Igniting the Promise Around the World

I had the privilege of traveling with Nancy and Linda Washkuhn, one of Suzy Komen’s dearest friends, on a historic mission to the Middle East last fall to launch the first ever regional woman’s health initiative in the Middle East – it was a fabulous trip and a great success.

We are partnering with Komen, representatives of Johns Hopkins and medical professionals, and women leaders in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, to create the first comprehensive program for breast cancer awareness, treatment and prevention in the Arab world.

Just think about that – thanks to the effort that started in a living room here in Dallas 25 years ago, the lives of women as far away as Abu Dhabi and Amman will be saved. Thanks to your efforts, we’re partnering with women on the other side of the world who might have been strangers -- but now are friends.

Just as the newspapers in Dallas wouldn’t put the words "breast cancer" in print when Nancy started Komen, the words breast cancer are little spoken in the Middle East. Just as women in this country were reluctant to speak out 25 years ago, women in many parts of the Middle East are hesitant, believing it to be a private personal matter or a matter of fate.

Now women are learning from the Komen example that breast cancer can be detected early, can be treated successfully – and that knowledge can save the lives of their sisters, mothers and daughters. I want to share a brief video that shows how the Komen story --- your story – is bringing new hope to the women of the Middle East.

(show video)

One of the highlights of our trip was hearing from the woman you saw briefly in the video, who is a breast cancer survivor. Her name is Sharifa and she’s 55 years old, perhaps the same age as some of you. She showed great courage by standing up in front of a crowd of people to say publicly that she had breast cancer, but she is a survivor and she want to encourage other women to take action – to be conscious of their bodies, to have an annual mammogram. She said, "having breast cancer has been a wake up call for me and now I realize I need to take much better care of myself." Doesn’t that sound familiar? One thing women across the world have in common is that they are so busy taking care of everyone else that they put themselves last.

Sharifa’s example was a brave one. It’s always difficult to be among the first to stand up and speak out. But increasingly, other women in the Middle East are joining the chorus of survivors and activists, women like Dr. Omniyat Al Hajeri in the UAE – who as a young medical student gave her mother a breast exam because she was concerned about the history of breast cancer in her family. She found a lump and had to strongly encourage her mother to get a biopsy, which came back positive. After treatment, her mother is alive today because her daughter demonstrated the importance of a breast exam. Now Omniyat and her mother are helping lead the mission to end breast cancer in the Middle East. The words are in Arabic, but the message is familiar: take charge of your health, get regular exams, live.

These stories are a powerful reminder that what you do here matters, what you do has

a ripple effect that is saving lives around the world. Yet in too many countries, women are still afraid to mention the words breast cancer, And because it goes unmentioned, it goes undiagnosed for much too long.

As Nancy mentioned, over the next 25 years, an estimated 25 million women around the world will be diagnosed with breast cancer—as many as 10 million of them could die. Just think about that -- ten million women, with families, with friends, with talents and dreams, who will be gone when it might not have to be.

And so I am here to invite, to encourage, to challenge you to IGNITE THE PROMISE around the world. I applaud what you are already doing and urge you to do even more to share your knowledge, your example with other cultures and countries. You are the trail-blazers, you are the most admired women’s health organization in the world. Many countries do not have the strong volunteer tradition and civil society experience we have here in America --- they haven’t had the benefit of partnerships or networking – so you are providing a life-saving and life-changing example.

And as you serve your cause, you are also serving our country by engaging in what I believe is one of the most powerful forms of public diplomacy – the diplomacy of our deeds. You’ve all heard the old saying that actions speak louder than words – what could be more powerful than knowing that a group of women in America helped save the life of your beloved mother or wife?

I have been at the State Department for 18 months now and have traveled to almost 3 dozen countries. But who’s counting? I am. (laughter)

I am more and more convinced that as we work to advance opportunity for people across the world, it is the women of the world - mothers, sisters, wives, daughters – who are absolutely vital to our success. I have witnessed first-hand that it is increasingly women who are agents of change, arbiters of peace and reconciliation, and advocates of education and health. 
 

All the statistics show when you educate and empower women, you improve and strengthen every aspect of society. Women share. When you educate a woman, she teaches her family.  Give a woman a micro-loan so she can start a small business, and she will buy shoes, milk, and books for her children and hire her neighbors as her business grows.
 
One of the best investments in the world is sending girls to school. Educated women are three times more able to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS. Literate women can read about government, faith, and political issues and decide for themselves, rather than have someone else try to dictate what they should believe. And yet, of the more than three-quarters of a billion adults around the world who cannot read a simple book, more than two-thirds are women. We must improve literacy and educational opportunities for women so they are better able to take charge of their own and their families’ health.

I’m inspired by the women who are bringing new voices and new leadership to their countries, women like Michelle Bachelet, the new president of Chile.

Last year, Secretary Rice and I attended her inauguration. She is the daughter of a Chilean general who was imprisoned after a government coup. He was tortured and died in prison; she and her mother were also imprisoned. She said, "Violence entered my life, destroying what I loved. Because I was a victim of hate, I have dedicated my life to turning that hate into understanding, into tolerance, and why not say it, into love."

Her example–one women’s ability to overcome hate and violence with hope and love is exactly what the world needs more of right now. It’s women like her and women like Nancy Brinker and women like you who are changing the world.

In Kuwait, a brave woman named Roula al-Dashti spoke out to the men leading her country with a compelling message: "Half a democracy is not a democracy." She challenged the status quo, recruited student leaders from Kuwait University to join her cause and helped women gain the right to vote and run for office in Kuwait. Roula joined us in Abu Dhabi for the launch of our breast cancer initiative and she is also helping women organize to run for office in Kuwait in the 2010 elections.

Last fall during the observance of Ramadan, I attended an Iftar dinner with some members of the Muslim community in Virginia and the president of the Senate in Pakistan also attended. He mentioned that this time of expanding technology used to be called the "Age of Email" – but he thinks as he witnesses what is happening around the word that it is really the "Age of the Female."

We have so much progress to celebrate. You have 25 incredible years to celebrate. Raise a toast – and then get back to work. This is not a time to stop or slow down – this is a time to speed up. The headlines remind us that we have much more work to do to help other women, to reach out in a spirit of partnership and respect to people of other countries. Millions of women need help to overcome the social, cultural and economic barriers to breast cancer treatment and prevention.

And as you help women, you are joining me in what I call "waging peace." I use the word waging very deliberately because we have to be very intentional building these bonds – and helping other women live whole and healthy lives builds bonds of friendship and respect that do not require a translator.

I have visited Afghanistan several times–first, not long after the fall of the Taliban when desperation gripped the country. A year later, when I returned, the biggest difference I noticed was the light of hope in the eyes of the women.

I’ll never forget visiting a reading program there and meeting a young girl who said she hoped to write a book someday. I told her I would put something on her behalf in mine. She told me, "Women should be free to go to school and work and chose their own husbands." She was 13 years old. As I was leaving, the translator came after me. She wants to tell you something else. "Please don’t forget them. Please help them live in freedom."
 
The eyes of that young girl followed me home and still follow me today.  A large part of my work is to help her and other young men and women like her to live in freedom.

To do that, I believe we must build on the common values that we share with the men and women of the world, partnering with them to support education, future economic opportunities, and confront diseases like breast cancer and AIDS and malaria so that the next generation will inherit a safer, stronger, better and healthier world, not a more divided and dangerous one.

I encourage you to think about other places, other partnerships you might form – in Latin America, for example, the statistics are very similar to those in the Middle East – too many women wait too long to get treatment.

The women and men here in this room today have the knowledge and experience, you are survivors and activists and you have the power to save and change lives across our world.

I can only conclude by saying: Thank you all – I hope the next 25 years are the best 25 – and I know they will make a world of difference.