A Digest of Excerpts Quoting Save the Children in Recent Editions of National and International Publications
"African Student Overcomes 17 Years in Refugee Limbo," by Carl Triplehorn. February 15, 2008.
Carl Triplehorn, born and raised in Alaska, is Advisor for Protection and Education in Emergencies with Save the Children.
Ten years ago I left my job working at a refugee camp in eastern Africa. It was a bittersweet moment, leaving behind a group of friends and colleagues with whom I had shared so much over three and a half years.
Would I ever see or hear from any of these people again?
To my surprise over the holidays this year, I received a phone call one Saturday from one of those friends, Habtish.
His excitement could hardly be contained when I picked up the phone. Shouting, he gleefully told me his big news -- for the first time in 17 years, he is no longer considered a refugee. He is living in Winnipeg, Canada, working as a car attendant and trying to get used to the cold -- no easy feat when you have grown up in Ethiopia and Kenya.
It is a difficult adjustment, but one he is glad to face. Having spent nearly two decades trapped in the uncertain and often violent life of a refugee, he is thrilled to finally be moving forward.
Habtish's long journey as a refugee began in 1991 when he fled to Kenya, along with thousands of other college students from Ethiopia, as their home country was being ripped apart by war.
At first, living among the rebels produced an almost euphoric sensation of adventure and risk.
Habtish's exhilaration, however, was short-lived. The reality of war quickly came into focus, with night-shattering screams and bullets flying through refugee tents.
After three years, the first camp where Habtish was living closed and he was moved to the camp where I was working. With his courageous attitude and unfailing commitment to complete his education, I sensed in him a kinship of sorts and we easily became friends. We would sit for hours discussing the world's problems and how to solve them.
When my time was finished at the camp, I felt a lump in my throat at the thought of leaving such a close friend behind. In conflict situations, leaving behind a job often means leaving friends and co-workers to face the great unknown. There is no way of knowing what turns the future will take for them. In many cases they do not end well.
To my, and his, great fortune, at the last moment I was able to secure Habtish a scholarship at a good school in Nairobi. I only wish I could have done the same for all the young people at the camp.
The last time I saw Habtish he was with his girlfriend, a woman with whom he had lived throughout his refugee experience. Soon after, however, his girlfriend left with another man to come to the U.S. Habtish finished his degree and without further options went back to living in a refugee camp for a few years until his final resettlement to Canada.
I told Habtish that now I work at Save the Children on a program called Rewrite the Future, where I can help millions of children in conflict areas go to school. His phone call that day solidified all the reasons it is important for children to continue attending school in the harshest of conditions. Having been displaced for as long as Habtish was, and in as many places as he was, he has nothing to show for it except his education. Habtish will have to update his degree in Canada, which he is already planning to do in addition to further schooling.
Next Christmas I will have the great privilege of re-gifting. I am planning on giving back to him an Ethiopian cross he and his girlfriend gave me years ago. This will be the sole possession he will have from when he walked across the border 17 years ago.
In a world of material things, friendships are the most important things. It is great to be back in contact with him but even more rewarding is knowing that he is safe, has a wife he loves, a roof over his head and, especially, a bright future.
Tulsa World, "Not Always Prepared: Disaster Response for Children Lacking," by Janet Pearson. December 2, 2007.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the toll on humans wasn't the only story. Gutwrenching stories of animals left to fend for themselves led to new federal legislation mandating disaster-response plans for domestic critters.
Now, some say, the same should be done to ensure proper disaster response for children. Children aren't just pint-sized adults, advocates point out, and have vastly different needs during and after a disaster.
At first blush, adults might assume existing systems are adequate to meet children's needs during and after a disaster. Unfortunately, that's not so.
"It's second nature to say, 'Women and children first,' but sadly, most plans do not have special ways of addressing children's needs in disasters," said Diane Pratt-Heavner, an official with Save the Children, a national advocacy group pushing Senate Bill 1970, the Kids in Disasters Well-being, Safety and Health Act of 2007.
Numerous reports point up the need to develop disaster plans for children. A 2006 Institute of Medicine report found that the "needs of children in disaster planning have traditionally been overlooked."
Questions raised through various studies remain unaddressed: Will shelters have necessary supplies for children, and will they be safe for children? Will counselors trained in childhood trauma be available? How can delivery of benefits be assured if children end up in another state? Will adequate day care services be available? How can the reopening of schools be expedited? What about expedited reunification procedures? Do all states know where their foster children are housed?
Because children often are in settings other than their homes -- schools, camps and day care, for example -- disaster preparedness planning becomes even more critical.
The frequency of major U.S. disasters -- from storms to wildfires to manmade calamities -- also dictates taking a hard look at protecting children in such events. What's more, disasters are on the increase. According to Save the Children, the number of disasters resulting in presidential disaster declarations has grown from an average of 38 a year in the 1980s, to 46 in the 1990s, to 52 in the early 2000s.
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were not typical disasters, thank goodness, but they illustrate how extreme this problem can be.
A total of 5,192 children were reported missing or displaced after Katrina and Rita, and it was more than six months before all children were reunited with their families.
About a fourth of those affected by Katrina were under age 18. More than a thousand schools were closed after Katrina, and 372,000 children were without schools because of the storm.
Last year, advocates and policy experts from a wide range of disciplines attempted to draft comprehensive recommendations on how to improve disaster response for children. But after several months, they concluded the private and nonprofit sectors couldn't tackle this complex mission alone and called for a national commission, created by Congress, that could examine all the relevant relationships, protocols, programs, resources and gaps.
That is what SB 1970 aims to do. The measure has passed the House and a Senate committee, but its fate in the Senate is uncertain because of a hold placed on it by Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn. A spokesman said the senator believes creating such a commission wouldn't be necessary if "we could get Congress to do its job" and directly address such issues. A commission is in effect a middleman that could be avoided, in the senator's view.
Supporters contend the measure would not usurp congressional legislative authority, and in fact could help Congress develop a preparedness plan.
SB 1970 would establish a commission that would thoroughly study the needs of children during and after disasters and recommend new actions, policies, regulations and legislation it deems appropriate.
A recent report co-authored by Kelly Deal, director of the Tulsa Metropolitan Medical Response System, prepared for the Tulsa Emergency Medical Services Authority, explains in detail the need.
"Children have unique physiologies (size, weight, age, respiratory system, organ capacity and strength, etc.) and psychologies that create unique needs in capabilities and protocols for the use of medical procedures, equipment, drugs, decontamination, mortuary affairs, psychological treatment and legal authorities," the report concludes.
The list of gaps and issues identified in this report is dizzying: school and day-care response issues; hospital treatment demands; transportation and access issues involving child congregate-care settings; equipment issues; identification and tracking challenges; difficulties in performing triage; crisis communication difficulties; language and cultural barriers; quarantine and isolation questions; urgent and long-term mental health care, among many others.
Locally, the Tulsa Partners organization, a public-private partnership that promotes disaster preparedness, is attempting to answer some of these questions, thanks to a $70,000 grant from Save the Children.
Lessons learned in this pilot effort could be useful to a national commission studying the problems.
The organization will work with area children and their families, teachers, child-care providers, emergency response organizations and community leaders to develop a prototype local preparedness program addressing children's needs at every stage of an emergency -- before, during and after.
Sadly, the aftermath of a disaster can go on for years, and for children, the recovery can be especially difficult. Sometimes life-long changes occur.
"Children do not experience a disaster in the same way adults do. They don't understand what's happening. They lose trust in grownups' ability to protect them," noted Pratt-Heavner.
The least we can do for them is make a genuine, concerted effort to provide them the best available protection during times of crisis.
Philadelphia Inquirer, "Education often a casualty," by Carolyn Davis. September 4, 2007.
In developing countries, millions of children only dream about going to primary school.
The International Labor Organization estimates that 180 million youngsters between the ages of 5 and 17 73 percent of all child laborers worldwide are engaged in the most hazardous types of child labor. If they're going to work, they probably aren't going to school.
In Peru, children crush rocks and use toxic mercury to extract the gold inside. Throughout Asia and Africa, they go underground into mines. Children as young as 5 stand in fields and hold flags to show pilots overhead where to drop pesticides. They carry coal, rocks and bricks on their heads. Girls, whose parents often prevent them from going to school, are trafficked into slavery as domestic servants and prostitutes.
The children work in conflict zones. Government armies and rebel groups force children to be soldiers. The technical term is "child recruitment" as though a Darfur boy quivering in a refugee camp could politely refuse heavily armed men who tell him to fight or die.
Education is an early and chronic casualty of conflict. About 43 million youngsters don't go to school because they live in war zones.
On the phone from Kathmandu, Tory Lawson of Save the Children U.S. told me that during 10 years of civil war in Nepal, "Schools, hundreds of them, closed for long periods of time. Kids were abducted; teachers were abducted and killed. People lost belongings and couldn't afford school. ... There weren't enough classrooms, teachers or benches."
Maoist rebels used schools to spread their anti-American propaganda (just as extremist Islamists teach hatred in their classrooms). Since the war's end last year, Nepal's education system has undergone great change. Save the Children is promoting a model that welcomes all children and teaches tolerance and peaceful conflict resolution.
Though education is like air to children in emergencies, very little U.S. foreign aid funding goes to education programs during humanitarian crises. Of course, money has to be spent on food, shelter and medicine during tumultuous times. But people can be in emergency settings for months and years. Education needs to be considered one of the basics of an international emergency response.
A number of international nongovernmental organizations are pressing for increased attention to education around the world. The Group of Eight industrialized nations, which includes the United States, pledged to give more aid for education in impoverished countries to move closer to the U.N. Millennium Development Goals. One of those goals is to achieve universal basic education by 2015.
The Education for All Act, which has bipartisan support, is pending in the U.S. House (H.R. 2092) and Senate (S. 1259). One of its provisions would make a priority of maintaining schools during humanitarian crises. More money for basic education programs also could come out of the fiscal year 2008 budget process Congress has yet to complete. It's hard to fathom why any lawmaker would be against making such a smart investment.
New York Times, "Ex-Senator to Lead Global Drive on Children's Health," by Celia W. Dugger. September 7, 2007.
Bill Frist, the Tennessee Republican who retired this year as Senate majority leader, announced yesterday that he would lead a drive by the charity Save the Children to make the preventable deaths of millions of children in the developing world an issue for Americans.
Mr. Frist, a surgeon, helped push through large increases in federal spending on another global health issue, AIDS, during his years in Congress.
Advocates for children are now trying to emulate the success of AIDS advocates in winning more federal money. Charles F. MacCormack, president of Save the Children, one of the world's largest aid groups, said he watched in awe over the years as the rock star Bono built bipartisan support on debt relief and global AIDS, winning over powerful elected officials, including some like Jesse Helms, the former Republican senator from North Carolina, who were hostile to foreign aid.
Save the Children hopes Mr. Frist will open doors, and it is still in the process of recruiting senior Democratic leaders, to make its appeal bipartisan.
"The children and mothers who die are in huts beyond the end of pathways with no direct access to political or media leaders," Mr. MacCormack said. "We need people who can walk into prime ministers' and presidents' offices."
Mr. Frist is also involved in a related effort.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given $22 million to the One Campaign, of which Bono is a founder, with the aim of focusing the attention of presidential candidates on a range of international development issues, including child survival. It has called this effort One Vote '08, and Mr. Frist, who himself decided against running for president this year, is leading it with another former Senate majority leader, Tom Daschle, Democrat of South Dakota.
While federal spending on AIDS globally has almost quadrupled over the past five years, advocates for children have been frustrated by stagnancy in spending on many of the common childhood illnesses that were long ago conquered in rich countries. Millions of newborns, babies and toddlers in poor countries die each year of pneumonia, diarrhea and other ailments that can be cheaply prevented or treated. "We have tools that are inexpensive, reproducible and proven, yet they're not being applied," Mr. Frist said.
In an interview, he said he had made the case for investing more on maternal and child health in recent conversations with some Republican presidential candidates: Mike Huckabee, Sam Brownback, Fred D. Thompson and Mitt Romney.
Mr. Frist, who will teach a course on global health this year at Princeton University, said he planned to devote the next decade of his life to improving the survival odds of children and mothers in the developing world, joining other retired politicians working on global health. Former President Bill Clinton has taken on AIDS, while former President Jimmy Carter has long battled neglected tropical diseases.
Having left the Senate only in January, Mr. Frist is not yet allowed to lobby members of Congress to support the Global Child Survival Act, a bill introduced this year that would sharply increase spending on the problem. But the One Campaign has mobilized. More than 150,000 of its supporters have written letters to members of Congress, encouraging them to vote for the bill, which has sponsors from both parties.
The measure proposes increasing the budget of the United States Agency for International Development for child and maternal health to $600 million next year and $1.6 billion by 2011, from $356 million this year.
The amounts being considered in the appropriations process are much lower. The Bush administration proposed $345 million. The House version of the bill countered with $374 million, while the Senate bill offered $450 million.
Like Save the Children, the Gates Foundation has also turned to political advocacy, wading into a presidential campaign this year for the first time with its grant to the One Campaign. Melinda Gates, who has taken a particular interest in preventing the deaths of millions of newborns each year, said in an interview that the foundation's pockets were not deep enough to do all that must be done. Federal support is needed.
“The inequalities we want to tackle take governments,” she said. “There’s no way we with our $30 billion could begin to tackle these problems alone.”
Parents and Kids (Boston, Mass.), "Back to School Shopping While Helping Others Offered at T.J.Maxx," by GateHouse News Service. August 7, 2007.
One in every six children in the United States lives in poverty, and for 75 years, Save the Children has been working tirelessly to help these children survive and thrive by improving their health, education and economic opportunities.
Since 1984, T.J. Maxx and their customers have been devoted partners to Save the Children, working to help Save the Children deliver much-needed monetary and merchandise donations. This unique partnership has raised over ten million dollars to help children here in the United States. This year, during the busy back-to-school retail period, T.J. Maxx will focus all marketing efforts — including advertising, public relations, on-line media, direct mail and in-store signage —on creating an awareness program for this vital non-profit organization. All children and teens featured in the marketing efforts are from the rural communities where Save the Children works. Here in Boston 121 children are sponsored by the local T.J. Maxx stores.
“We are extremely proud to be able to access our stores to bring further awareness to children in need in our nation, and to talk about the great work Save the Children does every day,” explains T.J. Maxx spokesperson Sonya Cosentini. “Our twenty-three year partnership with Save the Children has allowed us as a corporation, and our customers, to help Save the Children assist thousands of children. We hope that this campaign will not only raise awareness, but increase the number of children in our country that are being served.”
In addition to the awareness campaign, T.J. Maxx will be hosting the annual ‘Happy Hearts’ campaign in-store from July 29th-August 25th. Everyone will be invited to donate $1 at the register to Save the Children to assist children in need around the United States.
“In the United States, too many children grow up in communities mired by persistent poverty. With the help of T.J. Maxx and its many generous customers, Save the Children has reached nearly 35,000 of these children, providing them with opportunities to succeed in life,” said Mark Shriver, Vice President and Managing Director of Save the Children’s U.S. Programs.
In 1984, T.J. Maxx and Save the Children entered into a partnership which began with the sponsorship of 113 U.S. children. Today, the multi-faceted partnership, in which all donations are earmarked to U.S. Programs, has grown to include the sponsorship of 876 American children, in addition to over a million dollars raised each year. T.J. Maxx generated funds are dedicated to Save the Children's long term child development programs. Specifically, donations are supporting early childhood development, literacy, and nutrition and physical activity programs, which operate in poor, rural communities across the nation.
The Tulsa World, "Disaster training: Safety can be fun, too.
A national program teaches disaster preparedness at child-care centers.
Eight-year-old Katelyn Merritt bounded away from reading time with a backpack filled with items she can use in the event of a disaster.
Reading time Monday at the Crosstown Learning Center. 2501 E. Archer St.. was about how some children acted during a tornado.
Backpacks stuffed with essentials, such as flashlights, soap, washcloths and toothbrushes, were given out at the end of the reading.
But Katelyn liked the nonessentials, such as crayons, notebooks and a stuffed animal.
"I like the teddy bear," she said. "I'm going to put my little toy rabbit in here with my blanket, so I can cover up with it. It's my favorite, with ladybugs on it."
Crosstown is the first of 20 child-care centers in the Tulsa area to participate in a national pilot program for disaster preparedness planning for children.
Save the Children provided a $70,000 grant to Tulsa Partners to conduct the yearlong program. The Child Care Resource Center in Tulsa will identify the other centers to participate.
J.R. Thomas, the national director for Save the Children's domestic emergencies unit, said Tulsa has a reputation for quality preparedness planning dating to the 1980s.
"Tulsa was chosen for its progressive nature of people working together and cooperating.” Thomas said.
'That is what you need — all members of the community looking at and planning for children's issues."
Save the Children began focusing on domestic disaster planning for children during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Children who were evacuated during that disaster in August and September 2005 lived in temporary trailers in areas void of any playgrounds, community centers or recreation areas. Save the Children has built a park among one temporary community and is building nine others.
"Save the Children feels very strongly that disasters affect children in different ways." Thomas said. "Adults can understand what is going on. But imagine being 5, 6 or 7 and being told you have to leave. You don't know why you are leaving. It plays on a child in a very direct way."
Part of the grant will be used to include in the city disaster planning how children will be taken care of during and after emergencies.
Thomas said shelters are usually loud, with cots positioned close together and lights that are rarely turned down.
"We don't want children to be put in that situation if we can help it." he said.
For child-care centers, this would involve developing
evacuation plans, letting parents know where those evacuations will lead and educating young children about different types of disasters.
"We found that in school shootings, parents would always go to the schools, which puts them in harm's way." Thomas said. "So we need to develop evacuation plans and tell parents where they need to go if something happens."
By coordinating plans among child-care centers, the city can make sure that enough transportation and evacuation space would be available, he said.
The backpacks are meant to give children safety supplies and prompt a conversation about disaster preparedness with them and their parents.
Debbi Guilfoyle director of the Crosstown Learning Center, said child-care facilities are a good avenue to reach children and families.
Child care in Tulsa and nationally "is undergoing a huge change, and lots of initiatives are being put into place," Guilfoyle said. "Oklahoma has taken a lead in the initiatives that strengthen children and families. Tulsa has led Oklahoma."
The program is expected to reach about 500 Tulsa-area children.
Save the Children plans to take the lessons learned from the Tulsa program and create a model and guide for other cities.
Learn more about finding ways to keep U.S. children safe in disasters.
PR Week USA, "TJ Maxx raises poverty awareness in back-to-school campaign," by Aarti Shah. July 25, 2007.
FRAMINGHAM, MA: TJ Maxx is working with Save the Children for a back-to-school marketing promotion designed to raise awareness about illiteracy and poverty among children in the US.
Sonya Cosentini, media relations supervisor at TJ Maxx, said the store has worked with the non-profit since 1984, but this year it would be launching the integrated campaign on its largest scale yet.
In addition to media outreach, the campaign will feature children from Save the Children communities on in-store displays, where customers will be able to donate to the cause. TJ Maxx has also made a video news release of the children's photo shoot and will run the footage in its stores. Other promotions will include direct mailers and information on the company's Web site, Cosentini said.
TJ Maxx is working with its AOR Leary & Company on the campaign, and Dogmatic, Inc. assembled the video news release. Cosentini would not disclose the campaign's budget.
Mark Shriver, VP and managing director for US Programs at Save the Children, said the organization is also doing some internal promotion. But Shriver added that the number of customers that will be reached during the two-month campaign far exceeds any outreach the non-profit could do on its own.
"The thing that TJ Maxx brings to the table is they have a major public relations group, and they're a major corporation," he noted. "TJ Maxx has done a wonderful job raising dollars for us in the past, but this really ramps up the public awareness of our work."
Shriver said he hopes the campaign puts a human face on the issues while offering solutions.
To date, the 23-year partnership has raised about $10 million in donations from various sources, Cosentini noted. In-store donations have generated about $1 million per year since 2000, Cosentini said. The company hopes to exceed that number this year.
“Community fat fight,” By Susan J. Blumental
The
Also ran in the Jackson Jackson Clarion-Ledger
In a nation where french fries are the No. 1 vegetable consumed by America's children, tipping the scales on childhood obesity requires more than adding a few extra veggies to school lunches. Based on the latest scientific evidence, it takes the commitment of the entire community.
A recent study conducted in the city of Somerville, Mass., shows simple, low-cost solutions — when embraced by adults and children across a community — can help turn the tide on obesity, which is the second leading cause of preventable death in America.
In the "Shape Up Somerville" study, researchers from the Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutritional Science and Policy did more than revamp school menus to address childhood obesity. They also worked with restaurants to promote healthier fare, installed new bike racks and repainted crosswalks to encourage more physical activity, and hosted community health fairs, among other measures. The results showed that, during the course of the study, school children in Somerville gained less weight than children in two nearby communities that did not participate in the program.
Can this approach work elsewhere? The nonprofit Save the Children, which works with children in poor, rural areas across the nation, intends to find out. The agency has partnered with Tufts to adapt and test the Somerville approach in rural communities in California's Central Valley, Kentucky, Mississippi and South Carolina.
Supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, researchers are examining how factors at school, home and in the community affect the physical activity levels of rural schoolchildren. Their findings will support design of a program to break down the barriers to healthy lifestyles for children in rural settings.
The research is already demonstrating the tremendous challenges facing rural communities. Similar to kids in urban and suburban America, rural children have grown too accustomed to a sedentary lifestyle of watching television and playing video games while consuming high-fat, high-sugar snacks.
However, rural children often lack critical resources to ensure a healthy and productive life. Too many rural communities have too few parks, athletic programs or recreational facilities. Their grocery stores may not offer a diverse selection of affordable, fresh produce. With few schools within walking distance of home, many rural children must sacrifice playtime to long bus commutes.
Persistent rural poverty and lack of education about proper nutrition and the benefits of physical activity only compounds the problem. In families living paycheck to paycheck, children may overeat when food is available and rely on inexpensive, high-calorie and low-nutrient food as cash runs out. The cycle can lead to obese but malnourished children.
Crafting solutions is an enormous challenge we cannot afford to ignore. Over the last 30 years, the childhood obesity rate has nearly tripled for preschoolers and more than quadrupled for children ages 6 to 11. One-third of America's children are either obese or at risk of becoming obese.
The outcome for many of these children will be a lifetime of struggling with chronic diseases, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, asthma, depression and some types of cancer. If the obesity trend continues, some worry this may be the first generation of children that is not as healthy as its parents, resulting in lost opportunity, diminished productivity and dramatically escalating health costs.
To be sure, schools must play a significant role in the fight against childhood obesity. Initiatives such as Save the Children's physical activity and nutrition program in poor, rural schools are already proving the value of investing in obesity prevention.
But only so much can be done in the confines of a school day. When children step off campus, they are vulnerable to the lure of fast food, television and their video games. Clearly, we need more than a classroom session to convince an overweight and obese nation to get off the couch and out of the cookie jar.
The actions needed to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic must be robust enough to counteract the factors that led to this health crisis in the first place. Over the last 100 years, public health interventions such as improved sanitation, immunizations, food, water, tobacco and highway safety regulations have helped add 30 years on average to the life expectancy of Americans. Now, the country needs a similar multifaceted public health approach with broad civic engagement to modify behavioral, structural and environmental causes of obesity. This means mobilizing all sectors of society including families, schools, businesses, health-care providers, the media and policymakers.
To shape up, America's children need and deserve the support of their entire communities and country to ensure a healthier future for them in the 21st century.
Susan J. Blumenthal, M.D., a member of the board of trustees of Save the Children, was assistant surgeon general of the United States and deputy assistant secretary for health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She is a clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown and Tufts University Schools of Medicine and Distinguished Advisor for Health and Medicine at the Center for the Study of the Presidency.
The Akron Beacon Journal (OH), “A simple gift of salt and sugar; That's all the joy some mothers may crave,” May 8, 2007.
Right around the time the mailbox begins to sag with Mother's Day literature is when I look out for another take on motherhood.
When the come-ons pick up for diamonds and pearls, perfumes and all things feminine, I know what is about to land on my desk: the "State of the World's Mothers" annual report from Save the Children, an international children's advocacy group.
I could bet the arrival of the report early in May is not timed to induce even the hint of guilt. Let's just say the rundown of the state of motherhood the world around can make for serious discomfort when half the brain is considering plunking down megabucks for some Burberry or Chanel creation, while the other half is processing how many infants might survive diarrhea if the investment went into zinc capsules and packets of salts-and-sugar mix.
The long and short of this year's report is that the state of the world's mothers would be a good deal better if lessons that have been learned and tested were applied more broadly and consistently. A woman would want to think hard about being a mother in Afghanistan or in Sierra Leone, for instance, or in Niger, Yemen and a few more places where the risks for mothers and infants run high.
In 2000 in Afghanistan and Sierra Leone, one in six women was likely to die from problems related to childbirth. Comparatively, the lifetime risk of maternal mortality in the United States was one mother in 2,500. (The U.S. rate of maternal mortality doesn't look so hot against top-ranked Sweden's 1-in-29,800 or Slovakia's 1-in-19,800.)
As maternal survival goes, so goes the survival of infants and toddlers. In Sierra Leone in 2005, 282 children out of every 1,000 born alive died before their fifth birthday. In the United States, the mortality rate for this age range was seven out of 1,000 live births that year, still higher than the rate in much of Europe and the industrialized world.
There is something at once frustrating and hopeful about the unrelieved misery that lies behind such data. The experiences of many countries in the past century have illustrated what it takes to drive down the high death rates among mothers and children, whether the deaths are occuring in the midst of affluence or poverty.
There is little excuse, in short, for mothers to be dying at the rate of one in six in the 21st century or for infants not to live past their first year.
As governments or individuals, we have a good understanding what it takes to make a dramatic difference for safer motherhood and childhood. And for the most part, the process doesn't require inventing a whole new machine, merely assembling the parts as local circumstances demand.
The Centers for Disease Control in October 1999 published a review of the declining rates of maternal and infant mortality in the United States from 1900 to 1999. It is a long way from 100 child deaths per 1,000 live births in 1900 to 7.2 per 1,000 in 1997. In 1900, six to nine mothers died for every 1,000 in childbirth. By 1997, the rate had dropped to a remarkable 0.1 per 1,000.
The downward trend is enough to make any mother's day — without benefit of pearls and roses. That's not to say that America is in a position to be complacent. Especially among African-Americans and in some areas of the country, this country has quite a way to go yet to catch up with Scandinavia and much of Europe.
Many of the medical advances so critical to the declines in mortality rates — from technologies such as incubators that have saved millions of premature babies and access to health insurance and skilled professionals — remain out of the reach of the majority of mothers in the neediest countries.
We know that mortality drops when more girls and women have better general education and access to better information about reproductive health. So does the spacing of births to reduce the risks of frequent pregnancies for both mothers and children (which makes it oh so frustrating when those who face no risks from frequent pregnancies play politics with information about family planning).
But many other factors are easily transferable to the Nigers, Yemens and Sierra Leones that are a century behind in mortality rates. Many a report has pointed to simple steps that are effective and relatively cheap: a warm cap for a newborn, immunizations, breastfeeding, a clean razor blade to cut an umbilical cord and access to clean water and rehydrating salts. For so many mothers, that's all it may take to make not a day but their life.
New York Daily News, "Simon says: Give to the poor; 'Idol' hosts 2-night telethon for kids," April 24, 2007.
Simon Cowell visits a classroom in Africa for 'Idol Gives Back,' an all-star benefit.
The real power of "American Idol" gets put to the test tonight and tomorrow when the show becomes a fund-raiser, in addition to a talent show.
Tonight at 8, Fox kicks off a two-night extravaganza called "Idol Gives Back," in which the weekly performance and results shows will be elevated into the equivalent of a telethon.
The two nights, with appearances by stars Celine Dion, Kelly Clarkson, Pink, Gwen Stefani, Kiera Knightly, Josh Groban, Carrie Underwood and more, are designed to raise money for children living in poverty in the U.S. and Africa.
Performances will be mixed with footage of the "Idol" judges visiting Africa and spots in the U.S., such as New Orleans. Ellen DeGeneres has been signed to host tomorrow's two-hour "Idol Gives Back" special.
"It's something that's done in Europe, this kind of charity entertainment show, which is mixed in with music and comedy, and it's very successful," "Idol" executive producer Ken Warwick told reporters.
The concept was developed by film producer Richard Curtis in England, where similar events were huge in the past.
Tonight's show will have the six remaining contestants singing songs of compassion and hope, while Wednesday's show will be a huge blowout, with someone being sent home. Already the project has raised $15 million in corporate donations.
"It's a wonderful opportunity," said Mark Shriver, vice president of U.S. operations of Save the Children, one of the beneficiaries of "Idol Gives Back." "What's actually happened has far exceeded my expectations. This is not only to raise money, but to raise awareness for poverty in America and Africa.
"One in six kids lives in poverty in the United States," Shriver told the Daily News. "Now 30 million people will understand this through these vignettes."
Shriver was in New Orleans when "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson visited children in the area ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.
"'American Idol' and Fox deserve a lot of credit," said Shriver. "They've given their time, their talent - and they've given their money, which is their treasure, if you will."
The two-hour program tomorrow night will mix performances, appearances and comedy.
"Throughout the show, there is a certain amount of humor and a certain amount of shock value, shall we say, that is going to make people - well it's going to entertain people, and that's what we're after doing," Warwick said. "But it's going to move people to put their hands in their pockets and make them want to watch to the very [end]."
It will also be a test of the pulling power of "Idol." Last week, 38 million votes were cast during the results phase. It's also the first time the biggest show on TV has been used to raise money and awareness for such a cause.
"We've got the backing of the stars," Warwick said. "We've got the backing of the corporations, and hopefully when it goes out, we'll see we've got the backing of the public and we'll see how we do."
Gannett News Service, "'Idol Gives Back' makes effort to change the world," April 22, 2007.
Even by Hollywood standards, "Idol Gives Back" is a large-scale project.
It will be a big stage and big stars, trying to raise big money.
"It's a different kind of show," says producer Ken Warwick.
That starts with a semi-typical "American Idol" hour, at 7 p.m. Tuesday on KDVR-Channel 31. The next night it moves to Disney Hall in Los Angeles for two hours of music, comedy and more.
"You have the biggest show on television making a real effort to change the world," says Mark Shriver, head of U.S. operations for Save the Children, one of the recipients of donations from the show.
Shriver, 43, is accustomed to the link between celebrity and charity. The son of Sargent and Eunice Shriver, he's seen his family and his Kennedy kin propel the Special Olympics.
"Idol Gives Back," however, will try to go beyond that.
On one level it will aim for emotion. "Over 30 million people are going to see vignettes that will open their hearts," Shriver says.
On another it will try for fun. "These kind of shows can be a little bit depressing if you're not careful," Warwick says.
He plans to have lots of music - Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Celine Dion, Rascal Flatts, Pink, Il Divo, Michael Buble, Annie Lennox, Josh Groban - and more. "There is a certain amount of humor," Warwick says.
Yes, humor. That reflects Richard Curtis, who has pushed the idea.
Curtis, 51, would seem to be your standard writer of British silliness. He wrote the "Mr. Bean" and "Blackadder" shows for TV, then went on to such movies as "Four Weddings and a Funeral," "Love, Actually" and "Notting Hill." Last year, Curtis detoured. HBO's "The Girl in the Cafe" was a light romantic comedy that doubled as a plea for the rich nations to do more for Third World countries.
"Richard's genius is that he can do a show that brings this to light in a real and entertaining way," Shriver says.
In England, Curtis created a fundraising project called Red Nose Day. Then came the idea of an expansion.
"Richard Curtis ... came over and said it would be so great if we could get it up and running," Warwick says. "So we decided ... to put it together." An overall Charity Projects Entertainment Fund was created, which will fund money to at least eight organizations.
Some focus on Africa, where people face crises in AIDS, malaria and infant death. "Idol" judge Simon Cowell and host Ryan Seacrest visited there.
Others focus on the U.S. where "one in five children (grows) up in poverty in the richest nation in the world," Shriver says.
Randy Jackson, an "Idol" judge, suggested that some segments be filmed in portions of Louisiana hit by Hurricane Katrina, Warwick says. "He comes from Baton Rouge so it was close to his heart." "Idol Gives Back" will show films of that while mixing in the regular "American Idol" week.
Lexington Herald Leader, "'American Idol' to Make Sweet Music for Kentucky," April 22, 2007.
American Idol could make some very different types of dreams come true in Eastern Kentucky during this week's episodes.
For each vote cast Tuesday night after Fox's hit singing competition, corporate sponsors will make a donation to charities that benefit children. (To put that in context, 37 million votes were cast last week, according to a show announcement.) A two-hour results show Wednesday night will feature pop-star performances and A-list appearances while encouraging viewers to donate. The money will be distributed by Save the Children and other organizations in the United States and the Charity Projects Entertainment Fund in Africa. Some of the money will go toward Save the Children's literacy programs in Kentucky, and students in Letcher County will be featured in vignettes during the Idol episodes.
Save the Children started in the United States 75 years ago as a hot-meal program for undernourished children in Harlan County, and it now has a regional office in Berea.
"There are kids in Letcher County that have dreams, too -- they may not be the dream to be a rock star or pop icon, but they have dreams," said Mark Kennedy Shriver of Save the Children. "They can be fulfilled if they have a strong education and healthy lifestyle."
Shriver said the fund-raiser is guaranteed $14 million, but more votes could mean a higher donation. He sees American Idol's involvement as a new model for charitable giving, one that reaches a huge television audience that might not be aware of poverty and how organizations are tackling it. It's a risk for a top-rated show known for its lighthearted competition, Shriver says, but he expects audiences to react positively.
"American Idol and Fox deserve a lot of credit. It could turn people off. It could send a mixed message," Shriver said. "We're going to change the format in order to make people aware of poverty in this country and ask them to help."
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, "Stitching infant caps warms hearts Arkansans helping save newborns in African country of Malawi," March 25, 2007.
CONWAY - When Pamela Owen of Little Rock knitted 10 infant caps last year, she attached tags with greetings such as, "Welcome to the world, baby." For children in the southern Africa country of Malawi, the world can be anything but welcoming. More than 16,000 Malawi newborns die each year in their first month of life, according to the aid organization Save the Children.
Upon learning that something as simple as a cap can help prevent hypothermia in newborns, Owen and 93 other Arkansans joined knitters and crocheters around the country in making 280,000 caps for babies in developing countries.
Of this warming headgear, 75,000 arrived March 9 in Malawi - including 808 stitched by Arkansans. The remaining caps will be delivered to Bangladesh this week.
Save the Children and the Warm Up America! Foundation, a grassroots charitable organization of volunteer knitters and crocheters nationwide, coordinated the project, dubbed Caps to the Capital, because a sampling of the hats first went to Washington along with notes encouraging this nation's leaders to do more for newborns in developing countries.
Cheryl Gunnells, president of Warm Up America!, said the foundation got involved after one of its members read a New York Times article about a Save the Children report on the plight of mothers and newborns in de- veloping countries and impoverished rural areas of the United States.
"In that report, it mentions that some of these babies could be helped and not die, just from a simple thing like a knitted hat," recalled Gunnells, who also is executive director of publications at Leisure Arts in Little Rock.
"So, immediately, we knew that's what our role would be - to get the word out to knitters and crocheters." Warm Up promoted the effort on its Web site and contacted magazines such as Woman's Day about the project, and word spread.
"Friends told friends, schools told schools, children told children, and guilds and clubs all across America got involved," Gunnells said during a Jan. 31 presentation in Washington to Caps to the Capital participants.
"We only had about six weeks to pull this thing off," she said in a recent telephone interview. "People started knitting like crazy. It was absolutely amazing." Gunnells said she was particularly surprised to learn so many children were making the caps.
"I remember reading some of those [tags] where the children say, `I just wanted to do something that I knew how to do to help a baby,'" she said. "You could tell they were really heartfelt." Letters and hats came from people ages 3 to 99, from all 50 states, and from organizations and professions ranging from the Girl Scouts to bus drivers to doctors.
Clicking on Save the Children's Web site at www. savethechildren.org/campaigns/caps-to-the-capital will lead to images of a whiteand-green cap resembling a smiling frog from Colorado and, from Michigan, a mostly white hat resembling a big-eyed duck with a yellow beak.
One message, from an unidentified Arkansas artisan, says, "May your child grow in health and wisdom." From a Kentucky knitter: "May your child and mine come into this world safely, live, laugh and grow up together - though they may be a world apart." Owen, who is director of alumni relations at Hendrix College in Conway, said first and foremost the caps were a baby gift.
"It was just like being a part of a community that was doing something positive instead of just talking about it," Owen said, adding that she learned just recently that the Arkansas hats had been sent to Malawi.
The U.S. ambassador to Malawi, Alan Eastham, states in an e-mail sent last week that the country was one of the world's least developed, "where the majority of people live in a type of poverty that most Americans would have difficulty imagining." An estimated 133 of every 1,000 children born in Malawi die before their fifth birthday, said Eastham, who is a native of Dumas.
"The caps, and other care techniques taught to [Malawi] mothers, help avoid newborn hypothermia during the period when newborns cannot regulate their own body temperature," Eastham explained. "The presentation of the caps helps to build awareness among Malawians of the need to use these care techniques." Eastham's wife, Carolyn, formerly of Morrilton, knitted several caps and organized women in Lilongwe, Malawi, to knit more than 70.
Dr. Tarek Meguld, a German physician who has worked at Bwaila Hospital for more than three years, was present when the caps arrived.
"It is inspiring that women in America would think to do something so small, but so essential for their sisters here in Malawi," Alan Eastham quoted Meguld as saying.
The Caps to the Capital project wasn't Owen's first foray into charitable knitting. Last year, she made more than 30 caps for young patients at Arkansas Children's Hospital as part of the Knitting for Noggins program, which gathered nearly 22,000 head warmers. That project was separate from Caps to the Capital.
This time, Owen got to see a picture of a Malawi mother holding an infant wearing a brightly colored cap that Owen had stitched - a hot-pink head warmer with small red blocks.
"It's a baby gift," Owen said. "It's just a smart, simple thing. It might make an impact. That's rewarding in and of itself."
The New York Times, “Charity Drive on 'American Idol',” March 9, 2007.
The producers of "American Idol" have announced that they will use two broadcasts in April to raise money for children's charities in the United States and Africa. For each vote cast after the April 24 show, sponsors, including Coca-Cola and AT&T, will donate an unspecified amount. (This week about 37 million votes were cast for performers on the show, according to Fox.)
On the April 25 show, which will feature performances by Gwen Stefani, Josh Groban, Pink, Annie Lennox and Sacha Baron Cohen, viewers will be able to make their own donations by telephone or the Internet. The show's producers said on Thursday that the proceeds, split equally between American and African charities, would go to Save the Children and other organizations in the United States, and to the United States Fund for Unicef, Save the Children and other groups in Africa.
The Green Bay Press Gazette (WI), “Afghan winter cold, but not like home,” By Jiffer Bourguignon.
February 10, 2007.As a Green Bay native, you would think I could take the cold. Yet here I sit, shivering in the blistery white winter of Kabul, Afghanistan, a world away from Wisconsin, where this week some schools were forced to close due to frigid temperatures.
In Afghanistan, it is said that the winter is the calmest time of the year because "it's just too cold to fight." After the cold Green Bay has felt in the last week and the many weeks of subzero temperatures I have felt in Kabul, I think we can both see the logic in that.
The water pipes in many homes here are frozen solid, as are the wells, and the remains of a snowstorm that hit town three weeks ago still blanket the city. The heat from the boukhari, the wood-burning stove that warms my office — - as well as roasts almonds and makes a mean espresso — begins to wane and I hike my shawl up around my shoulders, just as an Afghan colleague walks by in flip-flop sandals and no socks, a brash contrast to my Green Bay sensitivities.
Much like the lakes of Wisconsin, the Kabul River is nearly frozen over and children are shoe-skating across small off-shooting ponds, not unlike how I spent my youth in Green Bay. However, the similarities stop there.
In Green Bay, despite a few days of school closings, classes will continue. In Kabul, the cold means a long winter break from school, from early December until March.
While formal schools shut their doors for the winter, Save the Children, where I work, fills the void, providing students with an opportunity to read, discuss and learn so they may sharpen their skills and get ahead before the start of the coming school year. The children here understand that education is integral to long-term peace building, a concept almost as foreign to them as wearing sandals in winter is to me, as many have only ever known the violence of war.
The fifth and sixth grade boys I work with meet in a neighborhood home to study. Plastic insulates the windows and a wood-burning stove warms the room. Most children are barefoot with nothing more than a sweater pulled on over their shalwar kameez, the traditional light cotton pants and long tunic shirt. Argyle sweaters and "First National Bank" sweatshirts have made their way to the local markets via garage sales and clothing drives from afar.
The children are amazingly attentive, so eager to volunteer information, to share their opinion. They are respectful of others and take turns speaking; with wide eyes, they take in every word and absorb the praise of their instructor. "Awffereen," "Good," he says when the discussion, punctuated by coughs and sniffles, turns to the topic of the Save the Children library books that the boys are reading.
Library books are returned and new titles are given in exchange. The boys scramble for the return pile, trading last week's reading in for popular copies of colorful story books such as "The Golden King," which tells the story of a wealthy king who is granted his one wish — that everything he touches turn to gold. The king soon discovers however that his fondest wish has brought a nightmare; he cannot eat his food or play with his children — everything has turned into gold! He is forced to beg to recant his wish. "The moral of the story is that people should be happy with what they have, instead of always wanting more," said sixth-grader Mansour.
This group meets once a week for two hours. During their winter vacation, the boys say they like to continue their studies and enjoy getting together for study groups. Science, math and languages are among their favorite subjects — and doctor, teacher and engineer are the future vocations of choice for most in the group.
Come on, I prod, you must do more during your winter vacation than just study? They smile sheepishly and shyly concede that kite flying is also fun. So is playing cricket. But we love our books, they insist; "we would love to have more books."
The Houston Chronicle, "For local third-graders, knitting was a hobby - until they saw it could save babies a world away; A little yarn goes a long way," January 31, 2007.
WASHINGTON - They started out just wanting to join a club, to gather in the cafeteria before school a morning a week, talk to their friends and learn to knit.
But for 80 third-graders at Westwood Elementary School in Friendswood, the knitting club has become so much more.
About 325 baby hats made at the school - and a quarter-million others donated by knitters and crocheters around the country - make a stop in Washington today en route to expectant mothers in Bangladesh and Malawi who may be able to increase their babies' chance of survival simply by covering their heads for warmth.
And 8-year-old Elizabeth Warwick is on her way to the White House, carrying a message from her classmates in Friendswood to the president of the United States: Learn to knit. Send yarn. Give more money to developing countries so little babies can stop dying.
"The baby hats are really fun to knit," Warwick said before boarding a plane for Washington. "I like blues and purples and violets, but sometimes I'll do grays and browns and different colors so I can send some to girls and some to boys. It's fun and you know other people can really use them."
The "Caps to the Capital" campaign was born last spring when Save the Children released its annual report on the "State of the World's Mothers," pointing out that 2 million babies die every year within 24 hours of birth; 4 million in the first month.
Up to 70 percent could be saved, the report concluded, by simple, inexpensive measures, like encouraging breast feeding, swaddling newborns close to their mothers and putting knit caps on babies' heads to keep them warm.
Grassroots movement
The Warm Up America Foundation, a grassroots movement that provides knitted and crocheted blankets and clothing to hospitals, shelters and nursing homes, sprang into action, organizing knitters in every state in the country. Save the Children agreed to get the baby caps to places where they could do the most good.
The organization doesn't usually collect items to send, mainly because transportation costs are so high, said Save the Children spokeswoman Eileen Burke.
"But there was something about a mom, a grandmother, a Girl Scout here reaching those moms and babies overseas," she said. "The caps are basically a symbol. They represent the package of simple solutions that mothers and babies need, and they are a symbol of American support to do more to save children's lives."
A cause for children
Barbara Gruener, the guidance counselor at Westwood Elementary who started the knitting club with parent volunteers four years ago - and has helped the children donate blankets to hospitals, a prenatal clinic and a nursing home - jumped at the chance to get involved.
The baby cap project was perfect, from a knitting perspective and from a character-building perspective, she said. It allowed students to do a small knitting project, start to finish, to help other kids and to also write their elected representatives about a cause that means something to them.
"My kids were like, `You mean, I could save a baby?' " she said. "That was huge."
The knitting club, she added, has been much more effective in teaching the pupils about compassion and public service than other projects she has tried. Some of her former knitters, now at Bales Intermediate School next to Westwood, have served as mentors for the third-graders, and the third-graders are teaching their younger siblings to knit.
"I love the idea behind food drives, but quite frankly, the food drive wasn't doing much for these kids," she said. "They would get a can of corn out of mom's pantry the day it was due and plop it on the table outside my office. That's nice, but with the knitting club, they've actually made something with their hands. They've struggled through it - maybe had to start over four or five times, but they persevered, and then they give it away to someone who really needs it."
Letters to the president
Since last summer, about 20,000 people across the country - knitting guilds, church groups, even prison inmates - have made about 260,000 baby caps for the Caps to the Capital project.
About 10,000 people, including the students in Friends- wood, also wrote letters to lawmakers and Bush, asking for increased funding for child survival programs around the world, which has remained about $360 million annually.
Today, Warwick and others are to meet with a member of first lady Laura Bush's staff at the White House and with lawmakers on Capitol Hill before attending a reception at the Textile Museum, which will display some of the caps before they leave Washington.
Back in Friendswood, Warwick's fellow knitters are again piecing together blankets and will find homes for them locally. But their minds are clearly still on the babies who will wear their hats.
"I hope it saves at least some of them," said Kiersten Deschner, 9, who made five hats.
In letters to the White House, some young knitters asked President Bush to make every school in the country start a knitting club. Others asked him to send more money to poor countries to save children's lives. Some requested that he send yarn. Some asked that he visit their school.
"Please can you come to Westwood?" asked one. "We will teach you how to knit."
The Connecticut Post, "Students lobby to help world's neediest," February 1, 2007.
WASHINGTON — The House floor was a beehive of activity Wednesday at noon as lawmakers began casting a series of votes to set the budget for the rest of the fiscal year.
Amid the dark suits was a smiling Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, who sat with four young constituents from Green's Farms Elementary School in Westport, Conn., who had come to his office moments earlier to discuss a community service project.
When the vote was called to honor Percy Lavon Julian, the first black chemist inducted into the National Academy of Sciences, Shays passed his voting card to the girls. They slid his card across a scanner to record his vote in the affirmative — a green light lit up next to his name on the giant tote board above the gallery.
Five minutes later, they again cast a vote for Shays — this time in the negative — for the first in a series of votes on the 2006 budget.
"We got to vote!" the girls exclaimed later.
Shays was only too happy to give them a close-up view of democracy in action as well as a quick tour of the U.S. Capitol.
They had come to his office to lobby on behalf of Save the Children and its efforts to reduce the number of infant deaths.
Volunteers across the nation knitted and crocheted more than 270,000 infant caps that Save the Children is sending to Bangladesh and Malawi, which have high rates of newborn deaths. Nearly 17,000 were knit in Connecticut.
Sisters Caroline, 10, and Charlotte Rossi, 7; and Elizabeth,
10, and Katherine Coogan, 8, helped sew pompoms on some of the caps and wrote notes to the mothers who will receive them. They also wrote President Bush asking him to support greater funding for public health programs in poor nations.
Worldwide, 4 million infants die each year before they reach a month old, including 2 million during the first 24 hours of life, nearly all in poor countries. Save the Children wants lawmakers to nearly double spending for child survival programs to $660 million.
Save the Children President Charles MacCormack, who accompanied the girls to Shays' office, said the Caps to the Capital program demonstrates how small efforts can have big impacts on the world.
"For pennies a day, we could save 11 million children a year," he said.
Maureen Coogan and Marguerite Rossi, who lead Brownie Troop 552, said they found out about the program during a tour of Save the Children's Westport headquarters. They decided it would make a good community service project for the "Citizens Near and Far" badge that the third-graders hoped to earn.
"They were too young to knit the caps, but helped by adding pompoms and writing notes," Rossi said.
The Junior Girl Scout Troop 1008, to which the two older girls belong, also decided to participate in the program as part of their Bronze Award project.
"Seeing the work that Save the Children does in poor countries was a real eye-opener for the girls," Rossi said.
After meeting with Shays, the group also called on the offices of Connecticut Sens. Joe Lieberman and Chris Dodd.
They met Lieberman in the hallway and told him about the votes they cast.
"The rules are different in the Senate," he said. "I would get penalized if I let you do that."
The Memphis Commercial Appeal, "Lamplighter kids lobby for babies," January 31, 2007.
WASHINGTON -- Hillary Clinton, the former first lady now running for president, gave up her seat on the Senate subway Wednesday so that Michael Feather, 9, of Bartlett, could rest from a wearying day of lobbying.
Clinton, also a senator from New York, told the six kids and two teachers from the Lamplighter Montessori School in Cordova that she was racing to the Senate floor to preside. She beamed when she learned the group was from Memphis and was lobbying for newborns. The kids were carrying some of the 270,000 knit caps being sent to the Third World in the Caps for the Capitol campaign for the charity Save the Children. Clinton wedged into the seat next to Feather for a picture.
"I used to live in Arkansas," she said, her pinched fingers jumping an imaginary Mississippi. "Right across the river. And I love Save the Children."
None of kids knew at first who she was.
The Lamplighter group also met right off the Senate floor and had their picture taken with Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. They told him how each had learned to crochet or knit caps for newborns in Malawi and Bangladesh, to keep their heads warm and retain body heat. Alexander thanked them for the work they've done.
Nassem Yousef, 8, cut to the chase: "Do you have a card?" She'd been collecting business cards all day. Said Alexander: "No, but I can give you my phone number." Nassem settled for his autograph.
The youngsters had their picture taken on the Capitol steps with U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who said later, "It makes me especially proud to see young people take a role in making the world a better place to live. They have recognized that child poverty exists, not only in Bangladesh, but in rural parts of Tennessee and are doing something to combat this problem."
Over lunch -- and ice cream with hot chocolate -- in the dining room of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, the students and teachers Bonney Haynes and Sharon Brandon, along with Save the Children officials, explained the effort to reduce the 2 million deaths a year of newborns in their first 24 hours on earth.
"Some children are born in plastic tents," said Susanne Bernstein, 9, of Olive Branch.
"Most of the people can't go to school and if they do go they have to cross a bamboo bridge," explained Ashley Buckingham, 8, of Cordova.
"And sometimes they drop their books into the river," Susanne added, gravely.
Each child knitted a cap and wrote a note for the mother who will place it on her child's head. Dylan Beasley, 8, of Midtown, said hers looked like a sun cap, with the sun's rays poking out, and took about two days to knit. Ashley said her note said, "I hope your child treasures this forever." Sutton Hewitt, 8, of Germantown, said her note said, "I hope your baby loves this hat." Nassem said she hopes her pink, soft hat will be passed along "until it wears out."
When Sutton explained that babies, and especially low birth-weight babies, lose most of their body heat through their heads and feet, Feather ("no S; it's not Feathers") suggested they'll come back next year with the Socks for the Capitol campaign.
Everyone laughed.
During their busy day on the Hill, the children also met with U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen's staff and with Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who told them: "Thank you for coming to my office. You've made my day much warmer by being here."
"Health care needn't always be complicated"
By Laura Ofobike
Dust off the health-benefits primers and get up to speed on your PPOs and PCPs, the PBMs and EOBs, because something says health-care issues are charging up center stage again. It could be that in the next 12 months that any presidential aspirant worth a bumper sticker will have some sort of a plan to fix the system and save countless lives.
President Bush is expected to blow the starter's whistle tonight in his State of the Union address. He will present a plan to reduce the number of Americans who have little or no health insurance. Sen. Hillary Clinton, followed up her presidential announcement this past weekend with a measure to expand the federal health insurance program for children.
I hope these are the promising first signs of a wide-ranging debate that will include not only how we approach the challenges confronting this country but also those that hold back much poorer countries.
Every few years, the same cluster of issues — employers howling about costs, mounting individual debts from hospital bills, high rates of uninsured — captures the political imagination and produces reams of Big Picture policies from think tanks and politicians.
In the months to come, I suspect we'll be wading through a mountain of policy plans on how, individually and collectively, we can get the most out of our health dollars. Yet much in current research reminds us, too, that striking that balance doesn't always depend on elaborate policy initiatives or large amounts of money.
Sometimes, taking simple, low-cost, low-tech steps is all that is needed to made dramatic improvements, saving both lives and money. The reminders around doctors' offices, clinics and hospitals, for example, are the same as you might see in a grade school: Wash your hands well. Soap, water and a little elbow grease may be all it takes to tip the scale toward health or a nasty infection. In the poorer regions of the world, investing in a few well-placed wells and toilets may do more to prevent debilitating cholera epidemics than, say, a shipment of medications after the fact.
It's unfortunate that in a world increasingly hooked on high technology, simple, inexpensive solutions sometimes are overlooked. Another reminder of this crossed my desk last spring.
A rather bulky package arrived in the mail from Save the Children, an international aid organization. The package contained a report on the state of the world's mothers. Among the details was this conclusion: that in the poorer regions of the world, the first 24 hours after birth are the most dangerous for babies. Of the 10 million children under 5 who die every year, the report said, 3 million die within the first seven days. The report mentioned also that very simple practices, such as keeping a newborn's head warm, could save the lives of countless babies.
In the envelope, there was also a colorful little knit cap. It was big enough to fit around my fist and nothing like the tame headwear I've seen local hospitals put on newborns. This was a blaze of reds, yellows and oranges.
The cap was part of a campaign called "Caps to the Capital.'' Save the Children said the idea was the inspired response to the report by thousands of individuals and groups from across America who wanted to help and have volunteered to knit and crochet caps for distribution to newborns in impoverished countries.
The caps have been flowing into the offices of the agency and its partner in the campaign, Warm Up! America. To date, more than 180,000 of them (Ohioans have contributed more than 5,000 caps) have been delivered. Attached to the caps are personal notes from the knitters urging President Bush and Congress to increase support for inexpensive programs for neonatal and maternal care in poor countries. (The groups plan to deliver some caps and notes to the president next week.)
I don't know how many babies are alive today because of a gift of knit caps from a Girl Scout troop or a senior citizen with time on her hands, but the thought in itself is warming. If you have knitting or crocheting skills, you might want to check out the campaign.
Discussions about health care and what governments can and cannot do for their own and other people quickly get complicated, an endeavor most of us are only too happy to leave to the policy heavyweights. And yet efforts such as the ``Caps to the Capital'' campaign reveal the desire of ordinary citizens to be involved in a meaningful way in policies that make a difference.
"Teen picked to ring stock exchange bell"
Ashlei N. Stevens, Staff Writer
Spartanburg Journal Herald — Sunday January 7, 2007
When Wilma Jones lost her job and her home about six years ago, the 49-year-old mother of four wasn't exactly excited to move into Spartanburg Terrace Apartments, now called Crescent Hills.
"I thought I was moving into the 'projects,' " Wilma said. "But in the long run it helped my kids so much. I didn't think it was a good thing then, but I can see the positive changes in my children from when we first moved here until now."
Jones said she's most thankful for the Spartanburg Terrace Tenant's Association Save the Children Program, which enabled her only son, Dominique, to come out of his shell and ultimately become the first member of their family to attend college.
Although Dominique may not have had much money growing up, the sophomore at Benedict College in Columbia is on the pathway to success, and he'll soon set foot in a place where big money is made everyday: Wall Street. Dominque, 19, has been selected to ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange Monday, which marks the 75th anniversary of the Save the Children Program.
A 2005 Spartanburg High School graduate and product of the program, Jones is the sole representative of the millions of children worldwide that Save the Children has served.
"Dominique is a great kid who has shown a lot of promise and is excited about his future," said Mike Kiernan, Save the Children's director of communications. "He is the classic Save the Children sponsor. He represents the kind of child we've helped over the past 75 years."
Save the Children is in 40 countries worldwide, and the program strives to improve the health and well being of newborns and enhance the education of school-aged children to ensure their livelihood as adults. Dominique says he kind of got pulled into the program after he saw how much his friends, Kendrick Hardy and Julius Williams, where having: taking skating trips, going bowling and skating.
"I looked at is as something fun to get involved in. I never realized its ultimate impact on my life," he said. "They sneak education in, so you're learning stuff and you really don't know you're leaning."
He joined the STTA Save the Children program in 1999, and from then on was actively involved. He served as team leader helping younger kids with homework and serving as a mentor. One year he was elected was president of Save the Children's Youth Council.
"Save the Children really gave him great experiences — things I couldn't afford to do for him," Wilma said. Through the program Dominique and his 20-year-old sister Porshia traveled to Georgia, Washington, D.C., and other places where they met politicians and business leaders like Sen. Hillary Clinton, Black Entertainment Television creator Bob Johnson and the late Sen. Strom Thurmond.
"Once I got involved in Save the Children, it was about more than just taking trips," said Dominique, who is studying business and accounting and aspires to work in real estate.
Kiernan said Dominique was selected to ring the NYSE closing bell through a nomination process, and that his drive and ambition set him apart from other nominees. So he'll join Save the Children board members at 4 p.m. Monday to pull the bell's cord.
"I didn't know whether to cry or laugh," Wilma Jones said when she found out about her son's selection. "I was so proud they thought of my son."
"We're so excited they selected Dominique," said Vernon Beatty, area manager of Crescent Hills Apartments. "Of all the children in Save the Children across the country, for them to have selected a child from Spartanburg, S.C., as ambassador, we just want to tell the world about it."
Local program
A retired schoolteacher named Bertha Williams began an after-school program at Crescent Hills Apartments in 1995. She had ties to Save the Children's office in Asheville, so the first official group of kids under the program began meeting in a small room in the leasing office, serving 120 kids on a budget of about $2,000 that year.
Since that time, more than a half million dollars has been put into the program, which has served hundreds of kids at Crescent Hills, Beatty said. There are 25 staff members, mostly volunteers, who work during the school year, and 45 who work during the summer.
"Save the Children is not just for residents here — it's for the surrounding community," said Brenda Lyles, president of the program housed at Crescent Hills.
About 60 kids meet after school each day in the computer lab, which is located at the leasing office. And Spartanburg School Districts 1 and 7 each donated a portable classroom, where the program houses its literacy centers.
"These children could've been written off, could've been another statistic, a drop-out, or raising a family of their own," said Benjamin Wright, media relations coordinator with the local program. "But by providence and the grace of God, they survived. We're saving children that otherwise would've been lost."
Over the next three years, however, the program's budget — which is typically $95,000 — will be reduced and there's a possibility the program at Crescent Hills could be phased out by 2009.
Advantage for students
Staff members with the Crescent Hills program hope the program can be saved so more students like Dominique graduate high school and become successful adults.
"Students should look around and realize they have an advantage over here — we have a program no other apartment complex has," said Randy Murphy, computer lab director.
"The community I live in is looked at very negatively — they call it the 'ghetto' or the 'hood,' but it's actually a good community," Dominique said. "Young people coming out have a lot more to offer than people give it credit for."
For Dominique, who says he's a die-hard Carolina Panthers fan, this will be his first trip to New York.
He says this trip wouldn't be possible without the support of his mom, three sisters Porshia, April, and Shannon, girlfriend Tameka Stripling, and the Save the Children staff at Crescent Hills.
"I'm succeeding in life because of where I came from," Dominique said. "I've been pushed by everyone — even the kids — to do what I do. Everyone in my life has had some type of positive influence and I count my blessings every day."
Ashlei N. Stevens can be reached at 562-7425 or ashlei.stevens@shj.com.
“A little knitting goes a long way for needy infants,”
By Melissa Gagliardi
The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky) January 1, 2007
Knit one, pearl two, and save a life.
That's the pattern students at Kentucky Country Day School followed as they made more than 100 tiny caps for infants in impoverished areas of the world, where a lack of warmth can cause death.
Their project, Stitch for a Cause, was started at the school four years ago by middle school English teacher Lisa Stringfellow, whom the students refer to as the "Stitch Doctor" for her ability to fix their mistakes.
And there are lots of mistakes, considering many of the students who participated are first-time knitters.
"What do you call these lines?" asked 10-year-old Aleckxis Montelongo, who just learned to knit.
"Mistakes," quipped Stringfellow. "They're not perfect. You just have to do your best and we can make it work."
A hat rack full of colorful tiny caps, some that look like they'd barely fit a closed fist, drew cries of "How cute!" as students filed into the room one afternoon to drop off more hats, each with a note attached telling the mother "Good Luck," or "I hope you like this hat."
A group of girls gathered after school to finish their hats and help get everything ready to be sent to Washington, D.C., for the national program "Caps to the Capital," which distributes the hats through the Save the Children organization.
The girls in the knitting circle talked about movies, gossiped about friends and agreed that it had been fun to watch their male classmates learn to knit, even though they claimed the boys made more mistakes.
"It's a new fad and all the boys are doing it, too," Aleckxis said.
A local business owner donated $2,000 worth of yarn and knitting needles for the project, and people from across the country mailed in knitting needles and other supplies after reading about the project on a Web site Stringfellow set up, www.stitchforacause.org.
While the girls bonded over their knitting projects, they also were learning math skills and improving their hand-eye coordination, said Stringfellow, who learned the skill as a child.
She said she enjoys passing it on to others who may become as passionate about it — if only the students would get permission from other teachers before they spend class time knitting.
One girl admitted to getting into trouble for knitting in Latin class that day, and similar stories followed. When the 100th cap was completed by fifth-grader Valery Kravchuck, 10, the knitters had a mini-celebration, and Stringfellow took her picture holding the cap and posing next to the hat rack.
The knitting lessons were something that stuck with eighth-grader Covington Paulsen, 13, who is helping Stitch for a Cause for the second time. She said that even though she'll be in high school next year, she'll be back to help with the project again.
"It feels good helping people," she said as she stitched a pink flower onto a green hat.
Sixth-grader Taylor Jordan Brantley, 12, was starting on her third hat, a tiny baby-blue cap.
"It's like being able to help the world while still being in middle school," she said.
“Knitting for newborns: Local woman aids relief effort,”
by Robin Smith
The Maryland Gazette, December 30, 2006.
Brooklyn Park resident Mildred Volker doesn't know it, but she's an international child advocate and political activist in cahoots with prison inmates, doctors, business people, cheerleaders and Girl Scouts.
And she thought she was just knitting baby caps.
When the octogenarian signed on with the Linthicum-based Close Knit Group in September to contribute to its effort to knit caps for newborns overseas, little did she know that she was becoming part of a powerful national voice to thwart infant mortality. The global humanitarian organization Save the Children teamed up with the Warm Up America! Foundation on a grass-roots initiative that has seen thousands from all walks of life participate — including prison inmates.
"More than 5,000 knitters and crocheters from all 50 states and U.S. territories have sent in caps and notes," said Eileen Burke, spokesman for Save the Children.
The campaign is an effort to help the 2 million children who die each year in the first 24 hours of life. In the organization's State of the World's Mothers 2006 report, the message that some simple measures could be life-saving — like keeping babies warm with a knitted cap - spawned Caps to the Capital.
Organizers will take the caps to Washington, along with personal notes from the crafters to President Bush, as a call to do more to save the lives of newborns. Save the Children's ultimate goal is increased funding for health programs in the developing world.
But Mrs. Volker's motivation in knitting more than 50 caps is simple. “It was a joy for me because I just think of all the poor little babies," she said.
When an article ran in the Maryland Gazette about the Close Knit Group's participation in Caps to the Capital, Mrs. Volker contacted organizer JoAnne Zoller Wagner offering her help. Could the group supply the yarn?
Every two or three weeks, Mrs. Zoller Wagner has dropped by Mrs. Volker's home to deliver supplies. The longtime county resident, who donated 60 preemie caps to the Red Cross a few years ago, keeps her knitting in a handmade wooden drum and enjoys creating the small hats.
"It keeps my hand out of trouble," joked Mrs. Volker.
Mrs. Zoller Wagner will finish collecting caps this month from other volunteers, and hopes to send 120 to Save the Children on behalf of the Linthicum group.
The county teacher and avid knitter, who also leads knitting clubs for school children and will soon begin a program teaching knitting to women at the Ordnance Road Correctional Facility, understands the basis for the caps initiative.
"Caps and socks were some of the first knitted objects because they were crucial to survival," she said.
Save the Children recognizes the influence that local organizations can have in a national movement.
"The Close Knit Group shows us that knitting needles and crochet hooks can be a powerful tool for saving newborn lives," said Ms. Burke.
To date, 69,000 caps have been sent to Save the Children's headquarters in Connecticut. By Tuesday's deadline, the organization expects to collect nearly 100,000 donations. After a stop in Washington, the cache will be sent to Malawi and Bangladesh, two countries where Save the Children already administers United States-funded health programs.
Caps to the Capital was the first charitable undertaking by the Close Knit Group. But infants closer to home will wear handmade head coverings as well when the club takes on another service project in the new year; donating caps for newborns at Maryland General Hospital.
Mrs. Volker has pledged to continue knitting for babies as long as Mrs. Zoller Wagner keeps bringing her yarn. With more than 60 years of handiwork under her belt, the accomplished knitter isn't ready to stop giving yet.
“Encouraging news from Afghanistan,”
The Seattle Times, December 29, 2006
Experience tells me that optimism is way overrated, but I am purposefully nurturing a rosy glow about a bleak part of the world, Afghanistan.
I want to believe focused efforts to build schools and train teachers in the poorest, least-educated province in Afghanistan stir hope for a better outcome for the whole country.
My dram of confidence comes from recent e-mail correspondence with Suzanne Griffin, a transplanted Seattleite who has worked in Afghanistan since 2002.
Nothing quite attracts attention like bad news, and lately all eyes have returned to Afghanistan. The U