes children whose home situation has become untenable, the top-performing 7th and 8th graders as well as secondary school students whose tuition is higher than primary school costs

Value for Your Investment: Your Contribution Goes to its Intended Purpose

100% of Money Raised is Sent to Kenya:
2007 audit is available on request. Fund-raising and communications in the U.S. are managed by volunteers allowing us to send all of the funds we raise to Kenya.

89% of the Budget Goes to Direct Student Support
Kenya administrative costs total 11% of 2008 forecast freeing the remainder to be spent on direct student costs such as tuition, food as well as student and community outreach.

Focus Schools to Ensure Quality Education
Children in our Program must attend one of our focus schools. These schools were selected based on their strong academic results. Their goal is to form partnerships with a few schools so we can influence them on behalf of our children.

Food for the Family and for Students
Children in our Program receive at least one nutritious meal per day from the Program, Monday through Saturday. Sometimes this is their only meal that day. We also supply a supplemental packet of food monthly.

Community and Friendship for Students and SponsorsSaturday Program and Vacation Camp build a sense of belonging and self esteem. Children write at least two letters annually to their sponsors. In many cases a strong bond is formed between sponsor and child.

A Program Run by Kenyans, for Kenyans
All staff and volunteers in Nairobi live in or were raised in Nairobi's poor urban communities. They understand the challenges faced by our children from personal experience.

Admission Criteria to Select Successful Students
Since space in our program is limited, we select students with the highest academic ability from a range of primary grades. After preliminary selection, we visit their home to review our expectations with the guardian. We look for a home situation conducive to study and where the child receives at least one meal daily.

``
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