My Trip
Submitted by: Bill Clinton
I’m in Mexico City today for the International AIDS Conference. As I prepare my remarks, I can’t help but reflect on the people I’ve met and the places I’ve seen during my six-day trip through Africa.
I have been blessed over the years to travel extensively around our world, both as President and now as a private citizen. I’ve always found that intelligence, hard work, and determination are equally distributed across the planet, but access to health care, education, and economic opportunity is not. This is especially clear in many rural areas of Africa, where villagers face challenges surpassed only by their indefatigable spirit.
This trip was a terrific opportunity to meet and learn about some extraordinary people. I spent a day with coffee and cassava farmers in rural Rwanda who are increasing their productivity and incomes with the help of the Clinton Hunter Development Initiative. We also broke ground on a new hospital in the Burera District - the last district in Rwanda to open a hospital.
One story I heard really encapsulates the importance of our work, and I want to share it with you. Along with Beatrice, a community health care worker, I was invited to visit the home of Jean-Pierre, a 15-year-old boy, and his sister Eugenie.
Eugenie, who is now 19, has taken care of Jean-Pierre since she was 13, after they lost their parents to a disease that was likely AIDS. In 2005, Jean-Pierre was diagnosed with advanced AIDS symptoms severe enough to keep him out of school. But thanks to the treatment and kindness Beatrice delivers to their home, Jean-Pierre’s health has dramatically improved, and he can now live an active life like any other teenager. Although he does have some catching up to do, he’s doing well in his third-grade class. One day, he hopes to become a doctor, and when Jean-Pierre is old enough to care for himself, Eugenie would like to open her own shop.
It was a moving visit. These two young people spoke so bravely, even though they’ve been faced with profound adversity in their short lives. Beatrice’s compassion and devotion to her job are unwavering, and I’m so proud that the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative had a hand in providing her with the training and resources to do what she does best - help bring health care and hope to families in need.
This has been a particularly meaningful trip, reaffirming to me the importance of our work and strengthening my resolve to do even more. I hope you’ll join me as we continue our efforts to ensure that more people with AIDS - especially children, like Jean-Pierre - can live healthy, full lives.
Meeting Jean Pierre for the first time. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images For The Clinton Foundation)
Tags: Bill Clinton
August 4th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Please keep reaching out and helping others. Your foundation is great! So, many people get caught up in their own lives and forget the horrible things that are occuring in countries less fortunate than ours in the US. There really are worse things than expensive gas and high mortgage rates. I truly believe good, selfless deeds towards others brings good karma to that individual. Just imagine if each of us actually tried that.
August 4th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
I am also very moved by Eugene’s story.
“I’ve always found that intelligence, hard work, and determination are equally distributed across the planet, but access to health care, education, and economic opportunity is not. ”
I have also noticed this when traveling and it’s not fair. Thanks for all that you do to help people with AIDS around the world.
August 4th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Bringing solutions, results and innovation to the problems that seem so implaccable is something the Clinton Foundation does so well.
I appreciate alll your efforts and know that my children’s lives will be better because of it.
August 4th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
President Clinton, I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you have done and will continue to do, I thank God for you and Hillary everyday, Both of you are truly GREAT public servants. Thank you again. Always a friend of Bill and Hill ! Jackie Robertson , Tampa , Fl.
August 4th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Mr. President:
I am (as always and like millions of others) in complete awe of your dedicated work in the developing world. You are saving lives - doing the real work that helps millions every day and will for generations to come.
In the day-to-day back and forth bickering of what our political process has dropped down into, it’s refreshing to see that someone still gets it. You clearly understand what’s needed in this world and you’re taking action to make a difference.
I wish more men and women - who are in a position to make a difference - would use their fame and notariety to better this world the way you are.
Peace to you and yours sir,
Alegre
http://alegrescorner.soapblox.net
August 4th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Dear President Clinton,
100 destitute girls in High School in Kenya read GIVING and now make ‘giving back’ a part of their lives. Your stories inspire them and motivate them to make a difference in the world. Because your stories from this trip are so uplifting and so relevant, we have been faxing the updates to their High School, which is in the centre of the Kibagare Slum outside Nairobi. You actually know these girls. They each sent you personalized letters and photos of themselves holding GIVING close to their hearts. You sent them a beautiful letter in return, which has influenced them and others in ways you cannot even imagine. Thank you for taking the time to make the journeys, capture the messages and share them so that all of us can feel as though we are a part of a global community….a global community where we all have the privilege to participate in some way.
August 4th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
To
Mr. Bill clinton
WILLIAM CLINTON J.FOUNDATION
Respected sir,
warm greetings from India
we felt very happy about today report.you are doing great job among the AIDS Children.
we greatly appreciated your trip to mexico city for the International AIDS conference.thank you for your visit to africa.thank you very much for your time spending with coffee and cassava farmers in rural rwanda .thank you very much sacrificial service open a hospital.
May God will give you much more strength,power,health,safety- Once again thank you very much for your trip to Africa. May god bless you abundantly.thanking you,
yours Sincerely
P.Chittibabu
INDIA
August 4th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
You have done something truly amazing, Mr. President. You are close to surpassing the accomplishments of your presidency.
Your efforts on behalf of AIDS-ridden Africa, and humankind, will be one of the benchmarks history will view as proof that Americans were capable of benefic, and beneficial, acts towards their companions on earth, not merely injurious ones.
Bravo. May your work continue, and may those who confuse ideology with public health soon go the way of the dinosaur.
To your continued good health. Thank you for your service to America, and to the world.
August 4th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
God bless you. My doctor friend says he doesn`t do religion.We don`t get on for too long. But he always spend his annual vacation in some rural spot in God knows where providing medicare .This year, he was abashed having let it slip he was on the way to Burundi where he planned to help set up primary healthcare unit. God bless him too.
I`m sure there`s reward in doing the best one can in alleviating lack and suffering. Poverty and illhealth are not natural and I pray tha you get assistance from all types of sources as you reach out to the helpless.
Ade
London
August 4th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Good day Mr. Clinton,
As usual, it is more than encouraging to see all the extraordinary work done from your foundation! It is amazing to see how people can change together all our lives while changing other peoples’ lives to live better lives especially when we all have all best interests at heart!
To me, this is what your Foundation is all about since it has your name it is about the real human being that has a heart as a foundation that projects, reflects and brings to the World…The Heart of America!
Hope this short distraction convey how much your Foundation means to the World!
Sincerely,
Diane Dagenais Turbide
DDBella, Artiste
August 4th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Hello, story’s like this are proof of the enormous amount of work still to be performed to countrys like liberia and other simulair nations to get them up on there feet and to make sure the next generation can give and live good lives, to get these country’s underway to a better future, we and your foundation must never give up, even though the odss are against us and the people living in these nations.
We here in the western hemisphere should never ever give up on these people, where ever they live.
August 4th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
I want to begin by saying that you are my hero. Your presidency rescued me from despair back in the 90’s, by providing me an opportunity to escape poverty at an advanced age of 55. I was fortunate enough to obtain a decent paying job in a steel mill at that time; and, with the way you were able to turn the economy around, I was able to invest my savings at just the right time to lift me out of the doldrums of financial difficulty. I was, literally, just one meager paycheck away from homeless, but after only 10 years of employment, was able to retire with a comfortable nest egg. Now, you are continuing to make me proud of you, by not living strictly on your laurels. The work you are, sacrificially, doing in Africa with the Aids program, is proof that you are every bit the humanitarian by rescuing even more deserving people from their plight. You are a rare human being indeed, and deserve a Nobel Prize.
August 4th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
There are insufficient words to thank you and Hillary for all you have done and continue to do for the people of the U.S. and the world. We have been blessed to have had you as our president and I know without question your intentions are sincere and driven by your intense compassion for the human race. You, Mr. President, are the greatest president of our generation.
August 5th, 2008 at 2:49 am
Mr Clinton, I feel so privilaged to be a small part of your foundation by simply being a member and being able to witness though personal accounts and photographs of your great works. Thank you for taking time to hear other people’s plight and taking action. I pray that your foundation grows from strength to strength and that many more thousands of needy people are touched by it. My passion is children who have been affected by HIV and work with them as well. May God bless your miind and your hands as you do great work.
Thank you
Noeline
South Africa
August 5th, 2008 at 4:56 am
Thank you President Clinton for your work. Thank you.
You’re the best President since ever, for all the world
August 5th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Being an African young woman, it is inspiring to see all the good work that is done by people with a sense of humanityahuminlity if i may so call it. There are various challenges that are faced by Aficans at large. It is through prayer and keeping hope alive that we all will survive. We are grateful on behalf of all recipients of any form of assistance. I too hope that one day when i am aable to do more work than i am, more that mentoring the children in need of such services or more than being a member of the youth organisations or those that help me build my character as a young aspiring woman i will look back and smile like you do. i am working on it.
August 5th, 2008 at 11:41 am
It must be (and is) so exciting to see the progress that has come about as a result of the efforts of your foundation. I saw the smiles on the faces of the people meeting you, and I know how much what you do means in their lives. Someday when i am in a position i would like to help you do your work. Keep going knowing prayers are with you and that you are blessed as you do this sacred work.
August 5th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Thank you Mr. Clinton for providing an inspiration that cannot be matched. As someone who also tries to do what they can to help the less fortunate you have inspired me to push a little harder and care a little more. I know your inspiration is not just limited to this man, and you should be extremely proud of you work because it is making an immeasurable difference.
Although I’m sure that not all the lives you touch understand the great scope of you and your wife’s accomplishments, it makes me happy to know that they will at least know of your great heart and empathy because if I was to want a person to know one thing about you and Hillary, that would be it.
God Bless.
August 6th, 2008 at 8:04 am
A GOLDEN HANDSHAKE
——————————
Some people take birth in this world for other.they bring fortune for those who have no friends.PRESIDENT CLINTON”s secrifice and concern for the deprived is a thessis of learning.Dear sir the world is so small in comparision to your ever extending loving and open heart. Your hand shake with the innocent JEAN PIERRE has really impressed me and i have shown it to all my friends those who are affraid of HIV/AIDS.They had a misconception that keepng touch with them could transmitt them the deases and all timately resulting the victims were being ostracised . Your handshake is not a simple handshake .yOUR HAND IS MADE OUT OF GOLD and hand shaking with an AIDS victim could make difference world wide. I agree with you unlike intelligence , handwork,and determination, economic oppertunity ,education and health care not yet been reach people properly.I THINK SIR THE MAIN REASION IS IGNORANCE AND CORRUPTION.
thank u sir
RAJENDRA SIKANDAR
SCHOOL OF FINE ART
BARGARH
INDIA
768028 (ORISSA)
August 6th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Respected President CLINTON,
Warm Greetings from Narayanan Kuppusamy from India.
You are one of the Greatest men, this world has produced.You are doing Greatest Service to humanity.Your service to Eugenie and Jean-Pierre touched me very much.There are many people like them,throughout this world,who are undergoing immense sufferings and have no faith in life.Your actions give them hope in life to live on.One ancient Tamil poet said that this world (people) exists because of the selfless service by people like you.(If all the people are selfish,they would fight each other and ultimately all would perish.)
We,all are mortals and only fame is immortal in this world.People who want to live for ever in this world,do greatest service to the poor people.Greatness is measured by the nature of service and to whom we serve.The Greatest Tamil poet Saint Thiruvalluvar said that Service to the very poor people is real Service;service to other people are actions done,expecting some favour from them in future.Your Service is THE GREATEST and YOU WILL LIVE FOR EVER IN THIS WORLD.
WISHING YOU, HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON and CHELSEA CLINTON “VERY LONG LIFE,VERY GOOD HEALTH and HAPPYNESS THROUGHOUT LIFE”
Yours Faithfully,
Kuppusamy Narayanan,
India.