American Compassion in Action

This week’s action roundtable on HIV/AIDS is a reminder that what we do – as a nation, and as individuals – often speaks more emphatically than what we say. That’s especially true when our deeds result in concrete improvements in people’s lives – especially in the areas people across the world care most about – health care, education, and economic opportunity. I call America’s life-saving and life-changing actions “the diplomacy of our deeds,” and I believe this is public diplomacy at its finest – what better way to reach out and establish relationships with publics across the world than to act in ways that improve their lives.

President and Mrs. Bush’s commitment to fighting HIV/AIDS and our many other humanitarian efforts send the clear message that Americans care deeply about the lives of people across the world. When you save the life of someone’s spouse or child, it forms a strong and lasting human bond.

These efforts harness and mobilize the collective compassion and generosity of our country. They combine the tax dollars of American citizens and the expertise of our government agencies with the contributions and passion of private foundations and individual citizens. They bring together the research of our health institutions, the reach of private companies and the hands and hearts of the many volunteers of our faith-based and community organizations.

History will show that President Bush and the American people are engaged in an unprecedented commitment to humanitarian causes – from fighting AIDS to educating children to providing shelter and health care after disasters to feeding the hungry in some of the world’s most difficult places.

The United States of America leads the world in the fight against AIDS, providing more resources to the global HIV/AIDS response than the rest of the world’s donor nations combined. President Bush’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) is directing $15 billion over 5 years for HIV prevention, treatment and care. President Bush has asked Congress to reauthorize PEPFAR for an additional 5 years and a total of $30 billion.

The fight against malaria also means that 15 countries in Africa will receive an infusion of expertise and an additional $1.2 billion to prevent and treat malaria. The result is the opportunity to reduce the numbers of deaths by half in each of these countries. Malaria is a preventable and treatable disease that kills thousands of children a day – we have the power to change that and we are working to do so.

These efforts are unprecedented, but not unique. Yet I find that too few of my fellow Americans, and even fewer across the world, know or recognize the extent of these initiatives.

Last fall, I was speaking at a women’s conference in California; I summarized a variety of American projects – business mentoring for women in developing countries, training for nearly a million teachers in 20 countries, scholarships for a half a million girls in Africa, the first breast cancer prevention and detection campaign in the Middle East, and more.

At the end of the speech, Eunice Shriver, the mother of the California First Lady, raised her hand and asked – why don’t we know about this – why don’t we ever hear about these programs?

One quick answer is that bad news tends to overshadow good deeds, although it’s clearly more complicated than that. I like to say that a bombing gets a lot more attention than the opening of a school, even though over 10 years the opening of the school may prove to be the far more significant event.

Across the world, America feeds the poor, educates the illiterate, cares for the sick and responds to disasters. We support so many different development projects, in fact, that we often get little credit for any of them. And in this time of war, good news stories are often overshadowed by the somber news of loss.

It’s understandable that our national attention is focused on our vital mission in Iraq and Afghanistan and the need to confront the ongoing threat of terrorism. And yet, in this season of giving and good will, it’s also important to remind ourselves and the world that America is actively engaged in “waging peace” by helping people improve their lives.

Americans reach out to help people in need because of who we are and what we believe. If we truly believe our founding conviction – that we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – then those rights are not something to be hoarded, but shared – we believe that all people are equal and each person is uniquely valuable. These convictions prompt us to action in the world, and when the people of the world see Americans in action, they respond.

After the Navy hospital ship Mercy revisited areas of Southeast Asia that were ravaged by the tsunami in late 2004, polls showed the favorable opinion of the U.S. rose to 87 percent in Bangladesh. When earthquakes devastated Pakistan, American military helicopters rushed emergency relief to thousands of people. The Chinook helicopter quickly became one of the most popular toys in Pakistan, and polls showed that the favorable opinion of Americans doubled.

As part of expanded outreach to our neighbors in our own hemisphere, we recommended that President Bush deploy the U.S. Navy hospital ship Comfort to provide health care to tens of thousands of people in twelve countries in Latin America and the Caribbean this year. President Antonio Saca of El Salvador said, “This type of diplomacy really touched the heart and soul of the country and the region.”

In the case of disaster relief, like the response to the tsunami and earthquake, America’s efforts are focused and highly visible. Less well known are the things we do every day. For example:

• America is by far the largest donor of food to the people of Darfur, where we have supplied more than half the emergency food aid from the entire world. Since 2005, America has spent over $1.2 billion feeding the hungry there.
• The U.S. is the leading provider of bilateral aid to the Palestinians. Since 2002, the United States has obligated $1.8 billion in assistance for the Palestinian people provided through USAID and UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
• Last year alone, the U.S. provided approximately $154 million in food assistance, education, health, and social services for Palestinians registered with UNRWA in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. The U.S. also provided $50 million in assistance through USAID for basic human needs, democracy and civil society, and private sector development.
• The U.S. is the largest donor to the United Nations’ World Food Program. Since 2003, the U.S. has provided the World Food Program $1.2 billion annually in food aid, leading the fight against the number one risk in global health – hunger.

These people-to-people programs deliver life, hope and a more positive image of our country. I have talked with women in our literacy programs in Morocco, who expressed deep gratitude that for the first time in their lives, they can now mail a letter, read the labels at the store and best of all, help their children with their homework. When I asked a young man in one of our English language classes what difference it had made to him, he said, “I have a job and my friends don’t.” That young man came from the same neighborhood that produce the Casablanca suicide bombers; in addition to a job, he now has a hope – a reason to live rather than kill himself and others in a suicide bombing. A Somali mother almost reduced to begging told us that our food-for-work program not only saved her life, but also restored her dignity.

At this time of year, when people are called to care for the hungry, the sick and the abandoned, Americans should know we are giving the gift of hope to thousands of people whose names we will never know. And I will continue to advocate that we do even more, because the diplomacy of deeds serves both our own national interests and the people of every nation.

Your work against HIV/AIDS is the leading example of American compassion in action – it’s life changing and life saving, and nothing could be more important. Someone made the point to me the other day that America’s greatest export isn’t a product or services – it’s hope – and that’s what your work is offering people every day.

I’ll never forget visiting a hospice in South Africa where several patients were dying of AIDS – and there holding their hands was a young American girl, early 20s, who had given a year of her life to be there with them and help in any way she could – that young woman, and each of you share the very best of our great country with the world every day. Thank you for what do, God bless you all.